what if it hurts like hell
Manila, 6 May—On this day eleven years ago, my former boss and a handful of workmates started a program that hugely defined my path as a media worker, advocate and leader.
I don't think any other program has changed me as much as the Read-Along had—it taught me how to persevere past insurmountable odds, how to prioritize and organize a multitude of tasks, and, of course, how to interact with kids. Karamihan din ng kaibigan ko, nakilala ko dahil sa Read-Along.
I remembered its anniversary because I stumbled upon this photograph of me and Ms Miner on Facebook, from six years ago:
The note reads:
"To Research/Library,
Much love and congratulations!
Love,
Your fan,
Letty."
Don't ask me why Ms Miner is wearing shades in this indoor photo. She always wore shades during photos and nobody could talk her out of it because she's the boss. Haha. But even then, I think this photo was taken at her request, and she even carried the pancit. LJM sent this in after reading the anniversary story, which we had submitted earlier that afternoon, hours after we held the anniversary session that same morning. The program had just turned six years old.
This has me so tender, because LJM was our biggest fan. No kidding. She gave the program its name, signed its budget every year, and allowed us the occasional space on Page One whenever we worked hard enough for it. And yes, there was the occasional pancit at 6pm, with a lovely handwritten note to boot. You gotta miss having patrons in the right places. It did us wonders.
I'm not quite sure what the team is up to these days; I suppose they're just keeping on, with or without fanfare. I suppose the program no longer enjoys similar levels of support like it used to; we've also lost teammates along the way to retirement and resignation, myself included. It gets hard, true, but someone has to keep going for the kids. I hope they are.
Changing Partners (2018)
Rec alert: They're re-staging "Changing Partners" at the PETA Theater, May 11-13 and May 19-20. My friend is selling tickets for the May 20th/8pm staging for the benefit of the Home of the Golden Gays of the Philippines, so if any of you are interested, I could hook you up.
Anyway. I loved Changing Partners. We caught it at the cinemas—durugan ng puso my god. I thought it was... a bleak but realistic view of relationships and endings. Napakahusay ni Agot Isidro, napahalungkat ako ng discography niya sa Spotify. Haha. Incidentally, the Changing Partners OST is also on Spotify.
Here para sa mga gusto mag-pregame or whatever.
What if it hurts like hell? Tangina naman, Snow Patrol.
Rec alert: Speaking of Spotify, my Release Radar for this week brought Snow Patrol back in my radar and OH MY GOD MAY ATAKE.
Snow Patrol - What if this is all the love you ever get?
tl;dr: Bastusan eh.
On a serious note: Pwedeng ihilera sa You Could Be Happy at New York. Samahan mo ng Jack. Enjoy! :)