Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos. Day of the Dead. A day where we remember our loved ones who have gone off to live a life beyond the dead. 

Here at NDNU we celebrated this holiday with special mass and small reception after. Usually mass went on as usual, except for after the homily when we were called up. Each person was given a candle to lit and place on one of the 2 special altars made. I found this special by the way they included the congregation. Another thing special about the mass was that there was a Mariachi band included to help with the songs sung. I thought it gave it a nice touch and made it more special because the went out of its way for this to happen.

After mass there was a small reception that included some Mexican delicacies like sweet bread, Mexican hot chocolate, and salsa. My favorite was dipping the sweet bread into the hot chocolate. It tasted so good that I went back for seconds. It was just the right amount of sweetness. It was like dipping a cookie into warm milk. 

Research Conference Fear

Out of all the people in my seminar class, I was one of the few people who presented representing what our seminar is about.

I am in the Poetry and Law seminar. This seminar teaches us about different aspects and types of the law, while connecting it to poetry. We connect it to poetry by reading some related to the topic and creating our own.

I was chosen to share my poem on Immigration rights. The legal term for immigration rights is defined as... determining whether a person is an alien, and associated legal rights, duties, and obligations of aliens in the United states. It also provides means by which certain aliens can become naturalized citizens with full rights of citizenship. Even though I am fifth generation here in the US, my grandparents and great-grandparents were immigrants from the Philippines. Because of this, I based my poem on one of my great-grandfathers who was a prisoner of war during World War II. (the poem is posted below)

Beforehand, I was confident and not nervous because I have done public speaking multiple times before. That all went away, especially when I realized that the date was very special. It was the same great-grandfather's 6th year death anniversary. Once I realized this, I got a bit emotional because he was an influential figure in my life growing up. As I read the poem, I got a little teary eyed. After I read it, I can feel the love and support of the audience because they know how it feels when you loose  a loved one.
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Salamat Po

Los Angeles, November 3, 2010...Severino Rebucal dies of heart failure due to old age.

During World War II, Severino Rebucal was named among one of the heroes of the Philippines for being one of the few survivors as a Prisoner of War that was controlled by Japan.

Go back to the present...

I'm 12 years old at the time and basically sees her great-grandfather die right in front of her as she gets ready for school.

As a little girl I don't know what to do, so I scream for help and my mom and auntie come running and see him on the floor.

In a panic we call 911 and do everything they say as we wait for the fire department to come with medical help.

1.5 hours later, everyone is at the house as he was pronounced dead.

I am balling as one one of the most influential people in my life is now gone. 

Fast forward 2 weeks later...

"Where is the flag from the president that we were promised?" "I'm sorry ma'am, but we are still trying to finalize the paperwork." "But I sent those in 2 weeks ago, and you said that is should be ready in time for the funeral."

That was the conversation between my grandma and the people at the cemetery. Even though my family was immediately granted citizenship to the Us, we weren't always granted our rights. 

Just because my great-grandfather came from another country, but served a different one shouldn't matter.

This shouldn't have taken so long, that President Obama had to step in and send it to us as priority mail.

My people have served this country for too long to go through this.

My family shouldn't have to wait a month for a flag that was rightfully our because of the sacrifice that my great-grandfather made for this country.

A Big Night for A Little Night Music

...A musical about a love octagon and the whirlwind of the people around them thrown in.

When I first heard the title of this musical, I just thought it was going to be about people's love of music bringing them together, but I was totally wrong. It is about love, whether it was hidden, forbidden, or just not seen yet. It is about passion, sacrifice, and happiness.

The main reason why I went to this support my friends who had leading roles in this musical. So going, I did not expect to be emotional and to cry just a little. Two parts in particular made me emotional and get teary eyed: Henrik's suicide scene and the song "Send in the Clowns".

Henrik was played by my friend, Brandon Masterson. I think he did a phenomenal job. He was very dedicated to a character that is the opposite of his happy, fun loving self. Henrik is suppose to be a depressed, unhappy person. Henrik's suicide scene is caused by all of the bottled up emotions within himself. Once he feels like he can't take anymore of the suffering, he decides to take his own life by hanging himself, but fails. This scene had so much emotion that I felt the pain too. Even though I knew it was not real, I wanted to jump in and tell Henrik to stop.

The song "Send in the Clowns" is not what you think it is. It is not a comical song that is about making someone happy by playing with clowns. It is a ballad about Desiree telling Fredrik that she is fed up with the secret love affair they are having because she knows that they love each other, even though they cannot have each other. This song is Desiree's reaction to Fredrik rejecting her marriage proposal. Because I am a sucker for love, I felt like this one hit home because of the hurt she felt. Her pain felt so real, that it even looked like a real break up. It was not until after the musical that I found out that the people who were casted as Desiree and Fredrik are engaged in real life. Once I found this out, I can tell why the emotions between the two during this song looked so real.

All I can say is that in the end the NDNU cast of "A Little Night Music" did not disappoint me what so ever.

Connecting with Mother Nature

October 11, 2016. Call to Action Day. A day where the community of Notre Dame de Namur University faculty and students goes out and gives back to the community outside of their own and learns about what their community is about and what they do.

Out of all the choices, I chose to go to San Bruno Mountain. San Bruno Mountain runs through four parts of the Bay Area: South San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, and Brisbane. Before the cities and building were built, San Bruno Mountain was home to the Ohlone Tribe. The Ohlone Tribe used San Bruno Mountain as sacred burial sites and as shell mounds. "Shell mound, also called Kitchen Midden, in anthropology, prehistoric refuse heap, or mound, consisting chiefly of the shells of edible mollusks intermingled with evidence of human occupancy" (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). The shell mounds that we saw contained mainly shells and animal bones. 

What I learned about San Bruno Mountain was how simple the Ohlone Tribe lived. They used the plants and trees for all their uses and used them as if they were their own ancestors. The experience was truly beautiful. 

After our 2 hour hike, we went to the sand dunes of San Bruno Mountain. There I learned that one flower that is going extinct lives there. This flower grows in only 2 places out of the entire world.  What is preventing the flower from growing are ice plants indigenous to South Africa. Because the ice plants can grow in any conditions, it overlaps and takes up all the space of the sand dunes. So what we did was take out the ice plants. Doing this allows the flowers more space, so that they have adequate room to grow and allows it to makeup the resources that the ice plants were taking. 

Overall even though it was tidious and a lot of work, giving back felt good. It makes me feel accomplished knowing that I helped the world even just a little bit. 

Who is the ACLU?

On Engagement day, I did not know what to expect. When I got to the chapel, I learned that we were going to meet our freshmen year seminar professor and group. When I heard that, I thought "oh ok, that doesn't sound too bad." We walk into the room and it is hot from the summer heat flowing into the room. For about 15 minutes, we talk about the syllabus and what the semester brings. After that, the ACLU walks in.

ACLU is a nationwide group in which they are based on principle. This group is guided on principles and morals to protect all the rights that were given at birth, and which were given to us from the people of the past. What the ACLU does is try to change policies and laws, but mainly change hearts and minds.

The reason why they want to change policies and laws is to protect all people and all conditions possible. They are doing this, so that when in need anyone can use these laws and rights for protection.

Before meeting the ACLU, I knew nothing about this group. However when I met a few of their representative, my eyes were opened. I never knew how many rights I had as a person and the extent of those rights.