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…

Kali, Arnis, and Eskrima, or sometimes known as “Filipino Martial Arts (FMA),” has been practiced both in the Philippines and in the United States for generations. A mix of native Southeast Asian and domesticated European fighting styles, Filipino Martial Arts has been known to be one of the most efficient and powerful fighting systems in…

Some call it a rite of passage.  Some consider it a ritual obligation.  Some believe it’s a controversial matter, and some still consider it a health benefit.  In this mega cringeworthy episode, we’re talking about Tuli, or male circumcision.  The cultural practice of tuli is very common in the Philippines for boys around the ages…

As a follow-up to our last episode on Filipino WWII Veterans, we present to you a collage of sounds and interviews from last year’s Justice for Filipino Americans Veterans march in Hollywood, CA.  It features interviews with students, community organizers, and a veteran, as well as the many chants that have come to characterize this…

On this episode of This Filipino American Life we continue our Bay Area invasion and talk story with Filipino Americans in the Cannabis industry, as well as address the tech boom that’s associated with Silicon Valley and the many companies who dominate the area.  Nina Parks of Mirage Medicinal educates the crew about how her work…

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to the 2nd largest Filipino population in the United States.  Soma Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural district recently designated by the City of San Francisco, is the heart of Filipino America in the Bay.  Last month, TFAL paid a visit to Soma Pilipinas to talk to some of the…

Once upon a time…we started a podcast.  Storytelling is one of the most fun ways we communicate in our podcast – sometimes through deep reflection and other times through funny interpretations of our past.  More importantly, it was a way our parents, grandparents, or teachers were able to communicate important lessons and morals to us…

On this episode of This Filipino American Life the TFAL crew talks about video games and Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). We talk about who used video games as an escape, who did not really play as much as a kid, and who thought video games reinforced Eurocentric mythology.   While we start the conversation around…

“Welcome to the Induction Ball of the Filipino Association of Sorsogueno Americans of Greater Las Vegas and Vicinity, Inc. (FASAGLVI).” For many Filipino Americans, hometown associations and other organizations gave recent immigrants a home away from home. In these associations, Filipinos found fellow kababayan, built networks, developed a sense of community, and found power in…