For Ma'am Ophie

This morning I learned about an online petition that's begun to make its rounds in the Philippine literary circles.  It's meant to make the University of Santo Tomas (through the Rector Rev. Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa, O.P.) fulfill its promise of re-opening the UST Creative Writing Center and renaming it after Professor Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta, its co-founder and director, to honor her legacy.

I'm lifting this bit off the petition's background:

In November of 2010, the University of Santo Tomas, through Rector Magnificus Reverend Father Rolando V. Dela Rosa--during the necrological service of professor, academician, literary critic and Filipino poet Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta--announced the following:

1) The University of Santo Tomas Creative Writing Center, of which Professor Dimalanta was the co- founder and director, would soon be re-opened.

2) That the UST Creative Writing Center, when it re- opened, would be named after Professor Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta, to honor her legacy.

The latest news, from reliable sources, is that the University of Santo Tomas is withdrawing the second part of its promise--for reasons that are still unclear.

The petitioners therefore call on the University of Santo Tomas to stay true to its word and keep its commitment.

 Sigh.  I think the University has become too obsessed with the Quadricentennial celebrations (and maintaining its 'oldest university in Asia' tag, which I don't think anyone else will contest anyway) that it has forgotten--or dismissed as a passionately-said promise in the midst of collective mourning--what would be a great thing to look forward to.

I was in my junior year in high school when I first met Ma'am Ophie.  The UST Center for Creative Writing and Studies extended an invitation to our school organ's staff for a writing workshop, and off we went.  During snacks one afternoon after the workshop, I remembered Ma'am Ophie calling someone to come in the Center and introduce us to the Thomasian Writers Guild.  That's how Mervin and I met.  For the next year Mervin and Fel, the president of "Tweegee," would help us form our very own Junior Thomasian Writers Guild or JT (at least, that's how I shortened it).  We attended poetry readings and events at the CCWS and got to know (and interact with!) Filipino writers.  I attended college at the Faculty of Arts and Letters in the same building as the CCWS, and I dropped by whenever I could, usually with members of the TWG and/or staff of The Flame, our college journal.

It always smelled of coffee.

And Ma'am Ophie would always find the time to entertain us, to answer our questions, to send us off literary events, to encourage us to write--to write well.  If she wasn't there, the junior associates of the Center were, and we would often soon find ourselves making merry, discussing lit and other sh*t elsewhere, usually at the "batcave".  But write we did, some of us well enough to make it to Ustetika, then the national writing workshops, then Palanca.  I could also dare to say those were the glory days of the Thomasian studentry's creative writing.


I remember a lot more about the Center and Ma'am Ophie.  I wasn't able to hear much about the Center's activities after I graduated and even while I worked in UST (not the Center's fault; I was really out of the loop at this time).  It was Joseph Saguid who texted me when Ma'am Ophie passed away.

I was there during the necrological services at the UST Chapel in November 2010.  I did hear the Rector announcing the planned re-opening and renaming of the creative writing center.  I applauded, not only because it was for Ma'am Ophie, but also because it would bring Thomasian creative writing back to life.  In a university where it seems all energies are focused on PR and sports, an institutional support system for aspiring writers is a really good move.

I signed the petition.  I hope you will, too.

Here's the link to the petition, it's also at the top right sidebar:

SUPPORT OPHELIA ALCANTARA-DIMALANTA

From the bottom of my creative-writing-and-literature-loving heart, thank you.  Many added thanks if you could share the love, spread the news to your friends!

on my daily commute

i take the bus to work everyday.  depending on the time i leave the house, i arrive in the university an hour and fifteen, twenty, or thirty minutes later.  it's easy to catch the bus in the mornings, especially if i'm early enough.  i almost always get a seat.  it's quite comfortable, and i usually fall asleep (which i really shouldn't, knowing the dangers of public transportation in this country).  if i'm in the bus by six-thirty, and barring any event of road mishaps, vehicular problems, and worse-than-usual traffic, i get to the office at around seven forty-five.

going home is a different matter.  considering that my work hours coincide with majority of other people's work and school schedules, i'm doomed to evenings of waiting hunting for a ride along with the throng of students and employees going home from their respective schools and workplaces along the university belt.  there are a lot of routes i can take going home, though.  i'm lucky if a bus comes around with seats to spare, or if a van drops off someone at the exact spot i am standing on, and we have the same destination.  those moments are real treats for me.  otherwise, i can pick from the jeepneys passing by.  by jeepney going home can take as much as two hours, and it comes with free dust, smoke, and sweat.  when i get home i'd be doubly tired, too drained to even eat a late dinner.

but i've been doing this commute since i was thirteen, so what's my problem?


well, when i was a younger student i had a different schedule, and traffic wasn't as bad.

when i was an older student, i had more free time to work on school stuff in school, so i didn't have to rush home.

but now, it's getting tiring, especially when i had graduate classes and had to finish reading whole books overnight.  i always complain that it's more difficult finishing my studies now because of my (regular) work, because i'm just simply so drained in the evenings to read--i get sleepy after a few pages, and i still have to wake up at five the next morning.

it's been especially tiring the past few (and the coming) months, as a major intersection i pass through undergoes a major construction.  vehicles are made to pass though one lane out of four, on a thirty-second window, with vehicles passing in eight different directions.  riding a jeepney or a bus it takes me thirty-forty minutes to pass through half  a kilometer's stretch.  most vans are able to drive around the sidestreets and shortcuts, lucky them.

sigh.  enough babbling.  my point is, my daily commute is taking its toll on me and i feel like the time i spend on it (from waiting for a ride to the walk home) could be better spent reading a book, writing, crafting, watching a good documentary, catching up with friends, taking photographs, eating a leisurely dinner, and all those things i said i'll do while i still can.

the tiring job-related* commute is one of the reasons why i won't be working (in an 8-5 job) by june: i figured that if i finish my graduate studies, i'll have better work opportunities elsewhere (perhaps somewhere nearer), somewhere that won't take three hours of my life from me every single day (stuck in traffic).  it would be refreshing to work on something that doesn't require clocking in the biometric machine four times a day, five times a week.  it would be nice to look forward to quality time in the evenings doing something more than attempting to read/fighting off sleep. 

i think there's a difference between complaining and reasoning why something isn't good for you anymore.  for some time it's been a choice between a regular job (steady income, 13th month pay, benefits, some travel opportunities that are all usually work-related) and finishing my graduate studies (a degree in the field that i love, opportunity to teach courses in the field that i love (in a tree-surrounded, liberal, progressive environment that i love), be a more credible freelancer in the other fields that i love, and just being able to do what i love, and love what i do).  i'm sure you already know which direction i'm taking.

* * *
of course i wouldn't mind the commute to manila if i'm going to see my friends, or hang out with ige, or if i'll be checking out stuff at hidalgo.  all the negativity of this post is really just centered on the daily (monday to friday, six am to nine pm, chasing-after-buses) work commute.  oh, you know what i mean.

sit down and write

i had more discipline when i was younger. fine, i'll blame it on twitter and tumblr and everything else on the internet, but mostly i blame myself for being easily distracted and not being able to write as much and as often as before.

i would love to write about what interests me, and not just post a photo and a caption about what happened the day before. there are several websites and blogs that inspire me--most of them are linked in the sidebar under "i like". this blog is about 'little bits of me' anyway--so here's a list of what i want to write about!

images. i'm following sociological images, and it would be great to make short entries/posts similar to those, but with a more 'filipino' look, or an anthropological take on visual subjects/topics.

places & spaces. cities, abandoned places, ruins, art spaces, walls, seats, windowsills, staircases...i love them all. why not turn my appreciation into words?

 

cameras. i don't do camera reviews (i am not the super technical kind of person), so maybe just a few stories about oh--relationships with cameras. yes. perhaps you can tell me your stories about your cameras--where you got them, your most memorable experience / photo...i'm just a sucker for cameras, and i have a few of them, so why not write about them? i've done a few posts, but there's nothing wrong with adding more, right?

photography. but of course! i'm no hardcore photographer who overthinks about photography and probably goes into discussions between "what is, isn't photography" so rest assured i won't be much of a snob on the subject. i will forever be a student of photography (there's something to learn everyday), so this will probably about that--my neverending exploration in capturing light.

art & design. first, a disclaimer! i have never gone to art school or taken up a design-related course. i just like to think i have an eye for these kinds of things, and well, i don't really have to explain anymore. haha.

and a lot of really random stuff. like keychains (i love keychains) and ige's toys (he has some really cool ones).

i have a lot of other interests but i don't think i'll be writing about them: books, literature, music, some forms of visual art (specifically traditional painting), food, archaeology, green architecture, movies. maybe in the future when i run out of other things to say i'll go make a post about the latest restaurant i've been to, and maybe a review of their food. for now it's just not in me, much as i love eating. :)

i used to always have something to say about everything (which is not always a good thing; enter here the numerous arguments, disagreements, misunderstandings, debates, et cetera--you get the drift--i've sparked in one way or another), and maybe it's time to just write about all these things that are in my head. with due caution and prudence of course. it's good writing practice anyway.

(i can totally see myself at a cafe somewhere, reading and writing and sketching and being all academic and artsy at the same time.  and jobless.  which makes me wonder where i'll get the money to pay for coffee/hangout time in the first place...  oh yeah.  it's not being jobless--it's freelancing!)

good

i did say i wanted to do something relevant in my life.

2011-->2012

 

i told myself i shouldn't expect much for this year because i might end up disappointed and bitter, but there's hope, and in the end hope (and courage and determination) always finds a way to make things brighten up.  here's to a bright 2012.  happy new year everyone.