I'm Coming Out

"I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross, from her album Diana released in 1980 ranks number one on Billboard's special updated top LGBT Pride songs list.

There's a new me coming out
And I just had to live
And I wanna give
I'm completely positive
I think this time around
I am gonna do it
Like you never knew it
Oh, I'll make it through
The time has come for me
To break out of this shell
I have to shout
That I am coming out

Here's a concise background story by Billboard on this song:

Even at its conception, this song was a gay anthem: After seeing three drag queens impersonate Ross at a New York discotheque, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards were inspired to write something for her gay fandom. Ross almost got cold feet releasing it but Rodgers convinced her to go with it. She took his advice and landed her sixth Hot 100 top 10 hit as a solo artist.

Strange, though, for such an iconic song I couldn't find the official music video on YouTube (I assumed there is one).

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program at liwaliw Sounds to celebrate LGBT Pride. Love wins.

Latepost: Privacy matters

A session on social media with two attorneys on opposite ends of politics. And of the sofa (right). Natl data privacy confab. #PAWPH #picc #pasay #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 29, 2018 at 1:40am PDT

Dateline: 29 May 2018, Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City

Last year, got appointed as Data Protection Officer of our Bureau, a mandatory requirement for all officer per Republic Act No. 10173, or the Data Privacy Act of 2012. Last May 28 and 29, the National Privacy Commission put together the First National Data Privacy Conference, in observance also of the National Privacy Awareness Week.

One of the closing plenary sessions of the conference was on "Pinoy Social Media: Ethics and Privacy." The program booklet describes the session:

Unlike traditional businesses, for social media, the consumer is also the commodity. Personal information has always been the lifeblood, the very currency that propels social media.... 

Are we still really in control of our information? What legal or ethical rules should govern the collection and sharing of personal data posted by users online?

Guest speakers for this session included two lawyer socmed personalities, representing opposing sides of online political discourse: Atty. Jesus Falcis and Atty. Bruce Rivera. (There they are above, on the right sofa, seated on opposite ends, or as far as the sofa can afford them.)

The session was kinda blah for me. Not a lot of the audience got engaged with the session. I think this topic would have been better addressed as a satellite, or breakout activity.


[This post is antedated: 20180702]

Tales of the City

Memory Served: Sometime between 1991 and 1995, Malate, Manila

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City is a television miniseries based on the first of the author's series of novels. This scene depicts the coming out process that Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, played by Marcus D'Amico, is undertaking with his parents. Listening to his dictation was heart-wrenching, especially for young gay men like me, dealing with our own closet issues in the 1990s, and projected our own thoughts with the words of Maupin's characters.

Remembered watching the miniseries in VHS at the Malvar Center, the community center of The Library Foundation in Malate, Manila. The Center, then one of very few in Metro Manila to serve as discreet social spaces for gay and bisexual men, also hosted Friday Night Discussions of which one of the most popular topics was coming out.

June 30 is the Metro Manila LGBTQIA+ Pride March: #YesToEQUALITY #RiseUpTogether

Latepost: Index 2018 (ID)

8th of 8 of my exhibits marathon, not quite ready when i got there, #index2018 by industrial design students, college of fine arts #updiliman #quezoncity #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 30, 2018 at 8:58am PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Eighth of eight, the last destination in my exhibits marathon visit at the University in the Philippines in Quezon City, was also an almost-complete exhibition, next to Diskurso (the visual communications exhibit), inside the almost-complete and functional new building of the College of Fine Arts -- Index 2018, Industrial Design Class 2018 Portfolio Exhibit. Here too were interesting designs that once fully developed will be very important contributions in the country's health sector response:

1. Lester Umali, "Clinch Spinal Immobilization Device: A Semi-open Soft-layered Spinal Immobilization Device to Aid Search and Rescue of the Casualties of the 7.2 Magnitude West Valley Fault Earthquake"
2. Marc Leo C. Dolotina, "Gabay: The Design and Development of an Assistive Living App and Tracking Device for Persons with Alzheimer's Disease"
3. Duane Iza A. Macadat, "StretChair: A Multi-Functional Mobility Equipment to Aid Emergency Patients in Public Hospitals"
4. Julian D. Tanaka, "Rekta: A Low-Cost, Efficient, Modular, and Sustainable Systems Design for the Customized Wheelchair Provision of the Adaptive Devices Initiative"
5. Rachel Hannah H. Mauricio, "Tucker: A Chin-Tuck Against Resistance (CTAR) Throat Exercise Device for Suprahyoid Muscle Training for Dysphagia Patients"
6. Saraiah Sagurit, "A Mobility Rehabilitation Exercise Equipment for Stroke Patients with Hemiparesis"
7. Joanah Lee D. Villanueva, "Dalisay Rainwater Filter: Rainwater as a Source of Potable Water for Families Living in Coastal Areas"
8. Matt Lawrence Natividad, "EVAC: An Alternative Toilet Bowl for Calamity Survivors to Provide a Livelihood and a Healthy Living Environment"

[This post is antedated: 20180702]

Born This Way

"Born This Way" by Lady Gaga, from her album of the same name, ranks second on Billboard's special updated top LGBT Pride songs list. Reportedly, this debuted number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011, and it was the 1,000th number one song since the chart began.

I'm beautiful in my way
'Cause God makes no mistakes 
I'm on the right track, baby 
I was born this way

Mother Monster was at her height of iconography; before I saw the official music video, I actually first learned of the "egg" that appeared in the 53rd Grammy Awards. And I really got very, very curious when the other queen, H.M. Madge, came out with the "reductive" comment.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program at liwaliw Sounds to celebrate LGBT Pride. Love wins.

Queer Notions

Random no. between 1 & 222, page 151 of Queer Notions: A Fabulous Collection of Gay and Lesbian Wit and Wisdom (compiled by David Blanton, published by Running Press, 1996) contains quote attributed to Romanovsky and Phillips. #LGBTPride #lovewins pic.twitter.com/aOoIyavyUG

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 30, 2018

Random number between 1 and 222, page 151 of Queer Notions: A Fabulous Collection of Gay and Lesbian Wit and Wisdom (compiled by David Blanton, published by Running Press, 1996) contains quote attributed to singing duo Romanovsky and Phillips, part of Chapter 10, "Life in Wartime."

From Blanton's Preface: "Breadth, depth, wisdom, pathos -- all of these, of course, I found in abundance. And in a community that prides itself on a well-turned phrase, there was no lack of wit, subtlety, arched eyebrow, and irony."

This month in liwaliw Pages, I pre-selected titles from my personal library for the celebration of June LGBT Pride. Love wins.


[This post is antedated: 20180630]

Family By Water

Spotted: "Sam Ford" on Pinterest, after Pinterest and Google Image search

"Family By Water" is by Steve Walker, who was a prominent visual artist in the LGBT community. With this post, I'm veering off slightly from the June bride theme of liwaliw Visuals mainly in celebration of Metro Manila Pride, and in celebration of all kinds of Constitutionally guaranteed intimate, loving, relationships.

First encountered Walker's art on the cover of a novel, and subsequently in my non-profit work on HIV and AIDS and LGBT health and rights. I remember using some of Walker's works in a lecture I delivered about HIV-related stigma; I was already working in the government that time.

Walker was born in Ottawa, Canada (maybe 1962 or 1963), then moved to Toronto, initially to study theater. He passed away in Costa Rica on January 4, 2012, aged 50. It was kinda hard to look for Walker's birth, birth-family and childhood days information; he does not have a Wikipedia article (gasp!). His website has already gone offline, but there are backups of the site on Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Remaining online information of Walker, mainly as an artist (including statements and interviews), I found where his works are represented such as Gingerbread Square Gallery in Key West, Florida, and Lyman-Eyer Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. James Lyman was mentioned to be Walker's art executor and trustee.

Lyman also featured Walker in the 13th edition of Art of Man, which I first found sampled in Google Books, and would later find out that what remains of this issue is in Amazon Kindle form. A more personal profile of the artist was written by author Jeffrey Round.

Digital Journal provides a quote from Walker: "I hope that in its silence, the body of my work has given a voice to my life, the lives of others, and in doing so, the dignity of all people."

Latepost: Diskurso (Viscom)

7th of 8 of my exhibits marathon, #diskurso #viscom thesis exhibition, college of fine arts #updiliman #quezoncity #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 30, 2018 at 8:46am PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Second realization while at the College of Fine Arts, at the seventh of eight destinations in my exhibit visit marathon, University of the Philippines, Quezon City: the College has a new building that was around 95-99 percent complete and functional. In the spacious lobby was what was to be the Diskurso exhibit of theses of graduating visual communication students. Turned out that the opening was set at seven in the evening, and many students were still rushing to finish their presentations.

Didn't have time to wait for the formal exhibit opening, so I made my rounds already with what were already set up. (The total number of presentations could be in the hundreds.) I'm noting here some of the works that I think will be worth considering by the Department of Health in enhancing relevant programs:

1. Ten Ten Trixia Albino Banares, "Forget Me Not: An Interactive Augmented Reality Therapeutic Application Utilized as an Intervention to Neurodegeneration for Individuals Prone to Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease in the Philippines"
2. Kurt Julian M. Logan, "The CHAT Kit: A Home-based Speech Therapy Kit as a Supplemental Aid for the Speech Therapy of Children 4-5 Years Old with Speech Motor Disorders"
3. Pamela Beatriz C. Vicente, "Mom's Guide to: Child NObesity - An Illustrated Guide Book to Raise Awareness on Child Obesity and Promote a More Balanced, Proper and Nutritious Diet Among Children for Mothers in Metro Manila"
4. Julia Kristen T. Delos Santos, "Pahinga: Your Virtual Safe Space - A Multimedia Campaign for the Improvement of Mental Health Help-Seeking Habits and Self-Care Practices in Adolescents and Young Adults"
5. Gabrielle D. Santos, "Meron Ako: An Informational Campaign Promoting Acceptance and Celebration of Young Girls' Menstruation Through Proper Menstrual Hygiene Management"

There were others I also found interesting but were less likely for the health sector's response per se (i.e., more likely for the social welfare and development and education).


[This post is antedated: 20180702]

Pride and Protest

Personal selection on this postcard book, Pride and Protest was edited by Roz Hopkins, published by Cassell, 1994. Image by Paul Mattsson; caption reads "Kiss-in at the Eros statue, London 1990 - organized by OutRage!" #LGBTPride #lovewins pic.twitter.com/7fl2roPYhf

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 30, 2018

Made a personal selection on this postcard book, which contained 32 postcards, Pride and Protest was produced in celebration of 25 years of lesbian and gay visibility and activism. The short introduction:

This book is published to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. It is a celebration in pictures of lesbian and gay pride and protest. 

These photographs from lesbian and gay visibility and activism in Britain and the United States are dedicated to millions of individuals worldwide who, using courage, dignity and anger, continue our fight for freedom and equality everywhere.

Selected image by Paul Mattsson, and caption at the back reads "Kiss-in at the Eros statue, London 1990 - organized by OutRage!" Edited by Roz Hopkins, published in 1994 by Cassell plc, royalties from sales of the book were donated to The Pride Trust in Britain.

This month in liwaliw Pages, I pre-selected titles from my personal library for the June observance of LGBT Pride. Love wins.


[This post is antedated: 20180630]

I Will Survive

"I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, from her album Love Tracks, ranks third in Billboard's special updated top LGBT Pride songs list. The only one that hails from the 70's disco era, it ranked first in the Hot 100 list in 1979, certified platinum, for both the single and the album, by the Recording Industry Association of America. It is also already included in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye?
Do you think I'd crumble?
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
And I've got all my love to give and I'll survive

I had to think twice before pushing through with this post. News came out in 2014, when the iconic Gaynor, who was scheduled to perform at a West Hollywood gay club, asked management to remove shirtless, scantily clad go-go boys from the venue before she appears. Horrors.

I Will Survive had several versions, even as the Gaynor single remains pervasive to this day. Actually, I also liked Cake's version, from their album Fashion Nugget, especially on days when I'm feeling, er, butch.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled programming of liwaliw Sounds for the celebration of LGBT Pride. Love wins.

Latepost: Degree Show (Studio Arts)

In the Thick: the Place of Body Hair in Nude Painting by Ma. Antonia Baytion in Degree Show 2018, dept of studio arts, college of fine arts, #updiliman #quezoncity #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 26, 2018 at 9:46pm PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

After a brief stop at the UP Press bookstore, I expected to arrive at the College of Fine Arts for the opening of Diskurso, the exhibition of theses of visual communication majors. Didn't realize that all majors were doing their theses exhibitions last week of May. I first arrived at the Degree Show 2018 of the Department of Studio Arts. First work that intensely captured my attention is this, a wall of paintings entitled "In the Thick: The Place of Female Body Hair in Nude Painting" by Maria Antonia Baytion.

Some other works roused my interest (unfortunately, some of the works didn't have IDs yet):

• Georgia T. Fallorina, "Manika, Manika, Manika: An Installation of Handmade Dolls as a Coping Mechanism"
• Jone Reano Sibugan, "Wax and Soot Drawings of Endangered and Critically Endangered Bird Species"
• John Philip Guzman Aldefolio, "The Stranger(s): Images of Alienation from Film Stills and Street Photography"
• Unknown Titles and Artist Names: (1) Room exterior and interior primarily made out of crocheted materials; (2) Quezon City Police District, Oplan Tokhang Suggestion and Complaints Dropbox in the shape of a coffin; (3) corrugated box foldout mounted on wall with labeling "Wag Tularan, Durugista Ako"; (4) Stacked corrugated boxes of ExFed (in the style of FedEx logo) repurposed as morgue cabinets - one box has shipping label, contents described "Kian Delos Santos, 17"

(I also though that possibly items 2, 3 and 4 were part of one installation/thesis.)

The Degree Show of the Studio Arts graduating students was sixth of eight stops during my exhibits visits marathon at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.


[This post is antedated: 20180702]

Greetings from the Gayborhood

No random page selection, Greetings from the Gayborhood: A Nostalgic Look at Gay Neighborhoods, written and designed by Donald F. Reuter (published by Abrams Image, New York). Fabulous cover. #LGBTPride #lovewins pic.twitter.com/6fZTC6PY39

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 30, 2018

Decided not to do a random page selection on this one, Greetings from the Gayborhood: A Nostalgic Look at Gay Neighborhoods, written and designed by Donald F. Reuter (published by Abrams Image, New York); the cover is just too fabulous. (Pardon the white box: I cut out the Book Sale price tag). From the book's back cover blurb:

From Chicago to Chelsea to Boystown, Greetings from the Gayborhood celebrates historically gay enclaves all across America. Featuring many archival images along with nostalgic and sometimes naughty ephemera (bar ads, event programs, matchbooks, and more) this scrapbook-style collection serves as the perfect souvenir for where the boys are - and were.

Cities featured in the book include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. Has an Introduction - "These enclaves represent social factors that came together in a unique way a few generations ago so that we could 'come out.'" And has a section on the author's afterthoughts - "the interpersonal possibilities of the Internet have forever undermined the ability of out-in-the-open gay businesses to remain as the dominant means for the social and sexual interactions of our queer young and maturing populations." This was 2008.

This month in liwaliw Pages, I pre-selected titles from my personal library for the June observance of LGBT Pride. Love wins.


[This post is antedated: 20180630]

True Colors

"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper, is the hit carrier single from her album with the same name in 1986. Ranked number one on Billboard Hot 100, and ranks 4th on Billboard's special updated top LGBT Pride songs list.

You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh, I realize
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small

With a lesbian sister who inspires her, Lauper remains to be a strong ally and advocate for the LGBT community. She did the True Colors tour in 2007 and 2008 to help promote the work of the Human Rights Campaign. She also co-founded the True Colors Fund to address homelessness among LGBT youth.

The song has had several versions -- Phil Collins, then one for the Rugby World Cup, then TV series Glee (of course), and even on the movie soundtrack of Trolls. But profound respect also for the Canadian musicians who banded together as Artists Against Bullying, who did a cover of the song for Bullying Awareness Week.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled programming of liwaliw Sounds for the celebration of LGBT Pride. Love wins.

Beautiful

"Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera from her album Stripped in 2002 ranked fifth in Billboard's special updated top LGBT Pride songs list, ranked second in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Also noted that this chart-topper "was written and produced by out-and-proud Linda Perry."

'Cause we are beautiful
No matter what they say
Yes words won't bring us down
Oh no
We are beautiful
In every single way
Yes words can't bring us down
Oh no
So don't you bring me down today

Aguilera for this music video received special recognition in the 14th GLAAD Media Awards by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. She also won a Grammy Award for female vocal performance in 2004.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program on liwaliw Sounds to join the celebrations for Metro Manila Pride.

First after 50

Memory Served: 26 June 2015, Pasay City

After the SCOTUS victory of Obergefell v. Hodges, the joyous cries reverberated across the globe. And this image was one of the most jubilant, an octogenarian same-sex couple, who never thought that this day would ever come. "Hashtag may forever (#mayforever or #thereisforever)," we warmly humored other friends, especially those who allegedly were already hardened by the revolving doors of their intimate relationships. (Link to a People magazine article shared on the comments section as well.)

As a member of the LGBT community, this is inspirational. As a person in a long-term relationship, this is aspirational. Hope springs. Love wins.

Upon these rocks

Memory Served: 26 June 2016, Pasay City

An "On This Day" notice from Facebook, liked and shared this post I read from Bubut Vasquez in 2016. Created a video of the photos included in the post, and posted on my YouTube.

This afternoon, with no fanfare and media coverage, people gathered at the supposed burial site of former president and dictator Marcos to lay rocks and stones in the open crypt. On each stone laid was written the name of a man/woman/child kidnapped, tortured and murdered during Martial Law. They are the REAL HEROES who deserve to be buried here. 

This is just the start as more stones with more names are laid so that their memories shall not be forgotten. This is a public space and all are welcome to pay their respects and honor the real heroes. 

Thank you Miguel Syjuco and your group Bantayog, Susan Quimpo of MLCP, UP SAMASA, Akbayan and Akbayan Youth, Claimants 1081, Dakila and Nameless Martyrs and Heroes for initiating this solemn but powerful show of solidarity.

Love Wins

Blurb on the dust jacket of Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell, though not a short, quick read, offers enough to entice. #goliwaliwph #june2018 #pages #lgbtpride pic.twitter.com/fAvTJrJDVg

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 13, 2018

No random number generated for a page number between 1 and 287. The blurb on the dust jacket of Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality by Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell, though not a short, quick read, offers enough to entice.

In four parts, with prologue and epilogue, I was also caught by the poetry quoted on the divider for Part One, "Love," from Pablo Neruda's 100 Love Sonnets:

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving but this.

Today is very special for all LGBTs in the United States: the decision of this landmark civil rights case was handed on 25 June 2015. This month in liwaliw Pages, I also pre-selected titles from my personal library for the June observance of LGBT Pride.

A Different Love

A Different Love: Being a Gay Man in the Philippines by @drmargieholmes, a paragraph from Foreword written by Prof. Eric Julian Manalastas, a popular, everybody-likes-him faculty of Psychology in UP. #goliwaliwph #june2018 #pages #lgbtpride pic.twitter.com/MrPRdJXouL

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 13, 2018

I tried my random number generator several times for a page between 1 and 191 but none of the results seemed to satisfy me. So for a snippet of text from A Different Love: Being a Gay Man in the Philippines by Margarita Go Singco-Holmes, Ph.D., I share a paragraph from one of two Forewords of the book, this one written by someone whom I personally know through my non-profit work in HIV and AIDS, Eric Julian Manalastas, who seems to me to be a popular as in everybody-likes-him faculty member of the Department of Psychology of the University of the Philippines.

This book is a second edition (2005). I had the first edition when I was in college, 1993, and boy, writing that down did make me feel authentically ancient for a moment. Anyway, I've lost my copy of the first edition: it's passed through so many barkadas' hands... and exes.

This month in liwaliw Pages, I pre-selected titles from my personal library for the June observance of LGBT Pride. Love wins.

Long Train Runnin'

"Long Train Runnin'" by the Doobie Brothers, from their album The Captain and Me, ranked 41st on the Year-end Billboard Hot 100 of my birth year. Quoted on Songfacts, lead singer and guitarist Tom Johnston said "We played 'Long Train Runnin'' for three years before it got recorded, and it got called several different names, and most of the time I would make up the words as we were playing the song."

Well the pistons keep on turning
And the wheels go round and round
The steel rails are cold and hard
For the miles that they go down
Without love, where would you be right now

Continuing this selection on liwaliw Sounds from last month, which ended with the 31st in rank.

Latepost: Artist-curator

5th of 8 in my exhibits marathon, @upvargasmuseum #updiliman #quezon city, Raymundo Albano: Texts #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 25, 2018 at 8:40pm PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Fifth of eight in my exhibits marathon visit at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City has the smallest footprint in the exhibition spaces of the Vargas Museum. But it was more intellectually complicated. In introducing Place of Region in the Contemporary, Patrick D. Flores, as director of the Philippine Contemporary Art Network, wrote "Raymundo Albano: Texts:"

It addresses the concerns of Albano in the intersecting fields of the creative, the critical, the cultural, and the curatorial. It is to these that Albano speaks: the discourse and practice of art making and instilling it with presence in the world of ideas, exhibitions, and the particularities of lived life.

This exhibition was said to be held from December 2017 to January 2018 as an inaugural project of PCAN. Not sure though if the space the exhibit is currently located is the same scale as the exhibition that supposedly ended last January.


[This posting is antedated: 20180625]

Natural High

"Natural High" by Bloodstone, featured in the album of the same title, ranked 39th on the Year-end Billboard Hot 100 of my birth year. One of those happy revelations of those songs heard before but never fully knew until now.

Why do I keep my mind
On you all the time?
And I don't even know you (I don't know you)
Why do I feel this way?
Thinking about you every day
And I don't even know you (I don't know you)

Continuing this selection on liwaliw Sounds, which started last month, and only got to the 31st rank.

Art and Homosexuality

Random no. between 1 & 285, page 182 of Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas by Christopher Reed features George Segal's sculpture "Gay Liberation" installed at Christopher Park in New York City. #goliwaliwph #june2018 #pages #lgbtpride pic.twitter.com/ztQgbqNc24

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 13, 2018

Random number between 1 and 285, page 182 of Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas by Christopher Reed (Oxford University Press, publisher) features George Segal's 1980 sculpture "Gay Liberation" installed at Christopher Park in New York City, part of Chapter 6 of the book, "The Avante-Garde and Activism, 1965-82."

Noted on the caption: "A second cast, repaired after being severely vandalized, is on the campus of Stanford University in California." Mildly baffling that this seemingly quiet and calm artwork was reportedly "attacked from all sides" -- like from the Catholic Church on one side, and the gay and lesbian activists on the other.

This month in liwaliw Pages, I pre-selected titles from my personal library for the observance of LGBT Pride. Love wins.

Saturday Evening Post (06 June 1931)

Spotted: (Uknown User), after Pinterest search, ca. June 2018

Cover illustration for 06 June 1931 issue of Saturday Evening Post, by one of the periodical's more prolific artists, Elbert McGran Jackson (or E.M. Jackson, who was also educated in architecture). Curtis Publishing identified this work with the title "Bridal Couple Dancing." One other source for information for E.M. Jackson was the Kelly Collection of American Illustration Art.

The month of June is traditionally the bride's, liwaliw Visuals will be on the look-out for notable bridal, marriage or wedding images.


[This posting is antedated: 20180625]

The Farmer's Wife (June 1929)

Spotted: soloillustratori.blogspot.com, after Pinterest search, ca. June 2018

Cover illustration for the June 1929 issue of The Farmer's Wife, a women's magazine in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in circulation between 1897 and 1970. Not much information online about its illustrator, Leon Lippert; ArtLeaf Publishing had the most.

The month of June is traditionally the bride's, liwaliw Visuals will be on the look-out for notable bridal, marriage or wedding images.


[This posting is antedated: 20180625]

The Bride (June Ashley Wilson)

Spotted: vintagebrides.tumblr.com, after Pinterest search, ca. June 2018

"The Bride," subject identified as June Ashley Wilson, is by Hilda Rix Nicholas, an artist from Australia. She was married to Edgar Wright on 02 June 1928 in Melbourne. This work was part of an exhibition of the artist's works at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

The month of June is traditionally the bride's, liwaliw Visuals will be on the look-out for notable bridal, marriage or wedding images.


[This posting is antedated: 20180625]

Latepost: Ivatan-esque

4th of 8 in my exhibits marathon, at @upvargasmuseum #updiliman #quezoncity, Viay nu Ivatan by Olan Gonzales and Francisco Datar #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 25, 2018 at 8:29pm PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Fourth of eight stops in my exhibit visit marathon in UP Diliman, Quezon City; at the Vargas Museum, Viay nu Ivatan (Ivatan Lifeways), featuring paintings and drawings by Olan Gonzales, and photography by Francisco Datar. Introduction to the exhibition points out:

"The Ivatan culture is shaped by strong typhoons, rough seas, and meager resources.... it exemplifies a particular relationship of a people with their environment.... each household is oftentimes self-sufficient, enjoying a considerable degree of independence."

[This post is antedated: 20180623]

Latepost: The poster kid

Third of 8 in my exhibits marathon, in @upvargasmuseum #updiliman #quezoncity, Vic Delotavo: Posters of Philippine Cinema -- poster of 1970s "Gabun" is one of hundreds exhibited. Wonderful. #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 25, 2018 at 8:11pm PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

The third of eight stops in my exhibit marathon tour in the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City was at the Vargas Museum; on the ground floor was Vic Delotavo: Posters of Philippine Cinema. Based on the volume of works exhibited, Delotavo was apparently the main guy for the local film industry for poster design in his time.

This one, the movie poster of Gabun, brought back memories of my Asian economic crash unemployed days when I was mainly just helping out the family business, and office supply store and business center ran by my mom. We had a client at the store, who first required us to encode and print handwritten drafts of his showbiz-themed column for a magazine (now out of print). Then when we started offering internet access (dial-up, gasp!), the encoding extended to sending his articles to his editor via email (very sophisticated then). Then, maybe it started on a particularly bad mojo day for him, I began complementing my encoding services with copy-editing. (I couldn't resist the temptation, honestly.)

And we could write this up as a good case of building customer loyalty for a small neighborhood specialty store. Eventually, he offered me a freelance gig that involved almost all the products and services of the business center, as well as my modest graphic design and copy-writing skills: secretariat support for a teenage co-ed image and personality competition that he founded and co-produced. Not too bad, considering it was in the depressed years following the Asian crash of the late 1990s.

Why did this poster bring up that memory? Well, it also turns out that this movie Gabun's film adaptation was penned by him, Tom Adrales.


[This post is antedated: 20180622]

Fighting for Lollipops and Roses

Memory Served: Several times between 1978 and 1990, Makati and Las Pinas

There were times in my childhood that I remember hearing grown-ups talk about me. My mom in several occasions talked about while she was pregnant with me, she once battled her way to watch what apparently was a very big hit then in the cinemas, Lollipops and Roses, starred Nora Aunor, matinee idol then, an icon now of Philippine film and entertainment. Then, of course, the grown-ups laugh about it, then sometimes look at me with fondness. Weird.

Reportedly, "Oh My Papa" was one of the musical performances from the movie - and yes, my memory of this song is mainly either the version of Lady Aunor, or her contemporary, Victor Wood. Just now, I learned that the song was originally in German!

For this post, I bestow a regal title for Lady Aunor, primarily to pander to some of my readers, who are die-hard Noranians (the cult of her ladyship, whose adoration and loyalty are proven to be more stable than our currency's foreign exchange value).

Happy Fathers Day to you and yours!

Dancing in the Moonlight

Last month, liwaliw Sounds featured songs from the Year-end Billboard Hot 100 of my birth year, and I only got as far as the 31st in rank (i.e. "Shambala" by Three Dog Night). Still a long way to the 100th in rank, so I decided to continue the selection this month.

So, the 36th from the list is "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest, released as a single in 1972 (ranked in the Hot 100 that year and the next).

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody's feeling warm and bright
It's such a fine and natural sight
Everybody's dancing in the moonlight

I heard the revival cover first, by Toploader, released first in 2000. I had it downloaded on Limewire. (remember that?) I had a housemate then who got so obsessed with this version that he played my Limewire download back as much as he could.

Boxed in tearful

Memory Served: Sometime in 1979, Makati City

Memories of childhood have become sketchier. Not sure if I was with my father, or my mother, or them both, but I saw The Champ, starring Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroeder in cinema (most probably at Quad, now part of Glorietta, Ayala Center, Makati City). This movie was what I remembered and associated the first time I learned the word "tearjerker." Not a single eye in the moviehouse left dry - I cried too, and I was only six then.

Last month, I facilitated a meeting with government hospitals that were helping Filipino professional boxers with their medical, diagnostic and neurological requirements. Alvin Lagumbay, who just won his welterweight title in Tokyo this year even came to personally thank the hospitals. At one lighter, more casual moment in the meeting, I was able to take some of the attendees down memory lane with memories of The Champ.

It spoke of the mutual devotion between father and son. So, Happy Fathers Day to you all.

Etta's courage

Memory Served: 14 June 2016, Pasay City

"I was blindfolded, she said, but I will never forget your voice," quoted by Carla Montemayor as part of her narration to describe Etta Rosales' brand of courage; shared by friend Gus Cerdena on Facebook. Worth committing this to memory.

"When Etta Rosales was a new member of Congress, she came face to face with one of her torturers during the Marcos era: Col. Rodolfo Aguinaldo, by then also a member of Congress. She introduced herself and reminded him of the circumstances under which they first "met". 

When I first heard Etta relate this incident, I was stunned. You did what?! Why? And how did he respond? 

He denied having encountered her previously. Of course. That's what cowards do. He could not face the truth of his savagery. But Etta insisted calmly: I was blindfolded, she said, but I will never forget your voice. 

This is the kind of courage that Etta possesses. Here is someone who was brutalised but not broken, who is not vengeful but insists on confronting the past and pursuing justice. That she objects to Ferdinand Marcos's burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani is consistent with her experience and her principles. There can be civility, due process -- even forgiveness -- when dealing with our painful past but we must see it as it is, remember and seek justice."

Rosales is one of several Filipino women that I admire the most. A party-list representative and former chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, Rosales was the first to champion a national measure to protect rights of Filipino LGBTs.

Marriage

Spotted: "Plum Leaves" from Flickr, after Pinterest search, 13 June 2018

"Marriage" is by Andrew Wyeth, an American realist painter. As in many images of art online, this work's ownership and location were hard to find. The information I needed didn't even come up in the article that featured George and Helen Sipala, the sleeping couple portrayed in the painting.

So Marriage is likely in private collection, unlike "Christina's World," Wyeth's most popular, and a masterpiece of magic realism, which is in the Museum of Modern Art. Christina's World is already an iconic American image: the Olson house in Cushing, Maine, as depicted, is now preserved at the Farnsworth Art Museum; the property, Olsen farm, became a National Historic Landmark on June 2011.

The month of June is traditionally the bride's, liwaliw Visuals will be on the look-out for notable bridal, marriage or wedding images.

My VP, My #LODI

#LODI #LeniIsMyVP pic.twitter.com/6yGv2EQqQl

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 12, 2018

Dateline: 12 June 2018, Pasay City

With the rains pouring consistently since last weekend, I decided to cancel my Independence Day observance for liwaliw. The nearest I came to being in the spirit of the national holiday was reading the papers while having brunch - I saw a full-page display ad containing a message that PDiggy signed but most definitely didn't write. (I doubt if he had a smidgen of his thoughts represented there, and I stopped reading after the first paragraph for feeling very sure of its inauthenticity.)

Oh, and stocking up for the night and the next coming rainy days, I saw a signage inside SM Supermarket that claimed that the turon (saging na saba with langka) is the national meryenda. That's the extent of my frail token nationalism.

And I should feel ashamed. Very early today, here was the country's Vice President, despite the rains, true to her ceremonial commitments at the Rizal Monument in Rizal Park (Luneta), Manila. (Saw tweets, too, that claimed main man PDiggy woke up late - again - and arrived late for his address at the Aguinaldo Shrine, Kawit, Cavite.)

Love Speaks Its Name

Random no. between 1 & 256, page 26 of Love Speaks Its Name: Gay and Lesbian Love Poems features "Sonnet" by Richard Barnfield - one of 25 poems under the theme chapter "Longing". #goliwaliwph #june2018 #pages #lgbtpride pic.twitter.com/thZNRKBfOH

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) June 13, 2018

Random number between 1 and 256, page 26 of Love Speaks Its Name: Gay and Lesbian Love Poems, part of the series of Everyman's Library Pocket Poets (Alfred A. Knopf, publisher), features "Sonnet" by Richard Barnfield - one of 25 poems under the theme chapter "Longing".

In the Foreword, by the book's editor J.D. McClatchy (page 15):

Our lesbian and gay poets have been forced to learn love's harshest lessons the better to understand its sweetest instructions. They know more about what is disallowed in the pursuit of happiness, more about the false leads and wrong turns of passion, more about the emergencies of a double life, more about love's secret passages, its private mythologies, its defiant pride, its beguiling joy. 

This month on liwaliw Pages, I pre-selected titles from my personal library for the observance of LGBT Pride. Love wins.


[This posting is antedated: 20180614]

Doo-wop all night long

Tag that friend 😂👇 Credit: @merguezstudio #hotvocals #dance #funny

A post shared by Singing & Inspirational Videos (@hotvocals) on May 30, 2018 at 1:02pm PDT

I have other stuff I wanted to post, but since discovering this on Instagram last week, I've watched this so many times and I already lost count on how many. My idle thoughts kept being invaded by the infectious doo-wops and hooks and adorable dance. (Found on the comments thread that they were wearing what was called Jojo's Jammies. Ugh! This may be #fakenews) By sharing this, I also hope to exorcise it from my system.

It wasn't hard to Google search the accompanying music, strangely. The song "Katchi," an Ofenbach vs. Nick Waterhouse single, is even on Wikipedia, and the official music video on Youtube. Couldn't find a verifiable claim to the meaning of katchi, though.

Latepost: Politicked

Second of 8 in my exhibits marathon at #bulwaganngdangal #updiliman #quezoncity: #kahayupansadangal by @chonggoart #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 25, 2018 at 8:01pm PDT

Dateline: 25 May 2018, UP Diliman, Quezon City

Second of eight exhibit visits I did in the University of the Philippines; this one fitting to be right next to Toym Imao's ML/Marcos Era critique. The lengthy title of the MFA exhibit of associate professor Jose Santos P. Ardivilla offers a succinct summary: Kahayupan: A Bestiary of Political Animals as Visual Encapsulations in Large-Scale Political Cartoons that Represent the Administrations, Institutions that Enable Corruption and Impunity in the Philippines from 1978 to the Present at the Bulwagan ng Dangal, Gonzalez Hall, UP Diliman in Quezon City. The artist introduced the exhibit: "Politics is a beastly thing. Political cartooning is either trying to pet or poke the animals."

A carousel of seven deadly sins, the politics of the day is characterized as wrath, evidenced by a quote from a Philippine Star headliner "Duterte: Shoot suspects who fight back, make them fight if they don't" *shudder*


[This post is ante-dated: 20180611]

Latepost: Perfumed ML nightmare

Did an exhibits marathon at #updiliman in #quezoncity yesterday. This was first of 8, Super Robot + Suffer Reboot by @toymimao at #bulwaganngdangal #2018gac05

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on May 25, 2018 at 7:54pm PDT

Dateline: 26 May 2018, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Birthday leave, took a day off from work. Decided to spend it on a marathon visit to exhibits in UP Diliman: Bulwagan ng Dangal, Vargas Museum, and the College of Fine Arts. Wanted to visit UP Press bookstore too.

First of eight exhibitions was Super Robot + Suffer Reboot by Toym Imao at the Bulwagan ng Dangal, or part of the basement of Gonzalez Hall (more commonly known as UP Main Library) with entrance access separate from the Library. The entrance used to be a tambayan in my time (UP Mountaineers, I think).

Many references to childhood - Voltes V, Mazinger Z, Daimos, and of course, Marcosian and Martial Law histories. The accurate versions, or before this social media onslaught of revisionism. Full of color, lighting effects and symbolism, the exhibit is both fanciful and disquieting. It's worth hours of experiencing and repeated visits.

Toym Imao, in introducing this exhibit, explained: "This was my childhood, old school, analog filled with fictional super robots and real life heroes fighting the bad guys and villains in all of its incarnations and manifestations."


[This post is ante-dated, 20180611]

June slides in

The goodest boy of them ALL!💍😍🐾 📹:@summit_the_golden_retriever

A post shared by Insta Puppies (@lnstagrampuppy) on May 29, 2018 at 6:23am PDT

May crawled out with almost no energy left. When I was working in HIV and AIDS, May was understandably hectic because of all the organizing the goes into the observance of the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. I am no longer working in the HIV program, and still May proved to be a very hectic month. June slid in unceremoniously.

Still, a welcome is in proper order for the month that for me meant return to schooling, commemoration of Philippine independence, and the LGBT Pride.

June is also traditionally the month of brides. Not sure when or how this came to be, but some of the  popular but largely unverified claims and explanations were summarized by these librarians. Filipinos though, according to the national statistics authority, prefer to marry in the months of February, April and May. So here's a matrimonial woofy cuteness for you all.