The ‘breast’ we have to offer
With October, Breast Cancer Awareness month, just recently past, it pays heed to look back and recognize all the more than worthy efforts that transpired in the name of breast cancer early detection and medical research. After all, while I know of women who just hate it when the subject of breast cancer is brought up (like in “ignore it, don’t jinx it, and it won’t happen”), the inescapable fact remains that in Southeast Asia, the Philippines ranks among the highest in breast cancer cases. And along with lung cancer, breast cancer is responsible for the most number of cancer-related deaths in the country. When you add the fact that when detected early (stage 0 to 3), chances for survival are pretty high, it seems that here in the Philippines, fear and ignorance about this type of cancer still reign, especially among lower income groups.
I attended the Estée Lauder/The Peninsula Manila initiative — an art auction that had funds going to the Peninsula breast cancer wing of the East Avenue Medical Center. The following week, ICanServe (ICS) Foundation and Marie France mounted Fashion Can Serve at Raffles Makati with proceeds earmarked for the grass roots Ating Dibdibin program of ICanServe. Lifestyle Network of ABS-CBN served up a culinary event at the Enderun Tent titled “Around the World in Small Plates” with ICanServe as its beneficiary.
And when SM Woman became the exclusive representative for the Thai bra line Sabina, it was a forgone conclusion that SM Woman would also seek to partner with one of the organizations advocating breast cancer early detection. This because Sabina is the first Asian brand to produce a special bra for post-mastectomy survivors.
Fashion Can Serve became the ready opportunity and the partnership was further strengthened when SM Woman and Sabina hosted a unique event of their own at SM Makati. The aforementioned bra is called the “Sewing cup bra,” which consists of pouches of beads sewn into the bra to help mastectomy patients cope with the physical and mental trauma. The idea is that friends and family of the survivor bond in the sewing activity, showing said survivor that she is not alone!
Seen throwing their sewing skills in support of ICS and SM Woman/Sabina were Cita Schulze, Bambina Buenaventura, Frannie Jacinto and Lilibeth Campos, among others, who are friends of the ICS “warriors.” It was touching to see these women who have not been touched personally by breast cancer show that it is in uniting for the cause that strides can be made to help those afflicted — and in the long run, really bring those alarming Philippine statistics down. The committee members of Fashion Can Serve (Libet Virata, Tang Singson, Bettina Osmeña and Camille Samson) were all accounted for as were ICS Founder Kara Alikpala and member Bibeth Siguion-Reyna. Jo Dy-Juanco, Meryll Yan and Malu Fernandez of SM Woman were on hand to make sure all were having a fulfilling time. The pouches sewn were to form part of the donation of Sabina bras/SM Woman and will be turned over to ICS’ Ating Dibdibin. In fact, Cita Schulze took home the distinction of having sewn the most number of pouches.
Part of the day’s activities was the photo exhibit of portraits commissioned by SM Woman during the Fashion Can Serve night. And heartening to note that the Thai principals of Sabina had flown back to Manila for this intimate and meaningful gathering. On that afternoon, SM Woman stood tall, joining hands with ICanServe, and making the call for more information and awareness about breast cancer and providing support for those already afflicted.
Novels that come from Old-World authors.
The new ‘Old-World’
The three novels today come courtesy of European authors who have consistently been at the forefront of quality writing coming from the old continent. While Faber is Dutch (but now lives in Scotland) and Coe is English, Jaaskelainen is Finnish. Respectively, they dwell on questions of faith in a sci-fi context, a nostalgic trip to 60 years ago, and an engrossing brand of Helsinki-bred magical realism.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (available at National Book Store) Peter and Beatrice are a young Christian couple — he is a pastor in a small London borough, while she works at a National Health Service hospital. When a faceless corporation recruits for a missionary-type position in a planet the corporation is developing, Peter is selected to go alone and bring the Word of God to the inhabitants of said planet. Part sci-fi, part meditation on the meaning of contemporary religion, faith and where our world is heading to, the novel may have taken themes similar to films such as Interstellar but has brought a fresh perspective by focusing on that tenuous relationship between us and those who inhabit other planets. Considering Faber is best known for his 2002 novel set in Victorian times (The Crimson Petal and the White), this is enthralling new territory.
Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe (available on Amazon.com) Coe has become one of my favorite authors for decades now. In this novel, there’s a wonderful sense of time and place as the Brussels Expo of 1958 was the first world exposition since the end of World War II and it happened at the height of the Cold War, with the USA and the USSR exhibiting side by side. Thomas Foley is a low-level functionary of the British Information Office and he is placed in charge of the Brittania pub, which forms part of the British pavilion. We join Thomas in the hilarious meetings that precede the expo and watch as he gets suckered into playing “spy” during the expo. Flirting with a Belgian Expo hostess, while concealing his own domestic situation (with wife and child), are just part of the literary magic Coe weaves, finding the human and individual amidst all the historical. Ultimately touching and brilliant, reaffirming why Coe has me rooting for him!
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Jaaskelainen (available at National Book Store) Rabbit Back, a small town in Finland is home to celebrated children’s book author Laura White and her “creatureville” universe. The Literature Society is her 10 anointed young children destined to be the literary stars of the future. What transpires in this book is set off by substitute Literature teacher Ella being picked to be the 10th member. The sudden disappearance of White and Ella’s discovery that she is not the first “10th” catapult her on a mission to find out what happened to that first “10th.” This is achieved by playing The Game with her fellow authors, a grim, exacting psychological game coupled with close encounters with magical creatures/entities who have seemingly spilled out of the books of White. Praised as “Twin Peaks meets the Brothers Grimm,” this is an absorbing read, for fans of modern mythic fantasy.
