The Ayala Foundation USA, in cooperation with the Philippine Consulate General in New York, sponsored a book launch of two books on the Filipino Diaspora, Gemma Nemenzo’s Heart In Two Places: An Immigrant’s Journey and Cristina DC Pastor’s Scratch the News: Filipino Americans In Our Midst, at the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Scores of friends and booklovers from the Filipino Community attended the event which benefited the GILAS Project of AF USA.
Permanent Representative of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Hilario Davide, Jr., Leslie B. Gatan, Minister to the Philippine Mission, and Consul General Cecilia Rebong spoke at the Book Launch. In addition, Neni Santa Romana Cruz, author of the best seller of “You Know You’re Filipino if…” and journalist Olivia Quinto, lauded the fine work of Gemma Nemenzo and Cristina Pastor respectively. Ronna Reyes Sieh, Co-Chair of the Ayala Foundation USA’s GILAS New York Tri-State Team, talked briefly about the GILAS Project. Second Secretary to the Philippine Mission Jimmy Blas served as emcee for the evening.
Gemma Nemenzo’s Heart In Two Places: An Immigrant’s Journey, is a collection of her columns in Filipinas magazine, where she is the managing editor.
Her essays chronicle her family’s experiences as expats in the U.S. – stories that resonate with readers because these are their stories too. In the book, she speaks from various vantage points: as a single mother trying to raise three kids while making it in America, as a middle-aged American and Filipino whose memories of the homeland “keep my spirits alive.”
Cristina DC Pastor’s Scratch the News: Filipino Americans In Our Midst is a collection of stories and articles exploring the complex and varied culture inhabited and created by the Filipino American community. For example, she profiles outspoken syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, influential stock analyst Gene Marcial, Major General Antonio Taguba, who penned the confidential memo detailing the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, as well as first Asian American judge in Connecticut Nina Elgo, among others. The collection also celebrates ordinary citizens at the center of extraordinary stories, such as the conjoined twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre, the FilAms in the NYPD and the United Nations. The articles have been published in Philippine News, where Pastor is managing editor, and Filipinas Magazine.
Profits from the sales from Heart In Two Places: An Immigrant’s Journey (www.filipinasmag.com or 650-985-2530) and partial proceeds from Scratch the News: Filipino Americans In Our Midst (www.amazon.com) will be donated to the GILAS Project by the authors. |
