“As a fellow Kapampangan, I am truly proud of Chef Jo Dijamco’s culinary talents and accomplishments. His extensive experience as a chef enables him to craft a delightful menu that resonates with many. Serving as the chef at the renowned [1917 Restaurant] in San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles, he is a source of pride…
“Chef Natalia Moran is the epitome of Filipina ingenuity, creativity, industry, and commitment to excellence. Chef Natalia has been a consultant to many reputable restaurants in the Philippines for decades: to help them refresh their menu, enhance their efficiency and productivity, achieve consistency in food and service, manage their costs, and update the look and…
Essay by Kobby Tran Once a year, an essay competition is held at CSUN, amongst Asian American Studies and Education majors, as part of an endowment set up by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz for her deceased mother, Asuncion Castro Abarquez and her deceased sister, Rosalinda Abarquez Alcantara. It was set up in 2016, to provide a scholarship…
“… The good we have in common has been a commitment to respecting the rule of law, including its intent and spirit; to protecting our democratic institutions; to discovering and spreading the truth; to being open to change and tolerant of our differences; to ensuring equal political rights and equal opportunity; to participating in our…
Valuing the ‘community of our humanity’ for the common good: Mayor Bass’ courage, core beliefs, and loving wisdom “The elder’s invisible productivity, of holding the field, a nonverbal transmission of energy and goodwill aids in our growth. [S/he] carries forward evolution’s higher intentions, stands beside us and blesses us as we struggle to grow…
“I feel that she [Jennifer Punsalan Delwood] fully embodies the best of our people’s values and demonstrates that with her calm, thoughtful leadership style that enables her to be inclusive and to build movements.”- Former City of Cerritos Mayor Mark Pulido, 2023 “Authentic leadership is a type of management style in which people act in…
Focus: Rev. Pastor Adiel DePano and Legay Square in Santa Ana “The joy in loving is guaranteed by loving one another as Jesus loves us. God’s love goes round and round! His circle of Love is humankind! Thank you for giving me that kind of love. – With the love of the Lord, Fr. Camilo…
Part I of II “WE were sent here to search for the light of Easter in our hearts, and when we find it we are meant to give it away generously. Maybe it is the role of the artists and mystics to attend to the seeming emptiness about us and find incredible riches there.” –…
“St. John’s Seminary recently hosted a remarkable fundraising event that left an indelible mark on the Catholic community. The night was a testament to the unity of purpose, with exquisite food and abundant spirits, celebrating four outstanding members of the community, including Reverend Father Rodel Balagtas, whose longstanding commitment has been an inspiration. Yet, the…
‘Dynamic Dynamite’ Michael Paulo plays heartfelt jazz along with Take 6, Peter White, Tia Carrere, Daniel Ho, Melissa Morgan, and Chris Chatman “I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No…
(ONCE a year, an essay competition is held at CSUN, amongst Asian American Studies and Education majors, as part of an endowment set up by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz for her deceased mother, Asuncion Castro Abarquez and her deceased sister, Rosalinda Abarquez Alcantara to provide a scholarship grant to deserving students. The essays are vetted by a committee headed by Dr. Tomo…
Jazz critic Roger Crane writes: “Like Mark Murphy whose singing he at times resembles, [Mon] David can swing you into bad health and then, turn around and break your heart with a ballad.” “Mon David is no ordinary singer. He is an artist with the command of music theory, as well as an understanding of…
“Panta hypoménei. This means that love bears every trial with a positive attitude. It stands firm in hostile surroundings. This “endurance” involves not only the ability to tolerate certain aggravations, but something greater: a constant readiness to confront any challenge. It is a love that never gives up, even in the darkest hour. It shows…
ART is the natural attitude of the soul, wrote Lissa de Guia. Even in sorrow and in pain, true artists connect to their art. Imagine performing your music for 40 years. Think of how Martin Nievera persisted, irrespective of his surroundings and circumstances, to be giving the best of his performances to fans, as if…
“Society works best when we can take its functions for granted. It works best when we can trust that our personal safety is never in doubt. Trust, often unseen, is indispensable for a healthy, functioning society. And, in the absence of trust, nothing that works can work well.” — Pete Buttigieg, Trust: America’s Best Chance,…
“Creative people are critical: they don’t stop with the given and the (supposedly) “obvious.” They are imaginative. They make a habit of thinking in more open and simple ways, keeping their minds two steps ahead of things as they are. They are inventive. They consciously seek to devise new ways of thinking. And creative people…
“It is the Lord Jesus whom we meet in the faces of our marginalized and discarded brothers, in the migrant who is despised, rejected, put in a cage, but also in the migrant journeying toward hope, toward a better life.” –Pope Francis, Dec. 4, 2021 As I write this, June 28, 2022, BBC reported on…
“Mon’s performance at Catalina was the alarm clock [that] my jazz spirit needed to wake from its catatonic dormancy throughout the pandemic! It was a great jolt of jazz as Mon covered standards, new materials, and Tagalog songs (with his children Carlo and Nicole along for the ride!) The great Hoagy Carmichael (who wrote my…
“Correct leadership is not a divine right, but a duty of service. We are known as Christians by our service. We have to remember our roles as servant leaders… to remember that the waters of truth are soft and gentle. It does not agitate, it does not incite, it does not flatter.” – Fr. John…
“Joy is not found in the things which surround us, but lives only in the soul.” -Thérèse de Lisieux Two decades ago, I watched Ted Benito act in a Filipino Cultural Night at UCLA, also known as Pilipino Cultural Night. We regularly took our two then-teenagers to expose them to Filipino culture, year after year….
LAST summer around this time, America’s psyche was traumatized when Derek Chauvin, a white policeman in uniform, knelt on the neck of an African American man named George Floyd, for what we thought was 8 minutes and 46 seconds. It was not. Based on the testimony a year later of brave 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, it…
Part 2 of 2 “I see, above all, the pressing need to strengthen institutions, which are a vital reserve of moral energy and civic love. The hyperinflation of the individual goes along with the weakness of the state. Once people lose a sense of the common good, history shows that we are left with anarchy…
“I confess that when I hear some speeches by someone responsible for public order or a government, I am reminded of Hitler’s speeches in 1934 and 1936. They are typical actions of Nazism, which with its persecutions of Jews, gypsies, people of homosexual orientation, represent a negative model ‘par excellence’ of a throwaway culture and…
PART II in series on Love-Infused LA Fil-Am Small Businesses In the Asian Journal’s previous Southern California midweek issue, I wrote about Max & Lucy’s ensaymadas, co-owned by Don Sagarbarria and Mike Zuñiga, which had exponential growth during the pandemic, entitled: “Love-Leavened Small Business.” Another business that fits the bill is Kuya Lord’s Pop-Up series,…
“People learn who they are through the stories they tell. As they touch the imagination, stories become alive. The images trigger the imagination to realize what is in the narrative. When the imagination awakens, and the stories are told, existence itself comes to fullness, to completion.” –Fr. Aris Martin, Nov. 2020 in his Santo Niño…
Part I of a series on love-leavened Fil-Am small businesses Minyong Ordoñez, a Filipino anthropologist, wrote that the Filipino culture defines Filipino identity as [something] that “manifests goodness and virtues, creativity, and accomplishments in symmetry with the people’s material and spiritual faculties,” as quoted by Fr. Aris Martin in his Santo Niño Christology dissertation chapter,…
“Never before in the history of American elections has the Filipino American community mobilized, strategized and organized to the degree I’ve seen. For at least the Filipino Americans for Biden/Harris affinity group, there were pockets of staunch and stellar state leaders in some 20+ states working efficiently and effectively to GOTV (Get Out The Vote)…
“The human heart is the first home of democracy.” -Terry Tempest Williams, as quoted by Parker J. Palmer, “The Politics of the Broken Hearted” (2005) “This ‘one nation, indivisible’ is deeply divided along political, economic, racial, and religious lines. And despite our historic dream of being “a light unto the nations,” the gaps between our…
“Both the coronavirus crisis and the climate crisis reveal that our world is inextricably interconnected, and it’s as strong or as fragile as those connections. We have to strengthen those connections. It is our only choice. The sun is going to rise again.” -Mary Annaïse Heglar, climate justice writer, March 2020 The World Health Organization’s Social…
“It was almost like committing suicide for an African American to go to the courthouse in the Delta of Mississippi or the Black Belt of Alabama and declare his or her intention to register to vote. White organizers were risking their lives trying to register black Americans to vote. Segregationists saw the cameras of reporters,…
