KAUBAN - /ka-u'-ban/ a traditional Filipino term associated with a close friend. Literally, it means "someone you grow gray hair with." A related term is ka-ibigan, a term normally associated to a friend, but which can also be interpreted as "someone you share your love with." Kauban, however, is more than just a friend. In fact, kauban is your true friend for life, where the bond between you, tempered by time, can never be broken.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
PISAY, The Movie Film Screening Delancey Street Theater (600 Embarcadero Street, San Francisco, CA) Saturday, August 8, 2009 3 pm.
Tickets for the screening will be sold for $15 each; net proceeds will be donated to PSHS. To reserve your tickets and for more information, please contact Hannah Delos Santos (hannahdoc2000@yahoo.com) or Jerome Molejona (jmolejona@hotmail.com; cell: 650-296-4283).
...I hate to miss watching this movie, but I'm also awfully dreading remembering that that "once upon a time" existed... once upon a time.
I apologize I've been on a roll with farewell tributes. Since three weeks ago, I have been surrounded by death. I guess much like everyone else with the passing of MJ, Farrah, Billie Mays, and even Robert McNamara (for all it's worth), there have been a number of public figures that have passed away recently. Even in the Philippines, with Susan Fernandez and Wilson Baldonaza, lives have been cut short though by natural means (Susan is 52 and Wilson 55, I think). Then my cousin's father-in-law also passed away which caused us to rush his wife to fly back to PI so she can see her father and bid goodbye. And yet I still vividly remember Francis Magalona's passing as well as the great worker-leader Ka Bel who the whole international labor movement mourned (not just the Filipino people, mind you). I have actually met him in my union days and I remember him with his grandfatherly demeanor (he never stopped telling stories, haha).
Today, with MJ's tribute I found myself humming the following song. I guess it's my way of saying farewell to him and all I have known or have been affected by, in a way of quietly questioning reality and wondering in a subtle way as to why such thing as death comes, but at the same time understanding that, just simply, such is so.
"If It's Magic" Stevie Wonder
If it's magic... Then why can't it be everlasting Like the sun that always shines Like the poets in this rhyme Like the galaxies in time
If it's pleasing... Then why can't it be never leaving Like the day that never fails Like on seashores there are shells Like the time that always tells
It holds the key to every heart Throughout the universe It fills you up without a bite And quenches every thirst
So... If it's special Then with it why aren't we as careful As making sure we dress in style Posing pictures with a smile Keeping danger from a child
It holds the key to every heart Throughout the universe It fills you up without a bite And quenches every thirst
So... If it's magic... Why can't we make it everlasting Like the lifetime of the sun It will leave no heart undone For there's enough for everyone
Susan Fernandez Magno (August 3, 1956 - July 2, 2009)
My brother has this cassette tape that one of his close friends gave him way back during their high school days. Here in the US, we continue to listen to it. Below is one of the songs on the album which have helped shape my thinking, by an artist adored by many she touched, me being one of them.
Her husband relates how they still managed to dance together and celebrate life even on the eve of her passing...
Silly, I thought we were gonna sail the world on a deep blue ship I thought we were gonna revel in each other's company To stare in each other's eyes, To watch the deep blue sky And lay down together with a kiss and a lullaby...
Silly, I thought you were made to be mine... and I am yours.
