By Joseph Jerome Francia Almost a year ago today, I lost my iPhone at a car wash. I drove home a clean, shiny car, while ruefully estimating the cost of a replacement phone. Despondent, I thought: This has got to be my most expensive car wash. Minnie, my ever supportive wife, tried to console me. […]
By Cristina DC Pastor She is still working at the NYU Langone Medical Center but in another department. She still lives in her Secaucus, New Jersey home with her husband Judith (yes, the girl’s name) and children Jude and Michelle, their home for the last 22 years. She still looks back with overflowing pride at […]
On October 15, 2013 at 8:12 a.m., a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit the island of Bohol, Philippines. About 350,000 people were displaced and several of the Philippines’ historic coral stone churches, dating from the 18th through the 20th centuries, were damaged or destroyed. This sudden and devastating event is a reminder that the country lies […]
On September 21, 2014, people in and near New York City will have a historic opportunity to make an impact on climate change by joining the People’s Climate March. In September, the United Nations is convening the world’s top leaders for a summit on the climate crisis. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging governments to […]
By Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko, Ph.D. When the ninth month of each year makes its appearance, it is incredulous to numbers who live on these shores that those terrorist attacks, tragedies of indescribable enormity, happened a decade and three years ago: September 11, 2001. Yet, memories linger. Indeed, it is inevitable to absorb what did happen […]
After powerful typhoon Haiyan slammed the Philippines in November, Iowa student Vanessa Fixmer-Oraiz thought she would like to raise awareness about the changing climate in the birthplace of her mother. At the center of her campaign is the bamboo, this eco-friendly tree common in Asia and known for its value to biodiversity. The bamboo is […]
“Typhoon Haiyan, “ said writer and women’s advocate Ninotchka Rosca, “is a vivid illustration of what’s coming with climate change. It is incumbent for all of us to take full measure of its toll on human life. This is not just for those of Philippine ancestry. No race, no ethnicity can escape these changes, and […]
By Elton Lugay Raymart Otic pinched his cheek to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He and siblings Reno, Ralph and RJ – professionally known as the Reo Brothers Band — had just finished performing the Beatles’s hit “Help” at the Madison Square Garden. Four months ago, they lost their home in Tacloban to typhoon Haiyan […]
By Elton Lugay On March 11, Grammy Award-winning Jennifer Hudson, American Idol finalist Jessica Sanchez and pop star Charice will be sharing a stage in a show billed as the most star-studded fundraising to benefit the families devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Pinoy Relief Concert hopes to pack the 6,000-seater at The Theatre […]