The James Logan Courier

By Oscar Peñaranda, Courier Special Correspondent

Note: This is the final installment in The Courier's serialized history of the struggle for independence in the Philippines, written by Filipino Poet, Author and Activist Oscar Peñaranda, who also teaches Filipino studies at James Logan High School. This week, the author provides his commentary on the events of the U.S. Philippines War.

War by any other name
The reason that the U.S.Americans could and did not get an actual date of this war was because they did not want to call it a war. There was therefore no official declaration of war, so there could never be an official termination of war, a sort of a Treaty to end it, as the Treaty of Paris did with the Spanish American War. But this was tenfold more of a war than the Spanish American War ever was. The U.S.Americans called it an insurrection, an "uprising". Yet their (the U.S.) struggle for nationhood and independence they called a Revolutionary War, a War for Independence. Though they did not call it a war, the U.S. government and many of its officials did in fact, in writings, proclamations, correspondences, and certainly verbally, called it a war.

By Oscar Peñaranda, Courier Special Correspondent
Note: This is the fourth installment in The Courier's serialized history of the struggle for independence in the Philippines, written by Filipino Poet, Author and Activist Oscar Peñaranda, who also teaches Filipino studies at James Logan High School. This week, the author provides his commentary on the events of the U.S. Philippines War. Look for the next installment next Monday.

War Key to Fil-Am Understanding
Any significant, comprehensive, or serious discussion of Filipinos in the United States can not be complete, (at the very least prefaced) without an essential understanding of the U.S.-Philippines War. The modern Filipino experience or predicament or situation in the United States must be anchored in solid, basic fundamental knowledge of the U.S.-Philippines War that officially started in 1899. Otherwise, it would be like talking about the United States as a nation without talking about the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War For Independence. The understanding of this war is vital to any in-depth discussion of Filipinos in the United States since, because official relations, records, and attitudes began to be developed and formulated at this time. Ramifications of these perceptions apply to this day. Many of the racial slurs inflicted upon the Filipinos in the U.S. during the hate crimes of the 1920's to 40's originated in this war. Names like "goo-goos", "gook", "monkey", "brown niggers", etc., were part of the campaign and vocabulary used by American troops in the Philippines. Many of the American soldiers were veterans of the wars against Native Americans that were fought just years earlier in the United States, (some were still being fought) so all they (the U.S. soldiers) had to do was transfer that psychological and sociological hatred to another people of color and enemy at hand—the Filipinos.

By Roberta Maas, Courier Staff Writer

First, lets get some things straight. I don’t find myself attractive. I am extremely self-conscious. And yes, I work at Hooters. I hear a hundred cheesy pick-up lines a night including, “you are just yummy yum” and “wait a second, I just want to gaze into your blue eyes one more time.” Puh-lease!! What has happened to being genuine? Earth to sexually deprived men: it is not what I want to hear.

Hundreds of Heads (MCT)

Here's some advice dealing with criticism at work from the book "How to Survive Your First Job (or Any Job)" (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $14.95), straight from people who've done it:

"If you burn me in my personal life, I'll declare war. But when my boss criticizes me at work, I don't take it to heart. My job is different. I understand that I'm young and still learning, so when somebody tells me I need to do something differently at work, I reflect on the advice and look for ways to improve. I ask myself, `Did I follow protocol here? Can I justify my actions?' As long as the people who are criticizing me are trying to help me, there are no hard feelings."
—Ellen Stenzel, Rochester, N.Y., working for 2 years

By Claudia Melendez Salinas
The Monterey County Herald (MCT)

MONTEREY, Calif. — Nineteen-year-old Mara Diaz sees it among her peers — the pressure to look a certain way.

"Like in movies, in sitcoms, they use skinny women, and how come they don't use women size 14 to be the star of the show?" asks Diaz, a Hartnell College student. "In a way, they tell you you have to be size 5 to be successful in your career, to find love, to have friends. A lot of the nation is not as skinny as how they portray it in the media."

By Oscar Peñaranda, Courier Special Correspondent
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.Note: This is the third installment in The Courier's serialized history of the struggle for independence in the Philippines, written by Filipino Poet, Author and Activist Oscar Peñaranda, who also teaches Filipino studies at James Logan High School. Look for the next installment next Monday.

More and more restrictions were placed on the Filipino people and soldiers as more and more U.S. Troops landed in the Philippines. The Spaniards had surrendered, yet more and more U. S. soldiers were being landed. Things went from bad to worse.

On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the Spanish-American War. One of the provisions of the Treaty was for Spain to receive $20,000,000 from the United States for (the former's) "ceding" the Philippines to them. Philippine Ambassador Felipe Agoncillo, present in Paris, was not even admitted to any of the meetings or proceedings.