This Filipino American Life
215 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★★ - 360 ratingsA podcast that explores the nuanced experiences of Filipinos in the United States, atbp.
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Episodes
Episode 29 – Chat w/ Pinay Entrepreneur Freya Estreller, co-founder of CoolHaus Ice Cream
October 17, 2018 22:42 - 185 MBI Scream! You Scream! We all scream for ice cream….sandwiches by Coolhaus! If you remember the food truck craze about 10 years ago, then you may have seen the hip, colorful, fixed up postal van-turned-ice-cream truck from CoolHaus that roamed the streets of Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York. What started off as a fun...
Episode 28.5 – Stockton’s Little Manila, Journey for Justice, and the Legacy of Dawn Mabalon
October 01, 2018 16:47 - 188 MBStockton, California, an agricultural city in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, was the center of Filipino life in the United States for much of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1920s, thousands of Filipinos called Stockton home. The intersection of El Dorado and Lafayette Streets in downtown Stockton was the heart of what...
Episode 28 – TFAL talks Voice Acting (and Secrets & Fears)
September 12, 2018 20:56 - 177 MBOn this episode of TFAL the crew shares their memories about their favorite cartoons and imagine what a Filipino American cartoon show would look like! We then geek out with Eric Bauza (voice of Marvin the Martian and countless other characters that he will recount in the episode) and three time return guest Earl Baylon, […]
Episode 27.5 – The TFAL Game Show!!
August 29, 2018 16:08 - 98.8 MBHey there TPals! In this episode, we change things up a bit and host our first ever TFAL Game Show! Listen as Elaine, Ryan, and special guest Berto battle it out over Filipino and Filipino American-related trivia questions. Earl Baylon also serves as a special guest judge. Who knows the name of the Philippine Vice...
Episode 27 – TFAL goes to DC
August 18, 2018 14:00 - 205 MBLincoln Memorial at night. According to 2016 Census estimates, there are over 87,000 Filipino Americans in the Washington DC Metro area, and over 175,000 when you include all of Virginia and Maryland. But as an LA-based podcast, we only occasionally get insights into what life is like beyond Pacific Standard Time. So when Producer Mike...
Bonus Episode – TFAL talks Crazy Rich Asians
August 09, 2018 15:31 - 99.2 MBOn this bonus episode the TFAL crew talks about the recent phenomenon that is Crazy Rich Asians. The popular novel by Kevin Kwan debuted in 2013. The film premieres this month with high expectations. Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, and director Jon M. Chu grace the cover of Hollywood Reporter with the cover story The...
Episode 26.5 – Filipino American Weddings
August 02, 2018 15:58 - 148 MB(Photo Credit: In The Clouds Events) The union of two people is a very momentous occasion and the catalyst for much celebration throughout human history. Weddings signify many things from the love of two people, the alliance of two families, and the coming together of a community. Weddings also signify exclusion. Marriages were and still...
Episode 26 – TFAL Meats Kris Wolf
July 19, 2018 13:31 - 156 MBGrowing up in the 1980s there was WWF and WCW on the airwaves. Depending on where you grew up, you idolized wrestlers from either show. Guest contributor Berto Ponce wrote about his love of wrestling for TFAL and how it lead to the creation of #BalutClub in the article Balut Club is Too Sweet. It’s...
Episode 25.5 – The Bakit List 2.0
July 03, 2018 16:26 - 89.5 MBWhy do Filipinos put raisins in everything? Why are there so many Fil Am Justins? Why is every current Philippine movie released in the U.S. about some drug lord? Bakit? Bakit? Bakit???? In this TFAL mini-episode, we goofballs tackle these life-changing questions and more! We don’t have all of the answers (or any logical ones...
Episode 25 – Filipino Americans and Panethnic Identity
June 19, 2018 16:29 - 233 MBAs a Filipino, do you identify as an Asian American? Do you feel more affinity towards Mexican Americans and other Latinos? Do you believe Filipinos are Pacific Islanders? Do Filipino Americans belong to a specific “race”? These are some questions Filipino Americans grapple with all the time. Living in the United States, “Asian,” “Pacific Islander,”...
Episode 24.5 – TFAL Goes to Las Vegas: Michael and Lynn Arage; Carl Araneta
June 06, 2018 18:33 - 183 MBAlthough Las Vegas is more than just America’s playground, we could not do a Vegas show without talking about the gaming industry and the combat sport industry. Las Vegas is arguably the most popular gambling city in the world and the fight capital of the United States. As kids, we may have gone to play...
Episode 24 – TFAL Goes to Las Vegas: Gloria Caoile and Rozita Lee; Tessa Winkelmann
May 23, 2018 15:40 - 160 MBThink Vegas is only about gambling, partying, and buffets? Think again. Las Vegas is also home to a fierce bunch of activists trying to make a difference in the Filipino American community. In this episode, the TFAL crew talks to long time political advocates, Gloria Caoile and Rozita Lee. These fiery ladies have been organizing...
Episode 23.5 – TFAL Goes to Las Vegas: Intro and FNGR Podcast
May 08, 2018 15:53 - 97.7 MBViva Las Vegas!! On a weekend in April, the TFAL crew ventured to Sin City for a bit of R&R. Well, not really. TFAL went to Las Vegas to get a slice of Filipino American Life in the desert. Perhaps the most hyper-capitalist, hyper-sexualized city in the United States, Las Vegas is also home to...
Bonus Episode – TFAL meets ULAM
May 01, 2018 16:22 - 126 MBOn this bonus episode of TFAL podcast we talk to Filipino American filmmaker Alexandra Cuerdo and producer Rey Cuerdo about their film ULAM: Main Dish, which will be screening at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on Sunday, May 6th, 2018 at 4pm. How hungry did they get while making the documentary?...
Episode 23 – Filipino Healing Traditions w/ Herbalaria
April 18, 2018 05:51 - 206 MBIf you grew up in a Filipino household, it’s possible that you’ve had experiences with natural medicines or remedies — from your parents use of the aloe vera plant on a burn to the use of tawas as underarm deodorant. For TFAL co-host Ryan, he would have never known the healing effects of ginger root had...
Episode 22.5 – Filipino and Filipino American Slang
April 05, 2018 19:10 - 92.2 MBNaks naman, pre! Everyday, we hear a new term or phrase or acronym that we totes have to google. With the ever evolving ways of communicating, we can expect some of our words and phrases to be shortened and even more so, turn into widely-used slang. Slang has multiple uses. It can be used for...
Episode 22 – If The Virgin Mary Could Do It: A Conversation with WASI (We Are She Is).
March 20, 2018 16:46 - 173 MBWhat happens when you are in high school physics class and a classmate says “Do you play an instrument” and your answer is yes? Well for Merilou Salazar and Jesse Meehan, our guests on this episode of TFAL, they formed a three power chord knowing garage band called The Midol Poppers. After several iterations and...
Episode 21.5 – Filipinos and Black Panther
March 06, 2018 18:41 - 78.5 MBA recently article circulated social media after the release of the movie, Black Panther, detailing the connection between some of the costumes worn by the “Dora Milaje” — the all-female personal guard of the ruler of the fictional African country of Wakanda. Anthony Francisco, a Pinoy member of the film’s design team, apparently based the...
Episode 21 – Filipino Caregivers
February 24, 2018 04:30 - 201 MBTens of thousands of Filipinos work as caregivers in the United States, and more are recruited to Western nations to feed, bathe, and serve the elderly. It is a thankless, yet vital job that many Filipinos hold. Yet, in this line of work, many caregivers are abused, with some working 24 hours around the...
Episode 20.5 – Walang Hiya
February 06, 2018 16:59 - 135 MB“Ay nako…walang hiya ka!” or “Walang hiya si ________.” Many of us have heard these phrases before. It may be the ultimate insult, or the start of a juicy gossip story. But what is hiya? Hiya closely translates to “shame” in English. To say “walang hiya” is to accuse someone of having no shame. It’s a...
Buy us a cup of Ko-Fi!
February 06, 2018 16:56 - 5.3 MBHi TPals!! There’s a new way for folks to support your favorite Filipino American podcast: Kofi! If you don’t feel like donating on a monthly basis, feel free to buy us a cup of coffee through ko-fi! (We’re not really using your donation for coffee. All proceeds go to the operations of the show!). Find...
Episode 20 – Pop Culture and Cultural Appropriation
January 18, 2018 17:20 - 182 MBOn this episode of This Filipino American Life, the crew talks about their experiences with pop culture before hashing things out with pop culture scholar and fellow Pop Rocket podcaster, Karen Tongson. Find out who in the crew loves Steven Universe, music, food, gambling, and sports. (Hint hint: it’s someone in the picture.) Also listen...
Episode 19.5 – 2017 in Review
January 04, 2018 17:46 - 91.6 MBFor many of us (POCs specifically), 2017 was a challenging year. Trump’s reign as president and his attacks on the American people has alarmed even moderate conservatives. In the Philippines, Duterte’s drug war has amassed thousands of casualties among the country’s poor. And the demise of net neutrality may alter this very podcast. But not...
Episode 19 – Filipino Martial Arts
December 18, 2017 17:32 - 184 MBKali, Arnis, and Eskrima, or sometimes known as “Filipino Martial Arts (FMA),” has been practiced both in the Philippines and in the United States for generations. A mix of native Southeast Asian and domesticated European fighting styles, Filipino Martial Arts has been known to be one of the most efficient and powerful fighting systems in...
Episode 18.5 – Tuli or Supot?: Filipino American Circumcision
December 05, 2017 19:56 - 74 MBSome call it a rite of passage. Some consider it a ritual obligation. Some believe it’s a controversial matter, and some still consider it a health benefit. In this mega cringeworthy episode, we’re talking about Tuli, or male circumcision. The cultural practice of tuli is very common in the Philippines for boys around the ages...
Bonus Episode – Live at the 2016 Justice for Filipino American Veterans March
December 02, 2017 00:41 - 43.6 MBAs a follow-up to our last episode on Filipino WWII Veterans, we present to you a collage of sounds and interviews from last year’s Justice for Filipino Americans Veterans march in Hollywood, CA. It features interviews with students, community organizers, and a veteran, as well as the many chants that have come to characterize this...
Episode 18 – Filipino WWII Veterans
November 07, 2017 23:02 - 207 MBImages from the 2005 JFAV March in Historic Filipinotown (Photo Credits: Producer Mike) On November 11, 2017, Filipino American Veterans, students, and their allies will gather in Hollywood, CA for the 17th Annual Justice For Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) march. In fact, for many years now, throughout the country, Filipino Americans have been organizing...
Episode 17.5 – TFAL Goes to the Bay. Stories of Cannabis & Tech with Nina Parks and Carlo De La Fuente
October 31, 2017 16:25 - 126 MBOn this episode of This Filipino American Life we continue our Bay Area invasion and talk story with Filipino Americans in the Cannabis industry, as well as address the tech boom that’s associated with Silicon Valley and the many companies who dominate the area. Nina Parks of Mirage Medicinal educates the crew about how her work...
Episode 17 – TFAL Goes to the Bay: Lily Prijoles and Allan Manalo
October 17, 2017 20:56 - 128 MBThe San Francisco Bay Area is home to the 2nd largest Filipino population in the United States. Soma Pilipinas, the Filipino cultural district recently designated by the City of San Francisco, is the heart of Filipino America in the Bay. Last month, TFAL paid a visit to Soma Pilipinas to talk to some of the...
Episode 16.5 – TFAL goes to the Bay: Voicemails / Filipino Folklore
October 03, 2017 15:45 - 121 MBOnce upon a time…we started a podcast. Storytelling is one of the most fun ways we communicate in our podcast – sometimes through deep reflection and other times through funny interpretations of our past. More importantly, it was a way our parents, grandparents, or teachers were able to communicate important lessons and morals to us...
Episode 16 – The World Is Just A Bridge. Gaming and Dungeons & Dragons
September 11, 2017 18:58 - 186 MBOn this episode of This Filipino American Life the TFAL crew talks about video games and Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). We talk about who used video games as an escape, who did not really play as much as a kid, and who thought video games reinforced Eurocentric mythology. While we start the conversation around...
Episode 15.5 – Filipino American Hometown Associations
August 29, 2017 19:23 - 96 MB“Welcome to the Induction Ball of the Filipino Association of Sorsogueno Americans of Greater Las Vegas and Vicinity, Inc. (FASAGLVI).” For many Filipino Americans, hometown associations and other organizations gave recent immigrants a home away from home. In these associations, Filipinos found fellow kababayan, built networks, developed a sense of community, and found power in...
Episode 15 – Lab and Basketball: Hoops from a Filipino American Perspective
August 15, 2017 18:40 - 149 MBBasketball has a special place in the hearts of many Filipinos and Filipino Americans alike. One cannot visit the Philippines and not notice Filipinos playing on the millions of makeshift basketball hoops, barangay courts, and gymnasiums throughout the country. Likewise, one would be hard-pressed to know a Filipino American (particularly male) who does not follow...
Bonus Episode – “About Tita” by Lauren Lola
August 07, 2017 18:44 - 17.8 MBIn the photo: the great aunt and father of Lauren Lola. Hey TFALers! Here’s a bonus episode brought to you by TFAL superfan, Lauren Lola, about her great aunt, Justita. We are collecting any stories that is out there in the Filipino American community. If you have any audio stories to share, please email us...
Episode 14.5 – #TFALheartsOPM
July 25, 2017 09:03 - 78.9 MBCheats performing in Los Angeles in 2017 OPM, or Original Pilipino Music, is a term that once referred primarily to the ballads and love songs popular in the Philippines in the 1970s and 1980s. A modern take on the harana traditions, these songs were sung mostly in Tagalog and were often tied to equally emotive...
Episode 14 – On TFAL’s Wings: Thoughts on Filipino Catholicism with Father Radmar Jao
July 05, 2017 18:16 - 234 MBTake me to Church! As Filipino Americans, most of us were raised Catholic. With over 80% of the people in the Philippines identifying as Catholic, it’s no surprise that those of us in the TFAL crew grew up going to church every weekend, observing religious holidays, and some even going to Catholic school. On this...
Episode 13.5 – The Manny Pacquiao Era
June 19, 2017 17:24 - 111 MBFor about a decade, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao captured the hearts of millions of Americans and people throughout the world. He became a household name for even the casual American boxing fan because of his electrifying punches, religious humility, and off-tune singing. Even fans of his opponents loved the guy for his rags-to-riches story. Manny Pacquiao...
Episode 13 – Filipinos and Gentrification
June 05, 2017 16:15 - 196 MBApparently, cities are back. People are moving back into the inner core of cities. Coffee shops, bars, and artisanal eateries are thriving in certain neighborhoods. Millennials are ditching their cars for public transportation. Politicians are touting the brand new economy of “hipster-dom” that is reviving cities nationwide. But what do these changes mean for families...
Bonus Episode – “The Filipino and the Drunkard”
May 30, 2017 17:08In this short bonus episode, TFAL presents a retelling of the short story, “The Filipino and the Drunkard.” Written in 1935 by William Saroyan, this short story tells the tale of a young Filipino who is aboard a ferry boat in 1930s San Francisco. While waiting to go across the Bay to visit his brother,...
Episode 12.5 – Reflections on “My Family’s Slave” and Katulong Culture
May 25, 2017 15:31Most of us have read “My Family’s Slave” on the Atlantic, written by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Tizon. The article saddened us, angered us, and confused us. What’s to make of the story of Eudocia Pulido, aka Lola, who toiled her whole life against her will and without pay for a family that wasn’t...
Episode 12 – Chef’s Choice: A conversation with Chef Dale Talde
May 08, 2017 16:50If you’ve been listening to the show you’ll know that we love food at This Filipino American Life. We love talking about it in our personal life, with strangers, and on the podcast. TFAL resident reality checker Gerlie and graphic designer Vince join us for a bit as we share our favorite Filipino restaurants....
Bonus Episode – Flip The Record with TFAL
May 05, 2017 22:30On this bonus episode of TFAL Elaine and Producer Mike talk to director Marie Jamora, producer Jason McLagan, and actor Michael Rosete from the short film Flip the Record. The one line synopsis is: In this 1980s coming-of-age story set to pulsing hip-hop music, a Filipino-American teen discovers her identity through a budding talent for turntablism. However...
Episode 11.5 – Palo!
April 24, 2017 16:59Photo credit: Ted Visaya Design “You want palo??” If you grew up in a Filipino household, you probably know what the word palo means. Palo, a Tagalog word that means spank, which derived from the Spanish word palo or stick (those colonizers yo!), is a form of punishment used to discipline misbehaving children. To a kid, hearing that...
Episode 11 – Undocumented Filipinos
April 10, 2017 15:52As Filipino Americans, we all know or know of someone in our lives who is undocumented. That one uncle who left his family in the Philippines. That one auntie who’s always “fixing her papers.” That one friend who doesn’t leave the house very often. According to various statistical computations, Filipinos who are undocumented in the...
Episode 10.5 – TV Party
March 27, 2017 18:18On this mini episode we talk TV! What were your favorite TV shows growing up? As 80s babies we rehash our love of Saturday morning cartoons, Saved By The Bell, and A-Team. Do you remember Ernie Reyes Jr on Sidekicks? Or are you a fan of TJ Perkins on WWE? What would a Filipino American...
Episode 10 – Filipinos in the Nursing Industry
March 14, 2017 18:16Are you a nurse? Do you know someone or are you related to someone in the nursing field? (Hahaha…of course you do!). Ever wonder why there are so many Filipino nurses in the United States? The statistics are astonishing. According to Aaron Terrazas and Jeanne Batalova from the Migrant Policy Institute, nearly one of every...
Episode 9.5 – Hilaw Pa 2.0…or Siri Is Too Serious
March 06, 2017 17:27Is there a use for Filipino American holiday? Is there a way to accommodate bigger and bigger family parties? Is there a better way to transport stuff to loved ones in the Philippines? Why, yes, of course!!! The TFAL crew answers all these questions and more in their second installment of Hilaw Pa where we...
Episode 9 – Love Life of An Asian Guy
February 21, 2017 17:43On this episode of This Filipino American Life, the TFAL crew talks about their experiences with blogging. Blogspot, Xanga, Livejournal and countless other internet sites were the home to our early 00s thoughts and terrible spoken word poetry. In this new era of blogging, Facebook has become the home of writing down these thoughts. One...
Episode 8.5 – Slow Jamz
February 10, 2017 16:57Play another slow jam, this time make it sweet…a slow jam. Many Filipino Americans love slow jamz, that sweet, loving, largely African American-composed music that dominated late nights on urban radio stations during the 1980s and 1990s. They made slow jam mix tapes and gave it to girls, they sang them on karaoke, there were...
Episode 8 – Did you eat yet?: A Conversation with Filipino Kitchen
January 20, 2017 17:24Nakakaon ka na ba? Kumain na kayo? Nangan kan? Did you eat yet? Ah yes…the question your parents/grandparents/family members ask you as you walk in the door. Among Filipinos, it’s a more common way to say hello. Food is perhaps the most innate thing that makes us human. It keeps us alive. It comforts us. ...