Interviewing a Founder

Last month, members of the Pilipino community and Cal alumni gathered at the historical International Hotel to remember and relive history the of the Pilipino American Alliance (PAA) at its 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration. There were food and photos, traditional dance and testimonials, and a project presented by PAA interns. As a PAA intern, I was part of that project, and for it we interviewed PAA alumni — like Joselito Laudencia.

Joselito was part of Maganda’s founding, though we discuss little more about Maganda beyond that. Rather, since our interview was for a PAA event, much of our conversation revolved around the work Joselito did during and after his involvement with PAA. His was and is a work community-driven and focused on generating change for that community — first for his community on campus through his involvement in PAA and currently for the larger community off-campus through his company Abundant Good, a life coaching service.

What Joselito does through his community organization isn’t that different from what Maganda does, as Joselito spent much of his time and made it his career to help others generate change for themselves. Maganda strives to do the same, providing the space and the encouragement for the creative community to generate not necessarily change but something: music, photography, spoken word, prose

Anything.

Here is our interview.

The Generation of the Mortgage/Credit Crisis

I’m sure most people have heard about the credit crisis/mortgage crisis/rising unemployment going on throughout the United States and even the world. However, some may not know the entire story. Answers to questions like “How do peoples mortgages connect to me not being able to find a job/internship?”, “I’ve never heard of these big banks, why should I care about them?” Jonathan Jarvis has a great video explaining the crisis in easy terms with visuals (its approximately 10 minutes, but its very good):

One thing he doesn’t address is that many university endowments, state funds, and companies were invested in investment banks and Wall Street firms that bought those CDO’s. When the banks and firms went bankrupt, universities, state governments, and companies lost a lot of money. Less money means means layoffs means less new hiring means rising unemployment.

As future homeowners, investors, and executives, we can only look towards the future and try to avoid these same mistakes.

Google and Trafficking

On Friday, March 6th I attended Trafficked: A Political Fashion Show hosted by Berkeley’s Gabriela Network (GABNet). “GABNet’s Berkeley Unit chapter is an active, expanding chapter that is organizing, educating, networking, fundraising, and advocating around the issues of sex trafficking, globalization, militarism, labor export and other issues affecting the lives of Pilipinas around the world.” The focus of Friday’s event was sex trafficking.

High lights of what I learned:

20 million women and children have been trafficked into the global sex trade

At the low price $150

As young as the age 4

Celebrating 40 years: third world Liberation Front

Source: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/give/bene70/3rdworld.jpg

In 1969, the third world Liberation Front (twLF) was formed by students of color at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and UC Berkeley to demand that our classrooms teach about the struggles of third world peoples through the formation of a Third World College. Out of this movement came Ethnic Studies as a college (at SFSU) and as department at UC Berkeley.  The week of March 7-14th will commemorate twLF with a series of events that examine, evaluate, and celebrate how far we have come in the past 40 years, and how much farther we need to go.

PAA’s 40th Anniversary Gala kicked off the week. But there’s still more. 

Did You Know??

….That {M}aganda Magazine came out of PAA? {M} was founded in 1989. Holler!

This year marks the 40th Anniversary for PAA and {M}aganda Magazine is going to be represented in the programming of the 40th Anniversary. Some of {M} Staff will be performing pieces as well as showcasing their artwork at the event. {M} Magazine marks a pivotal era of evolution for PAA history which taps into the creative sense of our cultural identity.

This SUNDAY March 7th from 5pm at the International House (on Bancroft/Piedmont). Come support! Network and connect with alumni! Come eat! Get dressed! And celebrate!

RSVP NOW!!!! Click ME

{Ramona Layug/ Production DeCal Staff}

(Note: We apologize for the delay on the post.  We didn’t realize it was pending status until… um… after the 40th anniversary gala of PAA.  But I would like to report that it was an AMAZING event. – Cristal Fiel/ Editor in Chief)

Who is Shawn Stussy?

New Brand…

New Blog.

Shawn Stussy, founder of the popular urban clothing brand STUSSY, has recently started a new blog and is currently working on a new brand called S/DOUBLE. Reppin’ since the 80’s, Stussy has made a positive impact for the more recently established underground brands. His style of clothing has become a way to represent the lifestyles of many boarders and hip-hop lovers. Though the S/DOUBLE website is currently under construction, click through to his blog to stay updated with the brand and random posts from Shawn’s everyday life.

Info and Image from FreshnessMag and ShawnStussy.

{Arvin Chua/ Production DeCal Staff}