The ultimate stage mother?

by ⋅ 3 Comments

I believe that college kids are responsible enough to take care of their own peer problems. So why did the mother of an actress confront my daughter because of “an offending entry” about her daughter? Can’t her daughter just talk to my daughter? And why does the mother want to report her to the Dean? Report her for what? I hope she reads the Student’s Handbook before she complains or she will look really foolish. I want to say more but maybe this mother will report me to the police.

/me shuts up.

A memorial site for deceased MySpace users

by ⋅ 3 Comments

MyDeathSpace.com memorializes deceased MySpace.com users and picks up where
a regular obituary leaves off. I don’t know how their deaths can be verified. When you click their myspace profiles, one can see that someone logged in recently. Maybe their ghost updated their profile? Or perhaps, family members were able to get their password. My friend’s 20 year old son died recently and she was able to acquire his [tag]myspace[/tag] login information through the help of friends. She plans to create a memorial website for him.

Looking at the cause of death of these young kids, all of it are Sudden, Accidental or Traumatic Deaths. How sad ! Automobile Accident ranks as the number one cause of death. Others like Auto-Pedestrian Accident, being shot, suicide, drug overdose, alcohol poisoning or alcohol-related, drunk driving are just a few common ones then followed by unusual causes like:

Read More →

Cellphone Thieves and Honest Filipinos

by ⋅ 4 Comments

Some of you might know Zach Escudero, a 19 year-old boy who got killed as he fought it out with cellphone thieves. His parents were mutual friends and because of his death, we started a signature campaign to pressure the Senate to act on the prevalence of cellular phone theft . Even the IMEI marking initiated by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), did not deter cellphone thieves. In fact, there are many electronic technicians around who know how to unblock a blocked cellphone unit, which are then sold as ““used” or ““reconditioned” cellphones.

Read More →

Grief support in the Philippines

by ⋅ 11 Comments

Grief is not exclusive for those who have lost a child , a parent or sibling. In life we experience so many losses such as loss of job, money, health , a love affair and other things. The grief process is universal to us all. We go through stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

grief-is-the-price-we-pay-for-love-670x300

As a bereaved mother, I reach out to other grief support groups and counsellors in the Philippines. There were no support groups or grief therapists in the year 2000. I tried to start the Compassionate Friends that year but the USA group appeared lukewarm to my email. On hindsight, I was not ready to be an effective organizer considering that my pain was still so fresh and new.

Read More →

The rebirth of a stage mother

by ⋅ 14 Comments

Gone are the days when I’d wait patiently by the lobby of the ballet studio, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Folk Arts Theater or wherever my 2 girls performed piano, ballet, voice recitals or a choir performance. Ohh, how enthralled I was listening or watching them on stage! Tying their hair to a neat bun, dabbling with their makeup or lugging their costumes were now a thing of the past. Those were my stage mother years. My hubby thought I was this frustrated mother who used her girls as a tool for her unfulfilled ambitions. Haha. Funny. My maternal instinct sought to develop the God-given talents of my daughters. I cannot for the life of me, carry a tune or tap my toes so there were no ballerina or opera singer dreams.

Read More →

Domestic violence is a priority issue

by ⋅ 1 Comment

It’s about time that the whole Philippines follow the model developed by Lihok Pilipina Foundation and the Cebu City government. In Cebu, men who beat their wives or abuse their children do serious jail time. Unlike in other parts of the country, cases of wife-beating, incest, child abuse and marital rape are not ignored. Although Republic Act No. 9262 (Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004) has been implemented since March 8 2004, Cebu City is the first city in the country to pass specific ordinances penalizing domestic abuses. Domestic violence aside from poverty is a priority issue that needs to be resolved.