Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

I’m currently reading Empress Orchid by Anchee Min.

It was a bookstore discovery made by Bemjo, while we were on SM North Edsa, looking at shoes. It was funny because we were both stooping down and trying on some pairs when she suddenly thought of Fullybooked and Powerbooks.

She asked me if I know where they can be found inside the mall. I said no. When we both straightened up and looked around unconsciously, our eyes caught the green and white colors of Booksale. And we left shoes for books.

Empress Orchid is basically all about a poor girl’s journey towards proving herself to become a worthy concubine for the Emperor. This is what I can deduce from the number of pages I have read. I’m not even halfway, haha!

What I like about Anchee Min is the way she writes about day-to-day events—same reason I keep on reading Japanese, Chinese and Indian novels. Their plots are so detailed that each day never registers boredom. I am very much in love with how they write about nature and how they weave it with reality and emotions. They have deep respects for ordinary things, a phenomenon that is not so ordinary among people nowadays. These are also the reasons I love reading Filipino anthologies and it is one of my dreams to own a thick book of Filipino anthologies. Waaaah.

Even with my killer schedule, I still find time to read about it because I know the last page will be very much worth it. I recommend it for all of you who are under the same sky with me. 

Fast Food Fiction

Fast Food Fiction

Since I have this notion that I do not have time to read novels (and finish them), I told myself that the books I should be buying are those containing short stories or drabbles (thank you, Bemjo! :))and poems. I am always afraid of “literature depreciation” (if there is such a term).

Fortunately for me, I have an extravagant book-spender friend. Jennie found another treasure at National Book Store. :) If you’re reading time is as short and limited as mine, I suggest you go for this book. It’s also cheap, just below P200. Haven’t done reading it yet, but most of the stories are about love, musings about life and the randomness of the world.

The fun continues. :)

haikus

Clouds pass from time to time,
and bring men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

-a haiku by Matsuo Basho

During our Literature class yesterday, we discussed haikus and poems. I was not particularly looking forward to this day (I even forgot to bring my copy of the poems). But when the discussion started, I feel like one of the “hagglers” in our modern-day wet market, sharing my own opinions when I had the chance.

I particularly liked this haiku. Because when our teacher asked us how we interpreted it, I already knew what to say. :)

I associated it with love, and loving. That men, while waiting for their true love, sometimes share experiences with other girls first. But when they meet “her”, the others will be nothing but wisps of passing clouds. He will pay them no more heed, because behind the clouds, “his moon” is there. (This version is much more poetic, the one I gave in class is more dramatic). Hahaha!

I earned a lot of teasing that day. My friends and our teacher poured all of it on me, teasing me for being “inspired” and “having a lot of boys”. What the-?! Hahahaha!

And before the day ended, I received phone calls from you. I was delighted to hear your voice once again, feeling queasy but excited just like it’s the first time I felt that way. :) I knew then, that like the haikus, I have given a new meaning to the dullness of everyday living. :))

Fun Teaching Session with Tatay Mark

Yesterday saw the CAS Week Celebration, an event meant mostly to help the freshmen (for obvious reasons) and the seniors (because it’s their last year in the university). Although I wasn’t able to be there for the program, we went anyway because we thought we had classes.

Yeah, you can call us langka because we came anyway even if we knew that the CAS Week usually means abstinence from classes (but some teachers do not always follow this unwritten rule). But we decided to give our teacher the benefit of the doubt (and give ourselves the favor of not garnering more absences) and trudged to the CAS building.

Unfortunately for us and for our 6 pesos fares, classes were suspended that morning. Most probably, the teachers did not tell us about it because they all want us to be there. That was smart, heehee. :D

Instead, our teacher asked us to attend a Fun Teaching Session. These were informal “classes” on mostly GE courses. She told us that we could attend any FTS of our choice, but since we were late, we had no choice but to attend the remaining one wherein Tatay Mark is the “instructor”-much to our surprise.

Tatay Mark is more than smart. He is intelligent and is full of ideas you never thought you would hear if you have the habit of jumping into advance thoughts like me. Hehehe! We always see him as the scholarly one, one who is not physically healthy but emotionally and spiritually rich. He looked every inch the instructor that day. We (well, at least the five of us) all kept exchanging glances which says “Angayan gid siya mangin teacher”.

We were in awe of him, his knowledge about things and his command of the language. I am not sure if this FTS had been here before. I am not the attendee of these events except when I was a starry-eyed freshman. But I realized what I had missed. It was fun listening to your fellow student teach. Especially one as great as Tatay Mark.

We went home still thinking about the session (at least this was what I saw in my friends’ faces). When our Mommy Tin arrived, we told her about the session with Tatay Mark and she looked very disappointed that she was not there. We were all smiling as she lamented over the idea that she chose to attend the other FTS session instead of Tatay Mark’s. Better luck next time, Mommy!

P.S. We call Tatay Mark as such because we are a “family”. He, Mommy Tin, Wila, Bemjo, Jimma, Jennie and I. :))

[A thought came to mind while I was there listening to Tatay Mark's lecture. I would want to see myself in front of a group of students one day, speaking to them and listening to their views about things. Hmmm...]

devouring Komiks

Quite unexpectedly, my thesis partner and I ended up with writing an undergraduate study on komiks. Right now, we are working on its Chapters II and III.

How did we end up with it anyway, considering that her leaning is towards Broadcasting and mine, Advertising? To say that we both love reading and comics is not much of a reason, but it is pretty much the final take.

Comics is a commonality between us. Although I do not love it as much as Wila does, I have a great appreciation for it anyhow. I have learned to love its contributions to the Filipino culture and have also accepted its limitations as a print medium. And that, I think, is one of the first few steps in learning to love something.

Our love for it started when Wila bought a copy of Budjette Tan’s Trese: Murder in Balete Drive—the first of the three Trese books (The two others are Trese: Unreported Murders and Trese: Mass Murders). From that day on, we digested Neil Gaiman, David Hontiveros and a few others who are noted for their contributions in the comics industry. We also invested a lot of time and effort scouring libraries and web sites for anything related to komiks—especially Trese, our subject for research.

Komiks is both complex and limited as an area for research, but my partner and were set on one thing: WE ARE GOING TO GRADUATE ON TIME. And our love for komiks will aid us along the way.

Where do they go?

If not for a school assignment, I would have never read Ursula Le Quin’s “The ones who walk away from Omelas”. It tells about a society–in ideal and perfect state–whose people’s happiness is made possible by the sacrifice of a child.

After reading the story, I was left completely bewildered. There are hanging ideas and details in every paragraph. There are a lot of unexplainable events in the story. It flows smoothly, yet it is dark. What makes it all the more classic is its vagueness and oddity–consistently emphasized and something which all authors aim for but do not entirely achieve.

Read it if you are in the mood for a story so unusual it will scare you, invoke your curiousity and make you wonder where the ones who walk away from Omelas go. :)

Here is a link:
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falling in love with Filipino writing

However mildly cruel, stone-faced or unreasonable the UPV librarians may be, my feet will still find its way back to the library in search of a good book, especially on Philippine Anthologies. This treasure-hunting activity is an influence of my lovely friend, Bemjo (who has not updated her blog for weeks now :P), who has faithfully visited the asphyxiation-causing library.

Because of this, I learned of Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, Paz Latorena, Jose Dalisay Jr., Susan Lara and Eli Ang Barroso among others. Their written masterpieces are as historically important as the discovery of our country.

Filipino 12 and PI 100 further magnified this love. The library introduced me to the works of Rio Alma (Virgilio Almario) and Jose Iremil Teodoro. Looking for Rizal-related books, I had simultaneous flings with Nick Joaquin, Gregorio Zaide, Rafael Palma and Ambeth Ocampo. Of all of these flings, I am most infatuated with Ambeth Ocampo.

There is so much to love about the Philippines, I discovered. We are a country of amazing pen-holders, recognized and unrecognized. We are in the land of descriptive, witty, versatile and effective writers. Too bad, only a few of us requite their contributions.

Realizing this, I am thinking of taking up Creative Writing when I graduate (and rich enough to do so). Or, in the very least, put up a publishing company (dedicated to Filipino writing) so I can read books for free. Now, why did I take up CMS instead of Literature? * Hahaha!

Writing moves people. It is tragic, melodramatic and witty (or it might be sloppily done), but it inspires people. It keeps us company in bed, in buses, during the lonely nights, and even in the bathroom. I believe that all my positive attitudes are coming out when I am writing or reading Filipino works.

When all of my foreign-written books are moth-infested or drowned by some random flash flood, I will stay sane reading Filipino masterpieces. Classic is what becomes of them.

*So I can be rich enough to take Literature and be available to faithfully dedicate my time towards writing. But do not get me wrong, CMS is still my first love. :D

The effect of having a pen, paper and a boring teacher

Out of boredom, and perhaps of the bored air that’s coming out of the equally bored air conditioning unit that might be bored by the boring voice of our boring teacher, I made a short story.

And it’s not boring, by the way. 

We found ourselves talking about first loves that were you and me. Your eyes still smile at me with the affection that was sixteen years ago, but with the sparkle gone.

The swing that held us creaked with age, but the ‘Rea <3 Louie’ did not grow with time.

You told me about this new guy and asked about my love. My response, surprisingly calmed the both of us.

When the sun left the sky, I realized that my love for you had been long gone, too, even when you kissed my blushing cheek to say goodbye.

Until now I smile, when before you left with that stolen kiss, you whispered, “Thank you, Father.”

It is not as compelling or as tear-jerking as other sad short stories but I think it made up for a class I did not pay much attention to.