Focussed women

A lingering indisposition has kept me from attending significant events despite the invitations that keep coming.

Tonight at six, Marge Enriquez’s invitation to Celebrating the Spirit beckons dance lovers to the Aliw Theater. Through persistence and determination, Marge has gained a reputation for her remarkable combination of dance and philosophy – or spirituality, if you will.

With Bart Guingona as director and Douglas Nierras as choreographer, Marge will interpret in dance their concept and design while delivering Dandi Janki’s gems of thought.

A word on Janki from Marge: "Way before the emergence of life coaches, Janki pioneered and exemplified an effective and easy system of self-growth that has since helped legions of people across the globe. She is the co-chief of the Brahma Kumaris, an NGO that collaborates with the UN to help improve the quality of human life by changing the quality of thinking."

In her dual role as dancer- guru, Marge will repeat her previous multimedia performance Dancing in the Light while sharing with her viewers Janki’s "insights on improving wealth and relationships".

Exactly a week ago, Aida Rivera Ford gave a talk on her life and times at the 9th Paz Marquez Benitez Memorial Lecture. Mrs. Benitez was my professor at the UP for Shakespeare and Victorian literature. Along with Paz Latorena, Mrs. Benitez was one of the earliest fiction writers in English, and both women have inspired and influenced scores of aspiring short story writers after them.

Aida was a childhood friend of mine. Her father, a judge in Bacolod, and my father, the director of the Neg. Occ. Provincial Hospital, were golf cronies, and that fact brought Aida and me together. I never imagined then that she would turn out to be one of our country’s finest writers today.

Aida’s lecture was under the auspices of the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings which should be highly commended for singling out and recognizing women of marked distinction.

Rita Ledesma has always been identified with the visual arts, firstly, for being the daughter of Purita Kalaw Ledesma, founder-president of the Art Association of the Philippines, and secondly, for having headed the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

To my delight and surprise, Rita has turned to writing, having just launched Life on the Cusp, a collection of essays by both professional and non-professional writers, which collection she edited along with Mert J. Loinaz. Rita and Mert wrote the prologue and the epilogue, respectively, and Rita herself contributes an essay to the book.

The word cusp literally means that tip on either end of a quarter moon, thus suggesting that each contributor was expected to describe a personal crisis of his/her approach to mid-life and beyond. For instance, my esteemed colleague Bambi L. Harper tells the reader how she copes – gracefully yet realistically – with the onslaught of time although, to be sure, Bambi is far from being old and decrepit.

Norma Chikiamco, a very focussed woman who edits the magazine called Food, will launch a number of mini-cookbooks published by the Periplus Group in Singapore. The books – Filipino Cakes and Desserts, Filipino Snacks and Sweets, Homestyle Filipino Cooking and Filipino Favorites – will be presented cooking experts and aficionados on Nov. 28, 6:30 p.m. at the Via Mare Penthouse, Stock Exchange Centre. Note that the books exemplify Filipino achievement in culinary art.

For this year alone, an entire column will not be enough to summarize the achievements of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) headed by Georgitta "Beng" Pimentel Puyat. UNIFEM responds to crises and opportunities for promoting women’s rights and empowerment, as also for strengthening the role of women in peace-building and governance.

For a specific activity, the accounting firm SGV donated, through the UNIFEM, five computer units to PATAMBA, a national network of homeworkers, 98 percent of whom are women.