Sexy, Innocent Child-Woman

In solidarity with the "Invisible Children"

I am typing this in the computer lab of my school. In 20 minutes or so, I and a group of students (some of whom are in my class, yay!) will be walking to Grant Park (a park in downtown Chicago, which is about an hour away from here by train) to stay there for the night. We're doing this to raise awareness about the situation of the Invisible Children of Uganda. Every night, these children walk 30 miles every night and sleep in parks, hospitals, and other cramped and undesirable spaces to escape the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel army that abducts children from their homes and forces them to become soldiers and take part in acts of torture and murder. By walking to and sleeping in Grant Park, we wish to demonstrate our solidarity with the children displaced by the ongoing conflict in Uganda.

For more details about this event, click on this.

I'll upload pictures when I get back!

Postscript: The Global Night Commute

So we walked for almost two hours, braving the rain and the cold in the Windy City, and stayed the night in Grant Park. I went with a student of mine (who had asked me to join her group) and her friends. We didn't really sleep, what with the rain and the discomfort of lying on our blankets/mattresses that had gotten soaked from the downpour. We spent the night writing letters to politicians and making artwork for the children of Uganda. Wala talagang tulugan. We didn't leave till 7AM.

Me, my student, and her friends

I got to talk to Jacob, one of the children featured in the movie (he lost his brother due to the armed conflict), as well as two other Ugandans. It was quite a moving experience.

L-R: Caroline (a former child soldier, survivor of torture, and political asylee), Christopher (Caroline's uncle), and Jacob (a former child soldier who was featured in the documentary Invisible Children)

Despite the rain and the inconveniences we put up with, it was all worth it. For some reason, I felt so close to the Invisible Children of Uganda during the night of the Global Commute.

Peace in Uganda! Justice for the Invisible Children now!

found herself @ 3:40 PM 10 comments

What I've been up to

Hello everyone! Thanks for dropping by my blog despite the lack of updates...and for reminding and/or bugging me to update my blog, hahaha :) Pasensya na. TOXIC ang buhay ko ngayon. Things have been really busy for me for the past two weeks. I presented my thesis at a conference on Black Saturday, of all days; I gave another presentation to my department four days later. (Para akong artista, grabe, sunod-sunod ang "guest appearance," JOKE!) Here's a picture of my presentation, taken by my friend JP (sorry, the lighting isn't so good):



JP, a friend of mine from college who is currently based in Georgia, came to visit me during Holy Week, and stayed here for six days. Aside from accompanying me to the conference and going to church with me, he guest-lectured in my classes (which was a big relief) and even cooked for me, haha. I couldn't blog at all when he was here because we were busy hangin' out and catching up and I also showed him around Chicago. Here are some pictures of us (I'll upload the other pics later):

At Millennium Park

After JP left, I had to catch up on so much work. I had (and continue to have) so much grading to do for both my classes, and I also had to make up hours at my other part-time job (I still need to make up hours...aargh!). The semester is ending in two weeks so things are pretty stressful for me.

That said, I've been able to find time to go out and take a break. I visited my friends in the suburbs last Sunday, and attended the christening of their five-month-old--the newest addition to my inaanaks (godchildren).

Meanwhile, on Monday the 24th, I went out with my nun-friend, Sr. B. She's going back to India (her home country) in the fall, and she wants to see more of Chicago before she leaves. So I accompanied her to Water Tower (a historic site in Chicago) and the Adler Planetarium. I took her out to lunch afterward, and we had a blast.

found herself @ 6:33 PM 9 comments

Happy Easter

found herself @ 1:02 AM 12 comments

I'm okay now

Ate Ghee, Melai, and Mommy Ann, thank you so much for your concern.

I was in such a lousy mood in my previous post but I'm okay now. I talked to my roommate tonight and she assured me that I had nothing to worry about...and that I shouldn't let certain people get to me. That's exactly what I'm doing.

found herself @ 1:43 AM 12 comments

Naiirita ako...

(NOTE: I have to write this entry in Filipino because I need to be careful here. And it's more convenient for me to express myself in Tagalog when I'm being a drama queen. I have to admit that my Filipino grammar isn't that great. Owing to my upbringing in Tacloban, I learned English and Waray before I learned to speak Tagalog. At any rate, I like to cuss in Tagalog/Waray/Bisaya when I'm pissed off. For the English translation of this post, e-mail me at silver_scrawl [at] yahoo [dot] com.)

Sobrang hitad talaga 'yung ibang mga kamag-aral ko. Nakita ko iyon ngayong hapon lang. Alam kong likas na buraot (pasensiya na sa salitang ginamit ko) ang iba sa kanila ngunit di ko akalaing manghihitad rin ang ilang tao na itinuring ko pa namang kaibigan. Nga yawa hira!

Anong gagawin mo kung sinagot mo ang isang "inosenteng" tanong ng isang kaklase mo sa isang paraan pero iba pala ang tinutukoy mo doon sa binigay mong kasagutan? At anong gagawin mo kung biglang gamitin ng mga hitad ang sagot mo laban sa 'yo, kahit ilang beses mong ipaliwanag kung ano talaga ang tinutukoy mo? Hindi naman sa hindi ako marunong tumanggap ng mungkahi o pagwawasto galing sa iba. Kung mali ako o meron akong hindi naintindihan, tatanggapin ko iyon. Pero nahalata ko lang kung sino sa mga kasama ko ang gustong magbigay ng klaripikasyon...at kung sino ang gustong magpasikat. Nakita ko kanina kung sino ang interesadong ipagdiinan ang pagkakamali ko--o ang simpleng sablay ko--para ipamukha sa akin na tama sila at mali ako, na magaling sila at tanga ako, na malayo ang mararating nila at wala akong binatbat sa kurso kung saan kami nagpupursigi sa kasalukuyan.

Sus ginoo. Nananahimik naman ako at gusto kong manatiling ganito habang nandito ako. Aminado naman ako na may mga bagay ako na hindi nalalaman, lalo na't baguhan ako sa larangan na pinasukan ko at ako ang pinakaunang miyembro ng pamilya ko na sumabak sa ganitong klaseng pag-aaral at mga gawaing kaugnay nito. Kung gusto nilang pagkatuwaan ang simpleng pagkakakamali ko o ang pagka-ignorante ko sa mga bagay-bagay, magpakasaya sila. Hindi ko sila papatulan.

Pero tao lang ako para hindi mairita...o masaktan.

found herself @ 4:11 PM 8 comments

My mom's birthday and my tita's passing

Today is my mom's 48th birthday. Happy Birthday, Mama!

I called home last night, since it was already April 7th in the Philippines. It was nice to just hear my mom's voice and catch up with her. (Prior to last night, I didn't get to call home for more than two weeks because I was so busy with school and work.) It turned out my mom was alone in the house. My dad and my ate were at work, while one of my younger sisters was in school. I don't know where my youngest sister was. Tapos dalawa kaming wala sa Pinas (I'm here and one of my sisters is in Singapore). Hay...

My mom said there was a recollection going on in our house when I called. I wasn't surprised because my mom is really active in church and she's part of this prayer group.

I didn't even get to ask my mom about how she was gonna celebrate her birthday because she immediately asked me about what I've been up to. So I told her about the conferences I attended and the usual stuff about school and work. We also ended up talking about CIW. I told her I received letters from two more inmates on death row over the last two weeks. My mom is really supportive of what I do at CIW, which means so much to me. She allowed me to sleep over on death row for the first time last year...haha, kunsintidora! This was the day before my dad's birthday, so you can just imagine his reaction when he found out where I was.

My mom also asked me about my friends in Pinas, especially those who passed the bar. Pati ang controversial ex ko, napag-usapan namin. Haha...I can't believe I can talk to my mom about that stuff now, since I was really secretive when my ex and I were together. I've become more open to my mom through the years, so I tell her (almost) everything these days.

I have to buy more phonecards later kasi bitin ang kuwentuhan namin.

found herself @ 11:38 AM 18 comments

I'm back!

To all those who dropped me a line or two while I was away, offered words of encouragement when I was freaking out about my presentation/s, and diligently visited my blog despite the lack of updates--especially Mommy Ann, Ate Malaine, Mommy Lei a.k.a. Anonymous na Mommy, Ate Ghee, Sis Melai, Mommy Neng a.k.a. Anonymous na Sirena a.k.a. Sirenang Senti Ulit, Fafa KaDyo a.k.a. Anonymous na Sam, Nang Ethel, Doc Nikki, Sis Elln, Ghie, Dons, i.n., Raquel, Darlene, Des, Kneeko, P.B., JLois, LadyWhiteSpirit a.k.a. Anonymous na Mabait, Mai, eReeZah, Bulitas, Basilisk, Xai, and Lisa--THANK YOU!!! I got back from Omaha, NE three days ago, but I couldn't update my blog right away because I had so much work to catch up on at nagloko pa ang Jurassic laptop ko. Nag-rally tuloy sina Mommy Lei, Mommy Ann, at Sis Melai na Gwapa...ayan, may update na ako sa wakas! Haha :)

My presentations went well. I was so nervous, but those who attended my sessions told me I did a good job. I was so touched when the discussant of the session I presented in last weekend told me that my research had significant contributions to public policy, mental health, and humanities. I give God the glory.

One thing I enjoyed about the conferences I attended over the past two weekends was the bonding that took place between me and my fellow students, as well as my advisor. I also did some sightseeing between sessions (especially last weekend). In Indianapolis, all we did was hang out at the bar in the hotel and visit some restaurants in the area, as the following pics can attest to:







In Nebraska, I was able to participate in a tour of the correctional facility for juvenile delinquents. I thought we would get to talk to some of the inmates (perhaps because of the more lenient rules in the correctional facilities in the Philippines), pero bawal pala 'yon. Only one of the young men in the facility was authorized to meet with us and share his life story and experiences. I learned a lot from the tour, regardless.

I also frequented Old Market, an area of Omaha that has bars/coffee shops/restaurants and different stores.



I have one more conference presentation and I'm done...oops, scratch that. My advisor wants to organize a brownbag lunch for us presenters so we could present our research to the department. There were five of us from my school who were at Omaha last weekend. However, most of our presentations were scheduled at the same time, so my advisor couldn't attend all of our sessions, which she wasn't too happy about. So she wants to organize a get-together just so she could listen to our presentations...ain't that sweet?



Gosh, everything's going by so fast. I can't believe it's already April. It will be summer before I know it, and I have a lot of things to look forward to. I'm going on a service trip in Honduras (sponsored by the University Ministry) in late May. And I'm going home to the Philippines again in late June. I could have left earlier but one of my cousins here is getting married on June 23rd, so I have to be here for the wedding. Oh well. I'll be staying in Pinas for two months, and I'm so excited because I haven't stayed there for more than a month for four years now.

'Yun lang. Take care, everyone!

found herself @ 12:57 PM 18 comments