AJ Magazines LifeEASTyle
The New York City Council has issued a proclamation declaring June 21 this year and every third Sunday of June thereafter as Bayanihan Day.
The proclamation was presented to the Filipino community by City Council Member John Liu at the Bayanihan Cultural Festival held at the Hart Playground in Woodside, NY, on June 21.
The weather was perfect as the Philippine-American Friendship Committee, Inc. (PAFCOM) held its 19th Grand Parade & Festival on Sunday, June 28 in Jersey City to observe Phil-Am Friendship Day.
The day-long festivities started with the celebration of Holy Mass at 8am at St. Bridget Church, located at corner Montgomery & Brunswick St. An ecumenical service at the parade reviewing stand, on the corner of Montgomery and Greene St, was likewise scheduled, and gospel music featuring different choirs highlighted the service.
The Grand Parade kicked off after the mass at Plaza Rizal following a short ceremony and the wreath-laying at Rizal monument. Government officials, PAFCOM members, and community leaders then began to march together with floats, bands, and street entertainers.
A large contingent from Chinatown, the Falun Dafa Marching Band added color to the parade, which started on the corner of Brunswick and Columbus Avenue stretching down to Montgomery and Greene Streets, on the Exchange Place waterfront.
This year’s Grand Marshal is Dr. Lorie D. Lizardo, MD, a practicing psychiatrist from East Orange, NJ. Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy of Jersey City and Hon. Cecille Rebong, Consul General of the NY Philippine Consulate joined Dr. Lizardo and PAFCOM officers led by Hector Magno, this year’s Overall Chairperson in the festivities.
NewYork—Raw, energetic, gritty, and consumed with passion. The New York City based Filipino American rap group is making waves and the Hip Hop music scene from the East to the West Coast is staggeringly taking notice. Upon the release of their new music video in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Sleep, a song from their debut album, The First Draft which features Filipino-American singer-songwriter Jay Legaspi, Deep Foundation is laying the groundwork for all inspiring Filipino-Americans not just for those who gravitate to the Hip Hop Culture, but also to those who are in need of a Filipino awakening and rejuvenation with our identity.
No easy feat. The Hip Hop community is not and never will be an easy wall to crack and pass through. It took years of being booed off stage and verbal assaults from crowds and fellow emcees before the likes of Eminem, Jay-Z, to Kanye West truly began receiving their stamp of approval. More often than not, in this industry, artists are judged solely on appearance and ethnicity rather than qualified verse, line, beat, and connection with the listener. For Deep Foundation, the ills of identity crisis and terms of "wannabe" have surfaced, and in spite of that or perhaps as a result, they are consumed with a burning fire that perpetuates their rage to embark on this battle to prove that Filipino-Americans should command respect and appreciation for their talents not only from mainstream society, but also within our own Filipino American Community.
