LIPUNAN

Dapat tutulan ang nag-aambang tuition fee increase sa up. Sinasabing kailangang itaas ang tuition dahil sa ibinaba ng inflation ang totoong halaga ng tuition noong 1980s. Ngunit hindi rin naman tinaas ng inflation o ng kung anumang pag-unlad ang totoong halaga ng kinikita ng bawat pamilyang Pilipino, na siyang nagpapa-aral ng mga anak sa UP. Bukod pa rito’y patuloy ang pagtaas ng mga bilihin, na nagpapataas ng oppurtunity cost ng pagpapa-aral sa kolehiyo.

amputa.

[ipagpapatuloy]

*yey. ang lamya ng dating ng title. oozing with creativity; pinag-isipan
kumbaga. napupurol pa ata ako ng pagtulog at panunuod ng tv. ammpss.

ang weird ko.

ammppss.

***

hindi ko alam kung sobrang mahal na mahal talaga ako ng pamilya ko, o gusto lang nilang mag-aircon sa kwarto ko. yung kwarto ko kasi yung may aircon na hindi hassel gamitin at tipid sa kuryente, 110 kasi yung volts nung ibang aircon sa bahay kaya kelangan mo pang gumamit ng transformer para mapaandar ito (kaya hindi na rin ginagamit).

kaya eto. ako, si mudra at si chokie  ay nagsisiksikan sa kwarto ko, na naging kwarto na ng lahat. chokie rarely uses his room. i tried to use it a while ago to study (i prefer studying and making my papers alone) but i got creeped out. ang creepy kasi ng kulay ng kwarto ni chokie, ang dilim-dilim. tapos, biglang nag-on yung electric fan by itself. tapos, naalala ko na sinabi ni josh nung nasa bahay kami nina sam na ang mga spaces na hindi ginagamit sa bahay, tinitirhan daw ng churva. sabay birit pa niya na may naka-orange na churva sa bahay nina sam.

kamusta naman. i remembered the conversation, and the electric fan turning on by itself; plus i really dont like the dark color of my brother’s room. and i went back to my room. kaya asiwa mag-aral. madaling magising si mudra at nakanganga si chokie.

i’m not like this. i used to study till 5 am in our kitchen alone, and i don’t scare easily.

hmmm. baka tinatamad lang talaga ako gumawa ng paper. haha.

***

PS: hi kay meg. i bet nagbobonding sila ni churva sa dorm, nanunuod ng stained glass sa youtube. "i never sang my songs, on this day on my own…"

bwahahahaha. >:-)

i can’t wait til i break free of the things tying me down. or do i just see them to be that way?

*sana nga talaga optimistic ako.*

and_this_too_shall_pass.

yun lang.

   i’m laughing right now. and i thought claire, carlo, and i were just kidding around when we said manila bulletin* publishes editorials with titles such as "welcome back president gma from your US trip" or "congratulations PGMA for a well-delivered SONA."

   but for me, the best editorial title was published january 24, 2005: "We congratulate United States President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney as they begin their second term."

   i visited MB’s site to react on an opinion it allegedly published, which said that lack of tenure among workers is good because it  promotes competition among them (but in a twist of google’s hand, i ended up with the january 2005 editorial page of mb). i remembered carlo telling me of this opinion because i’m now doing my report on international trade, and i’ve come  accross the term ‘learning by doing (LBD).’ Learning by doing is a concept in economic theory which stipulates that workers become more productive because they do the same things over and over again. but while repeated experience essentially makes us learn and be more efficient in a certain task, i’d like to point out to concepts against LBD: (1) humans also need MOTIVATION in order to be more productive, which cannot be fostered through jobs that (2) ALIENATE them from production, given that many big industries use the line-assembly strategy. and so here’s another example of the efficiency-humanity trade off. (hmm, but maybe LBD can be used as an argument against the lack of tenure?)

   well anyway, back to manila bulletin online.

   so there i was, ready with all the angst and arguments which were waiting to explode (because i cant put these bottled emotions on my papers)– when i read the editorial’s title and it just blew me away. i could have fallen from my seat laughing, but that would be way too exagerrated.

   Never mind that the rules of editorial writing say that titles should be (1) eye-catching and (2) brief. Editorials embody the stand of the newspaper and its editors and writers– and having an editorial such as that speaks volumes of Manila Bulletin’s. And i’m not going to discuss that today because i have to go back to studying fabella’s "globalization, poverty, and inequality"; and stiglitz’s ‘the way ahead.’

  aja!

*pasintabi sa manila bulletin. think of it as a letter to the editor i never sent you. i’m just airing out my opinions here.
** (onegai!)please bear with my sardonic attitude. i’m just cherishing the freedom i have now in the academe, which i am most sure will contract once i graduate.

powtah. galit ako.

yun lang.

***

Salabat Latte on ice. Genderless society. Muling pag-itim ni Michael Jackson. From each according to his skill, to each according to his need. Glow-in-the-dark contact lens. Aktibistang CEO. Lab gowns na fuchsia. First World Philippines. Okra and Ampalaya Salad with Saluyot dressing. Dictatorship of the invisible hand.  Tokwang bangus.

Sapagkat tanging sa higpit ng pagkakagapos lamang sumsidhi ang hangaring kumawala sa sistemang mapaniil. Wasakin ang pinid ng pintuang pumipigil sa pagdaloy ng mapagpalayang kaisipan. Lumaya. Paliparin ang kamalayan hanggang maabot nito ang sulok na walang tigil sa pag-abante. At sa patuloy na paglawig ng kaisipan, patuloy ang paglaya ng sarili sa kapit ng mundong kinagisnan.

Malay mo. Malay Ko.

Kalayaan at Kamalayan*

*tema para sa

Waywaya 2007

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Ano ang Waywaya?
A: Ang Waywaya ay taunang kalipunan ng mga akdang pampanitikan ng Manila Collegian.

Q: Ano ang kahulugan ng salitang Waywaya?
A: Ang Waywaya ay nagmula sa salitang Iloko na wayawaya, na ang ibig sabihin ay kalayaan.

Q: Sino ang maaaring magpasa ng mga akda sa Waywaya?
A: Ang Manila Collegian ay tatanggap lamang ng mga akda mula sa mga constituents (mga mag-aaral, propesor, at empleyado) ng UP Manila, at sa extension nito, ang UP Palo.

Q:Anu-ano ang maaaring ipasa sa Waywaya?
A: Ang mga akda ay kailangang orihinal at hindi pa nailalathala sa anumang publikasyon. Anuman sa mga sumusunod na akdang pampanitikan ang maaring ipasa: tula, sanaysay, maikling kwento, komposisyon, at script. Tumatanggap din ng mga visual arts entries tulad ng mga litrato, dibuho, o mixed media. Ngayung taon, maaari na ring magsumite ng mga video clips (na hindi lalagpas sa isang minuto), at mga kanta.

Q:Paano magpapasa ng mga akda?
A: Ipadala ang mga akda sa email account ng editorial board ng Manila Collegian: mkule_eb@yahoo.com. Maaari ring ihatid ang hard o soft copy ng mga akda sa opisina ng Manila Collegian: 4/F Student Center Building, Padre Faura St. Cor. Maria Orosa St., Ermita, Manila. Ilagay ang pangalan ng may akda, kasama ang student number, course at year level.

Q: Paano pipiliin ang mga ilalathalang mga akda?
A: Pipiliin ng editorial board ng Manila Collegian ang mga ilalathala batay sa mga sumusunod: (1) kaugnayan sa tema at (2) kagalingan sa akdang pampanitikan, visual arts, o media. 

Q: Hanggang kailan maaaring magpasa ng mga akda?
A: Ang huling araw ng pagpasa ng mga akda ay sa ika-14 ng Nobyembre, 2006.

Q: Kailan maglalabas ang Manila Collegian ng Waywaya?
A: February 2007 ang target date of release ng Waywaya 2007.
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All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of
their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book is a horrible,
exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. For
all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby
squall for attention. And yet it is also true that one can write
nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one’s own
personality. Good prose is like a windowpane. I cannot say with
certainty which of my motives are the strongest, but I know which of
them deserve to be followed. And looking back through my work, I
see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I
wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences
without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally.
–George Orwell: Why I Write, 1946

***
"The meaning of life is a choice you make about the way [that] you live."
— South African activist Hilda Bernstein [1915-2006]
***

when you’re in bed, you’re dead
– tuesdays with morrie
***

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, i am reborn
– Mahatma Gandhi