Equus Series

for whom the bells toll

2009-03-27T20:14:00.003+08:00

According to stories passed on from generation to generation, the name of the town was derived from an abundantly-growing plant in the area, known locally as “Sali-argaw”. Extant records pertaining to the establishment of Argao as a town go only as far as the middle eighteenth century, when the Augustinians started building the church in Argao, later named after St. Michael the Archangel. According to church records, the church of Argao was founded on October 16, 1733. Another source says that Argao began as an encomienda and that the Argao parish was founded on May 17, 1734. The first town executive during the American regime was Capitan Juan Lucero.

The main poblacion of Argao remains one of the reminders of Spanish influence in Cebu. The old municipal building is also made of the same structure as this old house, and indeed this structure is perhaps one of the remaining old municipal buildings in the province of Cebu. The following buildings and structures are places one can visit if doing a tour around the pueblo:

San Miguel Archangel Parish Church and Convent. Argao became a parish in 1703, which prompted the construction of a beautiful rococo-baroque church structure in 1734 and was completed in 1788. A good number of religious artifacts have remained in the church. The altar (retablo) of the church is still the original. The church was renovated for its bicentennial celebration in 1988, and its outer walls were scraped. Despite some renovations and modernizations done to it, the San Miguél Archangel Parish still remains one of the richly furnished churches in the South. The unique ceiling of the Church. Its church is with unusual ceilings of canvass painted all over with religious motifs.

The Pipe Organ of Argao. The Church of Argao is possessed of one of the remaining 14 Spanish era pipe organs, and is one of the three towns in the whole Cebu province to still have this instrument. The pipe organ of Argao, though today no longer useable, is estimated by many historians to have been built between the 17th to the 19th century. Organs built in this period were of typical Spanish Baroque style except for the ones built during the last part of the 19th century which are Neo Gothic in style. It is a great possibility that Argawanons took a great part in building their pipe organ along with Spanish or Mexican Organ-builders. Professional organ makers describe Argao’s organ as having “windchests constructed from a massive solid wood. Three towers are separated with flat field of pipes. Unfortunately, no records in the church exist to show who played the organ, though according to some residents, after the 2nd World War Mr. Juan Calledo played the instrument and a certain Noy Ino was tasked to pump the organ.

The Argao Museum. Through the initiative of one of Argao’s most loved residents, Monsignor Elias Matarlo, the Argao Museum was constructed in 1999 in order to house what was left of the church’s priceless antiques, and also to showcase the religious artifacts and icons of families who have decided to let the museum safe-guard their family heirlooms. Church Plaza,

The Site of the Former Palacio, Morgue/Chapel. Visible also in this area is the former “Palacio”, the temporary residence of church dignitaries from Manila or Cebu City who came to Argao to visit. Also, sadly located at the back of the Kintanar Memorial Hospital, is the Church morgue, a very old structure that was build around the early 1800’s.

of cotton hills and water springs

2009-03-27T19:35:00.008+08:00

Historical records reveal at least five renditions of the name of the town. Four years after the creation of the suffragan diocese of Cebu in 1595, Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, OSA, in his Conquistas de las Islas Filipinas listed Boljoon as one of the many parishes under the jurisdiction of the Augustinians in the Province of Cebu in the year 1599. Bermejo himself was said to have taught the local women cotton weaving and if Fray Gaspar's writings are to be considered, then Bermejo already found existing cotton cultivation and weaving industry in Boljoon.

Boljoon is 103 kilometers from Cebu City to the southeastern part of Cebu Province. The name of the town is derived for the local word "Bolho" which means springs of water.

The town is centuries old. According to oral tradition, pilgrims from as far as the town of Dalaguete visit the Virgin of Bolhoon during her annual feast to attend mass in the town's Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic parish of Patrocinio de Santa Maria is located in the town of Boljoon, Cebu. The forty-third parish priest of the Boljoon Parish Church in his list of Religiosos Agustinos Calzados Y PP Clerigos dated July 15, 1881 maintained that a church was previously erected in Boljoon 1599 under the administration of the Augustinians. Some ecclesiastical historians believe that the Boljoon Parish was originally founded as a visita of Carcar. Records of the private council of the Augustinians on June 23, 1599 referred to Boljoon as a "convent and parish to Siaro (Carcar)". (Archives of the Augustinian Province of the Philippines, File no. 5 page 118

The Parish of Boljoon was returned by Jesuits in exchange for "Liloan", Cotcot and Maraling", the last Augustinian Parish Priest of Boljoon, Fray Leandro Moran, OSA, turned over the administration of the parish to the Archbishop of Cebu on July 1, 1948. It was not clear as to reason for the delay when the last Augustinian Parish priest of Boljoon. Fray Leanfdore Moran, OSA, turned over the administration of the parish to the Archbishop of Cebu on July 1, 1948.

romancing the fire

2009-03-18T11:03:00.005+08:00

What is now Daan Lungsod was the original site of Oslob. It was a favorite waterhole of both natives and travellers alike for its fresh waters were cooled by the huge branches of a nigad tree. The Castilian took it as the name of the place. The churches of Oslob, Boljoon, Dalaguete and Argao were part of a defense system against Muslim invaders. They were not just churches. The tower and cemetery were built by Fr. Mauricio Alvarez. He also built the municipal tribunal and municipal church.

Long time ago, there was a popular place in town called “Bolocboloc”. The place was called Bolocbol because of its existing spring located beneath the shoreline at the foot of the barangay. The flow of the water was so strong as if the water was boiling which can still be seen at this present time.

At present, the place is now known as Nigad (a name of a tree). The place is named Nigad because of the existing tree that grew in the place which is seldom seen to grow in the shoreline. From the name Nigad the word “Oslob” was born due to the misunderstandings between the native couple and the two guardia civil (civil guards) in the year 1785. While the said couple were taking a rest under the tree and were eating their brought boiled bananas soaking it with vinegar and salt, the two guardia civil suddenly appeared with the words, as if they were asking: “Como se llama esto pueblo?” – which if translated in English would mean:”What is the name of this town?”.

The couple was astonished for they were not able to comprehend what the civil guards were saying. Since, the couple, at that time, were then soaking bananas with the vinegar and salt, they thought that the civil guards were asking them as to what they were doing, and thus, the couple answered in unison saying ”Toslob”, which means “soaking”. After hearing the word “Toslob”, the civil guards kept on repeating the word “Toslob” in the thought that the said word was the name of the town. This has been the start of the word “Toslob” which was later changed to “Oslob” due to the passes of time.

Until now, the flowing of the water at Nigad was still there quenching the thirst of the many people of the place including the nearby inhabitants specially when there is a shortage of water.

why does rumor hold so much power?

2009-03-10T20:59:00.002+08:00

One day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a theft, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.

As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambitions, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world and come home in the end; the other will become a powerful corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

World Without End is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth. However, it doesn't matter which you read first. The second book is set in the same town, Kingsbridge, but takes place two hundred years later, and features the descendants of the original characters.

why do you think the great medieval cathedrals were built?

2009-02-22T14:50:00.007+08:00

In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, there rises a magnificent Cathedral in Kingsbridge. Against this backdrop, lives entwine: Tom, the master builder, Aliena, the noblewoman, Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, the artist in stone and Ellen, the woman from the forest who casts a curse. At once, this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age.

+++++++++++++

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett happened as the last millennium dawned when Europe didn't amount to much. Illiteracy, starvation and disease were the norm.

In fact, Europe in the year 1000 was one of the world's more stagnant regions—an economically undeveloped, intellectually derivative, and geo-politically passive backwater.

Three short centuries later, all this had changed dramatically. A newly invigorated cluster of European societies revived city life, spawned new spiritual and intellectual movements and educational institutions, and began, for reasons both sacred and profane, to expand at the expense of neighbors who traditionally had expanded at Europe's expense.

Ken Follett has filled memorable details as he unfolds this story.

The novel treats medieval society: the warrior aristocracy of knights, castellans, counts, and dukes; the free and unfree peasants whose work in the fields made the existence of medieval society possible; and the townspeople, the artisans and merchants who represented the newest arrivals on the medieval scene.

It examines the intellectual and religious history of early medieval Europe. You study monks and the monastic life, charismatic preachers, and theologians. You examine the lives of those who found themselves outside the religious mainstream, especially the heretics and Jews of early medieval Europe.

Also it discusses partly the major political developments and events between 1000 and 1300, including the First Crusade, the Norman Conquest of England, and the granting of Magna Carta.

how far would you go to protect a secret?

2009-02-22T14:36:00.002+08:00

When he falls ill on his way home from school, 15 year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. The two begin an unexpected and passionate affair only for Hanna to suddenly and inexplicably disappear. Eight years later, Michael, now a young law student observing Nazi war trials, meets his former lover again, under very different circumstances. Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime, and as she refuses to defend herself, Michael gradually realizes his boyhood love may be guarding a secret she considers to be more shameful than murder....

riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten

2009-02-19T21:01:00.004+08:00

Some talk has been devoted to whether the Mumbai terror attacks and the $1bn accounting scandal t Satyam Computers in India will affects growth in BPOs in the country.

I could only imagine now the companies that have exposure in those locations are now looking aggressively to mitigate their risks and therefore considering at countries like the Philippines. But much of the growth comes from the size of the market, not so much the market shares. We don't know if we'll benefit from that. Nobody wishes a terror attack anywhere and any negative report on the industry affects everyone because it's global industry.

Another problem is Barack Obama, as a candidate, had pledged to create jobs that cannot be outsourced and tax policies to discourage American companies looking to bring jobs abroad. It's Obama's fiscal policy versus the whole outsourcing equation and I think the realities of the global economy will take over.

the great dot con

2009-02-15T22:04:00.007+08:00

The Satyam scandal has shocked India. It has brought into question the levels of corporate governance in the country, and has cast an ugly shadow on the once shining image of Indian industry overseas.

Satyam shares plummeted on the news by 75%, dragging down India's main stock market by 7%. This will put the spotlight on Indian companies, and overseas investors will be wary of putting their money here without taking a good, hard look at the company's books.

Indian's main stock exchanges have announced they are removing Satyam Computers from their indices as of January 12 because of the stunning revelations. But caution alone may not be enough to convience international investors that Indians companies are serious about cleaning up their governance. Many of Satyam's customers were persuaded to get into business with the company because of Mr. Raju's suave, professional image. The Western educated MBA graduate was one of the poster boys of India's new economy.

According to Mr. Raju's statement, about $1bn of the cash on the company's books was made up---and analyst say it was the manipulation of the cash flow which could have been one reason why the deceit was undetected. Many analysts also say that the chase for huge profits and the desire to keep up with the breakneck speed of India's $50bn outsourcing industry's growth rates that may have been behind Mr. Raju's motivation in fudging the accounts at his firm.

But trying to get any answers from Mr. Raju since his confession letter is proving to be impossible---he has disappeared.

cotton beach 2

2009-02-13T20:29:00.006+08:00

Don't leave the island without...

(click for more pictures here)

Boracay has made itself to be known for many things. The shopping experience has something for everyone. We bought two pairs of islanders over expensive havaianas, I think D'Mall is complete with anything you'll need to supplement your stay and they've souvenirs to buy for pasalubong to people back home. Also, there are many great restaurants to choose from at D'Mall. We tried the choriburger/ chorizo burger at the beach but you should try the Real Coffee's sandwiches, True Foods' Indian cuisine, Aria's Italian food, Cyma's Greek delicacies, and the buffet at Sea Wind.

We walked on the 7km white sand beaches that separated the crystal blue waters and the lush hilly landscapes. We'd Jonah's and Jony's famed fruit shakes while sauntering under the sun. Along the beach, Doug decided to try the masseuse under the coconut trees and I'd mine inside the hotel. They can give you a very relaxing massage in your hotel room or even right there under the sun. The massages are very affordable as well.

Nightlife in Boracay is ushered in with a panoramic sunset. Suddenly the beachfront is alive with bar music, dining, and drinking. We'd dinner and bar at Nigi Nigi Too located in the very center of White Beach. They served us with some of the fresh seafood and disturbingly we're told that these are sourced as far as southern Mindanao. What had happened to the sorrounding seas? Why it couldn't give us seafood? To my mind it somehow answered the 50 pesos environment fee collected per guest at the quay.
(back to original post)

no man is an island

2009-02-13T09:40:00.007+08:00

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small shows of big strength

2009-02-12T13:14:00.004+08:00

18 Suck-It-Up Moments that Pack a Serious Payoff
THEGUYLIST compiled by the Men's Health Staff

Returning a wallet. With all the dough. Witnessing the owner's delight is worth more than money.
Abstaining. If the Starbucks line snakes out the door, thou shalt not whip, frap, steam , cream, or half-caf. When time is of the essence, take it like a man: straight up.
Weaving. Your entire hand, not just the middle finger. Thousands die each year in aggressive driving-related accidents. Showing up five minutes late to work is better than showing up 6 years early to your funeral.
Stopping at second base on a first date. Especially when she's waving you in from third. Settling for a stand-up double almost guarantees fireworks next time, when you put it over the fence.
Donating platelets. One apheresis session yields the same amount of clotting factor as six standard transfusions---and provides crucial help for burn victims, cancer patients, and organ-transplant recipients. Whose life have you saved today?
Fighting a bogus ticket. The day we're too tired to fight even the smallest of insults is the day the bureaucrats break out the tattoo needles and bar codes.
Voting. Did you do it last month? If you didn't weigh in, you don't measure up.
Holding your tongue. Every man possesses a simple superpower: silence. Too few flex it on a regular basis.
Dancing. Especially if you can't. No woman can resist a man who puts her pleasure ahead of his ego.
Laughing. At that humorless "joke" your dad trots out before family reunion meals.
Not laughing. When yur boss ponders what his secretary might do in a closed room with a clown. And in a wading pool. And with Joe Lipa. Standing up for your beliefs doesn't always require a lecture. See number 8, "Holding your tongue."
Cashing in your chips. In a perfect world, the dealer would continue to bust and the Mavericks would be a lock at +. But Lady Luck is a fickle lover. Take the money and run.
Donating to charity. Anonymously.
Ordering salad in a steak house. So what if your buddies are biting down on 24-ounce porterhouses and taunting you mid-chew? Your payoff comes at the beach; theirs vanishes with a belch.
Wearing blinders. When the attractive lady with the heaving chest and tiny tank top bends over. So what if she wouldn't notice, or wouldn't mind: You gain more power by exercising restraint when sin comes in the form of 42DD cleavage. To wit...
Forgoing. As in "Thanks, but I think I'll pass out on that tap dance."
Putting it in writing. It's too easy to dismiss a casually uttered "thanks" or "sorry." If you really mean it, commit it to paper.
Concealing your connections. At least at first. Sure, mention your father's first frat days with the mayor and you might score the job. But saving it until you're already n board earns you respect.

middlesex: matchmaking

2009-02-09T15:16:00.002+08:00

Cal realizes that once this book is published that he may become the most famous hermaphrodite in history, and he names a few of the other historically famous hermaphrodites. Cal then goes into an argument that he is a better case to study because he was born with a brain chemistry of a male but raised as a girl. Therefore, his situation is a great study of nature versus nurture.

Cal then rewinds the story once again to the summer of 1922. The story begins on the slope of Mt. Olympus in the Asia Minor with Cal's grandmother Desdemona. While working in her silkworn cocoons, she is sure that she feels her heart skip a beat. This feeling will be the genesis of her always feeling ill inside a perfectly healthy body.

wanna be a star?

2009-02-08T22:02:00.005+08:00

Star Ratings Widget: Very eager to know what your readers think about your posts?Here is a cool star rating widget by Outbrain. The insttallation is very simple,just follow the step by step instructions on their site.

create PDF to your blogs & websites

2009-02-08T20:46:00.004+08:00

With this widget installed, your visitors can easily download your articles in PDF format with just a click. The downloaded PDF's are free of any advertising and you can get full access to download stats, etc.

i came, saw & conquered

2009-02-07T23:09:00.006+08:00

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Bloggers can then display widgets on their sites which show MyBlogLog online community members who have recently visited their page. MyBlogLog communities revolve around an individual blog registered by that blog's author. Communities that are particularly popular, have the most members or that are brand new are featured on the MyBlogLog Communities page. Members can also find communities via searches for key words or tags.

MyBlogLog members are displayed and searchable in a largely similar fashion to MyBlogLog communities. Featured, popular and new members are displayed on the MyBlogLog members page.

cotton beach

2009-02-07T09:20:00.011+08:00

(Click for more pictures here).
Boracay, the three-syllable word is said to have come from the local word borac, meaning cotton, an obvious reference to the beach sand's color and texture. When Doug and I went there, it was few weeks before the typhoon Frank hit the island, sometime between June and October. During this time the resort and restaurant prices are cheaper than at peak season that starts early November and ends around May, and the island is at a more relaxing pace.

They said that it is dumb bell-shaped, perhaps they've seen it from above but for us who were traveling and sailing, it was several buses and ferries ride from Toledo to Kalibo, motor cab to Caticlan jetty, from there it takes 15 to 20 minutes, to get to Boracay.

At the jetty, we're hustled by fixers of the over 300 beach resorts who chanted the same spiel, theirs is located at the White Sand Beach. Thanks to this lady fixer, she billeted us at Alice in Wonderland Resort, non-beachfront, between Station 2&3, main White Sand Beach. The resort offers 35 well appointed air-conditioned cottages with queen sized bed and pull-out couches, private toilet and bath, your own veranda with a hammock awaiting your arrival. In the middle of its well-groomed grounds is a quaint two-story tree house. It has a swimming pool and an area for the guests to play table table tennis, billiards, chess and darts. One could sit at the bar and restaurant and enjoy the freshest seafood 24 hours while looking at the sea before you.

Doug wonder at this last detail after reading the resort's brochure. How could we ever look at the sea? We're across the road before the beach inside the resort compound! That's a joke, a roaring starter for our stay in Boracay.
(Continues to Cotton Beach 2)

7 Must-have Widgets and Hacks for Bloggers

2009-02-06T00:30:00.008+08:00

When you create a blog in Blogspot, you see that by default everything are very simple and there is no Widgets & Hacks by which your blog looks Professional.

You have to Add these widgets and hacks to your blog to optimize it for better Reading, Easy navigation and to get most out of your blog.

Here I am listing 7 Must-have Widgets and Hacks for your blog.With these widgets and hacks, your blog traffic will increase, Your readers will find easy to find everything in your blog, Your blog will look professional, etc.

If you are using your blog to make money, you can also improve your earnings by these Widgets and Hacks. So, read out the full article and apply everything here in this article to get most out from your blog.

island born of fire

2009-02-02T14:20:00.022+08:00

(click for more pictures here)

Doug had to take the Saturday night boat in Cebu while I was on a bus already traveling from Davao to Cagayan de Oro. We're planing to spend Lent in Camiguin, the island known for its many festivals but we chose the Panaad, and it was held during the Holy Week. Panaad is a yearly gathering of pilgrims from allover the country in Camiguin for the Holy Week. The pilgrims usually start the Panaad by walking 64 kilometers around the island and trekking the Old Vulcan, as expression of penitence and spiritual enrichment. I arrived ahead of Doug and decided to spend the night with my relatives in the city, and meet him early morning at the pier.

We traveled 1.5 hours more to Balingoan, and took M/V Yuhum, the hourly scheduled ferry crossing the channels of Mindanao Sea, and later docked at the port in Guisiliban. It was lunchtime when we landed in Camiguin, and we decided to nourish ourselves at the nearby eatery. Doug and I ordered in Cebuano, since it is spoken freely inside the eatery, sutokil (a combo of fishes grilled, souped, and soaked in vinegar), kan-on (Valencia rice), and ginamos (salted fish) as side dish. There was an old couple at the next table talking ancient language that I assumed they're natives of the island. I asked them for Mambajao, the capital town, which they told us to be at the northern part. After we had our orders, and surprisingly in a snap, we hired a motor cab to Mambajao.

We're booked at the Paras Beach Resort, the most popular accommodation, just a short ride from the travel agency in Mambajao. The rooms are fully air-conditioned and with private shower and bath. We chose a room closest to the beach, to watch a breathtaking sunset, and not to be missed also the swimming pool at the middle of the resort. Our dinner wasn't a problem, the resort has an in-house resto that is open from 6am to 12mn.

If it wasn't for Lent that we went there, we could have avail of the fun tours they offer. Among the choices are the whole day island tour of volcanoes, and the white sandbar (a three minute boat ride from the Resort), and sightseeing the waterfalls, island hopping, and snorkeling in the Sunken Cemetery---this I've second thought, if given the chance. They also have water activities such as jet-ski, banana boat, para-sailing, and scuba diving.

Waking up to a fine April sky was perfect for Panaad, the first thing in our itinerary. We hired a motor cab, the common transport available in the island, to visit the old ruins of San Roque church, convent and belfry in Gui-ob. These are the remnants of the eruption of Old Vulcan Daan in 1871 that almost wiped out the entire town of Catarman. The thick century old walls that partly exposed the ruins are also remainders of the second Spanish settlement in 1697. When we came back from the ruins, we stopped at the beach besides the road to look at the towering cross in the sea that marked the Sunken Cemetery.

The next would be climbing the Old Vulcan Daan, it is the landmark of Panaad, the volcano with stiff drop-off of 7,080 meters above sea level. At the foot, we're told to buy 14 candles appointed for the stations above, and we've seen also novelty shops for buying souvenirs later. The Via Cruses is trekking the old volcano slope. The 14 Stations of the Cross have life-sized statues, depicting the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, that dotted the trail to the peak. At last, we crested the fourteenth station and found a sepulcher carved out of volcanic rocks, where they usually held mass for the Lenten season. The view was impressive. A thousand feet below lay Mambajao capital town of Camiguin, but that was about it. The ascent was Christ-like, as if the whole ordeal in Golgotha was happening to us. However, praying from sepulcher, we staggered down and bought our souvenir t-shirts and some Vjandep pastels, these are soft buns stuffed with sweet cream of different flavors.

The best way to resurrect the aching muscles would be a relaxing dip at the Ardent hot spring. It is a natural Jacuzzi at 400 Celsius. Here is very interesting information, the heated pool is collected water running down the vents of Hibok-Hibok volcano, and this you wouldn't mind. It has therapeutic effects on our aching muscles. The place has picnic huts and tables in the beautifully landscaped gardens, and there is also a resto that catered to our already famished stomachs.

The province is a pear shaped volcanic island in the northern tip of Mindanao. The island is said to be "born of fire." It has seven volcanoes unmatched in the world that eruptions have created wonders and historic ruins. Its pristine and rustic setting marked it as one of the top 25 tourist destinations in the country, and the seventh diving spot in the world.

I should say, it is a tiny island of lush forests as evidenced by its eternal hot and cold springs, the splendid Catarman ruins, and the idyllic life. It is a virtual paradise, a beauty entirely locked in eternal embrace of the sea, an unfazed by the pressures of today's hurried way of life. The experience we had in Camiguin was never enough that someday, Doug and I promised to go back there to re-discovery this island of fire.

if only blogging were easy

2009-02-02T11:27:00.002+08:00

Bloggers, mostly newbies like me, often think that blogging is easy stuff. But now that I'm into it I would say it isn't. When I started, I was confronted right away with what to post in my blog. Not to mention that writing is one of my frustrations, I've a hard time writing down my thoughts, or whatever is upthere in my brain. This can't be called writer's block since I haven't written any. But I prevail! When you have nothing to do, you're out of job, blogging is an alternative.

It doesn't only win over your difficulty in writing but it is said to give you money! Very well then! This is what I badly needed at this time. But it isn't as easy as expected, I need to attract more readers into my blog, and beg them to give me those precious backlinks, so that the advertisers would notice traffic for their products and lastly monetized the whole process.

But this doesn't end here, some advertisers don't pay as promised by their campaigns, at the rate of being called stupid. They set their standards more often as the weather, their easy is clincher for me though. I would've second thought for this one! I think I'm fair with my deals.

My blogging experience isn't as easy as I expected but this doesn't mean it is same with others. To each his own!

rehabilitating the lives in the uplands

2009-02-01T18:33:00.004+08:00

The purpose of this documentation is to amplify the interplay of realities presented, met and subsequently addressed by the Upland Development Programme in its struggle to facilitate the embankment of its mission to the lives of upland folks in southern Philippines.

After eight years, UDP has threaded the dreams of improving lives in remote terrains found in mountainous topographies. Despite the many pitfalls and setbacks, it continues to struggle and reach out to better the lives of the upland folks and communities. This is its story woven and entangled by the challenges, failures and successes of true people engaging to make a stake at progress...

Pictures of upland realities in yesterdays struggle

The traces of the past are essential tools in dealing with the future. It is the memory of lives spent hurdling with difficulties. Sometimes it posts barriers for improvement, making its trail strongly felt to burden the present in the struggle to reach a better future. The upland is practically the most difficult road to traverse. Its remoteness may prove to be unfriendly and hard to transgress...most of the time; it is left out and hardly awakens by progress.

This is an attempt to unveil the past pictures of upland communities…the struggle of its people on the road to rehabilitation and positive changes.

An abstract of the lives of eight villages scattered in the hilly and mountainous terrains in southern Philippines will somehow paint a replicating picture of common realities lived by and survived by upland folks. Let us try to imagine the lives of people resplendent with mediocrity, simplicity, and scarcity by journeying into the flashes of their past before the UDP and other key players for progress started working on the new pictures of their struggles…

Synchronizing goals through community formation

another facet of this documentary is snapshots of realities found in the many faces of upland lives when the UDP started its journey in the realm of its mission and goals.

We will attempt to immerse and become acquainted with the endeavors of initiating little changes in communities as a means of staking bigger and more practical schemes for development. The upland folks are the major stakeholders of progress who are rarely afforded the opportunity to grow beyond the confines of their ordinary and customary day-to-day struggles. Yet when the UDP alternative and more systematic stance against all forms of scarcity became felt in their communities, motivating changes gradually beat common insecurities and apprehensions.

The Stories:

middlesex; the silver spoon

2009-01-31T09:48:00.008+08:00

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl (Calliope), and then again, as a teenage boy (Cal), and so begin Jeffrey Eugenides's second novel, Middlesex. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel, and also he is the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides.

Writing his story is yet another birth, which is now taking place...Three months before being born, his grandmother held her magical spoon over her mother's pregnant belly. The spoon swung from north to south, foretelling the birth of a son. Cal's mother, Tessie did not believe her mother-in-law's prediction and believed so strongly that a baby girl would be born that she already had the name Calliope picked out. Tessie and Milton, Cal's father, was so desirous to have a daughter that they had determined to do whatever it took to have a girl.

Topics to discuss...

The author's chosen point of view. Do you believe this story could be told in another point of view? Would it be as effective?
What part does the choice of setting the story in mid-west Michigan, specifically Detroit and Grosse Point play in the story?
How important to the story is Cal's being a hermaphrodite? How similar would this story be had Cal not been a hermaphrodite?
Why does the author choose to never introduce Chapter 11's given name?
Discuss the author's purpose in including flash-forwards in Cal's present life in Berlin? How would the story change without the flash-forwards?

the ropes of life

2009-01-30T21:29:00.007+08:00

Barangay Maligang in Kiamba, a town in the province of Sarangani, is experiencing the difficult road connecting them to the nearest market---the common problem in the upland communities. The village has about 261 families and mostly indigenous people, and farming is their livelihood. The area is highly suitable to abaca production.

The FIDA, a government authority on fiber, opened Kiamba for Abaca production, however, unfortunately, their first attempt to organize failed. In 2001, UDP rekindled the interest in Tinagak making, using the knotted abaca fiber, into fabric, and other handicrafts. The UDP had worked closely with the FIDA in conducting skills training and exposure trips; thereafter a Tinagak producers association was formed and despite their lack of capital ventured on Tinagak making.

The village is on undulating hills with rivers to cross, and its roads are hardly passable on rainy days---the slippery stretches, and the gullies. But these didn’t hampered the productivity in the village, while farmers are growing abaca, their women, youth, and even elders are preoccupied into tinagak making, as additional income for their families.

Abaca, the primary crop grown by farmers in Maligang, can be considered a viable enterprise for them.

The odds…

The nagging road problem is among the many struggles of the community. The deteriorating quality of abaca due to age and diseases is also a serious concern to sustain the enterprise. However, the people are unfazed with these odds that they even work harder to achieve their goals.

The knotted strength…

From its lowly beginning, the association is now known as United Maligang Farmers Cooperative with 181 members accumulating a capital of some P38, 000.00 pesos. It has also increased its production of tinagak from 8.35 kilos in 2001 to an average of 140 kilos per month, employing about 115 people, mostly women, youth, and elders. The enterprise has contributed an increase in household income of about P700.00 to P5, 000.00 pesos monthly. The growth of the coop can be seen in the participation of the community, and the assistance from local governments and funding agencies.

The Task...

However, the small gain by the coop in trading isn’t good enough. They still need to strengthen themselves by building skills and right attitude, that in realizing the dream to improve their lives, they must also take care of the environment.

Bringing development to Maligang is a formidable task but seeing how it gradually changes their lives is inspiring.

next narrow horns the twisted caper shows

2009-01-27T21:56:00.011+08:00

This is Doug, my significant other. I just bounced back from a broken relationship when I met him. I thought it was only a 'one night stand' but I was wrong. He moved into my life and open up a gateway to infinite possibilities. Our relationship is not normal but he is like a solid rock that stands firm in the storms that rage about us.

Doug is very hard working. He is more than happy to put in a full day at the office, realizing that it will likely take a lot of those days to get to the top. Life is one big project for him, and he adapts to this by adopting a businesslike approach to most everything he does. That's no problem, he is practical as well, taking things one step at a time and being as realistic and pragmatic as possible.

I'm always there for him. At times, however, I tend to get caught up in his dream and views of how things should be. I fear that my pleas aren't being heard that I tend to lapse into melancholy and, worse, the kind of pessimism which leads to procrastination and lethargy. Thankfully, he is patient, too, and is happy to wait for me to come along...

go with the flow and don't make waves

2009-01-27T21:22:00.010+08:00

I'm the ultimate finisher. Nothing can stand against my determination and willpower. Victory is mine! I'm the most modest and unassuming. I acquire knowledge, and then sometimes fail to show it, often regarding it of little consequence and believing that other people who brag about their ability must actually know more than I do. But, I'm most cautious of all, where my own efforts are concerned. I have a happy disposition! I could ride over deep troubles almost as trifles.

I'm selfless, spiritual and much focused on my inner journey. I also place great weight on what I'm feeling. Yes, feelings define me, and it's not uncommon for me to feel my own burdens (and joys) as well as those of others. My intuition is highly-evolved. Many people associate me with dreams and secrets, and it's a fair association, since I feel comfortable in an illusory world.

I'm not quite a pushover, but I'm certainly sensitive. Even so, I revel in my compassionate and imaginative natures and love to cater to others. I could also be quite romantic, dreaming up delicious treats for my lover. Hopefully, any kindness would be reciprocated, because I could certainly turn blue if I'm not.

the tale of two villages

2009-01-27T17:50:00.008+08:00

Life in Libi

Rancho and Kolambog are villages at the eastern hilly sides of barangay Libi, and the B’laan tribes settled in them since the 1930s, about 30 families scattered in some 869 hectares.

There are no clinic and school, before the clearing for the road in 2003, the villages and their children had to walk over five kilometers to reach the health center, and for the children to attend elementary. But horses are also available for easier visits.

Potable water was also lacking and the villagers fetch in the springs far from their houses. Corn is largely planted in the villages, and rice is grown for eating, and cassava, sweet potato and banana are other staples.

In essence, life in Libi is simple and unsecured…the people are praying for land to farm to improve their lives.

‘Win some, loss more’

These upland villages in Libi are in Malapatan, a town in the province of Sarangani. The UDP came sometime in 2004, and provided consultants to assess their existing and potential local enterprises to be managed by them. The same consultants were again contracted to assist KRANFO, an upland barangay association from the two villages, in preparing the business plan and manual. Also, they are there to provide coaching and training in operating the enterprise and install some systems.

To date, KRANFO has their business plan but their proposed enterprises are not yet started. The organization is composed of 62 members, 30 of whom come from Rancho and 32 from Kolambog.

The UDP’s partners in the projects in Libi include the town of Malapatan that allocates counterpart funds, and maintains a project team headed by their agriculturist, and assigns personnel to provide technical assistance. There is also the Rural Bank of Sarangani to loans to farmers using the model packages by the UDP.

During the business planning with the consultants, the farmers have identified the trading of banana and peanuts, and a store to be managed separately by each of the villages. However, the villages in Libi still struggle with the changes. Their pitfalls usually mean missteps for the association. It was realized that so much is left undone that every step forward somehow lead them away from their goals. Notwithstanding the fact, the farmers are still willing to stake at progress because they have shared with the UDP’s vision of development.

Guinang Fucal, a pastor and one of the chairmen in Libi in their dialect said, ‘Before, we are always short of cash. Until UDP came, we only had corn and coconut, but they taught us to plant all types: from long-term like coconut, mango and coffee; and medium-term like banana; and short-term crops like mongo beans and peanuts.’

Here, we will somehow see that people are people, their issues, small gains and heavy set backs are part of the process.

a climb to flourish

2009-01-26T10:28:00.008+08:00

The trails to Kablon…

The village is at the foot of Mt. Matutum with an area of 4,700 hectares, more or less. It is the most populated in Tupi and most of its inhabitants are indigenous people, the B’laan tribe. It has very fertile land, and cold weather with no distinct wet and dry seasons, favorable to vegetables like potato, radish, carrot and cabbages that are commonly planted. The village life is mirrored by the ‘habal-habal,’ a modified motorcycle to transport farmers and vegetables that ply along its roads, aside from trekking by foot. The land tenures are merely certificates of stewardship that worried the farmers.

The farmers relied heavily on lending at unreasonable rates to finance their farms. They could hardly get by their income. Health care is scarce in this part of the upland, and education is expensive that only few farmers are literate. Despite these facts of life, they still enjoy the horse fights and “Amyak Maleh Matutum,”-a climbing activity at the peak of Mt. Matutum.

…or a descent to perish?

Ever since Glandang is into vegetable farming producing vegetables in commercial scale and trading normally takes place at the roadside. The price is so unstable and usually happened at harvest when vegetables flood the market, and farmers would engage in price war just to avoid spoil.

The UDP approved the proposed Bagsakan, a buying station at Glandang to improve the trading of vegetables in Kablon. It was completed in 2003, with a rainwater reservoir for washing the vegetables. The farmers finally experienced payment on time at delivery; while their association with scarce capital could only buy a limited volume of vegetables--such with some internal conflicts, the buying stopped after two months.

However, the UDP have known their problems, and provided them with consultants to revive the Bagsakan Center. A team was formed, the “Matutum Enterprise,” as a subsidiary of the farmer’s association.The farmers made a business plan and manual focused on renting the bagsakan and how the enterprise would run the center. The association is able to prove that the business is profitable. The farmers were not able to make use of the bagsakan, as a trading facility, in a sense they failed to manage.

Until now, the Bagsakan is not operating. The farmers insisted on their old ways and hard to accept changes.

the box of laughs

2009-01-24T18:54:00.025+08:00

Hi and welcome to The Box of Laughs!

The purpose of The Box of Laughs is just some ways to put more fun and humor into our lives! I compiled a List of 10 Ways, which I think will make you happy. Weekly, I'll create a post and publish it every Monday for The Box of Laughs, which will include the suggestion, and a link to the person who submitted it. You don't have to participate every week, if you don't have the time, and there is no specific day you have to post it on. Just make sure you come back and leave a comment, when you do so, others can visit you. It's as simple as that!

Read my DreamBook guestbook!
Sign my DreamBook!

Hereunder the List of 10 Ways (but only 5 are published here and the rest are with the Blogroll.

Get as many members and find ways on how to put more laughter into your lives.
Clip funny cartoons and put them on your site and invite your friends or to those you know would like them.
Make a funny face collection. Have a contest for the picture that gives the best body aching laughter to all. Take pictures of your friends making faces. And animals and search in the internet for more.
Make a Journal filled with funny Jokes and Anecdotes you can remember and tell others.
Observe the funniest person you know and try to imitate his or her behavior-soon you will be laughing with those who laugh with. Take my advice-I'm not using it!

One last favor please read...A Blogroll of all the participants has been created, so that you can go and visit them to see what they have to say on the current item/s on the list. It will be a good way to get to know everyone!

the blogroll

2009-01-24T16:12:00.021+08:00

Equus Series presents

The Box of Laughs

This page will serve as the official repository of jokes, cartoons and what-have-you...

As promised hereunder are the remaining 5 suggestions to make the List of 10 Ways.

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Share the laughter! Look for a nice Joke book and read one per day that you can tell others about. Make sure your type of humor does not offend anyone.
Make it a point to watch comedies and funny light-hearted shows. Be sure you don't laugh 'at' people but 'with' them.
Record baby giggles, gurgles and play them back while you are driving-they're contagious!
Make a funny story with your friends. Start with one sentence and in a circle, let the others continue one by one. Make the plot really outrageous!
Learn how to make yourself laugh by mastering a funny face in the mirror. When I look this good, watch out!

linkies

2009-01-23T20:15:00.004+08:00

the big bang campaign

2009-01-20T10:23:00.010+08:00

You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.

1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*
2. Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post the "Big Bang" at each site you add.
3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the longer the list will grow.
4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like the instructions for the scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you. The scroll box is totally customizeable.)
5. Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in. Once you are on the master list people who have participated earlier will update their bookmarks and help everyone lower than them out on the list.

*Start Copy Here*
1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-The Down Side OF Up 25-Ladyjava's Lounge 26-Cat Tales 27-moms.....check nyo 28-Colorado Baby 29-It's a Woman's World 30-ENLIGHTENED BITS 31-My View of "It" 32-My Reviews and Finds Along the Way 33-Our Hep Chat 34-Rantings of a Woman 35-The Callalily Space 36-Mom Knows Everything 37-Hazel 38-Chronicles and Tales Unlimited (RED) 39-From the Mouth of Jabber Jaws 40-Sunny Side Up Foodie & Lifestyle 41-Carmel Corn 42-Daily Stock Picks 43-The Whole New World 44-Wifespeak 45-Slavery Bliss 46-Rooms of My Heart 47-Unpredictable Life 48-My Life, My World 49-At Your Service 50-All About Ebay 51-Everything Amazon 52-Dork Muffin 53-My So-Called Site 54-New Wife Blog 55-Tendre Poison 323 56-Nick's Bytes 57-My Scratch Pad 58-Choc Mint Girl 59-Life Is Just Around the Corner... 60-Frog's Blog 61-Maryannaville 62-monaco - monaco's 63-Nyumix's Blog 64-read my mind - my keyboard monologues 65-Shower You Children With Love - The Right Way 66-Secret Agent Mama 67-Pinaymama's Diary 68-Answers to the Questions 69-Work of the Poet 70-A Total Blog 71-My life, my hope, my future 72-NORTE 73-A Window to Our World 74-Life as a Mom 75-FIELD OF DREAMS 76-lisgold 77-See Me for What You 78-Caught in The Stream 79-Pinay Mommy Online - My Home 80-foster me up 81-CRUEL VIRGIN 82-Garden of Moments in Blog 83-So Cute 84-Love Everlasting 85-WeLcOmE To My CriB 86-WELCOM TO PINAYSMILE'S JOURNEY 87-Ice's Icelog 88-Jenny's Wandering Thoughts 89-Hobbies and Such 90-Sweet Paradise 91-Mommy's Gibble Gabbles 92-Rusin Recipe Roundup 93-My Small World 94-Little Peanut 95-Online Ramblings 96-My Mood My Feeling 97-BLOG it with ALLEN 98-Entertainment World 99-Let's Go Singapore 100-Firelynx 101-Catsy Carpe Diem 102-Every Beat Of My Heart 103-Always Da Fresh Princess 104-Listening.. 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nuts over rats

2009-01-19T22:42:00.015+08:00

Denuded Palo 19...

It is the smallest barangay of Tampakan in South Cotabato bordering the province of Sultan Kudarat. It was once a forest, the families of B'laan who first settled in the area enjoyed the rich resources until the logging companies came. The forest dwindled through the years and was cleared of its old and huge mahogany trees.

The logging operation also brought migrants from Leyte, Zamboanga and the neighboring towns. The denuded forests were further cleared for homes and made into farmlands. The Kaingin was practiced by farmers, and mono and non-synchronized cropping worsened soil erosion and incidence of pest and rat infestation on crops.

Land conflicts between the B'laan and Christians occurred and were settled only in 1988. The NPA and the MILF groups also occasionally pass through Palo 19 but there were no reported conflicts with them.

The village has poor roads that it is better to ride a horse or walk. There are no post harvest facilities, electricity, and health center--- only basic services are provided by the town’s personnel and some volunteers. There is a high school and an elementary school. The main water sources for the 260 households are undeveloped and unprotected springs.

After the logging, farming also became a very unprofitable enterprise. Middlemen provided trading, marketing, and credit services, including cash advances and loans to be charged against harvestable crops. The farmers have very little to do with their harvest. Selling prices for crops were mainly determined by the middlemen.

Fastforward…

Fortunately, the UDP selected Palo 19 as its first cover in Tampakan. It has assisted the village in formulating their community watershed plan, training farmers on sustainable and environment sensitive farming methods, provided farm to market roads, and helped in marketing and developing their enterprises.

Today, the village was significantly organized into an upland barangay association. It’s primarily purpose is to enter into a community-based forest management agreement with the DENR and secure land tenure for the farmers.

The Bagsakan center was broached to pave the trading of village’s major crops. The activity renewed interest in the communal efforts towards development. The center was intended as consolidating station for buyers and farmers to do business. Realizing that there was a big market for peanuts, the village went into peanut farming. However, the concept that the center would act as a consolidator of products did not happen, and actual operations were limited to peanut buying and storage.

Missteps…

In 2002, the association partnered with the Mindanao Peanut Industry that pitched them to a buyer in Manila city, who required 10 tons per shipment, at P50.00 per kilo. However, the venture resulted into a huge loss due to rat infestation. Also the unsynchronized planting and harvesting of farmers nailed them to meet the required volume. Helpless, the center then sold the peanuts to buyers within the town at less than their buying price.

The damage caused by rat infestation, the lack of capital, and lack of organizational skills to manage a communal enterprise, and other issues related to finance and operations, led to the closure of the Bagsakan at the same year.

Revival…

In 2004, the UDP engaged a consultancy firm, to implement business development services to Palo 19. The officers signified their interest in reviving the operations of the Bagsakan.

The association opted to convert itself into a coop to manage the trading business, and provide its members with dividends, patronage refund and other benefits. It would adopt a structure more appropriate to managing business, and guided by a business plan and operations manual. The coop is now trading banana, gabi, ginger and tomatoes based on the community’s production capabilities in relation to the current market demands. These crops are from the farmers, and sold to markets in Koronadal, Surallah, and General Santos.

The UDP funded and introduced diversified farming, to help sustain the trading enterprise and the production of the priority crops, to farmers.

Significantly, the association believe in focusing to stay committed, and united, as a way to address their day-to-day struggles, considering that up to now, the services rendered to the coop are still voluntary with doubts and intrigues destructing the initial operations of the enterprise.

striptease to progress

2009-01-19T17:01:00.005+08:00

In the shadows of development…

Upo is one of the 19 barangays some eight kilometers away from the town center in Maitum . It has a population of 1,640 and mostly T’boli , where only 43% are literate. It has 2,430 hectares of moderate slopes and rolling hills. This village was marginalized because of limited use of its land for agriculture. The village elders describe the barangay during the early 90’s as very bare. It was one of the poorest barangays of the town in a survey conducted by the local government. This situation was worsened by the armed conflict between the government forces and the MNLF in 1999 that greatly affected the village.

During the period, the DENR awarded to farmers the stewardship of some 80 hectares under its integrated social forestry program. Recognizing the potential for abaca production in the area, the FIDA was commissioned to the barangay in 1998 to accelerate development of the fiber industry, and has successfully organized 16 farmers. In 1999, the Upo Valley Multi-Purpose Cooperative was organized by 15 farmers, however, the coop was not able to operate continuously because of the unstable peace and order in the area that displaced some families.

The greater the obstacles…

In 2001, FIDA granted the coop with a mobile stripping machine to set up an abaca enterprise. The UDP started operating in 2002 where the upland barangay association was organized to implement various projects delivered to the village. The use of the stripping machine helped the coop to generate income from the 20% share of the total volume it processed. The coop starts the abaca trading with an initial capital of P1, 200.00 pesos. With only four farmers selling their abaca fibers to the coop, the trading gradually expanded and now absorbing 600 kilos of fibers from 65 farmers. At the end of 2005, the total purchase of abaca fibers is P112, 000.00 pesos. However, the volume is not sufficient for the coop to directly sell them to Davao City, and meantime, traders from Maitum come to the barangay to pick up the product.

Mang Perido’s struggle in the community…

Mang Perido Kusin, the manager of the coop, recalls that he would count his money from the proceeds of his abaca fiber in front of many people in the village to motivate them to plant in their farms. Though he is a respected member of the clan, convincing other farmers in the barangay to plant abaca did not happen instantaneously. He had to repeatedly convince them to believe in the abaca enterprise. He thought that doing this needs his commitment and sincerity to help the people in his village, this happened three years ago, when only few patches of abaca farms and four farmers used to sell abaca fibers...Aside from abaca, farmers were also encouraged to plant bananas as other major source of income to meet their daily needs. Individually they sell their bananas to traders that come to the village weekly.

Success of the different efforts however, was not easy. The coop have to deal with the challenges that came along the way, such as lack of funds among members to finance farm inputs needed to maintain healthy crop stand, insufficient capital to expand the trading business, traditional practices and beliefs that slowed down application of new agricultural technologies, and low educational level of most members that might be difficult for leaders to turn-over or delegate responsibilities.

going bananas

2009-01-18T12:31:00.005+08:00

Paving the way to prosperity…

One passes through San Roque plying the national highway from New Bataan to the next town of Compostela Valley. It is one of the 17 barangays in the town of New Bataan, and three kilometers from the center accessible by passenger buses, motorcycles, and multi-cabs. In San Roque, one finds the Mapaso, a village at the foot of the mountain; and going up was to cross the river through a hanging bridge.

The area is widely planted to coconut with mostly banana (Cardava) as intercrop. Two springs development projects were constructed by the province and funded by CRS for them to avail of potable water. The village farmers are mono-cropping, slash-and-burn the slopes and planting with corn--denuding the uplands in the way. San Roque has an estimated area of 10,000 hectares considering the irregular terrain of the barangay. Its residents are from Bohol, Cebu, and Leyte, and other places of the country.

Cardava trading…

The Mapaso Small Banana Farmers Cooperative is the only banana trading business in the area. The Coop also provides its members lending and health care.The coop started Cardaba trading in year 2000 to offer equitable prices to banana farmers. Three years after, the coop realized the need to directly link with banana chip processors. It was at this time that the UDP provided assistance in establishing the direct link with the Commodities Corporation (ELCOCO). The company enabled the cooperative to increase its canvassed volume of Cardava from an average of five tons per month to ten tons per month for two years. The coop plans to expand their banana trading to four other nearby villages hoping to generate more jobs in the next three years. From banana dicing, it plans to engage in actual trading of Cardava. However, in most case traders back out from buying their banana, the coop suffers the ‘pain’ and ‘loss’ of looking for other buyers for Cardava, that are left along the streets for pick-up. It teaches them realities of business, as well as, planning ahead for problems they would face in the future.

The surfacing of big markets for Cardava ushered in by the banana chips industry has dash hope for the coop. With the town’s campaign for Cardava production and the mayor’s aggressive promotion in planting 10 hectares of land per village with Cardava, the coop’s goal is more doable now. The coop also provides cash advances to both member and non Cardava growers since 2001 as subsistence money in between harvests. It also set-up a fund for hospitalization, also known as the ‘emergency fund’, seeing the difficulty of its members (excluding non-member) to look for funds to pay their medical expenses in times of need.

From a few hundred pesos working capital in 2001, this gradually increased to about P12, 000.00 pesos in June 2004. As of now, the coop treats cash advances as short-term loans with an interest of 2% per month and a 3% service on a pre-paid basis. The coop’s finances show an improving performance with assets increasing from P9, 396.00 in 2002 to P9, 487.00 in 2003. Assets continue to increase by about 50% from 2004 to present. Aside from this, the coop has no external liabilities except that of the dividends and patronage refunds payable to its members.

the rape of a forest

2009-01-16T12:28:00.005+08:00

Albagan’s past…

The condition in Albagan, depicts that of Mt. Matutum, it was told that in the past, had lush forest and wild animals. It is now has three hectares of forestland and eight hectares of plantation forest, this was brought about by the illegal logging of forest trees and worsen by kaingin, the slash and burn way of farmers. The natural springs were not spared resulting to gradual drying up, which threatened the water sources, adding to this was the El Niño phenomenon hitting the village.

Majesty amidst devastation…

Mt. Matutum, which stands at 2,086 meters overlooking the South Cotabato-Sarangani-General Santos growth area in Southern Philippines. It was declared in 1964 as a forest reserve to protect 14,008 hectares of its forest cover from illegal logging, timber poaching, hunting, and other destructive activities. It was March 1995 declared as a protected landscape as a way of safeguarding the integrity of the traditional interaction between people and nature that, over time, has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological and cultural value.

During the early part of the 1940s, settlers from various parts of the country came to Albagan through the National Land Settlement Administration that facilitated their settlement. Logging concession, that granted timber companies to cut trees in commercial volume, followed in the 1960s. Later when concessionaires abandoned their logged areas, it became a rehabilitation site with government pouring in social, economic and infrastructure support.

Evolution of a village-based enterprise…

In October 2001, the UDP came after a series of activities following the sustainable community development process; an upland barangay association was organized.The association came up with the community watershed plan as their basis to pursue development and environmental management work in the village. The village enterprise development project was implemented through the Mahintana Foundation, Inc. As a result of an organizational diagnosis, the association was able to define their respective roles and identify various potential village enterprises and prioritized seedling production and marketing.After the business planning, MFI engaged the village into the production of indigenous species such as Lawaan, Bakan, Nato, Hindang, Igem, among other. They did not find it difficult to produce seedling, however, the only buyer for their seedlings is the same service provider assisting them. In this sense they are defenseless against the MFI when it decides to stop buying; either by environmental excuses or sudden change of preference. On the other hand, data on the market reveal that there may be a large market apart from the MFI that waits to be tapped.

A need for alternatives…

Seedling production and marketing is viable for Albagan. However, demand for indigenous seedlings is highly seasonal and dependent to the whims of buyers. Although it is a good enterprise, it is deemed that other activities must be done on the side in preparation for lean period. The communities must therefore diversify to survive trying times.

hustling over veggies

2009-01-15T17:06:00.005+08:00

Tagaytay’s tracks and motivating profile...

The village is reached trekking the slippery ridge, surrounded with mountains, and nine rivers, sixteen creeks and thirteen springs crisscrossing the area. Tagaytay has hundreds of hectares of rolling clay and sandy loam suited to agriculture. The community is composed of tribal people that speak only their B’laan vernacular though they also understand Cebuano, which is widely used in the town. Six in every ten in the tribe are literate, being hardly able to read, write and do simple arithmetic. The high illiteracy rate, poor health services, unsafe sources of drinking water reinforced the sorry state of the people in Tagaytay.The predominant diseases that oftentimes led to death in the village include malaria, diarrhea, cough and colds with fever, ulcer and pneumonia. The village has one complete primary school with only four teachers serving them. It also suffers occasional flash floods and soil erosion due to denuded forests.

At the onset of development, problems and concerns on economic enterprise were noted to include the following: insufficient capital to start a business; inadequate alternative source of income from farming; ineffective trading and marketing support; lack of farm to market roads. The farmers also mentioned that there are some agri-infrastructure needs that have to be addressed. These include post harvest facilities, warehouse, solar drier, corn mills, and irrigation system and spring development. These needs somehow impede in the economic and agricultural production of the community. As a result, the agri-production is low thereby affecting the income of the farmers.

Despite the odds…

To hustle is to toil and work. This is what TUFAWA, the upland barangay association in Tagaytay did. Theirs is a story of how people manage to organize and unite to address their issues and concerns. However, the road to development is not easy for there are challenges to meet along the way.The association was organized in 2000 with the support from the UDP and registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004. It operates as an association providing loans and savings services to farmers and workers. It has a membership of 190 people mostly belonging to B’laan tribe and distributed among four sitios.

Through UDP assistance, the association has formulated its vision and goal statements. The association conducted trainings and activities along diversified farming system and agro-forestry. These trainings made the community realized the importance of protecting and restoring the environment while at the same time promote and develop sustainable farming system and eventually increase farm income.

Presently, the association offers vegetable production loans to farmer members. It collects the loan through its selling scheme of P1.00 per kilogram of vegetables. Other than this, it has income from the labor payments in the road rehabilitation activity funded by UDP. The association took charge of implementing the various activities jointly planned by the different stakeholders in the community with technical and financial assistance from UDP. Among the projects it implemented include the rehabilitation of the farm to market roads and some foot trails. The business development and planning workshops were held to develop a business plan, entitled the “TUFAWA Vegetable Production and Marketing Enterprise,” with the accompanying operation manual. The system installation and coaching facilitated major activities and installed the appropriate systems, which includes simple recording and bookkeeping for officers and members becoming familiarize with the actual business transactions.

In its first three months of operation, the trading center has facilitated the trading of vegetable with an average 16 tons of vegetables monthly. This operation of the trading center was made possible due to the enforcement of the municipal ordinance requiring all agricultural commodities coming from the other barangays to be traded at the ‘Bagsakan.’ The same ordinance requires all traders/ producers conveying vegetables through the municipality to present a pass slip from the trading center. A significant portion of the vegetable supply from the producing areas is traded and consumed locally while the surplus is marketed directly to Davao City, bypassing both Bansalan and Digos City.

In the assessment study conducted, it was revealed that Tagaytay is a producer of a range of vegetables that have sufficient market demand. Production scales maybe relatively small but there is still much room for expansion both in terms of potential production areas as well as market absorption capacity.

At present, it is apparent that TUFAWA does not have the requisite capacity to effectively engage in a vegetable trading despite the enthusiasm, willingness and the presence of entrepreneurial additives. But the community’s dream and willingness to pursue are still on.

himala

2009-01-09T18:17:00.008+08:00

"Himala" is Filipino for "miracle" and this is precisely what the movie is. It has been awarded the CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia-Pacific Film of all Time.

Thousands of CNN viewers voted on "The Screening Room" Web site to honor Ishmael Bernal's 1982 film with the accolade, which is jointly awarded by CNN and the region's prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA).
"The Screening Room's" Myleene Klass presented the award Tuesday in front of a crowd of over 700 film industry figures at a special ceremony on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Set in a God-forsaken marginal town, "Himala" boasts of a richly textured milieu, a veritable Filipino Nowhereland just waiting for a miracle. And the miracle-incarnate is Elsa, a simple but headstrong young girl who claims to have seen the Virgin Mary and who starts a healing crusade. The complex, highly nuanced role was played by the Philippine's premiere actress Nora Aunor, took the prize with 32 percent of the vote. Everyone else in the film was thespians from theatre. Loaded with fascinating characters caught in an ideological-moral inferno, the film brings to the fore the complex, harsh social realities that face third world people and how such realities find their way in cultural expressions such as religion. The sensitive direction of the late Ishmael Bernal, the creatively austere camera work, the haunting musical score, and of course, the thespic genius of Nora Aunor makes "Himala" a truly great film that merits re-viewing and re-discovery, especially by foreign audiences. The "Via Dolorosa" denouement remains as one of the most riveting scenes I've ever seen in any film. A cinematic miracle, indeed.

It came in ahead of more widely known films like Japanese Akira Kurosawa's "Shichinin no samurai" ("Seven Samurai"), which took second place and "Wo hu cang long" ("Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon") by Taiwan's Ang Lee, which snared third.

bata, bata, paano ka ginawa?

2009-01-09T15:56:00.001+08:00

The movie is about Lea, a mother of two kids with different fathers. Lea, works in an NGO (non-government organization), which deals with human rights violation committed against women. Ogie and Maya are Lea's children. Ogie's father, Raffy, leaves them when he had to work in the province of Surigao. Lea together with his son Ogie, did not join Raffy for Lea has a job in Manila which she did not want to leave. Maya, whose father is Ding lives with them, together with Ogie. Things start to get worse when Raffy arrives in Manila. Raffy, meets with Lea for him to see his son, Ogie. As days went on, Ogie regularly sees his father and sometimes spends some time in his house together with his new wife who is pregnant with there first child. Raffy, realizes that he has a lot of shortcomings as a father to Ogie. Raffy tells Lea that he will take Ogie with him to the United States after his wife gives birth. Lea doesn't know what to do.

the color purple

2009-01-09T15:27:00.002+08:00

Steven Spielberg's masterful adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Whoopi Goldberg, in her impressive screen debut, as Celie, a sharecropper's daughter living in rural Georgia. The film opens in 1909 when Celie is a young girl, a victim of incest, pregnant with her father's child. Ugly and unloved, separated from her children and her sister, Celie's only option is marriage to an abusive, philandering husband (Danny Glover) who treats her little better than a slave. Her life changes forever when her husband brings his mistress, a beautiful blues singer named Shug (Margaret Avery), into the house. THE COLOR PURPLE was also the film debut for Oprah Winfrey, who beautifully plays Celie's sister-in-law, Sofia. THE COLOR PURPLE was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (including one each for Goldberg, Avery, and Winfrey) but surprisingly won no Oscars, and although the film was nominated for a Best Picture award, Spielberg was snubbed by the academy and was not nominated for Best Director.

state of war

2009-01-09T15:18:00.002+08:00

The main thread of this story is squarely political, yet, tucked inside is a novel within a novel, a dreamy, allegorical history of the Philippines in which the ancestors of the three central characters Eliza Hansen, Adrian Banyaga and Anna Villaverde figure prominently. The trio of young people travel to the island of K to take part in an orgiastic festival. Each shows a different face of Manila: Adrian is the son of a leading family; Anna, a dissident scarred by recent torture; Eliza sells her favors to whichever political figure is in power. They are pursued by fanatical Colonel Amor (Anna's interrogator and Eliza's lover) who is intent on discovering the secret of Adrian's power connections. Meanwhile, Anna has met up with a terrorist group planning to bomb the festival; and Eliza is hoping to act as matchmaker between Anna and Adrian. The interlocking episodes culminate in a terrifying finale. One wishes Rosca had used less allegory and more realistic detail; often the unique situation in the Philippines is lost in her somewhat mannered style. Still, there is an erratic, Kafkaesque brilliance, an intensity that makes this first novel a powerful piece of literature.

shelter

2009-01-09T14:46:00.001+08:00

Forced to give up his dreams of art school in order to take care of his family, Zach (Trevor Wright) has become accustomed to a life where he neglects his own needs in favor of taking care of his older sister, Jeanne (Tina Holmes) and his nephew, Cody. When his best friend’s older brother, Shaun (Brad Rowe), returns home to cure a case of writer’s block, Shaun and Zach develop a friendship that develops into a true, intimate relationship. Shaun presses Zach to take control of his life, and to take ownership of his artwork. He also develops a strong bond with Cody, and Zach happily notices the positive effect Shaun’s attention has on him. As time progresses, however, a host of new issues come up. Zach struggles with his identity, his family, and friends, while trying to understand the new emotions Shaun has brought into his life. When the cat is let out of the bag, Jeanne threatens to take Cody away. Wanting nothing but the best for him, Zach is forced to decide between his pattern of always putting others’ desires first or fighting for what is really most important and appropriate for both his and Cody’s future.

mamma mia!

2009-01-08T21:47:00.002+08:00

The movie is a giant showcase of ABBA tunes, but add some gorgeous scenery from a seaside cliff in Greece, impeccable comedic timing, a somewhat predictable yet honest plot, well done choreography, and you have the hit of the summer. If you like ABBA, you'll love the movie. If you aren't an ABBA fan, you'll become one.

The movie begins at a scenic bed/breakfast owned by Donna, (Meryl Streep) as her 20-year-old daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) plans her wedding day.

Donna had a summer romance 20 years ago and gave birth to Sophie with the father being any of three men. Sophie decides to secretly invite all three, one of which is Sam, (Pierce Brosnan) in hopes she'll find her father who can give her away.

Sophie doesn't tell her mother and thus begins the funny storyline with a lot of energetic singing and dancing as the audience wishes they were a part of the movie rather than a spectator.
By far the best singer in the movie is newcomer Amanda Seyfried. Meryl Streep does a respectable job in her singing debut, emotionally putting herself into the role as we would expect. Her gal pals, Tanya and Rosie were wonderfully cast as well. Conversely, Pierce Brosnan would not have scored points with Simon on Idol. He seemed stoic during his singing attempts, obviously ill suited for this part.

The movie takes an unexpected twist at the end, but throughout you'll be smiling and laughing inspired by the passion and love of life which nearly leaps off the screen leaving you wishing you were "The Dancing Queen."

across the universe

2009-01-08T21:38:00.002+08:00

The Beatles' songs may have provided the soundtrack for the lives of those coming of age in the 1960s, but their extensive catalogue acts as the literal soundtrack in this romantic musical from visionary director Julie Taymor. Newcomer Jim Sturgess stars as Jude, a young man working on the docks in Liverpool. Eager to escape, he travels to Princeton where he meets Max (Joe Anderson). But it's his meeting with Max's younger sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) that changes him. They quickly fall in love, but their relationship is tested by the chaos of the late 1960s and Max's unwilling tour in Vietnam. Throughout the film, characters burst into classics from the Beatles: frat boys sing "With a Little Help from My Friends," while Uncle Sam bursts from a recruitment poster with strains of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." U2's Bono makes a cameo as a counterculture leader and croons "I Am the Walrus," and actor-comedian Eddie Izzard provides a trippy rendition of "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." Sturgess has the voice, charm, and good looks to fill Shea Stadium with hordes of screaming young women. As Jude, he's earnest and certainly capable of carrying the film. Wood capably balances Lucy's naiveté and knowledge, easily moving between her love for Jude and her passion for her cause. Though the performances are strong, it's Taymor's gifted direction that makes ACROSS THE UNIVERSE so fascinating to watch. As in FRIDA and Broadway's THE LION KING, she proves herself an artist with creativity few can match. Director of photography Bruno Delbonnel also deserves praise for his contribution to the striking visuals. He has worked with Jean-Pierre Jeunet on AMELIE and A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, and he brings the same sense of romance and whimsy to this unique musical.

low key

2009-01-08T21:23:00.002+08:00

Asia's Songbird Regine Velasquez faced the entertainment press, once again at the launching of her first album with Universal Records (UR) titled Low Key. The launch was held at the 9th floor of Universal Tower in Quezon Avenue yesterday, November 14.

Compared to her previous albums, Low Key has Regine singing mellow songs--all covers. Some of the tracks include Terri Gibbs's "Tell Me That You Love Me"; Don McLean's "And I Love You So"; Rita Cooldige's "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In love"; Katie Irving's "I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me"; Orsa Lia's "No Walls, No Ceilings, No Floors"; Cat Steven's "How Can I Tell You"; Dennis Lambert's "Of All the Things"; Dan Fogelberg's "Longer"; Janis Japlin's "At Seventeen"; Christopher Cross's "Never Be the Same"; Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever," among others.

Noticeably, Regine's rendition of the songs are more restrained, a far cry from the usual belting that she does in most of her albums.

milk

2009-01-08T20:52:00.001+08:00

Maybe you don't know a damn thing about gay activist Harvey Milk. San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be voted into office in America, was shot dead in 1978, along with Mayor George Moscone, in City Hall. Dan White, a troubled politico who had served with Harvey on the city's board of supervisors, pumped five bullets into Harvey. Smoldering intensity wasn't Harvey's thing. Penn uses makeup to lengthen his nose and look more like Harvey. He adopts a New York accent to get Harvey's inflections. There's one word for Penn's performance: phenomenal.

To those who say its focus limits its audience, I say Harvey's focus was human rights and therefore limitless. Robert Epstein's Oscar-winning 1984 documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, memorably traced Harvey's life journey. Van Sant is hunting bigger game. He wants to show Harvey in the daring act of inventing himself. Milk begins with Harvey's 1972 arrival in San Francisco with his lover, Scott Smith (James Franco, warmly funny and touching). All the actors excel, notably Hirsch, Franco and Diego Luna as Jack Lira, the Mexican lover whom Harvey neglects with tragic consequences. Sporting the calendar-ready look of a good Catholic husband and father, Dan is both repulsed by and attracted to Harvey and his gay agenda. Harvey's band of brothers tease Dan mercilessly. At a party, a drunk Dan approaches Harvey in a piercing display of yearning and isolation. Van Sant means for his film to strike a personal chord, whether Harvey is talking a closeted teen out of suicide or talking himself into keeping up the fight when his own love life is crumbling. It brings Harvey to life for a new generation instead of setting him in stone.

dreams

2009-01-08T20:38:00.001+08:00

Made toward the end of his life, this film by Akira Kurosawa is at once amazingly beautiful and incredibly slow going. An anthology of imagery and lessons, Dreams focuses on the ways life both gives and takes away, almost with the same hand. Nonlinear to the point of expressionism, it's a film only for the Kurosawa enthusiast who feels the need to see all of his films. In a scene toward the end, Martin Scorsese appears as Vincent Van Gogh, painting in a field that looks like one of his paintings. Visually arresting--and sometimes just arrested.

ploning

2009-01-08T16:04:00.002+08:00

In the picturesque island of Cuyo, Palawan, an illegal Taiwanese fishing vessel docks carrying the fisherman named Muo Sei, a man looking for something or someone with the name Ploning. He has from sunrise to sundown to look for this "Ploning".

In his search, Ploning is revealed to be the island's town belle of the year 1982. A dutiful daughter to patriarch Susing, a committed supporter to grieving Intang, an honorary sister to extended family Nieves and Toting a wise ally to simpleton Alma, a supporter to broken-hearted Siloy and a co-mother to half-paralyzed Juaning. A woman so important that the town barely notices the absence of rain because of her presence in their lives.

Despite her renowned beauty, everyone is puzzled why this 30-year-old spinster refuses to get married and still hopefully waits for her beau, Tomas, to come back. Tomas left for Manila when Ploning was 16 years old and there has been no sign of him coming back any time soon. Ploning's silent demeanor adds to the mystery and depth of love that no one seems to understand.. In the center of this, is a 6-year-old boy named Digo who has built his world around the affection and care of Ploning, his foster mother. But his entire world crashes as he learns that Ploning has plans of going to Manila to look for Tomas. Thus, leaving the boy with his bed-ridden mother, Juaning and his strict older brother, Veling. Digo tries everything to stop Ploning from leaving and finds an ally in the town's visitor, the beautiful town nurse, Celeste. Celeste claims to have known and fallen in love with a man named Tomas and tried to follow him in Cuyo to find out if he loved him back. Ploning, with security and so much faith, denies that her Tomas and the man Celeste fell in love with are the same man. On the day of the fiesta, the rain comes and Ploning seems to be missing. Digo's feeling of abandonment leads to a tragedy that grieves the town. But no one was prepared for the secret that Ploning has kept all these years. A secret that exemplifies the selfless love that withstands blood, pain and even time.

the other boleyn girl

2009-01-08T15:50:00.001+08:00

A tale of two sisters competing for the same king, The Other Boleyn Girl uses historical facts as window dressing for this work of fiction that is entertaining, if not wholly believable. Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) is the doe-eyed vixen ordered by her power-hungry uncle to bewitch King Henry VIII (Eric Bana). Her shy sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson) has always been in Anne's shadow; Anne is prettier, more accomplished, and desired by many men. So when the King picks Mary--the "other Boleyn girl"--as his mistress, Anne turns on her sister and schemes to become not only the King's consort, but his new queen. With a pair of American actresses in the lead roles and an Aussie portraying their hunky object of desire, the English accents are all over the place in this period piece with a modern feel. Though the Boleyn girls' mother points out that her "daughters are being traded like cattle for the advancement of men," it is Anne who ultimately throws her slight weight around to bully Henry into doing her bidding. When he begs her to give herself to him, Anne--wearing a Carrie Bradshaw-esque "B" pendant on her neck--counters, "Make me your Queen." Is the audience really supposed to believe that Henry the VIII--the most powerful man in the land--would divorce Catherine of Aragon, separate from the Catholic church, and put England in upheaval simply because Anne refused to sleep with him until he jumped through all her hoops? "I have torn this country apart for you," he hisses at her before finally getting his way. Based on Philippa Gregory's bestselling novel of the same name, The Other Boleyn Girl features an attractive cast and a familiar plot with some icky twists. Kieran McGuigan's cinematography is breathtaking and is as crucial to setting the film's tone as the dialogue. Actually, it fares better: Lines such as "Well? Did he have you?!" sound almost comical. But the sweeping shots of Henry's kingdom and the carefully framed close-ups of Portman and Johansson are breathtaking in their beauty and say what words simply cannot.

memoirs of a geisha

2009-01-08T15:41:00.002+08:00

Chicago director Rob Marshall's pretty but empty (or pretty empty) film has all the elements of an Oscar® contender: solid adaptation (from Arthur Golden's bestseller), beautiful locale, good acting, lush cinematography. But there's something missing at the heart, which leaves the viewer sucked in, then left completely detached from what's going on.

It's hard to find fault with the fascinating story, which traces a young girl's determination to free herself from the imprisonment of scullery maid to geisha, then from the imprisonment of geisha to a woman allowed to love. Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo), a young girl with curious blue eyes, is sold to a geisha house and doomed to pay off her debt as a cleaning girl until a stranger named The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) shows her kindness. She is inspired to work hard and become a geisha in order to be near the Chairman, with whom she has fallen in love. An experienced geisha (Michelle Yeoh) chooses to adopt her as an apprentice and to use as a pawn against her rival, the wicked, legendary Hatsumomo (Gong Li). Chiyo (played as an older woman by Ziyi Zhang), now renamed Sayuri, becomes the talk of the town, but as her path crosses again and again with the Chairman's, she finds the closer she gets to him the further away he seems. Her newfound "freedom" turns out to be trapping, as men are allowed to bid on everything from her time to her virginity.

Some controversy swirled around casting Chinese actresses in the three main Japanese roles, but Zhang, Yeoh and Gong in particular ably prove they're the best for the part. It's admirable that all the actors attempted to speak Japanese-accented English, but some of the dialogue will still prove difficult to understand; perhaps it contributes to some of the emotion feeling stilted. Geisha has all the ingredients of a sweeping, heartbreaking epic and follows the recipe to a T, but in the end it's all dressed up with no place to go.

brokeback mountain

2009-01-08T15:34:00.001+08:00

Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece.

Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer.
Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that's what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it.

The New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for Fiction for its publication of "Brokeback Mountain," and the story was included in Prize Stories 1998: The O. Henry Awards. In gorgeous and haunting prose, Proulx limns the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world's violent intolerance.

the passion of the christ

2009-01-07T22:21:00.002+08:00

After all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating the Passion of Christ ("Passion" in this context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain," and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically not a film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passion is a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a willful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.

Leave it to the intelligentsia to debate the film's alleged anti-Semitic slant; if one judges what is on the screen (so gloriously served by John Debney's score and Caleb Deschanel's cinematography), there is fuel for debate but no obvious malice aforethought; the Jews under Caiaphas are just as guilty as the barbaric Romans who carry out the execution, especially after Gibson excised (from the subtitles, if not the soundtrack) the film's most controversial line of dialogue. If one accepts that Gibson's intentions are sincere, The Passion can be accepted for what it is: a grueling, straightforward (some might say unimaginative) and extremely violent depiction of the Passion, guaranteed to render devout Christians speechless while it intensifies their faith. Non-believers are likely to take a more dispassionate view, and some may resort to ridicule. But one thing remains undebatable: with The Passion of the Christ, Gibson put his money where his mouth is. You can praise or damn him all you want, but you've got to admire his chutzpah.

the last temptation of christ

2009-01-07T22:17:00.002+08:00

It isn't difficult to imagine why this 1988 retelling of the Crucifixion story was picketed vociferously upon release--this Jesus bears little resemblance to the classical Christ, who was not, upon careful review of the Gospels, ever reported to have had sex with Barbara Hershey. Heavily informed by Gnostic reinterpretations of the Passion, The Last Temptation of Christ (based rather strictly on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name) is surely worth seeing for the controversy and blasphemous content alone, but it's difficult to find in skittish chain video stores. But the "last temptation" of the title is nothing overtly naughty--rather, it's the seduction of the commonplace; the desire to forgo following a "calling" in exchange for domestic security. Willem Dafoe interprets Jesus as spacey, indecisive, and none too charismatic (though maybe that's just Dafoe himself), but his Sermon on the Mount is radiant with visionary fire; a bit less successful is method actor Harvey Keitel, who gives the internally conflicted Judas a noticeable Brooklyn accent, and doesn't bring much imagination to a role that demands a revisionist's approach. Despite director Martin Scorsese's penchant for stupid camera tricks, much of the desert footage is simply breathtaking, even on small screen. Ultimately, Last Temptation is not much more historically illuminating than Monty Python's Life of Brian, but hey, if it's authenticity you're after, try Gibbon's.

satanic verses

2009-01-07T09:12:00.003+08:00

Just before dawn one winter's morning, a hijacked jumbo jet blows apart above the English Channel. Through the debris of limbs, drinks, trolleys, memories, blankets, and oxygen masks, two figures fall toward the sea. Gibreel Farishta, India's legendary movie star, and Saladin Chamcha, the man of a thousand voices, self-made self and Anglophile supreme. Clinging to each other, singing rival songs, they plunge downward, and are finally washed up alive, on the snow-covered sands of an English beach.

Their survival is a miracle, but an ambiguous one, as Gibreel acquires a halo, while, to Saladin's dismay, his own legs grow hairier, his feet turn into hooves, and hornlike appendages appear at his temples.

Gibreel and Saladin have been chosen (by whom?) as opponents in the eternal wrestling match between Good and Evil. But which is which? Can demons be angelic? Can angels be devils in disguise? As the two men tumble through time and space toward their final confrontation, we are witness to a cycle of tales of love and passion, of betrayal and faith: the story of Ayesha, the butterfly-shrouded visionary who leads an Indian village on an impossible pilgrimage, of Alleluia Cone, the mountain climber haunted by a ghost who urges her to attempt the ultimate feat---a solo ascent of Everest; and, centrally, the story of Mahound, the Prophet of Jahilia, the city of sand---Mahound, the recipient of the revelation in which satanic verses mingle with the Divine.

In this great wheel of a book, where the past and the future chase each other furiously, Salman Rushdie takes us on an epic journey of tears and laughter, of bewitching stories and astonishing flights of the imagination, a journey toward the evil and good that lie entwined within the hearts of women and men.

love in the times of cholera

2009-01-06T23:23:00.009+08:00

The book Love in the Times of Cholera is exclusively about heterosexual love. It is still very enjoyable that way. I think it's one of the best books ever written about that thing called love. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina chooses to marry a wealthy, well born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs---yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty one years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

christ the lord: out of egypt

2009-01-06T22:52:00.004+08:00

With the Holy Land in turmoil, seven-year-old Jesus and his family leave Egypt for the dangerous road home to Jerusalem. As they travel, the boy tries to unlock the secret of his birth and comprehend his terrifying power to work miracles. Anne Rice's dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel, based on the gospels and the most respected New Testament scholarship, sometimes up the voice, the presence, and the words of Jesus, allowing him to tell his own story as he struggles to grasp the holy purpose of his life.