My momma’s hands, working to make my dad’s family’s halo halo while she shared a story about our lives. This was actually taken the moment I decided to start recording my parents’ oral histories. incognito of course. She thinks it’s weird I take a lot of pictures now and then.
Taken: August 6, 2010.
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Tales from my Amang here. Original introductory post here.
I wanted to start a series of posts about things my parents tell me about their lives. It’s almost like ‘sh*t my dad says’ but better because my parents are immigrants, and from the Philippines. :) Also, this is an attempt to record memories and stories from my life that I value as a missing link to a past which always felt hidden from me, yet which I always seemed to feel strongly connected to…ultimately I hope to encourage you to look back at your own personal and family history in order to find out who you are and perhaps to start writing about them yourself, because sometimes these are things that really need to be heard.
Packing Day 1:
Obviously did not get that much done today due to laziness
(From left to right)
- Swimwear
- Reading material
- Lifelines
- Beauty Box
Ed Westwick’s FIRST Penshoppe campaign ad.
Asian Armpit Model
Model: Donna Yu; MUA: Donald Lapez; Location: Forbeswood Heights, Fort Bonifacio, Philippines
Asian Armpit Model
Model: Donna Yu; MUA: Donald Lapez; Location: Forbeswood Heights, Fort Bonifacio, Philippines
In this video, Mike and I walk from one end of a train to the other, showcasing how the cars are all connected to form one long snake.
i never really developed a taste for eggplants all my life. never really wondered why. very rarely was it on my dinner table.
one time randomly in the car, my mom talks about why. again, these things about my parents’ past come up unexpectedly & i can never seem to recall how the conversation came to that point in the first place in order to better steer the conversation there in the future. but we’ll save that for another time.
my dad doesn’t like eggplants, so my mom doesn’t cook them as much. she loves eggplants. my dad says it’s because when he was a boy, all his family ate was eggplants. eggplants they harvested, eggplants they went into the neighbors’ fields to scavenge and survive. they ate eggplants cooked in all ways you can think of. eggplants boiled. eggplants baked. eggplants fried. eggplants, eggplants, eggplants. every meal of every day. my dad is very tired of eggplants. my mom eats them happily for him whenever they pop up in a meal nowadays.
as a result, i never really developed a taste for eggplants.
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More Tales from my Amang here. Original introductory post here.
I wanted to start a series of posts about things my parents tell me about their lives. It’s almost like ‘sh*t my dad says’ but better because my parents are immigrants, and from the Philippines. :) Also, this is an attempt to record memories and stories from my life that I value as a missing link to a past which always felt hidden from me, yet which I always seemed to feel strongly connected to…ultimately I hope to encourage you to look back at your own personal and family history in order to find out who you are and perhaps to start writing about them yourself, because sometimes these are things that really need to be heard.
A reminder that this city has an undercurrent that will not be deadened.
Get ‘em Idris.
-s.
Got this from the Philippine Star:
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda called on all Filipinos yesterday to unite and boycott China-made products in response to Beijing’s bullying of the Philippines in the disputed West Philippine Sea.
“The ordinary people of the Philippines will rise to the challenge of duty and destiny to resolve our national predicament: Let us boycott made in China products, buy Filipino. Let us hurt them where it counts,” Salceda, an economist and close political ally of President Aquino, said in a strongly worded speech delivered in front of the Albay provincial capitol in commemoration of the Philippines’ 113th Independence Day yesterday.
“Rightly or wrongly, military provocation is not an option as national response, whether tactical or strategic, to the naked belligerence of foreign powers in the West Philippine Sea – not only threatening our national sovereign territory but also bringing shame to our dignity as a race and as a nation,” he said, reacting to reports on the repeated intrusions and harassments of Chinese military vessels and aircraft on Philippine vessels in the country’s territory.
“We also protect our children and communities from the pervasive and persistent risks of various types of contamination and poor quality of their products,” he added.
Read more…
I am not one of the People’s Republic’s avid supporters from this chain of islands floating in the South China Sea, but hearing someone urge my fellow Filipino citizens to boycott products from what some economists have called as “the world’s factory,” is tantamount to saying that we do away with all the plastic ware that we use in our homes and offices; the safety pins, tacks, and nails that we take for granted in our daily lives; including the zippers, buttons, and some of the materials in our our bags, shoes, and clothes.
I have the highest respect for Governor Salceda since he is one of the better politicians in this country, particularly when it comes to being truthful about the country’s economic conditions and the state of its preparedness against natural disasters. He has done a wonderful job in terms of disaster preparedness and risk reduction an mitigation in one of the country’s disaster-prone areas. But probably the good governor has not heard of the old joke which goes: “God created the world, but everything else is made in China.”
I have a feeling that the good governor was inspired by Gandhi’s Khadi Movement, where the Mahatma advocated the boycott of British cloth, which was sold to Indians at exorbitant prices, despite its raw material, being cotton, coming from India. The Khadi was one aspect of Gandhi’s movement for Swaraj or self-rule, which emphasized self-sufficiency. Eventually, the movement would be symbolized by the charkha, where Indians would spin their own cloth right in their homes. The charkha would later on become a symbol of self-sufficiency and adopted in the flag of the Swaraj movement.
But that was India. In the Philippines, I don’t think we are prepared to launch a massive campaign against economic products coming from what one University of the Philippines professor called as “the poster boy of globalization.” We cannot just dismiss Chinese products in the same way Gandhi did with British products.
What needs to be done to re-think our position in the South China Sea in terms of economics, politics, and security.
We cannot just embark on an economic expedition against a huge state-capitalist nation (yes they are not communist), and not be mindful of its effects on our economy. We cannot just engage the People’s Republic (which denies the people of human rights), without thinking about the impacts it will have in our stature in the region. We cannot just spew out big words when our military is just a handful (compared to the People’s Liberation Army) and lack the capability to make our presence felt in the disputed Spratlys area.
Only after we have re-evaluated our stature in these matters can the country proceed to deal with China’s menacing actions near Palawan.
