Parents

This is worth reading … A simple man tells how his booking an air ticket for his father, his first flight, brought emotions and made him realize that how much we all take for granted when it comes to our parents. My parents left for our native place on Thursday and we went to the airport to see them off. In fact, my father had never traveled by air before, so I just took this opportunity to make him experience the same.

In spite of being asked to book tickets by train, I got them tickets on Lufthansa. The moment I handed over the tickets to him, he was surprised to see that I had booked them by air. The excitement was very apparent on his face, waiting for the time of travel. Just like a school boy, he was preparing himself on that day and we all went to the airport, right from using the trolley for his luggage, the baggage check-in and asking for window seat and waiting restlessly for the security check-in to happen. He was thoroughly enjoying himself and I, too, was overcome with joy watching him experience all these things.

As they were about to go in for the security check-in, he walked up to me with tears in his eyes and thanked me. He became very emotional and it was not as if I had done something great but the fact that this meant a great deal to him. When he said thanks, I told him there was no need to thank me. But later, thinking about the entire incident, I looked back at my life.

As a child how many dreams our parents have made come true. Without understanding the financial situation, we ask for football, dresses, toys, outings, etc. Irrespective of their affordability, they have satisfied to all our needs. Did we ever think about the sacrifices they had to make to accommodate many of our wishes? Did we ever say thanks for all that they have done for us?

Same way, today when it comes to our children, we always think that we should put them in a good school. Regardless of the amount of donation, we will ensure that we will have to give the child the best, theme parks, toys, etc. But we tend to forget that our parents have sacrificed a lot for our sake to see us happy, so it is our responsibility to ensure that their dreams are realized and what they failed to see when they were young, it is our responsibility to ensure that they experience all those and their life is complete.

Many times, when my parents had asked me some questions, I have actually answered back without patience. When my daughter asks me something, I have been very polite in answering. Now I realize how they would have felt at those moments. Let us realize that old age is a second childhood and just as we take care of our children,the same attention and same care need to be given to our parents and elders.

Rather than my dad saying thank you to me, I would want to say sorry for making him wait so long for this small dream. I do realize how much he has sacrificed for my sake and I will do my best to give the best possible attention to all their wishes. Just because they are old does not mean that they will have to give up everything and keep sacrificing for their grandchildren also.

They have wishes, too. Take care of your parents. Pls pass on this mail to every child who loves parents and want to love them more … God bless!!

Hindi ako tamad

Inspiring quote of the day:

 “Hindi ako tamad. Hindi ko lang alam kung saan ko ibubuhos kasipagan ko.”

Ito ay isang e-mail mula sa isang kaibigan.  Salamat po

Government

A couple of relevant quotes from Quote Garden for these difficult but exciting times:

“In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?” ~ St. Augustine

“The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.” ~ Woodrow Wilson

“Our government… teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” ~ Louis Brandeis

CFP: Pilipinas, a Journal of Philippine Studies

Pilipinas is an international, peer-reviewed Journal, published since 1980, with a global readership of primarily academics and tertiary institutions. We encourage the submission of papers on all topics and from all disciplines relevant to the Philippines, or comparing other countries with the Philippines.Papers may be of any length, and include (colour) pictures etc, as we also publish each Issue on CD and the Internet, as well as Hard copy. We are particularly interested in papers that address sexuality, and, for our 50th anniversary Issue, papers that address the history and/or development of Philippine studies.

Publication is on-going, so submitted and accepted papers appear in the next Issue in train. To submit a paper, please email in Word format a copy to the Managing
Editor, Dr. Paul Mathews: paulmathews2@yahoo.com.au, pmathews2@hotmail.com

Enquiries & proposals: as above.

Dr Paul Mathews
PSAA Secretary
Managing Editor, Pilipinas
PO Box 827 Jamison 2614. Canberra. Australia
Note: You may also email me at: pmathews2@hotmail.com

CFP: Pilipinas, a Journal of Philippine Studies

Pilipinas is an international, peer-reviewed Journal, published since 1980, with a global readership of primarily academics and tertiary institutions. We encourage the submission of papers on all topics and from all disciplines relevant to the Philippines, or comparing other countries with the Philippines.Papers may be of any length, and include (colour) pictures etc, as we also publish each Issue on CD and the Internet, as well as Hardcopy. We are particularly interested in papers that address sexuality, and, for our 50th anniversary Issue, papers that address the history and/or development of Philippine studies.Publication is on-going, so submitted and accepted papers appear in the next Issue in train. To submit a paper, please email in Word format a copy to the Managing
Editor, Dr. Paul Mathews: paulmathews2@yahoo.com.au, pmathews2@hotmail.com

Enquiries & proposals: as above.

Dr Paul Mathews
PSAA Secretary
Managing Editor, Pilipinas
PO Box 827 Jamison 2614. Canberra. Australia
Note: You may also email me at: pmathews2@hotmail.com

Benjamin Franklin: Money

Here are two quotations on Money by Benjamin Franklin in his “Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748.” Hope you will find some wisdom in this.

“Remember, time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides.”

“Remember, that money is of the prolific, generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and so on. Five shillings turned is six, turned again it is seven and threepence, and so on, till it becomes a hundred pounds. The more there is of it, the more it produces every turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker. He that kills a breeding sow, destroys all her offspring to the thousandth generation. He that murders a crown, destroys all that it might have produced, even scores of pounds.”

Source: www.quoteland.com

HB-2806: Congressman Proceso Alcala

This is something we should be looking at very closely, for it affects all of us, one way or another. Its been 17 years since the passage of Republic Act 6969: Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990. Its about time to fine tune this law to meet the needs of the times.

There is a new hero from the 2nd District of Quezon Province, Congressman Proceso Alcala. His heroism? House Bill 2806: An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Hazardous and Radioactive Waste Management, Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof, and for Other Purposes. It seeks to address the gaps and weaknesses of Republic Act No. 6969: Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, concerning the management of hazardous, radioactive and health care wastes in the Philippines.

This bill is now one of the topics of discussion at the Philippines Virtual Plenary (www.pvpnetwork.net). The Committee on Ecology pf the House of Representatives invites you to post our comments and suggestions on the subject bill. A copy of the bill is available in this site for your guidance and perusal: http://www.pvpnetwork.net/index.cfm?module=Forums&page=Forum&ForumID=208.

Source: www.pvpnetwork.net

John Christian Bovee: Determination

“A failure establishes only this, that our determination to succeed was not strong enough,” (John Christian Bovee: www.quoteworld.org).

The Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia

Call for participants: Dissertation workshop THE CHALLENGES OF AGRARIAN TRANSITION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, Los Banos, The Philippines

May 30-June 1, 2008

ChATSEA, directed by
Chaire de recherche du Canada en études asiatiques
Canada Chair of Asian Research
Université de MontréalThe Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia (ChATSEA) project and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) invite applications from Masters and Doctoral students to participate in an interdisciplinary Dissertation Workshop.THE WORKSHOP
This workshop is intended for masters and doctoral students from any university whose dissertation projects engage with agrarian transitions in Southeast Asia. The purpose of the workshop is to encourage and assist post-graduate students who are just beginning work on these issues, as well as those who are further along in their projects. The format will involve intensive, collegial and open group discussion of the individual student projects, and with the theoretical and methodological issues
which they raise.The workshop will take place over three days in the SEARCA facilities, in Los Banos (Laguna, Philippines).

The on-site costs of the workshop, meals and accommodations, will all be covered by SEARCA and ChATSEA. There will also be small travel grants available for regional flights to Manila.

AGRARIAN TRANSITIONS
Over the last twenty years, the literature on agrarian and rural relations has been marked by an explosion of innovative theoretical approaches, many of which are inspired by the analytical challenges posed by globalization. New research on diverse themes such as space and geography, identity, commodity chains, gender, agro-food systems, class, power and the production of knowledge, regulation and certification (both private and public), political ecology and various kinds of network theory, have brought about dramatic shifts in the way that central terms such as rural, community, market, nature, state, and development are understood.
Southeast Asia has been a key region for innovative theoretical insight and practical engagement with agrarian studies.

At least six sets of processes at the core of the agrarian transition may be identified. These are:
1) agricultural intensification and territorial expansion;
2) increasing integration of production into market-based systems of exchange;
3) accelerating processes of urbanisation and industrialisation;
4) heightened mobility of populations both within and across national borders;
5) intensification of regulation, as new forms of private, state and supra-state power are developed and formalized to govern agricultural production and exchange relationships;
6) processes of environmental change that modify the relationship
between society and nature to reflect new human impacts and new
valuations of resources.

This framework serves as the conceptual basis for the broader ChATSEA project and will aid in the discussions of the research proposals and projects at the workshop.

FACILITATORS
The Dissertation workshop will be facilitated by faculty resource persons drawn from the ChATSEA project. These will include: Philip Hirsch (University of Sydney), Philip Kelly (York University), Michael Leaf (University of British Columbia), Tania Li (University of Toronto), Pham Van Cu (Hanoi University of Sciences), Jonathan Rigg (University of Durham), Peter Vandergeest (York University), Chusak Wittayapak (Chiang Mai University), Doracie Zoleta-Nantes (University of the Philippines).

ELIGIBILITY
Applicants should be enrolled full time in a masters or doctoral program. They must have drafted a dissertation research proposal, although it may not yet be approved by their committees. Applicants will need to prepare materials in advance of the meeting, namely reading and sending commentaries and questions on the proposals of other participants, to establish the basis for productive exchange.

HOW TO APPLY
Applications consist of three items:
1. A current curriculum vitae.
2. An 8 to 10 page double spaced dissertation proposal. Alternatively,
if the work is well underway, an 8 to 10 page double spaced
description of the specific issues being addressed, the intellectual
approach, and the materials being studied. For candidates in the
thesis write-up stage, a chapter can be submitted but should be
supplemented by a short description of the whole thesis project to
allow readers to grasp the context of your work.
3. Any requests for travel funding with a budget proposal (up to CAD
$400 may be available for student travel costs).

Workshop participants will be selected on the content of the submitted projects, the potential for useful exchanges among them, and the benefits of including a range of disciplinary approaches and intellectual traditions. Acceptance notes will be sent to applicants by March 15, 2008.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 28 February 2008
Application materials should be sent to the ChATSEA coordinators by email,
losbanosworkshop@yahoo.com

For further information:
* concerning the workshop and eligibility: please contact Keith Barney
(kbarney@yorku.ca)
* concerning the ChATSEA agrarian transitions project: please visit their
official website
* concerning SEARCA: please visit their official website

Keith D. Barney
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Geography
York University, Toronto, Canada
http://www.yorku.ca/geograph/GraduateProgrammes/Graduate%
20Students/PHD/barney.html

Valdes Vivo: Foreign Lands

“Cuba is no longer an island. There are no islands anymore. There is only one world,” (Vivo Valdes: www.politicalquotes.org).