Welcome to Fil-Am Ako

Fil-Am Ako was created to spread awareness of Filipino culture and traditions that are slowly becoming lost with an increase in Diaspora and the need to assimilate.

You cannot move forward in life without looking back from where you come. Know your roots so your growth knows no bounds.

Take Action for Home Care Workers across the nation

On behalf of Filipino Advocates for Justice (FAJ), please take a moment today to tell the Department of Labor that home care workers should be entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay, like other American workers.

Following an announcement by President Obama and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, the Department of Labor is seeking comments on proposed regulations to expand overtime and minimum-wage protections to over a million home-care workers. The comment period is open until February 27.

Your comments are needed for support to ensure that these new regulations become law

The Department of Labor will review all of the comments filed and consider whether it should put the regulations into effect or make changes to them. We need everyone who supports fair pay for home care workers – people who work in home care, people who receive home care, and advocates who believe that we should be nation that takes care of one another across generations – to submit comments supporting the proposed regulations.

Caring Across Generations is working to create millions of direct care jobs, with fair pay and benefits, the right to organize, training and career ladders, a path to citizenship for immigrant care workers, and support for individuals and families to find and afford quality long term services and supports.

Take action today by submitting a comment supporting the proposed regulations.

Sample Comment (Please include your personal experience as a family member, employer, advocate or home care worker)

Dear Ms. Ziegler:

I am writing in support of the Department of Labor’s proposed rule to extend minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (RIN 1235-AA05). As a health care advocate, I know that home care workers are vital to the delivery of quality care for elders and people with disabilities. Many of the individuals for whom I advocate depend upon the skilled assistance of home care workers for their very survival.

Despite their important work of caring for millions of older Americans and people with disabilities, home care workers are poorly paid (median wage of $9.40); one third are uninsured and half rely on public benefits. The proposed changes would reduce turnover and improve continuity and quality of care. America needs a strong system of long-term services and supports. We cannot expect to build a stable, compassionate, and skilled home care workforce without ensuring that these workers have the basic labor protections of minimum wage and overtime pay that all other American workers enjoy. Thank you for supporting America’s 2 million home care workers!


Become a Member Supporter of the Asian American Literary Review

Join the Asian American Literary Review (AALR) as a member today to help insure that they can keep publishing the Review, putting on good programs, and supporting writers, readers, educators, and students of Asian American literature.

AALR have different levels of membership, based on what you think you can donate, but any small amount helps a great deal.  They are not publishing a long list of incentives, but will be working to make sure that members feel connected to their work in a meaningful way throughout the year, and hope that connecting to a broader community through literature is the most meaningful incentive they can offer.

 

  • To learn more about what AALR has done in 2011, and some of what they have planned for 2012, you can follow this link.
  • To read excerpts from their ambitious and widely read special issue commemorating the 10 year anniversary of September 11th and its impacts on Asian American, South Asian American, Arab American, and Muslim communities, please follow this link.
  • And finally, to join us as a member, or to subscribe to the journal, you can donate online through this link, or send a check or money order to: Asian American Literary Review | PO Box 34495 | Washington, DC 20043.

All gifts to AALR are fully tax-deductible.

The Asian American Literary Review

www.aalrmag.org | https://www.facebook.com/TheAALR

Testimonials about AALR:

“The editors and writers involved are very serious about this new venue.  While other such journals have had short lives and attempted to fill the absence of a legitimate literary review and outlet for critical discussion and creative work focused on Asian Pacific America, I believe that finally we’ve got the real thing going, and this is really exciting.”

—Karen Tei Yamashita, author of National Book Award Finalist I-Hotel

On AALR Issue 1: “Man, that thing is a weapon!”
—Eric Nakamura, Founder and Editor, Giant Robot

“An important source for exploring Asian American life and its contemporary inflections.”

—Konrad Ng, Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, AALR Advisory Council Member

“Without the [UCLA Asian American Studies] Center’s support since [the 1970s], as well as Russell Leong’s long and distinguished tenure as editor, I doubt if Amerasia would have lasted this long. There have been many journals, magazines, and newspapers that have come and gone during the past 40 years. I really hope the Asian American Literary Review makes it to 2050.”

—Don T. Nakanishi, Scholar, Co-founder of Amerasia, AALR Advisory Council Member

“If you’re a literary scholar, get your university library onto subscribing to [AALR].”

—Tseen Khoo, author of Banana Bending: Asian-Australian and Asian-Canadian Literatures (2003)

“From its conception, the Asian American Literary Review strikes me as being committed to taking every word of its own name with the utmost seriousness. Here is a journal edited by thinkers who scrutinize the broad geographical rubric of ‘Asian,’ the question of what it means to be ‘American,’ how to foreground the ‘literary’ within such a complex cultural/political context, and the possibility of keeping these shifting topoi under critical ‘review.’”

—Srikanth Reddy, author of Facts for Visitors (2004) and Voyager (2011), AALR Advisory Editor


Filipino Filmmakers Stephen Dypiangco & Patrick Epino on Film School or No Film School

Our friend Stephen Dypiangco recently told me about his new project called the National Film Society. The project is a collaboration between Stephen and fellow Filipino filmmaker Patrick Epino. Over the past couple of months, Patrick and Stephen have been developing a new YouTube channel, the National Film Society, which they just launched.

In their first video, the two filmmakers discuss why they went to film school and whether the debt was worth it. Each week, they’re going to be releasing 2 types of new videos: vlogs about film-related stuff in a fun not so serious way and short films from their friends.  I found their first video to be quite entertaining and I can’t wait to see their next installment. For more on Stephen and Patrick visit the NationalFilmSociety.com.


Vote for Baybayin on Pepsi Refresh Project

Christine Balza from Suku-Art recently submitted her idea for Refreshing Baybayin.  Balza’s passion for cultural awareness can be funded through Pepsi with your votes and network help.  Her grant proposal was accepted and it is now going through a public voting process.  Refresh Baybayin is currently ranked #117 and it is the top 20 ideas that will be considered for funding.

This is where you come in.  Please go to:

www.refresheverything.com/refreshbaybayin and place your vote.  My project needs to be ranked in the top #20 to be a finalist.

1. You can make daily votes.

2. Twice a day if you can text it too. Message 108237 and send to 73774

Don’t forget to follow up with STOP to unsubscribe to their SMS blast to your phone.

3. POWER VOTE on your Pepsi bottle cap or boxes of cans.

4. Share the cause and spread the word.

Empower a Filipino script, Baybayin, NOT used since the 1800′s at the Pepsi Refresh Project.


Suggestion for Filipino Farmers and Filipino Entrepreneurs

by Daniel Escurel Occeño

I am trying to encourage Filipino farmers or young Filipino entrepreneurs looking for an investment instead of another hamburger restaurant franchise to consider Indoor Warehouse Farms of soybean and mass produce soy diesel in the same building or complex located in the Philippines.

It would be ideal for barangay locations or even in concrete jungles of metropolises.

“Soy diesel is a biodegradable, nontoxic, and renewable form of diesel. In addition, it drastically reduces air pollution and is capable of being used either by itself, or in combination with petroleum diesel. In addition, the use of soy diesel can substantially reduce a country’s dependence on other countries on fuel. Yet, soy biodiesel has not received the attention, or the legislation, it deserves.”

Since soy diesel is capable of being used by itself, the alternative fuel of soy diesel is a better investment than coco diesel. Coco diesel is only regarded as an additive.


About the Guest Writer: Daniel Escurel Occeño is a writer for children in the Philippines. He is also the author of JOHN PATE – Tears of Sadness and LEE CHON – The Advocate of the Point Guard. You can view the rest of his work at his blog.


Filipina Teachers in U.S. Inner Cities

I’ve met a number of Filipino teachers in the D.C. area due to helping out with my family’s immigration law practice. I saw this update on a documentary featuring Filipinas who struggle with being educators in the U.S., especially in one of Maryland’s tough neighborhoods. This also gives people more insight into the struggles that Filipino immigrants face and that not all Filipinas are nurses. Being a teacher is tough, but being a Filipino who is carrying the weight of their family back home in the Philippines is even tougher.

A Century After American Educators Helped Create Public Schools in the Philippines, Filipino Teachers Are Returning the Favor – in America’s Inner Cities “The Learning is like no other teaching film – it sensitizes you in fresh and unexpected ways to the transactions between instructors and students.” – Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun

One hundred years ago, American teachers established the English-speaking public school system of the Philippines. Now, in a striking turnabout, American schools are recruiting Filipino teachers. Ramona Diaz’s The Learning is the story of four Filipina women who reluctantly leave their families and schools to teach in Baltimore. They hope to use their higher salaries to transform their families’ impoverished lives back home. But the women bring idealistic visions of the teacher’s craft and of life in America, which soon collide with Baltimore’s tough realities.

The Learning has its national broadcast premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011 at 10 p.m. on POV (Point of View) on PBS. (Check local listings.) The film will stream in its entirety on the POV website, Sept. 21 – Oct. 21. POV is the winner of a Special Emmy for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, an IDA Award for Best Continuing Series and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ 2011 Award for Corporate Commitment to Diversity.


Save The Date: Laughs for Literacy II, a Special Night of Fi-Am Comedy

Back by popular demand, BKP-NY presents LAUGHS FOR LITERACY II.  It’s going to be a special night of FIL-AM comedy benefiting children libraries in the Philippines. Bagong Kulturang Pinoy NY (BKP-NY) is a not for profit organization with a mission to develop a reading culture among all Filipino children in the Philippines. The goal for this event is to help Filipino children acquire good reading skills and proficiency in English, which can give them the opportunity for better economic, social, and civic lives in the future.

LAUGHS FOR LITERACY II

A special night of FIL-AM comedy benefiting children’s libraries in the Philippines.

Featuring: Air Tabigue | Chris Turnage | Phil Peredo | Alek Bituin | Lorden Palamores | Rich Kiamco
Headliner: VINCE ROYALE

WEDNESDAY, 21 September 2011
LAUGH LOUNGE

151 Essex Street
(Between Stanton St. & Rvington St.)
For directions, visit www.laughloungenyc.com
Doors open @ 8:30 pm // Show starts @ 9:00 pm
18 & over to enter

$15.00 + 2 Drink Minimum

*Special Reduced Entry*
Donate a children’s book and pay only $10.00!!!
(2 drink min still applied)

**RSVP is REQUIRED**
Email: laughsforlit@gmail.com
(Please leave your full name and # of guests attending)
Or call 212-614-2500.

Raffles & FREE Giveaways all night.

check out scene’s from the previous Laughs for Literacy sold out show


Award-Winning Filipino Cultural Dance Troupe to Perform at Partnership Walk Chicago

Come watch Kapwa Cultural perform at Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park to help support the Aga Khan Foundation. The Aga Khan Foundation is an international organization that raises money for poverty alleviations in Asia and Africa. To learn more about AKF and are interested in being part of the walk, please visit partnershipsinaction.org.

Kapwa Cultural is part of Loyola University Chicago’s Filipino Student Organization, Kapwa. They have been able to proudly illuminate their Filipino culture through the love of dance.  The organization strives to share the culture of their ancestors to the future generations.  Also, they continue to amplify their heritage in such a way that is both passionate and innovative. This year, Kapwa Cultural is led by Natalie Agaton and Mary Anne San Juan.

Kapwa Cultural will be performing their Battle of the Bamboo 2011 winning number Vinta at 11:00 am. Watch their performance here.

Other performers that will be featured are the Jesse White Tumblers, Hip Hop ConnXIon, Kompang Drummers from Malaysia, FootworKINGz, and Flamenco dancers.


Help Create The Firefighter Dan Show

BARRIORS creator and certified firefighter Tim Saguinsin has been developing The Firefighter Dan Show for several years. The plan is to create the show in different parts using Kickstarter. Safety Tips is the first step at piecing it all together.

The Firefighter Dan Show follows firefighter Dan and his crew in ‘newly opened’ Fire Station 1 as they respond to emergency calls in the disaster-filled town of Calamity City. Calamity City looks like your typical/everyday small town with quaint neighborhoods, children playing in the tree lined streets where everyone knows everyone; however everyone is clumsy, reckless, and/or accident prone.

Firefighter Dan features a safety curriculum that helps kids 2-6 recognize, reduce and escape hazards while helping to develop numeracy, literacy, art, science, history, reasoning and citizenship. By utilizing all types of media: photographs, video, illustration, animation and an interactive format that creates viewer participation, Firefighter Dan will engage children to be confident, active, and helpful members of the community.

So help create a firefighter cartoon together by going to The Firefighter Dan Show– Safety Tips on KICKSTARTER.


Vincent Who? goes to Europe

After screening in over 200 colleges, libraries and corporations in the US and Canada, “Vincent Who?” is going abroad. With the recent riots in London and the massacre in Oslo, Curtis Chin’s film could not have been more timely. Feel free to forward the info to your friends in England and Norway. Both screenings free.

Sept. 12 at 7 pm – London at Amnesty International. Click here to RSVP.

Sept. 19 at 6:30 pm – Oslo. Presented by the government of Norway / KIM (Kontaktutvalget mellom Innvandrerbefolkningen og Myndighetene at the Nordic Black Theatre & Cafeteatret, Hollendergata 8. For more info or to RSVP, contact kim@kim.no

For more info and other screenings, please go to the official site at vincentwhomovie.com.

To organize a screening at your school, please send an email at curtis@apaforprogress.org

ABOUT THE FILM:

VINCENT WHO? (2009, 40 minutes) – In 1982, at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments, Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit by two white autoworkers who said, “it’s because of you mother** that we’re out of work.” When the judged fined the killers a mere $3,000 and three years probation, Asian Americans around the country galvanized for the first time to form a real community and movement. This documentary features interviews with the key players at the time, as well as a whole new generation of activists. “Vincent Who?” asks how far Asian Americans have come since then and how far we have yet to go.  Featured interviews include: Helen Zia (lead activist during the Chin trial), Renee Tajima Pena (director, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”), Stewart Kwoh (Executive Director, Asian Pacific American Legal Center), Lisa Ling (journalist), Sumi Pendakur (Univ. of Southern California), Dale Minami (civic rights attorney), Doua Thor (Executive Director, Southeast Asian Resource Action Center), and a group of five diverse young APA activists whose lives were impacted by Vincent Chin.

BIO FOR WRITER/PRODUCER CURTIS CHIN:

Curtis Chin is an award-winning writer and producer who has written for ABC, NBC, Fox, the Disney Channel and more. As a community activist, he co-founded the Asian American Writers Workshop and Asian Pacific Americans for Progress. In 2008, he served on Barack Obama’s Asian American Leadership Council where he participated in helping the campaign reach out to the AAPI community. He has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Newsweek and other media outlet.