While the roots of Filipinos in New Orleans go deep, the Filipino community here isn't huge. I think because of that, we're a tight knit community who are all invested in each other's success and the preservation of our stories. We have community members whose stories here start last year and those whose stories here begin in the 1800s, which allows us to have conversations about what it means to be Filipino and what it means to be a New Orleanian, and find the aspects of each that will always bring us together. There's a lot of overlap between the struggles of Filipinos and New Orleanians: corrupt governments, histories of colonization, and facing devastation from climate change, just to name a few. And there's also a lot of overlap between the things that make both so beautiful: a focus on family, a love of food, a love of music, the way communities step up to fill in the gaps that governments leave behind. Our kinship with this land and its people runs as deep as the Mississippi, as Barataria Bay, as Lake Borgne. There's a magic here that is difficult to explain without experiencing it, and I hope more Filipinos will come to experience it for themselves. You're sure to be welcomed with open arms. I know that because I was.