Dear Loved Ones,

Pleasant Greetings from Sacramento, CA! Flowers are all abloom with the advent of spring and glorious are our feelings with Christ’s Resurrection! Sean and I participated in our parish activities, consistent with all the traditional rituals observed in Pinas.

On our Catholic Lunch Club for the month, held last Friday April 24, at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento, our guest speaker was Fr. Jonathan Morris, who I watch often on FOX TV as news analyst, EWTN – his opinions are always consistent with my values – so his talk was highly anticipated. When I arrived at the venue, the queue was already long, box-office hit, very large audience of more than 250. I got a copy of his book ‘The Promise’, right away for his autograph to avoid the ‘after lunch queue’. About Fr. Jonathan: Ordained to the priesthood in 2002, he has served as theological advisor to Mel Gibson in the making of the film “Passion of the Christ’. In 2005, with the sickness of Pope John Paul II, Fr. Jon began his work as religious news analyst and commentator for several domestic and international channels including CNN, Sky News, and BBC. He now serves as regular news contributor for the FOX News Channel (which I always watch), where he offers ethical and moral commentary to news items. Fr. Jon’s engaging presentation offered insights on suffering, in its many forms. I truly enjoyed reading his book ‘The Promise’: God’s Purpose and Plan for when Life Hurts; it was like journeying through life, which confirmed all my learnings on Philosophies I studied (St. Thomas’, Values, Human Person), especially those on Truth: Faith and Reason.

On the professional front, I was kept busy with preparing for my next class in May: re-training for the new on-line computer system being used by National University (NU). We are migrating from the iLinc to the new Class Live Pro (CLP) system, so the faculty has to be fully prepared to teach with the new system – learning CLP – attending as many training sessions on-line until the comfort level to teach is attained, doing actual teaching demo. One has to be open-minded and flexible to learn new technology, ever-open to upgrade one’s skills, knowledge, attitude (SKA)! Likewise, seminars on Best Practices on Teaching for faculty were conducted – with very attractive incentives!

In these times of massive employment lay-offs, Americans are highly encouraged to go back to school to re-train and upgrade their skills, or to get college degrees, so there is huge demand for education; consequently, the upsurge of enrollment in universities. As a result, teaching schedules are planned way ahead of time – my teaching schedule for up to May 2010 (a year from now) had been given to me – what amazing job security! For practical reasons, there is increased demand for on-line courses to obtain college degrees. Currently, only 20% of citizens have college degrees, while only 5% have post-graduate degrees, unlike in Pinas, where most people we know have college and post-graduate degrees. The high American out-of-college mortality is a result of their culture ‘of children over 18 years old leaving their parental homes to live on their own, getting jobs in retail, seeking early independence – hence, being content with receiving minimum ‘McDonald’s salary to pay for their bills, leaving their college education as optional; anyway, they are already earning to survive. A specific example is the son of my Sr. Vice-President who himself has a Masters in Engineering degree and used to be a Public Works Director in Folsom City. His son Derek, at 19, lives in his own apartment, after high school has not entered college, enjoying his job mixing paints at Home Depot. This is a downside of democracy / independence in American culture. In our culture, we parents consider our children’s education our responsibility – it’s our best legacy to them!

Likewise, here is my personal observation. Despite the economic downturn, or as a result of efforts for turn-around economic programs, there seems to be a great demand for personnel in the infra-structure projects industry, particularly in CA. The past weeks, I had been receiving calls from professional recruiters for resume updates or interviews for top-level managerial positions, apparently due to my attractive qualifications and experience. However, reality-checking my circumstances, long-term project commitments are not in my 2-5 year planning horizon, so I have to politely decline such offers. Better to give those big-time employment slots to others, who may be more in need of livelihood for their survival. I am just so happy with my teaching opportunities at NU – sticking to my passion and less-stressful life – affording me more time for health maintenance programs, and for my spiritual enrichment activities, praying for family, friends, and communities!

Attached are 3 more photos of: family gathering. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. Peace and Joy to You and God Bless Us All!

Much love and Best Regards!!!

SUSAN BG