Wednesday, September 11, 2024
You are such a positive force in my life, I honestly can’t say how I would have survived the pandemic without you by my side. You are all of the good in the world in human form, and you bring so much light to so many people’s lives. You deserve all the happiness this world can give you, and I wish you the bestest 30th birthday today.
[Photo courtesy of Shi Mei Estimada]
Labels: birthday, life, love
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
7:00 AM |
Poetry Wednesday, No. 204.
Labels: poetry
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Monday, September 09, 2024
10:09 PM |
Memories of Writer Friends Who Have Vanished From My Life
I am rereading an essay written by an old friend from back in the day, in the early 2000s. It is one of my favorite pieces of literary criticism cum personal essay, a postmodern critique of the music of Joni Mitchell, which I loved so much I included it in my first book, an anthology of young Filipino writers, which garnered for me my first finalist citation from the National Book Awards. [This was in 2003.] It is still a powerful piece of literature. But I do wonder where my friend is now. Come to think of it, I have known so many people in my life, in my journey as a writer, who like me wanted to be writers, too. So many of them were so good. But whatever happened to them? Why did they stop writing? Where are they?Labels: life, writers, writing
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
And I feel a bit sad. Yesterday was the last exhibition day of the
EDDIE ROMERO MEMORABILIA EXHIBIT, which I curated for the National Museum of the Philippines, with F Jordan Carnice.
It was an honor to work for this exhibit, and we have so many people to be thankful for: the
Romero family, especially,
Joey Romero; everyone at the
National Commission for Culture and the Arts, especially
Lou Izabelle Danganan; everyone at the
Robert and Metta Silliman University Library, especially
Sarah Angiela Ragay; everyone at the
Dumaguete City Tourism Office, especially
Katherine Aguilar; and last but not the least, everyone at the
National Museum of the Philippines Dumaguete, especially
Shi Mei Estimada [and a huge shoutout to
Mark Anthony Singson who assembled all the panels!].
Thank you to everybody who came to see the exhibit!
Labels: dumaguete, exhibits, film, people, thanksgiving
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Saturday, September 07, 2024
9:00 PM |
I Like My Saturday
I like this Saturday. I had things to do but I also mostly followed my feet, letting things flow organically without letting a schedule determine things. Turns out, it was a perfect way to meet and spend time with good friends — and we didn’t even have to make appointments with each other! What a way to see Ernest and Gayle and Poc and Shimei and Vince and Toulla and Hersley…
And then, of course, the s.o. is finally home from Vietnam! Here's us with hugs all around with his mom and aunties.
Labels: dumaguete, friends, life, love
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Friday, September 06, 2024
12:00 PM |
An Edith Tiempo Binder
In the dark days of the pandemic, Krip Yuson approached a bunch of us to do a series of Senior High School lesson plans centering on the works of National Artist for Literature Edith Lopez Tiempo, with the goal of transfiguring her works to other creative modes. This was a collaborative project between the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Niccolo Rocamora Vitug chose to do “From Poem to Song via Soundscape,” using Tiempo’s poem “Bonsai.” Alaric M. Yuson [a.k.a. Anygma] chose to do “Transforming Edith L. Tiempo’s Poetry to Hip Hop/Performative Rap.” Susan Severino Lara chose to do “Enhancing The Literary Content: From Critical Essay to Meme Adaptation,” using Tiempo’s critical essay “Enhancing The Poetic Content.”
And I chose to do an adaptation of the short story “The Black Monkey” into a screenplay.
This was around 2021, or thereabouts. [My memory is hazy!] But now we’re on the last leg of this project, and CCP has promised to make the material available online soon! This is really one good way to make the works of our National Artists become alive again.
Thank you, Beverly Wico Siy, for shepherding this project!Labels: education, philippine literature
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
Wednesday, September 04, 2024
7:00 AM |
Poetry Wednesday, No. 203.
Labels: poetry
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
GO TO OLDER POSTS
GO TO NEWER POSTS
