Tag: February 18, 2010

THE REALITY is that a small part of nature is usually sacrificed to make way for man-made structures, as environment and infrastructure are locked in a constant tug-of-war for space. Thankfully, new innovations in architecture have made it possible for the two to co-exist and even complement each other.

These innovations were shown in the symposium “Asian Green Cities: Visions of the Modern World,” last January 30 at the Medicine Auditorium. Organized by Architecture Network (Archinet), a local student organization of the College of Architecture, the symposium stressed the crucial role of architects in creating “sustainable architecture” to address environmental concerns.

THOMASIAN painter Jane Arrieta-Ebarle deviates from her usual ethnic art form and focuses on the interplay of lines and colors in her third solo exhibit, Hibla Series 1, staged at the SM Megamall Renaissance Gallery from January 9 to 30.

An upshot of her previous Pinagmulan collection mounted at the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences last July, Hibla marked the artist’s transition in theme, from archaic ethnic patterns to colorful abstractions as seen in the nine artworks that comprised the exhibit.

“I never did Hibla on purpose,” Ebarle confessed, explaining that the art style formed by itself. “It was as if an unseen hand guided me all throughout. The experience of creating was ethereal as it was unfathomable.”

A 16-YEAR-old schoolgirl must choose between her aspirations for higher learning or pursuing a romantic relationship with an older man. Will education prevail or will love triumph in the end?

This is the premise Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig tries to get across in An Education, a coming-of-age drama that appears charming on the surface, but also packs a hard-hitting lesson on the blurred line between maturity and innocence.

CLASS! Pass your assignments to the front.”

Erika stared blankly at her professor. She averted her eyes and looked at the whiteboard. It’s been three months, she thought. Three months of waking up with nightmare visions of hospital contraptions hooked up to a dark figure.

“Sir” Keith died of cancer. The one last professor, who would crack jokes with his students has left the campus empty.

Despite teaching a major subject, Sir Keith’s lectures served as a breather for the class, a place where they could be riotous, but still learn.

WHO SAID fashion can’t go with poetry?

Poet Carlomar Arcangel Daoana, a former UST Center for Creative Writing and Studies junior associate for poetry and Varsitarian associate editor, crosses over to the world of the “fabulous” with his second book, The Fashionista’s Book of Enlightenment (Designed By Words, 2009), a collection of 43 poems that tackle the complexities of couture, passion and loss. This follows his first collection, Marginal Bliss, which was released in 2002.

Heaven’s mirror crashes on virgin
ground,—jolting his senses.
She wades through its crystalline fluid and the stars awake,
dancing in intricate synchrony.
The smell of coconuts and salt in the air
resting on her sand-strewn hair.
Beneath the surface, seaweeds sway,
while streaks of color dart back and forth in anxiety —
The giants have returned once more.
He clasps his pale hand over her burnt, brown skin,
“Everything at its own pace,” she calmly says.

I am home.

Mika Rafaela A. Barrios

ANG PAGHIRANG sa Main Building, Central Seminary, Arch of the Centuries at open spaces bilang “National Cultural Treasures” ay kauna-unahan para sa isang edukasyonal na institusyon. Subalit sa kabila ng pribilehiyong ito, maituturing na isang “limitasyon” ang karangalang iginawad ng National Museum sa Unibersidad.

Nakasaad kasi sa Section 13 ng Republic Act No. 4846 o “Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act” na lahat ng pagbabagong gagawin sa mga National Treasures ay kailangan munang isangguni sa National Museum.

SA KABILA ng hindi mabilang na mga tala sa kasaysayan, marami pa ring mga katotohanang nananatiling lihim sa pagitan lamang ng mga kabilang sa katutubong sektor ng bansa.

Ito ang maiisip ng sinumang bubuklat ng mga pahina ng Awit ni Kadunung (UST Publishing House, 2008) ni Abdon Balde Jr., isang Bikolanong inhinyero na matapos ang 33 taon sa konstruksiyon ay nagpasyang pasukin ang larangan ng panitikan.