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Reaching out to the 7.1 % FilAms living in poverty
By Bella Santos Owens Recently, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders released key facts and figures on Filipinos living within the U.S. With a total U.S. Filipino population of 2.66 million, the amount of Filipinos living in poverty comes to 7.1 percent. According to the United States Census Bureau, poverty in […]
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Lav Diaz’s ‘Norte’ screens Aug 9-14 at West End Cinema
Independent filmmaker Lav Diaz’s film ‘Norte, the End of History’ will be screened at the West End Cinema in Washington, D.C. Norte has received praise for its storytelling and cinematography, and has won four awards including Best Picture and Best Actress at the 2014 Gawad Urian Awards. Here’s a synopsis: In the northern Philippine province […]
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‘Noli me Tangere’ to stage at Kennedy Center Aug. 8 & 9
After a successful run in Chicago and New York, Noli Me Tangere, an opera based on Philippine national hero Jose Rizal’s best known novel, will go on stage at the prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on August 8 and 9. Said to be the first Filipino opera, Noli Me Tangere will feature songs […]
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Embassy Row ditches stuffed-up diplomacy for all-day dancing and more
By Maricar CP Hampton On May 3, the Philippine Embassy became the ‘happiest place’ with fun, festivity and food greeting some 7,000 visitors to its open house. “It reminded me of the fiestas back home,” raved teacher Peggy Mendoza of Sterling, Virginia about “Passport DC: Around the World Embassy Tour,” an event organized by the […]
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Dial a number, listen to Philippine radio…
By Maricar Hampton And get swept away by nostalgia as you listen to news commentators and Filipino music the way you remember them back home. It’s called Radyo Tambuli, a ‘virtual’ radio station that delivers news, music and public service direct from the Philippines. Intrigued by this latest rollout from the Philippine Embassy, I dialed […]
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Olongapo students experience VA Beach classrooms, awed that students can speak freely to their teachers
By Maricar CP Hampton Excitement resonated as Filipino students described as “once in a lifetime” their visit to the U.S. as part of the U.S.-Philippine exchange program in Virginia Beach. “Masaya, sobrang maganda yung experience,” said junior high school student Jonas Soriano. Four girls from the Regional Science High School (RSHS) in Olongapo City and […]
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White House ‘hangs out’ with Asian Americans
By Maricar CP Hampton The White House hosted its first national community engagement with Asian Americans via Google Hangout as an “exciting” way to connect the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community with the federal government. “We launched several public engagement initiatives and unveiled some of our priorities and plans for the months and […]
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Taiwanese teen helped raise $17K from her community
“I was so shocked most when I saw that many of the children (were) without homes or food.” The images that Typhoon Haiyan’s unimaginable havoc left in the Philippines made a heartbreaking imprint in the mind of 13-year-old MeiJade Hsu, an eighth grader from Maryland. On November 16, MeiJade made an emotional appeal for donations […]
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For Thanksgiving Dinner, are you having turkey, cranberry jelly and rice? Yes, rice!
By Amanda Tira Andrei O’Connor There are five types of carbs on my plate. Sure, it’s Thanksgiving, and you’re not supposed to think about calories from the last Thursday in November until the last day of December—so I don’t. This is a fact of Thanksgiving: in addition to the turkey and gravy, the cranberry jelly […]