Now/here no/where woman

I'll be glad when February is over.

An edited (new and improved!) version of this write up is in today's Inquirer. Portraits of elders with weathered faces, pretty young women in traditional costumes, and mountainsides carved into magnificent rice terraces – these are the trademark images that make up the popular vision of the Cordillera mountain range and its people. Little of this standard imagery is to be found in JP Alipio’s photographic exhibition, Green Shadows, on display at the Victor Oteyza Community Art Space (VOCAS) until March. The collection of photos brings into sharp, almost painful focus a vision of a bountiful environment steadily being laid to waste. "WASTELAND" by JP Alipio Commissioned by the Cordillera Green Network, Alipio documented the state of the environment in all the provinces of the region. The experience has changed his scope as a photographer and his stance as an environmentalist. “It made me more locally-grounded... I’ve moved on from being a hardcore save-the-trees environme...

The Artist-in-residence and I were downtown observing people when she suddenly burst into a sardonic laugh. Me: What? A.I.R. (shaking her head): It's too silly. Me: What's too silly? AIR: Everybody's buying flowers! Hahahaaaaaa! Me: And? AIR (almost hysterical with laughter): Why choose today, of all days, to tell some one that you think they're special? How can valentine's day be special when everybody's buying the same gifts, going to the same places, and doing the same thing??? Hahahaaaaaa! Me (as I ushered her across the street and away from the dirty looks of the people lined up for flowers): You're right. How pedestrian.

If not for the menu of poetry and food being served up at the Cafe by the Ruins on Valentine's Day/Night, I would totally boycott VD for all the obvious reasons: it's a hallmark greeting card holiday, it's the wrong definition of 'romance', everybody just wants to get laid but won't say it upfront and won't do it safely, roses are loaded with toxic chemicals, and there's more but before I get carried away on an anti-VD rant, check out the Cafe's passion-filled menu for the evening: Poet's Dinner Thai Soup with Rice Wine Pandan Chicken with Turmeric Rice Shrimp Sotanghon Salad or Green and yellow Mango salad with fish For vegetarians: Vegetable Quiche Organic Greens Salad Squash Flower and Baby Corn Tempura Photo by Rudi Tabora DESSERT: Cream of Hearts or Chocolate-covered strawberries!!! Poems on Presence and Absence will be read by members of the Baguio Writers Group and Ubbog. Then we will have an open mic session and possibly the first ever ...

Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin! Here are three different takes on the man and his legacy. Darwin, Prescient with 'Origin,' Is Still Influential. Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live. The Darwin Awards. This year there is even a Double Darwin Winner! Meanwhile, I press on with my sayangtist adventures in my own backyard. Who knows what great discoveries might lie ahead!

Another flyer/postcard I picked up. This one I got at the American Anthropological Association's annual meeting in San Francisco. There I had the pleasure of watching this vibrant documentary about dance, identity, and crossing cultures. AND I also got to meet Mitch Teplitsky, the film's maker, AND buy a dvd from him at a discounted rate. He was carrying a whole lot of copies around in his knapsack and was hoping to be rid of them by the end of the week-long conference. I think I got the second-to-the-last copy on the second-to-the-last day of the conference.

Yesterday I was stuck in the rain on Session Road without an umbrella. I wasn't the only one feeling stranded. Dozens of people without umbrellas lined the sidewalks, standing under awnings, or dashing out desperately into the rain to hail a taxi that always turned out to be occupied. I stood there for about half an hour, watching people compete for cabs, inhaling the city fumes, absorbing the sound of all those cars and all that chatter, amusing myself by noting the colors and prints of all the tsinelas flipflopping by, and watching my time drain away like all that rain rushing through the gutters. I had with me a painting that I had just picked up at the framers and it was swathed in bubble wrap. After making sure the rain wouldn't seep in, I hoisted the painting unto my head and made my way back towards City Hall, whereabouts my trusty steed awaited my return. When I got home my feet felt cold, wet, and gritty. I slipped out of my plastic flats (the WRONG shoes for a rain...

Oh my god! This is the sort of thing that makes anthropologeeks like me shiver with delight! Anthro Daily is a dashboard widget (for mac users on tiger) that features a different object everyday from the collections of the Anthropology Division of the American Museum of Natural History . But that's not even the best part! The best part is that the widget links to the Anthro Division's website and from there you can browse through their collections database! Today's object is a necklace from the African Collection! And this is what I love best about it! They've put up images of the original catalogue page, and for some objects, images of the actual pages of Expedition Field Notes!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! Here are the field notes for this object, from the expedition on which this object was collected! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! *swoon* CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: All three images above are from the Anthropology Division collections database. Check it out!

On a recent sojourn to North America, I collected more flyers and brochures than souvenirs. I can't keep them all -- already too much clutter in my little lungga, so for posterity I'll post them here in random order. If anybody wants to adopt a flyer or save a few from the garbage bin (the paper-designated garbage bin, to be precise, my dear Thompson), just say the word and it's yours. I wanted my own copy of this film sooo bad because it sounded like such a good story (and a soundrack by Youssou N'Dour!), but my budget was running low so I settled for the postcard.