Photo credit: Ted Visaya Design “You want palo??” If you grew up in a Filipino household, you probably know what the word palo means. Palo, a Tagalog word that means spank, which derived from the Spanish word palo or stick (those colonizers yo!), is a form of punishment used to discipline misbehaving children. To a kid, hearing that…

As Filipino Americans, we all know or know of someone in our lives who is undocumented.  That one uncle who left his family in the Philippines.  That one auntie who’s always “fixing her papers.”  That one friend who doesn’t leave the house very often.  According to various statistical computations, Filipinos who are undocumented in the…

On this mini episode we talk TV! What were your favorite TV shows growing up? As 80s babies we rehash our love of Saturday morning cartoons, Saved By The Bell, and A-Team. Do you remember Ernie Reyes Jr on Sidekicks? Or are you a fan of TJ Perkins on WWE? What would a Filipino American…

Are you a nurse?  Do you know someone or are you related to someone in the nursing field? (Hahaha…of course you do!).  Ever wonder why there are so many Filipino nurses in the United States? The statistics are astonishing.  According to Aaron Terrazas and Jeanne Batalova from the Migrant Policy Institute, nearly one of every…

Is there a use for Filipino American holiday?  Is there a way to accommodate bigger and bigger family parties?  Is there a better way to transport stuff to loved ones in the Philippines?  Why, yes, of course!!! The TFAL crew answers all these questions and more in their second installment of Hilaw Pa where we…

On this episode of This Filipino American Life, the TFAL crew talks about their experiences with blogging. Blogspot, Xanga, Livejournal and countless other internet sites were the home to our early 00s thoughts and terrible spoken word poetry.  In this new era of blogging, Facebook has become the home of writing down these thoughts. One…

Nakakaon ka na ba?  Kumain na kayo?  Nangan kan?  Did you eat yet? Ah yes…the question your parents/grandparents/family members ask you as you walk in the door.  Among Filipinos, it’s a more common way to say hello. Food is perhaps the most innate thing that makes us human.  It keeps us alive.  It comforts us. …

Happy 2017 TFAL pans! For some of us, 2016 left bad tastes in our collective mouths and 2017 couldn’t come any sooner.  Though the world is a bit more uncertain than ever, we can hope that the new year will bring more good than bad, more prosperity than scarcity, and more laughter than tears. Along…

Before we say goodbye to 2016, we’ve got one more episode of TFAL to share with all of you!  This past October the TFAL crew talked to some of the artists that were featured at the 25th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC) and at the Filipino American History Month FAHM Celebration at the…