The San Diego Filipino

Calling all urban gardeners. I know there are so many of us in the area who grow so many beautiful gardens. There is a website called www.mygrowlist.org that you can check.

I just harvested the most delicious tomatoes (golden yellow, not found in the stores) and tiny eggplants. I also got a dehydrator and dried some thyme and sliced zucchinis. I will be drying some lavender and rosemary and mix in some sea salt with them. Yum Yum. Would like to hear what everyone else is growing.

Thanks to Ivan Rodriguez FilipinoDecals.com is now your source of things Filipino in the North County.

These past weeks my parents, who are visiting from Metro Manila, and I have gone to Edell’s in Mira Mesa close to Target. Her dishes are superb and her chicharon to die for. Also try the Visayan style bibingka. Not open on Sundays though. And don’t forget the sisig.

What a stunning display of how rich the Philippines is in natural resources especially in marine resources. I could have spent hours just looking at all the variety of colorful fishes and corals. The longer one stays looking, the more one sees.

Truly worth a visit when you go to San Francisco. I am especially proud of this section because my cousin who is an environmental lawyer had a hand in setting this up.

Today I was at Betchay’s in Penasquitos over the lunch hour to catch a glimpse of the singers performing on Saturday, May 30, 7:00PM at the Jenny Craig Pavilion at the University of San Diego (my alma mater). Three of the singers came — Kuh Ledesma, Zsa Zsa Padilla and Pops Fernandez. Regine Velasquez was unable to come.

There is so much talent among the Filipinos!!!

I also had the privilege of attending the book launching of MULTILINGUAL SAN DIEGO: Portraits of Language Loss and Revitalization edited by Ana Celia Zentella, Professor Emeriti at UCSD. The articles were written by UCSD students in Ethnic Studies and analyzes the vitality of the various language groups in San Diego and provides a historical overview of the city’s multilingual heritage. Included in the book is an article written by Ivy Dulay on the Filipino community.

The Pacific Rim Park in Palawan is quickly taking shape. For an update see

http://www.prppearls.blogspot.com/

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 10, 2009

The 1st Annual all High School Filipina/o Graduation to be celebrated in San Diego

Contact:  Patricia Guevarra, HS FilGrad Committee

email:      Hsfilgrad09@gmail.com 

San Diego, CA – Philippine American Youth Organization (PAYO), Kuya Ate Mentorship Program (KAMP), and Filipino American Educators Association (FILAMEDA) will be hosting the 1st Annual all High School Filipino/a Graduation (HS FilGrad). The celebration will take place on Sunday, June 14, 2009 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Filipino American Veterans Association Hall in San Diego.   

With such a large community of Filipina/os in San Diego, it is important we take time to celebrate the successes of our youth. The purpose of this celebration is to recognize the achievements of all San Diego High School Filipino/a graduating seniors by showing and giving them community support. 

“The event will add to the rich tradition of the Bayanihan Spirit we display here in the U.S.,” said HS FilGrad Committee Member Lily Prijoles. 

As organizations that work closely with Filipino/a youth in the classrooms and in the community, they understand the importance of providing recognition to our graduating High School Seniors in San Diego. 

“We want this event to be the best example of community support for the achievement of our youth,” Julius Alejandro, HSFilGrad Committee member stated. 

If you are interested in participating in the graduation ceremony or volunteering, please contact hsfilgrad09@gmail.com. 

For more info visit: www.myspace.com/payosd, www.kampsd.webs.com& www.filameda.org.

Please support this community event.

Last night’s final performance of Kundirana was incredible!!! So much energy and talent were on display from the nine very enthusiastic artists from De La Salle College. And all for a good cause — for the Bahay Pag-Asa Youth Center, a corrective and transformational facility exclusively for convicted youth offenders. Through the amazing efforts of a group of San Diegans chaired by Perly and Elaine, so much good work continues in the Philippines.

Bro. Gus Buquer, FSC who is the President of the La Salle Young Artists’ Foundation, Inc. has a very profound message written in the program: God sent me to carry out a mission, I believe I have accomplished it. And now it is time to move on and start again another task where God wants me to be.

What a great way to watch Manny Pacquiao’s victory as junior welterweight champion —-  with friends and family!! We all gathered for a great dinner with the typical Filipino spread prior to the game and then cheered him on. Typical of Manny he said he was just doing doing his job to make his fans happy.

According to a National Public Radio commentator, the streets of Manila were deserted during the game. Everyone was either at the moviehouse or at home watching.  Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!!!

The month of May will see the completion of a Pacific Rim Park in Puerto Princesa in Palawan.  Ten years ago the first park was built in Shelter Island by the group led by San Diego artist and architect James Hubbell. Parks have been built in Tijuana, Yantai in China and Vladivostok. The goal is to build more throughout the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean within the next ten years.  James Hubbell envisions a world that we would be excited about going into, one where we are aware of our interconnectedness. Through this project and as the parks get built, people build interconnections and make peace. Check out www.pacificrimparks.org and follow the blog on the Palawan site.

It was wonderful to see all the people celebrate Earth Day at Balboa Park. I remember when the festival was just beginning. My daughter, way back, started the Ecology Club at her high school  - that was in 1990 and we would all go to Earth Day as a family.

Right now we are trying to meet the 20 gallons of water a day challenge, installed solar lights outside,  and I am working on getting a solar cooker. We’ve cut down to about thirty-five loads of wash a year by investing in lots of clothing so that we do our wash at the end of every month.

I am so conscious of water use that I get very disturbed when I see the faucet  continue to run after someone washes his or her hand, grabs a paper towel, dries the hands and then uses this towel to turn off the faucet. That is plenty of water wasted. I do understand the intent behind this action of letting the water flow but under our desert-like conditions I think we’d better conserve. There is an another wasteful practice that I notice — and that is in the kitchen during the last stages of clean-up. I have seen the faucet running while the sink and the counters are being cleaned.

Let us be good to the earth so that the earth will be good to us.