2013 REFLECTIONS AND REVIEW IN PICTURES

Editor's Notes
By Marivir R. Montebon

2013 was a wonderful year for OSM! which has proven that positive journalism works, and has a vast opportunity for growth in the digital space.

The year closed with OSM! reaching 584,721 hits globally. The US is its number reader, followed by the Philippines, then closely by China, Canada, France, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Israel, Thailand, and Finland.

Our new readers is recorded to have reached 85,645 this year.

Top searched items are the indomitable Pitsi-pitsi of Kit's Kitchen, our featured personalities of Lani Misalucha, Meki Saldana, Joy Luna, Daphne Ceniza, Cora de Boer, Erno Hormillosa, Eman Lacaba, and the Cocofed scholars of Legazpi City, and the (shared) video presentation of Janet Villa as adoptive parent.

[caption id="attachment_2740" align="alignleft" width="300"] Cheers from the Cocofed scholars![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2882" align="alignleft" width="203"] Lani Misalucha, the Las Vegas diva conquers New York[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2414" align="alignleft" width="300"] Meki Saldana, Filipina model and actress trail blazes in New York.[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The readers also searched heavily on alcamporado and the blessings jar, both from Granny Gorgeous and the Visayan creation myth of the section of Tales from Lefou.

Our top read articles are That Psyche of Resilience (an after thought of the super typhoon Yolanda) which was also the debut blog of Marivir Montebon for Huffington Post. This was followed by How's My Two Cents Worth? on the plight of online writers being paid poorly. Joan Ariete's Of Yolanda, Prior Catastrophes, and My Sweet Typhoon Liam was the third most read article in 2013.

[caption id="attachment_2861" align="alignleft" width="300"] Standardize writer's fees[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2631" align="alignright" width="283"] The Philippine Congress beleaguered.[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other top read articles are: Pork and Other Fatty Perks (the Philippine's pork barrel scam), The Perfect Subversion (international novelist and feminist Ninotchka Rosca's lecture on the history of violence against women), and Writing Across Borders (Tim Sheard's article on the international writer's conference).

[caption id="attachment_2898" align="aligncenter" width="168"] Violence against women happened sharply with the foreign intruder Spanish colonialist, erasing the almost perfect society headed by the babaylan in ancient times.[/caption]

The inspiration to and opportunity for positive growth in 2014 remain bright and clear, as we are now running weekly since July 2013.

The OSM! team will be here for the enjoyment and love of writing as well as providing a compassionate and responsible venue for small businesses and entrepreneurs to grow, and good deeds to be celebrated.

Bring it on, 2014!

From the OSM! team, thank you so much, dear readers!

 

 

 

Editor's Notes

Women Shifting to the Center
By Marivir R. Montebon

Pretty soon, herstory and herstoric moments will become a household word. My optimism is grounded on the fact that the feminist assertion is taking center stage these days. This is the age of Aquarius, the age of reflection and action, and therefore, new positive changes. This is the age of the woman, and of Mother Earth, who is obviously ailing and angry at the way we human beings are conducting our affairs.

[caption id="attachment_2872" align="alignright" width="168"] Take the lead, woman.[/caption]

I, and the growing feminist movement, will not be trivialized and relegated as a peripheral issue, just like women are taken a matter of factly as second class citizens. If the world has to get better, women, men, gays and lesbians must begin to acknowledge everyone's relevance and role.

In several quarters of America, there is a growing section of feminism that is blossoming to offer a different world view...transnational feminism, or that feminism which crosses borders and boundaries determined by migration, race, class, culture, territory and religion.

The Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-Feudalization, and Marginalization (AF3IRM) is a three-year-old organization of feminists which has boldly organized women and redefine women and their roles in societies and the world.

Enriched by its 21 years of organizing experience, AF3IRM has mapped out the world into only six continents (Asia, America, Africa, Australia, Antartica, and Europe) instead of the seven as we were taught. It has also reexamined the prevailing feminist school of thought of gender equality.

At whose context are we looking at equality? If it is equality with patriarchy and competition with male dominance, it is problematic. "We are not in competition with men in the context of patriarchy. At whose standards are we looking up to when we say we will rise and shine? We will not be solving the problems on injustice and not responding to fairness, if we continue to be defined by them," the feminists say.

AF3IRM positively asserts the position of women in liberation movements in its poster: "A woman's place is at the head of the struggle for the liberation of humanity."

[caption id="attachment_2873" align="alignright" width="300"] Levid (2nd from right): We are definitive. We have the right to develop our own theory.[/caption]

Feisty but gracious AF3IRM chairperson Jolene Levid emphasizes during their recently concluded Centershift conference in Manhattan: "We are not just relevant, we are definitive. We have the right to develop our own theory."

AF3IRM is cooking up a new mindset, a shift to the center of things for women. It echoes the works of celebrated writer and feminist Simone de Beauvoir who asserts that women must free themselves from the bondage of patriarchy in all fronts: gender, economy, culture, politics, and race.

Beauvoir was affront in her assertion that the Marxism did not free women from exploitation and control, citing the experiences in the communist movements in Europe.

Fact is, the political movements all over the world remained male-dominated and piggy-backed on women activists who were doing much work but in silence and without responding to the gutteral issues of respect and fairness within political organizations.

AF3IRM founder Ninotchka Rosca, international writer and novelist and a key political activist at the time of Pres. Marcos in the Philippines, is in the forefront in the center shift mindset, having personally experienced political upheavals in the Philippines and abroad.

[caption id="attachment_2874" align="alignright" width="168"] Rosca: We struggle for what is fair.[/caption]

Quite candidly, in fact, she maintains that the core of the movement for global change is gender fairness. Everything is of equal importance, she says, economy, race, religion, culture, and gender and the struggle for such must be simultaneous.

"Within the mass movements worldwide, it is sad that the progressive men continue to reign dominion, hence, we are not talking of sincere change here," she said.

AF3IRM is relentless in writing its own experiences and drawing lessons from these. Their woman's development theory remains a work in progress. It is quite a dynamic group, ran by young and fully inspired women who bind themselves with reverence to the spirit of the goddesses and babaylans (spiritual healers of the villages before the Spanish conquest) as inspiration.

With faith, fastidiousness, and finesse, these women are moving towards the center for social change at a remarkable pace. "We have a herstory to write and tell," said Olivia Trinlas, AF3IRM's gentle but indomitable chairperson for New York.

 

 

 

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EVENTS: Rising from Yolanda's Wrath

MAKILALA TV Tackles Challenges for Yolanda Aftermath
By Marivir R. Montebon
New York City

At the launch party of Makilala (To Know) TV in November, New York Consul General Mario de Leon Jr. was quick to say that  Philippine leaders should not politicize (the Yolanda) catastrophe, or it will be catastrophic. De Leon was the talk show's first special guest, who responded to the question on political leaders holding on and repacking relief goods to be able to put their names on these bags.

[caption id="attachment_3041" align="alignright" width="300"] Philippine Consul General for New York Mario de Leon Jr. was guest during the party launch of Makilala TV, created by 5 Filipino women aiming to bring forward Fil-Am events and culture through television.[/caption]

Many Filipino-Americans in New York have expressed outrage through the social media on the delivery of relief goods which  have been politicized by certain government leaders.

"It takes time to print all these stickers with their names, and put them on the packages. And people are dying. They are so shameless," writes a Facebook denizen, which also gave a thumbs up to a viral poster which says "Proud to be Filipino, Ashamed of Philippine government."

Understandably, the discussion on Yolanda super typhoon disaster brought out emotions from the audience, which packed the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Consulate on 5th Avenue.

Community leaders also shared their fund-raising activities to be able to send money and goods to the survivors in  Eastern, Central, and Western Visayas.

The creators of Makilala TV are five Filipinas who wanted to bring forward Filipino Americans in the East Coast on mainstream television. Produced by Maricor Fernandez of the Queens Public TV, the monthly show at QPTV is anchored by Cristina DC Pastor, publisher of online magazine Fil-Am.net, Jen Furer, communications director for legal assistance office FALDEF, Maria Cruz Lee of the NYC Mayor's Office for Immigrant Affairs, and Rachelle Ocampo, vice president for the UniPRO, a not-for-profit organization on social and immigrant concerns.

While the launch party was being closed by the hosts, New York City's Empire State Building lit itself with the colors of the Philippine flag: yellow, blue, and red, in solidarity with the Filipinos who were dealing with the catastrophe brought about by the biggest super typhoon to hit the world this year.

[caption id="attachment_3048" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Empire State Building in yellow, blue, and red.[/caption]

Jen Furer said that was "serendipity."

Check out Makilala TV, with these women of substance and fun, at the QPTV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BANYUHAY Art Exhibit for Yolanda Survivors

Mona Lunot Kuker dropped down her hair upon my request for a  photograph with her rendition of Gabriela Silang, the nationally known Filipina warrior, at the Mountain Province Espresso Bar in Montrose, Brooklyn. During her first and solo art exhibit, Mona figuratively dropped down her hair, of course.

[caption id="attachment_3043" align="alignleft" width="300"] The artist and her rendition of Gabriela Silang[/caption]

As an artist, she metamorphosed in a self-taught manner. "I had my father in mind while I painted these. He was a painter  and I observed keenly how he did his work. In my spare time, I attended to my craft," she told me.

From being a domestic worker, Mona blooms into being a painter in coping with her own personal aches and melancholy as an immigrant. Hence the title of her art show, "Banyuhay" or metamorphose.

The November 30, 2013 event, commemorating the 150th birthday of national hero Andres Bonifacio of the secret society  Katipunan, was brought together by Ugnayan, a youth organization in New York and New Jersey. Ugnayan was also celebrating its 9th year during the art show.

[caption id="attachment_3046" align="alignleft" width="168"] Babaylan[/caption]

It was a huge success, more than half of Mona's creations were sold, as guests enjoyed the sumptuous Filipino buffet (for me, the Mountain Province organic coffee with biko enriched with caramelized coconut syrup on top was to die for).

[caption id="attachment_3055" align="alignleft" width="300"] With AF3IRM NY chairperson Olivia Trinlas and OSM! digital editor Leani Auxilio[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the proceeds were sent to the survivors of Yolanda super typhoon in Leyte and Cebu through the Gota de Leche Manila and Tigra Inc.

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