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Wonderful you came by, Xtine Mercado
By Cristina DC Pastor I was watching this gamin-haired singer stride on stage at Carnegie Hall, and burst into Nat King Cole’s jazzy “Orange Colored Sky.” I found myself finger-snapping along and wondering why this rocker-looking woman in black biker boots is singing something from post-war 1950s. Talk about an image disconnect, I thought to […]
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A producer, an actor, and a Rockette: FilAm representation in the entertainment industry
By Mariel Padilla Real life and fiction blur in the meta-theatre show: “KPOP,” which premiered on Sept. 5 at The A.R.T./ New York Theatres in Manhattan. In the show, five years in the making, a cast of Asian American performers simulate the workings of a fictional K-pop factory that is working to reach the fictional […]
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A night filled with emotions as TOFA awardees reflect on their immigrant journeys
By Cristina DC Pastor “I left the room after my speech; I had to cry.” Avant-garde fashion designer Rocky Gathercole was heard saying to friends after the TOFA Awards at Carnegie Hall where he was among the 15 The Outstanding Filipinos in America for 2017. Accepting the award, Gathercole said he couldn’t believe he would […]
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Why would some of us not want to identify as Filipino?
By Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko, Ph.D. I met Roger, an adopted American-born Filipino, in an unusual manner. He saw my name when he googled writers of Filipino descent who’ve lived in the U.S. for a long time. He reached out. We agreed to meet at a nearby Thai restaurant In our society in this part of […]
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Filipino veterans receive Congressional Gold Medal
“I have waited along with my Filipino and American soldiers for this moment to come.” With these words, World War II veteran Celestino Almeda, 100, received a Congressional Gold Medal honoring the services of Filipino veterans of World War II. Almeda, who lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, traveled to Washington D.C. for the October 25 ceremony […]
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UP president to keynote Oct 26-28 alumni homecoming in N.J.
By Aurora Cudal-Rivera UP President Danilo Concepcion will keynote the 19th Grand Reunion and Convention of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in America, according to Nelsie Parrado, president of the UPAAA. The event will be held October 26-28, at the Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel in Iselin, New Jersey. Concepcion is attending the event with […]
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Rodrigo Duterte will declare martial law next year: journalist
By Cristina DC Pastor President Rodrigo Duterte is methodically laying the groundwork for one-man rule next year, an influential journalist said in New York on October 20. “Duterte is not yet a dictator, but he is moving in that direction,” said investigative journalist Raissa Robles who is in the U.S. to promote her third book, […]
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Jossie Reyas: She cooked for royalty and socialites including a future U.S. president
By Mariel Padilla On a recent summer day, Jossie Reyas, 77, sat on a bench outside a small food pantry in Woodside, Queens waiting her turn to get cans of beans, fruit, soup and vegetables. Reyas, wearing frayed slippers and a faded floral blouse, was quiet and soft-spoken, but when asked about her life, she […]
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Photojournalists torn by trauma, guilt from covering Duterte war on drugs
By Cristina DC Pastor Exposure to bullet-riddled and tortured bodies has overwhelmed photojournalists who have covered Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, describing the trauma as similar to PTSD. Pulitzer Award-winning Daniel Berehulak, who contributes to The New York Times, and freelance photographer Raffy Lerma, previously with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, spoke about the stress of […]