our daily bore

We know this bandwagon. DSLR and photography. But I'm not complaining. In fact, I tried it :) Look ---}

This is one of those shitty compositions that you don't want to read but I want to post. It was a lonely rainy night of I-can't-remember-what-year that I thought I will die the following morning. I was (and still) not taking drugs or whatever chemical that can induce such notion. It just happened. So I wrote a poem to say my goodbye.

Alas! ,the following morning I did not die. This is the poem:

While it is true that CHED and DepEd taught us to use the English language, our values and perspective on things are decided by the self alone. We can speak english, french, or german.. or do karate or cook the most delicious foods in the international scene, or be famous in singing or whatever talent and skills,.. but boastfulness, just like in the case of Soriano, is a shame.

By this time, I think we all read the Manila Bulletin (MB) article written by James Soriano. And sorry for those saying that it was an attempt on satire. Year 2008, he also wrote a similar essay lambasting the use of Filipino language. Actually, the piece for the MB was a rehash of that 2008 blog post.

Here is the essay of Mr. Soriano, "Language, Learning, Identity, Privelege" but was removed from MB's website. I am not sure if it saw print. After the article is his year 2008's blog post, "Filipino as a Second Language".

English is the language of learning. I’ve known this since before I could go to school. As a toddler, my first study materials were a set of flash cards that my mother used to teach me the English alphabet.

My mother made home conducive to learning English: all my storybooks and coloring books were in English, and so were the cartoons I watched and the music I listened to. She required me to speak English at home. She even hired tutors to help me learn to read and write in English.

In school I learned to think in English. We used English to learn about numbers, equations and variables. With it we learned about observation and inference, the moon and the stars, monsoons and photosynthesis. With it we learned about shapes and colors, about meter and rhythm. I learned about God in English, and I prayed to Him in English.

Filipino, on the other hand, was always the ‘other’ subject — almost a special subject like PE or Home Economics, except that it was graded the same way as Science, Math, Religion, and English. My classmates and I used to complain about Filipino all the time. Filipino was a chore, like washing the dishes; it was not the language of learning. It was the language we used to speak to the people who washed our dishes.

It is like coffee and cigarettes in the midst of it all.

A temporary breather. 

Or when you're drunk, suddenly a lucid interval. 

A music video that a good friend Jeff directed few years back for a foreigner friend. Its title is Delam Mikhad. I remember the singer's name but I cant' spell it.

The Bore held the camera and framed its composition.

Anyway, you can drink now that coffee and light the cigarette.

Kapegarilyo (coffee-garettes). :) ,Here's the music video:

What caught my interest and imagination yesterday in the first organizational meeting of Freelance Writers of the Philippines was a comment from one of its founders. He replied that we should consider first what we can do to help the org more than what we want. Not that I want to raise a howl because honestly, I'm cool with everything that happened. Everyone's friendly thou some are shy. And most importantly, pardon the mushy tone.. We are all in one direction.

     Going back.. I think it raises existential and fundamental question of why we write and what we are as an artist. While it is true that needs, pressing and long-term, push us to work.. What's more important in all artist, I assume, is not the need but the want. I know, it is not as immediate as answering questions of "What should be the permanent name," "What should be the next steps," and other physical moves. But it may define not only the personality of the group, but the credo of each member. 

     The idea of selflessness in favor of the majority, for me, is not only overrated. Moreso, it is troubling. 

Of course, aside from the fact that artists are fighting now for its existence.. This Bagyo music video from the band Talahib is somehow connected with the recent issue. But I'm not telling what. And for those close friends and other people who know the answer already, please refrain from answering straight. Hehe :) ,You can give long-shot clues but no direct answer please :)

That makes it absurd :)

It was a sober discussion. No shouting match or heated arguments. Maybe I am just too excited to witness it live how the traditional media, social media, and online forums see this issue. Even the most insinuating, biased and illogical questions and comments didn't receive deafening uproar. Only gestures of disagreements, smirk, or small and unnoticeable side comments. Even the most ardent critic, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, was sober this time. Yes, it was a bore. For the sensationalist media that wants to capture sound bites of heightened emotion, there was none. Save for some intense but still mellowed voice on the part of the churchmen. 

     Dino Manrique posted in FB his disappointment when ANC cut short its live coverage in favor of a Justin Bieber news. It might be ratings. For there was no graphic or explicit happenstance, why not switch it to any other news? Or maybe you're right! It was at that moment when topic was on legal matters that ANC thought it wasn't in-line with their biases. Oops! I mean, story angle. Look at the stories today of PDI: "2 National Artists frown on Mideo Cruz's 'shock art'", "F. Sionil Jose calls Mideo Cruz immature, juvenile", etc. That's their preferred angle.

     So what should be the scoop and manner to be newsworthy?

The public fury against Mideo's artwork in the Cultural Center of the Philippines is understandable. We are in a country that majority of citizens are Catholic. Politicians riding the issue is understandable. They always do that! Congressman Bagatsing, the same lawmaker that pushes the legalization of jueteng, wants CCP Chairman Raul Sonico and other officials to resign. Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos said she was considering filing administrative charges against CCP officials. She called up Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing twice on Monday, to express her displeasure over the exhibit. Yes, Mam Imelda is the right person to define what is right and wrong in this country. Forget the abuses, martial law and human rights violations!

We can all understand that. It's in the system. But what I find very disturbing is yesterday's editorial of my favorite broadsheet -- Philippine Daily Inquirer. Amidst this latest issue, it said that violence, vandalism and setting of fire inside CCP is understandable. This is the paper that I read each day, trust and adore. This is the same journal that champions the poor, criticizes every corrupt politician of any party affiliation, always seeking truth, always condemning big crooked fishes, always logical, fearless and has sound judgement.

I might not agree with Inquirer's every stand but I always respect their views. Always a source of intelligent and intelligible opinion. But yesterday was a different case.

Just when we thought that that day's breaking news was the resignation of now Ex-Senator Miguel Zubiri, came the more trivial report: a certain Christopher Lao was rushing to go through a flooded street. His car floated then blamed MMDA and everybody around with now the famous line, "I should have been informed!"