Blast from the past

 

Grade school graduation 1981

after a year, an update

After nearly a year, an update, if only to say that I am working on a project involving FIlipina au pairs in Denmark with two other women students for the Cultural Encounters Kandidat 1 Modul at Roskilde University.

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Many people have emailed me asking if I am attending our high school reunion in August, and I've had to tell them no. It was never in my plans, not from the very first morning after graduation. I have been ever so happy to move on.

Free Press celebrates 101st anniversary

From Greg Brillantes and the editors of Free Press comes this announcement --

A Hundred and One

The FREE PRESS celebrates its 101st anniversary in this issue. We also take this occasion to pay tribute to the late President Corazon Aquino. Cory!—the private woman who was thrust out of her domesticity to the arena of politics, the prison cells of the Marcos regime, the parliament of the streets, the leadership of the Philippines and the world stage. Manuel L. Quezon III’s “Filipino of the Century” is an inspired retelling of this now-legendary story—one that resonates even amid the flamboyance and machismo prevailing in our culture, as the late FREE PRESS editor Teodoro M. Locsin pointed out in his eloquent editorial on Mrs. Aquino. The highlight of Mrs. Aquino’s international acclaim is, of course, her triumphant 1986 address to the US Congress, which we reprint here.

A tribute to Mrs. Aquino also serves as a tribute to her martyred husband, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., whose association with the FREE PRESS is underscored by Locsin being thrown in jail together with Aquino(and nine other critics of the Marcos regime)in 1972. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.’s interviews with Aquino are fascinating chamber pieces that hint at Marcos’s impending dictatorship. Another cellmate of Aquino and Locsin Sr. is the brilliant political analyst Napoleon G. Rama, whose article on martial law has unfortunately become more relevant in our time.

With the articles by Rama and Locsin Jr., we also reprint the classic political
cartoons of former FREE PRESS art director E. Z. Izon.

Former FREE PRESS executive editor Gregorio C. Brillantes wields his lyrical journalism as he takes a retrospective look at Rolando Galman, the much-overlooked casualty in Aquino’s assassination in 1983. We also look back to the body of work of the FREE PRESS and some of the writers who helped shape it. “The Ruling Money,” by the late associate editor Nick Joaquin (writing as Quijano de Manila), is an exhaustive business story as only he could write it—and a departure from his reporting on politics, history and pop culture. Kerima Polotan’s “The Woman of Fashion” is a quiet critique on the thriving bourgeois scene of the Sixties and its devotees at the time. Then there’s the other side of that milieu, lauded by Jose F. Lacaba’s now immortal “Notes on Bakya,” an inventive variation on Susan Sontag that counsels against elitism in art and culture. Finally, here too is Aquino’s soul-searching poetry, written during his eight years in prison. The themes are familiar to victims of political persecution like Lacaba, Locsin, Rama and this magazine, which was padlocked on the eve of martial law and revived in time for Cory’s historic presidential campaign.

Filipinos in Man Asian 2009 long list

Congratulations to all who made the Man Asian Literary prize 2009 long list, which this year contains five Filipinos -- Eric Gamalinda, R . Zamora Linmark, Mario I. Miclat, Clarissa Militante and Edgar Calabia Samar!

Greg Brillantes moments

In conjunction with a special award to be given to Filipino writer par excellence Gregorio Brillantes, Philippine Graphic put together an article briefly describing his contributions and career. I helped round up some input from colleagues, senior or otherwise, asking them (via Facebook): "Is there something special you remember about Greg, working with him or socializing, or just being touched by something he wrote?"
Here are the responses:

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In my research on our short story in English - I have covered so far the period 1956 to 1989, and read (honesly) over a thousand stories - I can say without reservation that Greg dominates that period in terms of the artistic quality and depth of his work; he should long ago have been declared a National Artist.

-- Gemino H Abad, poet, critic, fiction writer and professor of literature (UP-Diliman).

*

Recently I reread The Distance to Andromeda and Millennium. I became nostalgic about the future. Then I read one by one Greg's collected essays, especially those about his travels. No one comes close when it comes to the lost art of intelligent journalism and reportage that does not read like disposable literature. Greg Brillantes is one of our diamonds buried under the dross of the sound bite, the lunch time show, and the prevailing culture of inanity on television and the vapid press.

My real Greg Brillantes moment? At one Palanca Awards night where after the ceremonies we usually sung to Greg's piano accompaniment (sometimes made virtuosic because of his vanishing hearing), I had one too many and fell asleep in one of the plush ... Read Morelounge chairs of the Peninsula lobby. I think I came to at about 3 a.m. or later, and guess whom you'd find seated beside me? Greg, of course, and I was so embarrassed but he just smiled that avuncular smile of his and said, I didn't want to leave until you woke up.

-- Marne Kilates, poet, translator and critic

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Unlike the Tiempos (Edilberto and Edith) and Franz (Arcellana), who all mentored me in the classroom and workshops, Greg has been my unofficial, indirect mentor for the longest time. He taught me the art of fiction through his books. He showed me how to make characters jump off the page, how to make them memorable like13-year-old Ben, how to make even inanimate objects (like empty houses) stick in your mind with the precise metaphor.

And his nonfiction! I wish more of our nonfiction writers would read him and learn that nonfiction doesn't mean self-indulgence.

And as a friend? Super! He lends me his favorite books--and then forgets about them! No, he just allows me as much time to linger over his books, and I do. They are precious. And Greg Brillantes is precious. I agree with Jimmy--he should have been National Artist a long time ago

Oh, my Greg Brillantes moment? Dancing the boogie with him at one Free Press Literary Awards night!

-- Susan Lara, writer, teacher and critic

*

I remember the first time i met him, i cried. not because i was in awe or something but because he sent back proofs of his manuscript with lots of exclamation points--which to my (editorial) greenhorn mind translated to utter disappointment and anger at such amateurish book-production work. i wasn't worthy... (sniff). but ... Read Morewhen we got to talk more (even if it was kind of hard with his hearing aid), we got along quite well.

we exchange old books up to this day. he'll also drop by the office with little pasalubong from his trips. he's one of my favorite literary "lolos" :-)

-- Ani Habulan, book editor and developer, Anvil Publishing

*

i'm still astonished that greg's stories have never been picked up in the radar of the (now) numerous critics of nonwestern anglophone literature. he is doubtless a master of the short fiction form in our part of the postcolonial world, a profound and consummate artist whose command of the imperial medium (of english) is beyond reproach, and whose ... Read Moreworld view is implacably--and necessarily--rooted in a difficult and intensely argued kind of faith... interesting, but it turned out we'd already enjoyed a "nodding acquaintance" even before we were formally introduced sometime in the early 1990s: he was (is) this tall, distinguished- and pious-looking man who, like me, always stood at the back of the lourdes church in retiro, q.c., during the 10 to 11 am sunday mass.

-- J. Neil Garcia, UP – Diliman, poet, essayist, professor, critic

*

Greg is our family's book bugaw (pimp)with catholic tastes. It's such a trip to find bags with a little bit of everything from Armistead Maupin to Dr. Oliver Sacks to Edith Wharton to Jon Stewart, delivered to our doorstep throughout the year. With such great stocking stuffers, it's like having Christmas even in summer. Often the fly page will have a personalized dedication in Greg's angular penmanship. He addresses my mother as Dona Carolina, an elaborate courtesy that only he can pull off without affectation. Often aside from the literary goodies, there are worldlier treats like hazelnut pralines or a delicate fruit tea. We are truly blessed to have him for our friend.

-- Menchu Aquino Sarmiento, author

*

I want to contribute my "favorite Greg moment" anyway to this gathering of friends. I had just returned from our life overseas, and to writing fiction, which was actually tales. I sent one to Greg with much trepidation. He accepted it for publication, but asked me, "don't you want to return to ... Read Morerealist fiction"? I never did figure out whether it meant that he didn't like tales, or whether he was accepting my story even if he didn't really like it.

-- Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, author, professor, critic

*

I was stunned to get a phone call, that first time, from THE Greg Brillantes,

Who? greg brillantes?
yes, this is greg brillantes.
greg brillantes, the greg brillantes?...... Read More

what year did you graduate from the ateneo?
1982, sir. AB Psych. what about you sir, what year were you?
Oh, just a few years after Rizal.

-- Migs Villanueva, author, artist

*

Marne, I was at that Palanca Awards night you were talking about. I recall that you, Charlson and Mike Bigornia were all singing. And Greg Brilliantes was at the piano. I didn't stay around till morning like you did, though :-)

-- Ramil Digal Gulle, poet, journalist

dahlia propagation

This is one of the north windows, and these are dahlia bulbs in moist growing medium. I took the sprouts and potted them up, placing a glass jar over them to prevent their drying out. Within three weeks they had rooted. I then took the rhizomes and planted them in the garden, and within another three weeks of planting they had sprouted. Now one of the sprouts from the rhizomes is three inches tall, and about four inches in diameter.

I still have to plant the dahlias in the pots -- haven't prepared the flower bed yet.

These are small, single-petal dahlias -- they'll grow up to 40 cm tall. But you can use the same technique to increase your stock of the larger hybrids.

spring gardening

This blog started as a gardening diary, so now, in late spring, it returns briefly to its, uh... roots.

Things I learned as a spring gardener this year:

1. Seeds stored in October 2006 will germinate. Big time. I collected them from hybrid petunias (Petunia x hybrida), zinnias, french marigolds (Tagetes patula), china asters (Callistephus chinensis) and a lot of other stuff. Without much hope (and, foolishly, without a germination trial using a sample in damp tissue paper) I sowed THICKLY over a soil-less growing medium in an old strawberry box. The tagetes came up pretty decently. The petunias germinated scandalously, and in 10 days the makeshift seed flat looked like it was harboring CRESS.

The seeds, incidentally, were stored in an unheated garage, in an airtight can, in separate envelopes labelled with variety and date, and with two little packets of silica gel from a shoebox. I don't know where to get silica gel in Denmark, so I just use these little packets that manufacturers drop into shoe boxes (leather and synthetic) to keep moisture at bay.

Seedlings collected from white petunias with a sprawling growth habit.


2. When a packet modestly refers to 70% germination, it means, like, 200% germination under optimum conditions. At least that's what happened with my Hammenhoeg dwarf-dahlia mix. Now I Live With Dahlias, the way other people Live With ADHD.

(Note: 200% germination is not hyperbole. Most seedpacks will have 50% to 200% more the number of seeds than it says on the fine print, as most gardeners prefer to direct-sow, leading to much loss of seed to drought or birds.)

Dahlia seedlings -- more came up eventually.


3. Used disposable coffee cups make an excellent substitute for two or three inch seedlings pots. The canteen at the Danish language school where I go three times a week serves coffee in wonderfully flexible plastic cups. They contain about 350 ml and this is the perfect volume for a three-week seedling. I ask my classmates for them at the end of each coffee session. Sometimes I fish them out of the recycle bin and rinse them out in the lavatories.

4. Yes, you CAN raise snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), petunias (Petunia x hybrida), dahlias and larkspur (Consolida sp. and Delphinium sp.) from seed.

5. It's better to buy one pot in a color you like of easily-rooting plants like verbena and impatiens. Take two inch cuttings and root them. For verbena, in sand or compost. I'm still not sure whether rooting in compost or water is better for impatiens.

6. My impatiens, by the way, have NEVER rooted from leaf nodes. The roots, whether in water or in soil, appear to come from various unpredictable points in the stem. This contrary to advice you read from more experienced gardeners, posted on the web. I wonder why. Can anyone comment on this?

7. A small packet of pallid Viola cornuta seeds I collected in November 2006 has, apparently, remained viable. After a three week wait, I see one seedling, and two more appear about to sprout.

8. Copenhagen is in Zone 7B! That is to say, we don't ski from one farmhouse to the next six months a year, and polar bears don't walk the streets. Right now, in fact, all over Denmark, the clothes are coming off piece by piece, though a friend tells me nude beaches are OUT -- holdovers from the 60s or something like that.

NOW HOW DO I TRANSLATE ALL THIS INTO DANISH?! U-ha!

Mendoza wins!

Cool! Filipino Brillante Mendoza has won the Best Director prize at Cannes for his controversial film "Kinatay." Now I've really got to see it, in all its dark, distasteful, disquieting glory. I believe the movie remains banned in the Philippines, but it's sure to play in a Copenhagen theater soon -- if not on regular TV. Something to calendar.

Lars Von Trier/ AntiChrist

ANTICHRIST SPOILERS!!!!

Speaking of Cannes, today's Politiken has at least three full pages devoted to the controversy surrounding Lars Von Trier's "AntiChrist". The film, apparently, has been bought for distribution in various countries -- where for the most part it is expected to play minus Willem Dafoe's full frontal nudity and a gory scene of a woman cutting off her own clitoris.

In the same issue is an article on the special effects, and an image of five prosthetic vulvas used in the scene, each with a tube for pumping the fake blood out of. Plus the note that an adult film actress stood in for Charlotte Ginsbourg during filming.


***
For the back pages features (art, film, culture) in Politiken alone, I would gladly learn more Danish! The school has promoted me to the fourth level (Modul) though the semester has six weeks more to go.

Surfing

Opening Facebook, I discovered to my consternation that an old friend, lawyer, writer and writing workshop organizer Ernest Superal Yee had just died.

To find out more about the circumstances of his sudden death (heart attack) and the summer writers' workshop at Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines (first fortnight of May) at which he had been a panellist, I went to the blog of Ian, a writer-teacher at Silliman University.

It had a brief entry on Kinatay (Cannes, 2008), a Filipino film that appears to have been universally panned by critics. That led me to a brilliant post on Rogert Ebert's blog detailing why he thought Kinatay was so awful.

And that same post in turn led me to the mesmerizing trailer for Lee Daniels' 2009movie "Precious" that now I am dying to see.

not again

It's incredible how these sex video scandals never seem to run out of steam. Just shows you how repressed Filipinos are. Until our mindset becomes more sophisticated (is the word "decent" more precise?) the sex video will remain the most potent weapon for destroying a person's peace of mind and career.

Private, non-commercial sex videos are personal. Don't watch them. Don't speculate on them. Don't forward them. Don't advertise them, in a word.

They are none of your business.

Have sex instead.