This Filipino American Life

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/tfal-episode202.mp3 New year new TFAL?  Or are we back to our usual shenanigans? Actually, for the first time in months, and thanks to Ryan’s terrible internet, we met up in person and recorded an episode! One New Years’ tradition that many of the folks in TFAL (and maybe some of you) partake in is the creation of a vision board, a collage of the things we hope to manifest or bring into our lives in the coming year.  And in that spirit, this episode is our vision for ourselves and our community in 2024. It is also partly about bowel movements.  WTF? 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 would you have on your vision board for 2024? Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Last year, some of us on the TFAL crew had the opportunity to participate in the creation of a special episode of the PBS Socal/KCET show, Lost LA, which focused on the Filipino American community of Southern California.  The episode premiered this week and is available on the PBS website or on YouTube.  In this TFAL episode, you can listen to our entire discussion with the Lost LA host, Nathan Masters, about Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles and its history. Listen as we discuss what the Lost LA episode is about, how Kat, Joe, and Producer Mike became involved with the Filipino American community, and why we started TFAL in the first place.  While this episode does focus on the local community in LA, we’re sure you will find its spatial politics are very much relevant to Filipino communities throughout the diaspora, e.g. SoMa Pilipinas, Filipinotown in Seattle, Little Manila in Queens, NY. It was quite the honor to be a part of this episode that features of our local Filipino American community leaders. Big shout out to Nathan Masters and the entire PBS SoCal/KCET team for producing the show. About the Lost LA episode: Filipino Americans work to make their heritage more visible in Los Angeles. In this episode, host Nathan Masters will explore the yo-yo’s surprising origin story, tour L.A.’s Historic Filipinotown neighborhood (a.k.a. “HiFi”) in a Jeepney, and taste classic Filipino street food. Featured interviews will include activist/librarian Florante Ibanez and the hosts of “This Filipino American Life” podcast.

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tfal-episode200.mp3 Looks like we made it! TFAL’s 200th episode! (Give or take a few bonus episodes and unreleased things here and there…) Back in October, we recorded our 200th episode live at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Los Angeles. (Well technically, it was our 195th at the time but who’s really keeping track ). Together with community leaders and artists Faith Santilla and Johneric Concordia, we revisited community movements led by Filipino Americans and discuss future aspirations for our communities in the US. It was a both celebratory and reflective moment in our podcast history and we are forever grateful to those who have supported us throughout all these years. We hope you enjoy this special episode and think about how far Filipino Americans have come and how much further we can still go. Thank you TPals for being with us on this journey. 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 does the Filipino American community mean to you? Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.  

Before we end 2023, we’re sharing a special bonus episode for you from our friends at Gravy, a narrative podcast produced by Southern Foodways Alliance and distributed by APT Podcast Studios. Named the “Publication of the Year” by the James Beard Foundation, the series showcases a South that is constantly evolving, using food as a means to dig into lesser-known corners of the region, to complicate stereotypes, to document new dynamics, and to give voice to the unsung folk who grow, cook, and serve our daily meals. In the bonus episode we’re sharing, “Filipino Balikbayan is Homecoming in a Box,” Gravy explores the histories, politics, and cultures underlying the balikbayan box—a large box filled with everything from tubes of toothpaste to cassette tapes to cans of Spam—that Filipino immigrants in the United States customarily send home to family in the Philippines. There is an entire industry in Filipino communities across the United States dedicated to the logistics of shipping these boxes, which have been popular since the Philippines established the Balikbayan Program in the 1970s. We hope you enjoy it! Listen to more episodes of Gravy and follow the podcast!

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/tfal-episode199.mp3 2023 is almost over!  And to close things out before we get to our grand finale of the year, we decided to do something… a little different?  Or maybe not? In what is apparently essentially in the grand tradition of our reflections on highlights (Episodes 19.5, 140, 157) and/or airing of grievances (Episodes 4.5, 25.2, 142, 180), and not the amazingly creative new thing Producer Mike had hoped he had come up with, we look back on the year and talk about the things in the Filipino Community that we noticed, appreciated, or maybe didn’t appreciate so much… and nomiated them for “Awards”!  What kind of Awards you may ask?  Why the honor of being recognized (or called out) by our crew as being: The Hottest Topic Best Trend Worst Trend Best Filipino Worst Filipino And so on…and maybe in a twist that might actually be a new thing, we want you to also nominate and vote on award winners! So look out for opportunities to do that if you follow us on social media… and if you dont, what better time to follow us on Facebook or Instagram? Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on this page, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts here. And for folks on Spotify, you can take a listen to us here. What do you think of our nominations? Who would you have nomiated? Let us know your thoughts! Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Guest Ray Tadio, an expert in Philippine folk dances, discusses the evolution of these dances from sacred rituals to world stage performances. The podcast explores the documentation and canonization of Philippine folk dances by nationalists, as well as the politics embedded within creating a dance canon. The episode also touches on the preservation and performance of folk dances, including dances from indigenous communities and the Cordilleras.

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tfal-episode197.mp3 When and where does Filipino American history begin?  Is it on October 18, 1587 in Morro Bay, California?  According to our guest in this TFAL episode, this date and time only reinforces a settler colonialist narrative.  Writer and public historian, Adrian De Leon, argues that “Filipino America” actually began in the 1760s in the Philippines.  Certainly a highly polemical take in Filipino American history for sure, yet De Leon’s shift in periodization offers a new perspective on our history and presence in the United States that begins to address our role in settler colonialism. On a social media post during Indigenous People’s Day, we posed several reflective questions: Whose land are we on? As Fiipino Americans, do we even know? How are we also complicit in settler colonialism? How much do we know about Native Americans and their experiences? How do we go beyond land acknowledgments and cultural celebrations and truly support Native peoples/ First Nations? How do we not appropriate Native cultures despite our own indigenous practices? What does “land back” mean to us when we’re trying to get our piece of the US pie? How do we support sovereignty among Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, mainland US, and even Palestine/Israel – places where so many Filipinos have settled? We mentioned that there are no easy answers.  In this TFAL episode, we attempt to tackle these questions with the brilliant Adrian De Leon.  Listen as we discuss settler colonialism, what it is and how to begin to address it as Filipino Americans.  We also dive into Filipino Martial Arts and its politics.  Finally, and most importantly, Joe and Adrian talk about how Jeremy Passion’s “Lemonade” could very well be the Filipino American anthem…to millenials anyway. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on this page, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts here. And for folks on Spotify, you can take a listen to us here. Any thoughts on settler colonialism and our role in it as Filipino Americans? Let us know your thoughts! Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com. *Picture: Ilocano Migrant’s Monument along the Airport Road in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.

  Many of us have grown up seeing women in our lives rock the duster around the house. The piece of apparel is synonymous with traditionally women’s work. But what if the duster could be updated? What would that look like?  In this episode the TFAL Crew,  sans food appreciator Ryan Carpio, have an intimate conversation with author and journalist Melissa Magsaysay about Filipino/Filipino American fashion, her family’s history with the barong, and her new brand Duster @shopduster.  Check out Melissa’s article about the barong on CNN: https://www.cnn.com/style/filipino-american-fashion-barong-history/index.html  Also here is a link to Mambo Magsaysay, a political jingle we mention in the episode.: https://youtu.be/7Xl5RQcyVYQ?si=bly3R2roLpc3AFQ4 Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on this page, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts here. And for folks on Spotify, you can take a listen to us here. Where do you wear a barong these days? Are you going to picking up a piece from Duster? Did your Lolo and Lola do the Mambo Magsaysay? Let us know! Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

Have you spoken to your parent(s) about estate planning?  What will happen to their financial assets when they will pass away?  Have you witnessed your family feud over family inheritance or ancestral land?  Have you thought of what legacies you’d like to pass on when you eventually transition to the other side? In this TFAL episode, we collaborate with Pilipinx in Wellness to interview Marivel Zialcita, an estate planning attorney.  Listen as we discuss the hesitancy of many Filipinos and Filipino Americans to talk about inheritance, what a trust is and why it’s so important in passing on generational wealth, and the ever important topic that causes enormous amounts of family drama – land in the Philippines.  Attorney Zialcita is an expert in dealing with Filipino American estate planning and family inheritance and we are lucky to have this conversation with her. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on this page, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts here. And for folks on Spotify, you can take a listen to us here. Do you have any success stories or horror stories to share about family inheritance?  Let us know your thoughts! Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.

The South of Market, or SoMa neighborhood in San Francisco is a historical place for Filipino Americans for a century.  Throughout its history, many Filipinos have called SoMa home with its affordable apartments, neighborhood amenities, and proximity to jobs in downtown San Francisco.  Community advocates have been established cultural institutions and social services for its largely working class residents for decades, making SoMa Pilipinas, as its affectionately called, a true epicenter of Filipino Americans in the Bay Area.  In 2016, the community successfully lobbied the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to officially designate SoMa Pilipinas as a cultural heritage district. Yet, SoMa Pilipinas faces many challenges in its quest to become a cultural heritage district. San Francisco’s Filipino American population has decreased by 20% in the last 20 years due to housing prices and displacement.  Additionally, Filipinos are not necessarily tied to an ethnic economy like other Asian Americans thus opting for home ownership in suburban areas like Daly City, Union City, and Vallejo over the last 40 years, ineffectually creating geographic dispersal.  Plus, the majority of the property owners and developers in the neighborhood are not Filipino at all. The good folks in SoMa Pilipinas have nonetheless been fighting to create a cultural hub for Filipinos in the Bay. In this TFAL episode, we talk to Desi Danganan of Balay Kreative, a local Filipino arts and cultural accelerator, and founder of the wildly popular Undiscovered SF. Listen as we discuss the strategies and challenges of building SoMa Pilipinas, how the Filipino American “creative class” (to borrow Richard Florida’s famous urban planning term) is the key to their efforts, and the political growing pains of creating community. We also get a short story of young Desi as a “Krazy Klown.” =) Efforts like SoMa Pilipinas parallel many similar initiatives throughout North America – Stockton’s Little Manila, New York’ s Little Manila in Woodside Queens, Toronto’s blah, Seattle Filipinotown/International District, and TFAL ‘s home LA’s Historic Filipinotown. For anyone interested or wondering about the economics and politics of creating a Filipino district or how ethnic “towns” are key to identity and community, this episode is definitely for you. Listen or download the episode through the embedded player on this page, or subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts here. And for folks on Spotify, you can take a listen to us here. Are you involved in creating a Filipino district in your city?  Are you curious?  Let us know your thoughts! Leave us a voicemail (805) 394-TFAL or email us at thisfilipinoamericanlife@gmail.com.