SCRATCH THE NEWS
Filipno Americans In Our Midst
by Cristina D.C. Pastor
Inkwater Press
www.inkwaterpress.com
Copyright 2005

The term "Filipino Americans" would lead one to a false trail. Thus, the caveat in the book's title page:

"For this book I included some Filipinos who are neither citizens nor legal residents, but are in the country for medical or academic reasons. Whatever their status, their stories weave through the fabric of Filipino life in the U.S."

The book is more aptly descriptive of profiles of Filipinos IN America, covering the gamut of TNT's, bagong salta, permanent residents, the famous and not-so-famous, and bonafide hyphenated Americans of Filipino descent. Far from being a mere name-drop listing, one's reaction could be "You mean SHE'S Filipino?" or "He can't BE Filipino!" The author posits that if you scratch the news, "chances are a Filipino is wedged somewhere between the folds: he could be the whistleblower, the witness, the victim, the suspect, or the casual bystander."

Pastor's profiles serve as jumping boards for the skeptic to say "they're Filipinos?" ... The profiles include (namedropping a few here:) Maria Madonna Davidoff, Michelle Malkin, Robert Rivas, Therese Rodriguez, Eddy Badrina, Jr., Darwyn Chern, and Michelle Nyce.

More familiar newsmakers include: Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba, author of the Report on the Abu Ghraib prison, NY's top stockpicker Gene Marcial and Judge Nina Elgo, the first Asian judge appointed to the Superior Court of Connecticut.

OOV Bookshelf 2007

SEPTEMBER 2007 FEATURE COMMON DESTINY Filipino American Generations by Juanita Tamayo Lott Mga Gerilya sa Powell Street ni Benjamin Pimentel LAKBAY SINING readings on cultural development in the Philippines by Various Authors The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes by Eileen R. Tabios Into the Country of Standing Men by Rey Ventura A Woman Pope, Neanderthals & Other Stories by Denis Murphy Salvaged Poems By Emman Lacaba U.G. An Underground Tale The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First Quarter Storm Generation by Benjamin Pimentel MAY 2007 FEATURE The Bride Anthology by Patria Rivera 25 Chickens and a Pig for the Bride by Evangeline Canonizado Buell Not at the Table, Please! By Quirico S. Samonte, Jr. SCRATCH THE NEWS Filipino Americans In Our Midst by Cristina D.C. Pastor On the Presence of Filipinos in the United States by E. San Juan, Jr.