welcome!

first, i want to bid all the new students welcome to usc and troy philippines.

as i said when i first started doing this, the troy phi culture blog is an effort to better emphasize the culture aspect of the organization. throughout the year i'll be writing about random filipino/filipino-american culture topics of interest, current events, local celebrations, and announcements. i'd want others to contribute to this blog as well. if you have anything to contribute to this blog, email me your post at tpcultureblog@gmail.com and i'll post it up for you.

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so ever since i started the blog i've been putting up links to various sites on the internet that serve as a good resource to anyone that wants to know a bit more about filipino/filipino-american culture. here's a brief overview on all of them:

philippine news sites: philippine daily inquirer, manila times, philippine star, manila bulletin, malaya, abs-cbn news, philippine center for investigative journalism

-- these are the main philippine news sites. once you start reading them on a regular basis, you'll see some of their biases on whether they're pro-administration or not, etc. they're the best way to keep up with what's going on in the philippines. the pcij site goes more in-depth on the subject of philippine politics; i first got the now infamous "gloria-garci" tapes from this site.

(btw, garciliano fled the philippines and everyone's in a big uproar over that; first to singapore, then to the uk, as confirmed by the dfa, the department of foreign affairs. now sen. pimentel claims he's in new jersey w/ his daughter. article here.)

fil-am organizations: sipa, fil-am arts

-- sipa (search to involve filipino americans) is based in historic filipinotown (north of usc). their mission is "to enhance the quality of life of Filipino Americans and other communities through youth development, health, economic, and social services." we volunteer a lot w/ sipa; one of the events we help them out with is sipa halloween, where we set up a haunted house for the children around historic filipinotown.

-- filam arts is an association that works for the advancement of filipino arts and culture here. their biggest annual event is the festival of philippine arts and culture (which we volunteer in every year), which is held in pt. fermin, san pedro (south of usc) on sep. 10-11. on the 11th we're getting a bus to get volunteers to pt. fermin from 1-6pm. if you're interested in volunteering email me at raymond@troyphi.com.

multimedia / entertainment: eradioportal.com, philmusic.com, gma 7, abs-cbn

-- eradioportal.com gives free access to several philippine am/fm radio stations. the news stations dzbb and dzrh are the best way to keep up w/ any breaking news that's going on in the philippines. you can hear a lot of filipino singers / artists in the other stations here. philmusic.com is an excellent resource on past and present philippine singers / artists. gma and abs-cbn are the two biggest tv networks/ entertainment powerhouses in the philippines.

other sites of interest: hagonoy, bulacan, philippine consulate general los angeles, social weather stations

-- these were random websites i found interesting. hagonoy, bulacan is my ancestral hometown. if you can read tagalog, it's a great way to get a sense of what a philippine provinical town is like. the philippine consulate general los angeles is pretty self-explanatory. if you have passport issues etc., you'll want to go here. social weather stations conducts many polls that include presidential satisfaction ratings, how people feel about poverty, corruption, and other issues in the philippines today.

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so i'll be adding more links as i find them.
until then, take care.
first general meeting's on 9/1 5:45pm @ SGM 123.