Emotion:
Random Thought: to continue my thoughts.
What:silence.all except for the typing i am doing.

question to ponder at this moment: none at this moment unfortunately.

i suppose the purpose of this entry is to continue describing my experience at the GABNET conference. As closure, all participants at the conference marched from UCLA to the federal building, protesting the VFA forces in the Philippines, the war, GMA needing to be ousted, and the rape of the Filipina. As we marched down the streets empowered with our posters and voices, chills ran down my spine. my voice grew louder and louder with every block we passed. onlookers stood there confused as to what our purpose was. i'm sure they were asking what VFA was or perhaps they were just thinking that it was a stupid cause for a traffic. When we arrived at the federal building we were suprised to see another protest in progress. Israeli and Mexican communities had collectively protested against the Iraq war and the many injustices that are occuring. Another site of empowerment. at the same time however i wished that our efforts were as collective as theirs, better yet as big, but at the same time conjoint with theirs. i wish our problems had transcended from our voices and into their hearts and out of their mouths. i wished that they understood at least were aware of the issues that we, Filipinas faced and still face. Viva viva Palestina, viva viva Pilipinas! we screamed. but it didn't seem like it was enough to convey to them that we stood there in solidarity. i wanted to cross the street to join in protest with them. we both agreed that the war is an unjust war, an atrocity and a waste of our money and efforts. i symphatized with them and emphathized their efforts. but i couldn't show them that.
all i could do was honk my horn as we passed the street again. . on the way home to the reality of san diego.

i have met some very strong women through this conference. unaware of their life stories, but all i knew was that we were sisters, brothers, and allies standing in solidarity to fight the cause, fight the good fight of ensuring justice and equality and recognition of all women especially Pilipinas. I loved that GabNet masked our true identities. we were able to come together and share our stories without exposing our masks. i was able to have a conversation evelina galang, the author of my favorite book, "Her wild american self" as if we were just sisters. there were no roads to block us from sharing a humane connection. no titles in the way of conversations. it was great. we came as concerned women seeking justice. we left as concerned women seeking justice in our daily lives for the lives of other women, children, communities. we, or i, left empowered but dawned upon with the reality of life.