Thanksgiving 2003: Another family photo

-

Turkey Day 2003

Vallejo, CA. November 27, 2003. At our old house on Overlook. Jian is still the baby.

Left to right: Tito Maning, Tita Lila on her cell phone, Tita Gigi, Tita Puring, Dad, Tita Nene, Dad, Tito Ed, Joy, Keo, Nica, Rosanne, Tess, Jian, and Melvin.


Comments

Post a Comment

Hi! Thank you for dropping by. Please leave us a comment. Sige na!

Popular posts from this blog

Negros 19: Massacre or Legitimate Encounter in Toboso?

-
Image
Negros Occidental • April 2026. Negros 19: Massacre or Legitimate Encounter in Toboso? negros 19 toboso, lyle prijoles filipino american, alyssa alano up diliman, rj ledesma altermidya, bayan usa, lfs sfsu, fil-am activist killed, philippine insurgency 2026, red-tagging, npa clash. Negros Occidental • April 2026 Negros 19: Massacre or Legitimate Encounter in Toboso? A 40-year-old Filipino American from California was among 19 people killed in a 12-hour firefight in Negros Occidental on April 19, 2026. The Armed Forces of the Philippines calls it a lawful encounter. BAYAN USA and rights groups call it a massacre. Here is what is verified, what is contested, and why this one should matter to every Fil-Am household. Northern Negros Occidental, where the 12-hour firefight in Sitio Sinugmawan, Barangay Salamanca, Toboso, left 19 people dead on April 19, 2026. The first shots were fired at 3:58 AM. By ...
Read more

San Diego State, A.B. Samahan, and Fall 2026: What Filipino-American Families Need to Know

-
Image
San Diego, California • April 2026. San Diego State, A.B. Samahan, and Fall 2026: What Filipino-American Families Need to Know. sdsu admissions 2026, ab samahan, filipino american college, san diego state university, california university admissions, fil-am students sdsu, socal, national city filipino community. EDUCATION • CALIFORNIA • APRIL 2026 San Diego State, A.B. Samahan, and Fall 2026: What Filipino-American Families Need to Know SDSU is not a backup. It is home to one of the oldest and largest Filipino-American student organizations in the country — and for many Fil-Am families, it is the right school for reasons the rankings will never capture. April 2018: Nica's senior year in high school. My kids Francesca, JianCarlo & Veronica pose in front of Hepner Hall with Diego, an SDSU student (and son of my next door neighbor in the Philippines). Every spring, Filipino-American families in Califor...
Read more

Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo

-
Image
Vallejo, California • March 2026. Mel Orpilla: Historian, Martial Artist, and Keeper of Vallejo's Filipino Memory. mel orpilla, vallejo filipino history, filipinos in vallejo, balintawak arnis, island warrior fighting sticks, manong generation, mare island naval shipyard, fil-am history, ifugao, ilocano heritage, pamana, filipino american history month. Vallejo, CA • Filipino American History Month 2026 Marks of the Ancestors: Mel Orpilla and the Filipino Story of Vallejo Historian, martial artist, and cultural keeper Mel Orpilla has spent decades ensuring that the Filipino presence in Vallejo—one of the oldest in Northern California—is documented, honored, and passed on. Mel Orpilla — historian, Balintawak Arnis master, and keeper of Vallejo's Filipino memory. 📍 Vallejo, California In the city of Vallejo, history lives in unexpected places. It lives in faded photographs tucked into family albums, in stor...
Read more

Learn Tagalog: Exploring the Soul of Destiny with "Tadhana" by Up Dharma Down

-
Image
Learn Filipino • April 2026. Learn Tagalog: Exploring the Soul of Destiny with "Tadhana" by Up Dharma Down. tadhana, tagalog, opm, up dharma down, armi millare, destiny, filipino values, learn tagalog, grammar, linkers, markers, fil-am. Learn Filipino • April 2026 Learn Tagalog: Exploring the Soul of Destiny with "Tadhana" by Up Dharma Down From indie breakout to pambansang anthem: how one OPM song became the gateway for Filipino Americans rediscovering their roots—and what the word tadhana reveals about our deepest values. Now with three grammar lessons for Fil-Am kids and adults who never had formal Pilipino classes. Tadhana — the Filipino concept of destiny — captured in one of OPM's most enduring songs. I was driving on I-80 through Vallejo with my bunso when I first really heard it—not as background noise, but as a full reckoning. She was playing DJ from her iPhone, tapping through Spotify, which I love for h...
Read more

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino

-
Image
Philippines • April 2026. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino. laguna copperplate inscription, philippine history, pre-colonial philippines, tondo kingdom, baybayin, decolonization, antoon postma, 900 CE, namwaran, kawi script. Philippine History • April 2026 The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino On April 21, 900 CE — 1,126 years ago today — a scribe inscribed Old Malay, Sanskrit, and Old Tagalog onto a sheet of copper in the Kingdom of Tondo. What he created is proof that Filipino civilization was literate, legally sophisticated, and globally connected six centuries before Magellan ever set foot on our shores. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, dated April 21, 900 CE — the oldest written document ever found in the Philippines. National Museum of Anthropology, Manila. When I was a ...
Read more

Learn Filipino: How Arthur Nery's "Isa Lang" Teaches the Language of Singular Devotion

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • April 2026. Learn Filipino: Arthur Nery's "Isa Lang" teaches Tagalog vocabulary, Filipino values, katapatan, singularity, OPM neo-soul, diaspora identity, tagalog word of the day. Learn Filipino • Word Studies • April 2026 Learn Filipino: How Arthur Nery's "Isa Lang" Teaches the Language of Singular Devotion One phrase. 464 million streams. A master class in Tagalog vocabulary, Filipino values, and why the language of your lolo sounds like this. Arthur Nery's "Isa Lang" — the OPM love song that taught a generation of diaspora kids what their grandparents already knew. | Photo: Viva Records I have a confession to make as a 1.5-generation Filipino: some of the deepest Tagalog I know came not from a classroom but from songs playing in the kitchen while my mother cooked. Not textbooks — adobo steam and music. That is how language has always survived in the diaspora. And right now, the ...
Read more

Christmas Day 2025: Dominic & Paige

-
Image
Maligayang Pasko Kapamilya at Kababayan! 🎄 2025 December 25: Vallejo, California. Dominic and Paige. Dominic & Paige - 2005 July 16 Here you go Paige and Dominic. Flashback to Chesca's first birthday at Blue Rock when I shot this photo. Paige's lola brought her and her sisters. Twenty years ago! 💛 Explore Filipino American heritage, culture, and stories! Join our Fil-Am community to connect, comment, celebrate, and share experiences. Mabuhay! 📌 Follow  PinoyBuilt Instagram 👍 Like  PinoyBuilt Facebook ✍️ Follow  PinoyBuilt Blog 📺 Follow  PinoyBuilt YouTube 🎓 Interested in helping us create content? Apply as a  college intern  and join our team! #PinoyPride #PinoyCommunity #FilAm #FilipinoAmerican #PilipinoAmerican
Read more