It’s AAPI Heritage Month, AAPI meaning Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
As an American society, we haven’t really nailed down a consensus acronym for the American diaspora of people whose cultures hail from Asia or the Pacific. In addition to AAPI, I’ve seen APA (Asian Pacific American) and AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.)
Nonetheless, we have this month to unapologetically share and celebrate our traditions and, as a Filipino American, I love that.
Covering the broad diversity of communities in Northeast Ohio is a great way to learn about other cultures, which is one my favorite parts of this job.
It also gives me an opportunity to share aspects of my own Filipino American culture. A few years ago, I wrote about a new PBS cartoon about Filipino-American kids, who reminded me a lot of my own family.
In the 88th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards documentary, I featured a local chef who cooked a traditional Filipino breakfast – spamsilog, which has eggs, garlic fried rice and Spam.
“I love cooking. As Filipinos, that’s how we connect,” said chef Shaan Dela Cruz. “As a non-Filipino, if you go to a Filipino house, they’re going to ask you, ‘Have you eaten yet?’ That’s how we show generosity and hospitality.”
Last fall, I introduced a cultural Filipino dance called “tinikling” to our NewsDepth audiences. For this dance, two people make a beat with long bamboo sticks and dancers step and jump over the bamboo sticks, careful not to get their feet whacked.
“It started off, my grandma kind of forced me into it, but then over the years I really started liking it and I feel really close to my culture when I do this dance and other Filipino dances,” said Angela Madamba, one of the tinikling performers I spoke to last year.
Madamba and her tinikling crew – the Philippine American Society of Ohio Dance Troupe – will be performing at the Cleveland Asian Festival this weekend.
I will be on stage as well. I’ve been an emcee since 2019 and I’ll keep that tradition alive for the two-day festival. I’ll also be singing some cover songs by Filipino and Filipino American musicians for an acoustic jam on the second day of the festival with fellow Ideastreamer and fellow Filipino American Chris Dudley.
If you see Chris and me, don’t be a stranger.
Salamat (thank you).
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