You Can't Hide It - One Billion Rising

This post is kind of late.
But I still want to post about it.

So here it is.
We were able to join the One Billion Rising last Valentine's day!
I was running late. I couldn't leave work early, and I still had to meet up with my daughter at her school before we could go to the OBR event at T. Morato. There were Plurks on  my timeline saying that traffic was pretty bad in the area of the OBR event and there was a closed road. So I was wondering how we could get there in time.

While waiting for a cab, an "ordinary" bus stopped in front of us. We decided to go on that bus since it was one of those buses known for their fast driving. And it was! Problem was, we still had to go down a few stops away from Quezon Avenue since the bus was not going to pass that way.

It was good that we were able to flag a cab. What's more, the cab driver had just come from the T.Morato area and knew where to pass to avoid the traffic!

We made it just in time for the main event. We stayed and watched from the side. Everyone was dancing whenever the OBR song was played. No one felt tired! I was teary-eyed while watching a dominantly female crowd from different social strata and occupation, joining in the call for an end to violence against women. It was such a powerful message!

We didn't get good photos of that night. Here's our only 'good' photo:

No, we were not able to ask someone else to take our photo (especially since we were standing by the side and we were thinking there wasn't any good angle for a nice photo). It was only when we were on our way home that we belatedly noticed the posters by the side where we could have had our photo taken!

One odd thing about the OBR event was that I wasn't able to read anything about it happening in the papers the next day. Nothing! It was like something that never happened!

But you can't hide something so strong, heartfelt, and powerful forever. It will come out, one way or another.

As the song says, "Isang bilyong babae ang babangon...!"

I Raise My Fist and Join One Billion Rising

"No uprising fails. Each one is a step in the right direction"
Salud Algabre (Generalla, Sakdalista Movement), 1970

Let us join the global movement to end violence against women.
One Billion Rising calls on all women (and the men who love them) from all over to world, to come together on February 14, 2013, to rise, raise their fist in one voice, and dance...until the violence stops.

Boring day at the office

Created by Oatmeal

Changing Times

The internet has made the world such a small place that I am somehow struck dumb by the seemingly simultaneous events happening all over the world -- from Egypt's turmoil and bloodshed to Chicago's blankets of snow. For one who grew up getting stale news over RPN9 (way back when the Marcoses were 'omniscient'), it is at once novel and exhilarating. Yes, in many ways, the times have changed...although there are many things that have remained entrenched in Philippine society (just like the institutionalized corruption that has been hogging local news lately). I do hope that because it has been getting harder and harder to keep 'things' under wraps, more and more of relevant truths will find their way into the ears and eyes of more people. As they say, the truth shall set us free.