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‘Tokwa’ and ‘pata’ to-go in Staten Island
By Cristina DC Pastor For Jersey City couple Leopoldo and Ravy Sanga, no bridge is too far to Staten Island’s newest destination. Isla Pilipinas is the latest Filipino restaurant attempting to conquer New York. But instead of opening in the Manhattan familiar to many, owner Maggee Villanueva chose the lawn chair suburbia of Staten Island, […]
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A dance company where size, shape do not matter
By Cristina DC Pastor When you watch a BalaSole Dance Company performance, it would be easy to get momentarily distracted by some sort of physical misalignment. For example, not all female dancers are slender, and not all male dancers are taller than the women. But that kind of “diversity” is what Roberto Villanueva’s two-year-old company […]
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NYU student was mugged on Ash Wednesday
By Cristina DC Pastor It wasn’t that late – only 10:30 p.m. on February 22 when it happened. On his way home from a quick dinner at a Chinese take-out eatery in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, Oliver Oliveros found himself pinned to the ground and punched repeatedly in the back of the head. […]
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To be Filipino on Broadway
By Cristina DC Pastor Getting a role on Broadway is like reading the tea leaves. Sometimes, it comes easy, other times you have to go to a hundred auditions and callbacks until you land it. Sometimes, the culprit is an unmotivated agent, other times it’s the casting director with blinders. Race is one of the […]
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There’s no FilAm organization advocating for transgender women
By Elton Lugay Part 2 Prostitution brings in easy cash — anywhere from $150 to $300 an hour, according to the transgender women. There are many ways to reach a potential client but “Craigslist still tops them all,” said dancer Bonita Isla. As law enforcement continues to monitor personals sites like Craigslist, the women know […]
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Transgender Filipinos confront the stigma of prostitution
By Elton Lugay Part 1 At the recent Miss Asia NYC; pageant for transgender women, contestant Priscilla To Wong Fu was asked: Why is prostitution prevalent among Asian transgender women? Flustered, but not totally unprepared, she replied, “We are known to be amiable and hardworking people, thank you!” It was a cheeky reply which the […]
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She’d rather be known for her Voice than her ethnicity
By Elton Lugay Count Cheesa Laureta among the many Filipinos whose career paths are generally paved in two directions: music and health care. Confident of her singing talent, she chose music over the more stable prospects of becoming a nurse. The Hawaii-born couldn’t be happier when she became a finalist in “The Voice,” a new […]
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Happy 1st birthday, ‘The FilAm’
By Cristina DC Pastor On March 15, 2011, my last day as managing editor of Philippine News, The FilAm online magazine went live. The idea has been bouncing around my head for a while, but I wasn’t quite sure where to take it. I’ve always known that Filipinos would like to read something different, but […]
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Obama’s deportation record worse than Bush’s, says lawyer
President Obama has been sending “mixed signals” on immigration, said lawyer Cristina Godinez. What’s even more grating to this immigration attorney is that Obama has not delivered on his campaign promise and that his administration has deported more people than the previous government of George Bush. Four years after he vowed to fix the broken […]