LA Times article on the impact of colonial mentality on Filipino American mental health
The first of my four-part series on Filipino American mental health is live!
After two months of reporting, my story on the impact of colonial mentality in the Filipino American community is live!
You can read the story here.
It was just published within the hour and I was wondering whether I should withhold sending this until the morning. But I wanted you to be the first to know as soon as it was up online.
I'm really excited to share this story with you and everyone else who’s going to read it.
I want to spend some time in today’s newsletter diving into some of the background behind this series and story. But before that, I want to welcome everyone who’s a new subscriber. Thanks so much for your interest in this series :) I just launched this newsletter last week, so if you’d like, you can check out last week’s post here.
When I first learned about the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowships in February — which is providing crucial support for this series — I immediately knew that I wanted to propose a project on Filipino American mental health. I'd written a couple of stories about mental health in the Southeast Asian American community before, but realized I had never written anything that explored the topic in the Filipino American community, nor had I read anything about it in media. Writing about this was something I felt so strongly about doing — especially as someone who is Filipino American.
In my fellowship proposal, I outlined a publication schedule where the first story would run in October for Filipino American History Month. When the program announced nine fellowship recipients in July, I hit the ground running. I immediately began organizing listening sessions with mental health providers, academics & community members to make sure I met that deadline. It was important to me that the story ran in October because I envisioned it as something that could hopefully spark some discussion and reflection on colonial mentality during this commemorative month.
I hope you'll share this story far and wide. Mainstream media coverage on Filipino Americans is sparse, and I hope this project can help change that in some way. The more people who read this article and series, the easier it will be to make the case that there is a hunger for these types of stories and that the community should be covered more. Feedback on the story is important too. If you have any thoughts you'd like to share about the piece, no matter how brief or detailed, I welcome and encourage your comments. Please feel free to email me and/or comment wherever you might see the article on social media. If you’re reading this in your inbox, you can simply reply to this email. If you see comments about the story on social media, please forward me those links/screenshots as well. I’m planning to keep a log of the comments the story receives because that’s going to demonstrate how important these types of stories are to readers.
My next newsletter will be a Q&A with Michelle Lagasca, who illustrated the two beautiful and thought-provoking images in the article. I can’t wait to share her thought process behind the illustrations with you. I remember how mind blown my editors and I were when we saw the initial sketches. There are so many meaningful details she planted throughout the images.
Stay tuned!
Thank yous
I want to thank everyone who contributed to this story by participating in feedback sessions and focus groups, and to those who were willing to be interviewed. Some of the folks I interviewed didn't make it into the article. If that's you, please know that our conversation wasn’t any less important than those that were quoted, and was immensely valuable in how I framed the story.
I also want to note that while it's my byline on the article, the final story published in the LA Times is the product of a team effort. I want to thank Ada Tseng and Matt Ballinger for editing my story; Micah Fluellen for finding Michelle to create the illustrations in the article; Christina House, Myung J. Chun and Rodrigo Cid for taking photos of some of the people I interviewed; Calvin Alagot for editing photos; Michelle Lagasca for creating the illustrations; LA Times Utility reporter Karen Garcia and former USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism engagement editor Danielle Fox for helping during the focus group I held as part of the reporting process; Maneeza Iqbal for spearheading audience engagement; and Louisa Frahm for handling search engine optimization for this piece. The story wouldn't be possible without every single one of these people!
Upcoming events
In case you missed last week’s newsletter, I'll be kicking off this series with a collaborative event with Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, Change Your Algorithm, SSG Silver and Wellness with Andrea Jakucs & Associates on Friday, Oct. 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. PT. See the graphic below for more info, and click here to RSVP.
I will also be holding a focus group for my next story on depression and suicide ideation on Wednesday, Oct. 20, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Those selected to participate in the session will receive a $15 e-gift card for their time. We’re capping this at 25 participants, and there are 9 slots left. More information is available in the graphic below, and you can RSVP here.
