Inkwater Press has announced the publication of "Scratch the News: Filipino Americans in Our Midst" by journalist Cristina DC Pastor. A collection of stories and articles the author wrote for Filipinas Magazine and The Philippine News, Scratch the News explores the complex and varied culture inhabited and created by the Filipino American community.
The collection begins with the story of
Carl and Clarence Aguirre, a pair of twins conjoined at the head, and concludes
with a set of profiles on Filipino Americans serving in the New York Police
Department. These stories frame the collection, in which Pastor examines
everything from a filmmaker debuting at the Tribeca film festival to an AIDS
activist, and from the plight of a mail-order bride to the miraculous recovery
a teenage girl involved in a violent car accident.
While the collection celebrates ordinary
citizens at the center of extraordinary stories, some prominent individuals are
also featured. For example, Pastor writes about Michelle Malkin,
bestselling author of Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists,
Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores. Malkin wrote her book
in the wake of September 11th. Outspoken and irreverent, Malkin publishes a
widely syndicated newspaper column and is a regular guest on shows such as
20/20, Hannity and Colmes, and The O’Reilly Factor.
Other well-known Filipinos who appear in
Scratch the News include Gene Marcial, stock columnist for Business Week and
one of the most influential people on Wall Street, and Major General Antonio
Taguba, who penned the confidential memo detailing the abuse of prisoners in
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Pastor highlights the accomplishments of all her subjects, but is careful
also to create a fuller picture for the reader. Taguba, for example, is
not simply the author of the Abu Ghraib memo, but is also the son of a World
War II POW, a caring and generous family man, and a close friend to some of the
victims of the September 11th attacks.
“Scratch the news,” writes Pastor, “and
chances are a Filipino is wedged somewhere between the folds...” Indeed,
the stories in this collection explore not simply the news, but American
culture as a whole. Pastor’s clean, precise prose engages the reader and
creates a sense of continuity between the wide-ranging stories.
Scratch the News by Cristina DC Pastor is
available from Inkwater Press (www.inkwaterbooks.com), as well as local and
on-line retailers for $18.95.
