Once upon a time series… CHARISSE’S CONFECTION: A story in two Scoops
Conclusion of 2 parts Charisse’s natural curiosity as a researcher would normally drive her to check out her story on the internet. But she felt Dolly’s story was told to…
Category: Life & Style
Covering the week’s most noteworthy life & style news stories impacting the Filipino-American and Global Filipino community.
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Mass suicide atop Masada
Suicide by individuals or a group of people have serious medical and psychological implications. The mass killing for a nobler cause atop the Masada fortress by the Dead Sea in…
DOT: 3.4-M tourists visited PH January-May 2019
A total of 3,489,270 tourists were recorded to have visited the Philippines for the first five months of 2019, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT). Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat…
41st Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival: A celebration of culture, dance and music
Catch the largest and longest-running event in North America in its last weekend, July 13 and 14 NEARLY 500 Northern California artists presenting dance and music from more than 17…
No need to bring your own ‘Baon’: Fil-Am chef AC Boral opens new restaurant in LA
WHEN news spread that Filipino American chef Charles Olalia’s four-year-old Rice Bar was closing down in May, many loyal customers deemed it a loss for lunchtime eats in Downtown Los…
Realities in life: Rest, relax and simply breathe (Part I of II)
I RECENTLY had a bout with profuse nose bleeding because a small vessel ruptured inside my nasal cavity caused by acute sinusitis. This caused me three trips to the emergency…
The camera never blinks (Part I of II)
IT is hard to find words to describe photographers. They work long and hard on their photos that tell a story and accompany their dreams of becoming good press photographers….
The call to ministry
“We can see and feel the urgency of this call in this present time when many people have left the Church and do not feel the need to be affiliated…
3 Filipino filmmakers invited to be members of the Academy
THREE Filipino filmmakers were invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the governing body behind the Oscars wherein members vote for the winners…
Summer Fancy Food Show shines light on specialty food from the Philippines
FOOD companies from the Philippines began joining the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco in 2014 under the branding initiative Food Philippines. That year, Filipino favorites including bananas, mangoes,…
Back from the Brink: NDE: Near Death Experience
“ Unless a grain of wheat shall fall upon the ground and die, It remains but a single grain with no life.” — From a hymn composed by Bernadette Farrell…
Malaka Gharib’s graphic novel “I Was Their American Dream” explores identity as a Filipina-Egyptian
“WHEN I was growing up, my mom would always say: ‘You have to be better than us.’ She never explained what she meant by that. But I understood. I had…
In the land of Jesus
Jerusalem Syndrome As a student of history, I found Jerusalem a most fascinating city the first time I was in Israel in 1960 as a grantee of the Asia Foundation…
Once upon a time series: Charisse’s Confection
A story in two Scoops (Part 1 of 2) “I’ve had it!” Charisse said to herself as she put down her phone. This one broke up with her via text…
Preach Jesus!
THE rooms of the dormitories are now clean and empty, and the seminary is quiet, for the academic year has ended, and the seminarians have left for summer vacation. Some…
‘Medicare for All’ emerges as early divide in first Democratic debate
DURING Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate — the first in a two-night event viewed as the de facto launch of the primary season — health policies, ranging from “Medicare…
Coming out of the end zone
SHE can remember no raging against the night, no anger about what Yeats described, “a decrepit age that has tied to me… like a dogs tail.” She just grew old,…
Losing hair? Don’t lose hope — this hair restoration treatment could be your saving grace
MANY people refer to the hair as one’s crowning glory. I could say the same for very good reasons. The hair, being one of the first things people see when…
‘Bongga,’ ‘kilig’ among Filipino words added to Oxford dictionary
Several Filipino words have been added to the third and current edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) this month. The latest additions include loanwords like bongga (extravagant, flamboyant; impressive,…
Health news Nazareth
The global keyboard Shalom! I wrote this column last Friday, June 21, 2019, in Nazareth, during our family tour of Israel, on the way to Galilee and Jerusalem. The use…
Love as the center of gravity
“All you need is love.” —Lennon-McCartney PAUL, aka Saul of Tarsus, lived more than two thousand years ago. He had something to say about what does matter in life. He…
Fil-Am model Geena Rocero rewrites Playboy’s history as its first transgender API Playmate
FIVE years ago, Filipina American model Geena Rocero made a very public confession and came out of her closet in a TED Talk in Vancouver. “The world makes you something…
Fil-Am authors and scholars to hold book talk on June 29
Philippine Expressions Bookshop — one of two bookstores in the United States dedicated to Filipino literature — is presenting another series of Book Talks on Saturday, June 29 with five…
FASO to debut at the world-famous Walt Disney Concert Hall
THE Filipino American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), the only Filipino symphony orchestra outside of the Philippines, will perform for the first time in the world-famous Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday,…
LA Fil-Ams’ sparkling fellowship with Gov. Hermilando “Dodong” Mandanas
BATANGAS Governor Hermilando “Dodong” Mandanas came swathed in a summer coat of understated elegance and a miscellaneous smile. No blush, no bluster, no braggadocio — only a beguiling mixture of…
Goodnight, Tito Eddie: Farewell to the legend
PHILIPPINE Cinema has lost one of its greatest treasures. The man who has not only been an icon Philippine show business but was – more than anything – a great…
California Assembly clears controversial vaccine bill
Bill limits the medical exemptions to avoid immunizing children before school enrollment Despite hundreds of parents’ emotional opposition to proposed changes to California’s immunization requirements in a five-hour hearing, a…
Shining onstage: Fil-Am Kylie Abucay sings her heart out as Sandy in ‘Grease’
ONE of the iconic musicals of our time — both onstage and film — is the “Grease,” a story of Rydell High’s senior class of 1959. Many of us…
Bronze plaque for Dewey Monument approved by SF Arts Commission
San Francisco – The campaign to install a contextual plaque on the base of the Dewey Monument that would set the battle of Manila Bay in a more accurate historical…
Dangers lurking in our home
Our own poison collection We may not realize it, but in various places in our home, we have toxic chemicals which are hazardous to our health, especially for children. They…