In tribute to women and the arts

We did it!  for the past five years, the Baji Arts Collective celebrated women's month through the arts...  Baji is an all-Boholana Arts Collective of both literary and visual artists based in and outside Bohol.  A clip of some of the stunning works...

\What makes you happy by Vida Tirol de Juan

Still Life by Chrisylli Mitzi Ibaya (oil in canvass)

Ngano'ng di kaangkas si inday?  by Nuevas T. Montes (acryllic)

Unsaon Pagmugna?  by Jhacky Curambao

But-anay ba diay? by Rossa Shiels Cafe

The exhibit runs until March 20.  Some of the works are on sale...

Vacuum

Can I tempt you with my childhood game?

That of gleaning shells from the shorelines

When the shells I gather will serve as bribe at dusk?

And then those shells will land on our table with an extra sermon from mom,

Never to go to the sea without a ‘proper’ chaperone…

But I know, I know.  I can’t just tempt you this time.

The tempest is here

Here we are again at the peak of the horizons

Debating where to go

Where the tides led us and our bloods brought us

Here, at a vantage point we were excited and calm

We tried hard to listen and listened very hard.

I heard generations of sadness, struggles, those of hopes.

At least, those were the sighs I heard…

A tempest may be coming soon.

Interestingly, no one was there to pacify the brewing wind.

It was all but questions and unseen questions.

Avocado Faces

Fr. Chalerm, Thailand -- he is the oldest.  He didn't stay at Avocado.  He was in Singapore House.

This rosary-wielding guy helped us a lot.  He made sure we got into the proper buses and places...

Ching at the blue mansion

Bee and Hawnan, Thailand.  They stayed at Avocado in different generations...

inter-generational catching up

with Aloy, the man of the week

Jim, Aki-Japan, Teresa

Bee

Vangie (avocado friend) Ching - HK

chaplains

Ann and Ching

I was an Avocado baby.  I was the third occupant of #20 Avocado Road.  It was Sanjay who showed me the ropes and tips in surviving such a 'far-flung' place.

Three years from now, Avocado  will celebrate 20 years of  student movement vibrancy.  It witnessed interlocking smiles, sighs, cries and shouts.  But for me, it witnessed decades-old growing and learning...

In fact, in June 23rd, the grandest Avocado reunion was held in Penang, Malaysia to coincide with the presbyteral ordination of Fr. Tan Yih Soo.

Ruki - IYCS, Teresa -IMCS with Rory, local IMCS of Penang

with Msgr. Stephen Liew, VG of Penang Diocese, a long-time friend of Avocado

Myra, IMCS staff admin - a room mate

Helena, Avocado friend

Solitude

I crossed the bridge once more

The artsy clouds and bluse skies guided us

the clear crystal waters tempted us to just stop and gaze at it...

We know better. We moved on.

The island has secrets kept in coconut kernels or wisdom of old.

I was with a group.  A boisterous one.  They kept bugging me for photos.  I did oblige.

But I kept my piece of quiet and peace.  

I smiled in peace.

The shutter is there for us to see. It is the finger that clicks and the brains decide when I want to take photographs...

After a few seconds, we see images captured in another angle.

After taking this picture for weeks now, my mind is diverted to the ecological implication of this architectural structure.  Had we preserved all those pristine corals of old, how paradisaical could we be?

Lull

i can't sleep and that's given. it is in the middle of the day. adrenaline is up and my imagination too. it is just that my brain wobbled off. i shouldn't have sat down in the meeting. yeah, it was just too much to engage in some detailed decisions...

i gave up on caffeine for 2 days. could it be the case? i don't think so.

i can easily blame it to overload. i got paralyzed. simply paralyzed. i don't know where to start.

and i can't call for help. oh brain, please cooperate.

ON BEING HUMAN

Reflections & thoughts on the first ROL of CCI-Bohol

No matter how strong, happy and equipped we all are the need for people to be listened to is very great. It is no question of inadequacy or weakness the people that I was with last Sunday was attracted to the thought of sharing without fear or prejudice.

We were only seven- a good lucky mix of seven people coming from different backgrounds and struggles who are regularly evaluating relevance of their involvement in life. Most of us can trace our background with the Youth Ministry. One was just affiliated to it due to his attraction in the critical review of life.

The longing

Evident in the sharing was the longing of the participants to be coherent in their faith. This includes integrating faith in decision-making and in understanding people in the workplace. How to bring the person of Christ even to the ‘unlovable’? How to put color in such a drab routine of filling out reports and forms to colleagues who are fault finders?

Common for most of us was the struggle to adjust to the work environment. Most did not totally adapt the given culture but instead tried to influence it. “It was pure hard work” said one. The investment that you place in something intangible may be heartbreaking at times.

However, the need to recreate spaces of dialogue, joy and a culture-seeking fulfillment prevailed.

The struggle

Amazingly we were not alone in the struggle. We found people in the workplace sharing the same sentiments. These are the people that we turn to in times of conflict. These are also our main sphere of influence.

The struggle was not only confined in the issue of competence, commitment and capacity. It was more on the struggle of adjusting to different attitudes and behaviors. What was proven helpful was the training of the Review of Life. Seeing the reality as it is allows one to be more open and accepting. This is a key element towards tolerance.

We found out that domestic issues are sometimes very demanding and difficult to overcome. It is very important to grow together in consciousness as a family. If not, conflicts would surely arise. We grew up with so much cultural conditioning. If we don’t have common understanding at looking at issues (e.g. gender, the economy, politics, success, etc) then we are bound to a precarious situation.

How to explain to children about faith? What is a ‘liberal Christian’? What is the meaning of going to church? How is my relationship to the institutional church? How is this understood by our life partners and our children?

Strikingly, being a youth leader in the church was a major consideration for choices in life partners. People expected us to be more pious and to remain active in the daily works in the parish. Some of us detached ourselves from this involvement… The partners were the first ones to ask WHY and what went wrong?

The commitment to eradicate corruption

We committed to eradicate corruption in the workplace. Jokingly a question was asked on whether or not we are staring at the same corruption. Is facebooking a form of corruption when done in the workplace? How can we draw our strength to remain faithful to our job for eight-hours?

This can be a point of more Reviews…

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The next ROL for CCI-Bohol is 15TH October 2010. CCI stands for Cardijn Community International

And then some what ifs

I got a disturbing email yesterday enough to make me disturbed and angry. It was enough to make me putter about during dawn just to email people dear to me.

After a few email exchanges, we stopped. The issue may be valid, worth the energy but then it was best to put it aside...

What if the issue involved was worth taking up? I am pretty sure I won't be blamed after all... It was a mess, messier than I could imagine.

What if it was also worth dropping like that of the consensus made after the email exchanges?

You see, we end up with all the summations if we just keep on going through it all...

What if I die?

I wouldn't know perhaps if that would be the exact moment. Pain not tolerated might mean a glimpse of death but nah... it is not! It might be the product of your emotional self or the self that would prefer instant attention.

Death might be instantaneous or slow. It might eat you up. But I prefer to say that it might an art... a gracious way of accepting life as it is...

I faced a medical challenge last week when I had a hard time with my bladder. I didn't think much of death but I did make an inventory if there is something that the world would miss if I die (rock star!)... The answer was NONE. I did and gave it all. And then, but some, I bitched my way to the nurses and docs... LET ME PEE!

I did say sorry to my system for letting tanduay rule over them. I did made a sane discourse to my body parts why alcohol is good for my sanity and why we should tolerate it more. Why the 'bad' must be accommodated in the inner system of my body.

My body gave up in those debates. They accommodated my living self once more... I got opened up by the knife. I have to incur loans that would make me stay over my job for sometime...

SIGH.

No regrets. I just will move forward.

And then we go back to the title of this blog. What if I die? Just please do away with those ceremonial rituals. Bring sting and U2 on. Let friends party and if flowers are around, convert them to cash and donate to a cause I need to think of...