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Bretman Rock writes of colorism and how the PHL doesn’t see it as a race problem
By Tricia J. Capistrano “If you’re a bottom, you’re gonna have to learn to douche correctly,” writes Filipino American influencer Bretman Rock in his recently released book, “You’re That Bitch and Other Cute Lessons About Being Unapologetically Yourself.’ For middle-aged Filipino Americans like me who are turned off by graphic sex and cursing, I ask […]
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Loida Nicolas Lewis’s memoir of love, marriage, and race
By Allen Gaborro In 1967 a US Supreme Court ruling led to the legalization of interracial marriages. One such interracial marriage would be the union two years later of American lawyer Reginald F. Lewis and Sorsogon-born Loida Mañalac Nicolas. It would be the beginning of a beautiful and productive relationship that ended with the untimely […]
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Jaime FlorCruz’s captivating memoir on modern China
By Tricia J. Capistrano “Not valid for travel to China, the Soviet Union and other communist countries” was stamped on Jaime FlorCruz’s passport. But in July of 1971, FlorCruz, then only 20, and 14 other youth leaders from the Philippines flew to Hong Kong and then to China. The students, together with scholars from other […]
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‘I Was the President’s Mistress!!’: Ridicule of the privileged class
By Allen Gaborro Miguel Syjuco’s literary talent and writing flair are pulsatingly progressive, demanding, and risqué. This was the case with his seminal novel, “Illustrado.” It is even more so with his latest craft of fiction, the titillatingly-titled “I Was the President’s Mistress!!” Entwined throughout Syjuco’s novel are a stock of internal and external montages, […]
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Transformational, triumphant: Del Carmen’s ‘Storm Across My Cherished Bamboo Bridge’
By Marivir Montebon So gently written, the novel “Storm across my cherished bamboo bridge” (Austin Macauley Publishers, 2022, 215 pages) is unputtable down as it emerges victorious against the harrowing brutality of murder, betrayal, and survival. It’s author Gene del Carmen’s first book as a novelist. And oh my, I was touched by its transformational […]
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On Global Filipinos: Dragons and monsters
By Loida Nicolas Lewis This is an excerpt from the author’s memoir, “An Asian-American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood, and Running a Billion-Dollar Empire,” to be released in 2023 by Wiley and Sons. The book is a glimpse into the interracial marriage in New York between a Filipino woman and an African American. The 80th anniversary of Reginald […]
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Culinary artist Jenn de la Vega: ‘You can make sandwich with Ulam’
By Harvey Barkin Who says you can’t make a great sandwich by slapping ulam in between toasts? Food stylist and cookbook collaborator Jenn de la Vega says, “Sandwiches can certainly start as ulam between bread. I encourage folks to try putting their dinner leftovers in a sandwich. You might be surprised by the combination.” Jenn […]
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Celebrating the loving ‘lolas’ in our lives in Sophia Lee’s ‘Holding On’
By Cristina DC Pastor It seems Sophia Lee has so many grandmothers. Typically, you have two. In the story of how she became Simon & Schuster’s latest heralded children’s book author, her maternal and paternal grandmothersnot to mention the grand aunties, played pivotal roles. They all surrounded her with love from the time she was […]
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Philip Vera Cruz, the Manong Generation and quest for the American Dream
By Allen Gaborro Probably only a small fraction of Filipino Americans know who Philip Vera Cruz was. Once upon a time, during the late 1950s to the 1970s, Vera Cruz was a pivotal and pathfinding labor representative of the California farmworkers as well as a committed, empathic, and kindred soul to their plight. Craig Scharlin […]