Cyberspacefinds: The Big Picture

There are photoblogs and then there is Boston Globe's news photoblog Big Picture.

This site is literally and figuratively a treasure-trove of screen-filling images captured from all over the planet- and sometimes beyond. The Big Picture, maintained by boston.com web developer Alan Taylor, sources its images from traditional news-gathering agencies like AP and Reuters and from the occasional non-professional contributors. It showcases snapshots of current events like the recent landslides in China and the struggles of the survivors of Pakistani floods in vivid details that transports the viewer into where the action is. At times, the Big Picture captures common threads that bind humanity like Stormy Skies or the joy of photography itself through features like In Silhouette.

I sometimes spend hours on end just wading through 30-40-picture sets. There are quick one-line captions contextualizing each photo. Whether posed or serendipitous, there's a clear perspective in each selected photo that make up each set. Truly, each image evokes the feeling that it is our story, each of us- photographer, subject, viewer/browser- is part of the planet's Big Picture.

World Pyro Olympics begins on Nov 21 at the Bonifacio Global City

Take a break from the political fireworks and witness the real masters of the craft at work!

For 2009, the World Pyro Olympics has a new home at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City- not more than half an hour from where we live =] The WPO also takes on a new format: the visual spectacle in the sky will now have matching music to boot =]

Save the dates: November 21 and 28, December 5, 12, and 19. The venue for viewing the pyromusical event is just across the MC Home Depot inside BGC- for which you will be needing tickets. Gates open at 2.30pm.




For inquiries, you can call 509-4922, 568-6908, 384-0239, 904-1100 or 0906-366-9488. You can also visit the World Pyro Olympics 2009 website- WorldPyroOlympics.com.

Happy 148th Birthday, Dr. Jose Rizal!

I see him everyday, on our 1-piso coin...

in front of schools and plazas in the towns and cities I have the great blessing to visit, including this one in Cotabato City...

in Sogod, Southern Leyte...

in the Park that bears his name in Manila.

There are books, movies, websites, even stamps which endeavor to capture the essence of this man, not to mention the thousands of monuments in the country and in other parts of the world. These are all excellent efforts to depict Dr. Jose Rizal, our Philippine National Hero. But for me, the best way to remember and honor him is to give a human face to his ideals, to make his memory live on by living out these ideals: justice, equality, life-long learning, love for country.

The run up to the 2010 elections ought to be an opportune time to put into practice these principles. The one million new or first time voters who registered in just a four-month time period for next year's polls will hopefully be additional living representations of Dr. Rizal. May they- we- not fail him, the ones on whom he has pinned his hopes on for the Fatherland.

PhotoHunt: Protect(ion)

This is an elevated covered walkway running perpendicular to a busy thoroughfare in Cotabato City, meant to protect both pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers plying this route. It also doubles as an area for hanging streamers and posters of congratulations to successful examinees from the city who passed the licensure examinations for physicians and nurses just released a few days before this photo was taken.

It's a poignant reminder on how many a Filipino family's hopes are pinned on college education. College education- which can lead to good employment- is their family's protection. And recently, with the Philippines having "exported" some 50,000 nurses in the last decade alone, having a licensed nurse in the family is almost like manna from heaven. Imagine, a Filipino nurse working in the country maybe earning roughly USD 200 per month, while s/he can earn something like at least 10 times that outside the country. To sweeten the pot, with the employment there also comes the chance to emigrate with his/her entire family. It seems like a no-brainer. To make matters worse, some 9,000 Filipino physicians are training or already have trained to become nurses, with a great number already employed in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, among other countries. Hospitals are being closed due to the absence of doctors who will run them and go on duty in them.

All this is happening in our country where 7 out of 10 Filipinos die without ever being attended to by a health professional.

So who's taking care of us left behind here?

I pray it will be those whose names are plastered on this elevated walkway...

To work in another country to feed your family or to stay in the country in service of your fellow Filipinos? It's not really a no-brainer, is it?

PhotoHunt: Triangle

Perched atop one of the rolling hills of Malaybalay City in Bukidnon Province, this new chapel of the Monastery of the Transfiguration gives a new meaning to the feeling of being close to heaven. Its simple architecture, benign wooden benches, and nondescript stone slab altar complement perfectly the wondrous beauty of God's creation surrounding it, the vista uninterrupted thanks to the glass walls on at least three sides of the chapel. The edifice blends seamlessly to its green surroundings as well as to the azure sky; it's like a pair of hands, touching fingertips to fingertips, palms about to press on each other, praying with expectant faith.

This is part of my April 2007 sojourn to Mindanao which you can find here.

PhotoHunt: Hands

A doctor's hands can excise a tumor, repair a broken limb, bandage a wound. But healing is not a duty and responsibility that is exclusively for doctors.

Whenever we listen to a friend's incessant rants about a boyfriend that is SO not into her; or sit beside a co-worker who has just lost a parent; or help a neighbor decide whether to stay in the country or migrate to the US, we, too, regardless of our degree or profession (or lack thereof), do our bit to become healers.

By virtue of our humanity, we have the innate capacity (duty and responsibility, actually!) to minister to one another, to excise the trouble tumor of anger, repair broken relationships, bandage a wounded spirit.

--==+==--

What needs healing as well is our environment. No matter how insignificant our singular, tiny effort may seem, when done in concert with a million, billion others, it WILL make an impact, more than we can ever imagine.

Don't forget to VOTE FOR EARTH and join EARTH HOUR 2009!

Lights out today, Saturday, March 28, from 8.30pm to 9.30pm!

Weekend at Sonya's Garden

We caught a whiff of this unique haven some two years ago when we had lunch there and, boy, what we saw, felt, smelled, heard, and tasted was too good to resist. However, we were then booked already at the Discovery Country Suites so we just vowed to enjoy Sonya’s Garden one day. That day came last weekend when we spent the night in this not-so-secret southern getaway located just at the fringes of Tagaytay City. And that we enjoyed our stay there tremendously is an understatement.

Choosing from among dozens is going to be painful but let me share just the five details I like best about Sonya’s Garden, in no particular order:


1. The gardens are simply wonderful. Flowers of all shapes, sizes, colors, and scents- including one that smells like butter!- populate a substantial amount of the property. I don’t know and I don’t really care if there was some planning of which flower grows beside what species; the end product is a sight for sore eyes. It’s an amateur photographer’s nightmare: I hardly knew which flowers to photograph first!




The garden, too, served as an unwitting key to unlocking memories. Our aunts who were with us reminisced about which flowers populated their home’s garden back in the day, educating us youngsters, in the process, about biology and our family heritage.



2. Guests will feel at home in any of the 12 cottages in the bed and breakfast area. We stayed in the Lavender cottage, a two-storey abode that comfortably housed our party of 13. The cottage is airy, thanks to the huge windows that allow the cool breeze of the hills to filter through.


The décor is distinctly Filipino but it is replete with hints that a well-traveled person owns the house. Sans tv, landline phone, or stereo, the place is really intended for those who want to master the art of just-relax-and-do-nothing.


The front door opens into the welcoming well-appointed living room and dining room.


My sister and brother in law, feeling a bit Town & Country in the Lavender cottage.


One of the numerous beds in the cottage, arguably the most interesting.


Loo with a view.

3. I adore the simple touches that render the place unique- from the interesting furniture, to the most inconspicuous of knick-knacks, within and around the cottage.


An earthen basin with fresh flowers greet guests at the cottage’s doorstep.


The day can be as lazy as this lounging amphibian at the nearby pond with koi fish.


Detail of the back rest of a bench in front of the cottage depicting the life of an indigenous Filipino trader.


The window greeting anyone who ascends the stairs to the second floor rooms.


Walking paths in the garden are lit at night by numerous capiz lamps.

4. The food at first glance appear to be akin to our daily fare but ordinary the meals here are not. From the bread, the salad, and the pasta for dinner; to the bangus, adobo, and omelet for breakfast- mealtimes are unique experiences which health buffs and those on see-food diet (when I see food, I eat food) will enjoy. The unending liters of dalandan juice for dinner and local hot choco for breakfast provide the perfect partner for the meals.


The irresistible savory character of the meals explains the dearth of photos. I also do not want to preempt future guests’ experience.

5. The members of the staff working with Sonya’s Garden are among the more professional and perceptive in the hospitality industry I’ve encountered. A party of 13 is not the easiest of guests to please but they managed to, um, smile and attend to our needs (and whims!).


For a respite from the stifling life in the city Sonya’s Garden may just be the place for you. It was indeed for me. No TV? No internet? No problem! There are lots of nooks and crannies to explore within the compound of Sonya’s Garden. Its wellness center has a lengthy list of massages to soothe the aches of the body; its Panaderia has goodies reminiscent of the products from the neighborhood bakery.

The Sonya’s Garden experience does not come cheap but it is worth every peso spent. And being serenaded at dinner by two authentic kundiman singers cum guitarists all the more sweetens the deal.

In case I suddenly become incommunicado, be sure to include this hideaway to the list of places you'd check my presence for.

PhotoHunt: Bridges

Good thing I love being behind the wheel, else I would have gone crazy with the intermittent traffic jams in the Philippines. While anybody, including myself, would savor bottleneck-less stretches of roadway where we can push the pedal to the metal(?), I likewise enjoy the occasional stop-and-go traffic scenarios so I can smell the proverbial flowers, or take a snapshot of a roadside vista.

This segment of my route home has been the area of many a motorist's driving woes; but the latter may soon be things of the past. After more than three years of roadworks (if my memory serves me right), the construction of these off-ramps and bridges interconnecting the new international airport with the elevated and at-grade highway systems seem to be in its final stages.

Faster travel, cooler heads, mission accomplished. Finally!

PhotoHunt: Chipped

They lived in shanties made from light materials, with rusted roofs and walls with chipped or peeled off paint, beside a river that doubles as drinking water source and toilet. Now, several hundred families are rebuilding their lives in more dignified homes thanks to the initiatives of the Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia Empowerment Center (SHEC), a non-government organization named after the founder of the Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus, a religious order of Catholic priests who initially spearheaded the NGO.

The priests and brothers while undergoing their formation studies used to just live with the residents of these slum communities in the city of Pasay, just adjacent to the Philippine capital of Manila. They engaged the community by basically helping them enrich their spiritual life. But seeing that their needs go beyond the spiritual and inspired by the community's tenacity and desire to better themselves, the priests and brothers founded SHEC and helped organize the community to form the counterpart people's organization, the Saint Hannibal Christian Community or SHaCC.

SHEC and SHaCC aim to build God's kingdom here on earth or at least something very close to it. The religious and the residents of these slums try to create a holistic community development program that include initiatives for and provision of quality shelter, health, education, environment, livelihood, values formation, peace and justice, and child and youth development. Knowing fully that they cannot do it alone, the NGO and the people's organization partner with institutions which help further their goals. Collaborators include the Habitat for Humanity and the government's Community Mortgage Program for the shelter component and the UP College of Medicine for the health component, among others.

The University, represented by myself and the students training under our Section of Community Medicine, visit the SHaCC housing site several times a month, engaging the volunteer health workers from among the residents through health education, covering a wide array of topics from the use of medicinal plants to reproductive health and healthy lifestyle initiatives like daily exercise and proper diet. Their eagerness to learn, improve their own health, and help their neighbors improve theirs are barometers through which I can measure hope and the possibility of change.

From shanties that get toppled when a stronger breeze blows to concrete homes which their own hands and sweaty bodies build; from a culture of dog-eat-dog to one that embraces the reality that they are each others' keepers; from a mentality of hands outstretched to receive alms and dole outs to a sense of renewed dignity where they can look anybody in the eye and greet anyone with a firm handshake- these erstwhile slum-dwellers have nowhere else to go but up and out, beyond poverty.

To help and be part of this worthwhile endeavor, visit the website of the Saint Hannibal Empowerment Center - http://www.shecrog.org/ or leave a comment after this post =]

PhotoHunt: Hats

As their reputations precede them, being in their presence is such a joy and a blessing. I am no art critic but seeing the works of Rembrandt (above) and Van Gogh (below) up close, their use of differing styles and colors in their aim to have a unique capture of life is enough to enliven the spirits of the most uncouth and uninterested. Museum-crazy that I am, sans all the other excellent exhibits in the Museum of Modern Art, these hatted portraits make all the walking and jostling through New York City so worthwhile.

And speaking of being mad and hatters, here's a tidbit I picked up when we visited the Savannah History Museum.

Aaaah. Now we know =]

PhotoHunt: Aftermath

In the aftermath of World War II, many countries, including Finland, were saddled by burgeoning problems, including financial collapse, health system challenges, and ideology shifts. But bouncing rather quickly from this quagmire, the Finnish capital of Helsinki successfully hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics which saw the debut appearance of athletes from countries like the Soviet Union and Israel, among others.

One of the main events of the Olympics- as in any Olympics before until now- was the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. In the Helsinki Games, Paavo Nurmi, the Flying Finn was one of two Olympic stalwarts who heralded the opening of the XVth Olympiad, alongside Hannes Kolehmainen. In the aftermath of the Nurmi juggernaut, the competition was made to drool at his nine gold medals, three silver medals, and 22 world records, earned all or in part when he participated in the 1920 Antwerp, 1924 Paris, and 1928 Amsterdam Olympiads.

PhotoHunt: Wide

This is the Hunting Island Light Station, located along the coast of South Carolina, USA. The light station was operational from the 1870s to the 1930s. The 136-foot tower helped hundreds of sailors- with its light covering a wide swathe of the Atlantic Ocean, visible up to some 17 miles or more than 27 kilometers away.

The two people by the Hunting Island Lighthouse are my parents, dwarfs vis-a-vis the tower but they are giants in my book. They exert a great influence on a wide range of aspects in my life; a huge deal of what I am and what I can be is because of the light and love they have shown in my almost 29-odd years of living =]

Yep, despite my stubbornness, God still made me win the parent lottery =]