Now/here no/where woman

Tomorrow at 4PM, Mt. Cloud Bookshop will host a very special Author's Talk and Book Signing with 2011 CNN Hero, Robin Lim. To my mind, she is a true Wonder Woman. She tirelessly works for gentle births and healthy motherhood for people all over the world, she delivers babies with her own hands day in and day out, she has raised her own family and is now a grandmother, and she somehow found the time in all this important work to write seventeen books so far! She is one of those persons that make you wonder whether she is an ordinary human. When you meet her, you will see that yes, she is human, but extraordinarily so.

Oh wow (: for several reasons :) Baguio Green Ride coming soon! Watch this space for details.

This feels familiar. Eep.

A NERD BOYFRIEND. Check out these fine specimens. More diversions on nerdboyfriend.com . Thank you, Miss Mika O .

In this time of unfettered political disillusionment, it's good to remember that there are people in government like Grace Padaca and the members of her anti illegal logging Task Force. A heroine and heroes of the Sierra Madre forest. This page requires a higher version browser For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

Photo source: WAVE of the future Photo source: WAVE of the future Photo source: WAVE of the future From WAVE of the future , the blog of Ipat Luna : "Amidst the maddening hoopla about Mancao, H1N1 and Chacha, Isabela Governor Grace Padaca quietly applied for and served two search warrants against two big time players in Isabela's logging game. Two large stashes of undocumented lumber from Luzon's most important forests - the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park amounting to 700,000 board feet of high grade lumber were confiscated. One of the big time loggers was arrested and the other is in hiding. And it is not over. More actions are expected in the weeks to come. "The campaign began around this time last year, when Governor Padaca soutght help from a number of sectors on her campaign. I-Witness did a full feature documentary ( part 1 , part 2 , part 3 , and part 4 ) and many sectors applauded but actual support was still not forthcoming. "More recently, th...

The invites you to the 1st WORD FOR WORD! book sale Pre-loved books at bargain prices! Donated from the shelves of avid readers and book connoisseurs, the collection is bound to please the word-hungry! Great finds await you! March 22, 2009 10 A.M. onwards at the dap-ay of Proceeds from WORD FOR WORD will go towards the BWG’s literary workshops! Our aim: to enable writers and teachers in the Cordilleras to teach, critique, and encourage young talents. Our dream: literary workshops held by new writers and teachers in their own languages and hometowns and their work published in the vernacular. We will continue to accept book donations as we plan to make WORD FOR WORD a regular event on the Baguio calendar. See you! is a non-stock, non-profit organization. We exist to celebrate Cordilleran literature and to nurture the souls of Cordilleran writers. For inquiries, email baguiowriters@gmail.com or text/call 0908 361 2844

Illustration credit: the Cordillera Studies Center webpage. Who's the artist? I wish I knew! Over 140 papers will be presented at this conference from Feb. 7-9, 2008, and all of them will be about our beloved Cordi! INSANE! Brilliant! Exciting! (Says the cordianthronerd.) Program and registration details here.

Wrote a review of Baguio Then & Now. I like the exhibit so much that this is the third time I'm blogging about it! It's been a while since Baguio's seen this much intelligence and substance poured into a bunch of photos put up on a wall. Here is a short version of my review . If you've got time to spare and can bear with my wordy gushing, read on... (The funny thing is, I'm actually starting to like the short version better than this one. Yawn.) AND, the show is on view in SM Baguio until third week of February. Go see if you haven't yet. Kulit no? Viewing Baguio’s Heritage (or what’s left of it) Have you ever unearthed a shoebox full of old photographs of a loved one and spent an afternoon marveling at how they have physically changed over the years and become the body and the person that you know and love today? Viewing the Baguio Then/Now exhibit feels just like that, except for two strange effects. First, unlike a person who naturally ages over time, Bag...

In lieu of last Saturday's full moon, which was hidden by Mina's storm clouds, here is a wonderful pomme de terre written in Ilocano by Junley Lazaga, a member of Ubbog. Patatas Ket patatas nga naukisan iti bulan daydi umuna nga lawas ti Oktubre, sibubuo ket amarilyo; Ken dagiti kudilna nga nagalip-sina ket ti daga nga taltalunen kadagiti bakrang ti bambantay; Patatas ket iti bulan idi diak makaturog rinabii, Ukisna ket idi iti daga di adda kadagita sadya; Kas iti patatas iti bulan tinaripatok ket inug-ugasak sakbay isab-it iti langit ti arapaap; Patatas ket met ita nga tinubuan kadagiti mata iti bulan nga puson iti pagbalinanna. The Tagalog translation, by the poet: Patatas At patatas na nabalatan ang buwan noong unang linggo ng Oktubre, buo at dilaw; At ang mga balat nitong nahiwa-hiwalay ay ang lupang sinasaka sa mga tagiliran ng mga bundok; Patatas ang buwan noon di ako makatulog gabi-gabi, Balat nito noon ang lupa noong nasa iyong tabi; Gaya ng patatas ...

My post on Stand Up Against Poverty unexpectedly got a debate started on whether or not people in Baguio are poor! Are we or are we not? Are they or are they not? Are you or are you not? Lisa wrote a long piece on her blog, re-examining her definition of poor , and explaining her own attitudes towards 'it'. Be sure to read the comments too! Here is what Stand Up Against Poverty is all about. I think it's a little bit more than just a worldwide whine. I've read several relevant posts by Bill Bilig, that may not deal with the definition of poverty directly but this post on vegetable farmers and this post on hunger, for example, add on more dimensions to the way we could approach a debate on 'poor or not'. Comments on Bill's blog are also well worth the extra minutes. My own piso-mind shall remain in the comments boxes. I do not feel entitled to speak on the matter at length, although I know people who could speak from experience and I wish they wo...

Nope, that is not a typographical error. Panagrenga it is! A celebration to rival the Panagbenga's frivolity and utter uselessness! At the poetry symposium held two weekends ago ( hardest hangover to shake off ever -- so far!), we had a renga experiment. A renga is a Japanese form of poetry in which the first three lines are composed by one person, and the next two lines are composed by another. We broke these rules of course. We asked the seven poets to start one renga each on seven sheets of paper, and we passed the sheets of paper along through the audience asking them to write a line or two each. Thankfully, we ended up with seven rengas with seven to ten lines each, instead of seven rengas with 50 lines each. (We had about 50 participants in all.) Here is the one begun by Marjorie Evasco: Pine, the word to name the tree and a longing Pine, so much more than a scent; it is our being Pine covered up by wires and walls Pine slowly enveloped by mounds of rubble Let your cool nee...

A couple of readers (wow, I have readers!) have left edifying links in their comments but I just discovered that links don't work very well in the comments box. So here they are again. Nash gave us a lead to a piece on the whole breastfeeding vs. formula milk corporate sham . Johnb gave us a lead to a web-page dedicated to the memory of the Baguio Killer Earthquake , may it forever be the only one. Thank you! Pahabol! Another piece on the formula milk issue , thanks to Mayumi.