Renjie Butalid » – Family

Embarking On A New Adventure

renjie — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:16:34 +0000

Beyond SiG@Waterloo

After two amazing years working for Social Innovation Generation at the University of Waterloo (SiG@Waterloo), my contract has come to an end and I am ready to begin the next chapter of my life. I chose not to renew my contract for Communications Coordinator at SiG@Waterloo. Instead, I have decided to take the next two months off in order to embark on an adventure that I know will drastically change a number of aspects of my life by the time September rolls around. This includes what I choose to work on next in my professional career, and more importantly, where I choose to live and call ‘home’ for the time being.

Of course, I will forever be grateful to Frances Westley, Cheryl Rose and the entire team at SiG@Waterloo and the SiG national collaborative across Canada, for having had the opportunity to work with a great group of people and to further my own understanding of the social innovation process and the possibilities that lie therein.

As of Monday, July 5, I will be joining the ranks of people without a “full-time job”. However, for a great number of reasons which include being in the very fortunate position of not needing another job right away in order to pay the bills, as well as adopting the very powerful mindset of considering myself a “free agent” rather than “unemployed” for the next little while, I am perfectly ok with this arrangement.

The Creative Class

Richard Florida recently wrote in the New York Times, that people used to follow the jobs; they would move to where their company sent them. However, as Florida has observed, people today often pick a place to live first and then look for work. It may be where we live, rather than who is employing us at the moment, that attaches us to our work and careers.

I’ve been asked by many people what my plans are, moving forward beyond SiG@Waterloo and living in Kitchener-Waterloo itself, especially by my parents who I know are always looking out for me and have the best of intentions in mind. To be honest, I have no clue what I will be doing or even where I will be living (a nod to Richard Florida) come September, all I know is that my interest lies deeply in this emerging field of social innovation, especially with social entrepreneurship and its potential for transformative change in society. I know for a fact that there are many opportunities out there, my goal now is to find the right one.

I have a shortlist of cities in mind which include Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, San Francisco, Washington DC, New York City, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Hong Kong. I will certainly be exploring opportunities in each of these cities in August through to September, by reaching out to friends and colleagues within my network. After thinking it through over the next couple of weeks, I may even decide to visit one of these cities in September for an extended period of time just to see where things go.

For the time being, all roads lead to the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Cranbrook, BC where my parents currently reside, in order to spend some much needed down time reflecting on where my life has been these past few years. I intend on doing a lot more reading and writing, especially on this blog, exploring developments in the social finance and impact investing landscape, both in Canada and abroad, as well as the use of mobile technology for the alleviation of poverty in developing countries - two areas in the social innovation landscape that have piqued my interest in recent years.

I also have a number of personal projects on the horizon that I know will keep me busy for the next little while, including:

- working on my newly launched photography blog, Photography by Renjie; now that I have purchased by first DSLR camera, the Nikon D5000, the possibilities are endless;

- making my way across Canada from Waterloo, ON to Cranbrook, BC at the end of July (details to come) and documenting the entire road trip along the way;

- hiking, swimming, camping and generally exploring the great outdoors of British Columbia while I am there;

- building a kite from scratch, now that I have seemingly found a new hobby after stumbling across it almost by accident back in April;

- beginning to plan TEDxWaterloo 2011 via email and Skype working sessions with a solid team, after the success of the inaugural TEDxWaterloo back in February this year;

- imagining the possibility of an Ignite Cranbrook taking place in mid- to late September, modelled after the success of Ignite Waterloo;

- and of course, looking forward to my keynote speech at the Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington, DC later this month.

I always strive to push myself out of my comfort zone. This journey that I am about to embark on over the next eight weeks, will push me so far out of my comfort zone that all I can do six months from now is sit back and laugh to myself on how things have turned out. Wish me luck.

Each day forces us

to totter on planks we hope
will become bridges

~ Haiku by Australian Poet Kevin Hart in

“The Ethical Imagination” by Margaret Somerville

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WOOF @ SUPERSKILLZ TORONTO 2010

renjie — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:19:23 +0000

My final edited video of my sister’s dance crew performance in Toronto at the Superskillz 2010 Talent Show, held at the Opera House on March 6, 2010.

My younger sister Loubelle is part of the Western Ontario Organization of Filipinos (WOOF), a student club at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Loubelle plays the main female lead in the performance. A previous WOOF video that I put together from their performance at the Ontario University Competition for Hip Hop in November 2009, can be found here.

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Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

renjie — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:23:07 +0000

Im definitely getting the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics fever, after watching the (at times) visually stunning opening ceremonies on Friday, Jen Heil’s silver medal win in the women’s moguls Saturday (she didn’t lose gold, she won silver), and yesterday’s golden boy Alex Bilodeau breaking Canada’s dry spell of no gold on home soil since the 1976 summer Olympics in Montreal.

In case you missed it, watch Bilodeau’s gold medal run in the men’s moguls here.

I even went as far as giving in and buying a Vancouver 2010 sweatshirt at the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto earlier this afternoon. Im glad that I did however, because the Olympic Torch was on display at the Eaton Centre and I was able to get a photo with it. I have to admit, a part of me was disappointed when I missed the Olympic Torch relay when it passed through the Toronto/Kitchener-Waterloo area at the end of December (I was out west in Cranbrook, BC for the holidays then), and I missed it again when it passed through Cranbrook, BC at the end of January (I was back in Waterloo already).

GO TEAM CANADA!!!

Of course, I would also like to express my heartfelt condolences and prayers to the friends and family of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the luger from Georgia who died in that horrific Olympic training crash just hours prior to the start of the opening ceremonies. Shame on CTV for needlessly showcasing video footage of the horrific crash, sensational journalism at its worst.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Photos Courtesy of the Toronto Star

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Happy Valentine’s Day Monika!

renjie — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:06:58 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day baby… I love you!

And a happy Chinese New Year to everyone as well, I hope you’re all spending today with your loved ones.

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Merry Christmas & Seasons Greetings

renjie — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:00:24 +0000

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Merry Christmas from my family to yours! I wish everyone the best this holiday season, looking forward to the year ahead, 2010 is going to be amazing!

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Christmas Out West

renjie — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:15:03 +0000

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Ongoing blog post of photos taken on my iPhone while I am out west visiting family for the Christmas holidays, December 23, 2009 – January 3, 2010

Updated with the PicPosterous iPhone app

Location: Calgary, AB and Cranbrook, BC

Updated December 28, 2009

Ive been in Cranbrook for almost a week now, and judging from my tweet on Christmas day, it seems that country music is really getting to me. This song by Blake Shelton has been stuck in my head the whole day.

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R4Fashion and OUCH 2009

renjie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:48:03 +0000

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Following the 3rd Conference on Social Enterprise in Toronto last Friday, I had the sincere pleasure of attending a number of student organized events over the weekend including R4Fashion, a fashion show dedicated to celebrating top and upcoming Canadian fashion designers who view fashion with an added green dimension; Out in the Cold at the University of Toronto, an event designed to raise funds and awareness of homelessness issues in the local community; as well as the Ontario Universities Competition for Hip Hop (OUCH) 2009, an annual hip hop competition showcasing the best of hip hop talent from universities and colleges across Ontario.

The main reason I attended OUCH 2009 this year was because my younger sister, Loubelle, who is in her second year of nursing at the University of Western Ontario, made it to the Western hip hop team to represent her school in the competition. Of course, I played the role of proud big brother and fully supported her at the event!

Congrats to all the winners this year at OUCH 2009, shout outs to the University of Waterloo peeps who placed third in the competition! (McMaster – First place, University of Toronto – Second place)

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Diving in Lake Simcoe

renjie — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:42:50 +0000

This is what Im looking forward to later today. Given that its the end of October, Im hoping that the weather holds up (hopefully it doesn’t rain) and that its not too cold…

To provide some context, Monika and I are working towards getting our SSI Open Water Scuba Diving certification, and this weekend, we’re doing our mandatory open water dives out in Lake Simcoe, our last step towards becoming fully licensed to scuba dive.

Although I am keenly interested in the social innovation process and how transformative social change happens, when it comes to the environment, I do care, but I would not say that I am absolutely passionate it… until now that is. I joke that after having spent some time in British Columbia visiting my family this summer, I may have turned into an avid environmentalist overnight. When you’re out in BC, you can’t help but become an advocate for the environment. Everywhere you turn, you are surrounded by mountains, trees, and lakes, absolutely breathtaking.

My friend Kristina Lugo, had a brilliant guest post over at Justice for All by Akhila Kolisetty a couple of weeks ago, and she has some great insight on how to get people to care about a social issue, or any social issue for that matter:

“The truth is, what I’m passionate about may not be exactly what you are passionate about. In fact, you may never be passionate about the issues in which I am. And it’s taken awhile, but I think that’s ok. I’ve experienced the difficulty in getting people to care about any sort of social issue, so how much more the social issues that I’m passionate about? This does not mean I’ll stop advocating for the 1.1 billion citizens of the Earth that lack clean water (I will engage in that conversation given the most miniscule opportunity), but I’ve moved from over-zealously trying to convince, to trying to inspire.“

And on that note, with a sudden interest in diving and given some of the photos below, I now have much more of an interest in preserving not only our environment on land, but in the water as well. A little self-serving perhaps, but in the end, I believe to really get people to care or even be inspired to take on an issue, it really needs to be brought down to the personal level.

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(above diving photos courtesy of Jobelle Nepomuceno, taken in the Philippines)

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Photos of family road trip from Cranbrook, BC to Banff, AB

renjie — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:20:02 +0000

Referring to my Canada Day post on calling British Columbia ‘beautiful’ an understatement, here are the photos that we took on our road trip from Cranbrook, British Columbia to Banff, Alberta.

I’ve enjoyed taking this past week off from work. It’s going to take a while to adjust to not seeing mountains everywhere I turn when I’m back in Waterloo next week.

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Meeting former Philippine President Fidel Ramos

renjie — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:22:21 +0000

My family and I were at a closed fundraiser for Gawad Kalinga in Calgary, Alberta last night, where former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos was the guest of honor. It was organized by Couples for Christ Calgary in association with ANCOP International Canada.

Former President Ramos is currently in Calgary for the next couple of days to raise money and showcase his support for Gawad Kalinga, representing his foundation, the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation. From their website:

The Ramos Peace and Development Foundation, Inc. (RPDEV) serves as a catalyst of constructive change, a medium for fostering unity, stability and progress and a force for mutual understanding.

Our aim is to contribute in bringing about the “good life” for democratic societies through a culture of excellence and global competitiveness.

I am so glad to see that President Ramos has been active in his post-presidency years, and for a person who is currently 81 years old, he still retains, a great spirit of youth and energy, even mentioning at one point in the evening that it is not about how old you are, but how young you feel.

In any case, the political junkie in me was really excited to meet him. Ramos was president of the Philippines as I was growing up (I was too young to remember the people power revolution that overthrew the Marcos regime, and saw President Cory Aquino as the first woman president of the Philippines). For those of you who don’t know, the current president of the Philippines is also a woman, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Ramos’ keynote speech at dinner was one that focused on Pinoy pride. Speaking mainly in Tagalog, he talked a lot about being proud of who you are, whether you are Filipino, Canadian or even Filipino-Canadian. I never knew this, but Ramos also highlighted the meaning of the Filipino word “Mabuhay“, with its significance stemming from “may buhay” or in English, “there is life”.

Ramos also acknowledged and extended warm wishes to Canadians on the occasion of Canada Day. Speaking on this topic, Ramos talked about Philippine Independence Day as well, asking the audience when Philippine Independence Day was - with the answer being June 12, 1898 (though not without relevance to Philippine history as noted in this Wikipedia article). Unlike Canada or the United States where independence day celebrations always take place on July 1 and July 4 respectively, Ramos mentioned that lately, Malacañang Palace has misplaced priorities (and has taken them to task) where instead of keeping to tradition and declaring June 12 as a national holiday every year, they declare a national holiday for independence day the Friday on, or around June 12. In other words, independence day in the Philippines is technically on June 12, but if it happens to fall on a Thursday, then the following Friday is declared a national holiday in order to make way for the long weekend.

Ramos’ point is that you can play with dates with regards to other Philippine national holidays, but when it comes to Philippine Independence Day, it should always be on June 12 to uphold respect for the country, the flag and for those who died in its name.
I am so proud to be Filipino AND Canadian.

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