December 25, 2009: Here is an update about our experience with Cheryl Burke (the Filipina American professional dancer and celebrity), and her celebrity-colleague, Mark Ballas, in San Francisco. Enjoy the champion quality of these “Dancing with the Stars!” professionals when you watch a sample of the dancing they performed that Sunday. For updates about this event, go to http://bit.ly/6fyDUi.

This Sunday, on December 20, 2009, in San Francisco, California:

Cheryl Burke, the Philippine Disaster Relief Coalition, the Philippine Consulate General – San Francisco, Ayala Foundation USA, ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya Foundation, and other collaborating friends are coming together with the holiday spirit to “Dance for a Cause.” Please share this special invitation with our friends in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Here is the video invitation for your viewing pleasure.

You can download, print, embed, or share this flier with your friends.

San Francisco, CA, October 3, 2009 – The Filipina Women’s Network (FWN) has selected Myrna Lardizabal De Vera, Vice-Chair, City of Hercules Planning Commission, as one of the 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S., “Policymakers & Visionaries” category.

The 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S. Award™ honors Filipina women who are changing the face of power in America and who have reached status for outstanding work in their respective fields and who are recognized for their leadership and achievements in the U.S. workplace and communities.

“The 100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the U.S. are dynamic leaders who are influential in their respective fields and local communities. These role models are powerful examples of women doing extraordinary work who will inspire our youth and future leaders,” said Lieutenant Colonel Shirley Saoit Raguindin of the Arizona National Guard and chair of the FWN 100 Nationwide Search and Selection Committee. “The awardees are asked to womentor a protégée so we can double the number of Filipina leaders by 2012. They were selected from nominations submitted from across the United States.”
(more…)

My sister, Myrna de Vera, sent an announcement in Facebook that she had won the “Mother of the Year” Award. Curious, I clicked on the link — and was totally enthralled by the present being given to mothers worldwide.

See for yourself how Filipina moms were honored. Click here — and enjoy the positive power of media:

My own Facebook greeting was also tongue-in-cheek:

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers with biological children, adopted children, and would-have-had-children-but-made-the-worlds-children-their-children! Including the men who are “Mr. Mom!” Gotta be inclusive in my greeting!

I also received an email from the organizers of THE MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD.

From: Joan Blades, MomsRising for CNNBC
Date: Sat, May 9, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Subject: Making the day of millions of moms
To: Lorna Dietz

Thanks for sending the “Mother of the Year” video to some of your favorite moms. You’ve really been part of something big: already the the award video has been sent to more than 4,500,000 moms! And we still have today and tomorrow to get this video to millions more.

We’re setting a goal of sending this well-deserved award to an incredible ten million moms.

I’ll bet you know more moms who’d love to see themselves in this video. Or more friends who’d like to send it to moms they know. Can you send it on again? Just send on this email or go to:

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com

We’ve been flooded with notes about how much people love getting the award video. A mom wrote us to say, “I don’t know what was funnier, the newscast or my son repeatedly asking, ‘Is that real? Is it real?’ while I’m wiping tears from the corners of my eyes.” Another wrote, “I sent to my best friend. She’d had a breakdown on an L.A. highway and she said it made her horrible day GREAT.” One prominent blogger wrote, “Honestly, this video is beyond a home run. It is the first thing in a long time I’ve wanted to send to each and every person I know!”

And if you’ve run out of great moms to send this award video to, send this link along to friends who might not have heard about this yet, so they can make sure their moms and moms they know are honored on Mother’s Day.

It a win/win—make your friends and family laugh and blush while you help us grow this movement for moms and families.

Thanks so much,

–Joan, Kristin, Mary and the whole MomsRising team

Like what we’re doing? Your donations make the work of MomsRising.org possible—and we deeply appreciate your support. Every little bit counts. Donate today on our secure website:

http://www.momsrising.org/contribute/

I’m a guest of Rodel and Edna Rodis this week at their San Francisco home and at Rodel’s law offices. We’re busy preparing for the biennial gathering of Overseas Filipinos on October 9 to 11, 2009 in Cebu: the 6th Global Filipino Networking Convention. And yes, there will be a Filipina Women’s forum. All very exciting! Rodel is the founder of the Global Filipino Networking Convention (starting 2002). For the 6th Global, he is also the Organizing Committee’s chair.

Rodel Rodis was so disturbed by this CBS coverage that he decided to write about it for his “Telltale Signs” column, which appears at the Philippine News and is syndicated in several Filipino American publications.

Here is Rodel’s Telltale Signs column for this week.

When ABC presented a demeaning image of Philippine-trained doctors in a “Desperate Housewives” episode (September 30, 2007), the Filipino community erupted in outrage and demanded an apology. Because Filipinos rarely appear on national TV, it was feared that the offending episode would cause Americans to view their Philippine-educated physicians in a negative light. That ABC episode is peanuts in terms of image and consequence compared to the depiction of Filipinos that CBS presented on January 31, 2009 in its CBS 48 Hours Mystery episode of “Conspiracy to Kill”.

Continue reading at Telltale Signs.