BlogHer - military - Comments

We Are Orphaned by Cory's Passing

creativenative — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:54:31 -0500

Hi Denise,

"It was harder to leave the Philippines after almost six years than it was for us to go to the Philippines in the spring of 1986."

It heartens me to know that the Philippines and Cory Aquino touched your life. You lived in our country during a magical time when we were "reborn" and "democratic infants" having just emerged from the dark decades of the dictatorship. I believe we're just emerging from our turbulanet adolescence and are on our way to maturing...

We just spent a whole day bidding her one last farewell, this special day when the heavens cried buckets of rain to match the country's tears. And her send off was amazing, with folks of all ages and all walks of life feeling such a spiritual connection with the lady who brought democracy back to the Philippines at such personal cost and with such dignity and grace. Today we are pround to be Filipinos once again. Cory has always had that magical effect on the country.

Cory's name was the one I wrote on my very first ballot 23 years ago (I'm sure you're now thinking, has it been that long ago already since you lived here?), I marched with her and was ready to die for all that she believed in and the democracy we were trying to restore. As a pround People Power participant, of course I wrote all about Cory Aquino in my blog and featured the exact same video that you did, for that was a proud occasion for all of us, plus a speech so well-written and delivered that I get goosebumps to this day.

All Filipino bloggers blogged, tweeted and facebooked Cory today, and I
am sure millions of references to her name have been added to the
blogosphere in just one day. Your story was something I would have never expected to read online, a tribute from a foreigner who also felt a connection to our beloved Corazon Aquino.

Thank you for your memories and the lovely photo of your Jenn and the Cory doll (I never knew there were Cory dolls!).

Yes it is.

Denise — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:04:56 -0500

I learned a lot in those six years. I am incredibly lucky to have had that experience, at that time in my life.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Thanks Bambi

Denise — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:04:10 -0500

I appreciate your comment and the tweet.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

I've seen that video

Denise — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:03:34 -0500

And President Aquino was not only proud to be Filipino, she gave a lot of people reasons to be proud to be Filipino as well.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Thank you Kim

Denise — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:02:00 -0500

I really appreciate you sharing this story. I found myself nodding my head all of the way through it. I know those people. I've heard those stories. I know exactly what you mean.

Hope and resilience!

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Beautiful, Denise

Kim Pearson — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:55:46 -0500

Thank you for this reminiscence. Like you, I found inspiration in Corazon Aquino's life. I was married on August 27, 1983, on the weekend of the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington. During our ceremony, my new husband and I noted the anniversary, and how we saw the shared commitment that Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King had to human rights as part of the bedrock of their marriage. We said that we wanted our marriage to express the same commitment.

Benigno Aquino was murdered on August 21 of that year. When Corazon Aquino rose up in the wake of her husband's assassination to stand for the presidency of the Philippines, I was reminded of Civil Rights heroines such as Coretta King.

I learned a lot more about the Philippines and became an even bigger admirer of Aquino when I worked with a Filipino-American colleague on a photoessay exhibit about my family. I got to know her family and recorded her parents' stories about being part of the anti-Japanese resistance during WW II. I learned a lot about the US occupation of the Philippines as well. My friend's father had a career in the US Army, fighting in Korea and Vietnam. The family came to the US in 1958, where they were confronted with a Jim Crow system that didn't know how to classify them. While they lived in Georgia, my friend and her siblings were actually cast as Vietnamese villagers in Apocalypse now. They are in a scene where US soldiers raid the village -- something her father was doing in real life at the time.

The children of that family have gone on to become educators, physicians and military officers who continue to make positive contributions to their adopted country while keeping their connections to their ancestral home.

It has been heartbreaking to watch the continuing struggles that the people of the Philippines are enduring. Like my Filipino-American friends, however, Corazon Aquino stands out in my mind as symbols of hope and resilience.

KimBlogHer Contributing Editor|Professor Kim|

I'm a Filipino

aj_baluyut — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:47:16 -0500

There's a video where our former President was telling that she's proud to be a Filipino, that she's glad that she was born in the Philippines. She witnessed how Filipinos united to fight for freedom. So sad that she already passed away. Nice story you have Denise!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

great post

OutImpact — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:22:51 -0500

Wonderful tribute to Corazon, one of the best ones I come across. I'm half-Filipino and she will always be in my memory as one of the greatest, graceful women leaders and pioneers of Democracy that I got to study in school. I also retweeted your article through our Tweeter (@OutImpact).

Thanks,
Bambi

OutImpact.com - Making a positive impact in the gay community. Make yours.

Lovely Tribute

unachicana — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:19:32 -0500

This is a lovely and moving tribute. Isn't it amazing how experiences transform us, enlighten and enrich us, when we least expect them to?

Military Sexual Trauma and Statistics

Erin Solaro — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:42:08 -0600

I deal extensively with sexual assault in my book Women in the Line of Fire: What You Should Know about Women in the Military (Seal Press, 2006).

The problem of sexual assault in the military is a real and serious one but it is not helped by conflating 1 in 3 women who use VA services with 1 in 3 of women veterans. The former group is self-selecting from the larger group.

The real scandal is that an enormous number of military units simply do not have problems with sexual assault and the predator's foreplay of harassment because they do not tolerate these behaviors. I am not talking about sensitivity training as commonly understood. That would have been useful for the old guys, the Vietnam generation, who had never worked with women professionally and simply did not know how to deal with women in professional situations. (Of course, they were not a significant part of the problem.) For young guys, that kind of sensitivity training is dumb, offensive, and useless. The junior enlisted may be, well, junior enlisted, especially in the infantry, but they know how to treat women. They have mothers, girlfriends, sisters and female friends. Anyone of them who doesn’t know how to treat servicewomen—does not want to know.

The only sensitivity training needed is for men, preferably with shaved heads, big biceps and combat decorations, to say Anyone who hurts or disrespects our sisters is not our brother and has no place amongst us. And for every other serviceman who is tired of servicewomen having to regard sexual harassment and assault as part of the service, or even part of life, to back them up, formally and informally, in word and in deed. And the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Commandant of the Marine Corps need to summon up the manhood to say publicly what their junior officers and sergeants are making stick at the small unit level.

And yes, the combat exclusion rule needs to be dropped. It has only ever harmed military efficiency, discipline, and cohesion, by stigmatizing women as second-class troops who can’t be counted upon in a fight, alienating the good guys, rendering the women vulnerable to the bad guys, and also making them more likely to be killed by the enemy than able to kill the enemy.

Cheers,

Erin Solaro

PS: The folks who wrote in with some of the more outrageous comments are nothing but apologists for rape. Hoep you said so.

Wow. Talk about strength.

L16 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:06:35 -0500

Wow. Talk about strength. Thanks.

Thoughts with You

rebellious thinker — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:57:31 -0500

Oh, how the big events can change our lives. May your father and all of his compatriots stay safe and strong.

Laura, www.rebelliousthoughtsofawoman.com

Beautiful ode to your mother

Lisa Stone — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:32:09 -0500

Thank you!

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Loved It!

Southerngirl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:08:54 -0500

What a great story. I agree that not having heros is hogwash as you say. My mom was one of my greastest heros as well. Loved the pictures!! She was truly a fearless girl and you should absolutly tell her story every chance you get.

Michelle

Great family history!

Denise — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:41:40 -0500

I love your mom and Rosie was right. It should be a movie.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings