A misty-eyed look at Armi Kuusela, the 1st Miss Universe

By Ricardo F. Lo of The Philippine Star. The article was published on 28 June 2006 for his column, The Funfare.

Fifty-four years ago today, a beautiful 17-year-old girl from Finland was crowned (by Hollywood actress Piper Laurie) the first Miss Universe at a glittering ceremony at The Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, with a court of honor composed of Hawaii’s Elza Kananionapua Edsman (first runner-up), Greece’s Daisy Mavraki (second runner-up), Hong Kong’s Judy Dan (third runner-up) and Germany’s Renate Hoy (fourth runner-up).

Her name: Armi Helena Kuusela.

Nobody could have imagined that Armi would become an adopted daughter of the Philippines when she married Virgilio Hilario. Their love story was immortalized in a movie entitled Now and Forever.

On March 9, 1953, nine months after she won the Miss U title, Armi was invited by the Philippine International Fair Committee to crown that year’s Miss Philippines. During her stay (until April 11, same year), Armi paid a courtesy call on then President Elpidio Quirino, Supreme Court justices, senators and congressmen; laid a wreath at the Bonifacio Monument; visited Maryknoll College (now Miriam College), UP, Ateneo de Manila, the Balara Filtration Plant and Baguio City where she met Virgilio through a blind date.

Funfare’s "other beauty expert" Celso Caparas (now working in the Middle East) recalls the rest of Armi’s memorable stay in the Philippines:

On March 12, the lawmakers discarded their usual "parliamentary sobriety" when Armi called on then Senate President Eulogio Rodriguez and Speaker Eugenio Perez. Smitten by Armi’s beauty, then Rep. Ferdinand E. Marcos (Ilocos Norte) introduced himself as the only eligible bachelor in the House and confessed that his knees gave way after meeting her up close and personal.

Prior to the Miss Philippines coronation night, Armi had a personal appearance in the Show of Shows topbilled by Dolphy, Katy dela Cruz, Bayani Casimiro, Chichay and Tolindoy at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. On March 20, Armi crowned Cristina de Leon Galang (1953 Miss Philippines), with Benigno Aquino Jr. as her escort. Cristina’s court of honor included Violeta Villamor (1953 Miss Visayas and Pearl of the Orient), Gilda Gruet Walstrom (Miss Mindanao), Norma Jimenez (Miss Manila) and Imelda Trinidad Romualdez (Muse of Manila).

Two days before her departure, Armi danced the rigodon de honor with the winners of the Miss Philippines contest and prominent social figures during the Farewell Ball held at the fair’s open auditorium. Shedding tears, Armi left the country on April 11for Hong Kong and Japan with a heavy heart. She expressed her desire to stay in the Philippines because of the warm hospitality accorded to her.

Indeed, she won the hearts of the Filipinos particularly then 25-year-old Virgilio "Gil" Hilario who studied banking, marketing and foreign trade in Columbia University and at the same time worked with the Philippine National Bank in New York. Friends in the know believe that one of the reasons why Armi was swept off her feet by Gil was because of his dancing skills. Gil was an expert in mambo, samba, rumba and other ballroom steps.

Gil followed Armi on her trip to Tokyo where they arrived on April 26 on separate planes. Their romance blossomed in Tokyo until they mutually agreed to get married on her 19th birthday on Aug. 20. He gave her a three-carat diamond engagement ring. But love couldn’t wait. On the wee hours of May 3, Gil was involved in a scuffle when he defended Armi from a drunken American newspaperman who tried to harass Armi inside the Cosmopolitan Nightclub.

Before the incident, Armi chose to give up her Miss Universe crown and title, her plans to take up physical education and language and make more movies but decided to marry that day instead. Gil was sporting a black right eye when he exchanged marriage vows with Armi (who wore a blue nylon lace gown and carried a small bouquet of roses), officiated by Rev. Fr. Bruno Blitter, at the St. Ignatius Church in Yatsuya, Tokyo, with her sister Irma Kyromies as matron of honor and Roberto Villanueva (then VP of Chronicle Publications) as best man, Gil’s close friend. She received a brand new 1952 Cadillac as a wedding gift.

After their two-month honeymoon in the US and Europe, the couple settled in the Philippines. Their love story was immortalized into a movie, Now and Forever, which was shown on Dec. 29, 1953 at Center and Palace theaters.

Back home, Armi had a film under her name, Maailman Kaunein Tyttö (or The Most Beautiful Girl in the World). In 1955, Armi (with Gil) visited Finland for the first time since 1953, and the couple did a Finnish documentary film, Pohjolan Tähtitaivaan Alla (or Under The Northern Stars).

They had five children and six grandchildren who now live in different parts of the globe, namely: Arne, Anna-Lisa, Jose/Jussi, Eva-Maria and Miguel/Mikko (the only one based in Manila).

Gil and Armi were active in the Barrio Leaders Association of which Gil was the president. Gil was even named the Honorary Consul of Finland which elated Armi no end. From 1954 to 1956, Gil played the role of John in the passion play, Martir sa Golgota, staged at the Manila Grand Opera House, with Gloria Romero as the Virgin Mary. Armi became a Camay Girl and she posed with her family for print and commercial ads.

Gil died on Sept. 7, 1975. Armi remarried, to Albert Williams, a US diplomat, on June 8, 1978. They are now living in La Jolla, San Diego, California, where she is active in various community undertakings and deeply involved in cancer research.

Speak softly but carry a big stick

by: Dr. Herm C. Valenzuela

Lately, there has been much talk about a massive military build up. I was just wondering for whom does these mighty armada of steel and guns toll? The USSR is history and China’s regular military spending is about $160B a year (half of which the U.S. owes hence is “paying”) is far less than the Pentagon’s base budget of about $500B annually according to a recent 84-page Pentagon report. It has about 1,680 fighter jets compared to about 3,000 in the USAF and Navy and yet “China presently focuses on its desire for greater mobility to conduct operations at a greater distance from its mainland.” (Source: Air Force Times: Aug. 14, 2011). China is clearly “projecting” some kind of intention. Spratley Islands maybe with our potential $50B yearly revenue? India and South Korea are now becoming players in the neo-economic “war” without show-casting any modern military hardware! Our European allies are “limping” while the Middle East is a powder keg!

The national budget crisis this mid August sent the Armed Services jostling for greater budget funds and could force the Marine Corps to start cutting the force as soon as next fall, and below 180,000 troops and top officers presently on active duty reduced as soon as the war in Afghanistan ends. (Source: Marine Corps Times: 8/11)

In the meantime your senator/congressman will get full benefits even with one term service and they don’t pay into their health benefits. Consider further:

> New York, New Jersey and California are broke. Texas, as I know of is better off.

> America’s infrastructure will start to “crumble” in about a decade.

> The unemployment rate approaches 10%. Those “counted” are working mostly in part-time mode and are steady looking for permanency.

> About one million college seniors graduated this year; where will they work?

> Major products, appliances, computers, almost everything come from abroad.

And sadly, the hundreds of U.S. Post Offices branches are being closed! “Stop texting and start licking stamps and write someone – they’ll like it!” I don’t mean to be a K.J. or mean to predict gloom and doom for America but I remember a former senator from Chicago who vowed: “We need change!” If you can read current events and history – you can also write!

Target Shooting at Cow Mountain

At the Cow Mountain Rifle Range, my wife Louise demonstrated her sharp skills with a 12-gauge tactical shotgun. We shot at paper targets at 25 yards with slugs, then with #00 buckshots at 1-gal water jugs. She is truly amazing with that weapon!

Reminiscence of 9/11

By Evelyn Manese

We had just returned to San Diego, 2 days before 9/11 from a holiday trip to Greece and were still getting over our jet lag, when the phone rang and woke us up. Our son from La Jolla was on the phone and immediately asked us to turn on our T.V.. As Will and I fumbled and stumbled, searching for the remote control, our son continued to speak at a fast and nervous pace, describing what he was witnessing on his own T.V. When we finally got the T.V. turned on, Will exclaimed “Oh my God”, in a sullen, morose voice of distress, as he watched the 2 towers crumbled down into ashes. I felt aghast and huddled closer to grasp his hands for comfort and reassurance.

New York was an old stomping ground for our family in the mid-70's to the 80's. Many memories of our young, family were rooted in the splendor and grandeur of the Big Apple. Will used to take the old, Erie Lackawanna line from New Jersey where we lived, to Hoboken. Then he catches the PATH train through the Hudson river to N.Y.C.. He then gets off at the World Trade Center and hops, up the steep, escalator to the street level of Manhattan. He continues on to Broadway until he gets to the AT&T Bldg. where he worked. It was a journey he took everyday for 12 years, until the divestiture and merger of the giant telephone company in the late 80's.

The number of times I made to the city with friends on Wednesdays to catch a Broadway matinee or fall in line at Times Square to get discount tickets for theater seats, were grand memories that I cherished. The stroll at Central Park, the Rockefeller Plaza, window shopping on 5th Ave. and the steaming, hot soup in Chinatown on a cold day. Those were worth the wait in line, enough to satisfy our Epicurean delight. In our moment of introspection, the golden memory of our numerous journeys to New York City, with our final stop at the WTC was shattered and dashed away, on that day of 9/11/2001.

Evelyn

Still Remembering

By Myrna Ynares Celerian (chunsanit)

Ten years is a long time but up to now, when I think about 9/11, I cannot help feel I was part of American history in the making, and I can vividly recall that day it happened as if it was only yesterday.

I took an early retirement from the World Bank in 1998. By 2000, I decided I wanted to travel free so I worked for United Airlines (part time) from 2000 - 2003. On September 8, 9 and 10, there seems to be an endless exodus of customers, mostly arab looking or muslims as their women were all wearing the light blue burkas; whereas the Arab women were mostly covered except their eyes with black from head to foot. I remember asking one of the sales agents if there is a muslim holiday because most of those leaving Dulles International Airport in Virginia have no less than 6 largest size luggages and some even more. On Sept. 10, I was assigned to cover the economy class as they have the most number of passengers. One agent asked me to check the passport picture vs. the face of the woman in a burka, and only her eyes was showing. But when I asked her some questions she definitely sounded male, even her height is quite tall. However, the other male companion was giving me an angry look and we were instructed that if there is a problem passenger, we have to call security and not solve it ourselves. I made eye contact with the ticket agent but with so many passengers, they were so swamped and disregarded me, she issued her/him a boarding pass knowing I already check the passport against the face, but could not tell her what I discovered because we were still in the unsecured area and I saw the other guy put his hand inside his trouser while still giving me a bad look. When they walk away, the other guy told me "you will all be sorry" and suddenly the one covered by the burka suddenly gave him an angry word in their language and grab him by the arm and walk away. My other officemate covering the main lobby of Dulles Airport just looked at me and shrugged (we worked as customer service agents and sometimes I am assigned in Customs and sometimes in the international first and business class). A lot of muslims were working then at Dulles handling baggages, some worked pushing wheelchairs, a few at the counters.

September 11, 2001

I woke up that morning without watching the TV as I showered, dress up and was about to go to Dulles Airport before 10 a.m. when my daughter called me up and said to watch the news on TV. I flicked the switch and could not understand at first what was happening.... all I see was the WTC's north tower in flames (which I thought just an ordinary fire on that floor) but then there appeared another jet flying towards the other tower. I then heard the TV news anchor saying that america is being attacked! Still not comprehending what was going on, suddenly they flashed our United Airlines 2 jets and another one hitting the Pentagon, then the news of another plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field, and they were announcing it might be intended for the White House or Congress (World Bank is a block away from the White House - 8 buildings in all, and the main building almost the whole block).

I immediately turned off the TV, dashed to my car and sped using the back roads of Lawyers Road that connects to the highway to the airport (a good 25 minutes from my house to the IAD airport). When I was halfway there, a lot of cars passed me by on the opposite direction but I continued thinking I have to be there on time to help customers as I heard that they cannot use their cellphones or phones and one of my jobs was directing the traffic of passengers. When I arrived at the huge Employee Parking lot (for all airlines), it was DESERTED except one employee bus that took me to the main terminal. I saw my supervisor but none of my officemate and people crying walking about like in a daze.... the airport was a complete mess of humans. I particularly felt sorry for a very pregnant British woman and her husband who just checked out of their hotel for their early flight back to London but now NO FLIGHT WAS ALLOWED TO LEAVE AND THERE WAS A COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN ... no cellphone working. And they cannot go back to their hotel since no phone was working.

My supervisor then told me to go home and that we lost two of our jumbo jets -- about Flight 93 and another United Airlines plane that were diverted. I felt my knee turned jellylike and disbelief because one of the stewardesses of that flight happens to be with me in the employee bus a few days earlier telling her companions that she will be retiring in a month and was really looking forward to it. I also recognized from the picture roster a few stewardesses as they used to passed by us while we were daily working the floor helping passengers and answering their queries, or watching for those in wheelchairs and telling them to be at the front of the line.

A few months later, our whole Customer Service group were all furloughed to cut costs because losing two jumbo jets were very costly for our airline. We can still travel free though. America was never the same again!! And travelling have never been the same. Before, security was quite lax, then all those muslim looking guys' jobs were replaced by our Homeland Security. Some of those guys were hardworking and nice, but we all became victims of the evil schemes of a few really bad people with the wrong ideology. By 2003, I resigned and moved to a private company and completely retired end of 2009.

Memorial Day Memories

By Loi Gillera

"Courage is a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live in the form of readiness to die"

Leodegario Ymas Acosta is a native of Ormoc, Leyte. At 26 he was a little old to be drafted in the army. His outfit, the 24th Field Artillery Regiment, 12th Infantry Division was among the Philippine Army regulars incorporated into the United States Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE). He is a dentist. But in the battlefield of Bataan in the final week of March, 1942, Leodegario was a 1st Lieutenant doing no dentist or artillery work. He was a rifleman. The field hospital is gone. Their artilleries have no ammunition. There is only the Springfield rifle and a few cartridges of 30.06 ammo.

In the nights of 28 and 29 March, 1942, Leodegario's company, fighting a rear guard action in the bounderies of Balanga and Pilar, was holding two battallions of Japanese troops. By daybreak of 30 March, all but Leodegario and his sergeant are dead or dying. Realizing the futility of continued fighting, Leodegario raised a white shirt. The fighting stopped and runners (Pilipinos who served with the Japanese as interpreters and peons) took their rifles and accompanied the two to the Japanese lines.

The two Pilipinos were just about a few yards away from the bunch of grinning Japanese soldiers when at a given signal, Leodegario and his sergeant pulled grenades hidden under their uniform, bit the pins and hurled the missiles in the direction of the Japanese.

Witnesses say Leodegario and his sergeant were riddled with bullets and died on the spot. Witnesses also said the two explosions killed at least a dozen of the Japanese. This account was in the journal of retired Col. Sebastian Aguilar, then a corporal and one of the wounded soldier in the battle of Balanga-Pilar. The Bronze Star medal posthumously awarded by the U.S. Army to Leodegario was received by his younger sister, Ricarda Acosta Gillera, my mother.

One reason I keep Memorial Day close to my heart.

Loi

The Average U.S. Military Man

My first duty station after boot camp was the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in St Petersburg, Florida. The year was 1960, before our heightened involvement in the Vietnam War. St. Pete was a beautiful city on the Florida West Coast, where the townspeople had a lot of love and respect for the military. I was proud to wear my uniform when going on liberty. The old folks at the chess club called me ‘son’ and were anxious to engage in conversations with me over a chess game, anxious to talk about their WW II or Korean War experiences. They were all pro military. My favorite stop on the way back to the base was at the Stick and Rudder, a small bar just outside the gate. It was quite common for one or more of the regulars at the bar to buy me and my buddies a round of beer and give a toast to the U.S. Coast Guard.

After Vietnam and most recently Iraq, the public support for the military seems to have waned. The respect for the young soldiers, sailors and airmen prevalent in the old days has been replaced with apathy and lack of appreciation for what they do. These young men and women are serving our country to preserve our freedom and liberty. We should be forever thankful. The following short article has been on the web a few years and I have run across it many times. It describes the average soldier of today (and in many ways, is also applicable to the average soldier of yesterday).

The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's; but he has never collected unemployment either.

He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm howitzer. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark. He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient. He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts. If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life -- or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death then he should have in his short lifetime.

He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed. He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years.

He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood. And now we even have woman over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so. As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.

An Immigrant's Prayer

Submitted by Herm Valenzuela

An Immigrant's Prayer (Author anonymous)

Lift every voice and sing -From those who landed here;
Till earth and heaven's ring.
Ring with the harmonies of liberty then cheer.
Let our rejoicing rise high as the list'ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of faith that dark past has taught us.
Sing a song full of hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chast'ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with our steady beat, Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our father's just dreamt.
We have come, over a way that with tears have been watered,
Out of our gloomy past. Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright stars is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way,
Thou who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we meet,
Lest our hearts, drunk with wine of the world we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stay and greet.
True to our God, Loyal to our adopted Land- an American be!


Herm C. Valenzuela, M.D. (Ret)
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11234
January 2011

The Vagina Warriors

By Herm Valenzuela

I was going thru my computer to delete most postings and clear-up my overloaded "bank" for the new year and came upon this commentary I thought you'd be interested to read.

There are over 200,00 American women, including children & elderly, who are abused and mistreated in the U.S. yearly and over a million world-wide. This includes the clitorial castration of Africans before they reach menstruation, selling girls in the Indian sub-continent as boys are preferred, slavery in other poor countries including the harvesting of body parts for organ donors, suicide bombers from Al Queda or Talibans, stoning Muslim women who are seen with a male not her relative, incest or other physical abuse including demeaning verbal harangues that lead to lowered self-esteem that leads to prostitution.

You don't have to be a psychologist to predict the long-term effects- mental dysfunction, depressions, alcoholism and/or drug abuse or a doomed future even if they come out of it. Many did and are fighting back- The Vagina Warriors - a million of them here in the U.S. of America- and I met some of them yesterday in Manhattan!

We don't need to travel far to know of these- when you land at the MIAirport and right off it's gates are malnourished mothers with babies in their arms (some are for "rent") for alms or visit the Remedios church in Ermita and besides the gourmandic Max's & Aristocrat restaurants children are selling "bric-bracs" & "knick-knacks" instead of going to school. Of course these are mostly economic issues that I doubt the new election candidates could practically solve if elected- a vicious circle once again!

During my first Summer in N.Y.C. (Aug/69) 250,000 young men & women gathered in Woodstock and begun the peace movement- these "hippie generation" are older now. Yesterday, young Pilipina & American "Amazons" gathered in the Philippine Consulate on 5th Ave and presented their Vagina Monologues- "to high-light the status of women's issues, fight for recognition as well as to relate & declaim the terrible testimonies of many". Their monologues were mostly funny and satirical; I had the impression that their performance was not a comedy at all not like the famous off-Broadway play- "Menopause". The ladies barred their sexisms w/o being salacious but abandoned animation with no-holds-barred eroticism including loud vocally exclaimed ecstasy without being pornographic and did not sexually excite the audience- at least but brought down the house with applause.

One of the highlight of the performance was the monologue of Grace Baldisseri- an award-winning poet, community organizer and actress/director who spoke about the "harrowing experiences of thousands of Filipinas, 'comfort women,' who where cursed, drugged, physically and mentally abused, sterilized and forced to sexual servitude by the Japanese Imperial Government during their occupation of our country.

Background: There were two famous POW camps in the Philippines- The concentration camp in Capas, Tarlac & the internment camp near Los Banos, Laguna. There were over 2,000 Gis and allied civilians with unknown numbers of Pilipinas, some Chinese and a few Koreans ("imported" by the Japanese military to "service" their soldiers. They were housed in a "Shuko" were they were forced to service 30-40 soldiers a day and fed rice gruel w/ wilted vegetables and/or almost rotten sea-foods. These sex-starved soldiers knew where they should go because the women's huts/shacks had a banner reading "jugun inanfu"- for military comfort women. During Grace's declamation, these "survivors" were present in their old but colorful embroidered attire and danced the "Pandango sa Ilaw" (Dance of Lights) to represent the hopes of other abused women- I was deeply moved!

To date, one of these Vagina Warriors are still making concentrated efforts for the Japanese government to properly compensate them. I believe China was already financially compensated heavily for their despicable acts during the Sino-Japanese war in the "rape" of Nanking including Korea during the Japanese incursion there. (A related reading about concentration camps is "The Broken Jewel" by Harold Robbins and the movie "The Great Raid" starred by Benjamin Bratt). As an "appetizer" two young Vagina Warriors exhibited their martial arts talents with gusto and controlled force amidst ear-drum shaking drum music that depicted they can now defend themselves from aggressors. Also a solo song ala Joan Baez that reminded me of Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind." The Consulate was packed and mostly attended by 90% of ladies- produced by Mia Fernandez and directed by Theresa Tantay-Wilson- two energetic and talented Pinays. Their V-Day campaign is a "catalyst mobilizing women and men to heighten awareness about violence against women and girls to empower them and find collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects women around the world!"

If and when they perform near your city I highly recommend that you attend- you'll laugh till you cry!!!

"What won't kill you will only make you stronger!" - Anon

Here's Grace's Poem:

Bruised Flower

The loveliest flower in the garden
That was how they called me then
Young and old praised me to the sky
Smelled my fragrance as they passed by
Then came a roaring wild beast from nowhere
That old bastard abused and left me there
My petals devoured, no longer the same
My stalk broken as I cried loud in pain.
Now I am bruised, broken and ugly
I am ostracized by society
I felt so ruin, betrayed and angry
Oh, how I cursed what he had done to me.
No longer the fairest and loveliest flower
No longer adored but I am now a 'flower power'
Millions gather each year for women like me
They empower us with their great advocacy
V-Day event started twelve years ago
This global movement made my heart aglow
TVM is a stageplay about women like us
It helps build our confidence, dignity and trust.

Grace G. Baldisseri
V-Day New York 2010
Philippine Consulate
Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.

P.S. If you wish to know more about the Vagina Warrior Movement or
where/when is the next performance pls e-mail Grace at: gbaldiserri@yahoo.com(I forgot their web's address). Volunteers are welcomed!