This Filipino American Life podcastit

In this TFAL episode, we review the much-anticipated film Easter Sunday, the first Filipino American film produced and distributed by a major movie studio. Three out of the four of us were lucky enough to catch an early screening of the film at the TCL Chinese Theaters in Hollywood thanks to Gold House, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainm…

If you follow TFAL on IG, a little over a month ago you may have caught a quick story post about Bayan Surf Club / DJ Javier‘s collabo with Vans, and if you were really paying attention, you might have been able to catch the very small window of time where the first fruits of that effort quickly went on sale and then very rapidly sold out. Of cours…

What does it mean to celebrate Philippine Independence Day? Why do we Filipino Americans celebrate it? What’s the difference between June 12 and July 4 and do people really understand its history? Is the Philippines really “independent”? Yes, we know we’re on Filipino time with this one, but on this TFAL episode, we dive into the cultural nuances o…

In this episode of TFAL, Elaine talks with author and artist Kenneth Tan. This conversation was recorded at a pre-Mother’s Day book event at Belcanto Books in Long Beach, CA. In this conversation we learn about Kenneth’s journey with his Lola and what inspired his beautiful coffee table memoir. Since this conversation was recorded at a public event…

This episode rounds out the TFAL crew’s trip to the midwest. On this episode we talk to Francis Almeda, a Chicago based entrepreneur who owns Side Practice Coffee, Reppin Pins, and Filipinoadz. Francis explains what it was like to open a coffee shop in the middle of a pandemic. He also enlightens the crew on what NFTs are and how they work. Make su…

One of the great things about traveling to a different city like Chicago aside from eating the wonderful food and visiting a Michael Jordan monument, is meeting people who have done tremendous work uplifting the Filipino American community. First, we got a chance to talk to Ginger Leopoldo to talk about what it’s like to grow up in different Chicag…

The TFAL Crew is in Chicago! Over the next three episodes, TFAL brings you to the capitol of the Midwest! We will talk to some of the city’s community leaders and small business owners and discuss what the MIdwest Filipino American experience is all about. In this introductory episode, the TFAL crew discusses traveling for the first time since the …

In less than two weeks, Filipinos across the Philippines and dual citizens around the world will go to the polls to elect a new president. This is a very important election for the Philippines and will affect those of us in the diaspora tremendously. We at TFAL want to make sure you all know the basic information about the election. Ferdinand “Bong…

In the year 2000 MTVs Real World took the audience to New Orleans and introduced Filipino Americans to Melissa Howard. Over 20 years later Paramount Plus is giving Gen Xers the opportunity to revisit classic Real World casts. In 2021 Real World New York and Los Angeles opened the door to these Homecoming reunions. These shows did not take place in …

Surprise, surprise, TFAL talks about their favorite subject – FOOD – in this episode! Specifically food criticism. The team talks about the rise of Yelp reviews to which one of us wanted to be a food critic? Could you guess who that might be? If you suspect a TFAL food appreciator, you might be correct! In this episode, the team talks story with An…

Monuments, statues, street signs, plaques, memorials, murals. Our communities are filled with tributes to the people, places, and things that hold some sort of significance to the people who live there, and this holds true in past and present Filipino Communities throughout America. Jose Rizal Bridge, Larry Itliong Village, and the upcoming gateway…

Oh SPAM…the delectable, delicious soft pink slab of pork meat so ubiquitous to Filipino and Filipino American weekend breakfast meals. You love it fried, crispy, maybe with a sprinkle of sugar, served with a warm heap of garlic rice and egg. It tickles our taste buds and tummies with such delight, but also clogs our arteries with fat and cholestero…

It’s no secret that TFAL Producer Mike and Elaine love a good video game from Animal Crossing to Uncharted to Final Fantasy. Role Playing Games (RPG) are a favorite pastime. If only there was a Filipino inspired one we could explore? Well turns out there is! In this episode the crew shares their experiences with video games and speaks with Patti Um…

Ever wonder why that peculiar Chinese restaurants have no chopsticks on their table settings? Have you noticed that your finance branch at your work has a lot of Filipinos? Did you ever think, what’s up with basketball leagues that are 6 feet and Under? These questions are some of the same things we’ve asked. We all know about places, businesses, o…

Baybayin, the pre-colonial written script of the Philippines, is a major foundation of our cultural heritage. The alphasyllabary script consisting of 17 characters was understood and used by communities throughout much of the archipelago prior to colonization. Spanish missionary Pedro Chirino, who lived and studied Philippine society in the early y…

In this episode, we shout out some of the many Filipino Small Businesses that we are personal fans of, ones that you should definitely support this Holiday season! Here is the list of who we mentioned on the show, along with some other ones that are also near and dear to our hearts: Jewelry Honey My Heart – honeymyheart.com / @honeymyheart Maaari –…

Gotta have faith! Freedom Like many Filipinos and Filipino Americans, the TFAL crew grew up around Christianity, specifically Catholicism. We speak of our upbringing in our podcast, mainly about how it’s shaped not just our adult selves, but the continued practices and traditions of many family, friends and listeners alike. Although we all look at …

Oh, the dad joke. We all know it. We all love it. And for Filipinos it gives us life. While Dad jokes can be a myriad of things, dad jokes to Filipinos are especially punny (get it?). For one Filipino American, dad jokes have become a way to learn Tagalog words. In this mini-episode, the TFAL crew joins forces with Geoffrey Ocampo of the Rememberin…

In this episode the TFAL crew is short one Ryan Carpio but is happily joined by Kat Carrido Bonds on this episode about Filipino Americans in Hip Hop. Mark Villegas shares his wealth of knowledge as an academic scholar in this field bridging his previous collaborative work with DJ Kuttin Kandi and Dr. Roderick N. Labrador, Empire of Funk: Hip Hop a…

Kulintang (literally meaning “golden sound moving” in English), is the gong and drum ensemble indigenous to the Sulu and Mindanao islands in the southern Philippines This classical music genre has resonated across the Philippines and throughout the Filipino diaspora. As a way to honor and archive the rich sounds of kulintang, the Smithsonian Folkwa…

“If there was one thing to take away from this story, I would hope that it’s motivation for you to go create something.” -Antonio “Miko” Javiniar This is a story about chairs. Whether you knew it or not, the rattan and bamboo hourglass-style peacock chair that has been seen in photos and homes for over a century traces its origins to the Philippine…

Happy Filipino American Heritage…er History Month! It’s hard to believe, but in the five years this podcast has been around, we haven’t dedicated an episode to Filipino American History Month (FAHM). So this episode, the TFAL crew discusses our experiences with October ever since the Filipino American National Historical Society declared the month …

Are you the black sheep in your family who chafes at traditions and seeks examples of how to redefine them? As Filipino Americans, we are constantly pulled in various directions and navigate multiple spaces in our families and in society, often getting shunned for just being our true selves. The black sheep, however, are in key positions to move ou…

What are Filipino Americans’ experiences and relationships with Filipino immigrants and Filipinos in the Philippines? Filipino Americans – Filipinos who are born and or raised in the U.S. – often have vastly different experiences from Filipinos in the Philippines and those who recently immigrate to the U.S. Sometimes those differences clash when di…

Although they provide companionship, emotional support, and stress-relieving, these key “family members” of some Filipino American households may not get talked about very often: OUR PETS! On this TFAL episode, we talk about pet ownership and welfare with two Filipino American veterinarians who are passionate about animals: Dr. Maria Solacito and D…

“As the days go by…it’s the bigger love the family.” Growing up in communal households, many Filipino Americans sense the unspoken duty to take care of their families. Whether it’s taking care of one’s own children, or one’s parents, or new, adopted members of one’s family, we all know we have some form of obligation to something outside of ourselv…

Take me out to the ball game Take me out with the crowd Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack I don’t care if I ever get back Let me root, root, root for the… How many of you have had the opportunity to sing this song at a baseball game? Filipino Americans love sports, however our fandoms lean towards basketball, a sport where the average height of …

https://thisfilipinoamericanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/tfal-episode145.mp3 Can you believe that, in the five years that we’ve been doing this podcast about Filipino American Life, somehow we have neglected to talk to a DJ about DJing?! Neither can we, especially since Producer Mike is a collector and curator of vinyl himself! Though DJing …

In recent weeks, many Filipinos and Filipino Americans have appeared in mainstream U.S. news and entertainment. Whether it’s the release of the Netflix anime series, TRESE, the long-awaited appearance of a Filipino nurse in Grey’s Anatomy, the recent announcement of a Pinay Captain America, or the heroic acts of Jordan Clarkson after a racist incid…

How many Filipinos are in the United States? Where are Filipinos located throughout the nation? How well are we doing socio-economically? What does this data tell us about our community? Many people have researched answers to these demographic questions using statistical data. One of these important figures is Neil Ruiz, Associate Director of Race …

3-2-1 …. 1-2-3. What the heck is bothering me? It’s been a while since TFAL has asked “Bakit?” “Why o’ why?” For our latest edition of the Bakit List, the TFAL team shares what grinds their gears. We look at the annoying and ever so problematic topics that affect Filipino Americans. Some of the discussions include land inheritance, living and perpe…

What is something that you thought was politically impossible but happened? This is the question that Elaine, Joe, Producer Mike, and special guest host Kat tackle in this conversation about Pinays in Political Organizing. Community and political organizing is a difficult and important job that allows for the impossible to become a reality in our l…

So… there’s a lot going on in the world. A lot of it not so great. And while we talk about many of those things on our show and in our social media, we figured we all needed to take a little bit of a break to try and focus on the good things that are happening in our lives, and to think about some of the things that have actually brought smiles to …

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to write a TV or movie? If you had total creative freedom to pitch a show or movie, what would it be about? Would you center Filipino or Filipino American stories? In this TFAL episode, we talk TV writing with the one and only Rene Gube, comedian, actor, and writer for such shows like Crazy Ex Girlfriend…

It’s been one year since most of the United States has been under quarantine, significantly changing our lives. In this TFAL episode, we reflect on a year like no other, how COVID has affected our personal lives and the lives of many of our kababayan, and reminders of what we need to continue to do while we’re still in the pandemic. Our special gue…

Roses are red. Violets are blue. These brown hands Choo choo choose you! Hello TFAL listeners, join us as the TFAL Crew reflects on love. Well…sort of, through the lens of the commercialized and overpriced holiday of Valentine’s day! All joking aside, we can all agree that we need a little more love in this world, and if Valentine’s Day makes us be…

2020 will go down in history as one of the most difficult years for so many of us. At the time of writing, 443,000 people have lost their lives to covid-19. Deaths in 2020 that were not Covid-19 related were still impacted by the virus. In certain situations, they were unable to get care that could save their lives because emergency rooms were turn…

New Year. Covid’s still here. Let’s start purging and clear… The energy for 2021. We all know that 2020 was a roller coaster that we were happy to say so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight, and goodbye to that wretched year. Within the first week of 2021, we faced an attempted coup attempt and more Covid deaths, especially in our community.…

Did you know that the Banaue Rice Terraces are actually only approximately 200-300 years old hundred years old, and not 2,000 years old as many people believe? Did you know that the “Wave Migrations” theory of the people-ing of the Philippines has no archaeological basis and is fundamentally racist? Some of these Philippine nationalist narratives h…

Filipinos are notorious for their sweet tooth. We put sugar in almost all of our dishes. So much so our spaghetti would be a dessert in Italy. And of course, who can forget our traditional desserts? Bibingka, turon, halo halo, Cebu torta, tupig, puto bumbong, ginataan, buko pie…the list goes on and on. In almost every region in the Philippines, des…

Election season in the US has come and not quite gone, and regardless of who you voted for (and how you feel about the results), a noteworthy aspect of this year’s Elections were the sheer number of Filipino Americans running for office throughout the country. From Hawaii to Virginia, California to Georgia, and even Utah and Texas, there were a num…

Filipino humor. You know what it is. Super corny one-liners your mom or dad, aunt and uncle might have said. It may be a play on words. May include using an accent. On Filipino TV shows, it may include a high-pitched, solo laugh track. Some Filipino Americans might find it hilarious. Some may not. Non-Filipinos may not get the joke. Some may. Whate…

Dance off! Dance crews and line dancers, dance fanatics, and dance contest watchers – gather around for another episode of TFAL as we discuss hip hop dancing and Filipinos’ proclivity towards the art form. We reminisce about our abilities (or inabilities) to follow a dance routine, our love for dancing, and of course, Pilipino Cultural Nights (PCNs…

In 1932, Celine Navarro, a young Filipina American, was buried alive and murdered by other Filipinos just outside of Stockton, California. The murder of Navarro caught national media attention, sensationalizing the crime and painting Filipinos as savage members of primitive cults. Though mostly forgotten now, this horrific incident reverberated thr…

“Call out” culture, an inevitable part of online conversations, has become a bigger part of public discourse over the past few years. While critique and criticism have been around forever, social media has perhaps accelerated confrontations and further deepened divisions between people as online identities increasingly coalesce with personal identi…

Can you believe it’s been six months of quarantine? The TFAL Crew, including sleep deprived new dad Joe, came together this past Wednesday night for a TFAL Live where we engaged in a lively discussion about hustles. We talk about how quarantine and covid has impacted or inspired side hustles. The conversation also delves into the world of multileve…

In this episode the TFAL crew, with Kat Carrido Bonds filling in as a guest host, have a discussion with Isabel Sandoval, the artist behind the lyrical and delicate drama LINGUA FRANCA. LINGUA FRANCA follows Olivia, played by Isabel Sandoval, an undocumented Filipino trans woman, working as a caregiver to Olga, an elderly Russian woman, in Brighton…

Trading the city and WiFi for nature and No Service may be the break our overstimulated brains need to recharge. In this episode the TFAL crew talks about their experiences with hiking, fishing, camping, and nature. Find out who grew up camping, how karaoke and mah jong can be a part of these trips, and what can happen when you get elevation sickne…

TFAL is having a baby! Actually, just Gerlie and Joe are having a baby. The latest change in their lives prompted a discussion about pregnancy as Filipino Americans. In this episode, the TFAL crew delves into what we know and don’t know about pregnancy. Most of our conversation is around what we don’t know because, let’s be honest, most Filipino fa…

Being raised in the United States, we as Filipino Americans have learned American cultural practices that we’ve grown accustomed to and even embraced – eating hotdogs in a bun, trick or treating, camping, Superbowl parties, calling in sick after Superbowl Parties, weekend BBQs, or even being treated to a meal on your birthday. There are even Americ…