VETERAN entertainment industry and Hollywood executive Fritz Friedman can now very well rest on the laurel of his many accomplishments if he wants to. A Boston native and graduate of the acclaimed Vassar College with a Master’s degree from The Annenberg School of The University of Pennsylvania, the exuberant and bubbly Filipino-American, whose first job…
This October marks 43 years since President Jimmy Carter signed a joint resolution designating a week in May 1979 as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week. Later on, extending to a month-long celebration, the United States has commemorated the vast contributions of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community for decades. In Nevada and across the…
FOR over two months, I have been virtually half-blind and unable to do any writing. I’ve had my left eye treated by a cornea specialist for an infection. The last three weeks, I have been wearing an eye-patch. This week, thank God, Dr. Shaley Shah, my eye doctor, promised to remove the eye-patch. It was in…
There is no statute of limitation in honoring America’s veterans – those who served in America’s armed forces, in peace and war, and the debt of gratitude for us to repay. The war on the Pacific ended on Sept 2, 1945, when the Japanese Imperial Government signed the unconditional surrender declaration. What preceded this epic…
Author and BuzzFeed News inequality editor Albert Samaha’s second book Concepcion is his definitive love letter to his family, and the entire Filipino diaspora by extension. The book tells the personal journey of Samaha’s family leaving a comfortable life in Manila to start fresh in the United States and the author cleverly weaves the migration…
THREE hundred banners have been installed in San Francisco’s SOMA Pilipinas neighborhood as the country celebrates Filipino American History Month and continues to combat the spike of anti-Asian hate. The banners placed along street light posts are located throughout the city’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District from Market to Brannan and 2nd to 11th streets. “Our…
TEN months after a Filipina American mother was reported missing, her husband was taken into custody on suspicion of murder. Larry Millete, 40, was arrested at his home in Chula Vista, California on Tuesday, October 19 in relation to the case of his wife, May “Maya” Millete who has been missing since the beginning of…
MOST people think they can only file family petitions for relatives. Actually, they can also petition their family member for a green card through employment. In this brand-new episode, viewers can learn how Ana petitioned her aunt, Susan, as a housekeeper. Since the minimum requirement for the job was three months experience in housekeeping, Aunt…
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte is “not remiss” in his obligation to investigate human rights abuses in the country, according to Malacañang. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday, October 20, made the statement after the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) released a 21-page information table on over 50 cases of deaths during police anti-drug operations. “I…
The November priority dates are typically the start of the new “fiscal year” for visas, where a new annual supply of visas is made available. Usually, with a new supply of visas, the priority dates move forward in the various family categories. However, for November 2021, the priority dates did not move at all. They…
THE Philippines’ first-ever Olympics gold medal winner Hidilyn Diaz is now engaged to her longtime boyfriend and coach, Julius Naranjo. On Friday, October 15, Naranjo proposed to the weightlifting Olympic champion on bended knee at Resorts World Manila, according to an article in the Philippine Star. A day later, they shared the moment in their…
DO people need (is it safe) to be vaccinated against COVID-19? The almost 6.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines given have shown the vaccines are safe and effective. The massive global deaths are a compelling proof we all need the vaccines. The majority of COVID-19 deaths in the United States, the Philippines and other nations were from…
THE existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for almost two years, forcing the world to live in a “new normal.” Due to the constant lockdowns, businesses have been forced to close their doors under lockdown restrictions that have put most entrepreneurs in very difficult situations. To sustain the business, entrepreneurs have had to stay…
LOS ANGELES — Christopher Manzo, a boy with curly brown hair and bright-blue-and-yellow glasses, has lived a third of his five years at home because of the pandemic. And he is more than ready for kindergarten. Hand in hand with his mother, Martha Manzo, he walks into the Blind Children’s Center, a low-rise building nestled…
LOS Angeles County’s COVID-19 hospitalization numbers and case rates dropped this week, as public health officials continue to tout the benefits of the vaccine. COVID-19 case rates for teens are 8 times greater for those unvaccinated than those vaccinated and for unvaccinated adults over 50, case rates are fivefold higher than those for their vaccinated…
THE Philippine Department of Justice has authorized the public release of information on the cases involving deaths during anti-illegal drug operations. In a press statement, the agency announced that it recently concluded its review of 52 cases submitted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and its Internal Affairs Service involving deaths that occurred during the…
THE Golden State is currently the only state in the country that has improved to a “moderate” rate of transmission for COVID-19, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) The findings come as the state continues to have strict mask and vaccination mandates in place, including wearing face coverings…
By Jenny Gold/California Healthline IN September 2020, Congress passed bipartisan legislation creating a three-digit national suicide hotline: 988. Think of it as an alternative to 911 for mental health emergencies. The system is intended to make it easier to seek immediate help during a mental health crisis. Instead of calling 911 or the 10-digit national…
MANY people are of the perception that simply downloading a prenuptial agreement from the internet and signing it with their fiance offers them a bullet proof protection from a divorce. What many people do not know is that certain statutory requirements must be met in order for the prenuptial agreement to be valid and to…
WE live in the Age of Information. You could say it is both a blessing and a curse to live during what could very well be “the best of times, the worst of times” as Dickens would probably describe it, to have so much information available at our fingertips. We have terabytes of available information…
By Jenny Manrique/Ethnic Media Services Immigrant women account for most of the victims of hate crimes. Why is this phenomenon so pervasive? Muslim, Asian and Latina women are the main victims of xenophobic attacks in the United States during an increase in hate crimes against immigrants. The phenomenon, said experts convened by Ethnic Media Services,…
In honor of Filipino American History Month (FAHM), which was first recognized by the U.S. Congress in 2009, two leading Filipina-founded brands and three Filipina-led Los Angeles restaurants are coming together to make the month-long celebration a bit sweeter! Los Angeles-based and Filipina-owned brands Spread The Love® and Coolhaus have teamed up on a special…
AS the world looks to discover new stories for media consumption, Diwata Komiks (simply the English word “comics,” adapted to fit native Filipino languages) launches with a premiere slate of titles spearheaded by its cross-cultural supernatural thriller, “Carmina: A Filipino-American Urban Mythology™” which tells the story of a troubled biracial young woman living in a…
THE U.S. Census Bureau continues to release information from the 2020 Census in order to provide rich information about the changing population of the United States. From the apportionment counts data in April to the redistricting data in August, each data set from the 2020 Census has progressively unveiled insights about the Asian American community….
