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A race to save marriage
By Elton Lugay How can an athletic competition keep marriages from falling apart? That’s what Timothy Aquino, a 45-year-old contestant of Ironman Triathlon, will seek to find out. Tim is registered for the first Ironman U.S. championship in the New York/New Jersey area next month. The World Championship – bringing in all the winners across […]
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Best of both worlds for Gerard Araw, Wall Street banker and suburban family man
By Cristina DC Pastor Gerard Araw, the relationship manager for Commerzbank, probably speaks for many immigrant professionals who are trying to strike a balance between the traditions they grew up with and the alluring cosmopolitan lifestyle of New York. Gerard, 41, works in Lower Manhattan and goes home to his family in Springfield, New Jersey. […]
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Heart-warming story pushes the boundary of children’s lit
‘Papa’s Gift’ By Genny Javellana BananaHeart + SoulSnax May 2012 “Papa’s Gift” is a moving story that touches on the relationship between father and daughter. Written and illustrated by Genny Javellana, it is a story based on events from the author’s life. Weaving deeply personal story and dialogue with whimsical imagery, Javellana creates an inter-generational, […]
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Downsizing my mother: Practicality versus tradition
By Roberto Villanueva Last year, I made the wrenching decision of “downsizing” my mother. I transferred her from a large three-bedroom multi-level house to a one-bedroom condo unit. It also meant trimming her expenses and letting go of a suburban lifestyle she was used to for many years, that is, until my financial situation improves. […]
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‘Goodbye to the little angel who taught us the meaning of faith’
By Jun Ilagan On May 9, our first grandchild died of respiratory complications from Aicardi Syndrome. Andrea was 4 months, 12 days old. Six months in her mother’s womb, the baby was diagnosed with the rare syndrome. Devastated would seem an understatement to describe how my son and his wife felt when the team of […]
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I’m sick of it
By Sheila Marcelo By now, you’ve probably seen the TIME magazine cover featuring a mom breastfeeding her preschool-aged son. It’s attention-grabbing… to say the least. While my first instinct is shock and pity for the future teenage boy who will never live this cover down, I do see the beauty in a mother’s ability to […]
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Salsa for Rafael
By Cristina DC Pastor A death in the family would, in a strange kind of way, put the swing back into Mary Jane San Gabriel’s life. Also the cha cha, the merengue and the salsa. Her U.S.-based sister passed away in 2005. From Singapore, this chemical engineer rushed to New Jersey to take on the […]
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A bittersweet memoir of hope, family devotion and one deportation after another
By Cristina DC Pastor Feet in Two Worlds Even by Filipino standards, Jen Furer’s immigration journey is one colossal heartache: Her entire family, meaning her parents and five brothers, were deported after living in the U.S. for several years. The worst episode came when a brother in California and another in New Jersey got their […]
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Papa Ping and his one last act of loyalty
By Tony Joaquin When I was about 6 years old, I was allowed by my mother to go with my father Porfirio — better known as Ping – to some of his piano playing gigs around Manila. See, Papa was already a noted jazz pianist long before I was born. In fact, he was known […]