Photo courtesy of Tasha Bud of Tasha’s Take

Everyone is talking about him. There are negative things that his detractors made a field day of. How easily we believe and wallow in them. But have we ever thought of giving him the benefit of the doubt? The more scandalous the item was, the more the public indulged in it. The man had great talent and we should accord him that!

This video is one of my favorites- “Will You Be There?”.
Will you be there when it’s I who will be needing you?
I hope you’ll enjoy it!

From:aliveagain2006

( If you still have not read chapter 1, do read it here.)

As soon as they arrived in Lubuagan, Guinnaban was baptized to Christianity by Fr. Belucci and named Benedict – after St. Benedict. To Guinnaban, the name symbolized hope and courage – and he liked the sound of it!

The abrupt change of environment though, had made him and his family uncomfortable. There were sad moments that they thought of going back to the simple life in the barrio. It was difficult for them to adjust to the ways of the progressively booming town. The good priest however, insisted that they stay on as he knew Benny was a brilliant boy who could pursue a much needed education for the sake of his people.

The following school year, Fr. Belucci enrolled him at the Parish secondary school.
On the very first day, Benny was already taunted by his classmates. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Benedict” he would reply.

“Benedict? that’s a fancy name, huh? Far from your ugly, Kalinga name.” then the group would roar with laughter.

“ Let’s see if you can live up to it, “ laughing, they would leave him speechless at the center of the school’s quadrangle.

They frequently picked on him and made fun of him. “Here’s the native,” they taunted and ridiculed him.

On the 5th day of school, Francis the most intelligent of the class, challenged him to a spelling contest. Benedict was reluctant to participate, as he was brought up by his parents believing that a truly brave man did not have to prove himself.

But the whole class jeered at him:” C’mon, you – from Taloctoc, let’s see if you know something, ” and they refused to allow him to leave the room.

Thinking that it would do no harm to anyone, he accepted the challenge and stayed. They unceremoniously pushed him beside Francis; he could see the beads of sweat mushrooming in Francis’ excited face as he gleefully grinned at him.

Each of the students started yelling words for them to spell.

“pneumonia,” one shouted.

“Use the chalk dumbo! Write ” Francis snarled at him, “Let’s see if your teeny weeny brain recognizes words.”

” psychology”

Images from: All Free Clipart

“gobbledygook”

“millennium”

“minuscule”

“sacrilegious”

There were two students assigned to both blackboards to check what they have written.

After each word, the uproar grew lesser and lesser as Benny had been able to spell the words correctly.

Unknown to them, since Benny’s first day with Fr. Belucci, he was allowed to use the old priests’ personal book collection. He devoured them like someone starving, and spent every free time savoring each page of the variety of books available for his perusal. He even started reading theology!

“And what is this all about?” a voice thundered from the doorway.

Everyone turned to meet Mrs. Garcia’s unsmiling face. “What are you up to, now Francis?” her piercing stare made Francis wince.

“Err… we were just having a spelling contest,” he was meek as a lamb in front of Mrs. Garcia.

The teacher took one long look at the board and said sternly, ” the two of you, come to my office, right now.” Her manner was succinct but there was a hint of pride in her tone.

Francis got most of the scolding as Mrs. Garcia was aware of his boisterous behavior at times.

“Let me finish what you started,” her voice was gentler now and there was a twinkle in her eye.

“Spell liaison” , she motioned to Francis.

Francis stood at attention and proudly blurted out, ” L – I – A – S – O – N” .

Mrs. Garcia – her face expressionless – nodded to Benny .

” L I A I S O N”, Benny enunciated each word deliberately.

The teacher happily tapped the shoulder of Francis, ” Now we have a new champion, Francis ,” she strode towards Benny and intoned excitedly, ” You are correct! I have high hopes we will win the championship this year. From now on, both of you should work together.”

As days laboriously passed , it was evident that academically, Benny performed better than Francis – to the other one’s obvious chagrin. In fact – he was the best in all categories – be it in Mathematics, English, Literature, or Music.

He had an eye and a heart for all extra-curricular and academic pursuits. He was the Grand Champion in the Math Quiz bee, the Spelling Bee and had won the Short Story Writing Contest sponsored by the English Society.

He then earned their respect and admiration. No one dared to taunt him anymore. Everyone wanted to be in his list of friends.

He graduated from St Theresa’s College as the Valedictorian of High School Class ‘ 76; with 6 medals: the gold, the leadership medal, the Insular Life gold, the Best in math, the Best in English, and was awarded “The Most Outstanding Graduate.”

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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By: Jena Isle

The mournful chant reverberated through the small four walls of the hut…” Aieeeee”.

Guinnaban – 9 at that time – was cowering in the eerie shadows. He was staring at the wrinkled woman wailing for the gaunt, pale corpse laid on the long table. The head of the corpse was at a grotesque angle, almost totally severed from his body.

“ Uma nangwa kansika anna?” ( Who have done this to you?) the woman wailed even louder.

“Aiieeeeee”….. everyone joined in and the hut became a cacophony of mournful cries.

The barrio captain motioned to the elders for a conference and they filed outside, their faces grim and murderous. Outside, a heated and frenzied debate took place.

Finally, the barrio captain raised his arm and shouted amidst the din, “ Intakkon no, umma uwayon yo, ittod tako kanida de kingwada.”( Then what are we waiting for? Let’s avenge his death.)

And so a full blown “tribal war” had began.

Guinnaban, grew amidst these bloody chaos caused by two warring tribes, who both fought for domination over the municipality. He accepted it as a way of life: the constant refuge in the deep forest even in the stillness of the night when the “enemy” had come to attack and the code of silence even when all he wanted was to protest at the top of his voice at the injustice of it all – these had become routine occurrences for him. And at age 10, he had stood as a sentinel on one of the night watches.

The “enemy” did not select their victims. Women and children were not spared by their avenging spears and bolos. Men had their heads always severed from their bodies, as a symbol of victory. The victor would bring home the grotesque, bloody head and would proudly display it like a trophy in their barrio. The warriors would dance gleefully around it till the wee hours of dawn. Head-hunting was normal and considered a warrior’s noble deed.

It is for this reason that women and children did not dare venture outside their barrio’s perimeter unless escorted by warriors.

He was 12, when a Belgian, missionary priest , Fr. Carl Belucci, visited their far flung barrio. Everyone was wary of him. What did this white haired man with a long aquiline nose want with them? He was not the enemy surely but might he be a spy? No one wanted to welcome Fr. Belucci and his companions to their nipa huts.

Guinnaban could not explain what prompted him to approach the priest, “ You are not here to help us, are you?” he queried, his big round eyes – probing and curious.

“I am here not only to help, “ the priest said in his soft, mellow voice.

Guinnaban believed him. At his age, he had a keen perception of people. He can perceive just by looking at people’s eyes, whether they were sincere or not; and he knew, the priest was his salvation.

From then on, Guinnaban served as the altar boy in each Holy Mass the priest celebrated. He began to listen to Fr. Belucci and learned that there is salvation for everyone, even for his enemies.

The elders however, were too far gone to forgive and forget whatever the sins of the past were, and continued with their thirst for vengeance. Some younger men, pleaded with the elders to forge a peace pact with the other tribe to end the senseless war.

They started proceedings but it seemed that their efforts were futile, there was still no vestige of reconciliation.

It was at this time that Fr. Belucci was called back to the parish church in town as it was becoming increasingly dangerous for him to stay on, in the barrio.

“Do you want to come with me?” Fr. Belucci asked Guinnaban, two days before his scheduled departure.

“You can continue serving as an altar boy and can go to school simultaneously.”

“But what about ina and ama?” Guinnaban wanted to go, but feared for the safety of his parents.

“They can come with you.” The old priest patted his head.

So on that gloomy, Monday morning, Guinnaban and his parents got what little was left of their belongings and joined Fr. Belucci in his 5 hr-trek to town.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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Who are prone to cardiovascular diseases? What tests are performed to determine this? How could one prevent this? Vital questions about the heart that we should answer.

People who are overweight or obese , who are hypertensive, have sedentary lifestyles, smoke and drink alcohol and who have a family history of heart attacks and strokes, are usually prone to cardiac ailments. If you have ticked two or more of these, then you must have an ECG stress test, thallium stress test, ECG, CT scan, and echocardiogram, and of course, the LIPID panel test. In the laboratory, the cardiac panel test commonly consists of :

1. CHOLESTEROL
2. TRIGLYCERIDE
3. HDL
4. LDL

The accepted values for each are:

* Cholesterol <200> 40 mg/dL (1.04 mmol/L)
* LDL-cholesterol <100 style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)">Eat lots of vegetables and fruits; e.g. apple, banana, oranges, grapefruit, garlic, watergourd, cucumber, and oatmeal. Fruits and vegetables are antioxidants (have carotenoids and flavonoids) and have lots of fibers to increase metabolism and reduce lipid build up. Oatmeal fibers help carry the bad cholesterol out from the body instead of allowing it to be absorbed by the blood.

2. Exercise 30 minutes everyday : 10 minutes of stretching and 20 minutes of brisk walking. The exercise will increase your blood flow, thereby avoiding the formation of lipid plaques or emboli in your blood vessels.

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3. Lessen fat and dairy intake. This includes meat fat , ice cream, butter , etc. These are sources of LDL (bad cholesterol) which increases the blood levels of the lipids. When lipids are in excess in the blood, they tend to amass in the inner linings of the vessel and form “plaques”. The plaques prevent the normal flow of blood and may plug blood vessels when they rupture. Plaques may also block the vein in the heart and cause a heart attack.

4. Lower salt and sodium intake – this is to prevent the risk of hypertension. High sodium in blood increases the risk of stroke because of hypertension and renal dysfunction. Avoid canned vegetables, luncheon meat, pickles, bacon, cheese, canned soups because they are rich in sodium. Cereals can also be a rich source, so read food labels carefully.

5. Stop smoking – carbon monoxide facilitates the elevation of cholesterol and impedes the transport of oxygen; thereby increasing the risk of cardiac disease. Smoking lowers HDL (good cholesterol) too.

6. Maintain a healthy weight – Obesity is one factor that leads to hypertension and to cardiac disease. e.g. for a 50 yr old female of 5 feet the ideal weight is 128 lbs. There is no consensus however as to what exactly is an ideal weight. This will depend on the body fat , musculature, metabolism and health of the patient. Almost all clinics have a BMI chart to which you can refer to.

7. Be sure you do not have diabetes – having diabetes is one predisposing factor to cardiac ailment. Diabetic patients have greater chances of acquiring heart disease because of insulin resistance that may lead to hyperlipidemia (increased blood concentration of lipids). The formation of plaque or emboli in the veins (atherosclerosis) is also enhanced in a person with diabetes.

8. Daily intake of aspirin has been proven in studies to have reduced by 25 % the risk of vascular attacks according to the British Journal of Medicine dated January 2002. The risk of internal bleeding however, should be considered in patients who may adversely respond to it. Aspirin has an anti-platelet activity which prevents emboli formation inside the blood vessels. A dosage of 80- 160 mg is usually the standard dose. Your attending physician should decide whether it is beneficial to you or not.

9. Stop alcohol consumption –Alcohol elevates triglycerides which can lead to stroke and heart attack. It also increases blood pressure and leads to obesity; all factors that contribute to the increase of heart attack. Researches claiming that red wine reduces HDL are still not approved by the AHA (American Heart Association) because there is no scientific proof to the claims. Locally, the old folk in the barrio drinking “tuba” (sugar cane wine) or “tapey” ( rice wine) are observed to have long lives. This can be explained by the sources of the “wine” – natural food, which have been fermented naturally. Wheat and sugar cane have lots of fiber and antioxidants which can increase HDL (good cholesterol), which is not true with commercially prepared alcoholic beverages.

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If, however; after following these preventive measures and you still experience the following:

1. Chest discomfort
2. Discomfort or numbness in the arms, neck, jaw , back or stomach
3. Shortness of breath
4. Nausea
5. Lightheadedness
6. Cold sweat

You are having a heart attack. Rush to the nearest hospital. It will save your life.

If , on the other hand, you feel one or more of the following:

1. Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
2. Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
3. Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
4. Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
5. Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Then it is a stroke. Do not wait for other symptoms to become apparent . Consult your doctor immediately. One heart is all you’ve got!

References:
cnetwork.org
nhlbi.nih.gov
quitsmokingsupport.com
americanheart.org
americanheart.org
Calbreath, Donald F: Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry

Education – in order for it to be effective – should evolve in conjunction with the society in which it exists in. The knowledge acquired should be relevant with the times. You could not teach now typing lessons making use of the old models of typewriters; instead, it is taught now with highly advanced computers. This is to respond to the society’s needs and the updates in technology.

Likewise with research, the whole world wide web is at your fingertips to research on various genre of topics that would be assigned to you. You should however be careful and particular about your internet sources. Not all internet sources are legitimate and accurate. You have to be certain that your sources are dependable, especially if these are in the field of science – like biology.

For sure, in Biology Lab, there would be several researches assigned to you as students, regarding laboratory procedures that you would be performing.

There are times however, that going out to the environment and observing or collecting live samples are impossible and that’s where internet research options are the best choice of educational materials.

Coursehero provides Biology Homework Solutions , useful study materials, textbook helps and study groups, which would facilitate and enhance your learning experience in your Biology course. This would eventually earn you good marks in your Biology Exam, if you are able to use the available teaching resources properly.

Learning need not be boring and uneventful. You could enjoy while learning!

Oftentimes we come across someone who has real talent and we know in our hearts, we just have to share this with others – with the blogosphere.

And this is one of those instances in which I was so taken by the talent of this young man – LORENZO BERNARDINO a.k.a. ZORLONE - that I decided to blog about it!

To confirm my personal judgment, even the writing community at Helium.com has recognized his talent with his very first article entitled Writing for the Love of Writing , and had ranked him highly. His “Signs Your Wife is Cheating on You” is ranked 1 by Helium writers, and to think he isn’t married yet. Need I say more?

This poem was written by him – impromptu.

Oh, I forgot to mention that he is a practising medical doctor, specializing in internal medicine. Isn’t that amazing? A superb combination : A doctor-cum-poet!

Read his Cinquain and be the judge.

Here’s what he says:

My attempt at cinquain:

Foreplay
Passionate game
Frustrated feelings unfold
Overwhelmingly delightful expression unfulfilled
Foreplay

another one:

Coffee
Warm beverage
Every sip invites
Satisfaction of another company
Coffee

A Blank Verse he composed in high school.

Troubled Grief

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As the day stood still, woke up with a chill

And my hands are stiff, this body is adrift

Alone I felt and deep inside I cried

Chains are too tight, such truth I can’t deny

Such pleasure it was when I have found you

Lovely, sweet, unforgettable and true

All those treasured times I know we all had

I never did want to say our goodbyes

I don’t want to leave these friends in my arms

For we are destined to be together

If we separate, there will be no peace

But our hearts will remain in troubled grief.

Thanks for voting for my entry.

Mabuhay to all the top picks! – Justin, Zorlone, Jennifer, Deeptesh, WebbieLady, and Roy, Ferox , Izzy: you’re all winners for me. Keep writing, guys!

WOOF Contest – Top Picks

About Poetry and Writing

Jena Isle – “Poets and Poems” – Are poets defined by their poems?

Poetry

Dragon Blogger – “Chance Encounter” – Random word poem about falling in love with a girl who works at a register.

Zorlone – “War Cry” – “To me this is like a tale of the redirection of energy. From one source to another, energy does not go away it is only redirected. That is energy from the electricity of nature, to energy from the electricity of human souls.” – Straberry Girl

Jennifer M Scott – “Broken Cacophony” – A journey into the surreal complete with an original picture drawn by me.

Zorlone – “Goodbye” – “Saying goodbye is the hardest thing to do…” – Snow (This is a poetry challenge by Jenn Scott)

Deeptesh Sen – “Angel of the Dark” – Surreal love and fear….and some soft magic!

Fiction

Webbielady – “Her Garden Has Something” – Her garden is her passion. She did not ask for any return but one day something unexpected came up and she could not believe it!

Brought to you by PlotDog Press with the Serial Suspense Screenplay “Intervention”

(WOOF participants should re-post all the links above by next Monday. The following links may be excluded as long as you include all the above links.)

Presenting the finest of the writer’s blogs by the bloggers who write them. Highlighting the top posts as chosen by the June 12, 2009 WOOF Contest participants. Want in to join the next WOOF? The next contest ends June 19. Submit a link to your best writing post of the last 3 weeks using the form on this page. Participants, repost the winning link list within a week and you’re all set.

Other WOOF Contestants for 06/12/09

Poetry

Deeptesh Sen – “Boatman and some love songs” – The divine, a girl and a boatman…….the air of surreal tunes.

Roy – “numbed” – a heart turned cold… frozen… numbed… because of a broken trust

Roy – “One-words – Death” – an attempt to sound poetic using only one word per line

Dragon Blogger – “Reflections from on High” – Random word poem about our place in the universe.

Zorlone – “A poet’s meal: Oven baked” – “…writing something is like cooking something and then sharing it to your readers. Also, creations do start from dreams which are fueled by inspiration.” – Lucrecio Emerito

Dragon Blogger – “Unfinished Book” – A poem challenge to use the words Verbum Me Vocat inspired this poem.

Jennifer M Scott – “Verbum me Vocat” – A poem about writing verbum me vocat means word calls me.

Jennifer M Scott – “cold heat” – A somber poem.

Jennifer M Scott – “When the Lights Go Out” – Hoping for the power to go out because of a thunderstorm.

Jennifer M Scott – “May” – A poem about may in acrostic.

Fiction

Ferox – “The She-Demon’s Anatomy part 2” – Part 2 of an encounter with a she-demon in a fantasy story.

About Poetry and Writing

Izzy Daniels – “How to avoid messing up your post schedule” – This is a post on ideas to prevent messing up your writing schedule.

Izzy Daniels – “How flame can actually benifit you if you use it right” – Most people get hacked off when some flames on their article, but what if you could use the strong critisism to better yourself and you blog? In this post I give you the reasons why keeping flame is actually good for you.

More and more people are becoming aware of the fact that genuine peace and contentment come from the inside – just like the concept that happiness emanates from within. No one can make you happy but yourself. This goes true with peace and inner healing. If you analyze this carefully, you would realize that it is your perception of things that counts, and the attitude that you generate from this perception.

If you perceive things and events with a positive attitude, then you could always be happy and at peace. This however, takes practice and your daily renewal of the positive mind-set that you should acquire.

In order for inner healing to take place, you should be first:

1. at peace with yourself

This can be done through yoga, meditation or mind relaxation. To be at peace with yourself, you should spend some quiet time alone. This would give you the chance to evaluate your life and resolve to be better.

You should forgive not only people who wronged you, but should also forgive yourself for your own transgressions. Sometimes, we are even less forgiving of ourselves than of others. You must remember that no one is perfect.

2. at peace with the people around you

If you had a fight with someone – forget about it. Let bygones be bygones. Renew your friendship instead, and bridge the gap between yourselves.

We oftentimes lose sleep over a person who had wronged us. Because of this, we become insomniacs. Our health suffers, and we become ill physically and spiritually.

You should learn to let go of the past demons. As the cliche’ goes: “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”

Blissful sleep would be at your doorstep once you let go of those demons that haunt you.

3. at peace with the world

When you have attained the first two, then this third step would not be difficult. You should consider yourself as a tiny unit of the whole, which is the universe.

Every simple little thing that you do contributes to the stability of the whole. One very specific example is about your own garbage. If you don’t take the responsibility to properly discard it, then eventually everything around you will get affected by your irresponsible behavior.

When you are at peace with the world, this means being responsible about the environment, nature and all the biota and fauna around you – being in sync with the universe.

Have you noticed that when you help a stray kitten, there is a warmth flow of positive energy within you? It is because your kindness evokes positive vibes back to you.

Have you noticed that when you helped in the “Community Tree Planting Program, or the “Feeding Program”- These gave you a different high?

These are the positive feedbacks of being virtuous and generous. You need not be Mother Theresa redivivus, you just need to do what you can, in your own little way.

All these positive actions attract positive vibes that would lead to inner peace and contentment.

The processes above could be facilitated by meditation methods. Meditation induces inner healing because of the effect it has on the central nervous system (CNS).

“A non-meditated life is a life not worth living”, would be an apt description of the very essential role of meditation in a person’s life.

Meditation relieves you of stress and anxiety. It is now accepted as one of the alternative treatments for several conditions like, drug addiction, obesity, insomnia and many more. When stress and anxiety are relieved, the accompanying diseases that usually go with these two are also eradicated.

Stress and anxiety cause a lot of stress-related conditions like insomnia, high blood pressure, and an addiction to substances of abuse. This is because most people usually relieve stress by smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs or through an eating binge which would eventually result to obesity, high blood pressure, insomnia and many other pathologic conditions.

Insomnia in turn may cause hypertension, disorientation, stupor , etc. which would affect your mental and physical alertness. Lack of sleep weakens your Central Nervous System (CNS) and therefore all of your physiologic body functions would deteriorate .

Meditation does the opposite – it relieves you of stress; therefore it decreases your tendency to develop a disease. The cure comes from the inside, as a result of your inner peace and calmness.

Here are simple steps of Benson’s Respiratory One Method (ROM):

1. Find a place where you could sit comfortably. Your back should be straight and your posture good. Do not lie down as this would induce you to sleep.

2. Allow your muscles to relax. Your eyes should be closed so that you can “feel” your muscles relaxing. Start with your toes. Feel them relaxing and becoming heavy; then go upwards; the heel, the legs, the buttock, abdomen, arms, neck and then the face.

You should allow each muscle to relax before proceeding. Do this by mentally commanding each of your body parts to relax.

3. Do not breathe through your mouth but through your nose. Feel your diaphragm and chest go up and down so you could feel your breathing. When you exhale, say in your mind the word “one”. Do this for about 20 minutes twice a day.

4. Try to focus on your breathing and not on any other thought. Do not force relaxation. Be patient, when you get the hang of it, it would eventually come.

5. after the meditation, rest for several minutes.

PRECAUTIONS:

1. Do not do this right after a meal. Allow about 2 hours or more to relapse, before commencing.

2. Be sure you do not have a debilitating condition before doing this relaxation technique.

Inner healing focuses primarily on the mind. The mind, through the hypothalamus, controls every biological process in the human body because it controls the hormones secreted by all the endocrine glands.

The mind is a very powerful tool. Without the brain recognizing the stimuli from different parts of the body you would not be able to feel, hear, see or taste anything.

It is logical therefore that to be able to control the body, one must be able to control the mind.

Free your mind of negative thoughts and feelings through the processes described above.

Welcome positive thoughts like love, kindness, helpfulness, generosity, forgiveness, caring and unselfishness, and you will indeed be having a healthy mind and a healthy body!

References:

Calbreath, Donald; Fundamentals of Clinical Chemistry

Freeman, Lyn et al; Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach, 2001

Photo 1 by COCOMARIPOSA

Photo 2 by Young’un

Photo 3 by Dave Hogg