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DAM Groovy

Posters provide instant wall power. Carefully chosen they can be most effective. Brilliant in color and bold in form, they are sometimes more appealing than a painting.

Though not considered ‘high art’, many poster artists have made significant historical impact capturing life of the times. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Muncha created groundbreaking designs and provided much inspiration for designers over half a century later. But how many poster designers from the late 1960s can we utter by name?

One of my favorite types of posters ever is rock posters from this time. They made an enormous impression on me. I still carry the same feelings I had when I was first exposed to them in diapers. Then as a child, I used to sit on the floor and gaze at the covers of my father's albums. He would pull a few carefully rolled up posters out that he had tucked away in his closet. I was absolutely memorized. He played the music these posters advertised and tried to explain to me the meaning behind the words. By the time I was eight, I was riding my bike with the pink daisy banana seat and singing along to Cream's Strange Brew up and down the sidewalk of my street. This was the time when the Bee Gees were all that. I didn't care for their girlie voices. Or their clothing. In high school, I would decorate my denim notebook accompanied by a big metal clip with my own psychedelic lettering in black and red marker. I didn’t fully understand what the whole psychedelic experience was all about. But I would save my allowance and go to the local record store to buy records. I wasn't buying Duran Duran albums like all my other friends; I was still stuck in the era in which I was born and saving my quarters for albums by bands like Buffalo Springfield, Hot Tuna and Canned Heat.


I didn't fully understand what these posters were about until I went back East to a small liberal arts college. I arrived as a dewy freckly-faced freshman from the Midwest in my monogrammed sweater, kilt skirt and tasseled loafers (this was some time ago). Things soon changed. I took full advantage of what a liberal arts college had to offer. At that point, I quickly understood what those posters were all about. My pink and green headbands that matched my belts that matched my watch wrist bands were tucked in the bottom drawer of the golden oak dresser in my dorm room. Posters of Jimi Hendrix were scotched taped to the wall and textiles from India were draped over the windows. I lit incense, threw out my hot rollers and grew my hair long. I dressed in long prairie skirts, oversized LL Bean sweaters and wrapped my waist with Guatemalan woven belts. I wore patchouli -- something my mother complained about when I came home for Christmas. She said I smelled like a gerbil.


A decade later, I was still memorized. In Interior Architecture school, I would experiment with my own lettering in drafting classes. Many times my lettering melded into my floor plans or elevations. None of my teachers like it. I had to go home and redo my lettering the proper way for the next class.

When I found out I had the opportunity to check out the latest exhibition at the Denver Art Museum (that's where the DAM part comes in...) on Rock Posters from 1965-1971, I was pretty freakin’ excited. Though my music tastes have changed, I will never pass up listening to a song from this era. Singing along to the radio, loudly in my car with the windows down, I haven’t forgotten one word of a song. And the posters still affect me. Thing is, these posters inspire something different than other contemporary art. They stir something in many of us. They show us a secret language, an instinct and a willingness to let go. Something many of us understands though certain experiences. I don’t think it matters what age or era.


I'd like to think.



Top: Rick Griffin, 1968; Second: Among the best-known San Francisco poster designers was Wes Wilson, "Moby Grape, Chambers Brothers, Winterland/Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco," 1967; Third: Bonnie MacLean designs were highly inspired by Wes Wilson. She was the wife of Bill Graham, a music promoter who arranged for bands to play at the Avalon Ballroom and Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. Wes Wilson bailed when he realized he was getting a fraction of what Bill Graham was making from his poster designs; Fourth: Poster by the incredibly freaky creative Lee Conklin for the August-September 1968 shows at San Francisco’s Fillmore West. Lastly: Alton Kelley in collaboration with Stanley Mouse were inspired by a nineteenth century engraving and created this well-known Grateful Dead poster, 1966.

2009 Lists of Richest and Poorest Congressmen of the Philippines

Here are the lists of the Top 10 richest and poorest representatives (congressmen) for 2009 based on networth:

Top 10 Richest Congressmen:

1. Rep. Cynthia Villar (Lone District of Las Piñas City) - P1.05-B
2. Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (1st District of Leyte) - P477-M
3. Rep. Julio Ledesma IV (1st District of Negros Occidental) - P447-M
4. Rep. Arturo Robes (Lone District of San Jose del Monte) - P441-M
5. Rep. Judy Syjuco (2nd District of Iloilo) - P265-M
6. Rep. Monica Prieto Teodoro (1st District of Tarlac) - P232-M
7. Rep. Ferjenel Biron (4th District of Iloilo) - P191-M
8. Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (2nd District of Ilocos Norte) - P180-M
9. Rep. Edgar San Luis (4th District of Laguna) - P165-M
10. Rep. Aurelio Gonzalez Jr. (3rd District of Pampanga) - P153-M

Top 10 Poorest Congressmen:

1. Rep. Rafael Mariano (ANAKPAWIS Party List) - P55-T
2. Rep. Teodoro Casiño (BAYAN MUNA Party List) - P118-T
3. Rep. Adam Relson Jala (3rd District of Bohol) - P782-T
4. Rep. Satur Ocampo (BAYAN MUNA Party List) - P895-T
5. Rep. Mujiv Hataman (AMIN Party List) - P1.5-M
6. Rep. Liza Maza (GABRIELA Party List) - P1.5-M
7. Rep. Benjamin Asilo (1st District of Manila) - P1.9-M
8. Rep. Pedro Pancho (2nd District of Bulacan) - P2-M
9. Rep. Sharee Ann Tan (2nd District of Western Samar) - P2.1-M
10. Rep. Narciso Santiago III (ARC Party List) - P2.9-M

2009 List of 24 Senators of the Philippines Based on Net Worth

Here is a list of the 24 senators of the Philippines (2009), arranged based on their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN):

1. Villar, Manuel 1.046 Billion pesos
2. Madrigal, Jamby 145.617 Million pesos
3. Ponce Enriile, Juan 120.367 Million pesos
4. Revilla, Bong 118 Million pesos (2007)
5. Roxas, Mar 110.7 Million pesos (2007)
6. Estrada, Jinggoy 83.511 Million pesos
7. Cayetano, Pia P75.593 Million pesos (2008)
8. Santiago, Miriam 75.755 Million pesos
9. Legarda, Loren 45.59 Million pesos
10. Angara, Edgardo 44.1 Million pesos (2007)
11. Zubiri, Juan Miguel 30.733 Million pesos
12. Biazon, Rodolfo 29.456 Million pesos
13. Lacson, Panfilo 27.806 Million pesos
14. Gordon, Richard 27 Million pesos (2007)
15. Cayetano, Alan Peter 16.266 Million pesos
16. Honasan, Gregorio 15.904 Million pesos
17. Lapid, Lito 14.6 Million pesos
18. Aquino, Benigno Iii 14 Million pesos (2007)
19. Pimentel, Aquilino Jr. 12.313 Million pesos
20. Pangilinan, Francis 11.684 Million pesos
21. Arroyo, Joker 11.05 Million pesos
22. Escudero, Chiz 7.683 Million pesos
23. Trillanes, Antonio IV 2.966 Million pesos

Chinese Export Porcelain

Ceramic items make me nervous. I always fear bumping into one, knocking it over and watching it smash into a million bits onto the floor. I have a tendency to carry with me a large tote (currently a saucy crimson patent leather number), the width about half my height. But that doesn’t mean I can’t gently put down my tote, and appreciate the beauty of ceramic pieces while I stand very still holding my hands behind my back.

One type of ceramic ware I find of interest is Chinese export porcelain. It has an interesting history and in this market, a mid-range object over two centuries old can be purchased for a very reasonable amount.

The interesting part is that back then Westerners were doing things very similar to what we do today: take a foreign design and adapt it to our needs. And Chinese export porcelain was just that.

Way back in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Chinese porcelain had only an occasional presence in Europe. Exotic and ornamental, it was given as a gift, or accrued as part of a collection by a very important aristocrat. Its influence was intermittent. In 1498, commercial trade with China was facilitated by the Portuguese by opening the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope.


Sotheby's (London) May 14, 2008 offered this old, old plate decorated with the Portuguese royal coats of arms and the monogram IHS surrounded by a crown of thorns. Maria Antonia Pinto de Matos in The Porcelain Route, Lisbon, 1999, suggests a date of 1520-1540.

But by the year 1517, routes had improved and Chinese ceramics were carried off from their ports by large Portuguese ships. Europeans began to take a fancy for these items, along with spices silks and lacquer. In the following century, the Dutch monopolized the trade with China and everyone back at home went crazy for the porcelain “oriental” wares. Chinese forms were not that useful to Europeans. They ate different foods and had different dining practices. The Dutch began requesting European forms such as spittoons, mustard and coffee pots and narrow necked jugs – items they used daily. They would have the Chinese paint their “oriental” designs on these more usable forms.

A Pair of Chinese Export Coffee Pots for the Dutch market, circa 1735-40. Each one illustrates a Dutchman holding a walking stick. I love the serpent spout and scroll handle. Christie's (London) November 17, 1986, yes that long ago and sold for $40,000.
Chinese Export armorial platter circa 1765 with the arms of Hynam. Sotheby's (NYC), January 23, 2009.


By the eighteenth century, they were requesting to have their own family crests painted on the wares. Armorials were a more simple design, but very personal and entire sets of elaborate dinner ware were created. Furthermore, during this century the English, with their superior naval military, controlled the trade. Almost everyone had some – from the middle to the upper classes. They even made their way over to America.

By the last quarter of the century, things began to change as the production of creamware in England grew stronger with a return to quieter tones and therefore hastened the decline of the export trade.



Three blue and white mugs with landscape decoration from the eighteenth century purchased for the realized price of $540. Rago Arts and Auction Center, Lambertville, New Jersey. March 27, 2009.


Export porcelain from the eighteenth century is still readily available at modest sums – blue and white plates or a mug with a decorative dragon-shaped handle can be purchased for a couple hundred dollars.


Christie’s (London) sold this Coffee Pot with Cover on November 21, 2007. The tall tapering form has a branch handle and bird head spout. It went for about $1,000.




On April 25, 2008 Sotheby's (NYC) saw this go for the realized price of $12,500. It is painted on one side with 'The Judgment of Paris'. Supposedly this was one of the most popular European subjects to be painted on Chinese porcelain during the 1740s. This coffee pot is a lot fancier then the one above it.

With this recession coupled with the antique market the only Chinese Export items holding value are figures, animal figurines, tourines and very important armorials.
Pair of Horses. I love these.... a little hoakey, but not the price tag... Christie's (NYC) January 21, 2009.

Animal tureens made a spectacular splash to table services and were very popular in wealthy households during the mid-eighteenth century. Large tureens were made in the form of chickens, boars and ox heads. Smaller vegetable and sauce tureens made in the form of quails, crabs, chickens and ducks.

Christie's (London) July 6, 2005 for the huge realized price of.... $421,818.



Many items are coming up for auction and truly affordable. I decided to feature some of the more, ahem, expensive ones....

10 Ways to Get Fit While You’re Glued to the Computer

Addicted to Twitter? Hooked on FaceBook? Can’t get enough of your favorite blogs and websites? It seems there are so many more reasons to stay online these days… which means endless hours of sitting. But since that is just so unhealthy, I’ve come up with some ideas to help you get fit while you're online - exercises to get your heart rate up, help you tone up, and de-stress. All at the comfort of that computer desk you're glued to ... or close by.

1.Cyber Squats - Who says you have to sit when you're online? Set your chair aside for a few minutes and instead do squats as you cruise around the Web.

2. RSS Raises – As you're sitting at your desk, straighten your knees and lift your legs out in front of you. Do this as you catch up on your favorite blogs on your RSS reader. What the heck is RSS?

3. 10 Minute Move it! Break #1 – Alternate jogging in place with jumping jacks – do a minute of each and repeat 5 times.

4. Twitter Tummy Tone - Tighten your abs for 30 seconds and then release. Do this as you tweet. Tweet me here

5. Social Squeezes – Tighten your glutes for 30 seconds and then release. (Good thing noone can see you at this social, right?) Repeat as you Stumble, Digg, or Friend on Facebook.

6. 10 Minute Move it! Break #2 – Grab a step stool and climb up and down – get creative if you like and alternate knee lifts at the top of the step. Or how 'bout a creative housecleaning workout break?

7. Inbox Incline - While you're sitting with your feet on the floor, raise your heels so you are on the balls of your feet and lower them. Make sure you can feel it in your calves. Do this as you read and reply to your emails.

8. 10 Minute Move it! Break #3 – Do walking lunges around the house or office. Want to make it more challenging? Add some weights and do bicep curls at the same time. Or try some of Jamie Eason's plyometrics moves

9. Blogger Breather - Grab a quick minute to just close your eyes and focus on your breath. Count to 10 as you slowly inhale through your nose, thinking positive thoughts. Exhale through your mouth, again counting to 10. This time release all the tension and stress out of your body. Repeat if you have a few more seconds.

10. Sign Off Stretches - Your neck and shoulders can get pretty tense when you sit at a computer too long. So loosen them up throughout the day with:
a) Shoulder shrugs - with your head at your chest, shrug your shoulders up and down.
b) Neck Rolls - relax your shoulders and let your head roll forward. Slowly rotate your head in a circle. Repeat five times.

Do these exercises throughout the day to avoid becoming a computer potato!

Source: FatFighterTV

The Babies Are Here !


Oh, I've been so worried. For the past two weeks. I've never gotten over March of the Penguins -- my eyes were swollen for days afterwards from boo-hooing. Thank god I watched it from the privacy of my own home and not in the theater. Someone would have had to carry me out of the movie house in a stretcher. I was fetal.


Two weeks ago, I noticed a pair of mourning doves stomping around in my flower boxes and crushing my newly planted pansies. It made me a little cranky, until I realized what was going on. Then I romanticized the whole thing. And felt a little special that they chose my flower box on my balcony. Narcissistic, I know, but it made me happy. It is the little things, at times. Every day I waited and protected the couple looking from my living room window -- through the wind and the rain and shooed any pesky squirrel sniffing around.


I avoided going out on the balcony, and certainly prevented my husband from doing so with his manly voice. He didn't share the same... affection as I did for these little eggs. I didn't want the mother to be scared off. She needed to keep the eggs warm. My thoughts went back to March of the Penguins. And the scene with the cold, cracked egg which the parent penguins mourned. I still get weepy.

When the mourning dove mother needed a break, the father stepped up to take her place and keep the eggs warm. Neither of them seemed to mind my dog, who absolutely insists on sunbathing during warm late afternoons. The cushioned chaise lounge is his. While my husband and I get a metal chair.



Two little baby birds born today. So far a success. I'm still keeping my distance until they are old enough and strong enough to venture out on their own. No BBQ-ing for a bit on the balcony. No loud noises or sudden movements, and certainly no more foul language.


My dog during a mid-afternoon nap before his snack, followed by another light walk down the street, and then to stretch out on his chair outside on the balcony. I cater, I pander, I will do anything this dog wants. After dinner and yet another walk, I put him to bed at night. And then I can finally get some real work done.

Reconsidering the Kast


For years armoire cabinets have served us well. They were a place to organize, store and conceal clothing, bedding, towels and more recently, clunky televisions and stereos. Since we have upgraded to slick flat-screened TVs, iPods and enamored with the minimal look, we have found new ways to keep excess out of sight; we simply don’t want these massive pieces of furniture anymore.

The origin of a large storage piece goes well back in time. In the Netherlands, the Dutch created a similar piece known as the Kast or Kasten. By the seventeenth century, the Kast had become the most important piece of furniture in the house. It was a very functional and very impressive piece of furniture. It signified material success and a well-ordered household – two things the Dutch were known for. Filled with linens, needlework, porcelains, silver and pewter, the kast was kept locked, with the woman of the house in charge of the key.

Pieter de Hooch, Interior with a Woman Besides a Linen Chest


Typically located in the center hallway of a household, the Kast was huge, as much as eight feet in height and six feet wide. Because they were so large, they were often sold rather than moved. The kast was usually constructed in four sections. The upper section had two cupboard doors which opened to reveal shelves. That section was surmounted by a projecting, removable cornice. This upper section rested on a lower case piece which sometimes had a second set of cupboard doors or sometimes merely a single long drawer, or even two short drawers side-by-side for additional storage. The entire piece was raised on a fourth section of molding over bun feet. Often given to a bride before her wedding, a wealthy burgher would purchase one as a symbol of his financial success. It was elaborately adorned, paneled, carved, ebonized or inlaid with exotic veneers.

Cornelis de Man, Interior of a Townhouse


Dutch women had more rights than many other women throughout the Continent. Foreign travelers noted with horror that wives had the right to haul their husbands before magistrates to charge them with wife beating or to find them guilty of entering into a house of ill repute. Husbands could be publicly admonished or barred from taking communion. Women could even get their marriages annulled if a husband returned from sea with a venereal disease. Widows could inherit and administer their husband’s property, bequeath it or transfer it as they liked. Women were the keepers of the house and had the right to toss their husbands out the door for excessive drinking.


Cornelis de Man, Family Group at Dinner Table, 1658



In exchange for all these rights, women were encumbered with strict household duties. They cared for their home, husbands, children; they looked after the cooking, cleaning and outdoor gardens. A clean, well-ordered home was held in high esteem. It was considered free from wanton chaos which was apt to seep into unkempt households. The presence of the kast helped to keep this order.



The seventeenth century was the Golden Age of the Netherlands. Wealth flooded into port cities. The merchant class became prosperous. It was a period of high achievement in the arts and sciences. The Dutch burgher lived a much more affluent life than did any other merchants elsewhere.





The Dutch loved comfort and expensive items. Foreign travelers also noted the love and care that was lavished upon the Dutch home. Many Dutch burghers possessed considerable disposable incomes, and they thought nothing of spending a lot of money and effort to make their home a comfortable retreat.



In America the Kast was the most recognizable symbol of Dutch heritage, particularly in New York and New Jersey from the mid-seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Their designs similar to their European counterparts, although the methods of construction were not as elaborate or sophisticated. Kasts were still very important household items.



Decoration could be painted ornamented with symbols associated with good fortune and fertility. Door panels painted with flowers and fruit, geometric forms often in grisaille which simulated carving on more elaborate and expensive furniture.


As industrialization gained speed in America, the cultural and practical functions of kast diminished. The kast gradually ceased to be made. Preserving and storing textiles became less important in the nineteenth-century household. Factories began producing inexpensive machine-made linens and cottons. Built-in cupboards and closets were designed in houses. The old and outdated Dutch cultural symbols that once decorated the kast no longer seemed relevant to a dynamic young nation. Inevitably with these changes, the kast faded away.


Happy Mother's Day...

...Mrs. Felisa Alcantara Bauto.

Mahal na Mahal Kita, Nanay!


Mildred Bryant Brooks (1901-1995)

I have a thing for etchings created by artists during the 1930s and 40s who belonged to the group, Associated American Artists. I have a collection of them nicely framed and arranged somewhat neatly on my bedroom wall. I am drawn to the array of styles and artists’ subject matter which most often reflected the social ideas of the time. I always keep my eyes peeled for one more that strikes me. Before, searching and obtaining a print would often take precedence over paying bills and or buying daily grocery necessities. In the past eight or so months, I’ve had to reign in that weakness.

But a few months back, I came across one artist who I am crazy for. I don’t know much about her other than what I’ve scoured up on the internet. I believe she wasn’t part of the association but she captured such a mood and feel of her time in her compositions. I don’t have any of her prints but I am memorized by many of her works. Sweet and mournful are the only words I can come up with. And, perhaps, a feeling of being haunted mixed in.

On July 21, 1901 Mildred Bryant Brooks was born in Marysville, Missouri. Her mother was a painter, her father was a scientist. Her family moved to Long Beach, California in 1907. She studied at the University of Southern California and the Otis and Chouinard Art Institutes. Brooks worked for Chryson’s Incorporated as a Christmas card designer in the 1920s. In 1929, she began etching studying under Arthur Millier. It was also the year when she began teaching at the Stickney Art Institute in Pasadena. Her etchings were shown in numerous local and national exhibitions throughout the 1930's until the mid 1940's. She won many awards.

Companions won first prize at the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1937. This was the first time the Society had honored a Westerner, let alone a woman. During the Depression she was able to support her family with her printmaking. (An edition of the above print was posted on eBay.)

In 1946, she was an artist-in-residence at Pomona College. In 1952 and 1954, she taught at the Los Angeles County Art Institute. By this time she lived in South Pasadena. Suffering from failing eyesight, she tried working with large mural paintings. In the later decades, she allegedly also worked as an interior designer and decorator. Intruguing....

Ill health eventually forced her into a Santa Barbara, California rest home, where she died on July 3, 1995.

Spring (1932)
Rachel Davis Fine Arts - Cleveland, Ohio


Moods (1935), Cleveland Museum of Art


The Pines of Monterey (1935), Smithsonian American Art Museum


Her works are in the collections of the LACMA; Laguna Art Museum; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, California; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Cleveland Museum of Art, Dayton Art Institute, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; University of Vermont, Burlington and the Los Angeles Public Library.

My Friends (1935)

November (unknown date); Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco click HERE to view others.


(Top picture currently available on eBay)


Her titles are somewhat curious, as well as somewhat obvious. Regardless, very mezmorizing indeed.

10 Reasons Why There is Genuine Hope for the Philippines

1. We are strategically located at the heart of East Asia.

Northeast Asia (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos) combined makes East Asia. We are only at most four hours away from every major city in East Asia. If the Philippines were a real estate venture in a commercial area, ours is a location to die for. We can be the shipping and air transport hub of East Asia. We can be the top tourist destination of the region. We can be the cultural center of the region for performing arts.

2. We are No. 1 in aquamarine resources worldwide.

“We have the most diverse aquamarine ecosystem in the entire world which, if managed properly, will feed not only our hungry people but will be a source of huge revenue coming from a world in dire need of aquamarine resources such as fish, seaweed, and other similar products. We can be the seafood basket and aquamarine resource center of the world, the aquamarine resource powerhouse of the world.

3. We have a huge tourism industry potential.

Our people are by nature extremely friendly and hospitable. We only have some 3 million tourist visits every year, while our neighbors are doing 4 or 5 times more with 12 to 15 million tourist visits annually. It has been said that other countries in the ASEAN are doing so much more with so little in terms of natural wonders and beautiful sites while we are doing so little with so much. With the right infrastructure such as highways and airports and seaports in place, we can be the number one tourist destination in ASEAN if not Asia.

4. We are now No. 2 in the BPO industry worldwide and can become No. 1.

We are, I am told, currently second to India in the business process outsourcing industry. I am told as well that this industry expects 30 percent growth this year despite the worldwide recession as foreign companies look aggressively to lowering costs of doing business and therefore look to business outsourcing.

5. We are extremely creative and artistic people.

We have been called the songbirds of Asia. Our reputation as performers is legendary throughout the world (although we have never been boastful about it). We can be the center of performing arts in Asia wherein millions would visit the country annually to marvel at our cultural performances and our artistic productions.

6. We have the emergence of a new generation of progressive and results-oriented public sector leaders.

Since the restoration of democracy in 1986 and the passage of the Local Government Code in 1991 (or some 20 years now), public officials have began to work with new resources (40 percent of national taxes are now plowed back to local government units compared to less than 10 percent in 1986) made available by decentralization. Today a new generation of public sector leaders is emerging, one that is empowered, that is vision driven and results-oriented. This explains why we have successful local government initiatives in Marikina, Makati, Naga City, Davao City, Iloilo City, Cebu City, Calbayog City, and General Santos City, among others. Hence from a generation of public sector leaders that by and large was corrupt, lacking in vision, creativity, and innovation, we now have the emergence of a new generation of public sector leaders with integrity, with proactive leadership, and with a commitment to reform and genuine change. New governance models and templates that are solving age-old problems in the field are being forged, being tempered as we speak. A new brand of political leadership is emerging focused on solving age old problems in governance. The old, failed methods utilized by the trapos will soon be crushed and defeated.

7. Information and communication technology advancement is enhancing our sense of nationhood.

Rather than a country of many languages and many islands, we are fast becoming one nation, connected by information and communication technology. The ethno-linguistic barriers that used to keep us divided are being shattered by the interconnectivity of information technology. Today an entire generation of Filipinos fully understands, and can connect with, the Filipino language because of two decades of television news in Filipino (all TV news used to be English until 1986). The three elements of nationhood are: common language, common territory and common economy. We are now becoming a nation because information technology is breaking the barriers that have prevented us from becoming united as a people. It is also now reconnecting some 10 million Filipinos overseas to the motherland. We are becoming one nation and one people.

8. We have a re-emerging middle class mindset.

After over three decades of the OFW boom, we now have a new generation of citizens steeped with modern ideas coming from the highly successful host nations like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Sates. Europe too has become host to hundreds of thousands of OFWs. The OFWs who have experienced life in these highly developed nations can now compare and contrast these experiences with the experiences in the motherland. In highly developed nations there is, to a greater extent, a greater sense of accountability and a greater sense of justice and fair play. Our OFWs bring all that back home and having been enlightened by the experience will demand greater of their leaders back home. People are beginning to say enough is enough and are actually doing something about it.

9. We are a young nation.

Close to 30 million of our 45 million voters are 18 to 35 years old. Very young. If harnessed effectively, these young voters can usher in the political and electoral change that we need to happen for genuine political and economic reforms to take place.

10. We are a people who love to laugh, who love our families.

We are a resilient people. We can draw unimaginable strength and fortitude in times of difficulty in order to move ahead. We know how to survive despite so much pain and suffering. We know how to cope. We are willing to sacrifice so much of ourselves in order to provide for our family, our loved ones. This strength will not only bring us out of the mess we are in but will ensure that we are able to reach greater heights in our collective desire as a people to have a better life for those we truly care for, for those who mean the world to us. Our resilience in the long run will not only make us survive but will also ensure that we will triumph in the end.

We have enough reason to hope. We have, as a people, enough reason to act on these hopes and when we do, the genuine change we all seek will finally see the light of day and yes, by all means, in our lifetime.

Source: Being Filipino