Hamilton Boy in Protective Custody After Father Opts Out of Chemotherapy

For a moment, just imagine you are at the centre of this terrible predicament...

Your 11 year-old son has leukemia. He has already undergone an aggressive round of chemotherapy and radiation treatment which nearly cost him his life. When your little boy is up for his second round of chemo, he vehemently refuses to go through with it and instead, pleads with you to allow him to die peacefully at home. According to his doctors, your son would have a fair chance of beating the cancer if he underwent the chemo.

What would you do?

Sadly, a father in Hamilton was faced with this very dilemma and chose to follow his son's wishes and discontinue his cancer therapy. As a result, The CBC reports that child welfare took custody of the boy to ensure he would undergo the treatment. According to Dominic Verticchio, the executive director of Hamilton's Children's Aid Society, an Ontario court ruled in conjunction with provincial legislation stating that it is mandatory for children to receive necessary care and treatment for their health and well being.

The boy's family is outraged. Granted limited visitation rights during his son's treatment, the Hamilton father claims that doctors initially only gave the boy a 20 percent chance of surviving the chemotherapy. If this round of treatment was successful, the father goes on to say that his son would have to undergo further radiation therapy and a bone marrow transplant in which he would only be given a 50 percent survival rate following the entire ordeal.

What do you think?

Read the entire story HERE...

Myanmar Weeps After Devastating Cyclone

According to the CBC, Myanmar's cyclone Nargis has claimed a staggering 22,000 lives and nearly 40,000 more are reported missing. More than 1 million people have been left homeless in the wake of this devastating aftermath as entire villages have been completely destroyed, while several rice crops have also been lost in the storm. Read more HERE...

Photo courtesy of The New York Times

Photo courtesy of CTV News

Photo courtesy of CTV News

Video Cop-Out: Happy Cinco de Mayo folks!

Break out your tequila and coarse salt for this classic cocktail...

How to make a frozen margarita

Gimme Back a "Nickel Bag of Funk"

There's nothing better than cruising around town on a hot summer day, and hearing Ladybug Mecca spit her ultra-smooth rhymes straight outta your speakers:


The Bloom, the Swoon, the Sugars on your block

The Planets land in flesh in the corners of New York...








And Butterfly and Doodlebug chime in to bring it all back with:


A nickel bag of funk...



Do I ever miss the era when Hip Hop actually offered a meaningful alternative to the ubiquitous T & A/bitch n' ho formula that dominates the mainstream scene today. By the end of the 90s, the popularity of Digable Planets and Native Tongues alumni--De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Black Star, and The Roots--gave way to the new wave of bling-slingin'-thug-struttin' rappers such as 50 cent, The Game, and Eminem (to name just a few). Yes, I know that Kanye (whether you love him or hate him), Pharell Williams, Lupe Fiasco, and K'naan have all significantly diversified the sound of paint by number hip hop, but I still can't help but throw it back to the days of Tribe's innovative jazz flow of "Check the Rhyme," or De La Soul's disco/breakbeat mash-up, "Rollerskating Jam."

So out of sheer nostalgia, here are a couple of MCs who broke out of the corporate mold to make Hip Hop their very own...


Digable Planets--"Nickel Bags"--2005 Reunion Tour Amsterdam






De La Soul--"Rollerskating Jam"

What Makes You a Filipino?

What is the essence of a culture?


Is it language? Values? History?


Can we possibly pinpoint a single attribute that authenticates one's culture?

Recently, I discovered the Speak Out series on Youtube that originally aired on The Filipino Channel. A Filipino-centric talk show, Speak Out explores relevant issues in a town hall meeting-style forum.


So what happened when they got a group of Philippine and American-born Filipinos together to define the Pinoy identity ?


Well, let's just say it involved a heated debate about the subjective essence of Filipino-ness (you can watch the program HERE):

Assimilating into American culture...

• "The message that I received was that my Filipino-ness was not good enough. And that I will not be accepted by my accent and by the way I dress. In essence, I have to shed my self of my Filipino-ness."
  

The language debate...

• "They expect us to explain our [Filipino] club...you know...our mission statement in Tagalog. And then they came up and said, 'We don't think you should call yourself Filipino because you can't even speak the language!'"

• "How are you going to tell me that you're a Filipino organization and you can't even speak Tagalog?! The essence--the foundation--of that organization...you can't even explain!"
  

What is American?

• "What does Americanization mean or what is the American Dream? And who is American? When we think about this...when we think about this concept...most people think about White folks. So if a Filipino wants to be a Filipino American, are you trying to be White or trying to have the ideals of America--of freedom and democracy, and have wealth and privilege?"

What is Filipino?

• "Let's just reverse the question: What does it mean to be Filipino? Does it mean chinellas (slippers) in the winter? Or does it mean putting our parents on a pedestal? "
  

Needless to say, the program stirred up a lot of strong feelings regarding the cultural authenticity of a Filipino, and I have to say I was getting pretty riled-up in the process! I guess the whole debate caught me off guard since I didn't realize such a strong rift existed between these two groups of Filipinos...but then...after thinking about it, I started to get it.

How can we strip one of their Filipino-ness on account of the fact that they may not speak Tagalog, but instead speak "fluent" English? Many of our parents believed that raising us in North America accent-free would allow us to become more successful within the larger culture, having encountered their own challenges with discrimination when immigrating to the new country. But the the seed of European superiority was obviously planted long ago...

Why do we often convince new Filipino immigrants that being American or being Canadian trumps being Pinoy? What is really dividing us? Why do Filipino American and Canadian kids often ignore their Philippine-born counterparts at school? Is it really because of their accents? OR is it because new Filipino immigrants remind us that we came from a place that's often been suppressed by our "good English" and North American privilege?

So what makes you a Filipino?

Family
loyalty is layers
of strength
as many Pinays
runs through my veins
my brown skin
at times
triggered the taunts
that have lingered
along
with Those dark times
All Pinoys share
the mountain
from which I see the world
and the way
that world
wishes to see me.

PART I: Cheers to Staff Parties, First Dates, and Kickin' it with The New Deal!

Above: image borrowed from Little Things: The Snapshot Side of MelvinKobe & Jorid Van Laer

Mr. Bamboo is always like, "When are you ever going to write about me in your blog?"


To which I usually reply, "Whenever I feel like it."


Well, I suppose the time has come...


Back in 2001, I landed a summer job as a hostess at a local Mexican restaurant. I know, it wasn't very glamourous but it did have its perks: As a starving university student, you could make just enough to pay your bills and then use your tip money to support your ridiculously booming social life. Talk about priorities, eh? An added bonus was the fact that all of my co-workers actually made my job enjoyable so it wasn't a surprise that we would often tear-up the town together outside of work.

So on one such occasion...

My employer threw a killer staff party. And by killer, I almost mean this literally. The restaurant also owned a popular club in town so they reserved a section of the bar for staff and guests only. Oh yeah, and it was an open bar event which had the potential of turning the night into quite a sh*t show considering they were dealing with a bunch of rowdy 18-24 year-olds (FYI: the legal drinking age is 18 in my hometown).

So after my co-workers and I did some mandatory schmoozing over a couple of complimentary cocktails, we soon hit the dance floor where we remained for the duration of the evening, only taking 5 every ten songs or so when the DJ decided to play a slow jam. And when "No Woman No Cry" came on, we all simultaneously made a bee-line towards the bar to grab another high ball when someone...mind you, a tall strapping young man...intercepted our current mission.

TSYM: Hey, you wanna dance?

Silence.

CO-WORKER: Um...I think he's talking to you BB [as she not-so-subtly elbowed me right smack in the chest while "whispering" this into my ear].

ME: Uh...yeah...sure. [I figured he was easy on the eyes so why not?]

So we danced. But don't worry, it wasn't one of those cheesy slow dance moments reminiscent of high school in which you awkwardly clutch onto your partner for dear life and rock back and forth like a pendulum as "Stairway to Heaven" blasts from the gymnasium speakers. Instead, we danced in mock-ballroom style, complete with exaggerated impromptu twirls which left us both in a fit of giggles by the end of Bob's song. And while I'm the sure that the open bar had a lot to do with our silly state, I was genuinely enjoying this guy's company. But my good sense reminded me that this was a crazy staff party and he was some random dude I had just met, so several of these one-night connections had probably been made throughout the evening.


By the time last call rolled around shortly after, TSYM and I went our separate ways to re-group and find our obnoxiously hammered friends. I was definitely ready for a gallon of water and my fluffy duvet so I quickly said my good-byes and booked it out of there so I could hail a cab before other taxi vultures even had a chance. Right as I had one foot firmly planted into my eagerly awaiting cab, I noticed TSYM walking right towards me...

TSYM: Wow, someone's in a hurry!

ME: Yup, I'm pretty wiped-out so I'm trying to beat that crazy post-bar rush...

TSYM: No kidding...um...so it was nice to meet you...and we really should hang out sometime. Can I have your number?

ME: [Right, I haven't heard that one before, but I still scribbled my damn number on the back an old receipt I had fished out of my bulging wallet.] Yeah, OK.

TSYM: Cool. Thanks! I'll definitely give you a ring sometime...

ME: Sounds good, bye! [It's been real, dude.]

********

Thankfully, I had booked the next day off work so I could pathetically mope around the house and rehydrate myself from the night before. When a girlfriend had phoned to re-hash staff party shenanigans, my little slow dance incident unfortunately did not go unmentioned:

GIRLFRIEND: So who was that guy you were making googly eyes with on the dance floor?

ME: Googly eyes?? Do people even say that anymore? OK, so his name is G and it wasn't a big deal. We were just dancing.

GIRLFRIEND: Oh c'mon! He was totally into you! It was the way he was looking at you!

ME: Honey, the way he was looking at me probably had something to do with all of the free booze that was being shoved down our throats last night!

GIRLFRIEND: You're such a cynic! Besides, he was damn cute.

BEEP. [Sweet, my other line. Saved by the bell.] BEEP.

ME: Just a sec--my other line...Hello?

CLICK. Damn, they hung up.

ME: Hello?

GIRLFRIEND: So who was it?

ME: I'm not sure, I just missed the call.

GIRLFRIEND: Hey wait a minute, did you give what's-his-name your number?

ME: Yeah but--

GIRLFRIEND: Oh man, it was probably HIM!!

ME: I serioulsy doubt it.

GIRLFRIEND: Star-69 it!

ME: What??

GIRLFRIEND: You know, star-69 the call so you can find out who it was...

ME: All right, Eager Beaver, you are soooo relentless!! haha! So what if it was him? He's just some random guy that I had a brief, 15-minute encounter with--end of story! Besides, how cliche is it to meet someone at a bar, let alone at a drunken gong show of a staff party??

GIRLFRIEND: Seriously, there's no action in my love life right now and frankly, there's not a lot of activity in yours either! So as your friend, I command you to hang up the phone right now and find out if he freakin' called you! What do you honestly have to lose?

OK, she did have a point...

To be continued...

I can't deny my Canadian accent!

What accent do you have? Canadian People from outside North America probably think you're from the States, but over here we wouldn`t make such a mistake.

**I promise you all I'll have an actual meaningful post up by the weekend. There just haven't been enough hours in the day lately!

SNOW DAY--An Unbelievable April Blizzard!!

The Canadian Prairies have been hit HARD (understatement of the year) with a relentless snowfall which has dumped more than 30 cm of the cold fluffy stuff in the region. What started off as a light flurry has now turned into a full-blown BLIZZARD!! And just to think, on Thursday, it was +15-degrees Celsius. Dammit!!

So here are a couple photos of this freak of nature. And you even get a one-time only sneak peak of Bamboo Blitz herself--in case you cared at all :)

Video Cop-out: Def Poetry Jam Featuring Filipino American poet--Marlon Unas Esguerra

In my search for Filipino poets on YouTube, I found Marlon Unas Esguerra's moving spoken word performance from Def Poetry. His poem really struck a nerve with me...

Health Canada's Medicinal Marijuana Plans Get Smoked Out!

According to the CBC, Health Canada's controversial medicinal marijuana system is leaving the government to pick-up a $500,000 tab of unpaid patient bills. While the agency has sent out 462 arrears notices along with corresponding calls to collection agencies, Health Canada reveals that only $2000 has been recouped in lost revenue. Out of the 739 current registered pot users, stats provided by the Access to Information Act have reveal that a whopping two-thirds are fronting delinquent accounts.


However, many patients are arguing that the government's 1500% mark-up of its supply is ludicrous considering most other medications are covered by Blue Cross or Pharmacare. Jason Wilcox has been HIV-positive since the early 90s, and uses marijuana to ease pain and to help him sleep at night. He currently owes Health Canada $6,770.06. Enraged by the government's enormous profits, Wilcox makes no qualms about sharing his true feelings: "At that point [upon discovering the government mark-up], I refused to pay. Also, not to mention that their product is crap." Read the article here...


So even though I support the government distribution of medicinal herb, I am shocked by what a gong show of a system it is! Are the Feds basically distributing weed on the honour system in which a buy now-pay later scheme allows patients to score their little baggie in the mail?! Doesn't this strike you as...I don't know...completely insane and not to mention--ineffective? Anyway, I've tried to find more info on Health Canada's payment procedure for medicinal marijuana users but I haven't had any luck thus far. So if anyone out there in cyberspace has any of the answers, I do pray thee to share...

Springtime--Testing out my new camera

Video Cop-Out: Edwin San Juan--A Damn Funny Filipino Comedian!

OK, so I randomly discovered this Filipino American comic, Edwin San Juan, and he almost made me laugh my socks off! He reminds me of a Filipino Russell Peters since he has a knack for poking fun at all races--Filipinos, Latinos, Caucasians--while still being funny. Sound like your thing? Well, this is definitely for your viewing pleasure then...

Only the Mountain and I--A Tale of Tragedy and Triumph in the Canadian Rockies

All the birds have flown up and gone;

A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.

We never tire of looking at each other

-Only the mountain and I.

--Li Po, "Alone Looking at the Mountain"

While I was out suffering through a seemingly endless array of afternoon birthday shots, my friend, Kim, was shredding the slopes of Lake Louise. After high school, she had decided to leave Edmonton behind and live the mountain dream where a life of snowboarding and skiing was interrupted only by the need to make a living. This usually meant following in the footsteps of ski bums before her by earning a meager wage as either a liftee or server at the local ski hill. At this point in time, any crappy job seemed to be worth breathing in the crisp air of the Canadian Rockies every morning.



So it was safe to say that all of us back in Edmonton envied Kim’s new zen lifestyle.



But this didn’t stop me from having a grand old time on my 19th birthday. My girlfriends and I pub-hopped down Whyte Avenue like our lives depended on it—gulping down fishbowl margaritas, pounding back tequila shots, and wiping away beads of sweat as we danced the night away. From what I can remember, it was good times all around, which is more than I can say for that throbbing headache and dreadful nausea I was feeling the next morning…



For Kim, my 19th birthday was no different than any other day in her carefree existence. She awoke first thing in the morning and geared-up to ride the first tracks—untouched fresh powder—on the ski hill before heading to work later on that day. Since faster is always better when you’re carving through fresh powder, Kim was racing her friends down each bowl, letting her snowboard seamlessly cut through the snow like a hot blade through butter. Her newly waxed board began kicking things into turbo once she hit the smooth groomer runs, and her adrenalin started peaking as the wind made her pigtail braids sway like oak branches in the breeze.



She was now in the zone—confident and euphoric—so she decided to hit a table top jump once she arrived in the terrain park. This wasn’t that big of a deal considering she had hit this kicker a few times before and Kim figured that attempting a BIG AIR was only a fitting way to end a great day of riding.






So she carved right down until she was about 200 meters from the jump before launching right for it. Kim allowed her board to quickly shift between its front and back edges in order to generate enough speed needed for a successful take-off. Once she was right on the cusp of lip at the top of the incline, Kim's momentum propelled her forward so both her, and her board were now airborne...

********

RING! RING! RING!



Who the hell is calling me at 8 am in the freakin' morning!? Seriously, it's the day after my birthday and I went to extraordinary measures so I wouldn't have to: a) leave the house today, and b) do anything productive. This better be bloody important!!!!



RING! RING! RING!



ME: Hel-lo...


CALLER: It's Kim...oh my God! It's Kim! [sobbing]


ME: Jasmine?? Is this you? Are you OK? What happened to--


CALLER: We went snowboarding yesterday...and it was all good. It was a powder day...great conditions...but--


ME: Oh God...what happened, Jasmine?!


CALLER: She went off a jump...and we were cheering her on 'cos she got such big air...but the way she landed...



ME: Is Kim all right?


CALLER: It was awesome 'cos she got like 20 feet of air but--


ME: OK, this doesn't sound good...


CALLER: SHE LANDED FLAT ON HER BACK!!! Oh my God...she landed on her back...



Silence.



After Kim's accident, ski patrol medics had determined that she had sustained a very serious back injury. They notified S.T.A.R.S. Ambulance and she was then air-lifted back to Edmonton's University of Alberta Hospital. According to her doctors, Kim would have died right then and there had she not been wearing a helmet. But even though she was alive, things were still looking very very grim...



The impact of Kim's fall had crushed her spine and had caused permanent damage to her lower spinal chord. And over the span of a single minute, Kim had become a paraplegic.



It was completely devastating.



Kim had been a star athlete all of her life, playing on both the high school basketball and volleyball teams. She even found the time to play competitively on a club soccer team. Sports were her life. We were all heartbroken for her.



During the next year, Kim had to undergo rigorous physical therapy and by the time she was done, I had moved to another city to attend university. It didn't take long before life happened and we completely lost touch...

********

Years had gone by and through the grapevine, I had heard that Kim had started training as a competitive sit skiier. But at the time, I still had no idea how far she had actually gone.

So after two years of completely boycotting Facebook, I finally caved after a sudden desire to look-up long lost friends. It didn't take long before my nostalgia led me right to my old friend.

Kim had messaged me out of the blue and I was totally stoked! Not only was she a competitive sit skiier, she had joined the Alberta team just a year after her injury. In a few short years, Kim was already skiing for Team Canada as one of their star athletes. And now, at the pinnacle of her career, she was competing at the international level, even winning GOLD in the slalom at the IPC World Cup in February.

Truly amazing.

I just had to smile to myself. Leave it up to Kim to completely transcend her injury and make the best out of a seemingly tragic situation. The mountains really were her life and nothing was ever going to take that away from her.

Video Cop-out: Awesome Frou Frou Acapella Cover

I stumbled upon this acapella cover of Frou Frou's "Let Go" and I was completely blown away.


"Let Go" Acapella cover