By Loida Nicolas Lewis When TOFA 2021 (The Outstanding Filipinos in America) introduced Lee Kiefer as the Tokyo Olympic Gold Winner in the esoteric event Individual Foil Fencing — defeating reigning Olympic Champion Russian Inna Deriglazova — the audience of mostly Filipino ancestry at Weill Carnegie Hall gave her the loudest applause. So the question I asked Lee in […]
By D. De La Rosa The cheers for Leylah Annie Fernandez swept the Arthur Ashe Stadium of the U.S. Open tennis tournament near the end of the summer in New York City. It paid tribute to a left-handed, 5-foot 6-inch, 19-year-old phenom who had defeated three top-5 women’s tennis players on her way to the […]
By Gerald Tabios On November 7, the New York City Marathon will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The local road race, which takes place exclusively in Central Park, has grown to become the world’s largest and most prestigious marathon. In 2019, 53,520 people completed the marathon. A total of 197 Filipino finishers were listed by their […]
By Cristina DC Pastor When Simone Biles pulled out of the Olympics competition for gymnastics, Hollywood fashion designer Alexis Monsanto was one of many who wished her well and cheered her on. Biles was one of Monsantos’s favorite clients. He saw “the first female African-American all-around world champion” up close and understood what she may have […]
Hollywood actor Cory Kays and Dallas-based filmmaker Danny Aguilar have collaborated on an upcoming film, “Titleholder.” “Titleholder” follows the journey of an American boxer who struggles to make ends meet. He travels to the Philippines with his Filipino best friend and experiences authentic Filipino culture, including beauty pageants, karaoke, basketball, and of course, boxing. While […]
By Wendell Gaa Having served the New York Police Department (NYPD) for 21 years, police officer Chris Traumer, recently retired with the distinguished rank of a sergeant. This towering 6’7 Filipino American is known to be one of the friendliest and most helpful law enforcement officials ever, one who has loyally served the City of […]
By Cristina DC Pastor Philippine food curiously found its way into the heart of America: Baseball. For the week of February 21, Tsismis Restaurant catered Adobo, Sisig, and Pinakbet to the corporate officers and employees of Major League Baseball, the piquant aroma of ‘ginisa’ – sautéed onion and garlic – mildly floating throughout the corridors […]
By Cristina DC Pastor For basketball fans in the Philippines, the news is an absolute nightmare. The world seems a little darker because of his passing. The man they called the Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant, perished in a helicopter crash January 26 near Los Angeles with his 13-year old daughter Gianna. “Woke up to this […]
The modern-day United States is a wonderful mix of nationalities and cultures, with the country physically and metaphorically shaped by the waves of immigration throughout its history. Each culture brings new foods, customs, traditions and expertise, helping to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Filipinos have been living on the […]