“Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination, and humility. When a river breaks at a waterfall, it gains energy and moves on, as we encounter our own waterfalls, we may fall hard but we always keep moving on. Water is brave and does not waste time clinging to its past, but flows onward without looking back.” —Anonymous
Dreamers know no bounds and see only possibilities. They are grounded in God’s infinite grace and envision no limitations to their dreams. They keep on no matter what, and step by step, they see that what they committed to do, defines them, and inspires the organizations they lead.
First, there is Tony Meloto, who imagines the poor can be middle class in the Philippines, who keeps on, despite the odds and conflicts he faced. Today, Gawad Kalinga gets worldwide donations and has built homes for 2,000 communities. Second, there is Loida Nicolas Lewis who imagines a school, so Sorsogonian children can be educated in moral values, technology and entrepreneurship, then jobs or businesses as productive citizens in a global economy. The Lewis College now has close to a thousand enrolled students from K to college. Third, there is Dado Banatao who imagines strategic philanthropy as a significant bridge amongst Filipino Americans and Filipinos, funding science and technology researches, while producing high-value goods that anchor a sustainable economy in the Philippines. Today, his partnership with Philippine Development Foundation (formerly Ayala Foundation) and the Philippine government has created a research consortium, involving seven universities, aggregating their scientific capacities. Fourth, there is Vicky Wallace who imagines a bed and breakfast in Panglao, Bohol, using local crops and local labor. She is much ahead of her times when she conceived it a decade ago, when organic cooking and baking was not in vogue yet in Bohol. Now, her visionary thinking for Bohol Bee Farms gives jobs to hundreds of Boholanos, while she raises her own bees, farms her own produce and makes new dips using malunggay, with food technologists as new uses for fruits and vegetables.
Joining this circle of spiritually–grounded visionaries is Regina “Gina” Lopez who imagines the Philippines as the eco-tourism capital of the planet.
“We are not Singapore or Hong Kong, we are 7,000 amazingly beautiful and spectacular islands. Many of us do not even know the beauty that exists in our country because these islands are not comfortably accessible, to discover the magnificence of Sibuyan Island in Romblon and to even [get] more saddened to find that a people living amidst such magnificence could be so poor, “ she said.
“Envision it like Hawaii,” I told her. “Yes, yes,” she replied!
Gina’s transformational cleaning up of the Pasig River, a river long dead, like a landfill in one section, filled with mattresses, plastic bags, diapers, tires, bottles, and a dead carcass stench, has opened up collective imaginations and collective energies that kaya pala natin ito. Used to making a big splash, as part of a media-conglomerate family, she was raised to look at the problem in a strategic way. Watching her dad, Eugenio Lopez, by example, she learned from him the importance of integrity and vision.
Gina was asked to take over the Pasig River cleanup by former First Lady Ming Ramos. But, before taking it on, she sought partnership with the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR). DENR agreed, so she accepted. Later, she was officially appointed by President Benigno S. Aquino to chair the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, under the DENR, along with Metro Manila Development Authority, Office of Executive Secretary of the President of the Philippines, Department of Tourism, Department of Public Works and Highways, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Department of Interior Local Governments, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Finance, Department of National Defense, Department of Transportation and Communications, GMA Network, ABS-CBN Foundation/Bantay Kalikasan and Unilever. The commission’s goal was to have a viable river of Class C quality, fit for fishing, boating and manufacturing water supply for food processing. Mind you, this is a 15-year effort of cleanup and revival. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made in the Pasig River, including the relocation of top polluting industries, like chemicals and petroleum, which have since relocated. But, the unprocessed domestic wastes, to which only 7% of the households in Metro Manila are connected to sewage treatment, make the problem quite insurmountable. But not Gina!
Estero de Paco became the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission’s demonstrative project. It was the largest estero, the dirtiest and presented the most challenge. What once was a slum-dwelling estero, it is now bordered by agapanthus and rubber plants, complete with what Gina calls “island reactor, with coco coir to filter the water, and man-made waterfalls.” Next to it is a newly built Paco Market, with stabilized rents. She is currently seeking donors to help former vendors the first rights to go back to the stalls, at $1,500 a stall. It is now a state of the art facility, with better managed and cleaner stalls, and no longer with an added stench from the nearby Pasig River.
I asked her what gives her a unique perspective in seeing the Filipino potential of healing Mother Nature and their capacity for change. While she grew up a child of privilege to the Lopez family (who owns prime real estate, utilities and biggest media network in the Philippines) and received a high school education at Assumption College, then college at Newton College of Sacred Heart in Massachusetts, she dropped out to become a yoga missionary for Ananda Marga, dedicated to the self-realization and service to humanity. Her commitment of 20 years led her to India, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria. She credits this part of her life as opening up her sights that poverty can be removed in the Philippines, “especially in the places which are beautiful, in these places, agriculture and eco-tourism is the way to go.” Her political will to see transformational change amongst the poor came about when she learned survival skills as a missionary in Africa.
She found herself without a safety net of being part of a media conglomerate nor the connections of a well-placed family. She learned that “when there is a will there is a way.”
“That as long as one had faith in one’s convictions, one can build dreams. I ended up with land, a house, a children’s home, a school. To survive, I would go to businesses and tell them what I was doing and invariably I would get support. I learned how the poor live. I lived in the slums of Africa where one had to stand in line for hours for water, taking a bath and washing with a bucket, where there are no toilets. I had to sleep on the floor. It was hard but I developed an affinity with the poor…I know what it is like,” she continued.
Indeed she knows. She applied the first principle in doing projects for the impoverished, malnourished children.
When she came back to the Philippines, she took on these projects that made a splash, not with fame and glamour, but with social impact. Bantay Bata is child welfare program of the ABS-CBN Foundation, with eight regional offices that provide rescue and relief for abused and sick children, while giving them quality home care and therapy, until they are reunited with their families or referred to appropriate childcare agencies. For her work in designing an all-around safety net for the abused Filipino child, she was recognized as one of the AAA awardees of the Asian Institute of Management. She was a UNESCO Kalinga Awardee for popularizing science through her innovative media work on math, sciences, national heroes, seeking help from the Department of Education to show these modules in the classrooms. In classrooms where they were shown, dramatic improvements were achieved in math and reading scores.
Her social-impact environmentalism appears to follow three principles in Van Jones’ Green Collar Economy’s book: first, equal protection for all, where the pain is minimized for the impacted group and their gain maximized; second, equal opportunity for those in pursuit of equity, where all are included; and third, reverence for all creation. She states her principles as: “commitment to integrity, compassion to care for each other, to work together, reverence for the environment and healthy lifestyle.”
She shared her work in Estero de Paco, next to Paco Market, to a group of Filipino Americans gathered in Goldilocks in Cerritos, California one evening in 2011. We were all riveted to her presentation that most folks did not leave until close to midnight. Housing for the informal settlers who lived on the banks of the waterways or esteros was first secured. They were relocated to a development called Bayan ni Juan, where concrete row houses were built, with a school and clinic in Calauan, Laguna. She is the first to say that she cannot do it alone, but together with a team of students, military, community volunteers, “where the cleanups were always a source of joy and kinship,” nothing seems impossible.
Gina is the first to admit that more investors are needed to set up businesses which will employ local folks, much like the visionary Vicky Wallace, who did it in Bohol for her province-mates, and much like Loida Lewis who is educating her fellow province-mates in Sorsogon. Gina had prevented more respiratory diseases and a new imagination has sprung from these new Calauan residents.
Now, the second principle of equal opportunities for all has to be satisfied. At the Paco Market, most of these retail vendors are provided opportunities to inhabit the new market stalls.
“Nothing can stand in the way of a people united for a noble cause,” Gina said: “I have a deep resonance with the environment. My spiritual practice is feeling the divine, entering stillness, then feeling the Higher Worlds. When one does this, one develops a very keen affinity with nature. Divine Energy is in Nature.”
As to the third principle of reverence for all, Gina succeeded in eradicating poverty in Puerto Princesa, where she helped the community residents in building trails, a waterless toilet, a visitor’s center, and other visitor-friendly improvements. With this community-based tourism, the community benefited. She has eliminated poverty in this area in just a period of two years with very minimal investment in five communities living amidst these gorgeous surroundings. “It has even reached the stage where the profit is big enough to roll over to another community,” she added.
Like water, moving with grace, ease, determination and humility, Gina has indeed been a social impact environmentalist, a peace-builder, healer and nurturer of Mother Nature by cleaning dead rivers and installing community-based eco-tourism!
Water is a great teacher that shows us how to move through the world with grace, ease, determination, and humility. When a river breaks at a waterfall, it gains energy and moves on, as we encounter our own waterfalls, we may fall hard but we always keep moving on. Water is brave and does not waste time clinging to its past, but flows onward without looking back.
Anonymous
Dreamers know no bounds and see only possibilities. They are grounded in God’s infinite grace and envision no limitations to their dreams. They keep on no matter what, and step by step, they see that what they committed to do, defines them, and inspires the organizations they lead.
First, there is Tony Meloto, who imagines the poor can be middle class in the Philippines, who keeps on, despite the odds and conflicts he faced. Today, Gawad Kalinga gets worldwide donations and has built homes for 2,000 communities. Second, there is Loida Nicolas Lewis who imagines a school, so Sorsogonian children can be educated in moral values, technology and entrepreneurship, then jobs or businesses as productive citizens in a global economy. The Lewis College now has close to a thousand enrolled students from K to college. Third, there is Dado Banatao who imagines strategic philanthropy as a significant bridge amongst Filipino Americans and Filipinos, funding science and technology researches, while producing high-value goods that anchor a sustainable economy in the Philippines. Today, his partnership with Philippine Development Foundation (formerly Ayala Foundation) and the Philippine government has created a research consortium, involving seven universities, aggregating their scientific capacities. Fourth, there is Vicky Wallace who imagines a bed and breakfast in Panglao, Bohol, using local crops and local labor. She is much ahead of her times when she conceived it a decade ago, when organic cooking and baking was not in vogue yet in Bohol. Now, her visionary thinking for Bohol Bee Farms gives jobs to hundreds of Boholanos, while she raises her own bees, farms her own produce and makes new dips using malunggay, with food technologists as new uses for fruits and vegetables.
Gina Lopez with clean up volunteers | Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN Foundation
Joining this circle of spiritually–grounded visionaries is Regina “Gina” Lopez who imagines the Philippines as the eco-tourism capital of the planet.
“We are not Singapore or Hong Kong, we are 7,000 amazingly beautiful and spectacular islands. Many of us do not even know the beauty that exists in our country because these islands are not comfortably accessible, to discover the magnificence of Sibuyan Island in Romblon and to even [get] more saddened to find that a people living amidst such magnificence could be so poor, “ she said.
“Envision it like Hawaii,” I told her. “Yes, yes,” she replied!
Gina’s transformational cleaning up of the Pasig River, a river long dead, like a landfill in one section, filled with mattresses, plastic bags, diapers, tires, bottles, and a dead carcass stench, has opened up collective imaginations and collective energies that kaya pala natin ito. Used to making a big splash, as part of a media-conglomerate family, she was raised to look at the problem in a strategic way. Watching her dad, Eugenio Lopez, by example, she learned from him the importance of integrity and vision.
Gina was asked to take over the Pasig River cleanup by former First Lady Ming Ramos. But, before taking it on, she sought partnership with the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR). DENR agreed, so she accepted. Later, she was officially appointed by President Benigno S. Aquino to chair the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, under the DENR, along with Metro Manila Development Authority, Office of Executive Secretary of the President of the Philippines, Department of Tourism, Department of Public Works and Highways, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, Department of Interior Local Governments, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Finance, Department of National Defense, Department of Transportation and Communications, GMA Network, ABS-CBN Foundation/Bantay Kalikasan and Unilever. The commission’s goal was to have a viable river of Class C quality, fit for fishing, boating and manufacturing water supply for food processing. Mind you, this is a 15-year effort of cleanup and revival. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made in the Pasig River, including the relocation of top polluting industries, like chemicals and petroleum, which have since relocated. But, the unprocessed domestic wastes, to which only 7% of the households in Metro Manila are connected to sewage treatment, make the problem quite insurmountable. But not Gina!
The once polluted Estero de Paco in Manila, near the Paco Market | Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN Foundation
Estero de Paco became the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission’s demonstrative project. It was the largest estero, the dirtiest and presented the most challenge. What once was a slum-dwelling estero, it is now bordered by agapanthus and rubber plants, complete with what Gina calls “island reactor, with coco coir to filter the water, and man-made waterfalls.” Next to it is a newly built Paco Market, with stabilized rents. She is currently seeking donors to help former vendors the first rights to go back to the stalls, at $1,500 a stall. It is now a state of the art facility, with better managed and cleaner stalls, and no longer with an added stench from the nearby Pasig River.
The Estero de Paco, a tributary of the Pasig River, after the cleanup efforts led by Lopez. | Photo courtesy of ABS-CBN Foundation
I asked her what gives her a unique perspective in seeing the Filipino potential of healing Mother Nature and their capacity for change. While she grew up a child of privilege to the Lopez family (who owns prime real estate, utilities and biggest media network in the Philippines) and received a high school education at Assumption College, then college at Newton College of Sacred Heart in Massachusetts, she dropped out to become a yoga missionary for Ananda Marga, dedicated to the self-realization and service to humanity. Her commitment of 20 years led her to India, Kenya, Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria. She credits this part of her life as opening up her sights that poverty can be removed in the Philippines, “especially in the places which are beautiful, in these places, agriculture and eco-tourism is the way to go.” Her political will to see transformational change amongst the poor came about when she learned survival skills as a missionary in Africa.
She found herself without a safety net of being part of a media conglomerate nor the connections of a well-placed family. She learned that “when there is a will there is a way.”
“That as long as one had faith in one’s convictions, one can build dreams. I ended up with land, a house, a children’s home, a school. To survive, I would go to businesses and tell them what I was doing and invariably I would get support. I learned how the poor live. I lived in the slums of Africa where one had to stand in line for hours for water, taking a bath and washing with a bucket, where there are no toilets. I had to sleep on the floor. It was hard but I developed an affinity with the poor…I know what it is like,” she continued.
Indeed she knows. She applied the first principle in doing projects for the impoverished, malnourished children.
When she came back to the Philippines, she took on these projects that made a splash, not with fame and glamour, but with social impact. Bantay Bata is child welfare program of the ABS-CBN Foundation, with eight regional offices that provide rescue and relief for abused and sick children, while giving them quality home care and therapy, until they are reunited with their families or referred to appropriate childcare agencies. For her work in designing an all-around safety net for the abused Filipino child, she was recognized as one of the AAA awardees of the Asian Institute of Management. She was a UNESCO Kalinga Awardee for popularizing science through her innovative media work on math, sciences, national heroes, seeking help from the Department of Education to show these modules in the classrooms. In classrooms where they were shown, dramatic improvements were achieved in math and reading scores.
Her social-impact environmentalism appears to follow three principles in Van Jones’ Green Collar Economy’s book: first, equal protection for all, where the pain is minimized for the impacted group and their gain maximized; second, equal opportunity for those in pursuit of equity, where all are included; and third, reverence for all creation. She states her principles as: “commitment to integrity, compassion to care for each other, to work together, reverence for the environment and healthy lifestyle.”
She shared her work in Estero de Paco, next to Paco Market, to a group of Filipino Americans gathered in Goldilocks in Cerritos, California one evening in 2011. We were all riveted to her presentation that most folks did not leave until close to midnight. Housing for the informal settlers who lived on the banks of the waterways or esteros was first secured. They were relocated to a development called Bayan ni Juan, where concrete row houses were built, with a school and clinic in Calauan, Laguna. She is the first to say that she cannot do it alone, but together with a team of students, military, community volunteers, “where the cleanups were always a source of joy and kinship,” nothing seems impossible.
Gina is the first to admit that more investors are needed to set up businesses which will employ local folks, much like the visionary Vicky Wallace, who did it in Bohol for her province-mates, and much like Loida Lewis who is educating her fellow province-mates in Sorsogon. Gina had prevented more respiratory diseases and a new imagination has sprung from these new Calauan residents.
Now, the second principle of equal opportunities for all has to be satisfied. At the Paco Market, most of these retail vendors are provided opportunities to inhabit the new market stalls.
“Nothing can stand in the way of a people united for a noble cause,” Gina said: “I have a deep resonance with the environment. My spiritual practice is feeling the divine, entering stillness, then feeling the Higher Worlds. When one does this, one develops a very keen affinity with nature. Divine Energy is in Nature.”
As to the third principle of reverence for all, Gina succeeded in eradicating poverty in Puerto Princesa, where she helped the community residents in building trails, a waterless toilet, a visitor’s center, and other visitor-friendly improvements. With this community-based tourism, the community benefited. She has eliminated poverty in this area in just a period of two years with very minimal investment in five communities living amidst these gorgeous surroundings. “It has even reached the stage where the profit is big enough to roll over to another community,” she added.
Like water, moving with grace, ease, determination and humility, Gina has indeed been a social impact environmentalist, a peace-builder, healer and nurturer of Mother Nature by cleaning dead rivers and installing community-based eco-tourism!
Heart shaped watermelon with dragon fruit, cherries and zucchini soup, but ate the cherries and watermelon.
When she said goodbye, I hugged her tightly and told her I love her very much. She said, “Grandma, I love you a million thousand times.”
Now you know why she is our priority on days we have her. She reminded me, “Where’s the mac and cheese, Grandma?” I said, “Oh, I forgot to buy the yellow sharp cheese. Can I do it tomorrow?” She nodded.
We are fortunate in our society that a means of resistance has been built into the law and the political process – the vote. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democracy. We must use our votes, our power and our organizational abilities to create a movement for good. We must not give up this power. We must not give in. We must not give out. We must use what we have—all our talents, resources, energy, and creativity. We must do all we can to help build a better nation and a better world.
Congressman John Lewis, 2008
Cover Photo: Getty
I was four when the U.S. civil rights movement started in 1956, and 13 when it ended in 1968. I was in my third year of high school in Manila. I had long been inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches, but I did not realize the full significance of the civil rights movement in redeeming the soul of America. Not until I saw two exhibits, “Road to Freedom” and “Breach of Peace” at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
I saw the exhibits one cold, dreary weekday when gray clouds blanketed Los Angeles and rains were pouring non-stop. The weather compelled you to shirk, to hide underneath the blanket. But at the urging of my daughter, Corina, I went.
I found myself perusing more than 170 photographs, taken by over 35 photographers. The images were moving: policemen hosing down citizens; a hotel owner pouring acid on the swimming pool with black folks wading in; attack dogs pursuing demonstrators kneeling on the sidewalk; a fresh pool of blood next to a man laying down on the sidewalk; police using their batons on folks in a prone position; unarmed boys and women with linked arms, guarded by rifle-armed men; buses that were firebombed with passengers locked inside; and a storm of state troopers breaking up marchers.
More images moved me to tears: linked arms of men in their coats braving the rain and snow; women holding hands with men clad in their overalls; young black faces singing with tears in their eyes, afraid yet defiant of injustice; marchers standing tall while being given a two-minute warning by state troopers, yet not cowering in fear; a woman kneeling on the sidewalk, dressed in her Sunday suit, pearl earrings, a hat and an umbrella; a poster demanding freedom, and hovering is a white police officer inside a black police van. Images of lynching or killings were not there, nor corpses, but the audio recordings of the marches were enough to move us to tears — me, along with exhibit-goers composed of young students, teachers, young professionals and older folks lingering, reading captions, listening to Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches.
Many more brutalities were documented for preservation, displaying America’s loss of its soul.
Equally moving were photographs depicting hope and a sense of idealism that America’s constitution has yet to be realized: ” life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone.” America brutally reflected on those images had another side to it, an aspiration contained in the Bill of Rights that all men are equal, but deeply buried in its soul.
A short documentary depicted Rabbi Rachel Cowen speaking of the civil rights movement as ”a religion, a secular creed, a community, with values, its liturgy, its rituals, part of a larger narrative, with its high ideals that the world can improve, love would conquer, it would triumph.” Dorothy Zellner spoke of her conviction, that when you see such inhumanity, there is a moral imperative to go, ”Thou shalt not stand idly by.“
Half of the white attorneys working in the South were Jews who felt a kinship with the injustice happening to blacks. Rabbi Prinz shared a ”sense of complete identification and solidarity born of their painful experience.” This mattered to him to take a stand. Will he allow these state troopers to kill in his name?
These were the dilemmas that they faced, dilemmas that are not unlike the choices and decisions that are now to be made by U.S. Congress.
Will we stand by as America loses its soul today?
Will we allow the 45th U.S. President Donald Trump, as described by former FBI Director James Comey, to continue in his presidency?
As recounted by the New York Times’ editorial board in a piece entitled “Mr. Comey and All the President’s Lies” on Thursday, June 8:
“In sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director made clear that he had no confidence in the president’s integrity. Why? “The nature of the person,” he said. Confronted with the low presidential character for the first time in his career, Mr. Comey began writing meticulous notes of every conversation with Mr. Trump. “I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting,” he said.
Mr. Comey said he was stunned during one Oval Office meeting by Mr. Trump’s request — which he very reasonably understood as an order — to drop the F.B.I. the investigation into Michael Flynn. Mr. Flynn had been forced to resign as national security adviser the day before, after lying about his contacts with Russia. And Russia, Mr. Comey usefully reminded the senators, had gone to unprecedented lengths to disrupt the 2016 presidential election, using “overwhelming” technological firepower.
“This is about America,” Mr. Comey kept saying. Russia “tried to shape the way we think, we vote, we act — that is a big deal,” he added. “They’re coming after America. … They want to undermine our credibility in the face of the world.”
The Russia investigation, he said, is “an effort to protect our country from a new threat that quite honestly will not go away anytime soon.”
There is an aspect to public servants like Mr. Comey that Mr. Trump and his administration seem unable to comprehend, to their peril — a dedication to their roles that places service above any president’s glory.”
Loyalty to the U.S. Constitution over party ideologies
When I was part of a panel on clean elections at an EDSA-I commemoration forum in 2010, I spoke of three traits of good citizenship: loyalty, teamwork and social responsibility.
The FBI director was sworn into office on Sept. 4, 2013, while the 45th U.S. President took his oath on Jan. 20, 2017. Both swore to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and in addition, the FBI director swore: “to protect and to defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.” They swore to be loyal to the U.S. Constitution!
Barely four months into office, the president fired Comey on May 9. During this four-month period, the FBI and other intelligence agencies were pursuing their investigations on the interference of Russian hackers in the Nov. 2016 presidential election.
In the same period, General Michael Flynn tendered his resignation as national security advisor on Feb. 13, as he “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador,” according to his resignation letter of the same date.
On June 8, ABC News reported, “Flynn first came under investigation for his ties to Russia during the campaign when he was Donald Trump’s senior foreign policy adviser and a strident supporter. Flynn failed to report that he had secretly met with the Russian ambassador, even lying to vice-president elect Michael Pence about discussing lifting sanctions with the ambassador at that meeting. Pence then unknowingly repeated the lie to the public. That discussion was at the heart of President Trump’s request to the then-FBI director to drop the investigation, according to the advance copy of Comey’s testimony.”
The report continued: “The probe, which has already ensnared several current and former associates of President Donald Trump, has expanded to look at a questionable paid appearance Flynn made in Russia and side work Flynn was doing in the midst of the 2016 campaign through his consulting firm, the Flynn Intel Group. The firm belatedly filed papers with the Justice Department to disclose work he did that could have benefitted the Turkish government. Flynn also accepted $45,000 to attend a dinner in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his firm received $500,000 from a Dutch company with ties to Turkey.”
The question for members of the House and Senate now is, “Will you respect the U.S. Constitution and find that obstruction of justice was committed by this 45th U.S. President when he asked Comey, ‘Can you let this go?’”
Comey was fired as FBI director ostensibly because the agency was in chaos and he could no longer provide leadership. Yet, he is the same FBI director who served under the prior 44th U.S. President for three and a half years? If true, three and a half years of chaos and lack of leadership would have been too long to remain unaccountable for, unless that chaotic leadership was a pretext to stop the investigation on Flynn?
Teamwork and social responsibility
The question now to those who represent us in the House and Senate, to those with Democratic and Republican affiliations — would you set aside your party ties and seek the truth and allow the American public the courtesy of your public representation?
Would you do the teamwork needed to get credible evidence and give us the courtesy of not just deep throat bystanders of the Nixon era, but to give us the courtesy of knowing what are the hidden skeletons in the 45th president’s closet?
More than ever, we need to show that as America — when a powerful institution, like the White House, is short and lacking in truth, honesty and the highest levels of ethics — those other institutions, like legislative, like judicial, like the states and the local cities will rise to represent the best of America and its soul.
As our congresspersons, senators and some judges who were elected to represent our public interests as “the collective American people,” we challenge you to restore our standing in America. It is the shining city upon the hill that has momentarily lapsed into its dark corroded, rusty self, reminiscent of the yesteryears of Civil Rights movement, because of the 45th U.S. president’s lies, now numbering over 492+ as one reputable newspaper has cataloged.
Let not your sworn oaths of legislative offices be a fake allegiance to our U.S. Constitution!
Every generation is responsible for creating democracy anew, a democracy that is relevant and responsive to the needs of that generation. One that expands upon and completes the previous work of the prior generation. In my view, the civil rights movement that began in the ’50s remains unfinished. Daily we hear in the news about actions like #Blacklivesmatter, #Metoo, and #Timesup—just to name a few. Frederick Douglass said, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, or degrade them, neither person nor property is safe.”…We must ensure that income inequality doesn’t translate into a two-tiered justice system.
California Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye during the March 2019 State of the Judiciary Address.
We would gladly sacrifice our lives to protect and uphold the principles and ideals of our country as set forth in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, for on its inviolability depends the freedom, liberty, justice and protection of all people including Japanese Americans and all other minority groups.
The Fair Play Committee at Heart Mountain concentration camp, 1944.
Do you get a sense as to how far folks have journeyed to be part of this assembled group?
Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye | Photo by Lee Salem
An individual who was once farmworker child herself and who self-identifies as such at past Filipino American community events is now the chief justice of the highest court in California, making policy and court decisions affecting Californians.
Nearly two hundred had packed a modest-sized ballroom on Tuesday, June 4, while Supreme Court Police stood guard in one corner, waiting for the California Supreme Court justices to join in.
This 65-year tradition reflects solid relationships between the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) and the California Supreme Court, honoring the Chief Justice and the six Associate Justices and the association granting scholarships to law school students.
Spring greeted guests, as the lobby was well-decorated with purple, pink, hybrid pink and white phalaenopsis orchids, green hydrangea surrounding yellow roses, yellow and orange gladiolus bordered by green hydrangeas at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.
A spring-themed lunch was served: compressed salad of watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, olives, pepita, pickled onion, torn soft herbs, lemon vinaigrette with three-oz portions of chicken, salmon and skirt steak and tiramisu for dessert.
Conversations were easy; judges were accessible to talk to, as were lawyers, law school deans and law school scholars. It was warm and inclusive. Camaraderie was the currency, as folks kept mingling.
I noticed an early comer, Graham Sherr, Loyola Law School’s assistant dean.
I asked him, “Do you know Ollie Cantos, one of Loyola Law School’s outstanding alumni?”
“You mean Olegario?” I was impressed considering he, given decades of teaching, must have taught thousands. He was easy to remember, as there were not many blind students with that uncommon self-reliance, he added.
Arelis Clemente, a third-year law scholar walked in. I congratulated her. She has an interest in immigration and civil rights, to serve the underrepresented, since she served low-income families as a Scholar in Service. Her parents came here 20 years ago as immigrants – her mom is currently working in Delano, picking grapes from the vineyards, while her dad is a butcher.
“Did you know that the Chief Justice introduces herself as a farmworker child?” She got excited when I told her that.
Chris Punongbayan described young changemakers like Arelis and the young legal scholars as those “who will right the historical wrongs,” when he became California Change Lawyers’ executive director.
In his published online interview, Punongbayan asserted that “our legal system is run primarily by white lawyers despite the fact that California is over 60 percent people of color. Our criminal justice system disproportionately incarcerates and punishes black and brown communities. Our civil justice system regularly denies access to anyone who doesn’t have money to hire a lawyer.”
That analysis was echoed by Joshua Bobrowsky, a past scholarship recipient, who now works for LA County’s Dept. of Public Health as the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs to underscore the gaps in diversity.
With tuition at UCLA at $48,000 per year and $25,000 living expenses, he described that the scholarship lessens the financial burdens and gives law students an opportunity to participate in community service. He was able to participate in slum housing litigation and help a client obtain health coverage, one whose limited means burdened her in having to choose to buy her prescriptions or dental work.
(L-R) Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch, Beverly Hills Bar Association President LaVonne Lawson, Beverly Hills Bar Foundation President Linda Spiegel, Beverly Hills Bar Association Barristers President Jack McMorrow | Photo by Lee Salem
State of the judiciary
Cantil-Sakauye credited the solid support of the BHBA when the judiciary’s budgets were destabilized by the state’s economic conditions. It took stalwart support from the BHBA to stabilize the judiciary’s funding. Former Governor Jerry Brown was also credited with a strong support of the judiciary as he made 600 judicial appointments during his gubernatorial tenure, 200 of them in his last year.
That strong support is even made stronger by Governor Gavin Newsom’s California budget for 2019-2020, that the chief justice shared her response in May 2019 in their website: “The Governor’s revision to the state budget proposal reflects his deep support for our goal of achieving equal access to justice for all Californians—wherever they live.”
Do you get a sense that California moved forward when Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Cantil-Sakauye, the first Asian and Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s chief justice?
The chief justice has led “with a 3D vision for justice: physical access to over 500 courthouses with 10 new safe and secure courthouses being built, online access to the courthouses via an app, video and with increased funding of innovative grants, 50 new projects using technology will be prototyped and tested.”
Prior to addressing the crowd, she introduced six of the Supreme Court’s associate justices: Hon. Ming Chin, Hon. Carol A. Corrigan, Hon. Goodwin H. Liu, Hon. Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Hon. Leondra R. Kruger and Hon. Joshua P. Groban.
She described how more litigants are choosing to have pro se legal representation and much of their settlements are negotiated in the hallways without adequate counsel for the rights at stake.
She shared a policy proposal called Wayfinders where folks can come to the courts, to get information, and to equip these litigants with skills to navigate the procedures and systems, without compromising fairness or due process.
(L-R) BHBA scholarship recipients Adam Oriel Cohen of UCLA Law School, Arelis Clemente of Loyola Law School, Celeste A. Sanchez of Southwestern Law School, and Ashley Denise Torres of Pepperdine University School of Law, with Beverly Hills Bar Foundation Scholarship Committee Chair Alan Forsley | Photo by Lee Salem
Cantil-Sakauye’s “Power of Democracy initiative promotes civics literacy and engagement for both K-12 students an adults. And as a commitment to transparency, the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court began live webcasting its oral arguments in 2016,” according to the program booklet given to each attendee. This Supreme Court reportedly also decides with consensus.
She thanked, in particular, the exceptional leadership of Associate Justice Mariano Florentino Cuéllar, whom she chose to improve language diversity in the courthouses and to equip the courts with diverse interpreters, given that 200 languages are spoken in California.
Because of population growth in the Inland Empire, more judges are needed there. Newsom has provided funds for 25 new judges, and negotiations will determine their ultimate assignments.
Aside from technology, she stressed the human touch, a compassionate attitude and respect to help all those who come to the courthouses.
Public interest scholars
A video highlighted the meritorious public service of young scholars of different law schools and Chief Justice regarded the grooming of students as stars of Social Justice commendable. These legal scholars are Arelis Clemente (Loyola Law School), Ashley Denise Torres (Pepperdine School of Law), Celeste Sanchez (Southwestern Law School), Adam Oriel Cohen (UCLA) and Mirelle Raza (USC Gould School of Law).
Clemente became an extern at Public Counsel’s Immigrant Rights Project and allowed her to defend a client in removal proceedings in El Paso, Texas Immigration Court.
Torres was an extern for Judge Otis Wright II, and serves on the executive board for the Dispute Resolution Law Journal and the National Latina/o Law Student Association.
Sanchez volunteered at Southwestern’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Clinics; where she assisted families file their tax returns. As a 2L, she served as president of the Student Bar Association, a junior advocate in Trial Advocacy Honors Program and a peer mentor. This summer, she will be a certified law clerk for LA County DA’s office.
Cohen served as a CORO fellow and worked for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. At UCLA, he participated in clinics focusing on youth, the criminal justice system, and LGBTQ rights.
Raza was hired by San Francisco DA’s office as a victim advocate, she specialized in child and adult sexual assault cases, with a focus on human trafficking and will be the incoming President of the Public Interest Law Foundation.
Cameron Sheldon is a recent graduate of UC Irvine School of Law. She won the 10th Rule of Law writing competition. Upon completion of her Fulbright, she worked for two years assisting children detained by immigration authorities in South Texas.
Danielle Kassatly of UC Davis School of Law and Elica Zadeh of Pepperdine School of Law were honorable mentions.
Photo by Lee Salem
I also met Rose Hasnat, a Filipina has worked in legal marketing for 10 years now for Greins, Martin, Stein and Richland, LLP, a law firm who specializes in high court appeals and a scholarship donor for the event. She was particularly proud that her employer has won seven U.S. Supreme Court cases and appeals.
LaVonne Lawson, president of the BHBA welcomed Mayor John Mirisch, a dual Swedish-American citizen. He spoke of how our American values of tolerance, justice, truth and fairness are underappreciated these days. That though they may be under attack, he reminded us of our duty to make America much fairer. He teased the audience that though he is not a lawyer, he is an honorary member of The Los Angeles Lawyers’ Philharmonic and Legal Voices.
Linda Spiegel, the president of Beverly Hills Bar Foundation, underscored the foundation’s mission as advancing justice through community service and excellence. It was particularly gratifying that the luncheon gave much attention to its scholarship awardees and their work in public equity work, inclusion and volunteer community service, which they consider a “cornerstone of the foundation’s tradition of excellence.”
Marc Staenberg, CEO of the BHBA, attested to the solid relationship they have with the California Judiciary. BHBA advocates for civil rights and civil liberties for all of Californians.
In its website, “The BHBA has taken a leadership role on Prop 8 and the issue of same-sex marriage, from the early days of the case through the recent U.S. Supreme Court hearings. Our initial amicus brief, which drew wide support, focused on the important constitutional issues raised by the California case. Our most recent brief (filed in February, 2013) goes beyond the work of many others, by focusing not only on equality, but also on the rational basis of the case. To date, some 28,000 total attorneys from around the state have signed this influential brief.”
In March, I saw then-Gov. Jerry Brown coming out of Oakland Airport. I approached him to personally thank him for his progressive leadership in California. I told him that his leadership’s impact was felt where I lived in Southern California. He smiled, nodded and said, “I hope it stays that way.”
For us, the readers, we all share in the duty of being guardians of American democracy, that as American citizens, it is up to us to insist that those who appear before the courts, will have fairness, due process and access to the courts, regardless of where they live and that “income inequalities doesn’t translate into two-tiered justice system,” as Cantil-Sakauye told the crowd in her State of the Judiciary Address in March.
I’ve been working in this field (communities in schools) for 50 years and I’ve never seen a program turn around a life. Only relationships turn around lives. We adults in the group provide them an audience in front of which they can realize their talents. Their gift to us is a complete intolerance of social distance. Emotional combustion happens in the most mysterious ways. No one can really trace the chemical processes by which love bursts into flame in one community and not another. But it is here in this community and all of us have been transformed in surprising ways.
David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, 2019.
Mon David is, as I’ve always said, Royalty. This human being is so huge and generous; he’s overwhelmingly deep and dear to me. And it comes through his music, and that is why people are so moved by him. He’s a consummate musician, dedicated and committed to art, quality and communication. His family and friends are the obvious result of him. He touches my heart, and I will always consider him one of my truest friends.
Cathy Segal-Garcia, a jazz artist, teacher, composer, 2019.
Social isolation is deemed a core problem by David Brooks, an award winning best-selling author and an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, which underlies other social problems in America.
Fortunately, the opposite is true for Mon and Ann David’s family, where social weaving of their networks is commonplace. Their family table is a collection of family members, choosing to come together for meals, bonding or to just play board games. Baby showers, a recent one for Hanika Oyco, wife of Carlo David (Mon’s son) was a mini-concert, headlined by Mon singing with his guitar, and the stage shared with Nicole (daughter) and Carlo singing, with his guitar. At Christmas, hundred-plus family members come together, exchange gifts, play games and sing to one another.
‘Maximum Marriage’
“I cried when you [this writer] said a prayer, invoking the Holy Spirit, before this interview. My tears are gratitude to God, a privilege He gave me to walk with my grandchildren, and to trace the beginnings of childhood that I missed from my own children. I was abroad [Japan, Australia, USA, London] and throughout the Philippines, and I am grateful for this privilege now.
“It is even more gratifying to see my children, now grown and mature. I highly respect them and I enjoy their warm presence. Just the other day, I was surprised to see Paolo sitting in the backyard. He wanted oranges. After picking them from the trees, we sat down for coffee, shared stories and played with the twins. Our house is a family center, Ann and I are happy about that,” Mon continued.
“My parents gave me my dad’s (and grandfather’s) first name, Ramon. I rarely used it, instead going with Paolo my second first name. I felt a weird sense of pressure being named after him. My dad is the best at his craft/field and a man of the highest principles and noblest beliefs. At an early age, I knew it would be near impossible to even come close to how good of a man he is.
“As a father, I honestly thought he was just…okay. Nothing insane. Until a few years ago. I went through a crisis of not knowing what it is that I wanted in life..what would wake me happy. Nothing anyone said made sense to me..except for my dad. He just listened and didn’t judge me for any of my choices nor did he offer any advice that I wasn’t ready to hear at that point. He understood where I was at that point in my life and what a challenge it is to be torn on what you should be doing with your life. He was exactly the person and type of father I needed at that time,” Paolo, an HR director, a man of few words usually, expressively shared his feelings about Mon, his dad.
“When our four kids were toddlers, Mon was busy earning a living, doing shows with the Apo Hiking Society, as their vocal coach, drummer and music arranger. They did shows around the Philippines and travelled around the world for a decade. He wasn’t able to devote as much time to the kids like he does now to our grandchildren. Mon is such a loving, caring and a very patient Grandpa. ‘Every child should feel the love and warmth of a grandparent,’ Ann wrote to me.
Ann, a pretty demure Filipina, fashionably dressed at concerts, is married to Mon for 36 years. Their marriage fits the definition of David Brooks’ maximum marriage: “Both go through the most thorough surveillance program known to humankind…yet, you see people enjoying the deepest steady joy you can find on this earth.”
Mon and Ann are unconditionally supportive of one another. Ann regularly attends Mon’s concerts, videotaping his performances, for Mon’s critique after, while Mon pulled weeds and removed bushes so Ann’s dream of a backyard garden can be realized.
During the interview, Mon excused himself to receive a call. It was Ann. He told her that we are in the midst of the interview, after eating the bulalo she cooked for us. Mon gently and sweetly reminds Ann to eat first and promised to call her later.
Building Empowered Family Connections
“It is a gift,” Mon said of his five grandchildren, with Ann: Noah, age 4; Leo and Nico – 2-year-old twins; Bella, 7 months old; and Tala, 7 days old. In the month Tala was born, Carlo (Tala’s dad) became an ASOP (A Song of Praise) Festival 8’s finalist, winning the best song for the month of May. How fortuitous is that?
ASOP described it as “Penned by OPM artist Carlo David and sung by Tawag ng Tanghalan’s Sweet Songstress Gidget Dela Llana, “Libo-libong Tala” (Thousands of Stars) is a worship anthem hailing the Almighty for being the one and only among the myriad of stars as it declares God’s incomparable heavenly majesty.” ASOP is “the most prestigious Praise Songwriting Competition Festival in the Philippines,” Nicole shared.
In 2017, Carlo bagged the first prize in front of a 16,000 strong Araneta Coliseum audience, and we pray that win is duplicated in 2019.
“Dad’s impact on us is immeasurable, his influence has always been subtle and indirect which I really appreciate about him because it gives us room to grow and to learn at our own pace. His discipline in whatever he does whether in fatherhood, music or just life in general is an inspiration. I remember he would always remind us to surround ourselves with people with good hearts. As I mature, I realize how valuable that reminder is. Dad has a beautiful heart and I thank God for his life,” Carlo David wrote in an email to me.
Can you feel father Mon’s love for God, now embodied in his son, Carlo and grandchild, Tala?
A rich legacy of love for God and Mon’s leadership in the family
When Mon’s children were much much younger, he sang Fiddler on the Roof, to them.
“Dear God, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course, that it’s no shame to be poor
But it’s no great honor, either.
So what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?
If I were a rich man,
Daidle deedle daidle
Daidle daidle deedle daidle dumb
All day long I’d biddy-biddy-bum”
While visiting the twins in 2018 with Enrique (my husband), Mon hummed the song. The twins, Leo and Nico, just over a year and half old, danced, swayed their bodies, and moved.
Mon must have been an old soul, learning intuitively that “music is…sort of grooming at a distance. Newborns are already sensitive to the rhythms of language – they prefer infant-directed speech – otherwise known as baby talk which emphasizes what is called prosody, the music of speech,“ wrote Iain McGILCHRIST in his book, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.
Today, Leo goes to the microphone and sings on his initiative and Nico does a shoulder dance at 2 years old. They spell words using puzzles as parents read 10 books to them, daily while Mom Nicole conscientiously takes them to the library and trails.
While Nicole prepares breakfast for the twins, Mon serenades them. Instead of whining cries, they mimic the footsteps of grandpa Mon, and mind you, in rhythm. He is teaching the twins intonation, inflection and pausing, including how to tap, as if rhythmically hitting a drum.
In the park, Mon pushes a swing for Leo, while Nicole walks with Nico. At home, Mon helps them draw with crayons on Manila paper and at times, in their backyard, whose fence is symbolic of the family’s teamwork and work ethic.
Mon relates the success of their do-it-yourself project: “Jake [Yalong] is our engineer and he got the materials for the fence. I asked him how do we start. He told me to start digging. So I dug three holes out of four. Carlo came, Paolo and then, Mika. All three helped. Mika is the youngest, yet the strongest. We worked for 7 hours and we completed the fence. I uprooted two bushes of bougainvillea. While it was described as a daunting task by a relative, because our teamwork is strong, we steered away from tension by giving each other a high level of respect and we got done.“ After, Mon shared his compliments to Jake as to how he, as the team’s engineer, smoothly planned and directed the job, and the overall team’s satisfaction.
“Dad [Mon] is definitely the one that I look up to when it comes to being a father but what I like the most about dad is how he sees life in general. Knowing what really matters when all else fails, and that is family and relationships,” Jake emailed.
Mika is the twins’ aunt and godmother. She is an artist and a flight stewardess. In long flights, after serving passengers, she finds time to draw and paint and shared her inspiration, her dad: “Sometimes, I feel a little embarrassed when my dad shares my works of art to his friends with a high level of enthusiasm. Our dad is so vocal and enthusiastically expressive of his appreciation for other people’s talents, the beauty of art and the gift of music. He sets the standard for us always to strive to be better, while staying humble, and he never fails to encourage his children and grandchildren to keep imagining, creating and improving.”
Nicole is Jake’s wife and mother to the twins, Leo and Nico. She is a gifted artist, baker, singer, who looks up to Mon: “Dad is an exceptional human being. I used to say he’s my mentor, but he has become so much more than that. He is a master, who has so much empathy and compassion for the people around him. He is such a fun and loving Grandpa, all his apos (grandchildren) adore him. I am grateful for Dad: he has become my constant.”
Notice how Nicole calls her dad “a master.” To merit this distinction, one might also be a jazz master, with constant, stable, steadfast, resolute sustained mastery of their craft?
Or Cathy referring to Mon as “Royalty,” that it made me think of what Iain McGILCHRIST wrote: “Music comes before language, buttressed by Salomon Henschen – “The musical faculty is phylogenetically older than language; some animals have a musical faculty – birds in a high degree.” … Music is the communication of emotion, the most fundamental form of communication, which is phylogeny, as well as ontogeny, came and comes first. Neurological research strongly supports the assumption that ‘our love of music reflects the ancestral ability of our mammalian brain to transmit and receive basic emotional sounds,’ the prosody and rhythmic motion that emerge intuitively from entrainment of the body in emotional expression.”
Mon David: 2017 Jazz Living Legend
“Music is a connector of hearts,” says Mon, “each encounter is about affirming the strengths of family members and co-artists.” He is inspired by Bill Evans, one of the greatest jazz pianists in the world, and Mark Murphy, a creative, fearless and dedicated jazz vocal artist.
Mon produced a tribute to Mark Murphy on Nov. 9, 2017, whom he described: “Mark Murphy was all about beauty, truth and honesty throughout his career, he never wavered in his vision – always taking music to its highest creative level, whether through the quality of the pieces he chooses to interpret or through their lyrics and arrangements. Any song that reflects his life experiences and consciousness he renders in his own unique, creative fearless ways. He was a beautiful risk-taker in his approach, always finding new and fresh ways to express his emotions and I can relate to that very much.”
I believe that when you recognize someone as a fearless and courageous singer, you might be describing yourself unconsciously, as those traits are embodied within you, projected outward.
On June 9, 2017, in commemoration of African American Music Appreciation Month, LA City Council Herb Wesson, along with Jazz Living Legend Foundation, acknowledged Mon David, for his music accomplishments, Reggie Andrews (founder of Karma, a jazz-fusion group) and Benny Maupin (jazz saxophonist, flutist and bass clarinet who participated in Herbie Hancock and for performing on Miles Davis’ seminal fusion record, Bitches Brew and Bill Withers, an American songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 to 1985. He recorded “Lean on me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and “Just as I Am.” All four received the 2017 Jazz Living Legend Designations at LA City Hall.
Mon comes from a musical family, both his parents sang to each other. At 17 yo, he travelled to Japan to earn a living by joining a band, and became a drummer for Cobras, a band.
Cobras performed in the US Bases and became the first band to pay Mon Php 40 a night, half went for commuting fare. But, the experience was vital.
He became part of a vocal quartet, FourPlay, where he learned to harmonize and to arrange music and ZIFRA, transcribing or covering a piece with no individual interpretation. He became part of the Apo Hiking Society where he learned to be drummer, music arranger, vocal coach: “I learned from them how to be in front and sing. At times I would get distracted drumming as I would listen to them sing.” In their 40thanniversary, Mon flew back to the Philippines and sang Lumang Tugtugin with Apo Hiking Society.
Fourgettables was also a group he collaborated with for 7 years, with Pinky Marquez, Jorge Javier and Nanette Inventor, to which: “They inspired me to do my own repertoire.” DOT (Dept. of Tourism) sponsored them in U.S. bases, but also U.S., Europe, Middle East, Japan, and Australia.
In the year 2000, he had a hunger for deeper quality of music and delved into jazz.
In 2006, near the verge of burnout from a three-decade musical career, Ann encouraged him to join a competition. She submitted Mon’s repertoire which consisted of One and Only Boy, Nature Boy recorded by Nat King Cole as There Was A Boy and Lullaby of Birdland. Mon emerged as the winner in this much-acclaimed International Singing Competition, held in London. He then joined Southeast Asian music festivals, jazz fiestas, solo artists and instrumentalists to perform all over.
In Gardenia Supper Club in West Hollywood, recently, he was introduced by Mark Winkler (jazz artist and song composer): “Mon is one of my favorite jazz singers in Los Angeles. He is astounding (surprisingly impressive), mesmerizing, and he is as nice as he is talented.” Mon responded in kind to plug the upcoming CD of Mark Winkler.
The producer of that night’s gig, Dolores Scozzesi, had this to say: “Mon’s [spoken] word at that gig [Poetry and Jazz] I attended touched me so deeply. Whenever he’s involved in a creative endeavor, for me, it’s at a much higher level. But even more deeply as a human being. I feel a love for his family, yet I barely know them. But just the fact that he’s the guiding force (and his darling life partner, Ann) says so much about him. He’s connected to the Divine as far as I am concerned as a musical priest would be, in the way that he speaks very spiritually about the musical journey. We as singers are merely channelers of a Higher Power. Music comes through us. If we connect with that spirit, if someone says “You’re great,” I know it’s not me. It’s a gift from God that I’m allowing to come through me.”
Beauty or the Beast?
In Poetry and Jazz, Mon performed spoken word and sang to the music by Wayne Shorter and lyrics by Mark Murphy. I share the poem in full as the lyrics describe our present realities, a battle for America’s soul.
We see the world through faulty eyes
For some we fall, for some we rise
Does beauty mask the beast’s disguise?
It sighs, it lives on lies
This war goes on between the two
The beauty folk the beastial crew
Each age is clear until the clouds of hate slam shut the gate!
The gate shuts out the power of love light
A new night brings fear
Dreams, as the dreaming disappears then becomes a nightmare
Then dawn brings peace and love returns
We build again the children learn
The beast should sleep forever now Somehow to none we bow
The land is sweet the harvest comes
People sweat and count their sums
But something seems to soil the fun
The sun shines on a gun!
The beast lies low but always waiting, all hating hard and deep
Beauty and peace may fall
We’d all be shoved right up against the wall!
We see the world, through faulty eyes…
”In more traditionally structured societies, performance of music plays both an integral, and integrative, role not only in celebration, religious festivals, and other rituals, but also in daily work and recreation, and it is above all a shared performance, not just something we listen to passively. It has a vital way of binding people together, helping them to be aware of shared humanity, shared feelings and experiences, and actively drawing them together,” Iain McGILCHRIST wrote in his book, The Master and His Emissary.
Mon leads with moral convictions, with a sustained passion for his craft, with a signature of superior musicality: one that is marked by pitch-perfect sounds, ability to harmonize with a group, controls his voice properly, stable at intonation and pitches, yet humble to say that jazz is a dynamic, long-term process: “Jazz takes a long time. You have to live it for so long that it becomes you.”
To me, it is akin to parenting your children and attending to your grandchildren, our strategic investments for the future.
With heartfelt certitude, we now know why Cathy Segal – Garcia described Mon David as Royalty.
This Father’s Day, may you enjoy your families, as Mon David does immensely of his, as his family and community of him!
Footnote: For this piece, my special thanks to Nicole David and Mika David for their assistance, my husband Enrique as my sounding board, and the inimitable Ted Benito who encouraged me to write about musicians and my appreciation towards them and their music, back when I did not know that I could. This writer will take a summer hiatus to focus on writing her next book. Please keep me in your prayers. Thank you for your support, Asian Journal, and please email me at delacruz.prosy@gmail.com and continue to follow me on Facebook and Instagram. I will be back writing for Rhizomes in Fall 2019.
