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‘I don’t want to feel unsafe again, don’t want to go back into the closet’ (Part 2)
By Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D. On Thursday, May 16th, I attended a protest, in front of Madison Square Garden, right before a Knicks game. With the theme of “Queers Take Back the Night, ”over a hundred LGBTQ people and allies stood silently with signs as Knicks fans entered the arena. Some passers-by respectfully walked by, […]
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Anti-gay hate crimes on the rise: a call to the community (Part 1)
Kevin L. Nadal, Ph.D. I first moved to New York when I was 24 years old and I was accepted into a doctoral program in psychology at Columbia University. Some college friends from my undergraduate university in Southern California were already living in New York and invited me to move in with them in a […]
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Philippine cultural center receives $1.5M state grant from Hawaii
Hawaii has released a state capital improvement grant to help construct the nonprofit Kauai Philippine Cultural Center (KPCC) in the capital city of Honolulu. The grant was released on May 6 a week into the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month of May. Gov. Neil Abercrombie presented a $1.5 million check to Kauai Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho, […]
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Young FilAms imagine their future, and write about it
By Cecile Caguingin-Ochoa I was in an essay-writing contest but I did not write. When long-time officer of the Filipino American Press Club of Los Angeles (est. 1978), Inc. Evelyn Portugal threw in a suggestion to hold a writing contest among our children or grandchildren, everyone got excited. “This is the time for our own […]
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Carlos Bulosan poem to highlight Asian/Pacific Heritage Month in May
The White House announced that the theme for this year’s celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, is: “I Want the Wide American Earth,” a poem by acclaimed Filipino American writer Carlos Bulosan. The poem was chosen by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to highlight the event. The White House […]
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Matthew Cheirs II: Growing up biracial
By Cristina DC Pastor Matthew Cheirs II was supposed to join the military, but a visit to the Bayanihan Center in Queens stopped him in his tracks. The son of a Filipina from Quezon City and an African American father, Matthew, 25, is now a full-fledged grassroots organizer. He is the chairperson of Anakbayan New […]
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Kevin Nadal shares in new book the ‘immense pain’ of being gay and bullied
By Dr. Kevin Nadal When I was 7 years old and struggling with my gay identity, I often wondered if I could ever be happy. Here I was — the only gay person I knew in my family and community. As a child of immigrants who grew up in a huge Filipino American and Catholic […]
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Why Ryan Songalia’s heart belongs in the Philippines
By Ryan Songalia Admittedly, I’d rather be writing this essay from the warm, tropical surroundings of Manila than the arctic environs of New York City in February. Since my first trip to “the Motherland” in December of 2010, my heart has been torn between my native New Jersey and the Philippines. As time has gone […]
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Corky Lee’s photos go on exhibit in Long Island
Self-taught photographer Corky Lee has been documenting the vibrant and fast-emerging Asian and Pacific American community for over 40 years. In “Asian Roots/American Soil,” the ubiquitous Corky – a second generation Chinese American — will exhibit photographs of the day-to-day lives of Asian Americans as well as historical moments in American history. The exhibition will […]