THE LATE poetess and writer-in-residence of the University, Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta, was honored in a Mass celebrating her 79th birthday at the back chapel of Santisimo Rosario Parish last June 16.
College of Fine Arts and Design Regent Fr. Edgardo D. Alaurin, O.P. celebrated the mass before professors, third and fourth-year Literature students, and members of the Thomasian Writers Guild.
Recounting “Ma’am Ophie’s” influence in education, Fr. Alaurin shared his memories of the famous poet-teacher.
“I came to know Ophelia when I was a seminarian,” said Fr. Alaurin, who compared her life to that of a Dominican.
He added that she used her talents for the good of the community as she influenced her students to become accomplished writers themselves through her writing and mentorship.
“The greatest profession in life is to be a teacher. It is a legacy that which we give to the people and the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Varsitarian, together with the Thomasian Writers Guild and Literature seniors of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, held the first Ophelia A. Dimalanta Lecture at the Tanghalang Teresita Quirino in the UST Graduate School Annex after the Mass.
With the theme “Lady Polyester, Passional Poetry: Ophelia Dimalanta, the Poet and Her Poems,” her former students and some close friends in the University paid tribute to the values and lessons she imparted to them.
Sharing fond memories of her mentor and close friend, Sr. Bernadeth Racadio, a St. Paul of Chartres nun, described Ma’am Ophie as someone whose “writing was very sophisticated, especially in poetry.”
“Ophie shared literature with everyone as she shared them with her family household. She was relaxed and at home everywhere,” said Racadio, who is also the principal of St. Paul’s College in Bocaue, Bulacan.
A round-table discussion was led by Arts and Letters professor Ralph Semino Galan, who read a paper, “Polyester and Silk: Feminism and Femininity in the Poetry of Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta.” Meanwhile, Thomasian and UP professor Wendell Capili presented “Conversation with Ophelia: The 2005 Interview,” his dissertation in Australia, and UST professor Ferdinand Lopez read his paper, “Platonic Undertones in the Erotic Poem of Ophelia Dimalanta.”
Artlets professors Nerisa del Carmen Guevara and Annette Soriano read their poems to mourn Dimalanta’s passing last November.
Al Dimalanta, the son of the late poet-teacher, said he did not expect that his mother’s close friends would go as far as commemorating her by conducting a seminar named after her for her birthday.
“Let’s forget the sadness brought by her departure but instead remember the happiness her poetry gave us,” Dimalanta’s son said. Maria Luisa A. Mamaradlo and Azer N. Parrocha
