FOREWORD TO BITING THE BIG APPLE

[caption id="attachment_1673" align="aligncenter" width="242"] On love day, buy a faithful shirt for her and you, for the price of ONE![/caption]

By Marivir R. Montebon
New York City

We run an excerpt to the Foreword written by immigration lawyer Arnedo Valera, Esq, on the memoir Biting the Big Apple: Memoirs of a Journalist Turned Immigrant.

"Marivir R. Montebon's memoir, Biting the Big Apple, lends an insightful and inspiring presentation of immigration patterns in the U.S., aside from the fact that it is at times funny and exciting. Her own diaspora is a not a typical one, however: Immigration was her only choice after her husband, a leader of the Filipino political party Bayan Muna's chapter in Bohol, became a victim of a summary execution perpetrated by military death squads during the past Arroyo regime. She sought and has been granted a political asylum by the U.S. government.

Marivir is a dedicated journalist and writer I have worked with as the Managing Editor of the Migrant Heritage Chronicle. I also served as the lawyer for her asylum case. Thus I have all the trust and confidence that this Memoir will change the readers' views about immigrants: They are not just nameless, faceless people who are often put down or suspected as “illegal”. Many of them, in fact, are talented and hard working individuals who could be great contributors to American society.

The story that this book tells is a long saga of crossing the seas. In this Memoir, one discovers that Marivir's own family members were in fact part of the centuries-old Philippine diaspora. From the struggling great grandfather who left a young wife and small children in the tiny island of Siquijor in central Philippines, then lost his life in the asparagus farms in Stockton, to this journalist who has become an immigrant herself, this book has so much to share."

Arnedo Valera is the co-executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission and the editor-in-chief of the Migrant Heritage Chronicle which are based in Washington, DC.

The book took me five years in the making. Now it is here at last. Thank you so much to Nedo, and all those who have been part of this journey.

(For the eBook, please go to Amazon.com's Kindle store http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BHKHC9O/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1361241214&sr=8-6&pi=SL75 . Priced at $9.80, part of the proceeds go to the OSM! Educational Support Program)

[caption id="attachment_1675" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Xocai Dark Chocolate: It is a healthy love.[/caption]

Be in Harmony, Be Healed

By Marivir R. Montebon
New York City

The world will get better if we start from within, from our hearts. - Dulce Sanchez

There is something about Dulce that will draw you towards her. In my case, it was her calmnness untypical of a New Yorker, when we first met at the Naam Yoga Center on the Upper West Side of the city. Well, she is a regular visitor of New York on a mission of sorts. Dulce Sanchez hails from Mexico, teaching English and running an events and party organizing business. But the main fulfillment in her life is when she straddles between home and New York to help people heal themselves through a wholistic therapy called Harmonyum, aside from being with her grandchildren.

From the word harmony which means 'a pleasing combination of elements in a whole', Harmonyum is quite clear by its own name, and a welcome treat, an accord, to oneself.



It is a healing modality developed by Dr. Joseph Michael Levry known as bio-metaphysical medicine that is non-invasive, gentle, and energetic. Dulce, a Harmonyum therapist, is among the hundreds of students of Dr. Levry, using this soothing continuous touch on the entire length of the spine to heal physical, emotional, and mental ailments.

Before deciding to take on this mission as a wholistic healer, Dulce has had her share of excruciating pain from a failed marriage. She and her husband decided to divorce after being together for 8 months. After 12 years, they remarried. But the problem on infidelity has set in, hence they divorced again. She is now on her own, and rightfully happy, seven years after the second divorce.

How Dulce regained her composure and balance through the help of Naam Yoga and Harmonyum is an incredible journey of love, light, and healing.

Excerpts:



1. Tell me how you became an advocate and now a missionary for Naam Yoga and Harmonyum.

I was deeply depressed when I found out that my husband was womanizing. We were divorced for 12 years, but decided to remarry. We were together for nine years, and then I found out he had another affair. I felt devastated. Divorcing him the second time was scary, because I was getting old and did not know what to do.

I chanced upon a Hatha Yoga Center in 2006 and then later I found out about Naam Yoga. Life became so different after that. I was healed, happy, and grateful.

2. What was it with Naam and Harmonyum that convinced you this was your path to healing?

Harmonyum promotes self-healing energy. I studied Harmonyum under Dr. Levry for seven treatments or sessions. Each session lasts for 45 minutes.

We gently touch the nape of the client down to the spine. Harmonyum is known to reharmonize a person's entire presence in the process of strengthening and balancing the autonomous nervous system.

It doesn't even matter what faith you have, whether you have or have not any faith. The energy inside you naturally heals.

3. What is the most profound experience you had in Harmonyum?

I was shocked and was crying so hard in amazement when I learned that my client, a young woman afflicted with terminal breast cancer, was healed after the 4th treatment. That was in 2009.

She was a non-believer, a young mother and had a great career. Her breast cancer was eating her up, and her doctors have decided to stop all her medication because it would no longer be of help to her. The pain she experienced each night was unbelievable and agonized her husband as well who could not sleep because of her anguish.

On the second treatment, she noticed she had lost a little bit of the pain. On the third session, it was totally gone. As well as on the 4th treatment.

She decided to have herself checked by her doctors why the pain was gone. At that time, I fly in to New York for my continuous studies with Dr. Levry.

When I returned to Mexico, I immediately called her to find out how she was. She was elated. Her biopsy results, she had taken two exams, showed she had negative signs of cancer.

I was crying with joy and gratitude. That experience changed me.

4. Do you believe Harmonyum can absolutely change the world, heal people?

Yes. Compulsion, which brings about vices like gambling, can be healed through Harmonyum. Our job as naamists is to serve. And the more we are able to reach out to the community, the better. Believe that the world is going to get better if we start from within, from the heart.



(Dulce Sanchez could be reached at dul000@gmail.com   For more details on Harmonyum, visit www.rootlight.com)

ALI EWOLDT AND ADAM JACOBS: Broadway Actors Proud of Their Philippine Roots

By Marivir R. Montebon

Adam Jacobs and Ali Ewoldt will pull it off again on stage in a Valentine Concert at The Town Hall on Saturday, February 23 at 8 o'clock in the evening.

The concert, titled "A Heart Full of Love," is sponsored by GMA Life TV, GMA Pinoy TV, the TOFA-New York, the Filipino Reporter, and the Mindoro Healthcare Consulting.

Starting their career at a young age in musicals, Ali and Adam have recently performed together on the musical Les Miserables, with Ali as Cosette and Adam as Marius.

Although she finished Psychology at Yale University, Ali chose the entertainment career at this time, despite the stiff competition.

She has shown her persistence in every artistic undertaking, which is the key to breakthrough in every show, which kicks off in auditions.

For the past 10 years in her performing career, Ali has shown her versatility in the roles she plays on Les Mis, the King and I and host of other popular shows which she has toured with in the entire US.

Adam, for his part, started out early as pianist and finished a degree in Theater at the New York University. He performed in big musicals since his younger days in California, in Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, the Lion King, and many more.

Both Adam and Ali attribute their singing abilities to half their roots. Their mothers are Filipinos who love music and encouraged them to pursue their passions.

Do you ever consider the Philippines home, I asked. In chorus, they said no. It is more of our roots, and "I am proud of that," beams Ali. And Adam smiles, and says, "yeah."

After the hurried interview, they ran up stage to do the sound check prior to an intimate concert with Broadway Barkada, a group of Filipino actors in the Broadway musicals, in Manhattan's lower east side of the city.

(Check out the websites of Ali and Adam on www.aliewoldt.com and www.adamljacobs.com)

FALDEF's Night of Hope Fundraiser

FEATURED EVENT
By Jen Furer

NEW YORK CITY -- The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and US Pinoys 4 Good Governance (USP4GG) will present "A Night of Hope", a charity reception on behalf of the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (FALDEF) on Friday, March 1, 2013 at the residence of Consul General Mario de Leon, Jr.

The Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF) is a registered 501 (c)(3) not-for profit organization that provides pro-bono legal services to Immigrants in distress due to their origin, status and financial situation. FALDEF was founded in 2008 by a group of lawyers, professionals and community leaders working towards the same cause. After collectively working on a case involving Filipino Immigrants, suffering injustices, they decided to create an organization that was dedicated to serving the migrant community, in particular the Filipino Migrant Community.

Attorney Victor Bolden, Corporation Counsel of the City of New Haven, Connecticut is the evening's special guest speaker. An expert and advocate of civil rights, when Bolden chose to begin his post as New Haven's acting
corporation counsel on Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

As Corporation Counsel, Bolden serves as the chief legal advisor of and the attorney for the City and all City officers and departments in matters relating to their official duties.

Bolden was formerly General Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. He served on the Counsel with the law firm of Wiggin and Dana LLP in New Haven, Connecticut. He also served as a Karpatkin Fellow and Staff Attorney at the ACLU, from 1989-1994. Bolden completed his undergraduate studies, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1989.

Mr. Bolden has been a supporter of the Filipino-American community, even prior to the actual incorporation of FALDEF. When the community needed help in defending 10 Filipino nursesto the actual incorporation of FALDEF. When the community needed help in defending 10 Filipino nurses who were wrongly sued, Bolden graciously offered the legal services of NAACP-LDF.

Attorney Sanford A. Rubenstein, senior partner at the Brooklyn law firm of Rubenstein & Rynecki, is one of the evening's guest speakers. He is one of New York's most sought after advocates for victim's rights in personal injury and civic rights matters. Described by the Melvin M. Belli Society of the American Trial Lawyers Association as one of the Nation's 25 top trial lawyers. Rubenstein's career has been punctuated by high profile cases in which he represented victims in many tragic occurrences in New York City.

Mr. Rubenstein appears frequently on national and local T.V. news advocating for victims rights. He has appeared as a legal analyst on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. Mr. Rubenstein has lectured and participated in panels for the New York Sate Trial Lawyers, The Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute, Brooklyn Law School and the Melvin M. Belli Society of the American Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Rubenstein is also an author of a new book entitled, "The Outrageous Rubenstein" , in which he writes about his experience as a media savvy trial lawyer fighting for justice and change.

[caption id="attachment_1786" align="alignleft" width="229"] Diane Paragas[/caption]

The evening also features the premiere of a short documentary film by Diane Paragas. Over the course of the last three months Ms. Paragas has been documenting candid interviews from FALDEF clients and Board Members. What started out as a public service announcement, has turned into a short documentary.

Ms. Diane Paragas is an award-winning documentary film director and commercial director. Her films have appeared on Showtime, BET, Discovery, MTV, Bravo and PBS. . In 2012, Paragas produced and directed the feature documentary, "Brooklyn Boheme", which premiered in February on SHOWTIME networks and features Spike Lee, Chris Rock, to name a few. "Brooklyn Boheme" recently won Outstanding TV Documentary at the Black Reel awards.

Ms. Paragas is also the founder and owner of NYC based Civilian Studios. Paragas is a supporter of FALDEF and has lent her talent by offering to do a short documentary about the organization. She is currently working on her first feature film Yellow Rose, a film loosely based on her life growing up as the only Filipina-American in her small Texas town. For details visit www.yellowrosefilm.com for details.

"A Night of Hope" charity reception begins at 6:30pm and ends at 9:00 p.m. A suggested donation of two hundred dollars, made out to "FALDEF", will be appreciated and accepted at the door, by mail or online. For details please email hope@faldef.org or visit the website at www.faldef.org.

FALDEF is also hosting a press club meet and greet event with Hon. Judge Lorna G. Schofield, the first Filipino-American in the history of the United States to serve as an Article III federal judge.

SWEDISH APPLE PIE

By Ruth Ezra
Chicago, Illinois
What I love about this pie is its simplicity and the crispiness of the crust. All ingredients are handy. My hubby and I enjoyed it warm.
I enjoyed my slice with mango-peach tea while hubby enjoyed his slice with black coffee.

Ingredients:

2 apples, cubed (I used Pink Lady)
Cinnamon
3/4 c. salted butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. chopped macadamia nuts

My process:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Fill pie pan 2/3 full of peeled, sliced apples.

Sprinkle and cover apples with cinnamon.

In small bowl, combine butter, sugar, flour, egg, and nuts.

Pour over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, or until golden brown.

|*|*|*|

Ruth D. Ezra is a culinary queen in her own right through experience and training. She works at the AllState Roadside Services in Northbrook, IL. Her greatest delight is serving good and healthy food to her husband Heman and only daughter, Isabelle. Kit would love to receive feedback on her recipes, and exchange them with yours at ezraruth@comcast.net.

LAND THAI KITCHEN

Resto Rendezvous

Land Thai Kitchen is simply awesome. Asians feel home is just in the neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan making this quaint restaurant teeming with clients seven days a week, from noon to 11 o’clock in the evening. Its refreshingly unique and inviting Southeast Asian cuisine actually has convinced the American palate as well. It is a must to try the grilled whole Branzino (with bok choy, cherry tomato, and three secret sauces), oven roasted lemon grass chicken, and the sticky rice with champagne mango. The best!
Visit Land Thai and keep coming back for more. It is at 450 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, New York 11024 Tel. No. 212-501-812

NYC Rising, Dancing To Stop Violence Against Women

By Marivir R. Montebon

Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad opened the V-Day Dancing against Violence in New York City on February 14 with three poems, which included 'Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic'. That was enough for me to scream and dance that Valentine's night at the Hammerstein Ballroom of the Manhattan Center.

There was Glen Close too that night, reading the poem of Eve Ensler, the playwright for the Vagina Monologues, the outrageous soliloquies of women raging against the violations imposed on them.

It was a night of reminiscing, how the movement against violence against women started 15 years ago,  right at the very same venue of the Hammerstein Ballroom.

It has come a long way indeed. Women will rise and continue to defy the stereotypes that dehumanize them, says Glen Close.

At the lobby of the ballroom, the ambiance of the occasion was initially electrified by the drumming for 'peace and power' by Jan Goldstoff and Laurie Schwartz.

[caption id="attachment_1856" align="alignleft" width="300"] OSM! executive editor and publisher Marivir R. Montebon enjoying the beat of the drums.[/caption]

Indeed, dancing was the call of the night, and with the sensible, hip music, every man and woman at the ballroom danced with a lot of rhyme and reason.

[caption id="attachment_1758" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Threese, from Connecticut, enjoys the empowering music.[/caption]