A vendor outside the Cainta Chruch in Rizal, December 2010. Click above to read the latest from my regular blog, Southeast Asia: News, Culture, Voices.
The hip-hop group, NYFP (New York's Finest Pinoys), pose on Madison Avenue after a performance, 2007. Listen to a radio report on WNYC.
The train depot in Junta, Colorado in between thunderstorms. See more photographs from travels and reporting here.
Enter here to browse through my poetry - two chapbooks, a spoken word album, and a short film.
MANILA -- Deforestation destroys some 1 million hectares of forest in Southeast Asia each year. It also accounts for about 20 percent of global greenhouse emissions. The Dumagats of the Central Philippines are some of the 1.6 billion people of the world that depend directly on forests for their livelihood. The story of their struggle to protect their forest home shows the hidden side of poverty in the global fight against climate change.
FACING THE FORESTS: Can community land management save forests—and fight climate change?, The Caravan Magazine, May, 2011.
Mindanao Dance Troupe Bridges Cultures, Filipinas Magazine, December 20, 2010.
MANILA -- Potri Ranka Manis, founder and artistic director of the dance group, Kinding Sindaw, paused to collect her thoughts. A short woman with quick, playful eyes, Manis stood out in a room of formal butterfly-sleeved gowns and crisp barong tagalogs.
She wore a shimmering gold scarf around her face and a maroon-patterned fabric tied to her waist. A native Maranao of the Philippines’ southern island Mindanao, she stood on the second floor of Malacañang Palace. “This is an opportunity,” she said, “to say that we have a space in this world as Moro people.” READ MORE-->
Members of Kinding Sindaw before a performance at Malacanang Palace, Manila. Photo by Eric Liongoren
One Voice at a Time: Reconciliation in the Middle East, FSRN, Air: January 1, 2010.
After decades of conflict in the region, thousands of lives lost and a series of failed peace negotiations, some Israelis and Palestinians are creating their own path toward peace.
Robi Damelin and Mazen Faraj have each had a family member killed in the conflict. For one, it was a father. For the other, a son. The experience set them on unusual paths toward peace together. I sat down with Robi and Mazen - the result is this radio documentary.
Mazen Faraj, left, and Robi Damelin in New York. LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT OF THE PROGRAM BELOW:
Muslim Hip hop Onstage in Harlem, WNYC, Air: October 27, 2007 - Since its beginning, hip hop has been influenced by American Muslims -- including members of the groups Public Enemy, and Tribe Called Quest. Now, artists and fans are using hip hop to assert their identity as Muslims in America. And they're finding a balance between their art and their faith. Tonight, a concert of Muslim Hip hop called Rhythms of the Sacred Legacy brings together performers from around the country in an evening of dance, music and spoken word. Dorian Merina has the story....
MC Missundastood taking the stage in Harlem. Photo by Rebekah Kebede
"Still Fighting: ," Hyphen Magazine, 11/5/2007- NEW YORK -- An american flag and a soaring eagle stretch across the brim of Pedro Navida's black baseball cap, which he lifts above his head. On his bare forehead, framed by short-cropped hair, is a faint zig-zag scar.
Navida sits on a sofa in his small second floor apartment in Elmhurst, Queens. The room is momentarily silent after his wife, Leonor, shuts off the Filipino Channel on the big-screen television. In the quiet, Leonor leans over and begins to shout across the sofa, repeating questions for him to hear. She says that sometimes he has troulbe hearing and often forgets things. But suddenly, Pedro explains the scar on his forehead without hesitation.
"Bayonet," says the World War II veteran, keeping his cap braced above his head.
OTHER RECENT WORK
