Some Progress on my Dad's Film

Belated Happy Father's Day, everyone. Hope you all enjoyed time spent with relatives and/or reminiscing. After various setbacks, I have made some progress on the mystery of where my late father Henry's film "On the Way to India Consciousness I Reached China" is located. We may have found something... and restoring it might be possible. I've never seen it, so... got to keep the momentum going on this somehow. Details, details - administrative, technical, and deeper details. Stay tuned, friends.

-- Something for ancestors, my mother and father, you, and everyone: Be happy

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/303771

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there.

To my mother and father,

May you each find the deepest happiness of all in your new life.

Quotes On School

Do universities require professors to have had some training in how to teach? If not, I think they should.

From "How to Create Terrible Professors" http://www.popecenter.org/commentaries/article.html?id=2099

Many graduate students start to teach without knowing a thing about how to do it. I was one of them.

I had my own fair share of bad professors. And after spending several years as a graduate student, I know why. There are very few standards for teaching future professors how to teach—and little pressure to meet any standards at all.


From "ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL 101" http://lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/architecture-school-101/
A school is—before all else—a faculty.

Students are the other half of any school’s story.

Without good students, a good school cannot exist. However, it is much easier to find good students than good faculty. It is far easier to find great students than great faculty. As Raimund Abraham once said, “There are no bad students.” What he meant was that young people who aspire to become architects and have gone through an admissions and selection process have demonstrated in advance a potential that should be respected. If students try and yet do not do really good work, it is, with few exceptions, due to the failure of their teachers. In contrast, many architects who become and remain teachers do so for reasons other than their potential as teachers. There are many—competent professionals—who should never be allowed any contact with young, eager students bristling with talent and ambition. Bad teachers, especially those who imagine themselves as good, do irreparable damage. They kill the spirit.

This does not mean that outstanding architects cannot emerge from mediocre schools—they can, and some have. But their being outstanding is more the result of their own drive to learn and develop, in spite of the mediocrity around them in school. They are, in effect, self-taught. However, even the most self-determined students need some help along the way: the encounter with a rare teacher who stirs their imaginations, ignites their passions about an idea, or sets an example by the teacher’s own knowledge, integrity, and dedication. These are the qualities that describe the entire faculties of great schools.

Yes, there are three halves. The third is a school’s administration, its dean and department chairs…

Let's Play "Wall Street Bailout" --> This woman Rep. tells it like it is!

This woman tells it like it is!

Never heard of her before but she is "truth in 5 1/2 minutes".

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Ohio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27yitK32ds&feature=related

Where is This Film?

In an attempt to see if there are copies of this film somewhere out there, here are some pictures of a brochure I found among my father's things. It is no easy task to look through all of one's parents things, and recall memories, both happy and sad. In the end though, it is worth it.

Letter from Caroline Kennedy

Dear Enrique and Francesca,

I met you, Enrique, when you were very small. I have never met you Francesca and I regret that. But I want to tell you how much your mother meant to me, even though many years have passed since we were friends in Manila.

I am not exaggerating (and others can confirm it) that Betsy, by her insistence that I come to the Philippines for her wedding to Henry, changed the course of my life. I was on my way to Laos and Vietnam when I met her. By accepting her invitation my life changed. Betsy ushered in probably the happiest years of my life, introduced me to my future husband Ben Cabrera and, was, thus, directly responsible for the fact that I have three wonderful children, Elisar, Mayumi and Jasmine.

The last time I saw Betsy was about five years ago on a brief Christmas visit to Manila a year or so before your father died. I was saddened to see such a once vital and active woman so incapacitated by her condition. I had remembered - and will always remember - Betsy as the bridge between artists, writers, photographers, dancers, singers, musicians, politicians and, even, itinerant tourists like me. She was the focal point as they all somehow ended up in the literary chaos that was Indios Bravos.

I have written a lot about those days with great affection - and still do from time to time as the memories return. I could send you some of my articles or chapters of my memoirs where Betsy and Henry are featured, if you were interested to read them. Although I am sure that anyone who was around during that period in the late Sixties will fill you in extensively on Betsy's role as a leading light of her generation.

I regret that she won't be around when I next visit Manila - perhaps next year when Ben opens his Museum in the Cordillera. I was looking forward to visiting her again and reminiscing on those days as we did on my last visit. I am happy though that she is relieved of her suffering, she was incredibly stoic and I admire enormously her for that.

Please know that your mother held a very very special place in my heart - and always will. I remember her with fondness, with laughter, with friendship and with something that runs even deeper - a sharing of a very unique time in our lives. She was - and will remain - a very irreplaceable person in my life. I will miss the thought of her not being there. But I send her love and gratitude - and best wishes for her onward journey.

Be strong in the knowledge that Betsy touched many peoples' lives and they will miss her.

Love to you both...and, if you ever want me to send you some of my writings of that period, please let me know, I will be more than happy to do so.

I hope to meet you some time. If you ever plan to come to Costa Rica do please let me know. You would be very welcome to stay with me.

Love

Caroline Kennedy

Columnist, Poet, Human Rights Activist Jailed for her Beliefs, Political Clairvoyant, Biographer, Designer, Spiritual Seeker, Playwright, Mother, Wife