Thank you for supporting the 1st PANITIKANG ATIN Creative Writing Workshops!!!

On behalf of the School of Information and Communication Studies, I would like to thank everyone who helped out, attended and, in one way or another, supported the first PANITIKANG ATIN Creative Writing Workshops in Poetry and Drama (we’ll have the classes in Fiction next time) last August 13, 2008. It sure was one helluva ride organizing, getting things approved and contacting people, but the turnout was definitely more than what we at ICS have expected.

For posterity’s sake, a guide for more workshops in the future, a preliminary resource for future workshops, and most importantly, as a way to document the event, allow me to post these details alongside random thoughts about the event:

-------------------------------------------

Inspired by the enthusiasm and apparent progress exhibited by students in our Performance Literature class, as well as the advantages that DLSC has in terms of its position in this particular Laguna suburb, Sir Edward and I sat down one day to conceptualize a cultural event that would be sustainable and relevant to the condition of the surrounding community. I recall that we had to pull in and analyze what we know of educational institutions who have successfully established a tradition of cultural exploration and appreciation: UPLB, UP Diliman, Siliman University, Colegio San Juan de Letran, De La Salle-Bacolod, etc. We decided between us that the success of these education institutions is a result of their practice of unselfishly sharing knowledge, experience and resources to their immediate society; this includes other universities/schools/agencies in their areas.

Given that we had to hold the event in less than six weeks (before the terms ends and to serve as finals for PerfLit), we had to act fast. Also, since Linggo ng Wika is in August, plus the fact that the whole month of August is dubbed Buwan ng Kultura, we had to consider that the schools we had invited might have major projects lined up themselves.

---------------------------

In celebration of Buwan ng Kultura

DLSC’s School of Information and Communication Studies

The 1^st PANITIKANG ATIN: Palihan sa Malikhaing Pagsulat

(Creative Writing Workshops)

Workshop Director: Dir. Edward Perez (Invited Faculty / Vice-chair for the National Committee on Dramatic Arts, NCCA)

Over-all Workshop Coordinator: Dianne Siriban, College Faculty, School of Information and Comm. Studies

Working Group: Performance Literature class, 1^st trimester 2008-09

Rationale: (Just a note to those who might find this helpful for your own projects/events, I strongly feel that this rationale still needs revision, especially the inclusion of actual data from, well for instance, official records, historical documents, etc. I would definitely appreciate any information you can share. Please contact me )

Laguna’s irresistible charm comes from its being one the most culturally opulent regions in the country. Aside from being abundant in natural resources and its geographical accessibility to the metropolis, Laguna’s appeal as a target location for the gradually migrating urban population lies in its being home to many of our esteemed national heroes, artists and craftsmen, historical legacies, tourists’ spots and natural marvels.

Moreover, rapid changes in certain towns in Laguna have gained them new economic status that necessitated geographical changes. One such town is Sta. Rosa, where a fast-rising industrial and commercial sector inhabited by a hybrid population sits enclosed within a traditional and indigenous community. A city within a city: a place that promises an interesting mix of cultures which has yet to be explored. De La Salle-Canlubang’s strategic location within this “culture hub” of Laguna, and its proximity to other key areas of Binan and Cabuyao, opens up opportunities to make a mark in the fastest growing industrial section. As it is DLSC’s mission to improve the quality of education and make science and technology more relevant to its immediate community, DLSC must answer the need of cultivating this new cultural scene while sustaining the traditional local culture.

The establishment of long term programs in the arts will place DLSC as a prime mover not only in the field of science and technology, but also in education in the arts and culture as well. It is through this that DLSC adds to its worth as an academic institution responsive to the academic, social, environmental and cultural needs of society.

Objectives (also by Sir Edward Perez, professors Alona Ardales, Ver Ramos and Cielo Santos):

1. To organize a one-day workshop on creative writing in the Filipino language (poetry, drama and short fiction) for students, faculty and staff members of DLSC. Invitations for delegates from schools within the area will also be sent out.

2. To provide experiential learning in the field of literature to members of the DLSC community and nearby academic institutions.

3. To initiate a cultural network among established artistic and literary circles, experts, teachers, students and enthusiasts.

4. To train and provide teachers with resources to strengthen their school’s pedagogical practices in relevant fields.

5. To explore the potentials of indigenous (Lagueño) culture as material for literature and performing arts.

6. To exhibit Filipino ingenuity and artistry in the fields of literature and the performing arts.

Invited Speakers (sponsored by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts)

Prof. Reuel Molina-Aguila for Poetry

[to follow: links to profile ]

Mr. Bonifacio P. Ilagan for Drama

[to follow: links to profile]

--------------------------

At this point, I would like to share Sir Edward’s version of the rationale in Filipino. Ang galing nya talaga sa Filipino, nakakatuwa. Kelan kaya ako matututo ng ganitong pagsulat?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinagmumulang Batayan ng Proyekto (Rationale)

1. Makasaysayan ang bayan ng Sta. Rosa. Sa panahon ng mga Kastila, ang bayang ito ay isa lamang sityo ng Cabuyao, ang isa sa mga naunang bayan sa Laguna bago paman dumating ang mga dayong kanluranin. Ngunit ngayon, ang bayan ng Sta. Rosa ay isa nang maunlad na bayan – itinuturing na urbanisado at isa na sa siyudad ng lalawigan.

2. Sa pagpapatupad ng proyektong CALABARZON simula 1990’s, nagkaroon ng panibagong hugis ang kaayusan ng Sta. Rosa. Bukod sa paglitaw ng mga pook-industryal, lumitaw rin ang iba pang establisamento gaya ng mga subdibisyon at mga paaralan. Sa kasalukuyan, ang Sta. Rosa ay nagmistulang isang bayan na kinapapalooban pa ng isa pang bayan. Alalaonbaga, may dalawang mukha ng komunidad at kultura sa bayan ng Sta. Rosa – ang mga datihan na at likas na taga-rito; at ang mga luwal ng urbanisasyon at binunsod nang paglitaw ng mga pook-industryal.

3. Ang pagbabalik sa kasaysayan ay paglulugar ng sarili sa kasalukuyan. Ang pagpapahalaga sa mayamang pamanang-lahi ay pagtatakda nang maaaring pagkakaisa ng komunidad sa hinaharap. Sa mga usaping nabanggit, mahalaga ang ginagampanang tungkulin ng mga paaralan na matatagpuan sa mistulang “bagong bayan” ito. At ang DLSU-Canlubang ang isa sa maaring manguna.

Paglalarawan ng Proyekto

Ang proyektong PANITIKANG ATIN ay isang araw na palihan sa tatlong larangan ng panitikan (tula, dula at kuwento) para sa mga mag-aaral, faculty at staff ng DLSC. Aanyayahan rin na lumahok ang ibang kinatawan mula sa mga kalapit na paaralan sa paligid.

Layunin ng palihang ito na –

1. Mapaunlad ang artistikong kakayahan ng mga kalahok sa pagsusulat at gamit ng wika bilang ekspresyon ng mga pagpapalagay at kultura sa komunidad ng DLSC at paligid nito.

2. Malinang ang mas malalim na pagpapahalaga sa sining ng pagsusulat, panitikan at paggamit ng sariling wika;

3. Maging-daan sa pagtatalakay ng usapin ukol sa estetikong pampanitikan at tunguhin nito mula sa pagpapalagay ng mga bihasa sa pagsusulat at panitikan.

---------------------------------------------------

My personal acknowledgements (Thank you so much, mahal ko kayo! Yuck, showbiz?! Sensya na, nadadala lang…sobrang natuwa lang talaga ako sa nangyari. Sa susunod ulit )

DLSC Faculty, Admin and Staff, constituents

The School of ICS: Ms. Malu Velasco, Prof. Cielo Santos

Mr. Edward Perez (idol!! we’re not worthy!! hulog talaga kayo ng langit; sana hindi kayo nasaktan)

Br. Kenneth Martinez

Ms. Jenny Villena

Mr. Virgilio Ramos

Fellow faculty Kat (sa napakagandang doxology), Leland and Ethel (sa pagtulong sa invitations)

Ms. Vivian, Mr. Mel Oribe, Ms. Fides @ the Lasallian Mission Office

Ms. Cora and La Casita (sorry, alam kong nakulitan kayo sa kin )

Jigs, Ronald, Ms. Teng, Engr. Allan, Ms. Miles, for equipment, venue and facilities

Accounting Department (Ms. Marileth)

Ms. Karen and the people I have bugged at the registrar’s office

OSA, most specially Ms. Maleth (the ultimate DLSC “it” girl)

Mang Bebot (for the company on grueling day of driving around getting lost in Laguna. Parusa talaga, ayoko na, hindi na mauulit!! Haha. Joke!)

Ms. Alona Ardales (Hay, alam nyo na yun What would I do without you?)

DLSC Students

Performance Literature Class, 1^st trimester 2008-09 (great job! Sana tuloy-tuloy na )

The College Student Council, (AY 08-09)

TRIPOD Society (salamat, Josh)

ANIMO Teatro (salamat, Horace. Magaling!)

Litfili and English students under Ms. Ardales and Ms. Velasco

Lahat ng kusang-loob na umupo’t nakinig sa workshops at sa mga nakipagkulitan at natuwa sa hinanda ng Perflit

To my Litform and English Three classes (for, in a way, taking some of the stress off )

Participating Schools

Liceo de Cabuyao

Sto. Domingo Elementary School

Inchican Elementary School

Colegio de Sta. Rosa de Lima

Langkiwa Elementary School

Sto. Tomas Elementary School

Caritas Don Bosco

Colegio de San Agustin (special thanks to Mrs. Zen Reyes )

The National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA)

We hope to see you all again next time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Up next (hopefully; nangangarap man o nagpaplano na in advance; open to suggestions/criticisms):

1. Seminar exclusive to teachers (no event title yet). Concept: Teaching science through story-telling/fiction, and teaching math through poetry. Tentative schedule; October.

2. Workshops in Fiction and Teleplay (yung hindi natuloy na pagpunta ni Jun Cruz Reyes at Ricky Lee sa Panitikang Atin, hopefully maituloy na. Also, sana i-require lahat ng AB Comm Arts students na mag-attend nito.)

3. Zines and zine publishing as an educational tool, ideally for higher elementary grades and high school students. Pero maganda din for teachers, if they would be open to the idea (sometime next year pa. Hehe. Basta, watch out for it).

[i have spaces in brackets like this here, temporarily, until i can find enough time to upload the documents and put pertinent links here. i just didnt want to wait too long to post some sort of documentation and thank people. so if you're interested, just check up on it once in a while: standard invitations, confirmation sheet, program, letter to NCCA, certificates, backdrop, etc.]

kung sino man nagsabi nito...

...pahiram muna.


to whom it may concern (kilala mo kung sino ka),

kung hindi ka masaya sa buhay mo ngayon,
bakit hindi mo subukan sa kabila?

Punta kayo --> KING LYCHEE and SHEPHERDS THE WEAK are back in Sta. Rosa

PILEDRIVER 10th year tour video

Finally, it's uploaded and ready for mass viewing. check it out: Piledriver's live performance of WHAT WE STAND FOR. (direk ralph said, however, that he plans to improve/reedit--it's great already, anyway :)

Support the independent music scene! :)

“Karapat-Dapat Nga Ba?” Or “My Disappointment Over Jun Lozada’s Visit to DLSC”

The most important revelation that transpired during that fateful Saturday’s “Symposium on Truth” (a.k.a. Jun Lozada’s visit to DLSC) was not that the corruption in our government is so foul that one can probably smell it all the way to the moon. We Filipinos have known this rancidity all along, or have pushed it to the back of our minds. But it’s always there: the burning suspicion of where our taxes really go. What Jun Lozada merely did last March 8 was to “confirm” it (once again) so that it becomes imperative for us to be indignant (once again) or risk looking really bad to the rest of the world if we choose to continue living in denial (again and again).

It was not that Lozada has proven himself good at rhetoric; I praise him for his suave reference to the Bato-Balani Battle of the Bands backdrop (already set up on stage during mass) to predispose the audience to the rest of his speech. I challenge my students to practice the same technique and breeze through their speech courses.

It was not even his inspiring answers to the toughest questions thrown during the open forum (c/o Dodong). He denies claiming he was the nation’s “messiah.” On TV he has admitted, somehow, that only people in such dire straits as he is can do the same things he has done.

Therefore, the most important realization I had that fateful Saturday came to me during the Student Council’s response to Jun Lozada’s call for vigilance for the sake of the youth. The DLSC community had been at its most polite, most attentive mode all through out Lozada’s stint; but when the time came for SC representatives Mavic Agbisit and Cedric Viguilla to speak, Jun Lozada chose to turn a deaf ear. His actions ran counter to his words when he chose to indulge the crowd, smile and strike poses for pictures, sign autographs, “make beso-beso” and “chika” all through out SC’s meticulously written position speech “Sa Panig ng Katotohanan.”

Only a few of us stood to the side, away from the noisy crowd, to listen to what the SC had to say. Pinaghirapan namin to, a member of the current SC remarked. Parang binabastos kami.

Hindi lang parang. Talagang. Another student replied. This, I thought, is the voice of the youth that Lozada referred to earlier as the nation’s inspiration in upholding social justice and truth.

So, to reiterate, the most important realization was that our society’s “starstruck” mentality has turned Jun Lozada into a “rockstar.” Look at how quickly his actions negate his flowery words; look at how happily he cavorts in the limelight. Look at what we have done to him: this man we had previously adored for what he has put on stake for “the truth.”

Now, would I trust a rockstar’s truth-claims? Yeah. Certainly. But if and only if they kick the bucket at 27.

[click here to read full text of SC's position paper.]

“Karapat-Dapat Nga Ba?” Or “My Disappointment Over Jun Lozada’s Visit to DLSC”

The most important revelation that transpired during that fateful Saturday’s “Symposium on Truth” (a.k.a. Jun Lozada’s visit to DLSC) was not that the corruption in our government is so foul that one can probably smell it all the way to the moon. We Filipinos have known this rancidity all along, or have pushed it to the back of our minds. But it’s always there: the burning suspicion of where our taxes really go. What Jun Lozada merely did was to “confirm” it (once again) so that it becomes imperative for us to be indignant (once again) or risk looking really bad to the rest of the world if we choose to continue living in denial (again and again).

It was not that Lozada has proven himself good at rhetoric; I praise him for his suave reference to the Bato-Balani Battle of the Bands backdrop (already set up on stage during mass) to predispose the audience to the rest of his speech. I challenge my students to practice the same technique and breeze through their speech courses.

It was not even his inspiring answers to the toughest questions thrown during the open forum (c/o Dodong). He denies claiming he was the nation’s “messiah.” On TV he has admitted, somehow, that only people in such dire straits as he is can do the same things he has done.

Therefore, the most important realization I had that fateful Saturday came to me during the

Student Council’s response to Jun Lozada’s call for vigilance for the sake of the youth.

The DLSC community had been at its most polite, most attentive mode all through out Lozada’s stint; but when the time came for SC representatives Mavic Agbisit and Cedric Viguilla to speak, Jun Lozada chose to turn a deaf ear. His actions ran counter to his words

when he chose to indulge the crowd, smile and strike poses for pictures, sign autographs,

“make

beso-beso” and “chika” all through out SC’s meticulously written position speech “Sa Panig ng Katotohanan.”

Only a few of us stood to the side, away from the noisy crowd, to listen to what the SC had to say. Pinaghirapan namin to, a member of the current SC remarked. Parang binabastos kami.

Hindi lang parang. Talagang. Another student replied. This, I thought, is the voice of the youth that Lozada referred to earlier as the nation’s inspiration in upholding social justice and truth.

So, to reiterate, the most important realization was that our society’s “starstruck” mentality has turned Jun Lozada into a “rockstar.” Look at how quickly his actions negate his flowery words; look at how happily he cavorts in the limelight. Look at what we have done to him: this man we had previously adored for what he has put on stake for “the truth.”

Now, would I trust a rockstar’s truth-claims? Yeah. Certainly. But if and only if they kick the bucket at 27.

[click here for the full text of SC's Position Paper: Sa Panig ng Katotohanan]

Happy Slip: Brilliant. Period.

sobrang galing ng concept. from the eyes of 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) generation fil-ams...we are quite quaint arnt we? (check out her profile on youtube for more videos).