baguio reportage
On Thursday, we began with Alvin's poetics, characterized by an elevated magical realism and "bagabag". I think this is a form of literary horror and feel that, while it may have other concerns in terms of its problematics, it's spec fic - which is really cool (his text, alternate history, has beautiful stuff like mice adopting a human). During his workshop session, an undue amount of time was spent discussion jsut who the hell introduced sodomy to the Philippines (some say it was the Chinese, pero hindi ba posible na meron ng man-to-man action ang ating mga ninuno bago dumating ang kung sino-sinong impluwensya?).
Cris, who came next, is an ex-journalist who transitioning from creative non-fiction to fiction. She's a fellow for CNF but her text is fiction, which threw me for a loop. It's very well-written, but the discussion tackled the ethics of CNF, the issue of naming real people (which would later be reprised with Jing Panganiban's session). Ever since Mia, I've been intrigued by CNF.
Carlomar presented his poetics for his poetry, expressed in the context of his next collection. He used the language of fashion and talked about voice. He was great to listen to, as he linked his thoughts to his work.
Yesterday, Friday, we began with Jing's poetics, which she calls "Akology". Apparently, one of the concerns of CNF is the "I", so it was instructive to listen to what Jing Hidalgo and the other panelists had to say. My question concerned the issue of truth versus fact, and if what truly mattered was the core subjective authorial truth or insight, rather than the mere facts. Later in her workshop, we tackled her delicious piece and again the issues of naming names came up. CNF is fiction under oath.
Iwa is simply the man. Once I read his transgressive fiction, I was hooked (and that's hard to do given my ineptitude and low ennui levels with text in Filipino). We share similar sensibilities - especially regarding the primacy of story - and I'll look for his books back home. Wasak ang workshop niya - utter fun. Tuwang akong makilala si Iwa, bilang kapwa nobelista pareho ang pinoproblema namin.
Noong gabi, may kaunting inuman, kwentuhan at tawanan - at food trip (pinapak ko yung relyenong bangus).
Today, I woke up before 6AM, looked at the work that has piled up at the office and am thankful once more for this break, kahit isang linggo lang. Pero malapit nang matapos. Malapit na ang uwian. Miss na miss ko si Nikki at ang mga anak ko. Kagabi, tumawag ako at umiiyak si Sage (something about a lizard, hindi ko masyadong maintindihan) at napakalakas ng pagnasasa kong yakapin siya. More and more I realize what is truly important to me. Miss ko rin ang barkada ko (in my absence, Alex ran Call of Chtulhu). Alam kong paminsan-minsan kailangang lumabas sa aking comfort zone para makakita ng iba, makarinig ng iba. Pero tama pa rin si Dorothy about home.
Cris, who came next, is an ex-journalist who transitioning from creative non-fiction to fiction. She's a fellow for CNF but her text is fiction, which threw me for a loop. It's very well-written, but the discussion tackled the ethics of CNF, the issue of naming real people (which would later be reprised with Jing Panganiban's session). Ever since Mia, I've been intrigued by CNF.
Carlomar presented his poetics for his poetry, expressed in the context of his next collection. He used the language of fashion and talked about voice. He was great to listen to, as he linked his thoughts to his work.
Yesterday, Friday, we began with Jing's poetics, which she calls "Akology". Apparently, one of the concerns of CNF is the "I", so it was instructive to listen to what Jing Hidalgo and the other panelists had to say. My question concerned the issue of truth versus fact, and if what truly mattered was the core subjective authorial truth or insight, rather than the mere facts. Later in her workshop, we tackled her delicious piece and again the issues of naming names came up. CNF is fiction under oath.
Iwa is simply the man. Once I read his transgressive fiction, I was hooked (and that's hard to do given my ineptitude and low ennui levels with text in Filipino). We share similar sensibilities - especially regarding the primacy of story - and I'll look for his books back home. Wasak ang workshop niya - utter fun. Tuwang akong makilala si Iwa, bilang kapwa nobelista pareho ang pinoproblema namin.
Noong gabi, may kaunting inuman, kwentuhan at tawanan - at food trip (pinapak ko yung relyenong bangus).
Today, I woke up before 6AM, looked at the work that has piled up at the office and am thankful once more for this break, kahit isang linggo lang. Pero malapit nang matapos. Malapit na ang uwian. Miss na miss ko si Nikki at ang mga anak ko. Kagabi, tumawag ako at umiiyak si Sage (something about a lizard, hindi ko masyadong maintindihan) at napakalakas ng pagnasasa kong yakapin siya. More and more I realize what is truly important to me. Miss ko rin ang barkada ko (in my absence, Alex ran Call of Chtulhu). Alam kong paminsan-minsan kailangang lumabas sa aking comfort zone para makakita ng iba, makarinig ng iba. Pero tama pa rin si Dorothy about home.
Labels: baguio, writing workshop
posted by Dean at
6:14 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home