Indy Bunny’s Neighborhood

Alls I gots to bring to Thanksgiving are pumpkin bread and cranberry sauce and they're just now done - so I have some time to loaf around till we hit the trough at three. Wanted to say you guys are the best and thank you for being my hoodies!

This seemed appropriate to the occasion. It's awesome regardless.

My apologies to whichever of you peeps posted this on Faceboob recently - I can't for the life of me remember who it was cuz I'm brain-decrepit like that.

The IG clan is all right. Cleanup has begun on my sister's house and my nephew never did make it home yesterday, but he stayed safe with friends through the worst of the flood. Papa IG was trapped in his condo by high waters but had the sense to stay put. My BFF and her husband lost power (no TV, no Internet) so they had no idea how bad the flood was until power was restored. I got an email update from them this morning snarking about President Arroyo's (lack of) response to the crisis:

"She didn’t even come out with any sort of announcement. NBN was broadcasting a high-level meeting in which government officials were defending their response time. They were exhibiting a chart showing how the US gov’t took 2-3 days to respond to Katrina and how it only took them 1 day! Of course, GMA was sitting there, indoors, wearing a shiny black raincoat!"

In my family it's been material losses only - floodwater damage to my sister's beautiful house, the death of my BIL's new car, several cell phones dropped in flood water...stuff like that. We've been lucky. Donya M. is very conscious of how fortunate they've been and grateful that she was in a position to shelter and feed refugees at her home in spite of everything.

Here are some pics I grabbed off Facebook this morning plus some information about relief efforts below. The Faceboob, I have to say, has been a real informational lifeline through this. Cell phones and landlines were useless yesterday, but some Filipino was always managing to post an update to Facebook...

I tried a sample earlier this week (from a company in Texas) and I'm hooked.

Just received this in an email forward from Papa IG, who received it from an IG sibling:

Mr. IG and I spent some time today re-reading our copy of People Power: The Greatest Democracy Ever Told. No one who was at EDSA in 1986 needs a book to remember, but I'm so glad that we have it. I bought it for Mr. IG when I was last in Manila. As we were remembering Cory and reading sections of the book together earlier today, Mr. IG asked me to inscribe it for him: I was there. All of this is true.

Some voices from the book.

Cory Aquino, widow of Senator Ninoy Aquino, on March 10, 1984, after her husband's assassination:

When Ninoy emerged from prison, it seemed clear to those who knew him that much had changed in him. The superb political animal--shrewd, fast, eloquent, and brave--who had placed his immense talents in the service of the Republic in the hope of public honors, had evolved into a man for whom love of country was only the other face of his love for God. And I think this is the truest and best kind of patriotism. It is only on this plane that patriotism ceases to be, as they say, the refuge of scoundrels, and becomes, instead, the obligation of a Christian...

We cannot, of course, just place an order for such men and women to be or to lead the opposition. Such people are not made to order. They make themselves that way.

Teresa C. Pardo, wife and mother, on Saturday, February 22, 1986:

"Please stay at home because it's dangerous. You have to think of the children," my husband said.

I got angry. Precisely it was for the children that I was going to risk life and limb--so that they could hope for a better future. I had to be where the action was. My younger children were safe with a trusted nursemaid. I had encouraged the older kids to go and join the crowd. It was Cardinal Sin, no less, who had exhorted people to come out to defend the military and pray. How could I now not practice what I preach?

For a second I sat down on the sofa; I was immobile and close to tears. I heard on the radio that people were being urged to man the barricades and that they were arriving even from the provinces. Here I was in White Plains, just a stone's throw from the barricades, and I was being kept in the house.

At the tanks

The decision did not take long to make. I was going out there to do my share. This was the relevance that I had been searching for: to be able to express my faith in God, who is sometimes so near and yet often so far away. He was here, right now, asking me to prove myself by going out to be counted.

I couldn't stay put in my comfortable home while thousands from the depressed areas were doing their share to fight for me.

With towels and lemon juice to lessen the sting of tear gas, I walked out into the early dawn alone, out of the house into the street. I walked out of grace--from my marriage, so I thought at the time--into independence and into freedom.

Lulu Castaneda, wife and mother, on September 1986:

When we were alerted to meet the tanks, I was very self-conscious about two things: my hat and the person beside me. I was wearing a Christian Dior hat because it was drizzling and I looked so bourgeoise. I wanted to take it off but my daughter Leia stopped me. She said, "Don't, Mommy. You'll get sick. You always catch a cold when you get wet in the rain." I told her: "What are you worried about? We are going to die. I have no time to catch a cold."

We were told to link arms. I looked at the faces of the people around me and especially at the man to my right who was holding on tightly to my arm. My big concern was: I am going to die with this man and I don't know his name. I wanted to ask his name, but then did not want him to think I was fresh. I did not ask his name. As utter strangers, we faced what seemed like imminent death together...

My deepest concern was for my daughter because she is so young, only 17. I looked at her with pain and said: She is only 17 and she is going to die. Then I thought: But if she dies for the country, then it is a good way to die. I think a lot of people were there for the same reason.

Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, on September 23, 1986:

I heard about Mrs. Monzon, the owner of Arellano University. She is 81 years old and bedridden. She has to use a wheelchair to go anywhere.

She had herself brought to EDSA and there she met the tanks. With a crucifix in her hand, she said to the soldiers: "Stop. I am an old woman. You can kill me, but you shouldn't kill your fellow Filipinos." The soldier came down and embraced her: "I cannot kill you. You are just like my mother." Mrs. Monzon stayed there on EDSA all night--in her wheelchair.

Maria Fe P. Paller, on September 23, 2009:

Several young soldiers stood guard inside Gate 3 of Camp Crame. One soldier was really perspiring. His lips were parched and his jaws were taut. Suddenly, a withered old man broke from the crowd to offer the soldier a cold drink. Several bystanders took the cue from the old man and offered the soldier cigarettes. The soldier shook his head and smiled weakly. In a moment, he bowed his head. He did not want them to see that he had begun to cry.

Text from the book People Power: The Greatest Democracy Ever Told - An Eyewitness History.
All pics except Cory photo found here. Cory Aquino photo found here.

Cory Aquino had been a traditional Filipino housewife for decades. Then her husband, Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, was assassinated on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, in full view of the international press, under circumstances that placed the guilt directly at the door of President Ferdinand Marcos' administration. In the national furor that ensued, the Senator's widow--with no significant work experience and zero previous political experience--stepped up. Cory led several years of nonviolent protest against Marcos, culminating in the People Power revolution that swept Marcos out of power and inspired similar, nonviolent revolutions around the world.

Cory didn't create "People Power." I still don't fully understand how that particular miracle came about or whether the recipe that generated it will ever truly be replicated. Millions of citizens simultaneously experiencing a surge of righteous outrage, a uniquely powerful Catholic Church, and a particular culture that values family and community above almost all else--all contributed to the miracle of Edsa.

But it wouldn't have happened without Cory. I really believe this. I remember how terrified we Filipinos were of Marcos and his henchmen, how critics of his government would disappear mysteriously and no one ever dared ask questions. I know how disorganized and distrustful the rival political opposition factions were at the time, constantly bickering amongst themselves and jockeying for position and power. No one else could have united the opposition the way Cory did. After decades of Marcos' corrupt and bloody "benevolent dictatorship," no one else could have instantly inspired trust in the Filipino citizenry and moved us to act as one. Cory was a woman whose life's work had been to care for her family, and after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino she simply extended that responsibility to encompass us all. She became our mother. We trusted her to do the right thing.

Cory was not a great President. She lacked political vision and will. Under her administration, all my country's problems were not miraculously solved; many presidents later, the Philippines remains in political and economic disarray. But the success of People Power against Marcos continues to inspire at least one Filipino to believe that sometimes, a group of thoughtful, committed people can effect meaningful change. For your part in the miracle of Edsa, for your integrity and years of unselfish public service, thank you, Cory. Rest in peace.

Image from Reuters. Click image for details.

A friend's house was broken into this morning right after she and her husband left for work. The burglar must have been lurking nearby waiting around for them to leave, the timing was so precise.

The good news is that my friend has the world's greatest neighbors. One neighbor noticed the suspicious activity at her house and immediately phoned the police, who responded so quickly that they caught the burglar in the act. The house is a bit of a wreck, but from what my friend can tell, nothing was taken.

Aside from the alert neighbor who phoned the police in the first place, one other neighbor phoned my friend shortly after the police swarmed her house, just to say, "Something is up at your house. I don't know what's going on, but there are about thirty cop cars there."

Does anyone else have neighbors like this today?

The last neighborhood I know of that behaved in this way, like a real community, was the one I grew up in, in Manila. Everyone knew what everyone else was up to, when someone was having a party, when kids broke curfew, when there was a death in the family, and all the rest of it. Neighbors were constantly walking over with offerings of food or gossip, and it irritated my teenage self no end. One particular neighbor across the street was a pain in the ass who regularly informed on us to our parents. If we snuck out at night, met boys, or had parties at the house while our parents were out of town, she was sure to rat us out.

Mrs. Alcantara still lives across the street from the house I grew up in, except now it's my sister who lives there, raising her own kids. I wonder if Donya M. feels differently about old Mrs. Alcantara now that she has her own wayward, curfew-breaking teenagers to worry about. Mr. IG and I have an alarm system installed at Indy House, but I tell you what--I think I'd feel safer with Mrs. Alcantara.

Not everyone can be Yod. To the mere mortals among us, restricted by budget, geography, or time, may I recommend my cheap instafood of choice, available even in the whitest-bread groceries of deep flyover country. It's what I'm stocking in the basement of Indy House in preparation for the impending zombie apocalypse.

$2 a packet (less on sale), no actual vegetables in this particular variant, but you get surprisingly convincing "Thai" flavor and a decent size serving. I suppose you could throw in some chicken strips and greens if you were feeling chef-tastic. (I've never exercised this option since I'd be cooking real food in the first place if I had that kind of energy and time to spare.)

The "chicken" flavor does come with a small packet of dehydrated vegetables that goosh up surprisingly well when cooked, and the flavor isn't bad either. I'd stay away from the "shrimp" and "spicy chicken" versions--they're rather implausible flavor-wise. The "beef teriyaki" flavor is okay, but I have trouble wrapping my head around the concept of rehydrated beef bits.

Don't ask me about fat or nutritional content. I wouldn't know.