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Filipino Ka Ba?
“The entire course, and meaning, of my life changed with three words,” says Christopher Holl, author of ‘The Kano, The Teacher & The Lola: A Filipino-American Fable.’ “Filipino ka ba. Three words that completely changed the trajectory of my life were Tagalog.” Recently published, American-born and bred Holl describes the book as a celebration of […]
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A cookbook launches in D.C., a food app in California
Filipino Americans across the country have food in their hearts and on their minds: What we eat, how to cook them, and which restaurants to find the best Filipino dishes. In Washington D.C., a new book on Philippine cuisine, “The New Filipino Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from around the Globe,” made its debut on September […]
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Canadian colors, Japanese poetic form in ‘Tanka’
By Neil Leadbeater At first glance, there is an air of mystery about this tall chapbook of 20 pages, saddle-stitched and printed in an edition of 75 numbered copies. On the front cover, instead of a title, there is just the word TANKA. The name of the author is not announced. The cover is blank […]
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Amy Goodman’s book on where ‘journalists go where the silence is’
By Julia Lagoc The most insightful, provocative Opinion columns I’ve come across are now anthologized in Amy Goodman’s “Breaking the Sound Barrier.” Enthralling viewpoints from Democracy Now! — a TV, radio, Internet news program — are bound into this book. The revered host of Democracy Now! explains what the title means to her as a […]
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Dawn Bohulano Mabalon remembered as a progressive and inspiring mentor, a loyal friend
By Cristina DC Pastor To her best friend, Dawn Bohulano Mabalon was the always-knowledgeable older sister, the progressive mentor, and the giggly girlfriend who enjoyed her visits to NYC. Christine Capacillo’s memories of the historian, author, activist, and professor revolved around these expressive images of Dawn. According to reports, Dawn’s “sudden death” on August 10 […]
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The poetry form ‘Hay(na)ku’ on its 15th birthday
By Eileen R. Tabios In 2018, the “hay(na)ku”, a tercet-based poetic form, will celebrate its 15th year anniversary. While I created the form, it received its name from Vince Gotera who had co-founded (with Nick Carbo) the Flips Listserve where I introduced the form (the Listserve was for those interested in Filipino literature). The hay(na)ku’s […]
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Voices of a movement in ‘A Time to Rise’
By Renee Macalino Rutledge From our first wave of immigrants, the manongs of the 1920s and ’30s who risked their jobs and safety fighting exploitative labor conditions on West Coast farms, Filipinos have been politically active in the U.S. Yet the dominant image of the passively assimilated Filipino prevails. “A Time to Rise: Collective Memoirs […]
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A poem a day in April: Powerful messages to the world
By Neil Leadbeater April is National Poetry Month in the United States. Started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, it is the largest literary celebration in the world that marks poetry’s important place in American culture and society. Its goals are to highlight the extraordinary legacy and on-going achievement of American poets, to […]
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Once, my life intersected with V.C. Igarta
By Eileen R. Tabios In my last few years living in New York City — before moving to San Francisco about 18 years ago — I spent time with Venancio C. “V.C.” Igarta, the foremost artist of the Manong generation. By the time I met him through an introduction by poet Luis Cabalquinto, he had […]