Representing your home country in a major sport is one of the many important responsibilities athletes hold. It is unfortunate that most cannot represent their country because of the potential risk of injury before a sport season starts. It is also rare to see an Asian athlete, let alone a Filipino, in baseball, football, basketball and hockey, which are the four major sports in the U.S. However, there is one individual that truly stands out as one of the best to represent th

The conversation between the Filipinos who left the island and those who stayed is ongoing and as passionate as ever. The subject of the Filipino identity is one way this heated dialogue continues: what is it that defines the essence of “Filipino-ness”? Having survived colonization and WWII, some argue that Filipinos don’t have an identity that is not influenced by colonizers. However, why is it that we are so quick to limit the definition of this identity to solely one? The

Coco is a recent art graduate from Laguna College of Art + Design and has a passion for telling stories through her colorfully, whimsical art style that may be viewed on her online portfolio. As a Filipino-American, she paved her way into the art scene and continues to grow every day through her wonderful style. Drawing since a young age, Coco took art more seriously around the 4th grade and pulls inspiration from her childhood, whether it's celebrating it or depicting growth

Amanda Pascual is a recent graduate of Sacramento State University. Through her love of painting and printmaking, she wishes to represent her Filipino American culture through her idea of home. She wants the diverse Asian American population to be better represented in the art scene. She is also the current Art Editor for both Chopsticks Alley Pinoy and our sister organization, Chopsticks Alley Art. Like most Filipino Americans, her decision to become an artist was not immedi

Kenneth Tan Ronquillo is a San Jose based Filipino artist whose beginnings started with an unconventional move: he left Southern California, homeward bound, to help care for Crescenciana Tan, his grandma, or “lola” in Tagalog, when she turned ninety-four. In our recent interview with Kenneth, he shares that he wanted to find a way to make the most of their time together, by coming up with the idea of collaborative art. His lola makes the paintings, and his promise is to finis

A Filipino history lacks visibility in the eyes of society and more importantly for today’s Filipino and Filipino Americans. Why is this such a common issue with our youth and communities? We can begin to form a few assumptions that fall back on our Filipino identity and narrative, more precisely the narrative of Philip Vera Cruz’s reflection and criticism on the farmworkers movement that explores the Filipino political activism involved in the Grape Strike or the 1965 Delano