FOREWORD TO BITING THE BIG APPLE

[caption id="attachment_1673" align="aligncenter" width="242"] On love day, buy a faithful shirt for her and you, for the price of ONE![/caption]

By Marivir R. Montebon
New York City

We run an excerpt to the Foreword written by immigration lawyer Arnedo Valera, Esq, on the memoir Biting the Big Apple: Memoirs of a Journalist Turned Immigrant.

"Marivir R. Montebon's memoir, Biting the Big Apple, lends an insightful and inspiring presentation of immigration patterns in the U.S., aside from the fact that it is at times funny and exciting. Her own diaspora is a not a typical one, however: Immigration was her only choice after her husband, a leader of the Filipino political party Bayan Muna's chapter in Bohol, became a victim of a summary execution perpetrated by military death squads during the past Arroyo regime. She sought and has been granted a political asylum by the U.S. government.

Marivir is a dedicated journalist and writer I have worked with as the Managing Editor of the Migrant Heritage Chronicle. I also served as the lawyer for her asylum case. Thus I have all the trust and confidence that this Memoir will change the readers' views about immigrants: They are not just nameless, faceless people who are often put down or suspected as “illegal”. Many of them, in fact, are talented and hard working individuals who could be great contributors to American society.

The story that this book tells is a long saga of crossing the seas. In this Memoir, one discovers that Marivir's own family members were in fact part of the centuries-old Philippine diaspora. From the struggling great grandfather who left a young wife and small children in the tiny island of Siquijor in central Philippines, then lost his life in the asparagus farms in Stockton, to this journalist who has become an immigrant herself, this book has so much to share."

Arnedo Valera is the co-executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission and the editor-in-chief of the Migrant Heritage Chronicle which are based in Washington, DC.

The book took me five years in the making. Now it is here at last. Thank you so much to Nedo, and all those who have been part of this journey.

(For the eBook, please go to Amazon.com's Kindle store http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BHKHC9O/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1361241214&sr=8-6&pi=SL75 . Priced at $9.80, part of the proceeds go to the OSM! Educational Support Program)

[caption id="attachment_1675" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Xocai Dark Chocolate: It is a healthy love.[/caption]

Be in Harmony, Be Healed

By Marivir R. Montebon
New York City

The world will get better if we start from within, from our hearts. - Dulce Sanchez

There is something about Dulce that will draw you towards her. In my case, it was her calmnness untypical of a New Yorker, when we first met at the Naam Yoga Center on the Upper West Side of the city. Well, she is a regular visitor of New York on a mission of sorts. Dulce Sanchez hails from Mexico, teaching English and running an events and party organizing business. But the main fulfillment in her life is when she straddles between home and New York to help people heal themselves through a wholistic therapy called Harmonyum, aside from being with her grandchildren.

From the word harmony which means 'a pleasing combination of elements in a whole', Harmonyum is quite clear by its own name, and a welcome treat, an accord, to oneself.



It is a healing modality developed by Dr. Joseph Michael Levry known as bio-metaphysical medicine that is non-invasive, gentle, and energetic. Dulce, a Harmonyum therapist, is among the hundreds of students of Dr. Levry, using this soothing continuous touch on the entire length of the spine to heal physical, emotional, and mental ailments.

Before deciding to take on this mission as a wholistic healer, Dulce has had her share of excruciating pain from a failed marriage. She and her husband decided to divorce after being together for 8 months. After 12 years, they remarried. But the problem on infidelity has set in, hence they divorced again. She is now on her own, and rightfully happy, seven years after the second divorce.

How Dulce regained her composure and balance through the help of Naam Yoga and Harmonyum is an incredible journey of love, light, and healing.

Excerpts:



1. Tell me how you became an advocate and now a missionary for Naam Yoga and Harmonyum.

I was deeply depressed when I found out that my husband was womanizing. We were divorced for 12 years, but decided to remarry. We were together for nine years, and then I found out he had another affair. I felt devastated. Divorcing him the second time was scary, because I was getting old and did not know what to do.

I chanced upon a Hatha Yoga Center in 2006 and then later I found out about Naam Yoga. Life became so different after that. I was healed, happy, and grateful.

2. What was it with Naam and Harmonyum that convinced you this was your path to healing?

Harmonyum promotes self-healing energy. I studied Harmonyum under Dr. Levry for seven treatments or sessions. Each session lasts for 45 minutes.

We gently touch the nape of the client down to the spine. Harmonyum is known to reharmonize a person's entire presence in the process of strengthening and balancing the autonomous nervous system.

It doesn't even matter what faith you have, whether you have or have not any faith. The energy inside you naturally heals.

3. What is the most profound experience you had in Harmonyum?

I was shocked and was crying so hard in amazement when I learned that my client, a young woman afflicted with terminal breast cancer, was healed after the 4th treatment. That was in 2009.

She was a non-believer, a young mother and had a great career. Her breast cancer was eating her up, and her doctors have decided to stop all her medication because it would no longer be of help to her. The pain she experienced each night was unbelievable and agonized her husband as well who could not sleep because of her anguish.

On the second treatment, she noticed she had lost a little bit of the pain. On the third session, it was totally gone. As well as on the 4th treatment.

She decided to have herself checked by her doctors why the pain was gone. At that time, I fly in to New York for my continuous studies with Dr. Levry.

When I returned to Mexico, I immediately called her to find out how she was. She was elated. Her biopsy results, she had taken two exams, showed she had negative signs of cancer.

I was crying with joy and gratitude. That experience changed me.

4. Do you believe Harmonyum can absolutely change the world, heal people?

Yes. Compulsion, which brings about vices like gambling, can be healed through Harmonyum. Our job as naamists is to serve. And the more we are able to reach out to the community, the better. Believe that the world is going to get better if we start from within, from the heart.



(Dulce Sanchez could be reached at dul000@gmail.com   For more details on Harmonyum, visit www.rootlight.com)

ALI EWOLDT AND ADAM JACOBS: Broadway Actors Proud of Their Philippine Roots

By Marivir R. Montebon

Adam Jacobs and Ali Ewoldt will pull it off again on stage in a Valentine Concert at The Town Hall on Saturday, February 23 at 8 o'clock in the evening.

The concert, titled "A Heart Full of Love," is sponsored by GMA Life TV, GMA Pinoy TV, the TOFA-New York, the Filipino Reporter, and the Mindoro Healthcare Consulting.

Starting their career at a young age in musicals, Ali and Adam have recently performed together on the musical Les Miserables, with Ali as Cosette and Adam as Marius.

Although she finished Psychology at Yale University, Ali chose the entertainment career at this time, despite the stiff competition.

She has shown her persistence in every artistic undertaking, which is the key to breakthrough in every show, which kicks off in auditions.

For the past 10 years in her performing career, Ali has shown her versatility in the roles she plays on Les Mis, the King and I and host of other popular shows which she has toured with in the entire US.

Adam, for his part, started out early as pianist and finished a degree in Theater at the New York University. He performed in big musicals since his younger days in California, in Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, the Lion King, and many more.

Both Adam and Ali attribute their singing abilities to half their roots. Their mothers are Filipinos who love music and encouraged them to pursue their passions.

Do you ever consider the Philippines home, I asked. In chorus, they said no. It is more of our roots, and "I am proud of that," beams Ali. And Adam smiles, and says, "yeah."

After the hurried interview, they ran up stage to do the sound check prior to an intimate concert with Broadway Barkada, a group of Filipino actors in the Broadway musicals, in Manhattan's lower east side of the city.

(Check out the websites of Ali and Adam on www.aliewoldt.com and www.adamljacobs.com)

FALDEF's Night of Hope Fundraiser

FEATURED EVENT
By Jen Furer

NEW YORK CITY -- The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and US Pinoys 4 Good Governance (USP4GG) will present "A Night of Hope", a charity reception on behalf of the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (FALDEF) on Friday, March 1, 2013 at the residence of Consul General Mario de Leon, Jr.

The Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF) is a registered 501 (c)(3) not-for profit organization that provides pro-bono legal services to Immigrants in distress due to their origin, status and financial situation. FALDEF was founded in 2008 by a group of lawyers, professionals and community leaders working towards the same cause. After collectively working on a case involving Filipino Immigrants, suffering injustices, they decided to create an organization that was dedicated to serving the migrant community, in particular the Filipino Migrant Community.

Attorney Victor Bolden, Corporation Counsel of the City of New Haven, Connecticut is the evening's special guest speaker. An expert and advocate of civil rights, when Bolden chose to begin his post as New Haven's acting
corporation counsel on Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday.

As Corporation Counsel, Bolden serves as the chief legal advisor of and the attorney for the City and all City officers and departments in matters relating to their official duties.

Bolden was formerly General Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. He served on the Counsel with the law firm of Wiggin and Dana LLP in New Haven, Connecticut. He also served as a Karpatkin Fellow and Staff Attorney at the ACLU, from 1989-1994. Bolden completed his undergraduate studies, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1989.

Mr. Bolden has been a supporter of the Filipino-American community, even prior to the actual incorporation of FALDEF. When the community needed help in defending 10 Filipino nursesto the actual incorporation of FALDEF. When the community needed help in defending 10 Filipino nurses who were wrongly sued, Bolden graciously offered the legal services of NAACP-LDF.

Attorney Sanford A. Rubenstein, senior partner at the Brooklyn law firm of Rubenstein & Rynecki, is one of the evening's guest speakers. He is one of New York's most sought after advocates for victim's rights in personal injury and civic rights matters. Described by the Melvin M. Belli Society of the American Trial Lawyers Association as one of the Nation's 25 top trial lawyers. Rubenstein's career has been punctuated by high profile cases in which he represented victims in many tragic occurrences in New York City.

Mr. Rubenstein appears frequently on national and local T.V. news advocating for victims rights. He has appeared as a legal analyst on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. Mr. Rubenstein has lectured and participated in panels for the New York Sate Trial Lawyers, The Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute, Brooklyn Law School and the Melvin M. Belli Society of the American Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Rubenstein is also an author of a new book entitled, "The Outrageous Rubenstein" , in which he writes about his experience as a media savvy trial lawyer fighting for justice and change.

[caption id="attachment_1786" align="alignleft" width="229"] Diane Paragas[/caption]

The evening also features the premiere of a short documentary film by Diane Paragas. Over the course of the last three months Ms. Paragas has been documenting candid interviews from FALDEF clients and Board Members. What started out as a public service announcement, has turned into a short documentary.

Ms. Diane Paragas is an award-winning documentary film director and commercial director. Her films have appeared on Showtime, BET, Discovery, MTV, Bravo and PBS. . In 2012, Paragas produced and directed the feature documentary, "Brooklyn Boheme", which premiered in February on SHOWTIME networks and features Spike Lee, Chris Rock, to name a few. "Brooklyn Boheme" recently won Outstanding TV Documentary at the Black Reel awards.

Ms. Paragas is also the founder and owner of NYC based Civilian Studios. Paragas is a supporter of FALDEF and has lent her talent by offering to do a short documentary about the organization. She is currently working on her first feature film Yellow Rose, a film loosely based on her life growing up as the only Filipina-American in her small Texas town. For details visit www.yellowrosefilm.com for details.

"A Night of Hope" charity reception begins at 6:30pm and ends at 9:00 p.m. A suggested donation of two hundred dollars, made out to "FALDEF", will be appreciated and accepted at the door, by mail or online. For details please email hope@faldef.org or visit the website at www.faldef.org.

FALDEF is also hosting a press club meet and greet event with Hon. Judge Lorna G. Schofield, the first Filipino-American in the history of the United States to serve as an Article III federal judge.

SWEDISH APPLE PIE

By Ruth Ezra
Chicago, Illinois
What I love about this pie is its simplicity and the crispiness of the crust. All ingredients are handy. My hubby and I enjoyed it warm.
I enjoyed my slice with mango-peach tea while hubby enjoyed his slice with black coffee.

Ingredients:

2 apples, cubed (I used Pink Lady)
Cinnamon
3/4 c. salted butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. chopped macadamia nuts

My process:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Fill pie pan 2/3 full of peeled, sliced apples.

Sprinkle and cover apples with cinnamon.

In small bowl, combine butter, sugar, flour, egg, and nuts.

Pour over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, or until golden brown.

|*|*|*|

Ruth D. Ezra is a culinary queen in her own right through experience and training. She works at the AllState Roadside Services in Northbrook, IL. Her greatest delight is serving good and healthy food to her husband Heman and only daughter, Isabelle. Kit would love to receive feedback on her recipes, and exchange them with yours at ezraruth@comcast.net.

LAND THAI KITCHEN

Resto Rendezvous

Land Thai Kitchen is simply awesome. Asians feel home is just in the neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan making this quaint restaurant teeming with clients seven days a week, from noon to 11 o’clock in the evening. Its refreshingly unique and inviting Southeast Asian cuisine actually has convinced the American palate as well. It is a must to try the grilled whole Branzino (with bok choy, cherry tomato, and three secret sauces), oven roasted lemon grass chicken, and the sticky rice with champagne mango. The best!
Visit Land Thai and keep coming back for more. It is at 450 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, New York 11024 Tel. No. 212-501-812

NYC Rising, Dancing To Stop Violence Against Women

By Marivir R. Montebon

Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad opened the V-Day Dancing against Violence in New York City on February 14 with three poems, which included 'Not Your Erotic, Not Your Exotic'. That was enough for me to scream and dance that Valentine's night at the Hammerstein Ballroom of the Manhattan Center.

There was Glen Close too that night, reading the poem of Eve Ensler, the playwright for the Vagina Monologues, the outrageous soliloquies of women raging against the violations imposed on them.

It was a night of reminiscing, how the movement against violence against women started 15 years ago,  right at the very same venue of the Hammerstein Ballroom.

It has come a long way indeed. Women will rise and continue to defy the stereotypes that dehumanize them, says Glen Close.

At the lobby of the ballroom, the ambiance of the occasion was initially electrified by the drumming for 'peace and power' by Jan Goldstoff and Laurie Schwartz.

[caption id="attachment_1856" align="alignleft" width="300"] OSM! executive editor and publisher Marivir R. Montebon enjoying the beat of the drums.[/caption]

Indeed, dancing was the call of the night, and with the sensible, hip music, every man and woman at the ballroom danced with a lot of rhyme and reason.

[caption id="attachment_1758" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Threese, from Connecticut, enjoys the empowering music.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1673" align="aligncenter" width="242"] On love day, buy a faithful shirt for her and you, for the price of ONE![/caption]

SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING DIFFERENT
By Marivir R. Montebon

New York City

I browsed directly into the last page of the little book Lessons of a Turtle by Sandy Gingras, which my daughter Nikki had given to me as a birthday gift last year. It reads: the end of the story is never the end of the story. True of course, because the end is just another beginning of something else.

Life is constantly evolving. We are flowing into time and space that nothing ever really ceases in the journey. Even death is a transition. When the material body stops to function, a new energy is transformed and escapes that body and moves into a different realm outside of the material. This transformation may be explained by the conservation of energy law which says that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed into something else.

I remember my teacher Miss Humaida Jumalon in Biology in college who told us the human body is an example of the perfect organization where body parts and systems are well coordinated in order to breathe life into a person. It is a shame, she said, why we destroy that perfect body by smoking, eating the wrong food, or not getting enough rest or even by worrying. This kind of lifestyle alters the energy level of the body, such that it degenerates and eventually ceases to function.

Both a highly spiritual and scientific person, Miss Jumalon told us very confidently, that when the body dies, an energy (or the spirit) that lives within that body escapes to move towards different realm. That goes to explain the existence of spirit when people who returned to life from a quick death, how they felt being sucked into a tunnel and bathe in light before regaining consciousness.

Incidentally, 'the end is the beginning' is the first chapter of my upcoming book, "Biting the Big Apple: Memoirs of a Journalist Turned Immigrant" which will be out very soon, first on cyberspace and later on in print. Hopefully, this book will be the beginning of a new realization on the part of our dear readers.

[caption id="attachment_1675" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Xocai Dark Chocolate: it is a healthy love.[/caption]

NAAM YOGA: The Complete Approach to Wellness

By Marivir R. Montebon

For young businesswoman Kristina Castaneda, her newly opened Naam Yoga Upper West Side Center is the last stop to business.

This is it, she says, as we talked and seated in lotus position on the shiny wooden floor of the yoga center on the bustling 72nd Street of Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Since she finished a college degree on Interior Design and worked in a Mexican restaurant thereafter, she had been running her own food chain of five Mexican restaurants, including Cafe Ronda and Cafe Frida, and very recently the Rigoletto Pizza.

The Naam Yoga UWS opened a month after Rigoletto Pizza, a thing which definitely made Kristina's hands full, other than the fact she has to be mother to two boys Cemil, 10, and Omer, 8, and wife to businessman Bulent.

How do you do that, I asked. She laughed and said, I don't know. I just tell myself relax, when in the thick of things.

The Naam Yoga is headquartered in Santa Monica in California, a spiritual and physical wellness center which operates 24/7 a week. The founder, Dr. Joseph Michael Levry, from Africa, has been widely respected for his Naam Yoga Therapies, the center of which is the Harmonyum Healing System (see separate story soon). Naam Yoga centers are also established in Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, and England.

Naam Yoga is flexible, as it can be combined with any modality of yoga techniques and meditation, focusing mainly on love, peace, and light as the way to self-healing.

Excerpts of our interview:

OSM!: Who introduced you to Naam Yoga and why did you embrace it?

Kristina: My friend of 20 years, Prima Vera Salva, who is also one of the yoga teachers of the center. Naam Yoga is life changing. Since I learned about it more than two years ago, it has changed my views in life. It changed how I think, speak, or act. It is amazing.

OSM!: What makes Naam different from the rest of the Yoga centers?

Kristina: Our founder, Dr. Levry, from Africa, has combined the influences of the East and West in the Naam Yoga. He integrated the philosophies of yoga which find its roots in Tibet with the western influence of Kabbalah.

Naam, by the way, means the word. We make sure that our modalities work on the sounds, a combination of singing, chanting, music, and action to create positive energy within us.

Our logo is the sun, because as you know, the sun is always up there, burning for us, giving light to all of us. This is also the reason why we are open seven days a week.

OSM!: What classes are being offered in the Naam Yoga UWS?

Kristina: We have Naam Yoga I and II, Vinyasa, Morning Meditation, Capoeira for Kids, Yoga for Kids, Yin Yoga, Tools for Self Healing, Power Naam, Shakti Naam, Jivamukti, Alignment, Restorative Yoga, Inner Look Book Club, and Ashtanga Yoga.

We also have free classes for the community, the Banis Meditation.

Right now, we are still filling up each class, and accepting teachers as well. But I am glad that the response to our Center has been overwhelming.

OSM!: Why did you say that the Naam Yoga Center would be the last stop to your business ventures?

Kristina: I find fulfillment in this business. This is actually my community offering. I am still with the restaurant business, which makes me so busy. But the Naam Yoga is my ultimate business. It is for me, and the complete healing for everyone, on the physical, mental, and spiritual. That is all we need.

(For more information on the Naam Yoga UWS, please log on to www.naamyogauws.com. Enroll for only $30/month within February 2013)

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Madonna Angeles-Davidoff is a Filipino, American and Swiss rolled into one whose artistry have become pervasive in three continents with a stroke of a paint brush or pencil. This New York-based artist was born and schooled in Manila. She considers famous Philippine artist Larry Alcala (way back in her college days in UP) and New York artist Matt Madden (School of Visual Arts in NYC) as motivated to boost her skills in cartooning.

Madonna created Little Mado, the cartoon series in 2011 after having been inspired by grade school friends whom she reconnected through social media. The amusing memories they shared online actually gave birth to the cartoon Little Mado.

The artist in her got inspired and illustrated those shared memories and posted her own personal experience on social media. Interestingly, it got a lot of positive feedback which prompted Madonna to take seriously making a graphic novel or comicbook.

OSM! features weekly the Little Mado series starting in this issue.

Madonna Davidoff's website is www.madonnaart.com

Little Mado's Comic Blog is www.littlemado.blogspot.com

VALENTINE REFLECTIONS: Chicken Love

[caption id="attachment_1739" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by Anthony Cherubino https://www.facebook.com/Mr.TCMedia[/caption]

By Wendy Friedlander

Love. Crazy, romantic love. It’s the best!

“Oh, I love Johnny. He’s so cute. He treats me so well. He’s got a nice job and a good sense of style. I even like his mom!”

Then Johnny has to work late… again… This time, it’s on your birthday!

Suddenly the hearts above your head crash to the ground. “I hate Johnny. Why is work more important than me? How could he have missed my birthday?”

Eventually, he gets there, bringing your favorite chocolate, a bottle of French wine and roses and suddenly you’re back to “oh, I love Johnny!”

Why? Because crazy love is just that, crazy! By definition, you are coo-coo! At any moment you can fall from crazy in love to just plain crazy Jane.

And while the hormones and highs of romantic love are what we want, what we need is something that can last. And crazy love is too crazy to withstand the test of time.

That is because romantic love lives in the physical plane. The world of matter and the five senses. Where nothing lasts forever and change is guaranteed. The physical plane is a world of action and reaction, good and bad, right and wrong. We call this duality.

In a dualistic world, there are at least two “truths” because our “truth” is limited to what we can see and nobody can see behind their heads.

Romantic love or dualistic love is like chicken love. I love chicken. It’s delicious. Roasted, fried or stewed, the options are endless!

But, do I really Love chicken? No, I eat chicken. I love chicken when it’s on my plate. Do I love chicken when it’s on someone else’s plate. No, I just want their chicken. And while chickens are very cute and lovely animals, I don’t have the same love affair with them when I imagine them running around my yard.

And so, do you want a partner for life you love like a chicken? Not if you want to keep them around for life.

What you need is love beyond expectation and perception. We call this unconditional Love. Something we crave from the moment we are born and something we rarely experience.

Not because we had horrible parents or are “bad” people, but because we live in the world of duality. One that comes with judgment and perception, the two things that take the “un” away from the “conditional” and leave you with chicken love.

We are spiritual beings living in a physical world. Our job is to connect with the original source of creation, that oneness. To see beyond the physical world of the senses and desires and reconnect with the unconditional Love of the divine.

In this respect, a Love relationship is of the highest order. It is our chance to cultivate unconditional Love with another person. To both receive and give the Love. Divine Love. The Love we all need and so rarely experience.

So, how do you find unconditional Love? Start with yourself. You must cultivate Love within to find Love without. And once you find Love inside yourself, you can find that Love in others.

And then, perhaps, cultivate that Love with someone you can also be crazy in love with too, because that’s part of the fun of living in the physical world. Enjoy the goodies, just remember their limits.

Meditation for Self Love:

1. Sit in an easy cross legged position (or upright in a chair)
2. Allow the eyes to gently close and focus on the 3rd eye point between the eyebrows
3. Clasp your hands at the heart level
4. Extend your thumb, index and pinky fingers upward, allowing the tips of each finger to touch the corresponding finger on the opposite hand (right thumb tip to left thumb tip). Leave space between the palms – room for the Love to come in 
5. Chant Wahe Guru Wahe Jio for 11 min (recommended Track 1 on Soul Trance CD by Dr. Joseph Michael Levry, http://rootlight.com/music_soul_trance.htm)
If you are recovering from a broken heart, try track 3 from Blissful Spirit by Dr. Joseph Michael Levry, http://rootlight.com/music_blissful_spirit.htm)

-------
About the Author:
Wendy is a single mom, cancer survivor and yogi. She traveled the world to find health and is grateful to share the tools and knowledge she gained on the way. Learn more athttp://wendyfriedlander.com

You can reach Wendy at wendy@lovethroughwisdom.com; her website is notesofgratitude.me

BREAKING NEWS!

The music video of Breathe Me/Fall Again will officially debut on Friday, February 15 at The Madelyn in the city's East Village, which features The Philippine Gliders and The Lady Jenn Bocian. The event is simultaneously the dance athletes' official launch of their group, under the AKCreatives, as the team to watch in the US's entertainment scene. The group is composed of Jessa Mae Briones, Anselmo Estillore, Ricca Alix, Renante Saldua, Hanna Jane Diluvio, and Christopher Corro.

The Games Children Play

[caption id="attachment_1673" align="aligncenter" width="242"] On love day, buy a faithful shirt for her and you, for the price of ONE![/caption]

By Marivir R. Montebon
New York City

After watching Super Bowl which I seriously tried to figure out to understand, I joined the millions who cheered for the winner, the Baltimore Ravens and admired the glory of the confetti that rained on them.

Not much of a sports buff, I find it more elating to watch the crowd roar and cheer for their team and favorite athletes, as much as I enjoyed watching the faces of my friends and cousins light up as they watch the game on the boob tube.

The games I knew were the ordinary ones which children play. Hide and Seek. Hopscotch. Jackstone. Foot jump. Chinese Garter. Hoola Hoop. Doll House. War Games, sometimes.

I was not a very active child. Being asthmatic slowed me down that I only settled for the less strenuous games like jackstone, foot jump, hoola hoop, doll house, hide and seek, and hopscotch. I joined my cousins and brother sometimes when they played the war games, which was popularly done by the boys. In those days, I was Wonder Woman. A good childhood memory.

Games of course, is the predominant socialization pattern of children. Unwittingly they imitate life through play. Games and any forms of play dynamically shape and reveal the character of each child.

Adults must always be on the look-out as to the kind of games children play, for if unattended, it could mean hazard and death. I speak from experience.

My brother and I were fond of watching TV shows about American Indians. One afternoon, while we were told to go to our bedroom for the mandatory nap, we were playing instead (of course). We decided to play American Indians who were building a bonfire. We piled our pillows on the floor, crampled our mosquito net and blankets. I, being the older one, took the candle and lit it with the match which was within my reach.

Imitating what we saw on TV, my brother and I, carrying the lit candles, were circling around our piled up blankets and pillows, and chanted as the American Indians did. Finally, we squatted on the floor, and I lit the blanket, imagining that it was already night time and we needed the bonfire.

Before our very eyes, the blanket was blazing! I said, ahh ohhh...so this is a fire. My brother and I huffed and puffed the blanket, only to find out that the fire has grown bigger and bigger. Perhaps by instinct, or whatever it was, I automatically jumped and stomped on the blanket and put off the fire.

My brother and I were damned nervous. We were thought we were such disobedient children. We were so quite and tired at our shenanigan and decided to follow orders...take a nap.

No one in the house knew that we almost set it on fire. Until bedtime.

My mother was preparing our beds and was surprised why there was so much candle waxes on our pillows and finally, she screamed when she saw the blanket with a burnt hole!

"Marivir! Jesurey! what did you do today?!" she was yelling in horror at us. I said, we played American Indians and we built a bonfire.

My mom turned her anger at my two aunts who were our babysitters, for not having the slightest idea what was going on that afternoon.

The incident was something I will never forget. When I became a mother, I made sure my daughter did not have any access to candles, matches, or anything combustible.

We will never know how kids play and imitate life. We should keep watching them.

[caption id="attachment_1675" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Xocai Dark Chocolate: it is a healthy love.[/caption]

Tech Talk

By Sylvia Hubilla
Round Rock, Texas



A young man sent a text message to his Mom to tell her about the passing away of a friend, and the Mom replied with , “ So sorry. LOL.” And of course the son replied, “Mom, how can you say LOL. That is not funny!” And the Mom said, “ Why, isn't LOL Lots of Love?” Ellen Degeneres read out this text exchange on her show.
When I heard this, I really LOL – laughed out loud! Because I can truly relate with that Mom. In fact, I have a bigger handicap than her, because I am a grandma, and therefore, suffer from a bigger generation and technological gap.
I used to believe in the saying, “You can't teach old dogs new tricks.” But I refuse to label myself an “old dog.” And I have long ago erased, I mean, deleted that saying from my treasure trove of words to live by.
I refuse to turn into a dinosaur, or worse, a fossil trapped in a modern world that has gone global. With globalization comes technology, and vice versa. And to survive and be relevant, I had to learn to navigate the fast and furious highways of technology. And just as with modernization came everything instant – instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant mashed potato, etc., of course, came instant communication. And if the microwave is the magic wand for all the instant food, there are the computer and the mobile phone for instant communication. So where there was the letter through the post office mail, (now called snail mail), now there is email, and text messaging and twitter.
When globalization took my children away to different parts of the globe, I had no choice but to just jump right in and learn to stay afloat, to keep my family close. And so the need to walk the talk, so to speak. I have to learn the language of technological communication, or as I like to call it, the tech talk.
When I started to learn text messaging, or just texting, I thought I was doing pretty good. I had brb, btw, omg, bff, among a few. But soon the internet was inundated with acronyms, and double words and phrases, which were now accepted as words, like Webster's monsters spawned by instant communication.
My vocabulary has now been rendered inadequate.
So in an attempt to be technologically articulate as opposed to being labeled technologically challenged, let me make a sweepingly random, layman's list of commonly used, so-called new “words.” Here goes!

• YOLO – you only live once a word that actually made it to the 2012 list of new words in the Merriam -Webster dictionary, and my favorite. This sadly, is said to be about to be banished in 2013.
• lol – laugh out loud
• rofl – rolling on the floor laughing
• bbl – be back later
• brb – be right back
• ttyl – talk to you later
• tfn – till further notice
• bol – busts out laughing
• imho – in my humble opinion
• imo – in my opinion
• tmi – too much information
• omg – oh my gosh
• afaik – as far as I know
• h8 – hate
• <3 – heart
• tgif – thank God it's friday
• sos – same old stuff
... and so many more. But I only chose the clean, rated GP (general patronage) words. Or a lot of times, Smileys and Emoticons convey your message just as effectively, if not better.

Oh btw (by the way), the 2012 Word of the Year is “Hashtag” with this symbol, # which is the topic for a twitter message. And I do not claim to have all these in my meager tech vocabulary. These are mostly from the famous Google Search. And quite a lot from my grandkids. I learn a lot from them.

I like “hanging out” with my grandkids. It keeps me young. It keeps my vocabulary young, updated and relevant. And it makes me appear quite tech savvy. Okay, GTG (got to go)!

XOCAI Healthy Chocolate: No Worries Here

[caption id="attachment_1697" align="alignleft" width="300"] Melissa, second from left, with friends at the Philippine Consulate on 5th Avenue.[/caption]

Melissa Alviar belongs to the happy, bubbly mold of young professionals and entrepreneurs in New York. It comes as no surprise, chocolate is her business. But it is not just the sweet fattening chocolate. On the contrary, it is the dark, healthy one.  In fact, her product claims to be the only healthy chocolate in the world, Xocai (shosay).

Whatever the time is, whether economically tight or abundant, chocolate is an all time favorite,  a product that 9 out of 10 people  crave and 50% can't live without.

"I have great results from consuming chocolate. The business itself  is a low investment expense and it's fun to build. You learn while you earn. If you like what you do, it makes it easier. It also provides flexibility in my schedule," she quips.

Mel has a degree in Nursing from NYU and worked as an operations analyst with VNS.  She currently does seasonal jobs for Madison Square Garden and the Yankee Stadium, giving her much time to concentrate on her fast rising XOCAI chocolate business.

Excerpts:

1. What is the primary benefit of Xocai chocolate to consumers? I know it tastes so distinctly good, but what is its prime nutritional value?

Xocai is guaranteed to provide the highest level of flavanoids, the antioxidant that helps lower cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. This is made possible through their patented cold processing of our products. I say guarantee because of our certified seal of approval from Brunswick Labs. "The Brunswick Labs Certification Program is an authoritative quality assurance system that tests and certifies 3x a year that the Xocai products contain the stated Total ORACfn and flavanoid values" (MXICorp). Also contrary to other chocolates, our products are caffeine free, no preservatives, no waxes, no fillers.

2. How well has the product been accepted by Asians in the US market?

The Asian market is very excited about the product we have and extremely excited about our upcoming Xophoria, a line of high-antioxidant cacao-based anti-aging skin care products. Our company have open the market in Hongkong and Malaysia last year and waiting for approval to market in the Philippines.

3. How do you cope with competition?

I came into the business not really thinking I have to compete with any products. All I was thinking is all the people I like to help like my chocoholic friends who wants to create a healthy lifestyle with such decadent "addiction" and provide  them a vehicle for financial success with the product they love and truly enjoy. If you have a good product like Xocai, competition is non-existent but in this network marketing arena, I have to be open minded, patient and willing to learn.

4. In these tight times, can a business like this thrive and provide decent returns?

Network marketing thrives in times like this...people look for ways to create income. Now is just a matter of what are you willing to do, how much time you have to grow the business and are you willing to learn from those who came before you. Our company, MXICorp,  is a debt-free company, continuously growing, sales are increasing. We are closing into what they call a momentum. We received our trademark for The Healthy Chocolate! All of these provides a great opportunity for financial success. Look, I get paid to eat and share Healthy Chocolate! I am looking for distributors who "gets it" to achieve such financial success.

(Visit www.HealthyChocolateNYC.com)

1. what is the primary benefit of xocai chocolate to consumers? i know it tastes so distinctly good, but what is its prime nutritional value?

 

Xocai is guaranteed to provide the highest level of flavanoids, the antioxidant that helps lower cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. This is made possible through their patented cold processing of our products. I say guarantee because of our certified seal of approval from Brunswick Labs. "The Brunswick Labs Certification Program is an authoritative quality assurance system that tests and certifies 3x a year that the Xocai products contain the stated Total ORACfn and flavanoid values" (MXICorp). Also contrary to other chocolates, our products are caffeine free, no preservatives, no waxes, no fillers.

 

 

2. how well has the product been accepted by the asians in the US market? 

The Asian market is very excited about the product we have and extremely excited about our upcoming Xophoria, a line of high-antioxidant cacao-based anti-aging skin care products. OUr company have open the market in Hongkong and Malaysia last year and waiting for approval to market in the Philippines.

 

3. how do you cope with competition?

I came into the business not really thinking I have to compete with any products. All I was thinking is all the people I like to help like my chocoholic friends who wants to create a healthy lifestyle with such decadent "addiction" and provide  them a vehicle for financial success with the product they love and truly enjoy. If you have a good product like Xocai, competition is non-existent but in this network marketing arena, I have to be open minded, patient and willing to learn.

 

4. in these tight times, can a business like this thrive and provide decent returns?

Network marketing thrives in times like this...people look for ways to create income. Now is just a matter of what are you willing to do, how much time you have to grow the business and are you willing to learn from those who came before you. Our company, MXICorp,  is a debt-free company, continously growing, sales are increasing. We are closing into what they call a momentum. We received our trademark for The Healthy Chocolate! All of these provides a great opportunity for financial success. Look, I get paid to eat and share Healthy Chocolate! I am looking for distributors who "gets it" to achieve such financial success.

 

 

. (as an introduction to the article) please give me a litte bit of background about yourself and why you chose this business

 

I have a degree in Nursing from NYU. Worked as an operations analyst with VNS and now currently doing seasonal jobs for Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. I chose this business because of the  people involved with Xocai, Healthy Chocolate. They are passionate positive and caring. It's also a product that 9 out of 10 people  crave and 50% can't live without! I have great results from consuming it. The business itself  is a low investment expense and it's fun to build. You learn while you earn. If you like what you do, it makes it easier. It also provides flexibility in my schedule

 

To Health and Wealth,

 Melissa Alviar

www.HealthyChocolateNYC.com 

212 531-0139

 

So what am I doing these days?
Showing people how they, too, can earn money by eating healthy chocolate every day.

OSM! is Awesome

OSM! is enjoying a vast readership worldwide with a current and growing online readers of more than 22,000 in less than a year of existence. (February 2013 stats by WordPress)

The readers are professional men and women mostly based in the US (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, Chicago, the Carolinas, Texas, Missouri, California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, and Hawaii).

Our second heavy traffic of readers is the Philippines, followed by Canada, Mexico, and Europe (Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Finland, and Armenia).

We also have sizable following in the Middleast and Asia: Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, and China.

We have readership in Australia and New Zealand as well.

In January 2013, we garnered readership in Angola, making OSM! an online magazine which is being read by all continents the world.

In April 2013, OSM! Publisher and executive editor Marivir Montebon will be a resource person to a writers conference in New York (by the National Writers Union-NY) on how an online magazine can be a phenomenal instant hit in terms of solid readership.

LUNCH HOUR IN NYC: A Free Exhibit to See

By Marivir R. Montebon

Have yourself an appetizing treat when in the Big Apple between now until the 17th of February. It is a must to visit the New York Public Library, Main Building at the heart of the city on 5th Avenue for the exhibit Lunch Hour NYC, an evolution of the lunch meal in the city that never sleeps.

The exhibit presents lunch from the colonial influence of rural England, until the time of industrialization in the 19th century, when power lunch was created to fill the hungry stomachs of industrial workers and relentless power brokers.

It used to be that lunch meant to be a snack, eaten anytime during the day or night. At the height of the industrial revolution, lunch took place in a fixed time for midday meal for workers, which was about 30 minutes or less, between noon and two o'clock in the afternoon.

New York's economy was characterized by speed and efficiency during these days. Thus was born "quick lunch" for workers and businessmen who had to make sure that their lunches were served fast by restaurants who specialized in it.

Interestingly, the first women's power lunch took place at the prestigious Delmonico's. This was ushered in by the gutsy Jane Cunningham Croly, an experienced editor and widely published journalist. She applied for a ticket to the New York Press Club dinner honoring Charles Dickens in March 1868 which of course had been seen by the Press Club leadership as a joke, "for a woman could never attend such a prestigious event."

Croly founded the first organization in America dedicated to raising women’s status, a month later.

"The club, Sorosis, met for lunch at Delmonico’s, a venue chosen precisely because, like the city’s other leading restaurants, it did not serve women unless they were escorted by men. Sitting down to lunch at Delmonico’s was the club’s first victory," the exhibit noted.

New York's charitable meals, lunch at home, the automat, and the iconic meals are as appetizing. Check it out and be filled with these historical lunches.

(Visit http://exhibitions.nypl.org/lunchhour/exhibits/show/lunchhour/automat)

 

All Rise to the Occasion

[caption id="attachment_1630" align="aligncenter" width="242"] Sponsored Ad: Click for Shirts![/caption]

By Marivir R. Montebon

New York, New York

Ethics and etiquette are as important as formal education or literacy. In a child's simple, unadulterated parlance, these two words are simply good manners and right conduct. This was a major item in our Report Cards in elementary school. Saying please, thank you, I am sorry are the standard words for young children.

It is sad however, that as children grow up, they realize how brutal and unkind the world really is. And the good manners and right conduct stuff could dissipate and leave one frustrated at the least, and becoming a monster at worst.

It is a huge challenge to maintain one's good manners and right conduct in the adult world. For the most part, the dog-eat-dog reality could force one to be tough and put down all scruples in order to survive or succeed.

As the highest form of animals on earth (you can smile at that), we are required and admired if we are able to rise to any occasion that confronts us. It is understandable that to falter is to be human. To let success get into our head sometimes. To give up when the going gets tough. To pounce back when hit. And so on.

In the end however, what makes us feel better is having to turn the other cheek, forgive, forget, and move on. Better said than done of course. But that is the truth, that will all set us free from haunting stress.

For details and orders, visit healthychocolatenyc.com

My YOLO List

Sylvia Hubilla
Round Rock, Texas



You Only Live Once. This is how we used to say this. Now it's simply YOLO! And, believe it or not, YOLO actually made it into the 2012 list of new words in the Merriam – Webster dictionary! How it did, among several others like it, is another story.

Over the years, I have caught myself saying this a lot of times, mostly to myself. And it's usually when I am about to do something I am not completely sure I want to. Times when you just have to dive into it in, as we say, blind faith. I usually tell myself then, “well, you only live once!”
I am not a risk taker. I am one of those who wants to be really sure of my actions and decisions. I would take an issue, and turn it over, this way and that way, weighing pros and cons, and cause and effects, thinking and over-thinking the how to's and the what if's, almost to the point of being perceived as procrastinating. Until the deadline was yesterday!
I love my comfort zone. It is warm and fuzzy. But I know I cannot stay in there forever, and still live my life. I always needed a nudge, oftentimes more than just a nudge, to even peek outside the box. I have to thank my children and close family and friends for some, or most of these nudges that led to my life-changing decisions when I stepped out and walked out of this familiar, albeit infamous, much-maligned box. My children were the big motivations for me to saunter out of that comfort zone, even with a swagger of confidence. Anything that would be to their benefit or for their good, there would be no second thoughts, no if's or but's. I would do anything in a heartbeat for my children.
When the empty nest syndrome set in, and the children all had their independent lives, I seem to to be drifting back into that comfort zone, because I now have to make decisions solely for myself, and for no other more sublime reason. So I would once again hem and haw, think and rethink, and make lame excuses to myself why I should or shouldn't.
Until it hit me! What other sublime reason do I need, other than, ME? The only thing that will happen when I stay out of and away from that lurking box, is everything that is good! Good for me, and eventually good for everyone around me. Afterall, “You only live once!”
This became my mantra – You only live once! Even more so now, as I grow older. When I turned 60, I found myself so far away from that box, and literally closer to the people and circumstances that truly matter to me. This mantra makes me fearless, to do anything I want to do.
After I watched the movie “The Bucket List,” I started making a mental list of things I think I want to do before I turn 70. But I refuse to use the word “bucket.” It is such a sad, demeaning word. It trivializes life! Especially the phrase is really, “kick the bucket.” Is that what happens when we die – we just “kick the bucket?”
So instead, I like to call it my YOLO list! Things I want to do at least once in my life, because “you only live once!” But I better get my act together – I have only three years left before 70 comes rolling in! My list is no big deal to most people who have easily “been there, done that!” But where I am at this late date in my life, is a big deal to me. So here goes!

My YOLO List:
• write a book
• of course, have the book published
• go on a cruise
• have a significant other to go with me on that cruise
• visit Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in France
• visit the Holy Land
• ride a helicopter
• learn to paint (on canvass, not a house!)
• ride a hot air balloon
• write another book – a fiction novel
• of course, have the novel published

I can go crazy with this list and go on forever. I did not number my list, to give me freedom to just be open and let any one of these happen first or last, as the opportunity presents itself. Or some other thing outside of the list, can present itself. Who knows?
I have a confession though, I left out two items from my list, which were somewhere on the top when I was 60 years old, when I started trying to flesh out this list. But I like to save this for a later story. Because it is a story in itself.
And, who knows? It might be one of those things that might present itself in my life. And I will definitely welcome it, because.....YOLO!

Cheese Cupcakes

By Ruth Ezra
Chicago, Illinois

This is one of my favorite muffins. Once cooled, I tasted one and I consumed one more. It was that yummylicious, especially when fresh out from my own kitchen oven!

Had hubby taste as well. His reaction was..."Hmmm, that's good!" I won’t tell you how much he consumed!

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
1 can condensed milk
1 1/2 all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp hazelnut extract
1 pack finely grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 ° F

Spray muffin pan with butter, set aside.

Mix flour and baking powder well in a bowl.

Beat eggs and add with your butter & hazelnut extract.
Mix with the dry ingredients.
Add cheddar cheese to the batter and blend well.
Pour batter into the muffin cups, just enough for 12.

Bake for 30-40 or till golden brown.
Transfer to cooling rack and completely cool.

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Ruth D. Ezra is a culinary queen in her own right through experience and training. She works at the AllState Roadside Services in Northbrook, IL.  Her greatest delight is serving good and healthy food to her husband Heman and only daughter, Isabelle. Kit would love to receive feedback on her recipes, and exchange them with yours at ezraruth@comcast.net.