GottaLoveMom

The Freedom Tower. NEW YORK. Need I say more? When people think of America, the first thing that comes to mind is New York City. Interestingly, when my train arrived at Penn Station New York, I was amazed at how many languages were spoken.  I passed 5 groups of people and none of them spoke English. It's the proof of the notion that New York City is America's melting pot. It was a beautiful autumn day when my husband and I decided to spend a day in New York. The City will always hold a special place in my heart because it's where we met and made our relationship official. We were excited to visit the World Trade District and witness the developments made to the Freedom Tower. News of the first tenants moving into the newly built One World Trade Center, 13 years after the September 11 attacks, gave us a little sense of pride and inspiration. Is the city ready to move forward?

(L-R: Pianist Yasuhiko Fukuoka,  TOFANY Board Oliver Oliveros, Cristina DC Pastor and Elton Lugay) Filipino American History Month, also known as Filipino American Heritage Month, is celebrated in America in October. Various community leaders, advocates and their respective organizations schedule events and awards ceremonies   to recognize the history, heritage and accomplishments of organizations and individuals who have contributed to the betterment of the Filipino-American community. One special awards event dominates the social media mid-summer, sometime in July, when nominees are announced on Facebook.   By October, when every family, friends and colleagues have voted, everyone's newsfeed is flooded with the photo-profile of each outstanding nominee. Such event is the " The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFANY)"   - an awards ceremony held at Carnegie Hall. Yes, you read it right. "How do you get to Ca...

H ave you ever felt helpless, can't concentrate, furious or restless? Well, I felt ALL that last month! October brought a massive surge of negative emotions that I couldn't push out, no matter how hard I tried. My  to-do list included: 1) Publish part 2 of  Out of Status 2) Finish the screenplay for a documentary 3) Exercise 4) Read a book - beginning to end 5) Follow-up my mother's immigrant petition 6) Renew health insurance plan BUT I wasn't getting anywhere -- well, except the exercise. Items 1 to 4 are non-essentials and didn't have a definite deadline, while 5 was important to me, 6 needed immediate decision. Immigration I talked about my family's immigration story in my book, " Out of Status"    , with hopes that one day, legislation would change -- especially the 10 year travel ban for those who overstayed. The thought that we're 13 months away from revisiting...