Safe Travels To All My Friends Travelling This Long Weekend

-

Flashback to last summer's get-together

Hiddenbrooke, Vallejo, CA. July 29, 2023.

Happy travels to those in Iceland, and the ones embarking on a cruise today to "sunny SoCal." Take lots of pix and send some this way.

Salamat.
Left to right: Rudy Jandoc, J.F. Perseveranda, Glenn Pingol, Missy Cabrera, Rachel Garcia, Jim Abad, Gloria Arzaga-Vega, Tony Palisoc, Ben Carbonell, Tony Magbitang, and Joe Jang.


Join us & help build an online community.

Please leave a comment, and click to follow our website pinoybuilt.com.

Click on a tag below to browse.

Comments

Post a Comment

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

Popular posts from this blog

AncestryDNA Is $34 Through October 20: Why I'm Asking My Relatives and Friends to Join Me

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • October 2026. AncestryDNA Is $34 Through October 20: Why I'm Asking My Relatives and Friends to Join Me. ancestrydna sale 2026, ancestry dna $34, filipino dna test, filipino ancestry dna results, jose rizal chinese ancestry, out of taiwan filipino dna, filipino genealogy, family history, 10/7. GENEALOGY • OCTOBER 2026 AncestryDNA Is $34 Through October 20: Why I'm Asking My Relatives and Friends to Join Me The kit is $34, plus shipping, until October 20. My cousin Melvin, Nica, and Chesca are already linked with me on Ancestry. Jian's kit is next. Here is why your family should be there too. PinoyBuilt hero image for the October 2026 AncestryDNA sale. My cousin Melvin Perseveranda, Tito Maning's eldest, got his AncestryDNA results earlier this year, after I got mine. So did Nica and Chesca. We are all linked on Ancestry now. That leaves Jian. I bought him a kit, and he hasn't taken it or sent it in yet. ...
Read more

Wesley So's Fourth U.S. Chess Title Starts on a Filipino Street Corner

-
Image
Saint Louis • October 2026. Wesley So's Fourth U.S. Chess Title Starts on a Filipino Street Corner. Wesley So, fourth U.S. Chess Championship, 2026 U.S. Chess Championship, Fabiano Caruana, Filipino American chess grandmaster, Eugene Torre, Philippine chess history, Bobby Fischer 1972, Saint Louis Chess Club, Bacoor Cavite, Filipino American History Month, chess Marikina, 10/22. CHESS • OCTOBER 2026 Wesley So's Fourth U.S. Chess Title Starts on a Filipino Street Corner Wesley So lost his last classical game, slept two or three hours, and beat Fabiano Caruana in the playoff for his first U.S. title since 2021. I first saw chess on two Philippine street corners in one day. A PinoyBuilt illustration: a makeshift board on a sari-sari store crate, a crowd gathered around it, and a staircase of squares climbing toward the championship tables of Saint Louis, the road Wesley So and generations of Filipino street players have traveled. In Mar...
Read more

The Forgotten History of Filipino Solidarity: Larry Itliong & the UFW

-
Image
History & Justice • Solidarity Archive The Forgotten History of Filipino Solidarity From the Delano Grape Strike to modern movements: Remembering the power of Kababayan and collective action. Larry Itliong and Cesar Chavez led the Filipinos and Mexicans to form the United Farm Workers. As a U.S.-born, mixed-ethnicity Fil-Am, I find it puzzling and even appalling that many of my fellow Pinoys/Pinays conveniently forgot their history. We have always known that helping others less fortunate is ingrained in our DNA, yet many of us have assimilated into a way of life that prioritizes "getting ahead" over the plight of our own community. "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Why do we turn our backs on the Black and Latino communities when we share more with them than we do with our European brothers and sisters?" Decades ago, we stood with our Latino/a/x brothers and si...
Read more

Remembering Pinsan Jun: Chicago, December 1987, After Medusa’s

-
Image
Chicago, IL • October 2026. Remembering Pinsan Jun: Chicago, December 1987, After Medusa’s. jun rivera, leonardo rivera jr, allan rivera, jason palma, medusa’s chicago, medusa’s on sheffield, chicago 1987, albany park chicago, gordon tech, barr tower lakeview, filipino american chicago, chicago nightlife, clubbing, barkada, kabataan, in memoriam, 10/25. Chicago • December 1987 Remembering Pinsan Jun: Chicago, December 1987, After Medusa’s Jun Rivera would have turned 58 today. A street corner in Albany Park, his Mustang, and the three of us fresh out of Medusa’s on a night I still can’t pin to a date. Chicago, late December 1987 (or possibly January 1988): J.F., Jun and Allan Rivera on a corner in Albany Park after Medusa’s, with Jun’s Mustang in the bottom right corner. Photo by Liza. Jun Rivera would have turned 58 today. I already posted one photo of him earlier today, the Blue Rock Springs birthday party in Vallejo in 2004 . This is the o...
Read more

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Cousin Jun: Remembering Leonardo Rivera Jr. of Chicago

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • October 2026. Happy Heavenly Birthday, Cousin Jun: Remembering Leonardo Rivera Jr. of Chicago. 10/25, 10/9, heavenly birthday, jun rivera, leonardo rivera jr, bernadette rivera, ninong, filipino american family, chicago filipino family, algonquin illinois, blue rock springs park vallejo, in memoriam, kapamilya, fil-am, belated birthday. Heavenly Birthday • October 2026 Happy Heavenly Birthday, Cousin Jun: Remembering Leonardo Rivera Jr. of Chicago On what would have been his 58th birthday, a tribute to Jun Rivera, the Chicago cousin and ninong I call a brother from another mother, and a belated birthday greeting to his wife, Bernadette. Vallejo, October 9, 2004: the Riveras, in from Chicago, at a family birthday party at Blue Rock Springs Park. Jun, Nica’s ninong, stands with his wife Bernadette, baby Kadence, and his brother Allan. Happy Heavenly Birthday, Cousin Jun. Leonardo Rivera Jr. was born on O...
Read more

Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry. hiraya manawari meaning, ancient tagalog phrase, filipino manifestation, reach your dreams filipino, baybayin tattoo hiraya, decolonize filipino identity, pre-colonial philippines language, hiraya manawari tv show abs-cbn, filipino words of power, fil-am cultural reclamation. DECOLONIZE • MARCH 2026 Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry How an archaic Tagalog phrase meaning "may the visions of your heart come to pass" survived colonialism, powered a beloved 90s TV show, and is now reclaiming Filipino identity — one tattoo, one graduation caption, and one whispered prayer at a time. There are words in every language that carry more weight than their syllables suggest. In English, we have "freedom." In Japanese, ikigai . In ...
Read more

The Colorism Within Us: Celebrating Multi-Facted Filipino Identities

-
Image
When I was younger, I used to compare and contrast my skin tone to my sisters’ skin tones. My eldest sister had the lightest skin. My middle sister had the darkest skin. My skin was found somewhere in the middle. My eldest ate used cosmetics, like Eskinol, to keep a fairer complexion. We could only find these types of products at the local Filipino market or at Seafood City. My second eldest ate, who usually got negative comments on her darker complexion, refrained from using the products. Source: Belo Men Ad I wanted to try these products for myself, but was advised not to because of my young age. I had no idea what the products did. I had no idea why my family used them. I just knew that I wanted it. I wanted to look like my eldest sister so that people wouldn’t say that I wasn’t light enough. Filipinos, along with other brown Asians, have been contrasted to East Asians and their hyped stereotypes. Unfortunately, the popular ideology of colorism within the lar...
Read more