To 2011

You dog, you, you were more eventful and memorable than you had appeared to be. Here’s to new beginnings!

Hi there, 2012.

Sendong / Washi Relief: How You Can Help Locally and Overseas

My friend Nell dug this up for me from Facebook. What follows is a very comprehensive list of contacts and ways to help out those in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan locally and overseas, compiled from Twitter and Facebook by Anne Elicaño.

Flash floods claim more than 500 lives in the Philippines one week before Christmas; This is how you can help

by Anne Elicaño on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 12:30pm

(Last updated: December 19, 3.31pm)

Quick facts about Typhoon Sendong:

• At least 500 people are dead in Northern Mindanao, mostly from Cagayan de Oro and in nearby Iligan City. Strong tropical typhoons rarely hit the area so people were caught unaware when Typhoon Sendong swept through. Flash floods swept hundreds of houses into the sea in the middle of the night.
• An estimated 100,000 people were displaced which is the worst storm in the history of the region.
• Cagayan de Oro and Iligan contain many of the most fertile agricultural lands in the Philippines. The local economy will suffer a blow because of the flash flood.
• In Iligan City, food, water, clothing, blankets, lights and mosquito nets are urgently needed, according to reports by the Philippine Red Cross.

Watch: http://youtu.be/2WtsUAc3oBE

I’ve started compiling information from Twitter and Facebook. Here’s how you can help:

INTERNATIONAL

• Donate to the Philippine Red Cross through online transfer- http://www.redcross.org.ph/donatenow
• LBC is accepting donations WORLDWIDE. They will directly send to LBC Foundation Philippines whose NGO partner in Cagayan de Oro is Red Cross.

1.  KSA – Store 14-16 Abi Alabass co. Murshdi Sts. Al Batha District Riyadh, KSA
2.  UAE –  Mubarak Khalifa Bldg 75 Shop 4 10D St Al Karama, Dubai, UAE
3. Singapore – LBC Aircargo 2/F Lucky Plaza 304 Orchard Road Singapore
4. HK – Worldwide 1, 2 & 33/F Worldwide House 19 Des Veoux Road Central HK
5. HK – Tsuen Wan Branch 2/F Liksang Plaza 269 Castle Peak Road Tsuen Wan, New Territory
6. HK -Hung Hom Branch G/F Planet Square 1-15 Takman St Hunghom, Kowloon
7. HK – Northpoint Branch G/F Blk 7-14 Garden 233 Electric Road
8. HK – To Kwa Wan Warehouse 2/F On Lok Factory Bldg. Blk C.  88-90 Kawloon City Road Tokwawan, Kowloon
9. HK – Kennedy Warehouse 20/F Hongkong Industrial Bldg 444-456 Des Veoux Road, West HK
10. Brunei – G-06 Badiah Complex Jalan Tutong, BSB
11. Malaysia – G/F Kota Raya Complex Lot G.13 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, KL
12. Malaysia  - B11 4.08 Complex Tun Abdul Razak Georgetown, Pulau Penang
13. Taiwan –  No. 27-1 Chung Shan North Road, Sec. 3 Chung Shan District, Taipei City
14. Taiwan – No. 360-5 Demin Rd. Nantzu District, Kaohsuing
15. Taiwan – No. 34 Lane 62, Chung Cheng Road Taoyuan
16. United Kingdom –   Unit 9, Victoria Industrial Estate, Victoria Road, Acton, W3 6UU
17. Spain – Calle Doctor Cirajas # 12 Planta Calle 28017 Madrid Spain
18. Spain – C/Roure 2-4 Poligono Mas Mateu El Prat De Llobregat, 08829, Barcelona
19. Italy – Via Calatafimi 20, 00185 Rome, Italy
20. Italy – Privata Turro #8, Milan, 20127 Italy

UNITED STATES

1. Donate to Gawad Kalinga U.S.A branch and more http://www.bakitwhy.com/articles/tropical-storm-washi-local-name-bagyong-sendong-devastates-northern-mindanao

2. Donate to PhiDev through online transfer- https://secure3.convio.net/phdev/site/Donation2?df_id=1401&1401.donation=form1&set.SingleDesignee=1881&JServSessionIdr004=z7xs4t1dr3.app332b

MANILA, OTHER PHILIPPINE CITIES

It’s time to display the magnificent show of bayanihan that we all saw during Typhoon Ondoy.

•  Drop off donations at any LBC branch nationwide, it will be delivered to Mindanao for free. More info: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2277658913001&set=a.1371322015145.2050590.1594611883&type=1&ref=nf

• Cash donations to Ateneo de Cagayan/ Xavier University

Account Name: Xavier University

Account Number: 9331-0133-63

Bank: Bank of the Philippine Islands, Cagayan de Oro – Divisoria Branch

Those who wish to receive receipts for their donations, may email finance@xu.edu.ph with the details of their donation (donor’s name, receiving branch, date, amount) for proper acknowledgment.)

• Cash donations to La Salle Academy Iligan

(via @DLSUManila) “We would like to request for your assistance in helping our Lasallian brothers and sisters in Iligan who were affected by typhoon “Sendong”. Cash donations may be deposited to La Salle Academy Iligan via Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Account No. 0820-016221-030. Kindly inform Lourdes Melegrito of DLSU COSCA the details of your donation at email lourdes.melegrito@dlsu.edu.ph, Tel. No. 524-4611 local 147, or telefax 523-4143. Thank you very much.”

• La Salle Greenhills High School – Bring your donations of used clothes, medicine, food, etc to Gate 2

• ABS-CBN’s Sagip Kapamilya accepts donations in-kind. Drop off for Manila is at Sagip Kapamilya ABS-CBN Foundation. Mother Ignacia cor. Eugenio Lopez, Quezon City. For other cities, more info here:  http://www.twitlonger.com/show/epiivv

• SMART telecom subscribers: Smart Money users can instantly transfer funds through their mobile phones to the official Baha Fund account number 5577 5130 6822 1104.

• Globe Telecom subscribers: Through GCASH, text DONATE and send to 2882.

• Volunteer to repack goods- Volunteers needed to repack goods starting Dec 18 at NROC Chapel Rd, Pasay City, at the back of Air Transportation Office. ( Via @dinkysunflower).

• Potable water fund-  Donate to Rock Ed’s potable water fund for CDO. Details: BPI Loyola Heights 3080-0073-44, Rock Ed Philippines. (http://gangbadoy.tumblr.com/post/14394685310/donate-to-rock-eds-potable-water-fund-for-cdo)
  

DUMAGUETE/BACOLOD :

• Contact Binsoi Rivera : 09175007092

Silliman University, Dumaguete City

• Drop off donations at St . Scholastica Academy Gym, La Salle Avenue, Bacolod.

CAGAYAN DE ORO/ ILIGAN

• Drop by and help relief operations at Xavier University. More info:  http://www.xu.edu.ph/index.php/other-news/642-bagyong-sendong-relief-operations-in-xavier-university

• Send donations to Corpus Christi School, Tomasaco Street, Cagayan de Oro

Contact Harvey Maraguinot : 0917-8888427

• Volunteers are needed at DSWD (Cagayan De Oro). Call 09066150095.

• Send donations to Gawad Kalinga Iligan- GK Missionville, Purok 3, Canaway, Tibanga, Iligan City

Contact Judi Bentoy : 09178888745

• Pass on info about medical assistance:

1. Polymedic Medical Plaza - Free outpatient consultation and tetanus shots at or flood-related injuries. Doc Farina will be there everyday except Dec 20.
2. Macasanding Evacuation Center - Wound dressing on December 19, 2011 ( please get in touch with Bert @ 09264631441)
3. For breastfeeding please contact  Dr. Jessamine Mae C. Sareno  09175014155
4. West City Central School – Free clinic (free medicines and relief goods will be given away. Please contact Dr. Fahad Macadato on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000210344825)

• Pass on info about Evacuation Centers in Cagayan de Oro City

1. City Central School in Yacapin-Velez Streets
2. West City Central School in Vamenta Blvd, Carmen
3. Macasandig Gym
4. Bulua Gymnasium
5. Xavier University

• Contact the Iligan Bloggers Society:  http://iliganbloggers.com /  iliganbloggers@gmail.com / http://www.facebook.com/iliganbloggers

• Pass on info about free water points in Cagayan de Oro (repost from @cukiebangs) 

1) balulang booster station 

2) production well 3a near Macasandig;

3) COWD Kauswagan Office;

4) Faucet near MUST;

5) some fire hydrants near GSIS Carmen and other areas with BFP coordination

6.) Rainsoft in NHA highway (beside Mazda) is giving free nawasa water.

• (Repost from @JuletteAlon) Google docs for missing persons- For people searching flor lost relatives and friends, this is a form where they can submit the name online, results of which will be shared/forwarded to the search/rescue/retrieval operations team on the ground. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dExEVzZ0SlVEZVRWTUxRZGNGbkp5eEE6MQ#gid=0

If you have information on how to help, please message me, I will continue to update this list. Please also feel free to share this on your walls or copy/paste the vital stuff  so we reach more people who can help.

Twitter accounts with on-ground info on what’s needed and how to help: @RockEdIligan, @Mindanaoan

My story at The Other Room

My story “Trichophagia” is published in The Other Room as this week’s feature. Many thanks to editor Tim Raymond!

Susanna Tam started craving hair in her fifth month. She liked the texture of her own, silky and chitinous, and began eating it when she was anxious or tired or flat on her back at the clinic watching the ultrasound. The baby had a big head. The doctor said there’s a possibility the baby might be premature but it was too early to be sure. The baby’s father was thousands of miles away in Chiba, Japan, and as it turned out, with a family of his own. Susanna took a taxi home by herself, chewing and fraying the ends of her hair.

Full story’s here. Check it out!

You’ll Never Have to Guess at What Jealousy Means Again

The terrible truth is that feeling really does have to be learned. It comes spontaneously when one is in love, or when somebody important dies; but people like you and me – interpretative artists – have to learn also to recapture those feelings, and transform them into something we can offer to the world in our performances. You know what Heine says…”Out of my great sorrows I make my little songs.”…And what we make out of the feelings like brings us is something a little different, something not quite so shattering but very much more polished and perhaps also more poignant, than the feelings themselves. Your jealousy – it hurts now, but…you’ll never have to guess at what jealousy means again, when you meet with it in music…Everybody claims to have been in love, but to love so that you can afterward distill something from it which makes other people know what love is or reminds them forcibly – that takes an artist.

ROBERTSON DAVIES, A Mixture of Frailties

Wisdom May Be Rented

Wisdom may be rented, so to speak, on the experience of other people, but we buy it an an inordinate price before we make it our own forever.

ROBERTSON DAVIES, Leaves of Malice

A Reggae Kind of Morning

I think these moments come more frequently than we think; we just forget because they can be easily overshadowed when you start doing something as small as reading the news or sending emails. You’ve woken up to a crisp, bright morning, sweater and PJ’s still on, tea boiling in the kitchen, and reggae playing.  Term just ended the day before and revision week has begun. Your students are going insane with the amount of work they still have to do and you’re not off the hook either – there’s still make-up classes,  an infinite number of papers and tests to mark, an entire affair of exams, grades to submit, and you’re going to the office in fifteen minutes. But this calm right now, you don’t just pass it by. Another semester has come and gone and you punctuate it with a big breath. Good job, one and all. The next semester is peeking around the corner of another month, there are news to read, emails to send, and another hundred things to worry about once you open shop, but right now there’s this, there are people who care about you, and everything’s all right.

Always That Hum

And in that moment, the longing he’d felt for Sasha at last assumed a clear shape: Alex imagined walking into her apartment and finding himself still there — his young self, full of schemes and high standards, with nothing decided yet [...] Alex closed his eyes and listened: a storefront gate sliding down. A dog barking hoarsely. The lowing of trucks over bridges. The velvety night in his ears. And the hum, always that hum, which maybe wasn’t an echo after all, but the sound of time passing.

JENNIFER EGAN, A Visit from the Goon Squad

Couple of Things

Tonight’s soundtrack is Herbie Hancock’s Takin’ Off (Grooveshark is awesome if you want to have a listen), served with a small dollop of plum wine drowned in water because tomorrow’s a work day.

My short story “The Likeness of God” has been accepted for publication in Philippine Speculative Fiction 7! A snippet from the email from Kate Osias, who’s editing the anthology with her husband Alex:

There is something brutal and honest in this piece of work; it made Alex and I uncomfortable, at times disgusted. But it is because you were able to make us feel this way that the story succeeds.  Not all stories could be about love, or longing, or bitterness. Yours was a different journey, and all the unpleasant emotions we felt along the way led us to think about our humanity.

Thanks, Kate! This year’s PSF will be published digitally for the first time to reach a wider audience.

I’ve also gotten an account in LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalkoo. Because it seems to be the professional-looking thing to do. And you can look up old acquaintances without the politics of Facebook.

I’ve also signed up with InterNations, the biggest networking site for expats from all over le world, where you can find info and advice about your city and connect with others expats. Membership is invitation-only and its founder, Philipp von Plato, emailed me an invitation after he bumped into my blog while looking for information about Hong Kong. They have around 5000 members of 89 nationalities in the HK community alone,  which is pretty sizable. I’ve still to fully check out all its functions but it’s been looking really interesting so far.

Updates

There’s nothing like getting a story acceptance (or rejection for that matter) in your inbox first thing in the morning. A short story of mine  titled “Trichophagia” was accepted by The Other Room for publication!

Also, I just received news that the anthology The Dragon and the Stars (DAW), which had been nominated for Canada’s 2011 Prix Aurora Award and includes my short story “The Man on the Moon”, won in the category of Best Related Work – English! Congratulations to editors Derwin Mak and Eric Choi and the other writers!

Derwin Mak, Eric Choi, and Tony Pi accepting the award at the SFContario in Toronto, image courtesy of Eric

And to round up the day, a short fiction piece of mine got rejected by a literary journal but had made it to the second round. This piece has previously been a near-hit in another venue so it looks promising! I’ve generally been making it to a lot of second rounds lately, which is more than what I can say about last year, so it’s quite encouraging.

Finally, a HUGE thank you to the intrepid Charles Tan for getting Junot Diaz to sign a copy of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which I had read two years ago (just found out it won the Pulitzer in 2008), to me. TO ME. There’s a part of my mind going Oh my lord, Junot Diaz WROTE MY NAME.

Junot Diaz was in Manila for the Manila International Literary Festival 2011. (He was in Hong Kong too for the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival last year, which I had missed for a reason I can’t remember now but I hope had been a good one.) Charles has the interviews with Mr. Diaz up in his blog so check them out!

My story at Corvus Magazine

“Rubato”, my short story about music, food, and a robot, is up in the inaugural issue of Corvus Magazine. Many thanks to editors Emily-Jo Hopson and Rachael Bundock! (Links lead to the PDF file.) Includes fun words like amines, low-frequency oblivion and rum.

Image courtesy of Corvus Magazine

Issue One Available

Our inaugural issue features cover art by Hannah Simpson and prose and poetry from Rich Ives, Alex Bernstein, Valentina Cano, Leslianne Wilder, Sanchari Sur, P.A. Levy, S.J. Adair, Paul Lewellan, Lam Pham, Kevin Ridgeway, Neila Mezynski, Crystal Koo, Caleb Puckett, Elizabeth Allen, Jeffery Ryan Long, David McLean, and Allison Spangenberg. You can get it here. Simply click to view online or right click and save link/target as to download it.

We hope you’ll take a look, and that you’ll enjoy it as much as we have. Feedback is always welcome, via the contact form or straight to our email inbox.

We’d like to thank all of our contributors, including those whose work we were unfortunately not able to accept for this issue. It’s been a real privilege to get the opportunity to read so much work by so many different writers, and we do hope that you’ll all submit to us again in future.

Sincerely,
the Editors