College football game is on fire. So even if the state of California has been disturbed by devastating wild fire from Santa Barbara county to Orange county, I cannot help but watched the game between Notre Dame Irish and Navy Midshipmen.
Well, I am a Bruin, having completed a professional program at UCLA; however, I begun to admire the Navy Midshipmen since I have watched its game against the Army last season. The Navy lost today, however they came out with a very good game and left the stadium humbly proud, accepting defeat.
Here's a Hey Poem (Dasang) that I wrote last year on the game between the Navy and the Army.
Hope you would like it.
CELEBRATE WITH FLAIR!
Edmund M. Industan
I tell you this, the way I felt…
Watching the Navy-Army game,
It’s twelve-one-seven football game.
My eyes were moist with joy of tears.
The navy won the game that day.
They cheered so extraordinarily.
Though I was no fan of either one,
I owed them hats off and respect.
The cheering fans and stalwart arms;
The weary seats and bowed heads,
So disciplined…accepted their fate,
Arms in bosom as Navies sang their hymn.
Hey!
Wish society be this way today,
Playing the game living life fairly!
Hey!
Make fantasy a reality,
But face the music with humility!
Sports have so many followers.
It squeezes juice from loans and moms.
It’s almost a religion to some,
A must to attend; acts as heroin.
It makes men act like wild animals.
Some howl as apes with letterheads;
Others come shirtless even in a cold night
Showing support for their muscled men.
For others, they’re like flowers needing rain…
Wilting, dragging their weakened limbs.
They’d stop by a watering hole before going home;
They’d gulp to drown their beat up souls.
Hey!
It’s just a game! Show your sportsmanship!
If you’d go wild, don’t spew fire with your lips.
Hey!
If your team wins, celebrate with flair.
Don’t pour the salt on a wounded soul!
Remember, the ball isn’t flat! It rolls!
It doesn’t stay on your side forevermore.
Try to wear the shoes of those who lost and
Celebrate! Like the navy cadets, so well-disciplined, that…
Peace and joy will reign for good.
NOTE: This Hey Poem is included in my book, THE EXPERIMENTAL DASANG (Hey Poem) and 45 OTHER POETRY FORMS.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Veterans Day & The Fil-Am War Veterans
November 11 is the Veterans Day to honor over 25 million military veterans in the U.S. In other countries, Nov. 11 is called Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in observance of the signing of the Armistice Treaty hurriedly signed between the Allies (Russian Empire, British Empire, France, Italy, U.S.) and Germany to end World War I. Allied Commander-in-Chief Marshall Ferdinand Foch and Germany representative Matthias Erzberger were principal signatories.
It was the 28th US President Woodrow Wilson who first proclaimed an Armistice Day dedicated to the cause of world peace. It was change to "All" Veterans Day in 1954, when Al King, a shoe vendor of Emporia, Kansas, campaigned to include all other military veterans. The 34th US President Dwight David Eisenhower who signed the name change to Veterans Day into law on May 26, 1954.
As US celebrate "the eleventh of the eleventh of the eleventh", I cannot help but remember my visit to 6 Filipino WW II veteran couples, who migrated to southern California after the 42nd President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton signed a law granting US citizenship to Filipino war veterans. (Of the 200,000 Filipinos, who responded to the 1941 call of the 32nd US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to help the Americans preserve peace and democracy in the Philippines, more than 17,000 war veterans came to US hoping that they would be recognized and treated fairly in terms of rights and benefits. Unfortunately, this has never happened.) These 6 Filipino veteran couples, whom our church visited in 1995, have been living in a small one-room studio, because the $500.00 pension benefit (a fraction of what the non-Filipino veterans have been receiving)was not sufficient to rent a one-bedroom apartment. So, imagine a room partitioned with curtains to give each couple their much-needed privacy. Imagine these couples with very little money left for their food, because they have to send money to their families in the Philippines, most likely, to pay the money they loaned to migrate. Tell me where the parity right lies.
The Filipino-American war veterans have been trying to demand equal rights since then. Some of them went on a hunger strike, some chained themselves to the fence of the White House and to the monument of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Los Angeles in 1997 in order to be heard. Unfortunately, they still are fighting for their rights until now.
Currently, there is a bill known as "the Veterans Benefit Enhancement Act" (S-1513) in the US Congress. It is assumed that the bill is on the verge of natural death, because many US representatives are playing deaf and dumb. Some of them consider that Filipino war veterans are not entitled to equal benefits, because they were mustered during World War II to defend their own country. This argument is blatant lie. Philippines was still an American colony during World War II. These Filipino war veterans were fighting for the interest of the American government, not for the Philippines. It was only on July 4, 1946, when Philippine was formally proclaimed as a Republic. Don't you think they ought to have that parity rights that they have been demanding as promised by the 33rd US President Harry S. Truman that "these surviving Filipino World War II veterans will received equal treatment as American veterans?
I just hope that the US Congress and Senate will open their eyes and ears to realize the tough living condition of the Filipino-American war veterans.
In the spirit of Veterans Day, I salute the war veterans, particularly those who still are fighting for their rights to be heard.
It was the 28th US President Woodrow Wilson who first proclaimed an Armistice Day dedicated to the cause of world peace. It was change to "All" Veterans Day in 1954, when Al King, a shoe vendor of Emporia, Kansas, campaigned to include all other military veterans. The 34th US President Dwight David Eisenhower who signed the name change to Veterans Day into law on May 26, 1954.
As US celebrate "the eleventh of the eleventh of the eleventh", I cannot help but remember my visit to 6 Filipino WW II veteran couples, who migrated to southern California after the 42nd President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton signed a law granting US citizenship to Filipino war veterans. (Of the 200,000 Filipinos, who responded to the 1941 call of the 32nd US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to help the Americans preserve peace and democracy in the Philippines, more than 17,000 war veterans came to US hoping that they would be recognized and treated fairly in terms of rights and benefits. Unfortunately, this has never happened.) These 6 Filipino veteran couples, whom our church visited in 1995, have been living in a small one-room studio, because the $500.00 pension benefit (a fraction of what the non-Filipino veterans have been receiving)was not sufficient to rent a one-bedroom apartment. So, imagine a room partitioned with curtains to give each couple their much-needed privacy. Imagine these couples with very little money left for their food, because they have to send money to their families in the Philippines, most likely, to pay the money they loaned to migrate. Tell me where the parity right lies.
The Filipino-American war veterans have been trying to demand equal rights since then. Some of them went on a hunger strike, some chained themselves to the fence of the White House and to the monument of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Los Angeles in 1997 in order to be heard. Unfortunately, they still are fighting for their rights until now.
Currently, there is a bill known as "the Veterans Benefit Enhancement Act" (S-1513) in the US Congress. It is assumed that the bill is on the verge of natural death, because many US representatives are playing deaf and dumb. Some of them consider that Filipino war veterans are not entitled to equal benefits, because they were mustered during World War II to defend their own country. This argument is blatant lie. Philippines was still an American colony during World War II. These Filipino war veterans were fighting for the interest of the American government, not for the Philippines. It was only on July 4, 1946, when Philippine was formally proclaimed as a Republic. Don't you think they ought to have that parity rights that they have been demanding as promised by the 33rd US President Harry S. Truman that "these surviving Filipino World War II veterans will received equal treatment as American veterans?
I just hope that the US Congress and Senate will open their eyes and ears to realize the tough living condition of the Filipino-American war veterans.
In the spirit of Veterans Day, I salute the war veterans, particularly those who still are fighting for their rights to be heard.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Cali's Prop. 8 Has Won! Get Over it!
Proposition 8 was the most expensive and controversial proposition in California during the Presidential election. An estimated total of $80 million were spent during the campaign. Sadly, those who opposed Prop. 8 are still spending more money to support protest march, which has been going on from San Francisco to San Diego. It is even believed that this protest rally would reach Salt Lake City, Utah.
If this proposition was for the State of California, how come the oppositions are going to hold protest rally in Utah? It is because they are specifically angry at the Mormon church for chipping in too much dollars to campaign against same-sex marriage.
Yes, Proposition 8 is a bill sponsored by those who are against same-sex marriage. It won over a slim margin, 52.3% yes to 47.7% no.
I know why the oppositions are having protest marches. They wanted to influence or delay the decision of the State to go ahead with the constitutional amendment. This follows the idea of the U.S. political scientist Robert Dahl (1956, 1963), one of the beautiful characteristics of democracy.
Come on, the election is over. Face defeat. Blame yourself. Oppositions should have spent double-time, triple-time, or gazillion time campaigning against Prop. 8 before the election if they really wanted to win. Unfortunately, they didn't. Probably, they were so over-confident that they could muster the popular vote of Californians after the State Supreme Court thwarted their 2004 decision, that annulled the 3,995 same-sex marriages allowed by Mayor Gavin of San Francisco, on May 15, 2008. Since May almost 18,000 same-sex marriages licenses were issued, according to a UCLA study. They probably never thought that many Californians are still highly into their religious values. Many Californians still cannot divorce marriage from their Christian belief that marriage is ordained by God to be a man-woman relationship.
I just hope that those who are for same-sex marriage would look at it differently. Even though an amendment to the California constitution to specifically acknowledge that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman, their right to cohabit, their right to display their love in public, their right for hospital visitation, their right to own and share property together are still not taken away from them. It is only the privilege of tying a knot in marriage that are not freely given to them.
Every Californians has rights. Oppositions of Prop. 8 were just out-voted during the election. So, let's get over it.
If this proposition was for the State of California, how come the oppositions are going to hold protest rally in Utah? It is because they are specifically angry at the Mormon church for chipping in too much dollars to campaign against same-sex marriage.
Yes, Proposition 8 is a bill sponsored by those who are against same-sex marriage. It won over a slim margin, 52.3% yes to 47.7% no.
I know why the oppositions are having protest marches. They wanted to influence or delay the decision of the State to go ahead with the constitutional amendment. This follows the idea of the U.S. political scientist Robert Dahl (1956, 1963), one of the beautiful characteristics of democracy.
Come on, the election is over. Face defeat. Blame yourself. Oppositions should have spent double-time, triple-time, or gazillion time campaigning against Prop. 8 before the election if they really wanted to win. Unfortunately, they didn't. Probably, they were so over-confident that they could muster the popular vote of Californians after the State Supreme Court thwarted their 2004 decision, that annulled the 3,995 same-sex marriages allowed by Mayor Gavin of San Francisco, on May 15, 2008. Since May almost 18,000 same-sex marriages licenses were issued, according to a UCLA study. They probably never thought that many Californians are still highly into their religious values. Many Californians still cannot divorce marriage from their Christian belief that marriage is ordained by God to be a man-woman relationship.
I just hope that those who are for same-sex marriage would look at it differently. Even though an amendment to the California constitution to specifically acknowledge that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman, their right to cohabit, their right to display their love in public, their right for hospital visitation, their right to own and share property together are still not taken away from them. It is only the privilege of tying a knot in marriage that are not freely given to them.
Every Californians has rights. Oppositions of Prop. 8 were just out-voted during the election. So, let's get over it.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
FIRST MIXED RACE U.S. PRESIDENT
It would still be monumental and historic to say that the 44th President of the USofA is a mixed race and not be labeled solely as African-American. In fact, it would be more fitting to the American society. Why? I tell you why.
It would mitigate race relation and racial divide. It is a non-domineering term. It embodies the real USofA as a melting pot. It symbolizes the real democratic country populated by migrants. It helps everyone to identify and, hopefully, unite with, and support Obama administration as it faces challenges in solving pressing problems. It brings hope and aspiration to everybody.
As we probably have known already, the term African-American was revitalized in the late 1980s to replace the term, Afro-American, a self description popularized by the black community in 1960s. The former is well-accepted by many, because it does not send a picture of nappy hair. However, others, like the Haitian, who are of African descent, would not identify themselves as such. Haitian still prefers to be called black. Some members of the African-American community, like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. have described this as America's "hypocrisy". And so until now the 1944 classic study of Swedish economist, Gunnar Myrdal, on the American Dilemma still exist.
It is true that the 44th President of the United States of America has an African father; however, he has a Caucasian mother, and an Indonesian step-dad. He is not only an African-American. He is a United Nation, personified. That's one thing, besides his smartness, confidence, youthfulness, and intelligence, that made him very attractive to everybody. Remember, more than 50% of those who voted for Barack Obama were Caucasian. And Asian have voted for him, too.
I just hope that the media and, Barack Obama himself, would start using the term mixed race, so that the incoming administration can truly represent equality and indivisibility among the citizens of the United States of America.
It would mitigate race relation and racial divide. It is a non-domineering term. It embodies the real USofA as a melting pot. It symbolizes the real democratic country populated by migrants. It helps everyone to identify and, hopefully, unite with, and support Obama administration as it faces challenges in solving pressing problems. It brings hope and aspiration to everybody.
As we probably have known already, the term African-American was revitalized in the late 1980s to replace the term, Afro-American, a self description popularized by the black community in 1960s. The former is well-accepted by many, because it does not send a picture of nappy hair. However, others, like the Haitian, who are of African descent, would not identify themselves as such. Haitian still prefers to be called black. Some members of the African-American community, like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. have described this as America's "hypocrisy". And so until now the 1944 classic study of Swedish economist, Gunnar Myrdal, on the American Dilemma still exist.
It is true that the 44th President of the United States of America has an African father; however, he has a Caucasian mother, and an Indonesian step-dad. He is not only an African-American. He is a United Nation, personified. That's one thing, besides his smartness, confidence, youthfulness, and intelligence, that made him very attractive to everybody. Remember, more than 50% of those who voted for Barack Obama were Caucasian. And Asian have voted for him, too.
I just hope that the media and, Barack Obama himself, would start using the term mixed race, so that the incoming administration can truly represent equality and indivisibility among the citizens of the United States of America.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
A POETRY BLOG & A THOUGHT ON UNICEF PROGRAM
Well, Halloween is over. Today is the UNICEF day... time to donate some "Old Presidents" as this United Nation's organization help educate and nourish young minds in developing countries.
Yes, I still cannot forget those years in the early 60s, when I helped my grade school teacher-mom, opened those huge tins of golden cheese and bags of powdered whole milk from the UNICEF. To many Filipinos, who live in the rural areas, cheese was never a part of their meals; hence, cheese was absolutely introduced by the UNICEF program to them. Initially, many kids did not like the taste; however, teachers like my mom, patiently educated the kids of its nutritional value. Slowly, the kids begin to like it. Before the end of the school year, most wanted to have a bigger share of it so that their parents could have some, too. And the powdered whole milk? Oh, the schoolchildren loved them. Kids were always ready with their cone-shaped paper for that powdered milk. They wanted to be the first person in the line. As the kids were going home from school, most of them were sipping the powdered milk through a small hole at the tip of those cone-shaped paper. So, friends, I, for one, would like to see the UNICEF program go on. Hope you are, too.
Meanwhile, here is the last part of my special story blog, The Curse. This is the poetry version. You also can read this in my book, KOILAWAN: Letters and Poems of a Jungle Dad-Mom. Enjoy!
(14) SAVING A DEAR CHILD
Edmund melig Industan
The wailing stopped! Some gasped in disbelief.
Seems it's the last oink at a slaughterhouse.
It slowly faded, hush was all around
Not one in jungle wailed again that night.
I won't forget that rainy night of yore.
A mom with ember cried in pain…for help.
An infant was about to see his grave,
For jungle culture is in darkest night.
The smoke of death had passed through villages.
The child's mom inhaled, kicked the bucket.
With culture so unique and so mundane,
This nursing child, considered the culprit.
The ember left, I followed it in haste.
…Unmindful of the muddy narrow trail.
My thought was on a roller coaster ride.
The prayer I made, the only calming state.
The chanting wail got loud as loud can be,
…As I edged closer to that bark-walled shack.
The soft and somber tune of bamboo lute,
I now can hear amidst the oinks and barks.
Just as I started climbing that chipped log
The shaman yelled a yapping, 'wo-wo-wo!'
Warding the evil off with frond of palm
That village could be freed from frightful woe.
Just as my head surfaced that squeaking floor…
The child, I saw, half-naked that cold night.
As he saw me, he cried with opened arms…
As if to tell me, 'Please, save me tonight!'
I tip-toed 'round the corpse that lay in state…
Around the spouse, who's laid there fetus-form.
Picked up the child and swayed him in my arms…
And calm him from a dreadful crying bout.
As soon as comfort came to this poor child,
The wails of kin and chants of shaman rolled.
Consoling words I gave, but not enough!
Most kin would like to see the child dead!
'He's curse! He'd kill again someday.
Our forebear wouldn't want… see him alive!
The pestle's ready! Press his neck tonight!
That curse will end and joy… is here again!'
As catalyst, I tried and tried so hard.
I gave them reasons known in heaven and earth.
But shaman's word's so strong, and mine was weak.
Until I stood and said, "I'd take the curse!"
The chirping crickets stopped; the silence heard!
And there's no hooting owl was overheard!
Right then, I knew, I'd stop! The battle's won!
Flee darkness! Flee! Oh, light! Illuminate!
At last, the grandma's nod was quietly given.
The tapping rain had stopped; the stars have shown.
The grips, I felt, from teeny-tiny hand
Seemed saying,' Thanks! You're here…now I'm alive!'
I left the stilt shack with a swaddled child…
Feeling the stares of eyes in darkness loomed.
A force seemed pushing me to a sure doom.
In prayer I whispered, 'Thanks…now, be my guide.'
Maybe you wonder after two decades.
I'm still alive! Still Kicking! Humbly proud!
The jungle came to know what's wrong and right
…The child? Oh, yes! My child is still alive.
(c) edmund industan, 2007
NOTE: Those who still have not gotten a copy of KOILAWAN, check it out now in your favorite online book outlets. The book is still available in 21 countries. A portion of my royalty fee will go to the Ata Manobo Literacy Fund of the Translators Association of the Philippines, a non-profit Christian organization that I used to head before I migrated to the USofA.
Yes, I still cannot forget those years in the early 60s, when I helped my grade school teacher-mom, opened those huge tins of golden cheese and bags of powdered whole milk from the UNICEF. To many Filipinos, who live in the rural areas, cheese was never a part of their meals; hence, cheese was absolutely introduced by the UNICEF program to them. Initially, many kids did not like the taste; however, teachers like my mom, patiently educated the kids of its nutritional value. Slowly, the kids begin to like it. Before the end of the school year, most wanted to have a bigger share of it so that their parents could have some, too. And the powdered whole milk? Oh, the schoolchildren loved them. Kids were always ready with their cone-shaped paper for that powdered milk. They wanted to be the first person in the line. As the kids were going home from school, most of them were sipping the powdered milk through a small hole at the tip of those cone-shaped paper. So, friends, I, for one, would like to see the UNICEF program go on. Hope you are, too.
Meanwhile, here is the last part of my special story blog, The Curse. This is the poetry version. You also can read this in my book, KOILAWAN: Letters and Poems of a Jungle Dad-Mom. Enjoy!
(14) SAVING A DEAR CHILD
Edmund melig Industan
The wailing stopped! Some gasped in disbelief.
Seems it's the last oink at a slaughterhouse.
It slowly faded, hush was all around
Not one in jungle wailed again that night.
I won't forget that rainy night of yore.
A mom with ember cried in pain…for help.
An infant was about to see his grave,
For jungle culture is in darkest night.
The smoke of death had passed through villages.
The child's mom inhaled, kicked the bucket.
With culture so unique and so mundane,
This nursing child, considered the culprit.
The ember left, I followed it in haste.
…Unmindful of the muddy narrow trail.
My thought was on a roller coaster ride.
The prayer I made, the only calming state.
The chanting wail got loud as loud can be,
…As I edged closer to that bark-walled shack.
The soft and somber tune of bamboo lute,
I now can hear amidst the oinks and barks.
Just as I started climbing that chipped log
The shaman yelled a yapping, 'wo-wo-wo!'
Warding the evil off with frond of palm
That village could be freed from frightful woe.
Just as my head surfaced that squeaking floor…
The child, I saw, half-naked that cold night.
As he saw me, he cried with opened arms…
As if to tell me, 'Please, save me tonight!'
I tip-toed 'round the corpse that lay in state…
Around the spouse, who's laid there fetus-form.
Picked up the child and swayed him in my arms…
And calm him from a dreadful crying bout.
As soon as comfort came to this poor child,
The wails of kin and chants of shaman rolled.
Consoling words I gave, but not enough!
Most kin would like to see the child dead!
'He's curse! He'd kill again someday.
Our forebear wouldn't want… see him alive!
The pestle's ready! Press his neck tonight!
That curse will end and joy… is here again!'
As catalyst, I tried and tried so hard.
I gave them reasons known in heaven and earth.
But shaman's word's so strong, and mine was weak.
Until I stood and said, "I'd take the curse!"
The chirping crickets stopped; the silence heard!
And there's no hooting owl was overheard!
Right then, I knew, I'd stop! The battle's won!
Flee darkness! Flee! Oh, light! Illuminate!
At last, the grandma's nod was quietly given.
The tapping rain had stopped; the stars have shown.
The grips, I felt, from teeny-tiny hand
Seemed saying,' Thanks! You're here…now I'm alive!'
I left the stilt shack with a swaddled child…
Feeling the stares of eyes in darkness loomed.
A force seemed pushing me to a sure doom.
In prayer I whispered, 'Thanks…now, be my guide.'
Maybe you wonder after two decades.
I'm still alive! Still Kicking! Humbly proud!
The jungle came to know what's wrong and right
…The child? Oh, yes! My child is still alive.
(c) edmund industan, 2007
NOTE: Those who still have not gotten a copy of KOILAWAN, check it out now in your favorite online book outlets. The book is still available in 21 countries. A portion of my royalty fee will go to the Ata Manobo Literacy Fund of the Translators Association of the Philippines, a non-profit Christian organization that I used to head before I migrated to the USofA.
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