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TOFA-NY: Honoring the community’s ‘brightest and most committed’
By Cristina DC Pastor The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) was a night of recreating, reenacting and reconnecting with Filipino roots, a fitting culmination to Filipino American Heritage Month. Judge Lorna Schofield of the Southern District of New York, who was a keynote speaker, recalled memories of her mother, Priscilla Tiongco, who as […]
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Consul-General lauds TOFA-NY for ‘dedicated and tireless’ efforts to search, give recognition to FilAm achievers
By Oliver Oliveros Consul General to New York Mario L. De Leon, Jr., U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York Lorna Schofield, and former chairman of the board for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Ruben Nepales will keynote the third annual The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards on Saturday […]
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Ta-ga-logue: A coming-together in conversation
By Precious Sipin Filipinos are naturally creative. We are storytellers, dancers, singers (thanks Magic Mic!), writers. You name it and we know how to do it — with style. We can’t help it. It’s in our blood. With different races mixed in one, I see Filipinos as beautiful masterpieces meant to create, be innovative, and […]
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Why I created a movement for Brown Girls
By Jana Lynne Umipig I grew up with the understanding that it is community that raises a young girl into her womanhood. That not just one individual but many are invested in her becoming. And I also understood that it is women who give to her growth the most because they are the center of […]
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Gay couple makes pitch for Barbara Buono
Heart, humor and honesty went into the making of this video by graphic designer David Gibson and comic Rich Kiamco. It may be a pitch for votes for candidate Barbara Buono – who is running against incumbent New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — but beyond that, this story is one of many same-sex narratives that […]
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TOFA-NY winners named; lights on at Carnegie Hall on Oct 26th
By Cristina DC Pastor As the government was shutting down midnight of September 30, TOFA-NY was in a race to finish the counting of votes to award the 2013 outstanding Filipinos in New York. TOFA-NY won the race; Congress did not. The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York went to 13 exemplary individuals who garnered […]
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After the ‘balut’ comes the mainstreaming of the ‘bibingka’
By Cristina DC Pastor If the “balut” can do it, why not the “bibingka”? Go mainstream, or as Eileen Formanes, 39, said with a shrug and a smile: “Americanize it.” “I want it to be the next chocolate chip cookie,” she declared to The FilAm followed by sparkling laughter. Eileen has taken the rice cake […]
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A FilAm’s experience with stop-and-frisk for wearing braids and ‘gang colors’
By Kilusan Bautista A U.S. District Court has ruled recently that stop-and-frisk is “racially discriminatory” against Black and Latino populations. Although city officials have cited the practice as contributing to the low crime rate, Judge Shira Scheindlin said it is being used “in a manner that intentionally discriminates based on race.” Poet and performance artist […]
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Raised a Pinay: Growing up under three Filipinas
By Rachel Walt The house was filled with the familiar aromas of a party, including the mouthwatering scents of fresh fried lumpia and the pepper and bay leaves of chicken and pork adobo. Outside, the air hazed with savory smoke from barbeque smeared in banana ketchup. All around the small property, laughter and music pierced […]