Si Se Puede! Yes We Can!

Tuesday November 4, 2008 was a historic day in the United States. Senator Barack Obama, a man of African descent and born in Hawaii, became the 44th President. Of course Herbelicious and I did our civic duty and headed to the polls after work to vote for Obama. We both had agreed that change was long overdue, and after much consideration-- peering into the future as to where our country would be with Obama as President and then with McCain as president; We liked the picture of what the country would be like with Obama in office.
Do not get me wrong, the picture isn’t by all means perfect, but the picture is better. And even if Obama does not accomplish all he set out to do in office, he represents hope, vision, and change to me. Hope and vision are the stuff that dreams are made of, and without hopes and dreams, we have nothing. Besides, the man was born in Hawaii (like me) how could Obama not be great? =).


I was surprised that the line at our polling place moved so quickly. I’m guessing that people came out in the morning before work rather than after. I cannot remember an election in all my years that had the people talking as much as this one. I think people especially made an effort to vote, WANTED to vote, so eagerly woke up at the crack of dawn.
I am glad people came out to vote. This year alone, I have met so many immigrants who have undergone the process of becoming American citizens. They have done everything the U.S. government has asked of them. But many of them are still waiting just to be sworn in (thanks to the Bush administration backlog), and until they are sworn in, they are not allowed to vote. So I am glad that those who could vote took advantage of that right.
I can’t say that I was always a supporter of Obama (Hillary at first, never McCain). But I do want to share with you the story of how I came to be an Obama supporter.

I met Herbelicious 3 years ago while walking my dog in the park. He was walking his dog as well. We became friends. All we ever wanted was a better place for our dogs to play. The park in our neighborhood, about the size 2 football fields (maybe a little bigger) had a dilapidated dog run. The park was also given $13.5 million dollars to renovate the field and do other projects, but nothing for the dog run. Herbelicious and I started a petition to let our government know that the people wanted the dog run fixed. Of course, they denied us.

A year later, a new girl appeared in our neighborhood, a community organizer (just like Barack Obama was) from a grassroots organization called the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. She told us that she could put us in touch with the right people, help us create the proper forum, and get our public officials to listen to us and give us what we wanted. After several letters, news reports, and a huge community forum, Herbelicious and I, and several other members of the community was able to secure $35000.00 for the dog run, and additional monies for other parks projects! Abby’s method appeared to work.


As a result, Abby invited me to the National People’s Action conference in Washington D.C. to teach me more about community organizing. NPA is a supporter of grassroots organizations and is based in Chicago (Obama--Chicago). I got to hear first hand from other people about problems in their communities and what they were doing to help solve these problems. It was at this conference that I first heard the phrase “YES WE CAN!—SI SE PUEDE!”- Obama’s slogan.


As a group we staged PEACEFUL political protests at the White House asking government to take a look at the housing crisis and all the homes being foreclosed. 8000 people every day face foreclosure. We foreclosed the White House.



We protested at the home, yes the HOME of Federal Reserve Bank President Ben Bernanke who helped bail out Wall Street. And when He wouldn’t listen to us at his home, we went to his office at the Federal Reserve Bank where he did hear us and agree to a meeting to discuss our issues.


We went to the department of Homeland Security to protests the backlog of immigrants waiting to be sworn in.



And we staged a protest at HUD, The Department of Housing and Urban Development whose demolition projects have left many homeless.


In all these protests, we had such exceptional crowd control that when police came, they new we were not a threat. They especially laughed when we would cheer “POLICE NEED A RAISE! POLICE NEED A RAISE!”


I was then asked to be a part of a small group of about 10 people to meet with Hillary Clinton’s office, specifically her Deputy Council Phillip Spector (as Hillary was on the campaign trail at the time). I was asked to speak specifically on what she could do about the high school graduation rate in the Bronx being only 35%.

All of these issues raised my awareness of community issues from a grassroots level, the same position Barack Obama is coming from. It opened my eyes to what he was saying.

When Barack won last night, I cried. People in my neighborhood began coming out of their homes and cheering in the streets. One girl (My roommate Christian) ran out of the house so happy, she forgot shoes, and had her dinner in her hand. It was freezing out!

People are Broke, and People are tired. We are ready for change, and we showed that we want change by electing Barack Obama President of the United States.

Learn Spanish: Si Se Puede! Yes We Can!
Si lo hicimos! Yes We Did!

Secret Burgers and Cupcakes!

Hidden in the beautiful Parker Meridian Hotel located on 55th street between Broadway and 6th Avenue in Manhattan is a wonderful gem of an eatery. Upon entering the Marble tiled lobby, you would never even question what was hiding behind the red curtains in the far back corner.










When you walk into the lobby, walk past the check-in desk, then make a left at the red curtains just before the concierge desk. You can't miss the velvet rope and the long line of people waiting in a dark hallway only lit by a neon burger sign. Is it some secret nightclub? Is it a darkroom like you would find in a gay club? (I wish!). What's casting that golden glowing light through the small doorway?

Through the door, you are in BURGER JOINT! Only a handwritten cardboard sign announces where you are. You are in effect, completely transported out of NYC and into a hole in the wall dive kind of burger place you would find in a college basement.

The walls have photos and movie posters, and a handwritten sign stating "We don't spit in your food so please don't write on our walls." The walls are covered with Graffiti from top to bottom!

The place smells great, like fire-grilled burgers, and that is exactly what you get: One of the tastiest ground steak fire grilled burgers you will ever eat in your life!

A sign explains how to order. First, do you want a hamburger or cheeseburger. Then, how do you want it done? Finally, what do you want on it? I suggest getting "The Works" which is everything on it. That makes the ordering easy and it taste so good, that even Herbelicious who hates pickles ate the pickles.

Don't forget to order fries and a drink (fountain or shake), because if you forget to order it with your burger, its back to the end of the long line. Herbelicious and I were lucky enough to get seats in this crowded joint. The tasty burgers came wrapped in white paper and the fries in brown paper bags.

As we were leaving Burger Joint, we forgot we were in the Parker Meridian expecting to walk out and see semi trucks and truckers as if we were coming out of an Ohio truck stop. If you're hungry and want to get out of NYC without really getting out of NYC, then hit Burger Joint. The meal came to about $13 for a burger, fries, and a drink, but it is so worth it.

If you are looking for a great place to have dessert check out Billy's Bakery in Chelsea on 9th Avenue between 21st and 22nd Street. After all, anything named BILLY must be AMAZING =),


While waiting for Jose and his two friends Cheryl and Mary-lee, I heard a customer walking in with his friends say "Billy's has the best dessert, the best pie, and the best cupcakes in the world". Signs in the window say: Bless Billy for his "to die for" icing.




As I waited, I was also able to catch pictures of the baker in the window frosting cupcakes in beautiful pastel colors. In fact, all the desserts are frosted in pastel colors of yellow, mint green, and pink. It gives the place a feeling like your grandmother's kitchen that got stuck in a time warped 1950, complete with laundry hanging in the window.



If you are looking to satisfy a really sweet tooth, I would say Billy's is not the place for you. Billy's desserts are not too sweet, or too plain, but have just the right amount of sweet where the frosting taste almost like pudding, but doesn't leave you feeling icky from all the sugar.



Jose and I were satisfied with just a simple cupcake and a coffee. Mary-lee went for the old fashioned red velvet cake where she exclaimed "this is just right, it's not overly sweet". Cheryl went for the pie served in its own tiny white box.
Jose loves this bakery even more than the Magnolia Bakery in the west village. I must say that I LOVE Magnolia, but Billy's sure does give Magnolia a run for their money.

For a complete meal, check out Burger Joint and Billy's Bakery.

Learn Spanish: hamburgesa orgasmicas que hace que tu paladar explote con gusto! (hamburgers that are like an oragasm to your pallette)

Biscocho (cake, but BE CAREFUL, in some slang Biscocho means vagina!)

Sanjaya and the Scholarship Fund

My Grandfather Bernardo Layugan came to the United States from the Philippines in the 1940's to work the pineapple plantation. He came here with little more than a 3rd grade education. The Same with my Grandmother Eufemia Macasio. The pineapple industry did not pay these laborers more than minimum wage. It is a wonder today, how my grandparents are so well off living in Hawaii. It is also a wonder how they were able to afford to put my mother through business college. This is the story of many immigrants to the U.S. But for African American and Latino immigrants, Scholarship Funds were put into place over 30 years ago to help their children with the rising cost of college. Nothing was done for the children of Asian immigrants.

Through the generosity of Jose's corporate philanthropy I attended an amazing event. The Today's Minds Tomorrow's Future Gala is a benefit for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) -- the largest non-profit organization providing scholarships to Asians and Pacific Islanders since 2003.

Being half Filipino and being born and raised in Hawaii, I identify with being an Asian & Pacific Islander. I had no such scholarship opportunity in place for me when I attended college. My mother tightened up the budget and flat out paid my tuition. I do not even have a student loan to pay back. I was lucky. Because of this, I felt extremely honored Jose invited me to this event to raise money for Asian and Pacific Islanders. It was held at the Hilton Grand Ballroom in New York City. I have only been to the Hilton once before, to watch a performance from the show Bombay Dreams, where afterwards, EVERYONE kept mistaking me for being one of the cast members!

APIASF also honored major contributors to the scholarship program such as:

J. Alexander M. (Sandy) Douglas, Jr.- President of Coca Cola America (he lives in my other favorite city-- Atlanta-- where Coca Cola was born).

And Don Thompson- President of McDonalds North America (don't deny it, we all LOVE McDonalds even though we all hate it.)

It was a black tie optional event, but I chose to just wear a simple black suit, not a tux. The reception started at 6:30PM and hosted a silent auction serving free drinks and hors d' ouevres of red Bombay chicken skewers and mini keish.


Entertainment in the reception room was provided by the U.S. Navy Band.

There were definitely items I was interested in getting, but with starting bids from $600 to $1200 dollars I just could not afford it (someday, when I'm 35 I'll be rich beyond my dreams and will be able to bid).

I wanted the autographed Items from A-Rod (the guy MADONNA is RUMORED to have had an affair with);

Autographed Memorabilia from sexy Olympian Michael Phelps (Love that body!); and my favorite thing, a lavendar autographed guitar from Hanna Montanna herself Miley Cyrus!

As I was browsing the auction Items, in walked in a beautiful well dressed Indian Boy, vaguely familiar. Mental note to Herbelicious - Mr. Gay India 2nd Runner up? (at the gay pride parade, herbelocious and I saw Mr. Gay India and he was so hot!) Jose remarked to me "that guy is famous". "Who is he?" I reply as I pick his headshots up off the auction table. They are being auctioned off. His name does not appear anywhere, and I cannot decipher the autograph on his photos. "I don't remember, but he is famous" Jose replies.

The Hilton Grand Ballroom is beautiful, each table is covered with candles, and on each chair a GIFT BAG!
This is what its all about! the last gala gift bag gave me products from Redken and Prada. What would I get this time?
A DVD about the Asian plight, a leather wallet from Macy's, a McDonald's gift card for free food, and tons of pens and stationary. I am a sucker for stationary, especially since I started blogging and like to keep pens and notebooks handy.

Tables were by assigned seating, and Jose and I had no clue who we were sitting with. I did meet a very friendly Filipino girl and her sister from California. Shirley works for Southwest Airlines-- the company who provided much of the air transportation to the event participants. I discovered that her parents and my parents are from the same region of the Philippines! Small world. She said to me, I can't wait until Sanjaya from American Idol Performs. Ding! Ding! Ding! thats it, the cute Indian boy that I had named Mr. Gay India was Sanjaya Malakar from American Idol Season Six! Mr. Fabulous Hair boy!

"Where is he sitting?" Shirley asks me. "I don't know, let's go hunt him down and take his picture" I reply. We walk over to the table where Sanjaya is just finishing up an interview. "Big fan" I say, "may I have a picture with you?". In the sweetest softest voice he replies "sure!".

Back at the table, Jose remarks "you are horrible. You don't even know who he is, and then you take a picture with him like he is your best friend". I quickly text message Mr. Hair boy NYC Herbelicious and tell him what just happened. Herbelicious replies: "MY NEMESIS! How is his hair?"

The food at this event is delicious. A bean salad with shrimp, and prime rib and potatoes. POTATOES? This is an event for Asians. Where is the rice? Where is the Noodles. My close friends know that I eat EVERYTHING with rice. It is my weakness, and why I will never ever have the abs of a greek god. I publicly announce to the other Asian guests at my table my displeasure for not having rice. The laughingly agree, and Shirley being the optimist, offers that maybe its coming. It never came.

Sanjaya Performed 2 songs from his upcoming world tour. The first song I was very disappointed in. He could barely hit his top notes. The second song was clearly a rip off of "SUPERSTITIOUS" and only has 2 sets of lyrics: what happens when you wake up, we open up our yes-- (it's very superstitous, the writings on the wall) repeated over and over and over again! it was awful! It seemed like he just didn't want to be there.

As Sanjaya was finishing up, and the final presentations were being made, Jose and I snuck out to the reception room where dessert was being served. I return with chocolate mouse and chocolate covered strawberries. YUM! Despite not having rice, I got to meet the fabulous Hair boy, and support something very worth while. On my way home, I stopped by the chinese place down the block and got some rice =).

Learn Spanish: Pelo Malo - Bad Hair

Pelo Bello- Good Hair

Sanjaya con Herbelicious tienen el pelo bello!

Jose No tiene Pelo.