Horcruxes

Doing my part in poem-writing activity:

Horcruxes

There are pieces of my soul scattered everywhere,
torn by emotional investments (un)consciously poured.

My eyes have become fountains of tears.
The taste of pain lingers on
My lips, barren for sweet caress.

Pangs of sorrow pierce my heart
And deep longing cloud my mind.

I am Lord Voldemort,
And this is how I feel.

Powerful,
yet crumbling in the face of love.

Ondoy Turns One!

On September 26, 2010, the tragedy that was Ondoy will turn one year old. It's been a year now already, but the memories of that day are still as fresh as can be every time they replay in my mind. Do you remember where you were that day? I was in UST, watching the clouds turn from white to gray to black, and praying the rain would let up just a bit so that I could go home. But no, I spent the  night un the university because the flood water rose unbelievably fast (so that by noon, it was already knee high, and at five in the afternoon, it was chest-level).

That is my most memorable experience of my alma matter. Funny thing is, despite this ugly encounter, I still am with the university, and every moment I spend there makes me feel more attached and affectionate for it. I guess it takes more than just rains and thunderstorms to get me out of the university, or it out of my system -- because I like being in it the way I like eating vanilla ice cream every time I am happy, sad, stressed, relaxed, optimistic, hopeless...

There are just some things we will never forget, and there are some images attached to this things that we don't forget. Do you realize the beauty and power of our language? Through it, we are able to connect things together and commit them to our memory. Our language helps us express what we want to say, how we feel. In contrast, it also allows us to conceal what we want to keep others from knowing. We can get creative when we want to say something, and the use of imagery in our language often allows us to be succinct.

Your next blog activity will let me see you in a different light. You are to give the "About the Authors" page a fresh feel, as you will write a poem about yourself, using a particular symbol or image that will persist in the whole poem. Apply your own techniques, use Filipino or English -- just make sure that the image you use is relevant to your poem as a description of yourself and the theme of your group blog. The poem has to be 3-5 stanzas long only, with a maximum of four lines each. This is an individual activity and the number of poems your blog site must have is equal to the number of members in your group. I will expect these blogs by September 24, 8pm.

I am looking forward to seeing another creative side of you through your poems. :) Ja!

On Blog Sites and First Entries

Back in Manila after a weekend in Bulacan. I miss the place already, especially the fact that I can wake up late and then grab breakfast cooked just for me and then going back to bed again if I still feel bumming around. Our ancestral house in Bulacan has always provided me with the energy and rejuvination that I need -- things that usually run out when I'm up and about in the city, racing against time.

But it's time to snap back to reality, and there are things that need to be paid attention to. Just now I have read your comments on my previous post, and I must say you have certainly voiced out what you felt and thought. Your replies are reflections of how you think as a person, and I must commend you for being able to stand up for what you believe in. Credits are given to those who dedicated time and effort to visit the blog site and reply to the question, and you can check your grades with me on our next meeting. This post also officially closes the period for posting comments on the first blog. All other posts will not be credited anymore.

I am looking forward to your group sites, and I sure hope every member will exert effort to maintain your pages. I will specifically check your stories on the beat assigned to you, and a critique on the movie Shattered Glass. I particularly want to know what you think of what he said to a class: "You don't wanna hear all these stories about journalistic ethics, do you? All you care about is seeing your name published on that paper." How did this principle affect his career? If you were in his shoes, how would you have gotten out of that sticky situation with your editor?

This blog entry ends here now. I will await your sites and its contents on or before Friday, September 10, 2010, 12mn.

Popularity-wise, We're On Top!

The week that was is a showcase of Filipino creativity, exposing the means they use to become popular. Whether it's a major, major "almost there" moment on a prestigious beauty competition to a conversation over the phone with an unidentified caller that changed the mind of an already distrubed man and took the lives of foreign nationals, the Filipinos have indeed shown ingenious ways of becoming international talk of towns.

But what exactly does theses imply of the nation, of its people, of its leaders? What image is the Philippines really trying to project to the international community? Is there an image, in the first place, to project and protect?

Let's hear out what you have to say.