If you grew up in a Filipino household, it’s possible that you’ve had experiences with natural medicines or remedies —  from your parents use of the aloe vera plant on a burn to the use of tawas as underarm deodorant. For TFAL co-host Ryan, he would have never known the healing effects of ginger root had…

Naks naman, pre! Everyday, we hear a new term or phrase or acronym that we totes have to google. With the ever evolving ways of communicating, we can expect some of our words and phrases to be shortened and even more so, turn into widely-used slang. Slang has multiple uses.  It can be used for…

What happens when you are in high school physics class and a classmate says “Do you play an instrument” and your answer is yes?  Well for Merilou Salazar and Jesse Meehan, our guests on this episode of TFAL, they formed a three power chord knowing garage band called The Midol Poppers. After several iterations and…

A recently article circulated social media after the release of the movie, Black Panther, detailing the connection between some of the costumes worn by the “Dora Milaje” — the all-female personal guard of the ruler of the fictional African country of Wakanda.  Anthony Francisco, a Pinoy member of the film’s design team, apparently based the…

  Tens of thousands of Filipinos work as caregivers in the United States, and more are recruited to Western nations to feed, bathe, and serve the elderly.  It is a thankless, yet vital job that many Filipinos hold.  Yet, in this line of work, many caregivers are abused, with some working 24 hours around the…

“Ay nako…walang hiya ka!” or “Walang hiya si ________.”  Many of us have heard these phrases before.  It may be the ultimate insult, or the start of a juicy gossip story.  But what is hiya? Hiya closely translates to “shame” in English.  To say “walang hiya” is to accuse someone of having no shame.  It’s a…

Hi TPals!!  There’s a new way for folks to support your favorite Filipino American podcast: Kofi!  If you don’t feel like donating on a monthly basis, feel free to buy us a cup of coffee through ko-fi!  (We’re not really using your donation for coffee.  All proceeds go to the operations of the show!). Find…

On this episode of This Filipino American Life, the crew talks about their experiences with pop culture before hashing things out with pop culture scholar and fellow Pop Rocket podcaster, Karen Tongson. Find out who in the crew loves Steven Universe, music, food, gambling, and sports. (Hint hint: it’s someone in the picture.) Also listen…

For many of us (POCs specifically), 2017 was a challenging year.  Trump’s reign as president and his attacks on the American people has alarmed even moderate conservatives.  In the Philippines, Duterte’s drug war has amassed thousands of casualties among the country’s poor.  And the demise of net neutrality may alter this very podcast. But not…