This Filipino American Life

“In the Year 2000…” If you know that line, you remember it was a bit that Conan O’ Brien did during his late night talk show where he and his co-host Andy Richter comically predicted what the world would be like in the year 2000. (Yes, we’re that old). In this TFAL episode, Ryan and Joe attempt to rehash this bit, but for the Year 3000 and for Filipinos. Yes, Ryan and Joe alone (without Elaine and Producer Mike who were on vacation) steer this episode in what they call the Bernardo Carpio Legendary Hour. Listen as they try to make both serious and silly predictions about Filipinos and Filipino Americans. What sports will be popular in the future? Which food franchise will make a comeback in the U.S.? What will happen to California’s Filipino enclaves? And what will be the future of Circus Circus?? UY, PHILIPPINES! Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. What are your predictions for the Filipino future? Leave us a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/tfal-episode213.mp3 Every four years (two years if you care for winter sports) athletes from around the world come together to compete in sporting events at the Olympic Games.  It’s a time when we care about such sports as swimming, track and field, gymnastics, and dressage. (Seriously, how many of us really care about these sports between Olympics??). Think of the Olympics as Friendship Games or Sportsfest but a million times bigger. In this TFAL episode, the crew talks about the one and only Olympic Games! We discuss our memories of Olympics, the politics of rooting for Filipinos and Filipino Americans, and which sporting events should be offered at the Olympics so Filipinos would excel.  Find out who no longer pays much attention to the Olympics, who roots for the underdog, and who knows what the actual Olympic theme music is. Sportsmanship! Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. What is your earliest memories of the Olympics?  Who would you root for between a Filipino and a Filipino American?  Leave us a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Ay SAUCE-MARYOSEP!.  Have you ever thought of what kind of Filipino sauces and condiments are in your kitchen?  Patis, toyo, suka, bagoong, banana ketchup, sinigang packets, etc. These are essential ingredients to all of our wonderful Filipino dishes. OK, so have you also thought of what kind of preservatives and colorings are in them?  Sorbic acid? Sodium benzoate? Titanium dioxide? Red No. 5??? Luckily, Fila Manila is trying to create these sauces and condiments without the added preservatives and other nasty ingredients that aren’t so good for us through locally sources. He’s also hoping that his new Filipino food brand will expand the accessibility of our cuisine to Filipinos and non-Filipinos alike. In this TFAL episode, we talk to Jake Deleon, founder and CEO of Fila Manila. Listen as we discuss the genesis of his Filipino food brand, how he’s trying to change our diets for the better by rejecting the preservative-ation of Filipino food, what other Filipino food needs to be more accessible to Americans, and his experience on Sharktank.  Of course, we start off the show by talking about the sauces and condiments that are in our kitchens. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Have you tried any Fila Manila products? What do you think?? Leave us a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Who taught you about SEX? Was it through school? Was it through watching porn? Whatever means you learned (or are learning) about the various aspects of sex, we could bet it wasn’t through your parents! With the Catholic Church shaping our Filipino way our being, sex education has been reduced to abstinence and “family life.” In many ways, Filipinos and Filipino Americans are quite prudish (at least outwardly) when it comes to sex. This is a subject we really never talk about it. In this episode, we talk about sex (baby!). We focus on the politics of sex education and the cultural mores of pleasure. We talk about education of both sexual health and sexual pleasure with Justine Ang Fonte, M.Ed, MPH and Cecilia Villero, aka Goddess Cecilia. Justine is an award-winning intersectional health educator, ghostwriter, and professor, while Cecilia is a Filipina pleasure educator, advocate, and consultant. Listen as we discuss the cultural taboos about sex in the Filipino American community, the vital need of sex education everywhere, how sex ed is vital in helping to prevent sexual assault, and precolonial sexual practices (and how religious patriarchy changed them!). Also learn a valuable lesson about not forcing children to hug everyone they meet. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Any thoughts about sex education as a Filipino American? Leave us a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

TFAL goes to Hawaii! Well, actually just Joe goes to Hawaii.  While attending a conference in Honolulu, Joe took the opportunity to do an additional interview with local Filipino American leader, Chachie Abara. Chachie is an Ilocano language and mental health advocate, runs the podcast and media company KasamahanCo, and is author of a bilingual Ilocano children’s book, Ti Nakakaskasdaaw a Padas ni Nasudi (Nasudi’s Amazing Adventure). Listen as we discuss the some the differences between Filipino Americans in Hawaii and on the Mainland. We also discuss her work in promoting Ilocano to young folks in Hawaii and beyond, as well as her career in advocating the need for mental health to Filipino Americans. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Let us know your thoughts on the episode. Leave us a voicemail at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/tfal-episode209.mp3 On August 8, 2023, Maui experienced the largest wildfire in the “United States” in more than 100 years, killing 101 people and displacing 6,500. National media portrayed the disaster as an unfortunate incident to Maui’s idyllic setting for tourism. However, hidden from this mainstream narrative is the larger context of how the wildfires and its disproportionate affect on Filipinos (who make up 40% of Lahaina Town), Native Hawaiians, and other historically marginalized communities of color transpired. The Maui Fires, like Hurricane Katrina nearly 20 years ago, was largely a man-made disaster, scorching the island through the convergence of settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and climate change. In this TFAL episode, Joe (who traveled to Hawaii for a conference) interviews Nadenza (Nadine) Ortega and Michelle Salazar Hyman, two Pinay community organizers who led a group of volunteers to give much needed assessment and aid to the thousands of Filipino survivors of the Maui Fires. Fresh from their conference presentation, Nadine and Michelle share how the fires need to be placed within a larger, imperial framework, how they responded to the disaster due to the inadequate relief efforts from outside organizations, how the institutionalization of Ilocano language learning was vital to build, organize, and help community, and the ongoing struggle to service the thousands of Filipino American survivors in Maui. The Maui Fires of 2023 is another example of systemic racism towards Filipinos and other communities. We hope this conversation sheds light on this much needed issue and helps re-frame the discourse of “natural” disasters. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. If you’d like to get in touch with the organization, please email them at tagnawaformaui@gmail.com and follow their IG page, @tagnawaformaui. Let us know your thoughts on the episode. Leave us your confession at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I am a BAD Filipino!” What makes you a “bad” Filipino?  It’s time to confess!!  In this TFAL episode, the crew discusses what makes us “bad” Filipinos…or rather Filipinos who buck the proverbial trend.  Which one of us doesn’t like Jollibee?  Who doesn’t mano po?  Who doesn’t ever want to send money back to the Philippines? Which one of us supports a white American culture vulture??  We discuss all this and more in this episode of reconciliation! Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Are you a bad Filipino? Do you have something to confess? Leave us your confession at (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.  

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/tfal-episode207.mp3 In this episode the TFAL crew talk with Bayani Teodosio about Bayani Komixtape, the hip hop mixtape follow up to The Realest Bayani, Teodosio’s graphic novel. The crew shares their experience with comic books, pop culture, and learn about Bayani’s origin story that paved the way for the creation of The Realest Bayani. Looking for a graphic novel to read? Pick up The Realest Bayani at www.savidesigns.nyc. Listen and support the #BayaniKomixtape on Bandcamp: https://thecityneedsyou.bandcamp.com/album/bayani-komixtape. Also available on all music streaming platforms. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Have you read The Realest Bayani? Who would your Filipino American comic book character be? Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Did you know that there are currently over 1.8 million orphaned or abandoned children in the Philippines?  While formal adoption rates of these children are comparatively low, a significant number of orphaned Filipino children have been transnationally adopted by families in the United States over the decades. In 2000, for example, there were over 10,000 Filipino adoptees living in U.S. households. Just last year, there were 67 adoptions from the Philippines by American families. This TFAL episode sheds light on some of the experiences of a Filipino adoptee who grew up in the United States with a non-Filipino family. We are grateful to have James Beni Wilson on the pod to share his journey. Listen as he discusses the emotional highs and lows of growing up in a white family in Michigan, his search to find his cultural heritage in the Midwest and in the Philippines, his fateful meeting with his biological parents, and his continuing activism for the Filipino American community. The adoption experience is something that none of the TFAL crew can ever imagine. We hope you all learn a little something from this episode as we had. Check out Binitay, the documentary James made chronicling his journey back to the Philippines. And here are some pics he shared with us. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. What did you think of James’ story? Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com. *Please excuse some of the background noise in this episode.    

Here it is again…another edition of Hilaw Pa! For those not in the know, Hilaw Pa is where the TFAL Crew shares our half-baked ideas that should be out there in the world. Of course, we’re not going to do it ourselves – thinking them up is our job. It’s up to someone else to execute our brilliant (or not so brilliant) ideas.  Listen as we discuss random ideas we had such as a Filipino mariachi band, karaoke in the park, Filipino churrascarias, and more! Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on our site, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever your favorite podcasts are found. Do you have a half-baked idea that Filipinos / Filipino Americans can benefit from? What do you think about our ideas? Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.