Reading This Week: Filipino teachers, AAPI in Hollywood and Asian Americans return to their ag roots

I'm changing this post subhead to "Reading This Week" instead of the time-limiting "What I'm Reading This Sunday." I realize most of you prefer shorter posts, something you can digest in less than three minutes so multiple long articles may be longer than you like and take too much of your time. One way to approach this post is you can leave this post anytime you want, but I encourage you to come back and read the articles throughout the week at your leisure. -- Editor

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A teacher from the Philippines in her Arizona classroom.

Across the US, schools are hemorrhaging teachers while fewer college graduates enter the profession. Filipinos to the rescue.

In 2018, the US had an estimated shortage of 112,000 teachers, according to the Learning Policy Institute.

To fill the gap, especially in Arizona with some of the lowest pay in the country, US school districts are looking to the Philippines to fill the gap, according to an article by CNN, "Desperate to fill teacher shortages, US schools are hiring teachers from overseas."

Despite the emotional toll it takes on the teachers who must endure months of separation from their families still in the Philippines, what attracts the Filipinos to the US is a matter of pay. In the US, they can be paid up to eight time more than what they could earn in the Philippines.

"I'm a family man, so it's like my responsibility to provide for my family, for my parents, also for my mom most especially," said teacher Noel Que. "Half of my money goes back home and then half stays with me."

READ MORE & WATCH VIDEO HERE

Randall Park and Hudson Yang in 'Fresh Off the Boat.'

Ten years ago, in fall 2009, only 16 of the 63 scripted series on network TV shows had an actor of Asian descent in the regular cast. That has changed in dramatic fashion, but Hollywood still has a ways to go.

All of the lead roles in AMC’s “The Terror: Infamy,” about Japanese Americans interned during World War II, are filled by Asian actors — a true anomaly. And there have been a handful of other shows with Asian leads of late — including “Elementary,” “Dr. Ken,” “Into the Badlands,” “Killing Eve,” “Quantico,” “The Mindy Project,” “Master of None,” and made-in-Utah “Andi Mack.” But they remain the exceptions.

But the Salt Lake Tribune notes that opportunities for AAPI actors and stories are definitely increased since Fresh Off the Boat debuted five years ago and Crazy Rich Asians busted the idea that audiences couldn't relate to Asian characters.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Ariana de Lena is part of a new trend as young Asian Americans turnsto farming.

Ariana de Leña, a Filipina American farmer, owns and operates Kamayan Farm, 25 miles east of Seattle — in Tagalog, “kamayan” means “with hands,” and refers to a traditional Filipino way of eating, writes NBC News

Her farm rests on a nutrient-rich floodplain in the state of Washington where she grows long beans, bitter melon and ginger.

De Leña is one of several first-generation Asian American farmers who left their more traditional career paths for full-time farming on the West Coast. De Leña, who once worked at environmental justice nonprofits, found new meaning in growing food as a means of cultural reclamation.

“I got really inspired around how we can use food to do more storytelling around our families and our culture,” de Lena told NBC News. As a biracial daughter of a Filipino father and a Caucasian mother, she said farming felt like “an easy access point” to learn more about Filipino food and how it’s grown.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

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