urban myths demystified

i share an article bro. javy shared during last week's state of the urban poor address:

Demystifying myths about the urban poor

...the Urban Research Consortium, in partnership with the Harnessing Self-Reliant Initiatives and Knowledge presented to the public a new urban poor survey entitled ANINA: Ang mga Maralitang Tagalunsod ng Quezon City. The survey, undertaken by the Community Baseline Data System, involved 1,826 families in 12 barangays of Quezon City's District 2.
With this survey, URC and HASIK aim to foster a better understanding of urban poor conditions, present concrete bases for action planning , provide baseline data, and challenge misperceptions regarding the urban poor.

Here are some of the myths and facts about the urban poor lifted from the survey:

MYTH 1
Urban poor families are bigger than average Filipino household of six.

Fact: The respondents' average household size is 5.24.

MYTH 2
The urban poor are transient, migrant people mostly coming from the rural areas.

Fact: Some 51% of the respondents are from Metro Manila, 27% are from Luzon, 30% are from the Visayas, and 3% are from Mindanao.

MYTH 3
The urban poor are thieves or "freeloaders" who do not pay for the basic services they avail of.

Fact: Some 27% of the respondents have their own water line/meter while the 73% who have none buy from private sources or MWSS, or rely on deep wells or balon.

MYTH 4
The urban poor are uneducated, illiterate people.

Fact: Some 79% of respondents, who are of school age, go to school.

MYTH 5
Cities are dirty and flood-prone because of the urban poor.

Fact: The respondents dispose their garbage through: the garbage collector (69%); burning (43%); public dumping place (15%); selling plastic wastes and bottles (11%); burying (11%); and using left-overs as poultry feeds (8%).

MYTH 6
The urban poor are not economically productive.

Fact: The respondents have a 63% employment rate.

MYTH 7
The urban poor do not save.

Fact: Some 53% of the respondents save.

MYTH 8
Because they are undereducated, the urban poor patronize soap operas and other entertainment shows over those that are informative or educational.

Fact: News (52%) and public affairs (41%) programs are two TV programs the urban poor refuste to miss.

MYTH 9
Population growth in urban areas is primarily due to the urban poor who do not practice family planning.

Fact: Some 76% practice family planning.

MYTH 10
The urban poor lack a sense of community belongingness; when faced with problems in the community , the culture that usually prevails is one of "kanya-kanya".

Fact: Some 80% feel the necessity of community intervention in cases of domestic violence in the community.

whoa. imagine that. next time, think again of your reasons.

lisnin to Philippine Idol, not bad.
sortof readin Prisoners of the System, or Prisoners of our Own Thinking?
also WHO WILL PAY? good good questions to ask and with important answers
feelin kinda mellow. failed to attend the new bilibid visit. bad. i should before this sem ends, i'll make sure of that

I time, me time

friends and acquaintances wonder if i still find time for myself.
i'm proud to say i do. sometimes even too much.
but when you feel like you deserve a lot you tend to forget the meaning of too much self-reward.

mag:net katipunan offers good food, great place and whoa-stronger-than-usual cocktails. good good place to unwind especially when you'd run out of tickets for a pageant two of your friends are contestants of.

then after One Voice, it was a showcase of anj's ice cream bar expertise then a chick flick that wasn't so bad. just my luck. it was actually fun, extremely unbelievable that it bordered on the hilarious. thanks dani james marj japs. wouldn't have watched it for any other reason.

capped by a visit to glad-i'm-back bruno's where mardi thought my scalp needed treatment. i had to reason out. the post-haircut massage was just what i needed. especially on the ears. good job. just got lucky

on the way home i must admit i was having apprehensions waking up at 5am later for the new bilibid medium-security prison visit for ateneo lex. security reasons. but i figured i can't head an advocacy team if i fear the area where the people i'm advocating for are in.

it'll be an I time, me time too, karl, as you overcome little fears.
the real challenge is not coming off as someone who is too all over one's self. there's a fine fine line

lisnin to Lets Get High Tonite - Afroman. how appropriate, today was the day i was amusingly suspected of drug use
sortof readin Ad Awards Entry Kits, fingers crossed.
feelin kinda swell

the sight of Lego
still excites me

with vigor and rigor

understand to be understood.
for a lot of people, seeking to understand is something so easy to forget.

my problem is the latter--seeking to be understood.
i'm not saying i understand everyone perfectly, but i am not having a hard time understanding people. so much so that i tend to get confused on which of two radically opposing ideas should i believe in and die for. putting myself in their shoes, open-mindedness and all that sap i consciously do as i listen to people from anywhere. it's not a problem yet, this whole oh-my-crap-they-both-are-right-but-only-one-never-both thing. maybe soon

right now the problem is i can't get my messages across so easily, beautifully, well. i almost always drown people with the manner, the sudden sign of puberty, the hand movements and not my point. which is sad. because although i do am trying to put equal emphasis on message and manner and method and whatnot, i seem to be losing sight of my point... really.

which is not totally sad, 'cause at the end of all this hubbub where i actually figure out the solution to this problem, i'd come across with another communication problem. and this of course is ultimately good, it prevents complacency. something so convenient for now but only for now

that we are unperturbed, unmoved, complacent, too comfortable is something that we should all always always avoid. whether it's a getting-the-message-across problem, an oh-my-crap-she-is-with-someone-else problem, a what-a-tiny-president problem, it is this unflurried state that would ensure any of these problems would never never be solved. for it devitalizes us. we lose vigor and rigor

words we better hold dear

lisnin to Jonz in My Bonz - D'Angelo
sortof readin national internal revenue code of the philippines
feelin kinda dissatisfied and happy that i am dissatisfied

what a waste

the idea of wasting time was an idea my high school computer teacher would love to share. during class outings, the two of us would just talk 'til the wee, sometimes with one or two other people, wasting time. and wasting needn't be so bad a word.

maybe i say that 'cause i do it often. and in the course of wasting my time i came across a question not so easy to answer: that in a world where nothing's absolute, why do we tend to forget that probability is the rule?

convenience, yes, is a beautiful answer. irrationality, no. the first one easy to understand, like when i follow a certain route every time i take a cab for school--that route almost always works and there's no time figuring out other routes. the second one, not so easy, like when mar and kay and i ended up in podium today eating cake.

so what, karl?
well for me it's really sad that in admitting convenience and irrationality as possible answers we still react rather destructively to things that don't go our way--like when that route that almost always works suddenly gets jammed with traffic aggravating my tardiness. we of course are entitled to a reaction, it is our right. but why so destructively, why waste neurons on a signal that forces you to find the nearest sharpest knife. so much so that even mere messengers and agents get involved.

convenience is beautiful but it ain't always convenient. irrationality? even more so.
God bless Cyprus and Glenda's victims and the victims of convenience and irrationality.

lisnin to These Apples - Barenaked Ladies
sortof readin SONA. and ryan's "sauna of change"
feelin kinda well-rested but neck still hurts

'funerals are for dating'

-from I Love You, You're Perfect... Now Change
such a fun musical. those in cebu do catch it! next weekend, i think.

in a good sense that title of one of the musical's songs summarizes today.
from my not-so-bad attempt at redeeming myself during law on special contracts class, last week i was 'the student who slept over the mare example', sad funeral.

to our first k^3 day for musical theater, dating 13 or so high school kids with lots of potential. such a fun group and hopefully diega trisha jam and i ignite more their passion for the craft.

to informal readings of The Importance of Being Earnest at Koine with people who also love theater. nothing definite but definitely interesting and loads of fun. we should do this more often, it sure is better reading scripts with other people!

annoying pessimists remind me of funerals. there are good pessimists, but there are annoying pessimists . those that devitalize you and expect you to be as zombie-like as them. they're not around me that often, not yet. but talking to one today was annoying.

it was a good thing vica and i talked about complacency before the annoying pessimist encounter. funny how my philo class sortof helps her theo class. more funny how the cab driver had to say 'so you do speak Tagalog!' at the end of the cab ride, in Tagalog. it's not everyday he gets two passengers who attempt at philosophizing inside his vehicle. what a date for him.

perfect! now change.

lisnin to It's Your Thing - The Isley Brothers
sortof readin adb's citizen report card. maybe we could use it for our 21 communities
feelin kinda complacent, so: now change.

ignorance is piss

i always found it amazing that i could find things amazing.
i always appreciated the fact that i could appreciate.

that i had a sense of i.
i don't know when it initially occurred to me.
but a certain summer day before grade school when i was reading a weird american text book that's part of my grandparents' collection as educators during the commonwealth era always comes to mind every time i think about it. there were kids in the text book and they had names and they would talk about cupcakes and apple pies and squirrels. it always seemed they had a life of their own and as each disney movie would present to me a different life story, all these characters i think about every time i watch them,

i go "wait a minute, cool- i am some character too". maybe it comes off naturally to some other people but to me it was a very big deal. and it still is.

knowing i can know and that i could make a choice every now and then for myself, for other people, for anything is really cool. i didn't really care if everyone else thought about themselves the same way. i assume everyone does.

but here comes a dead unsystematic marcel saying not everyone does. maybe i got him wrong, i'll find out tomorrow after this quiz on two of his readings. what an unusual way of looking at things. knowing what you don't know is good. but not knowing you can know is hard to imagine.

it is sad. ignorance is bliss but only for a moment. as soon as you realize you are ignorant of something, then you really aren't totally ignorant about it and pretty soon be guilty enough to know.

lisnin to some cool shakira song on google video
sortof readin lipsyncapalooza guidelines
feelin kinda sleepy but thankful

lose my buttons, babe

pussycat dolls. bad name. good music.
i need
to make out.

and i announce it cause it has been a while. shame

a good friend is sharing her thoughts on true love,
that when you really love some one and it's time to let go, you let go.

tough. some buttons are just so hard to lose.

the Tough of the world

surround yourself with people you can learn something from.

i get to, almost everyday. but today,
[more like yesterday really. it's just a few minutes past 12] saturday
i got to be with
people who seriously study negotiable instruments and contracts of sale
people who seriously deliberate on newbies for the year
people who seriously trust youth organizations in mounting extreme events
people who seriously love performing so generously hence the extended run
people who seriously have nation building as a shared vision
people who seriously acknowledge each other's core competencies and apprehensions
people who seriously listen when you have something to brag about or to confess
people who seriously enjoy reminiscing and laughing at the same anecdotes over cheesecakes
people who seriously study operations and instant stain removers

it's a tough world hence one tough headache.
but you're with seriously tough people and the migraine suddenly becomes so minor.

plus seeing the bellarmine field in all its shining shimmering splendid glory
helps. seriously.

lisnin to Man In the Mirror - Michael Jackson
sortof readin stainerase! a study of operations management in manufacturing instant stain removers.
feelin kinda inspired.

and check out this inquirer commentary entitled
Arresting Bolante: good governance by default
where Mr Pangalangan mentions "We are a proud independent republic, except when it is politically [or any -ly for that matter] inconvenient."

law of supply and demand

THIS SATURDAY!
blushes.

a postscript:

it's friday already, 2am. but i found myself laughing at some funny-looking owl, uana's lj userpic.

i used to preside over this highschool student council meeting and i just suddenly broke into laughter. nothing at all was funny. i was just laughing. and i seriously was telling myself to stop. yes, while i was tearfully laughing. in front of my co-officers who looked worried and concerned and disturbed. it felt good, ofcourse. laughing always feels good. but up to now i still don't know what triggered it. why

it's questions like this that make me want to attend philosophy classes despite florita. i pray for her victims. good morning.

how's about a few

happy 15th year blooey!

there was a man with no dream and no plan
then one crazy night i found

search for blueREP on youtube
and don't forget the blueREP website
www.bluerepertory.com

lisnin to Sweet Charity
sortof readin Guidelines for Loans and Grants
feelin kinda swell. good job blueREP! the core was complete today and we rocked flaming wings with sheer jubilation over good times, e.g. STAGES OF LOVE!

save as Draft

imagine if you had a button to save your life as draft.
do something stupid then if it makes you less happy you return to your saved draft and do something more stupid. you repeat until you find that something stupid that makes you most happy.

i don't need that button now and i pray i never. but this create post page in blogspot has one and i can't help but think: what if?

it would be real cool though.
imagine all the stupid and not so stupid things you could do.
you don't even have to reflect or imagine. you just do.
the button is there anyway.

now, i wonder how many times i'd press the button if i did have one.
what would the button's color be and where would i find it?
when will i get tired of the button and wish i didn't have one instead?

enough questions. time for some answers.
for opman's industry study on laundry care. for marketing's questionnaire on deodorants. for strains with psyche. for strains' diagnosis product. for blueREP finances. for sundays well spent.

sunday is fun day.

lisnin to Over and Over - Nelly. memories of lani leaving and the barkada in tears.
sortof readin Surveying the Social World
feelin kinda fat

nuke and cranny

the other day they reported that north korea's already testing missiles.
forgive my jumping into conclusions but

if north korea can afford nukes, why the hell can't we afford a decent education system

amazing what the poorer countries are doing and what the richer countries are not doing.
amazing.

i rest.

a Tension

between myself and myself is a tension so different.

funny how our discussions in philosophy this morning managed to actualize a few hours later as i question the foundations of a stand i am about to draft.

if there's anything i don't want to be, it is to be so unwillingly consumed. so consumed, tolerable. unwillingly consumed, never. at least i should successfully convince myself to be willing when such a circumstance of seemingly unwilling consummation comes.

no karl, consuming and consummating are two different things.
metaphysical unease. what a word. inhale. exhale.

for loving tension. attention.

lisnin to Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye, Live: The Real Thing version.
turn off the light, let's do it. seriously now.
sortof readin linear regression for opman
feelin kinda settled and bothered and settled again

p.s. song was then followed by Silk's Freak Me then D'Angelo's Feel Like Makin' Love. my launchcast station sure is my station.

and do check out the beautiful bluerepertory.com, the official website of the Ateneo Blue Repertory, so pretty.

lucid intervals

and the not so lucid instances between them,
are such good good good times.

i'm loving it.
this sure proves that sex ain't a daily need.