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Beyond ‘Lincoln,’ the little-known John Hay
By Nestor Palugod Enriquez The youngest character in the film “Lincoln” belongs to John Hay. The young White House intern was Lincoln’s personal secretary from 1861 to 1865. He carried the copy of the famous Gettysburg Address and was present when Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford Theatre in 1865. He was possibly a witness […]
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Fr. James Reuter will be missed at EDSA
By Nestor Enriquez In the 27th EDSA celebration this coming February, a pillar of the revolution will be missed: Fr. James Reuter S.J. Fr. James is also New Jersey’s biggest gift to the Philippines and then later re-gifted to the world. The Irish-German altar boy entered St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City some 80 […]
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Alfredo Diaz, 96
By Nestor Palugod Enriquez Funeral services were held on the frigid morning of December 6 for World War II veteran Alfredo Diaz, possibly the last of his breed of veterans who fought in Bataan in the 1940s. Alfredo Diaz just celebrated his 96th birthday last November 28th in Jersey City. He was an athletic student […]
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Time-traveling to Lower Manhattan circa 1900s
By Cristina DC Pastor About two dozen students from the Chinese Progressive Association visited the Tenement Museum recently as part of their English as a Second Language class activity. I was one of the ESL teachers who went with them. We met “Victoria Confino,” a 14-year-old Sephardic Jewish immigrant. We, the students and the teachers, […]
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Jose Rizal in New York after the Blizzard of 1888
By Nestor Enriquez One of the most famous snowstorms in American history was the Blizzard of 1888. It has acquired an almost legendary status. The blizzard cancelled Mark Twain’s speaking engagement in the city, and got the humorist worried about running out of cigars and not being able to come home to Connecticut. Rizal arrived […]
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Bloomberg lauds Filipinos’ ‘hard work, dedication’ as city celebrates history month
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared October as Filipino American History Month in New York City. The proclamation was unveiled at an October 3 celebration of History Month by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS). October has always been observed FilAm history month since 1982 to commemorate the first Filipinos who landed in Morro Bay, […]
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Martial law was personal
By Ninotchka Rosca An early morning phone call, a voice saying, “A Manny Lacaba was killed in Davao. Please contact his family.” Emmanuel Lacaba, young and handsome and a zinger of a poet, had gone underground upon the declaration of martial law, as had his brother, Jose F. Lacaba. Since our first acquaintance, they’d been […]
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The Marcos Dictatorship and the irreparable damage to a family and the Filipino experience
By Joel David In the process of finalizing the current issue of Kritika Kultura, Ateneo’s online journal, on Ishmael Bernal’s “Manila by Night,” I went over some of the notes I took during the too-few interviews I had with the director. One of the statements he made, that our stories as a people are better […]
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For 9/11 families, the pain lives on
By Elton Lugay It’s been 11 years, but the pain in Corazon Fernandez’s heart lingers as in the morning when two hijacked planes rammed into the World Trade Center Towers and Arab militants waged a war against America. Her daughter Judy Hazel died instantly, one of nearly 3,000 New Yorkers caught in history’s crossfire. “Every […]