FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reference: Valerie Francisco, Chair, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment, 925-726-5768,fire.nyc@gmail.com
New York Pinay's 2^nd Annual All-Filipina Showcase Celebrates Women’s Resilience and Art
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JZu0iOrT2E

New York, NY--After a momentous GABRIELA-USA assembly in Los Angeles on March 29, 2009, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE) will continue celebrating the advances of Filipino women’s struggle with their own brand of New York flare. Highlighting significant Filipino women in Filipino and Filipino American history and current day heroines and artists in FilAm circles, the second annual Diwang Pinay focuses on how Filipino women are emanating a light that inspires the nation at home and abroad.


FiRE’s annual Diwang Pinay is themed "Light of the Nation” or “Ilaw Ng Bayan" to redefine a traditional saying that women are the “light of the home” or “ilaw ng tahanan.” Expanding the cultural stereotype of the domestic Filipino women, the night will celebrate 25 years of Filipino women's resistance, led by GABRIELA in the Philippines, a national alliance of women’s organizations. The alliance not only holds a distinct role in pushing forward the women’s rights in the Philippines, historically and currently, but has also given women hope and bravery to hold on to in the face of violence, poverty, state repression and migrant issues.
 
This year's theme and celebration props up the work of Pinay artists who are currently shaping the art world and the Filipino American community. Following the courageous legacies of Filipino women like Gabriela Silang, Lorena Barrios and Bullet X Marasigan. Diwang Pinay will share how Pinays are redefining the "ilaw," the light and radiance that represent Filipino women today.
 
During continuous protest against Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in the Philippines, Filipinas in the US are crafting their own avenues of education, outreach and awareness around issues affecting women in the Philippines and in America. “Rarely do Pinay artists come together to revel in their artistry and more importantly their noteworthy roles as leaders and inspirations for our community,” stated Valerie Francisco, chairwoman of FiRE, “ This night is a night to celebrate ongoing Filipino women’s struggle but also the beauty that unfolds as we make our resistance our life and our art.”
 
Diwang Pinay ("Spirit of the Filipina") is an annual performance and silent auction in New York City showcasing Filipina/ Filipina-American performers, writers, and visual artists. Performing at Diwang Pinay are artists Danielle Parish, Laurel Fantauzzo, Hanalei Ramos, Taospuso, Bernadette Ellorin, Tatlong Mestizas, Emmelle Israel, Binky Bianca, KABALIKAT Workers and the FiRE Kultural Kollective.
 
Join us as we celebrate the beauty of the Filipino women’s struggle and learn more about our fight against the Visiting Forces Agreement in the Philippines! Spend Saturday, April 25, 2009 with us at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South NYC, NY, 10012. Tickets available at brown paper tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/61198. Contact Irma Bajar at diwangpinay@gmail.com for questions or for more information. Please view our Diwang Pinay trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JZu0iOrT2E.

###

 - http://www.firenyc.org
Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE) is a mass-based women's organization serving New York City and its surrounding areas. We connect the Filipino diaspora to the women's struggle in the Philippines. By bringing woman-born and woman-identified people together, we challenge pervading stereotypes and create self-defined Filipina identities.   For more information, please visit http://www.firenyc.org .  

We are a proud member organization of GABRIELA-USA, the first overseas chapter of GABRIELA Philippines, with babae in San Francisco, Pinay Sa Seattle in Seattle, WA, and SiGAw (Sisters of Gabriela) Awaken! in Los Angeles.

FiRE is a member of BAYAN-USA, an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth.  To learn more about BAYAN, please visit http://bayanusa.org/

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bumagyo nuong isang araw. buong araw, walang tigil ang ulan. pumunta ako ng manhattan para sa isang interview. at naisip ko lang....gustong-gusto ko talaga ang mukha ng lungsod na tinatapyasan ng ulan. idagdag mo lang ang malungkot na tunog ng sax at....hmmm...bliss...

ang mga itim na payong at mga walang mukhang mga tao na nagmamadaling naglalakad. iyan lang ang tanging kasiyahan ko sa paglipas ng tag-init: ang pagdating ng ulan at pagbukas ng mga payong. pero may tamang oras ang lahat. at ngayon, gusto ko lang humiga sa ilaim ng umaapoy na araw, inumin ang malamig kong beer at pakinggan ang mga alon.

Kailangan kong matutong makinig.  Ngayon ko pa lang naiintindihan na ang laki ng pagkukulang ko tuwing nakikipagusap ako.  Hindi ako marunong makinig.   

Sige, maaring nagsimula lang sa tuksong may sarili akong mundo.  Pero, tinotoo ko naman, at tuwing may kakausap sa akin, ang labas ko palagi, eh....Ha? Ano yun? Mukhang nakatatawa sa una, pero maiinis ka rin pag palagi kong ginagawa ito sa iyo. 

Mas malala na ako.  Umabot na siya sa punto na eepal ako habang nagsasalita pa iyung kausap ko.  Hindi ko namalayan hanggang sa dalawang tao na ang nagreklamo sa akin: ang Jowa at ang Nakababatang Kapatid.

At kahit ano pang paghingi ng tawad, siyempre nabastos ko na sila, di ba?  Oh, well.  Hay.  Sige, hindi ko naman kaagad mababago ito, pero ngayon alam ko na, 'di ba?  Puwede ko nang ingatan pananalita ko. 

Gising, Mel. 

I hear the stories now.  Of the Beauty in the tower, waiting for true love's kiss to wake her up as she slept for a hundred years.  Maidens sigh at such romance. 

           

What utter crock.

           

Why is it that people never think of the people who fell asleep with the princess?  It wasn't just the princess, after all, whom the spell was cast for.  Everyone in the palace was made to fall asleep, from the scullery maid to the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.  Apparently so the princess could still have her servants when she wakes up in a hundred years. 

 

Those damn stories.  And that twice-damned fairy.  Nobody will ever know the story of the baker whose wife lived in the village outside, who grew old staring at the Palace walls that grew old with her, or of the Gaffer whose son was a sailor and never saw his da again, or of the scullery maid who sent money home to the mountains where all the villages are poor and that money sent was a godsend.

 

You think I'm too harsh?  It may be.  I had been one of those who slept and woke up a hundred years later, my family gone and a new world upon us.  But I think I have a right to be angry.  We had no part in what had happened, but we were made to take a part. 

 

So we played this part to the very end.  The stories don't tell you, but the Queen and the King were hanged, the Beauty and her Prince beheaded by the mob.  And now, the people in that palace search for the fairies.  Oh what sweet dreams we'll have once we find them.  What sweet dreams.

Pero minsan talaga gusto ko munang magsalita sa sarili kong wika.  Malaki na nga ang kasalanan ko sa tinubuan kong lupa, kung tutuusin.

Kung susundan nating ang paniniwala na ang wika ang unang nagdadala sa kultura (kumbaga hindi lamang ito paraan ng pagsasalita, kundi paraan ng pag-iisip), halos tatlong taon na akong nag-iisip sa Inggles.  Nakakapanghinayan.

May kaklase ako sa Pilipinas nun, humihingi sa akin ng sulat.  Huwag ko daw ipadala sa email, ipadala ko bilang papel na sulat, ang ika nga nilang "snailmail."  At magsulat daw ako sa Tagalog. 

Kaarawan niya nun.  Dapat matagal ko na iyung pinadala.  Pero lumipas and mga araw, ang mga linggo, at mga buwan, at wala pa rin akong mapadala na sulat.  Sinubukan kong gawin iyung sulat nang sobrang na-konsensya na ako (kasi nakausap ko 'ata uli iyung kaibigan kong iyun).  Pero 'di ko pa rin ipinadala.  Hiyang-hiya na ako na 'di na ako pumapasok ng YM, kasi nandun ang kaibigan kong yun.  Ember, patawad.  Parang mas lalo lang nadagdagan ang kawalang-tiwala  ko sa sarili ko.  'Di ko matupad ang mga ipinangako ko.  Sa ibang tao at sa sarili ko. 

Leche.  Ang drama ko no...mga Pinoy talaga, kung mabuhay, parang teleserye.  Pero bakit hindi.  Tutal namin, kahit ang kasaysayan namin, maraming drama, sobrang dami na nagiging absurdo na siya.  Tulad ng teleserye.

Kung kaya sa tingin ko may batayan ang takot ko na naninibago ako tuwing nagbabasa ako sa Tagalog, o tuwing nalilimutan ko ang isang malalim na salita sa Tagalog.  Hindi drama lang ang mag-alala ukol sa pagsasalita ng unang wika ko.  Pakiramdam ko, mas nawawalan ako ng koneksyon sa kung ano ako, sa kung sino ako.  Pakiramdam ko nawala iyung buhay na ugnayan ko sa kultura ko, parang elektrisidad na tumatakbo sa kable na hindi sinasadyang pinutol.

And it all comes down to this:

The scent of your skin slowly curling up,

Like a thin, blue tendril of smoke,

Out of your pores and clinging to the tips of one's senses,

Then there is...

Comfort. 

There was that day at the beach

When the salt sea water had smoothed down your hair

And the sand had scattered across your back;

And then there was that day when you slept the afternoon away,

And the watery light from the window walked softly on your face.

Do you not find it frightening

That all we are, that all we could be

All comes down to this,

Shape, color

Sound, smell, taste

Dubious parts that make up vivid images in one's head.

And these vivid images, themselves?

Why, subject to distortion over time.

The glory of Man

Hangs upon so little

Mere whisps in the minds

That will evaporate

Upon death.

Even writ down, even entombed in monuments of stone,

Man is cut down by forgetfulness, by transience.

Therefore, be content.

As unfair as it seems that all the clever things you've said, and all the great thoughts you've thought, and all the kindness you've shown

Will be kept by things frail in themselves

There is...

Comfort

In that the trees whisper your name to me

And the clouds shape your likeness when I look up at the sky.

it's curious.

i first heard of the six degrees of seperation when i was reading this article that described an experiment wherein a sealed envelope was handed to participants with names of random people on it, and i think addresses . but they weren't allowed to send it to the person directly, they had to pass it to someone they knew, say in that state or town. The letters supposedly reached the intended targets within a circle of six people.

and you know how it happens, when you meet someone, say a customer in the coffeeshop where you work at, then you find out that this customer has a daughter who goes to the same preschool as your four-year old neice...it happens to you quite a few times, in more unnerving ways...and now it's a television show.

do you ever wonder? when you sit beside that old woman on the train with flowered straw hat, or you watch that somber yuppie across the street, fiddling with his blackberry, do you ever wonder what sort of connection might there be?

what if your sister had met the yuppie's best friend in the bar, and briefly went out with him; but later found out that he was struggling with homosexuality, and it was this yuppie who aroused all the feelings in him?

what if the old woman on the train was the teacher of your favorite professor, the one who influenced you to change your major from accounting to community organizing.

we normally don't like meeting people when we're already grown-up if it doesn't have a context of, say, work or school. even then, it's very unlikely that you will go beyond saying "hi" on the corridor. oh, the countless ironies and delicious foreshadowings that could arise. i mean, writers do use this sort of thing. from shakespeare to dickens, to tolstoy. the unkowing connection to people who will greatly change your life, is changing it, or have changed it.

this said, i feel i must be fair, and disillusion you all (misery loves company, after all. perhaps it is true that the randomness and lack of inherent meaning in existentialism presides over the laws of the universe).

the experiment of six degrees of seperation? here, from wikipedia (admittedly not an official official resource, but hooray for the act of democratic definition):

The small world phenomenon (also known as the small world effect) is the hypothesis that everyone in the world can be reached through a short chain of social acquaintances. The concept gave rise to the famous phrase six degrees of separation after a 1967 small world experiment by social psychologist Stanley Milgram which suggested that two random US citizens were connected on average by a chain of six acquaintances.



However, after more than thirty years its status as a description of heterogeneous social networks (such as the aforementioned "everyone in the world") still remains an open question. Little research has been done in this area since the publication of the original paper.



Contents



1 Milgram's experiment


2 Mathematicians and actors


3 Influence

3.1 The social sciences
3.2 Network models



Milgram's experiment



Milgram's original research .. conducted among the population at large, rather than the specialized, highly collaborative fields of mathematics and acting (see below) .. has been challenged on a number of fronts. In his first "small world" experiment, documented in an undated paper entitled "Results of Communication Project," Milgram sent 60 letters to various recruits in Omaha, Nebraska who were asked to forward the letter to a stockbroker living at a specified location in Sharon, Massachusetts. The participants could only pass the letters (by hand) to personal acquaintances who they thought might be able to reach the target .. whether directly or via a "friend of a friend". While 50 people responded to the challenge, only three letters eventually reached their destination. Milgram's celebrated 1967 paper [1] refers to the fact that one of the letters in this initial experiment reached the recipient in just four days, but neglects to mention that only 5% of the letters successfully "connected" to their target. In two subsequent experiments, chain completion was so low that the results were never published. On top of this, researchers have shown that a number of subtle factors can have a profound effect on the results of "small world" experiments. Studies that attempted to connect people of differing races or incomes showed significant asymmetries. Indeed a paper which revealed a completion rate of 13% for black targets and 33% for white targets (despite the fact that the participants did not know the race of the recipient) was co-written by Milgram himself.



Despite these complications, a variety of novel discoveries did emerge from Milgram's research. After numerous refinements of the apparatus (the perceived value of the letter or parcel was a key factor in whether people were motivated to pass it on or not), Milgram was able to achieve completion rates of 35%, and later researchers pushed this as high as 97%. If there was some doubt as to whether the "whole world" was a small world, there was very little doubt that there were many small worlds within that whole (from faculty chains at Michigan State University to a close-knit Jewish community in Montreal). For those chains that did reach completion, the number six emerged as the mean number of intermediaries .. and thus the expression "six degrees of separation" (perhaps by analogy to "six degrees of freedom") was born. In addition, Milgram identified a "funneling" effect whereby most of the forwarding (i.e. connecting) was being done by a very small number of "stars" with significantly higher-than-average connectivity: even on the 5% "pilot" study, Milgram noted that "two of the three completed chains went through the same people."



One problem with conducting such a study, however, is that it assumes people in the chain are competent at discovering the connection between two people serving as end points.






Mathematicians and actors



Smaller communities, such as mathematicians and actors, have been found to be densely connected by chains of personal or professional associations. Mathematicians have created the Erd..s number to describe their distance from Paul Erd..s based on shared publications. A similar exercise has been carried out for the actor Kevin Bacon for actors who appeared in movies together .. the latter effort informing the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". Players of the popular Asian game Go describe their distance from the great player Honinbo Shusaku by counting their Shusaku number, which counts degrees of separation through the games the players have had.




The social sciences



The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, based on articles originally published in The New Yorker, elaborates the "funneling" concept. Gladwell argues that the six-degrees phenomenon is dependent on a few extraordinary people ("connectors") with large networks of contacts and friends: these hubs then mediate the connections between the vast majority of otherwise weakly-connected individuals.



Recent work in the effects of the small world phenomenon on disease transmission, however, have indicated that due to the strongly-connected nature of social networks as a whole, removing these hubs from a population usually has little effect on the average path length through the graph (Barrett et al., 2005).




Network models



In 1998, Duncan J. Watts and Steven H. Strogatz, both in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell University, published the first network model on the small-world phenomenon. They showed that networks from both the natural and manmade world, such as the neural network of C. elegans and power grids, exhibit the small-world property. Watts and Strogatz showed that, beginning with a regular lattice, the addition of a small number of random links reduces the diameter .. the longest direct path between any two vertices in the network .. from being very long to being very short. The research was originally inspired by Watts' efforts to understand the synchronization of cricket chirps, which show a high degree of coordination over long ranges as though the insects are being guided by an invisible conductor. The mathematical model which Watts and Strogatz developed to explain this phenomenon has since been applied in a wide range of different areas. In Watts' words:


"I think I've been contacted by someone from just about every field outside of English literature. I've had letters from mathematicians, physicists, biochemists, neurophysiologists, epidemiologists, economists, sociologists; from people in marketing, information systems, civil engineering, and from a business enterprise that uses the concept of the small world for networking purposes on the Internet." [2]



Generally, their model demonstrated the truth in Mark Granovetter's observation that it is "the strength of weak ties" that holds together a social network. Although the specific model has since been generalized by Jon Kleinberg, it remains a canonical case study in the field of complex networks. In network theory, the idea presented in the small-world network model has been explored quite extensively. Indeed, several classic results in random graph theory show that even networks with no real topological structure exhibit the small-world phenomenon, which mathematically is expressed as the diameter of the network growing with the logarithm of the number of nodes (rather than proportional to the number of nodes, as in the case for a lattice). This result similarly maps onto networks with a power-law degree distribution, such as scale-free networks.



In Computer Science, the small-world phenomenon (although it is not typically called that) is used in the development of secure peer-to-peer protocols, novel routing algorithms for the Internet and ad-hoc wireless networks, and search algorithms for communication networks of all kinds.

and so they are. you try and calm them down, laying your hand flat against your stomach. does it work? do you calm down?

i doubt it. if you can't calm down the butterflies, what makes you think that the moths, hungry for light and trapped in you stomach, where it's eternally dark, will still themselves long enough for you to breathe. and just think. just think. to let you reason with yourself and tell yourself that this..this...is but madness.

drain your brain. perhaps, if you cannot think anymore, the moths beating their wings against your belly will no longer bother you. or else do something. ride a bike. look up the meaning of logorrhea. keep yourself entertained.

the moths, though...you'll not hear them screaming in frustration, but you'll feel their desperation. to the light. to the light.

oh god, to the light.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH