Tag: September 26, 2007

MAY NATATAGONG kuwento sa likod ng bawat mukha ng Pilipino, anuman ang panahong kaniyang pinanggalingan, tanyag man siya o karaniwan.

Sa Buhay Pinoy (UST Publishing House, 2007), isang kalipunan ng mga artikulong naisulat noong dekada 70, sinisikap ni Fanny Garcia na isalaysay ang buhay at saloobin ng mga Pilipino na hindi madalas naitatampok sa mga babasahin ng mga panahong iyon. Unang isinulat ni Garcia, isang premyadong manunulat at propesor ng Filipino sa De La Salle University, ang mga artikulo para sa seksiyong ”Taong-Bayan” ng magasing Sagisag. Ginamit niya rito ang estilong “modern journalism” na kung saan pinaghahalo ang estilo sa pamamahayag at pampanitikang naratibo.

LUWALHATI sa mga panginoon ng Parnassong Pilipino.

Sa pamamagitan ng “Pistang Panitik,” binigyang-pugay ng ilang manunulat at kritiko ang mga naiambag sa panitikang Pilipino ng mga nabubuhay pang Pambansang Alagad ng Sining sa Panitikan. Idinaos ito kasabay ng ika-28 Manila International Book Fair mula Agosto 31 hanggang Setyembre 2 sa World Trade Center, Lungsod ng Pasay. Lumahok din ang ilang Tomasinong propesor ng panitikan sa apat na araw na pagsusuri at pagbabalik-tanaw sa mga akda nina Bienvenido Lumbera, Francisco Sionil Jose, Virgilio Almario, Alejandro Roces, at Edith Tiempo.

Sining at bayan

Sa unang araw ng “Pistang Panitik,” tinalakay nina Roland Tolentino, Rod Nuncio, at Rosario Torres-Yu ang pagpapahalaga ni Bienvenido Lumbera sa tungkulin ng literatura sa pagbabagong-panlipunan. Personal namang dumalo sa okasyong ito si Lumbera, na isang alumnus ng Unibersidad at dating patnugot sa panitikan ng Varsitarian.

LAUGHTER is the best medicine, not only according to popular belief but also based on scientific research.

According to Laughter: Let it Out, Be Healthy by Valerie Brett, a marketing media producer for Econosystems research firm, laughter is a constructive and powerful force that largely affects the human body. It was all along a built-in stress releaser, which improves a person’s health and well being.

Laughing out stress

In his research General Adaptation Syndrome, a model of stress, Dr. Hans Selye concluded that for a human body to survive, it must be able to adapt to a repeated stress it is exposed to. He divided his study into three stages: alarm phase, resistance phase, and exhaustion phase.

EVEN sleep has a “junk” variant.

Dr. Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Center defines the emerging phenomenon of sleeping up late due to watching TV, texting, or listening to music as “junk sleep”. In his statement published in the website of the Sleep Council, an organization that promotes healthy sleep, Idzikowski said that junk sleep is sleep that is less than the quality or eight-hour minimum needed for the brain to rest, in order for a person to function well.

In an online poll conducted last June 13 and 18 by youth research and communications specialists group Dubit, 30 per cent of the teenage respondents only get four to seven hours of sleep per day.

Conducted in the United Kingdom, the survey involved 1,000 participants aged between 12 and 16 who were lacking hours of sleep.

MOONLIGHT’S kiss on water, wanders to the crimson crescent of a smile,

In ripples renewed, as though the world were beautifully askew.

Kindled from above, the tree-side river is aglow:

Entrenched on shy earth, chained to wild mud,

It is that floating face now only seen; or that leaf that drops its tree!

Rivers freeze then flow, in beats of doubt and cold,

Evening’s cloudy dark only sings of tomorrow’s night;

Lost waves cannot halt to a mirror-still, while a raindrop falls uncertain.

Alone with my warm breaths and seated as a lotus it is safest—

Vanity are my whispered prayers, failing to sing for you.

*Note: Satori, a term in Zen Buddhism meaning “enlightenment, that is Self-realization, opening the Mind’s eye, awakening to one’s True-nature and hence the nature of all existence.” (Kapleau, 1989).

Roman Carlo R. Loveria

SPANNING four centuries of popular and critical acclaim, the classic novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes continues to shape the literary landscape. In line with the 400th year of its publication last 2005, the Instituto de Cervantes of Manila, the Spanish cultural agency, organized a series of lectures by three accomplished Filipino writers representing three generations of readers of Don Quixote.

These lectures are now compiled and published in a book, If a Filipino Writer Reads Don Quixote (Instituto de Cervantes and UST Publishing House, 2007). The book instantly places the reader in a position of curious familiarity with the often deranged but chivalric man from La Mancha, thus asking, “What if a Filipino writer reads Don Quixote?”

ON THE night of the first of September, 2007, the Rigodon Ballroom of Peninsula Manila teemed with Filipino creative writers of different generations gathering for a night of celebration of Philippine literary excellence.

Now on its 57th year, the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature stayed true to its goal of discovering the best in Philippine literature. With 27 new names in its roster of winners, six of whom are below 20 years old, the most respected literary award-giving body in the country continues to be the aspiring writer’s doorway into the foyer of the literary circle.

Senator Mar Roxas, the event’s guest of honor, commended the assembly of writers present in the awards night.

“I am awed by the commitment, the continuity, and the steadfastness that the Palanca family has given in recognition of the men and women who have excelled in arts and letters here in our country,’” he said in his speech.

COME noontime, variety shows indubitably rule the boob tube. Like rice, shows such as Wowowee and Eat Bulaga! have become staples of the lunch ritual, promising hungry viewers savory entertainment that’s sure to suit anyone’s palate. However, for these shows, too much competition for ratings runs the risk of compromising quality, not to mention compromising values.

In many instances, since these noontime variety shows have metamorphosed into nothing but game shows featuring multimillion jackpots, they have been accused of promoting the culture of begging among the general masses of Filipinos who are poor.

For countless of poor Filipinos, these shows could be the answer to their prayers to be pulled out of poverty’s quagmire. Little do they know that they have greater chances of being struck by lighting rather than winning the jackpot.

Have daily noontime variety shows really gone overboard? Have they become unsavory like spoiled lunch?

YOUNG LOVE with all its sweetness and heartache is the focus of Teatro Tomasino’s Unang Dalaw, staged last Sept. 16 and 17 at the Albertus Magnus Auditorium.

Written by Eduardo Perez and directed by Niña Belle Gavan, Unang Dalaw tells of the triumphs and troubles of the sisters Lucia, Clarita, and Barbara as they find themselves caught up in the unsettling dynamics of love and growing up.

The story is set at the turn of the 20th century during which societal norms dictated that Filipinas be strictly conservative and demure, suppressing their desires and sentiments.

Barbara has just turned 12 and experienced her “unang dalaw” (menstruation); she falls in love with Bisero, a Katipunero whose name means donkey, the lad’s mirror image. But Barbara overlooks Bisero’s unfortunate looks and is attracted to him because of his principled conviction and bravery.

THEATER and drama may not anymore be considered “cool” by the younger generation, but Teatro Tomasino continues to uphold the theater tradition in UST. The theater company in fact is marking its 30th anniversary this year with the theme, “Teatro Tomasino at 30: Celebrating the Grace of Excellence, Striving for a Higher Quest, and Fulfilling the Dream.”

“It is a special accomplishment for Teatro Tomasino to achieve 30 years of producing outstanding plays and molding thespians,” Teatro Tomasino president Niña Belle Gavan told the Varsitarian.

It was in March 1977 when Professor Myrna Hilario, along with 25 other students, formed a group that sought to hone the stage and acting talents of young people.

As a new organization, Teatro Tomasino encountered the usual birth pangs of any new theater group.