Fascination with East Timor

        This is a submission to English 110. East Timor has always fascinated me. There were times that I would tell anyone curious that I was born in East Timor. Not many I have lied to has not even heard of the country. I wondered  if Professor Williams even heard about the country before.   The history of the former Portuguese territory has some similarities with my motherland  and I imagine East Timor to be like some of tribal regions in the  country.  I wanted so much to highlight community organizing methods  as among the basis of the East Timorese' relationship with their ancestral domains. I have been posting submissions as blogs. I have these wild thoughts of being a serious blogger and a feeling I am so good at it that anyone might just cut and paste my work. It's my blogging and bragging rights.
        East Timor is the newest independent country in Southeast Asia. Its mountainous terrain is a verdant forest that grew sandalwood, the second most expensive wood in the world, next to African Blackwood (Kumar, Joshi and Ram 1140).  During the Portuguese colonization, East Timor was a trading post for sandalwood. In 1975, the Portuguese government gave up its territorial claims on East Timor.  In the same year, the Indonesian army occupied the former colony. The Indonesian occupation resulted to killings and displacement of its population and further exploitation of the remaining sandalwood forests (Wright 10).  It was only in 2002 that the United Nations recognized East Timor as an independent country, three years after East Timorese voted in a referendum against the reintegration of the former colony to Indonesia. Fourteen years after the country officially became a nation; its government continues to pool the country’s human and natural resources towards nation-building in an effort to ensure a sustainable economy for its population.
           East Timorese are dependent on agriculture for their subsistence. Because of their animisticbackgrounds, natural habitats which are the primary sources of food have been maintained with respect. Deforestation, where farmers slash and burn forested areas in order to expand their arable lands, however, has resulted to soil erosion and degraded watersheds. As a result of the degraded watersheds, water quality deteriorates during the rainy season leading to childhood diseases and increased infant mortality rate. The widespread poverty that has been plaguing East Timor as a result of its neglect as a Portuguese colony for four centuries and the ensuing Indonesian occupation have left East Timorese to resort further into deforestation by cutting down trees for the logging industry and using  the deforested lands for cultivation of cash crops for export like   Arabica coffee beans. The newly independent country has yet to determine its maritime boundaries with its neighboring countries (Schofield 259).   While East Timorese struggle in poverty, the country’s natural resources that include petroleum, marble and gold have yet to be tapped to benefit the country with infrastructures and its people with employment.  Despite the country’s valuable natural resources such as petroleum and gold, majority of the country’s population are marginalized and impoverished.
       Religion plays a significant part in the life of every Timorese. Ninety-six percent of the country’s populations belong to the Roman Catholic Church as a result of Portugal’s colonization since the seventeenth century.  The Catholic Church, with its pastoral role, has taken to the education of people in terms of consciousness-raising. Weighed down by   rampant poverty, East Timorese have taken to the guidance of Catholic priests and religious leaders to come together to bring about change in their communities and their economic situation. With the teachings of the Catholic Church running alongside animistic tendencies, East Timorese consider themselves stewards of their environment while subsisting on agriculture.
         As pointed out to Irena Cristalis, the author of the book East Timor: A Nation’s Bitter Dawn, East Timor’s bid for independence was inspired by theories on liberation theology (Cristalis 75). Liberation theology is a people-oriented ideology with little religious bearings. The ideology originated in Latin America   and discreetly conceals Marxist tendencies such as struggles for classless societies. Liberation theology    inspired the insurgency and guerilla movements that clandestinely involved communities for support during the Indonesian occupation in East Timor. Today, thirteen years after East Timor became a republic, its leaders like the current President Taur Matan Ruak and his predecessors President Jose Ramos Horta and former Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao are still  strongly associated with their participation in the guerilla movement that was instrumental in the country’s bid for independence.
          Liberation theology covers not only the social, economic and political aspects but also the environmental concerns that are affecting every member of the community.  In the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire, liberation theology is spelled out as a community organizing model that begins by defining liberation as a process of consciousness raising, dialogues and continuous analyses of the community situation (Freire 43).    Banking on the self-determination of individuals and using the Freire model of community organizing, local East Timorese leaders continue to strengthen groups and communities remote from Dili, the nation’s capital. People’s organizations employ community organizing strategies that they have learned while struggling for the country’s independence.   Working committees are formed to deal with community problems like farmland or property disputes among farmers.  The national government, on the other hand, continues to collaborate with local leaders through dialogues or consultations regarding issues that have been affecting the community level which could be of a national concern.
          Issues that embrace not only social, economic and political matters but environmental concerns are put on a larger scale and long-term perspectives at the national level.  While keeping in touch with grassroots organizations from the community level, leaders at the national level constituting the East Timor government build alliances with other countries, other than Australia which has been East Timor’s closest ally and neighbor.   In 2004, however, East Timor had a dispute with Australia regarding maritime jurisdictions over  the petroleum-rich Timor Sea.  Recognizing the need to avoid another protracted struggle, then President Xanana Gusmao resolved to strengthen ties with its allies, particularly Australia (Schofield 254).  Gusmao’s response to the dispute showed a national leader’s dilemma between protecting his country’s domains and environment and strengthening ties with its allies.
       Prioritizing environmental concerns in the hope of preserving natural habitats has been a big challenge for a nation who needs to move on and address more pressing tasks like strengthening social and political institutions and establishing a sustainable economy for its people.  Recognizing the need to develop its human resource base to become more economically self-reliant, the government of East Timor continues to involve other sectors such as the Catholic Church, educational institutions, and international development agencies on its reconstruction and nation-building processes.  Despite its rich natural habitats endowed with valuable resources, development has been coming at a slow pace for East Timor. 
          There is much to learn from the experiences of East Timor in the realms of human ecology. Feeling more like a participant observer rather than a researcher, I chose to look into East Timor like an exile would.   For me, education and raising the consciousness of people regarding their situation and environment has been a powerful tool in empowering communities and fighting against foreign occupation to protect their domain. East Timorese however need not be so keen on protecting their habitats by protesting foreign investors who would build infrastructures for the mining and petroleum industry. Industrialization has been taking a toll on the environment of every country and East Timor will not be spared if it chooses to move on as a developing economy instead of just being a newly independent country. Continuing education and employing customary practices that have previously worked in protecting the environment however will always be helpful for a population who has struggled from the grassroots to gain the independence of a new nation.

Cited Works:

 Arun Kumar, Geeta Joshi and Mohan Ram. “Sandalwood: History, Uses, Present Status and the Future”. Current Science, Volume 103, No.12, 25 December 2012

Cristalis, Irena. “Timor’s Joan of Arc” East Timor: A Nation’s Bitter Dawn. Zed Books London/New York, Second Edition 2009, 69-80

 Damaledo, Andrey. “’We are not new citizens, we are East Timorese’: Displacement and Labelling in West Timor”, Review of Malay

 Freire, Paolo. “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education as an Instrument of Oppression” Pedagogue of the Oppressed. 30^th Anniversary Edition, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2005, 71-86

 Robert Kelly, Denise Coleman, Mary Ann Azevedo. “East Timor 2015 Country Review” Country Watch 2015 Edition

 Global Environmental Concepts, Environmental Overview, East Timor Review 2009, 109-115

 Carroll-Ben, Sam. “Development Alternatives in Timor-Leste” Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia and Oceania, Bijdragen tot de Taal-Land-en Volkenkunde, 2015, Vol. 17, Issue 2/3, p312-345

Schofield, Clive. “A ‘Fair Go’ for East Timor: Sharing the Resources of the Sea” Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affair, Vol 27, No. 2, August 2005, 255-280

Wassel, Todd. “Timor Leste: Links Between Peacebuilding, Conflict Prevention and Durable Solutions to Displacement” Project Internal Displacement, The Brookings Institution, 2014

 

Wright, Warren. “Sandalwood and Environmental Law in East Timor” East Timor Law Journal, 19 May 2012

 

[

Ang mga anak ng pato sa Lumang Taon

Maraming mga anak ng pato na dumaan nitong  lumang taon. Minsan para silang langaw na lumalapit kung saan may basa at mabaho. Gusto ko mang iwasann kusa silang lumalapit 

Ethnic, exotic

Mas pinapaboran ko ang pagiging ethnic. Minsan sa Asian Social Institite, tinagurian ako ng  kamagong dahil sa aking mga kasuotan..bag na habi sa Cordillera, Our Tribe sandals at sinturon mula sa nilukot na tubao. Natuwa ako sa pagkakahalintulad ko sa  kamagong. Ang  pagbibihis ng mga yari ng mga katutubo minsan ay naging  isang  pamamaraan ng aking  sariling  papapakilanlan. Bagama't wala sa lugar, ang pagiging  kamagong sa siyudad ay isa ring hindi pangkaraniwang karanasan o novelty. Ano ang kamagong? Eh di i-Google mo!

Exotic. 

Exotic food.

Exotic women! 

Hindi ba't pang-iinsulto ang paglalarawan  ng mga kababaihan bilang exotic? Natitiis  ko pag nakakarinig ako ng mga kapwa mula sa Inang Bayang na tawagin ang lupang tinubuan na P.I. at mga kapwa kababaihan mula sa lupang tinubuan ipilit sa akin na ang tamang turing to women from P. I are Filipinas. Pero kung ang mga lalaking dayunan ay  maglalarawan sa mga kababaihan mula sa lupang tinubuan ay exotic Filipinas, ibang usapin na. 

Ang exotic fruit mula sa Davao? Durian!

Ang exotic fish para sa akin? Bisugo o di kaya talakitok! 

Ang exotic beauty? Nakakita ka na ba ng magandang bisugo o talakitok? 

Patukmu-tukmong utak kantó

Heto  na naman ako tahimik na nagbubunganga sa pamamagitan ng agiw tala. Buti na lang patukmu-tukmo lang..pana-panahon baga. Bakit nga ba madaling kumundena ang nakakarami sa mga salitang masarap bigkasin? Bakit nga ba ang mga marino lang angnakakabigkas ng mga malulutong na salitang ito.  Swear like a sailor! Hindi ba't mga bulalas  ang mga Ito?Bulalas, sa English pa, ejaculation! Pawang mga lalaki lang ba  ang puwedeng bumulalas? Ang pagbubulalas  ay hindi lang pagbubulalas ng mga lalaki. 

Susmaryosep,  pati ba naman si Pacquiao?  Hindi ko mapigilang bumulalas!  Si Pacquiao ay ipinanganak na rin muli! Hindi mo kailangan basahin ang pagbubulalas ko. Alam ko hindi ka sang-ayon sa mga bulalas ko dahil ipinanganak ka ring muli. Tuwing  umaga nakagawian ko na ang bigkasin ang mga litanya ng birhen. Bulalas o paglalapastangan? Ejaculation or blasphemy?  

Palpallatok ti bigbigat, ikakasim Apo. Taga daton  ngamin ni nanang ko  ti kararwa ti gimong. 

Alam ko na kung bakit pinaka malaking paglalapastangan ang murang putang ina  mo. Heto ay dahil sa debosyon sa mahal na birhen. Kung ipinanganak ka ring muli tulad ni Pacquiao, hindi na angkop sa iyo ang mga litanya sa mahal na birhen. Pero  no offense meant pa rin  sa aking mga bulalas at  patukmu-tukmong utak kanto'.

Half-broke horses

Convictions versus Compromise

     Lily Casey Smith’s storms came in different forms and circumstances: a flash flood at ten, tornadoes, a fraudulent first marriage in her twenties, droughts and the Great Depression, among others. As I read the novel Half Broke Horse by Jeannette Walls, I thought of bamboos. Lily Casey Smith, the main character in the novel, was like a bamboo left standing all alone in the aftermath of a storm.

     Lily’s mother tried hard to impose on Lily expected gender roles that, up to this day, are still the mindsets of many women, even the whole American society. Lily’s role model, however, was her father. Lily learned to break horses at such an early age.  While her father was teaching her to break horses, her mother was more concerned of finding Lily a suitable husband; she usually frowned on Lily’s unladylike behavior.  It was the father who encouraged and recognized Lily’s potentials.  As I read into the story, I realized that Lily’s innate strength and moral convictions of doing what she thought was right started early on as a child. Her strong convictions were usually reinforced by  her father.

     Lily’s encounter with Deputy Johnson when she told him that she ran her own classroom and she would discipline wayward kids the way she saw it fit demonstrated a strength that arose as a result of unconventional tasks she did while growing up; like breaking horses. Lily’s response to Jim when she told him what happened was also

 

characteristic of Lily breaking gender stereotypes. “’It would either be a pattern of me standing up for myself or a pattern of me getting pushed around’” (Walls 180).

      I commend Lily for refusing to back down during the confrontation.  Lily had once defended her father on a court trial in front of a judge and the situation  wat nothing new to her.  Lily was reprimanding Johnny Johnson for his behavior in treating Rosita, a Mexican girl.   Lily standing up for Rosita could have been a situation where another teacher would just have looked the other way. Compromising in this manner was accepting the consequences of standing up for one’s convictions. Lily compromised her job as a teacher.

      My moral convictions may not be as intense as those of Lily Casey Smith; however, I believe everyone is entitled to justice, even for someone who was accused of a crime.

     Five years ago, James, my brother in Burbank called me at midnight.

     “Fatima was found dead in her apartment yesterday,” James breathlessly rattled over the phone.

      Fatima was my oldest sister who was working as a nurse in London. My brother posted a video clip on Facebook later that day. The video showed my sister’s remains which was   covered in an orange sheet. My sister’s remains was being loaded on a van and the video clip was in the local news in London.

     “I am crying for justice over the death of my sister,” my little sister Jennifer posted on her Facebook status later that day.

    

 

      There were hundreds of outpouring of sympathies and condolences from Jennifer’s friends at Facebook.  Meanwhile, I could not believe Fatima was dead. I browsed at every online newspaper based in London. Two weeks after, a news article reported that my sister was killed by her boyfriend. The news report alleged that Michael was the jilted lover.

      “I hope Michael rots in jail,” one posted on Jennifer’s status at Facebook. Similar others comments thanked God that the killer was found. Jennifer agreed with her Facebook sympathizers that Michael should rot in jail.

     “Now Fatima can rest in peace,” commented one of Jennifer’s friends at Facebook.  I flinched as I read the comment.

    Fatima died on the last day of June.  I visited her at her apartment in East End of London in November the year before. I have actually met Michael, a coworker who was also a nurse, currently married at that time to another nurse.  I also did meet Harvey, a divorced man from Brighton,   who, I thought was Fatima’s boyfriend.

     My parents, James, Jennifer, and friends of James and Jennifer at Facebook believed that the case was solved with Michael in jail.  But up to this day, I never stopped doubting whether Michael really killed Fatima. To me, it is easier to compromise and believe like everyone that what was being told is the truth.

     I thought about the case surrounding the death of Fatima about two weeks ago when I first heard that an undocumented immigrant from Mexico admitted shooting a woman by accident at the San Francisco pier. I could not believe how easily the San Francisco Police Department could have solved the case.

 

     As I reflect upon compromise versus convictions, I could only think of Lily Casey Smith who stood firm for what she believed in.  The situation surrounding her sister Helen’s death might have been different to the death of Fatima but the process of moving on in life is the same.  All her life, Lily Casey Smith weathered storms like  the  proverbial bamboo  by swaying with the wind and by bouncing back even from very difficult circumstances, with dignity and without falter. Should we not?

 

Works Cited

Walls, Jeannette. Half Broke Horses. New York: Scribner, 2009

 

The Omnivore's Dilemma

  Michael Pollan,  in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, notes  that the farming industry’s role in global warming has  never even thought about  (Pollan, 198).  Pollan suggests  that the farming industry through some human activity has also contributed to the greenhouses gases effect that increases atmospheric temperature by less than a dozen digit degrees in centigrade or more  year after year. In my understanding, humans are not the only creatures that have carbon dioxide as a metabolism by-product. The carbon dioxide that is trapped in the atmosphere and bounces back to the earth’s surface because of some kind of a glass ceiling makes me think earth as big greenhouse. The truth, I can’t imagine a greenhouse as a big as a country, how much more for a greenhouse as a big as a whole planet. With the earth as a big as greenhouse, I wonder where the ecological balance comes in. I thought I learned in my science classes in high school that there were some mutual symbiosis between plants and animals, like Joel Salatin’s Polyface farm, for example.

Google came up with pages and pages of references in answer to my keyword search question.  The San Diego Public Library gave me ninety pages of search results and found over a thousand of books when I typed “global warming” as a search keyword. Typing “climate change” on the search keyword even found me more books: 1,508 total. I typed “Kyoto Protocol” on the search keyword and the library catalog found 25 items that contained my search keyword. Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to limit global warming. Acknowledging that global exists, signatories of the agreement would limit emissions that would be trapped in the glass ceiling of the imaginary greenhouse that the world is made of. The trapped carbon dioxide emissions bounces back to the earth surface as heat and melts all the polar ice in Antarctica.

            The Grossmont Gateway to Research Library provided me the most substantial reference materials I never thought I could have accessed online through Google searches. I have saved on my desktop interesting studies about the Kyoto Protocol and how countries are. It is interesting to note that developed countries like Japan, Canada and European Union countries, except for the United States, have initially ratified the Kyoto Protocol (Freedman and Jaggi, 46). It was American scientists Roger Revelle and Han Suess, then both based in La Jolla’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, who revived an article written by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish, in 1986.  The article that speculated on the measurement of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide against the earth’s average temperature was published in a philosophical magazine (Bailey, 348).

With the array of databases available for my topic, I find it a bit limiting at first to be allowed to use only ten of the reference materials I have gathered. But the ten databases I have chosen promise answers to the questions I have always asked about global warming. Why does the US government refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol? Why did Canada withdraw from being a signatory to the international agreement? What are the impacts of the Kyoto Protocol across countries? What is the 97% consensus? Why did Al Gore, a student of Roger Revelle ignore his former professor’s statement? Just before Revelle in 1991, he coauthored an article with another scientist and declared: “The scientific base for greenhouse warming is too uncertain to justify drastic action at this time.”

 

Works  Cited:

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: New York Penguin Group, 2006. Print.

Gerlach et al. “US Rejection of the Kyoto Protocol: the Impact of Compliance and Cost of CO2  of CO2 Emissions” This paper was initially presented at the Stanford University Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) Meeting on Burden Sharing and the Costs of Mitigation, Snowmass, Colorado, August 6, 2001.

 

Sauquet, Alexandre. “Exploring the Nature of Inter-country Interactions in the Process of Ratifying Environmental Agreements” Public Choice April 2014 Volume 159 Issue 1/2, page 141-148. Pdf file.

 

Kumazawa, Riza et al. “The Effect of Kyoto Protocol on Carbon Dioxide Emissions”, Journal of Economics and Finance January 2012, Vol. 36 Issue 1, p201-210. Pdf file.

 

Urs Steiner Brandt et al. “Hot Air in Kyoto, Cold Air in the Hague—the Failures of Global Warming Negotiations. Energy Policy Volume 30, 2002, page 1191-1199

 

Friedman, Martin and Jaggi, Bikki.  “Global Warming Disclosures: The Impact of of Kyoto Protocol Across Countries”, Journal of International Finance and Management, Volume 22, Issue 1, 2011,  page 110-120

 

Munk, Walter H. “Tribute to Roger Revelle and his Contribution to Studies of Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change” The National Academy of Sciences  0027-8424/97 page 8247

 

Skuce, Andy. “Why the 97% Still Gets Challenge?” Corporate Knights Magazine Volume 13, Issue 3, page 70-71

 

Menchken, H. L. “Bill and Al’s Global Warming Circus”, The Forbes Magazine, November 3 1997,  page 246

 

Weart, Spencer. “Global Warming: How Skeptism Became Denial” Bulletin of Atomic Science, Volume 67, Issue 1, 2011, page 41-50

 

 

 

 

Before and After at Orient Valley

I first heard about this Filipino cuisine place at Carmetl Mountain Road from a Vons customer who loved Pinoy food. I was still working at the service deli at Vons and I sought this place out as soon as I could. This must have been more than eight years ago. This meant that this  point-point order system cafeteria type food service system survived the strict food inspection checks by the San Diego  County Health and Sanitation division. 

I rewarded myself once again for riding the dirt trails from Lake Hodges into the historical Mule Hill by ordering a whole grilled stuffed golden pampano. I  attacked the stuffed grilled golden pampano with my bare hands while rejoicing with Vice Ganda as he announced sixty thousand likes from Facebook. I think it was about a make a wish or grant a wish contest. Vice Ganda was telling this blind girl that wealth is not just about money. Vice Ganda later rewarded a middle-aged woman constestant 38,000 Philippine peso for twerking. 

I ate every morsel of the grilled stuffed golden pampano including the brain and the eyes while watching Vice Ganda  dance. He was actually looking wholesome, not the loud, rowdy and garish drag queen he'd always been. I finished the grilled stuffed golden pampano while Vice Ganda interviewed a Papa Pogi contestant smiling with confidence with his "breast". I think wearing a "breast" is more of a fashion statement in the motherland . The grilled stuffed golden pampano is my happy meal over #ShowtimeHappyHuwebes.

Dreading Aywilbe Fayed

 Looks like I will be going back to the loving arms of Ayyedis Vahkendjaab because Aywilbe Fayed is lurking. It happened the day Precious visited. Precious had nothing to do with it. Zz 

After Precious' visit

The photo was taken at 11:40. In the picture, I could see the beautiful sinus rhythm in the high 90's to low hundreds of Mr. Jungmann. His oxygen saturation was ideal at 98 to 100%.

At 1321, Mr Jungmann coded. This is my first and the last shot in front of beautiful sinus rhythms. 

It's my very first horrifying code blue experience. It's like a bucketful of ice was poured on me that moment I realized that the code was on my station. I almost wished I was the one coding myself. 

Mr Jungmann was a trauma patient. Weeks before he fell off from a 20 or 30 feet elevation. He was in the marines or a navy.

Mexican Revolution Reenacted

To me, Mexicans and Native Americans are one and the same. Referred to as Indios, Mexicans and Native Americans both belonged  to the indigenous peoples of North America. Native Americans such as the Kumeyaays were displaced when United States took position of the Norhern part of Mexico. Native Americans living in the unoccupied  part of country  remained to be called Mexicans. 

July 4th Togo Blog

Land of Opportunities bring day of opportunity.  Here I am using the shade of a FedEx drop box and leaning on the UPS  dropbox next to it while waiting for the parade to begin.  It's my day off sandwich and I am consuming it with gusto seated at the last irrigated roadside lawns of Bernardo Center Heights Dr. Some nine years ago, I was in this same area, less than 100 meters from this spot, wishing I was a spectator to the parade. Instead, I was working at the Deli of Vons Safeway. 

The parade finally begins and there's Scott Peters like an old friend waving at me. I am probably one of many who waved  back acknowledging his payback time wave. I voted for him the second time. The first time I saw him on a parade, it was the gay pride parade at Hillcrest. 

Brian Maienschein followed. I bet he would not have won as congress representative in the 77th District if voters had to write his name in full. 

It was not much of the music the band played that attracted me. It's the diversity.

Pride in San Francisco

It's Pride Week in San Francisco and I am glad I was there to capture even just a figment of it. San Francisco is, to me, like New York City, but just a tad more hip and artsy. Hip as in fashionable, stylish, funky and phat according to the urban dictionary. Phat and  I didn't mean to say fuckin phat like how I described my laughing Buddha. Phat in the urban dictionary means cool and fun but not obese. San Francisco is fuckin phat, indeed!

Artsy like pretentiously artistic! It's the culture of being young and gay.  Gay as in lighthearted and carefree not just being male and hosexual. At the Justin Herman Plaza, office workers eat their sushi burrito while a juggler tries to catch everybody's attention at a square where a fountain used to feature water an art form. That was before the drought. Even then, the atmosphere in the Justin Herman Plaza is gay which is not just being male and homosexual. 

Justin Herman was not the significant other of Harvey Milk as I thought he would be. Justin Herman which the San Francisco downtown landmark is named after was an urban development hero. Google couldn't  tell me if Herman Plaza was gay and homosexual but Harvey Milk was. 

Harvey Milk was neither the father of the Pride in San Francisco nor the mother firetrucker of the LGBT movement, Brenda Howard was. He did start his happy gay moments in Castro Street. The rainbow flag is probably among his brainchildren as a mother firetrucker. Milk encouraged Gilbert Baker, an Army draftee honorably discharged for being gay, to pursue his dream of being an artist, specifically sewing fabulous clothes that he could not afford. With Milk's "create and change" motto and influence, Gilbert Baker used his sewing skills to create the     iconic rainbow flag.

I deliberately avoided to go past two males wearing pink vests with "Because I am a Girl" logo. I thought they were selling hugs and the logo's message struck me as apologetic or some kind of an excuse. "Because I am a Girl" turns out to be a Plan International's movement to empower girls early on. Plan International is a non profit organization used to be known as Foster Parents Plan Internatonal. 

If it's not for solidarity, I wish people should just leave the rainbow flag alone. The Plan International's riding on LGBT issues to promote their advocacy against genital mutilation of girls in Africa is way out of hand considering that transgendered individuals like Bruce Caitlyn Jenner went under the knife for voluntary genital mutilation. And Pope Francis should shut up as well. How could he have known that same-sex couples do not make good parents?

Making out with BART

I have known about BART since that first visit to meet with classmates from Normal five years ago.

"There's your boyfriend Bart," Djeline teased me. 

I looked up and there was BART. I was riding with Marissa, Djeline and I were on Mila's SUV. Mila was on the wheel. We just came from Union City and we were going to Coyote Hills Regional Park through Highway 680. BART was indeed there, waiting.  

I have forgotten about BART till recently when I made another commitment to Amtrak. I initially planned to go to Yosemite taking the San Joaquin Valley Line from Bakersfield. Recalculating the route after I cancelled the plan to go to Yosemite through Merced, I was glad to learn that the same liner stops at Oakland.  So from  Oakland Jack London Station, I went right to look for Lake Merritt. I kept thinking of Shannon Merritt while looking for Lake Merritt.

BART is not a name of a person like Merritt Weaver, Shannon Merritt.  BART means Bay Area Rapid Transit. But Lake 

Merritt is a real lake formed from a large tidal lagoon right in the heart of Oakland.

Techs in the City

We came up with the name just to sit together as a group in the upcoming game between San Diego Padres and Saint Louis Cardinals in August. Michael in the B station is looking at his outlook  in between beautiful sinus rhytms and artifacts. I am roving and Anette,  who has been calling me Gloria de Jesus! Is in the B2 station and cracking up. Dovey is  at the A station is quizzing Davoo with "name that rhythm", a game she herself designed for newbies like I was recently. 

I was thinking of Teletubbies at first. 

Nah... British infants...too cutesy!

"Techs in the hood?"

Nah...kind of cheesy. There goes that word again. Cheesy is for me a better way of sayiing corny. But corny sounds like horny. 

"Techs in the city!" 

Michael loves to have "techs in the city".

It's a random mindfuck moment for the glorious holy shit!

The Blood of Lambs by Kamal Saleem

I finally finished the book. I got the book as a freebie in a used book nook in my neighborhood public library. 

My close to four years in Saudi Arabia somehow got me interested on novels set in the Gulf region. The book is just one among the many books that are mainly narratives of life as a Muslim. 

The early part of the book was close to believable. I must have read similar stories such that of a child soldier and suicide bombers  in news report, supplied by UPI, Agence France Press and other big news agencies. 

Towards the end of the book, I couldn't help but smack my head. The  book is pure fiction most likely  made up by a Jehovah's Witness and backed up by archived news reports. 

An excerpt from the section "America: 1985-1991", page 280-281 reads: 

But as I bent to lift the edge of the carpet, I heard a voice. 

"Kamal, the Muslims believe in the God of Father Abraham, and so do the Jews and the Christians. Why don't you call on the God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?"

The voice was so strong, so powerful, so real.

And I knew I would never have thought such thoughts on my own. 

Terrified not to listen, I rushed back to the window and fell on my knees again. I cried out in a loud voice, with every fiber within me, "God of Father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, if you are real, speak to me! God of Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if you are real, I want to know you!"

Then, for the first time in my life, a miracle happened in front of me. The window brightened until its frame disappeared. The entire room was flooded with light. In this light was overwhelming peace and joy. My heart leapt within me because I knew it was the light of God. 

"Who are you, my Lord?" I cried.

A voice spoke in my heart: "I am that I am."

"What does that mean?" I called out.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," the voice said. "I have known you since before the foundation of the world."

"My Lord, I will live and die for you!" I said.

"Do not die for me," the voice said. "I died for you that you may live."

At that moment, I knew I met my Christian God. I knew I had met my Creator. There was no turning back. 

Fr. Francis Xavier

It's still Sunday and I have too much time on my hand. Wasn't I supposed to be in church? I don't remember when I was in church last. Maybe it was when I tried to steal the body of Christ for Karlee. I have been trying to remind myself that Jesus Christ doesn't have an F for a middle initial!

Two posts on the same blog in a day? I must be fucking bored! After downloading another Noel Cabangon song, in Ilocano this time, I started typing names of people I haven't seen on Facebook at Google. 

St. Francis Xavier?  I randomly typed names  and Google asked if I meant St. Francis Xavier. I am reminded of a book I once read, about the miraculous remains of St. Francis Xavier. I have  a copy of the book. 

I have just been reading an old blog I posted almost five years ago where I mentioned about starting graduate school at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro with Renaissance Literarure and Theology. What I never mentioned in my blog was about meeting Francis Xavier himself. I met a living one of course, not the miraculous remains that is still encased in a glass casket. 

Francis Xavier was named or named himself after the saint whose remains miraculously stayed intact after his death. St. Francis Xavier was the Spanish missionary who co-founded the Society of Jesus, Since his death in the 16th century in China, his body has been transported from one place to another for  public viewing. He was never interred.

Catholic pilgrims travel to where his remains lie in state and kiss the casket like they normally do to the statue of Baby Jesus.

I met Francis Xavier after mass one day at the Xavier University campus in Cagayan de Oro City. I am sure he is not the reincarnated saint because St. Francis Xavier never went through Ash Wednesday.

"Thou art dust and unto dust, thou shalt return!"

To me, this meant that the real St. Francis Xavier never turned into dust and still in his own flesh preserved as a sacred relic at some church in Goa, India.  There's no need for reincarnation.

Funny how I am learning now that this short-term uyab who was then attending the South East Asian Rural Institute (SEARSOLIN) in Cagayan de Oro, is an ordained priest!

Guilt Trip cancelled

Aguilera and I were classmates at Grossmont College and we both started  working  almost at the same time as Telemetry Technicians. I came from another campus after I broke off  with  Ayyedis Vahkkendjaab. Aguilera  is new to the acute care setting.

Aguilera is still not familiar with pharmacology terms in the first month so when a nurse called that a patient she is monitoring is getting something she heard like a guilt trip, she thought the patient must be catholic. The patient was actually getting a Diltiazem drip. Diltiazem which is a calcium channel blocker works by relaxing the heart muscles and blood vessels. The medication was going to be administered intravenously on a drip. And the guilt trip is actually a Dilt drip. 

Today being a Sunday and still considering myself a catholic, another term for freewilling and universal agnostic, I am having a guilt drip. 

I am supposed to be riding the Metrolink to LA Union station tonight to catch an Amtrak bus to Bakersfield. From Bakersfield, I would have been riding the train to Modesto and wait for Djeline and Rich to pick me up at Modesto and off we go to Groveland for some fun trip to Yosemite National Park. The trip was something I initiated. 

While watching patients' heart rhythms and oxygen saturations to pay for my fun trip, I am not about to leave RN, my El Capitan of a husband to go looking for the El Capitan in Yosemite. RN must have caught a germ I didn't wash off my clothes at one time. I am staying home for now for my El Capitan.

Perya sa Mira Mesa

Sa Sociology, áng Mira Mesa ay isang halimbawa ng ethnic village. Mira Manila nga daw. 

"Hmp...tsura lang!"

Matsura  o hitsura lang? 

Maiz con Hielo

The order was topped with ice cream and I remember my apple pie order at Julian that came without the ice cream topping. I also remember that long time ago in front of Far Eastern University with my brother Mario. I ordered a bun thinking I would get a sandwich. My brother and I agreed we should have ordered a sandwich after we have consumed about a quarter of our bun. We must have been so embarrassed of mistake that we just consumed the pretending it came with the works.

The maiz con hielo like the halo halo could be easy home concoctions. All you need is a blender that could make smoothies out of ice cubes. Some corn, some leche plan, some fruit preserves from Asian stores, condensed milk that surprisingly didn't aggravate my lactose intolerance. Top the concoction with vanilla ice cream. 

National City

I know that National City is close to Bonita. Bonita is a town close to the U.S.-Mexican border where I just finished a hike with the San Diego Day Hikers. 

I am always hungry after a hike and I think of all the Filipino restaurants at National City. I think of National City as the Filipino ethnic village in San Diego. 

I pick Karihan from the list of Filipino restaurants that Google lists.  I think of kare kare, the ox tail dish with vegetables  in peanut gravy eaten with shrimp paste. Comfort food that must have originated in Pampanga, a province in the Central Luzon region. I opted for the fish dish cooked in sour medium. It's not sinigang. It's called pangat. It could be a cross between sinigang and paksiw. Filipino cooking is distinct with the use of a sour medium such as tomatoes, lemon and vinegar. 

Heads or tails? The server asks me in Tagalog.  She was not about to toss a coin. I said ulo without second thoughts. The brain and the eyes are highlights of my fish dish order. The heaping order of jackfruit cooked with string beans, squash and coconut milk is crying out for attention while Martin Nievera croons "Be    My Lady" to a younger woman on the Filipino Channel. 

I had a very strong urge to take a picture of the counter but I noticed that a party of four with bowed heads are saying grace before meals. I stood up to get a closer shot of the sign that reminds me of 101 Dalmatians. We Filipinos always try our best to be convincing to the point of exaggeration. Of course, if you know your biochemistry,        you have no problems with MSG which your body produces. The Chinese Restaurant Syndrome has never been proven. MSG which comes naturally from  protein rich food groups such as beef, fish and chicken and even vegetables has always been classified by the FDA as a food ingredient that's generally recognized as safe. 

The business establishment looked like a salon for men from afar. Even in their adult years, some Filipino men are nicknamed Boy. An adult Filipino man who has a lot of girlfriends or who flirts to a lot of women is also called a "chick boy". 

Chic boy and Elegant's nails are within the same stretch. 

Chic-Boy is not really a chauvinistic pig. Chic-Boy is a chicken at baboy restaurant! Cooking ina!