Mizz Erna

Damn, damn, damn the insurrectos(formerly "damn the Filipinos")! / Cross-eyed kakiac ladrones(thieves)! / Underneath the starry flag, civilize 'em with a Krag, / And return us to our own beloved homes.

-Military Order of the Carabao, The Army and Navy Club, 901 17th NW, Farragut Square, Washington DC 9001-2503. Should we inundate them?

Email forward referring to this article in the Village Voice:



PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD TO EVERY SINGLE CARABAO-LOVING PINOY IN CYBERSPACE!


And thanks to brilliant poet Jean Gier for conspiring, um, facilitating the notion...

Eileen Tabios



========



FROM WINEPOETICS (A BLOG BY EILEEN TABIOS:



Wednesday, January 29, 2003 DECOLONIZE THE CARABAO!



Carabao.org offers more information about the "Military Order of the Carabao," one of the subjects of my prior post. Here is a description from its site:


"The Military Order of the Carabao is one of the most unique organizations associated with our nation's military history. It was founded in 1900 to counter and satirize the very pompous Order of the Dragon, which was founded by those who had defeated the very short-lived Boxer uprising in China. This idea for a lampoon was conceived by several Army officers one night at the Army-Navy Club in Manila during the Philippine Insurrection. As with most jests, it contained a serious ingredient which gradually surfaced to eclipse the initial joke. While the original spoof was real enough, the Carabao Order came to epitomize the camaraderie that grows among members of the armed forces who face the dangers and privations of extensive military service far from home. By the way, the effete Order of the Dragon was disbanded many years ago."



I offer an OPEN LETTER to the organization's Executive Committee:



A carabao, as you know, is a water buffalo from the Philippines. The carabao is one of my most treasured memories from my childhood. As a young(er) poet, I even once wrote this poem which appears in my first book, Beyond Life Sentences (Anvil, Manila, 1998):



CARABAO



I shared him with tiny black flies

who sneered at my waving hands

before diving deeper

into the folds of his old, cracked skin.



Still, I relished my throne,

the back of my grandfather's water buffalo,

while the beast provided a lumbering tour

of my kingdom whose borders



my six-year-old-eyes could not see.



*****



You also know that the reason your "Military Order" references my beloved "Carabao'" is because of a specific war that is one of the most ignominious ever fought by the U.S. military: the Philippine-American War through which you colonized the Philippines.



Thus, while there may be merit in your described desire to set up an organization "to epitomize the camaraderie that grows among members of the armed forces who face the dangers and privations of extensive military service far from home," please amend your organization's name.



Once, you renamed the Order of the Dragon which you describe as "very pompous" and "effete." Well, to describe your organization after the "Carabao" is worse by de facto instituting an homage to colonialism.



And, by the way, how has your Military Order worked on behalf of the disgraceful plight of Filipino war veterans who served the U.S. and yet have been denied such rights as the military pensions?



The carabaos have asked me, Babaylan, to speak on their behalf: Release the "Carabao" from your Military Order!



This Open Letter is directed to the White House, the U.S. Department of Defense, and last but not least, the Military Order's "Executive Committee" revealed on its site to be:



Grand Patriarch of the Herd (First Vice Cmdr.) - LTG MARVIN L. MCNICKLE

USAFGrand Concillior of the Herd (Second Vice Cmdr.) - LT. COL OLIVER GASCH

USAGrand Jefe de los Amigos (Third Vice Cmdr.) - LT. COL ROGER HB. DAVIS, USAF

Jefe de Vaqueros - HOMER C. SAUNDERS

Consejero General - COL. JAMES L. FOWLER, USMC

Grand Padre de los Carabaos - LT. COL. KARL A. CHIMIAK, USAF

Director de Artistes - SSGT. ROBERT L. GEORGE, USA

Historiador - R.ADM. RALPH M. GHORMLEY, USN

Grand Paramount Carabao - GEN. CHARLES G. BOYD, USAF

Grand Lead and Wheel Carabao - CAPT. WILLIAM W. HARRIS JR., USAF

Lead and Wheel Carabao - COL. JOHN S. ROOSMA, JR., USAF

Grand Lead and Swing - C.W.O. GORDON F. Heim, USM,

Lead and Swing - R. ADM. JOHN N. FAIGLE, USCG

Director del Banquets - CAPT. I.C. KIDD III, USN

Auxiliar - SGT. RAYMOND F. DUBOIS, JR., USA

Producer de Is Fiesta - COL. JOHN R. BOURGEOIS, USMC

Winders of the Horn - COL- JEROME E. EILER, USAFLCOL ROBERT J. WACHTER, USAFLT. WILLIAM 0. RITTER, USNCOL. DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, USA

Director de Musica - LT. COL. TIMOTHY W. FOLEY, USMC

Auxiliars - MAJ. DENNIS R. BURIAN, USMCC.W.O. JOSEPH M. HURLEY, USMC

Gamboling Carabaos - MR. RANDELL G. COOKMGYSGT. CHARLES V. CORRADO, USMCLCDR. CARL V. COSTANZO, USNMGYSGT. MICHAEL S. RYAN,
USMCSGT. ERNEST SULT, USA

Compositor Lirico - SGT. ALVIN SPIVAK, USAF



**********



I know that deleting "carabao" from your Military Order's name will require you to delete such fanciful designations as "Grand Patriarch of the Herd," "Grand Paramount Carabao," "Winders of the Horn," or "Gamboling Carabaos." But if you change your name, I promise to offer my advice on similarly fanciful appellations -- an offer you should value (have I mentioned I am an award-winning poet?)



Let my carabaos go -- which is to say: Let My People Go!



Or the waters of the rivers shall turn into lambanog (96-proof) and the carabaos shall run amok...!



Eileen Tabios



P.S. Your site also notes that your "Grand Paramount" is "formally sworn in at the Annual Wallow, which is held each year on the Saturday closest to February 4, the date of the Philippine Insurrection."



Wallow in this: READ MY LIPS: It was NOT a Philippine "Insurrection." It was an appropriate Philippine defensive response to U.S. invasion! It was not an "insurrection" for that word implies that the U.S. armed forces then represented either civil authority or an established government against which the people were rebelling. No, sweethearts: the Americans were invading. Now Repeat After Me (And Amend Your Childrens' Schoolbooks): It was NOT a ….!

School started on Tuesday. Yikes! Was I really looking forward to this? I'm excited though coz I'll be learning braille this sem AND i get to see my kids tomorrow!!

P.S. Be on the look out, I'll have another place to blog soon...

Slightly updated my "about" and "writings" pages. It's so slight, you'll probably not notice what I added or changed.

Not Ready to Grow Up Yet

Just when I was starting to miss school and actually feeling bored, I realize I've only got 1 more week of vacation! I'm pretty proud though that I've been able to cross off alot off my god knows how long list of "things to do", stuff like registering for the ATS-W part of the NYSTCE, transferring grades from my summer classes at York, and other to dos too embarrassing to reveal to you. If you catch me on AIM (whic is a rarity these days) or see me in person, I may be convinced to 'fess up, haha.

My schedule kinda sucks next semester. I should'nt really complain coz it is only 3 days a week, and coupled with student teaching probably no more than 4 days max. Not to take away from how tough I already know the semester is going to be, but I know I shouldn't be so fussy about it - and of course I will be. The good thing is that if all goes well, this will be my last semester. I plan on graduating in June! Yippee! Exciting! Scary! I have to enter the "real world" again and look for a real J-O-B, and despite what people around me saying that I'll have no trouble finding a job in my area, I'm still scared about the current job market overall.

Anyways, part of the reason next sem's sched sucks is coz I have class on Thursday night, which is usually reserved for choir/band practice at church. Now, before you start thinking, oh wow she's really religious and dedicated, you should refrain. Not that I actually believe you'd really think I'm some sort of saint. I don't need to convince you too hard otherwise, I'm sure. Anyways, Thursday evenings are fun! They really are! I love playing the keyboards, as grumpy as I may appear sometimes. And the kids (or as we refer to them -the knee highs) are sooooo adorable! Even when they're super-hyper and jumpy. I actually do look forward to practice. And especially now that the Youth Center has acquired an X Box (or at least someone started bringing one)! Hehe. Thursday's have become "Halo" night. After practice, lately, we've been heading down to the center and play or watch folks kill (um, on Halo) each other in fascinating ways. And if its not Halo, its pool, or ping-pong. I dunno. I guess I like hanging out with these folks. It makes me ALMOST forget how old I'm getting. And that's another thing. *Sigh* I'm gonna have to face it sooner or later, that I may no longer belong in the "Youth" category enough to be part of a "Youth" choir. It sucks that feeling too old to be part of it will be the ultimate reason I stop being involved one of these days. :(

i think i miss the time when online and offline "life" were 2 completely separate things. *sigh*

Below:

Currently hanging in my room -AKA- B's christmas presents -AKA- B's painting again! -AKA- a view of Dumaguete and a little of Cebu :

I can't believe my "lessons" actually happened. It was so surreal. I have so much more respect for my own piano teacher, so much so that I want to find her when I go back to the Philippines in July (still crossing my fingers on this). The first lesson was with my 14 year old cousin. He was more interested in learning how to play the guitar. So it became 10 minutes of piano (probably less) and 40 minutes of guitar. Which is funny coz I can barely play the guitar. I reviewed enough to manage to teach him four chords. The first four chords I ever played. The only four chords you need to play the Cranberries' "Zombie", incidentally the first full song I ever learned to strum. It was so funny because half way through, he was in so much pain. He whined, "my fingers hurt, i think i cut my thumb." My cold hearted reply: "don't worry, its supposed to hurt. it won't hurt after your fingertips become callous." Amazingly, he kept playing and practicing these chords, even after the lesson was over. I couldn't believe it. Now I just have to figure out how to justify him needing to learn the piano equally. The second lesson was much cuter. It was with my 9 year old god-daughter, who is always such a sweetheart. I have to help her unlearn all the bad habits her old piano teacher taught. Example, she tells me, "my teacher made me play the song over and over until she was done fixing her hair and cleaning her house." The horror! She didn't even teach them how to properly read notes. Her teacher would place their hands over the area of the piano where specific songs were to be played. Notes were not A, B, or C with them - they were 1, 2, and 3. The horror!
Now I think I'm ready for more students. The cold hard cash in my pocket is also very nice:)

Due to my embarrasingly low amount of fund$, teaching piano is now a reality. I'm preparing for my piano lessons on Friday. I've got 2 students to mess with. Yay:) So here's stuff i'm doodling with below. Today I got Teaching Piano Volumes 1 & 2. Tomorrow, I need to buy some music!

Assess ability to:



Reading music

Identify F/Bass clef

Identify G/Treble clef

Identify notes on sheet music

Identify sharps and flats on sheet music

Identify note values



Performance

Identify piano keys

Properly play piano keys

Play chords

Play triads

Play scales



Identify appropriate tempo of song

Translate tempo to counts per measure




Identify proper volume for parts of a song

Play at proper volume


Reasons for piano instruction:

Interest in playing classical music?

Interest in playing popular music?

Interest in playing all kinds of music?

Parental request?

To assist with singing?

To learn how to play chords?

To play competitively?

To play for guests?

To entertain guests?

To do something when bored?



Goals for piano instruction:

To be able to sight read music

To be able to play songs on request

Memorize many songs

My Mirror Project pics are up! 1, 2, & 3. Kilig:)

Since he asked, I thought I'd share it with you too. In case you were curious, here is the table of contents for the Vestiges of War book.

Since about Thanksgiving, I've been thinking alot about Ate Liza. Actually, I've thought about her every single day since last year's awful January when this blog served as a sanctuary for me of what had been happening. A month of going to the hospital which ended with her passing that was much too early. Then again, when is it ever the "right time" to die, right? Anyway nearly one year ago she was first admitted to the hospital. My memories of that day are so vivid, its unbelievable. And I have such a bad memory, I can't believe how much I do remember. The more I think about that first night, the more I remember. How that morning, Mom told me they were going to bring her to the doctor. And how I thought it was just a passing cold, maybe the flu, and more likely just a case of holiday homesickness manifesting in her physically getting sick. I feel so guilty for not really believing she could be that sick. Mom, even that early on, was already extremely worried. I remember her looking like she was about to cry. Dad and I just thought we were just going along for the ride, not really thinking twice about how serious it could be. I remember being more concerned about getting to some Arkipelago meeting on time than about Ate Liza. I remember even being annoyed at her for letting herself get so down about the holiday season. That I could be that insensitive really pisses me off to this day. From that first day, Mom knew that it was something serious. I remember later on that month when we knew how serious it was, being so pissed at Tita Ene, Ate Liza's roomate for knowing that Ate Liza was feeling this weak for a while and never said a word to us about it. Would we have given it a second thought then? Who knows. I remember searching for something to blame it on. Blaming Ate Liza herself for not taking care of herself better. For working to hard for a family thousands of miles away who didn't seem to comprehend how hard she was working for them. I remember being so pissed at her family for depending on her for their financial well being. I remember being pissed at everything. I remember that Thanksgiving and Christmas were the last holidays that she joined us for the festivities. I remember her crying during Christmas day mass for reasons she could not explain other than thinking how beautiful the mass was. I remember New Year's eve at our house, how she stayed in the basement by her room for the entire night. I remember us nearly forgetting to greet her Happy New Year because she just "refused" to come up. I remember feeling bad that she was in the basement all by herself when the clock turned 12. I remember shouting down from the top of the basement stairs, calling out her name, and saying "Happy New Year!" and her non-response. Why didn't I just go downstairs to give her a hug? How hard would that have been? I remember being pissed at my family that we didn't make a stronger effort to have her come up and join us. Would that have changed what happened next?

NY/NJ peeps, hope to see you here tomorrow/tonite:

GLOBO!



THE PHILIPPINE CENTER

556 FIFTH AVE., NYC

BET. 45TH & 46TH STREETS



JANUARY 6-17, 2003



RECEPTION: MONDAY, JAN. 6, 6-10 PM



SPONSORED BY:THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK



"Globo!", an art exhibition by a group of contemporary Filipino artists, will open on January 6 at the Philippine Center, 556 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The Show will feature works by Ronald Anading, Mafe Baluyos, Jose Beduya, Ringo Bunoan, Mario Collantes Jr., Ernest Concepcion, Alfred Cruz, Katya Guerrero, Riza Manalo, Emmanuel Migrino, and Paul Mondok. The title, an arbitrary name given by one of the artists, might also be read as a conflation of the English "globe" and a Tagalog word "lobo", which refers to a balloon. As one would expect from such a combination, the exhibit promises to be half-high art and half-helium. The works on exhibit will range from a meditation on the nature of time with the help of a piece of cake to a video footage of an artist testing the limits of the confessional by sitting in front of the camera until he cries.

New Year's Eve pics below. (whaddaya know, i already broke my procrastination resolution, i'm sure you're flabbergasted)

I took most of the pics, but the ones that I'm in, this lovely gal took. She's also my goddaughter.


The beautiful baby in pink is B's goddaughter, sister of the lovely girl above.




























Click here for more pics.