Happy Summer everyone. I am happy right now because I just got my next column in

yesterday afternoon. It should show up on the July 11 hard copy issue and online the

following week. It is pretty much a list of books I am recommending for summer reading

and I’ll only mention one of them: The Lotus Blossum Chronicles is the title and the authors

are Jax Cassidy and Simone Harlow. The publisher is Parker Publishing. That’s all I’ll mention

for now. What books are on your summer list? I’ll tell you other books that are on mine soon.

Take Care,

Sam

Friday night I went to the opening of the movie WANTED starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie at SM Mall in Bacolod City of the Philippines. I know, I should have been out exploring the sights and scenes but after walking around in humid weather all day sometimes you just need to sit in an air conditioned room and let your brain melt to the floor for a well-deserved two hours. Continue reading…

Sam’s latest vid + BlAsian column . . .

The bug bites drive me nuts and the heat gives me a slight headache every now and then – but it is the little things that I come across as I mark my first full week in the Philippines that remind me of home. Continue reading…

Forget the ‘Life Takes Visa’ commercials, if anything ‘Life Needs Subtitles’ makes way more sense.

Continue reading…

Fifteen hours later and a six hour wait in Manila airport I officially arrived in the Philippines. As I stared down from the airplane window on to the patches of green I had completely forgotten how beautiful  the country was. 

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Visualize concentric circles. Now imagine these circles representing our social universe. The dominant group lives in the center and as you move away from the center, you’ll encounter other groups less and less dominant. In the last couple of circles you’ll find groups that are truly on the margin of our social universe.

The dominant group defines the universe, in fact, the dominant group and the universe are one and the same. Like a total eclipse, that little center casts a shadow that covers all other circles. The group in the center is not compared to other groups, indeed, it is the standard for comparison. Its values become fundamental truths and its beliefs are codified in law. The center is male and white. What happens when you don’t belong to the center? Continue reading…

In lieu of my young cousin’s graduation from high school. I decided it would be a good idea to get a young Filipina’s thoughts on the current state of education, what it is like being a senior in high school and the massive amount of loans she will have to take out and payback in order to go to college. 
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Last week I went to the San Francisco club 1015 to see Se7en, the Korean Pop/R&B singer in his first appearance in San Francisco. Continue reading…

At seven in the morning we pulled up in front of our assigned space on Post just to the left of Japantown’s Peace Plaza and began setting up our booth. Seven in the morning is early, but we do these street celebrations and fairs for visibility. We are API Family Pride, a support organization for API families with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children. That whole sexuality subject is taboo, so that when it happens (it being a family member coming out) people don’t know where to go for help.

Continue reading…