'Everytime a baby is aborted, love is denied'

That's one of the hundreds (or thousands?) of signs and placards held up during last Saturday's March for Life. Below is a photo of students from Christendom College, this year's bearer of the lead banner. Photo from March for Life.




Barbara Curtis of Mommy Life was present at the March as well and took wonderful photos, some of which I'm posting below. You can view the rest here



Some of the students who composed the 300,000+ participants...






"Hitler did not value life either!" and "Adoption, not abortion" -- a couple of signs carried by the participants.





With all the focus on the unborn babies that abortion obviously snuffs out, many people forget that the women who go through the procedure -- willingly or otherwise -- are harmed as well. By telling them that the growing life inside them is just a "blob of tissue," they are not being helped at all. With authentic freedom of choice comes truthful and complete information on which to base one's choice.





Here's a slinging mom...




Clear enough...





The whole nine months at a glance. It's men carrying those signs...







Go to Mommy Life for more photos and Barbara's report

Five gruelling sets

It's not fun to watch Roger Federer almost scrambling against his opponent. But that's just how it looked during the first three sets of today's game with Czech player Tomas Berdych; fortunately, the Swiss reigned in the end, making it through the 4th round of the Australian Open.

Here's how an interesting writeup about the match begins:

It was all going so well. Roger Federer looked as well groomed and carefully turned-out and as ever, and the Rod Laver Arena had greeted him like a favoured eldest son. He was playing, in Tomas Berdych, a man he had beaten seven straight times, and the sun was shining in the Melbourne afternoon sky. All was right with the world as far as the Australian Open’s second seed was concerned.

And then the match started.

Full article at the Australian Open website

March for Life today!

I think this year's March for Life takes on an even deeper significance because the United States's new leader is one who seems to discriminate against some persons as far as recognizing and respecting their dignity is concerned. It is very saddening.

I find it quite disturbing that the person occupying the highest office in that country advocates allowing a newborn to die instead of being given life-saving medical attention, if the baby happened to survive an abortion. In essence, that's what Pres. Obama said when he -- as a legislator -- repeatedly struck down the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which extends legal protection to an infant born alive after a failed attempt at induced abortion. For him, the law should let a baby who survives an abortion be left alone to die. And just now I learned from this 2002 article that Obama also "opposed measures to criminalize those who transport minors across state lines for the purpose of obtaining an abortion." Isn't this tantamount to protecting old men who prey on minors from arrest? I realize this article is six years old, but if it's accurate, and unless Obama has changed his stance on the matter, the time element is irrelevant.

This is the much-celebrated new leader of the "Land of the Free"?

What I find amazing and totally edifying is that many people in America continue to stand up for life, fighting to uphold the truth, the good, and the beautiful in spite of the prevalent moral climate over there. Talk about going against the grain! The March for Life is an annual event on January 22 to mark the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion.

The first March for Life in 1974 had about 20,000 participating; in recent years, the event has drawn together an average of 200,000. It is held in Washington D.C., but recently people from different parts of the country have been holding their own satellite activities to bring awareness to the repercussions of that infamous 1973 decision.

More and more pro-life groups have been formed, many of them school-based; some are parish-based or church-based. Go to Generations for Life for information on Georgetown University's Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life, Rock for Life's Training Activism Weekend, Stand True's March for Life Week, Students for Life of America's Annual Conference. And of course about Generations for Life's own schedule.

The following are photos from past March for Life events, some of which I posted on this blog in 2007 and 2006:





























































More interesting photos and accounts here, here and here

More information at the March for Life website

From here to eternity

So humanist groups started trying to get their message across via advertising.




Thing is, splashing all the buses in the world with the most imaginatively executed ads conveying this same idea will not change the truth:










More to read here...

here...

and on I Believe Too.

Charming man

Out of the 12 covers of Baby mag's issues in 2008, 8 featured girls while the other 4 were graced by boys. Now why is that? It could be that more girls were suitable material for the cover, based on the hundreds and hundreds of photos we had received and from which we made our choices.

It could be that we received more photos of baby girls than of baby boys, thus increasing the chances that a girl would be chosen each month.

A friend theorized that girls have more varied "looks" while boys seem to look almost the same.

It could also be that for some reason, though I've yet to see hard evidence to prove this assertion, anything "endorsed" by a female sells more than when it's a male doing the endorsement. "Endorsement" here is used loosely, okay? We can be referring to anything from magazine covers and TV commercials, to hosting an event and negotiations in a family squabble.

Then it could also be that more girls than boys are being born in recent years -- again, I have no hard data to back this up.

About five months ago, we held the cover pictorial for the current issue (such patience for the parents to wait that long before seeing their son gracing Baby mag's cover!). Here is Miguel Santino Fernandez during the shoot, enjoying the wide open space at Tumble Tots on E. Rodriguez Ave in Quezon City.




That's Ralph Alejandrino behind the camera, shooting away as Santino minded his own business, preoccupied with a little toy. Charming little guy.




Boy, did he love to put everything in his mouth! But when he wasn't tasting a book or a rattle or another item from the basket containing an assortment of playthings, he was sticking out his tongue. It was a new "trick" he learned only the previous day, said his parents, and he got a kick out of doing it. Indeed, a good number of the shots had him sporting the "belat" look (none of these that I'm posting, though).



Mirror, mirror on the wall... he even kissed himself!




Blurred. It was kind of hard to get him to smile. It's ironic, but he's been one of the most contented babies we have photographed for the cover so far. He seemed really at ease with himself, with the people around him, with everything!





Tumble Tots had just undergone some refurbishing a few days before we held the shoot. Here you can see Ralph, Santino, his parents (both in stripes), and yaya.

And presenting, Baby mag's first offering for the new year!



I should add that due to delays caused partly by the extra-long Christmas holiday, deliveries started only Monday of this week. Hence, to avoid experiencing that familiar disappointment of realizing that it's still the previous month's issue on the shelf when you hit the bookstores ("ay, wala pang bago?!" *sigh*), do expect to see the December issue still if you check out the bookstores before Saturday this week (the 10th). If the branch you dashed to happens to have the Santino issue on display already, then by all means grab a dozen copies and distribute to friends who seem perennially engaged in a battle of wills with their toddlers! This is the issue for them!

Also (more not-so-good news here), due to reasons that are beyond Baby mag's control, SM shall still be carrying only the December 2008 issue in its stores till Jan. 20 or even beyond -- depending on the speed at which the designated delivery guys zoom across the metropolis. So, when you head to the baby section of any SM department store, expect the delight of seeing the gleeful baby girl and the baby Jesus still on the magazine rack. They shall be overstaying for an extended helping of Christmas cheer :-)

For more interesting details on this issue, go here


Baby magazine is published by Marathon Publishing Co. and is sold at major National Bookstore outlets, Babyland (Robinsons Galleria, Shaw Blvd. near Cherry Foodarama, Greenhills Shoppesville), Baby & Co. (The Podium and Power Plant Mall), Bufini, Procreation Shangri-la mall, Big & Small Co. Shangri-la Mall. If you're one to merely scan blog entries and simply settle on reading the ending, then let me tell add yet again that the January issue will be late in SM stores this month for reasons beyond our control. However, should you wish to purchase copies pronto, you may call the office at 728-3655 or 3656 and ask for Lourdes.