WHY BALI HAI?

"When you find a golden memory, savor it."- by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, from Life, The Greatest Ride of All

EBB'S E-TALK: As our 50th high school reunion draws closer each day, I could feel the excitement on the air. I still remember the day when Sari e-mailed me about the 50th anniversary of our high school class. Honestly I wasn't very enthusiastic about it. Then my father-in-law's sudden death last March 2009, put a heavy financial burden on us (my husband being the eldest son had to give more). I don't remember what "magical" thing changed my mind. Before I knew it I said..."Yes! I am going to the reunion." One thing led to the other. Then I also said...."Yes! I'll start our PWU blog." I don't know what I ate that day but I didn't regret saying... "Yes!" I keep on asking myself what if I said "NO" to all this. There will be no "Gintong Ala-ala" and of course I will not be connected to many of you. My endless admiration goes to Sari for her faithfulness in connecting to many classmates over the years. I wish I had that kind of heart and spirit-friendly, persistent and ever caring. There are so many people to thank - especially those who work hard to make our reunion something to remember. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. My thanks goes also to Tessie Guerra for her beautiful watercolor rendering of our beloved PWU alma mater. I no longer have a vivid memory of that building. Tessie made it looks so fresh and new. It feels like I am again a freshman, in my cute white uniform & smiling innocently.

I am also getting excited about our Bali Hai show. I don't mean to be a "kill joy" for wanting to just be a post or statue. I will go with the flow and sway. When I was still very young, I remember that "South Pacific" is one of my favorite musical movie & play. The appeal is timeless. Last July 2009, when my husband & I were in New York city we watched the "South Pacific" Broadway show w/ close friends at the Lincoln Center. As always the play made me fall in love again. I am sure that during our reunion the friendship which started 50 years ago will keep us more closer in the years to come. Thanks a million to Puri for her creativeness and dedication to our "Bali Hai" presentation.

WHY BALI-HAI ?
PURI'S PERSPECTIVE:

A few days after we attended the 78th PWU reunion in Sofitel last Feb 2009, a meeting was called for our first brainstorm-planning meet. Our retired diplomat classmate Linda Chacon-Baisa arranged for the venue at the Dusit Thani Board Room. We sat at this long formal table with floral arrangements and a printed menu for our initial dinner meeting. It was an impressive get together replete with live music by a father and daughter team of guitarists and singers brought by Gerry. And so we were IT, the next golden jubilarians. Linda reserved the Ballroom of the Dusit Thani Hotel that same evening for Feb 20,2010, a year in advance. It seemed like a very long time and now here it beckons sweeping us off our feet.
Present were Gerry Tiongson, President, Celia Espiritu, 1st VP and Lita Ramos 2nd VP of PWUAA who also happened to be our classmates. Also present were, Linda Baisa, Cora Gatchalian, Sari Valenzuela, Bong Staub, Roselani Mariano and I.
1960 was the first release of the well-loved movie South Pacific, a Pulitzer awardee for Best Drama based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel for Literature. We all agreed the theme would be based on the strength of the South Pacific. Suddenly light bulbs flashed in my head, and why not call it Bali-Hai? My head started spinning since then with blind faith, accompanied with fear of logistical difficulties as we are spread out across the globe. But this age of easy Internet access helped as well as an outpouring of magnanimous support from many.
As 1960 high school graduates, South Pacific was a story so fresh we still vividly remember, as it is as timeless as its music, its people, and its island paradise. It’s all about languages. It speaks and sings the language of a wide range of emotions. The universal language of longing, love, tenderness, heroism, prejudice, tragedy and triumph. All in the spirit of life’s lust for fun in its endless and poignant journey to Bali-Hai.
In no time, our avid chief honcho Sari Valenzuela searched high and low detecting clues on the whereabouts of missing classmates. Her perseverance rubbed off so most of us deployed our own sniff dogs as well. Our group email grew from 5 to 35. Soon we were glued to our inboxes for daily news and new additions to our group. It will put the local papers to shame as our topics went from silly to wild and hilarious.
Our artist classmate Evelyne Dirige Resella invited me to her blog to visit her painting gallery in early June. As I was raving she offered to teach me to do my own blog. But I quipped why for me, why not for our class? And so I named it Golden Memories. Our nationalistic Sari wanted a Filipino word so we just translated to Gintong Ala-ala. You may visit us at http//pwuclass1960.blogspot.com. Evelyne does a weekly posting religiously. There we find each other as we have bridged a gap of 50 years. Our bios and now photos are posted along with our HS portraits so we will recognize one another with our new looks when we meet. It encouraged many of us to meet in mini reunions to renew acquaintances and fill up the long gaps in our lives. Because we discovered through the blog where each one lived, we connected instantly. It’s a small world now as many of us met in various places coast to coast from New York to Chicago to San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Napa, Tahoe and Canada. They brought about a series of laughters and excitement in finding and enjoying one another just like old times. Now we are ready for our Golden Jubilee Celebration that took us a year in the making. Our artist classmate Tessie Ocampo-Guerra painted a watercolor rendition of our school façade nestled in an old acacia tree the way we remember it as we entered in and out of its iron gates. We anticipate a fitting Dinner Presentation, inspired by the South Pacific called “Voyage To Bali-Hai”. It is my honor and great pleasure to present this small production as tribute to my dear classmates and our beloved Alma Mater, our true Bali-Hai. Let us heed its call.
By Puri Capistrano-Laconico
PWU HS-1960

"Reunion Aftershocks" -Wednesday, March 25, 2009

From: Celia Espiritu

Can't get over how successful our last reunion was, both the grand reunion at Sofitel and the mini-reunion at Dusit. Nine years ago, when we were the Ruby Jubilarians, we were praying that we would all still be around for our golden jubilee which is next year, 2010. Nine years later, last Feb 21, it looked like our prayers were being answered. Meeting each other again after a long time brought squeals, much giggling and hugs. Catching up with each other was easy, bringing back memories of the old high school days. (Tessie, we missed you truly.) Cynthia Ugalde-Tan escorted by her husband for the second time around celebrated the occasion with us. Tey Laconico was also a repeat. Puri danced the Rigodon, I was a co-emcee and Gerry was on top of the affair, being the President and Chairman. A reunion would not be complete without giving honor to our beloved teachers but we spotted only a few - Mrs. Pura Sacro-Badoy, Mrs Lydia Marcos, Miss Abueg, now aStella Maris nun. But it was our mini-reunion at Dusit, efficiently arranged by our Class Diplomat Linda that fittingly solidified the renewing of ties. Present were Balikbayans Linda, Puri, Rose, Sari and Bong and locals Gerry, Cora, Lita and myself. Through Linda's connections, we were given our own function room where we spent the night dining, chatting, listening and dancing to the music of Amanak - a father-daughter duo who entertained us with their vocals and guitar accompaniment. Trust our Class Promoter Gerry to spot alumni talent - the daughter being a PWU alumna. We had waiters attending to our every need as the delicious dinner and drinks were being served. Linda, thank you so much. The second part of our "Alumni Dinner" was planning for 2010, our turn to become the Golden Jubilarians. We brainstormed about the theme, music, the program - Puri was a treasure trove of ideas-and came up with a Hawaiiaan theme - with the movie South Pacific asour musical number. Remember Happy Talk and I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right out of my Hair? Lots of ideas there about costumes, songs and decorations. Costumes can be muu-muus or sailor outfits. Our Class Gardener and Florist Puri will choose a flower (in gold) which can be used on our hair or leis and printed on our giveaways. It will be a family affair - and activities will be planned to accomodate the various age groups. Puri has dance instructionals on how to "hula". We all ended up on an excited note and promised to share our ideas as early as now via email. So ladies, any more ideas and websites, pictures, old records and tapes on this theme? The school must have a old video of the South Pacific Operetta performed on the Campus Stage - we all remember that was a big production.In the meantime, we need someone (Sylvia Estrella Caniza?) who has connections with the travel industry -to plan out of town trips for the balikbayans and their families. Soabout about it. By the way, my husband and I are visiting the West coast soon. We leave Manila April 17 for San Francisco for 2 nights, then drive to Sacramento to spend the week with Roby's sister Marissa who has cancer. We may go to Seattle to visit old friends, go back to Sacramento then spend a few days in the Bay area before we come back to Manila on May 7. Puri and Rose, let's get together - who else are in your area?