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(edited by Marivi Soliven Blanco)
From Roxanne Aquino, 23 September 2004 This project has been a labor of love, a collaborative effort of well-meaning friends scattered around the world, conceived on-line in January and born today, nine months later. It began when Karen Talusan-Soriano in Texas wrote -I think we should think of projects that we can do here in the States. What if we collect personal recipes (and anecdotes) from our classmates? Chit Consunji in New York built on this - What about compiling a book on "Women's Empowerment"? Each of us must submit a personal article. Mine can be about how I retired after 12 years in Bank of NY to sail around the world with my husband in the small confines of a sailboat and how I controlled myself from throwing him overboard!" Our professional writer classmate Marivi Soliven Blanco loved Chit’s idea. We can write about "The Best Thing I Learned in the Last 25 Years". Articles can be about - childbirth or child-rearing, stories about finding/losing love, moving to another country, dealing with tragic circumstances, whatever each of us thinks was the defining moment in producing the person that she has become since leaving high school. Nina Daza Puyat in Manila jumped in - I like it - I really, really like it. We will have a legacy to leave to our children and maybe be an inspiration to the younger Maryknoll graduates. I looked through the emails in the archive and mine were very practical- How much would it cost to publish?We need to agree on the concept, the mechanics, how we make money, what is the estimated income. I also wrote -We need someone to see how the articles hang together and encourage a diversity of topics. Well, that someone became Me!It is something I do at work, to take what I hope is a brilliant idea, to visualise it and shape it, to enroll members who are resourceful and form a team of complementary talents, to research references for inspiration, to uphold a quality standard, to ocassionally step back and remind people why they are doing the work, to push tasks along through deadlines, to fire-fight along the way, and to finally see the concrete result as it hits the market-place ON TIME. In other words, to Make it happen. What started as a project that those abroad could do, turned into a full-blown fund-raising activity of MCHS 80 with 33 stories from classmates living in London, Dusseldorf, New Jersey, Seattle, Texas, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta and of course Manila. This book would not have happened without Marivi Soliven Blanco, our editor, who painstakingly received, read, probed, suggested, re-structured, approved and filed the drafts of 28 eager amateurs. We are also lucky to have the ever-resourceful Malu del Rosario, who found our talented illustrator and our publisher, Asia Speedy. We are grateful to Triccie Cantero, who patiently proof-read each article for an nth time and Nina Daza-Puyat who hounded certain classmates to write whilst shedding tears as she read the submissions coming in. Finally, there was Bobbie Santiago-Domingo who took breaks from being an Unplain housewife to resurrect her days in advertising ensuring our sponsors Dove and Me were happy, thinking up the book title and organizing launch activities. Last Jan 31, when our class met to plan our projects, we classified these based on Effort (high or low) and Return (high or low). This project almost didn’t make it as we considered it Low Effort, Low Return. We pushed through, however, because it met other criteria - something which would help us re-connect with friends and which would be fun to do. I think we under-estimated the Effort part - it has been challenging to make it all happen. I once organized a teleconference where it was 7am in California, 3pm in London and 10pm in Manila. As we hung up, our agreements were upset by the withdrawal of our first publisher. We were also unprepared for the emotions that surfaced every now and again. But personally, every moment was worth it as I woke up anxiously checking email, or exchanged text messages in the middle of business trips and when things got heated up, picked up the phone, disregarding the horrendous phone bill that would come. I hope we have under-estimated the Return as well. To defray expenses we tapped Dove who generously agreed to sponsor our worthy cause and Me magazine which will print selected articles monthly, to help increase awareness. The rest of our charitable contribution will come from YOU, the buying and reading public, hopefully encouraged by members of the press. So when you open your wallets, think not only of the smiling contributors, but also think of the other women who will be empowered by our stories and most importantly the under-privileged women who will benefit tangibly from your generous purchase. Many thanks and happy reading! To order in Manila, they may contact: Also read the Press Release. |
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