Balikbayan

Kristia Castrillo teaches 10th and 11th grade English at Balboa High School in San Francisco. Earlier this year, she was named as an honoree for San Francisco's Teacher of the Year award. Kristia was born in San Francisco, lived in the Philippines as a teenager, and then moved back to the States for college. She's now worked in the San Francisco Unified School District for 11 years. We talk about how she got into teaching, being a city person, and how gentrification affects her public school students. Music by RV Mendoza and Blue Dot Sessions. Logo by Niccolo Pizarro.

We hear some of your voicemails about how you got your nicknames. Then, Alan interviews his parents about theirs—and asks why he doesn't have one. Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Logo by Niccolo Pizarro. For past episodes, subscribe or visit http://balikbayanshow.com. If you'd like to get in touch, email me at [email protected].

Giovanni Ortega is a playwright, actor, director, and an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Pomona College. Gio moved to the US from the Philippines when he was 12. We talk about what that was like, the experience of being a "1.5 immigrant," how he became an artist who regularly engages with Filipino identity, and why LA is home now. Music by RV Mendoza and Blue Dot Sessions. Logo by Niccolo Pizarro. For more about Gio's work, check out his website.

On this episode, we're joined by Natalia Roxas. She's a photographer, co-founder of Filipino Kitchen, and the organizer of this year's Kultura Festival, which takes place on August 19 in Chicago. We talk about what it was like to grow up at a resort in the forest, moving to the U.S. as a teenager, starting Kultura four years ago, and whether she'd ever consider moving back to the Philippines someday. Music by RV Mendoza and Blue Dot Sessions. Logo by Niccolo Pizarro. If you're in Chicago, get your Kultura tickets here. Follow the show on Twitter @balikbayanshow, and send me an email at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

I'd like to produce an episode about nicknames! You can do that by either recording a voice memo and emailing it [email protected], or you can call me and leave a voicemail, at (971) 800-1389. Tell me your formal name, where you're calling from, your nickname, and how you got that nickname. Bonus points for any other stories about your nickname that have stuck with you over the years.