Monday, March 30, 2009
From Linda Nietes re this weekend in LA...
Dear Friends,
We would like to thank each and everyone of you for your participation inMEN READING WOMEN'S WRITINGS last Saturday. The event was a literaryfirst - there never was an event where men from different cultures hadread Pinay writings publicly. Without your participation, our Bookshop'sadvocacy for women's issues and our triple celebration would have been incomplete.
We hope that this will be the beginning of a new kind of consciousness to combat violence to women. Events like this is what makes us all a community and may we continue to commune with each other.The audience enjoyed the Readings very much and many of them are looking forward to similar Readings annually as a Bookshop tradition, to which I say Ah, Men !
Lastly, I would be remissed if I fail to acknowledge the role of Leny in all these. Her talk on "The Power to Heal: Remembering Our Babaylan Spirit" should be heard by all and am glad that we will be able to read more of her thoughts when her new book on the Babaylan tradition is released late this year. Leny, that calls for another celebration that may bring you back to our neck of the woods next year. So, thank you and more power to All.
Mabuhay ! Linda
Dear Friends,
We would like to thank each and everyone of you for your participation inMEN READING WOMEN'S WRITINGS last Saturday. The event was a literaryfirst - there never was an event where men from different cultures hadread Pinay writings publicly. Without your participation, our Bookshop'sadvocacy for women's issues and our triple celebration would have been incomplete.
We hope that this will be the beginning of a new kind of consciousness to combat violence to women. Events like this is what makes us all a community and may we continue to commune with each other.The audience enjoyed the Readings very much and many of them are looking forward to similar Readings annually as a Bookshop tradition, to which I say Ah, Men !
Lastly, I would be remissed if I fail to acknowledge the role of Leny in all these. Her talk on "The Power to Heal: Remembering Our Babaylan Spirit" should be heard by all and am glad that we will be able to read more of her thoughts when her new book on the Babaylan tradition is released late this year. Leny, that calls for another celebration that may bring you back to our neck of the woods next year. So, thank you and more power to All.
Mabuhay ! Linda
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
title of my talk for International WOmen's Day celebration in LA:
The Power to Heal: Remembering Our Babaylan Spirit
The Power to Heal: Remembering Our Babaylan Spirit
Saturday, March 21, 2009
this week's horoscope made me smile...
Years ago a Polish scientist toiling in Antarctica was consumed with longing for a woman he'd left behind in his home country. Spilling over with the desire to express his adoration, he gathered a mass of penguin dung and used it to spell out a large M on the frigid ground. It was the first letter of his girlfriend's name, Magda. To this day, two species of flowering plants have thrived in that M-shaped area, fed by the fertilizing power of the dung. Your assignment, Virgo, is to create something equally enduring and unique for someone you care for deeply.
Years ago a Polish scientist toiling in Antarctica was consumed with longing for a woman he'd left behind in his home country. Spilling over with the desire to express his adoration, he gathered a mass of penguin dung and used it to spell out a large M on the frigid ground. It was the first letter of his girlfriend's name, Magda. To this day, two species of flowering plants have thrived in that M-shaped area, fed by the fertilizing power of the dung. Your assignment, Virgo, is to create something equally enduring and unique for someone you care for deeply.
Monday, March 16, 2009
dear reader -
i was interviewed by radio manila today. i don't know if you've heard of this online radio. i don't even know if the website will link you to the interview (couldn't open it from my computer). it was an interesting experience as i've never done a radio interview before. i was struck by Awee's (the host) comment that i should have a dvd or audio cd available to our communities so we can listen and learn about decolonization and indigenous core values and learn how to be proud Filipinos. i suppose if i keep getting this feedback (and i do), perhaps the universe will bring a tech-savvy person who can collaborate with me, no?
i was interviewed by radio manila today. i don't know if you've heard of this online radio. i don't even know if the website will link you to the interview (couldn't open it from my computer). it was an interesting experience as i've never done a radio interview before. i was struck by Awee's (the host) comment that i should have a dvd or audio cd available to our communities so we can listen and learn about decolonization and indigenous core values and learn how to be proud Filipinos. i suppose if i keep getting this feedback (and i do), perhaps the universe will bring a tech-savvy person who can collaborate with me, no?
Monday, March 09, 2009
dear reader -
here's an article on the Babaylan that might interest you.
will be announcing the Babaylan conference 2010 soon.
here's an article on the Babaylan that might interest you.
will be announcing the Babaylan conference 2010 soon.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
dear reader -
i think i like this format, don't you? it feels better to imagine you as someone who is there except i can't see you or touch you. i'll pretend that you are my friend who is interested in the themes you find here. meandering thoughts. beleaguered thoughts. sonambulist thoughts.
today i was ruminating on the difficulty of dialogue when the people sharing the dialog space do not speak the same language or share the same texts. i find that the role of the translator is not easy because it is always more than about language, it is also about culture, intergenerational difference, and the personal/personalities. i find myself walking a fine line, trying to bring everyone on the same page. patience, i tell myself. kapwa, my dear.
i am learning to let go.
i think i like this format, don't you? it feels better to imagine you as someone who is there except i can't see you or touch you. i'll pretend that you are my friend who is interested in the themes you find here. meandering thoughts. beleaguered thoughts. sonambulist thoughts.
today i was ruminating on the difficulty of dialogue when the people sharing the dialog space do not speak the same language or share the same texts. i find that the role of the translator is not easy because it is always more than about language, it is also about culture, intergenerational difference, and the personal/personalities. i find myself walking a fine line, trying to bring everyone on the same page. patience, i tell myself. kapwa, my dear.
i am learning to let go.
Friday, March 06, 2009
dear reader -
how are you coping these days? i am wondering if you or anyone you know have lost a job, a home, a loved one; if you have lost your retirement portfolio; or if you are getting divorced or separated; or if you dealing with grave illness.
the wise say: a paradigm is dying.
how shall we mourn its passing? or maybe more aptly -- how shall we celebrate what's coming?
***
i have a recurring dream about missing my flight home. my group abandoning me. my luggage leaving without me. not having a boarding pass.
my mentor says it means i need to strengthen and deepen my grounding in the earth, my home.
when i am home, i need not go anywhere else.
how true.
how are you coping these days? i am wondering if you or anyone you know have lost a job, a home, a loved one; if you have lost your retirement portfolio; or if you are getting divorced or separated; or if you dealing with grave illness.
the wise say: a paradigm is dying.
how shall we mourn its passing? or maybe more aptly -- how shall we celebrate what's coming?
***
i have a recurring dream about missing my flight home. my group abandoning me. my luggage leaving without me. not having a boarding pass.
my mentor says it means i need to strengthen and deepen my grounding in the earth, my home.
when i am home, i need not go anywhere else.
how true.
