HAGBAYON

I have been attending national writers’ workshops and really enjoy them. Trying to be a writer in a republic of non-readers can get quite alienating sometimes. These workshops (more of writers’ retreats really) help alleviate the loneliness of writerly existence.

Tomorrow, along with other writers based in Bicol (Kabulig-Bikol), I will be attending a conference for teaching and writing Bikol literature. This will surely be another avenue for Bikol writers to convene and share ideas—together with teachers of literature. It is hoped that the existing Bikol literature agenda will be updated and be given extensive attention by the government, the academe and society in general.

I will be sharing some insights about Bikol Drama and our regional dramatic tradition. I will focus more on how we could utilize the art form as pedagogy of literature. Its very nature would reveal its potent power as a servant art, one that could wrap-up all the other Bikol literary art forms into one package that could fit well within literature modules.

The conference, dubbed as Pagtukdo, Pagsurat Bikolnon 2008 is sponsored by the Kabulig-Bikol, Naga College Foundation, National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Naga City LGU.

I just saw The 11th Hour today as produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. It is a must-see for those who got the first jolt from Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. The film is more detailed than Al Gore’s award-winning rendition in the sense that this has more climate change experts thinking out loud. This also delves into the forces behind the current culture of apathy with regard environmental preservation–the corporate and government policy makers who are doing much delay in the implementation of pro-ecology laws, and the miseducated consumers of the present plastic era.

In the end, the film prescribes that all we need is a deep and profound love for our own place. Somehow this rings a bell for writers from the provinces who for the most part, are closer to nature than their Manila counterparts. I think it is easier for them to hear the language of nature and pick up images for their poetic strategy. This is because the prevailing design for poetic expression has always been that of a poet-milieu-audience dialectics. It is then the moral obligation of writers to champion the cause of preserving the environment. Lest we all become plastic poets in a plastic planet.

I would like to thank Mrs. Maria Ngo and the Filipino-Chinese community in Iriga City for nominating me for the 6^th Dr. Jose P. Rizal Awards for Excellence (for Arts; Literature and Culture). Surprisingly, I landed as finalist. Past awardees include Charlson Ong, Ricardo Lee, Jose Mari Chan and Doreen Yu

I almost had a resolve to shy away from nomination-based contests, but how do you refuse and disappoint an eager nominator? Thanks again Shan-si!

Naga City is fast becoming a destination for trade and finance. Banks and hotels continue to sprout around downtown as more and more people visit the place. However, if it is a prolonged stay (for school or work), hotel bills can get quite expensive. A nice house in a nice neighborhood would then be a better choice

For just PhP15 Thousand per month the family can have the highest quality of life in the city at 19 Jasmin St., City Heights Subdivision, Naga City.

For more info please contact this writer via e-mail or call (054)2995169 or (054)4730487.

‘Dissolving what is marginal and central.’ This is the end-tail of the blurb I gave for Pangasinan poet-laureate Santiago B. Villafania for his KWF funded second book ‘Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles’. And this is exactly what you will experience if you happen to understand Pangasinense and read the works therein, considering that there are also English poems in the collection. So place your orders now while supplies last.

Meanwhile, this summer Malagilion experience of mine seemed to have extended itself toward one melting-pot of heat, traffic and culture, and that is Sampaloc, Manila. I was invited to sit as panel during the 9^th UST National Writers Workshop held right inside the Pontifical University’s campus in España. It was in 2002 when I won a slot as fellow for poetry in the same workshop along with the likes of Ma. Francezka Kwe, Mikael Co, Alex Agena and Maryanne Moll. The end result was a drained supply of Red Horse beer in the creepy but classy Hotel Veneracion in Baguio City.

This year’s fellows were mostly young (like me, haha). And I did my best to be fair and objective as possible. I pointed out parts that needed improvement, offered correctives so as to leave a sense of direction. The country’s workshop set-up is primarily inductive. It is easy to get lost in faultfinding without offering remedies.

In a way, this is the advantage of LIRA’s palihan system—there’s the theory or lecture, and there’s the application or writing part. And the workshop would last for months or even a year so the panel can follow-up on the progress of the writing fellows.

For a change, I added (together with Santiago Villafania) some tinge of regional paradigm in my critiques. I wanted the fellows to see that panelists come from diverse backgrounds and they ought to identify who could help them best. In my view, I saw it fit not only to share what I know about Tagalog/Filipino poetics but also Bikol poetics more importantly that some writing fellows were from the provinces.

I believe that writers from the regions have a lot to share. In the KWF’s Talaang Ginto, I am beginning to see this trend. Writers from the region would win because they infuse something from their culture in their Tagalog/Filipino poems, thus enriching the National Language. Cirilo F. Bautista, himself a Gawad Collantes honoree and judge has this to say: ‘…because Filipino—which is now called our national language—has a democratic character, it offers contemporary poets new inroads and challenges. Indeed, some of them have shown that words and phraseology, and imagery from one region can be positioned within the structure of Tagalog. John Iremil Teodoro and Genevieve Asenjo of Antique, Jose Jason Chancoco of Bicol, and Santiago Villafania of Pangasinan have done exactly that and, consequently contribute to the enrichment of the poetic medium. (Breaking Signs, Philippine Panorama May 4, 2008).

Dalityapi Unpoemed
May 2008

Greetings Bard-Brothers & Sisters:

Check out the latest issue of the Makata at http://www.dalityapi.com/

THE MAKATA (POET) Vol.9
http://makata.dalityapi.com/

Makata Issue No.5, May 2008 is now available online featuring the works of our home-grown and international poets: Aliazer S. Abdurajim, Aurora Antonovic, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Faith Erasmo, Manuel Lino G. Faelnar, C W Hawes, Frederick Lim, Jen Macapagal and Will P. Ortiz.

Included in this issue are the finalists in the KABUWANAN POETRY COMPETITION: Raul “Tata” Funilas, Jason Tabinas, Deborah Rosalind D. Nieto, Noel Sales Barcelona, Juan Emmanuel C. Fernandez, Soliman Agulto Santos, Marc Laurenze C. Celis, Glenn Ford B. Tolentino, Brian B. Acabado, Francisco Arias Monteseña and Ada Dizon Angeles.

Send all submissions / contributions for Volume 9, June 2008 issue to svillafania at yahoo [dot] com and to Jason Chancoco at tarusan22 at yahoo [dot] com (for Tagalog/Filipino & Bikol poetry). Also accepting poems written in other Philippine languages: Cebuano, Iluko, Hiligaynon, Waray, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Meranao, Tausug etc.

It’s graduation season, the month we march. For a writer and somebody who stayed for the longest time in the university, I can only ponder on the future of literature in the academe. For one, I observe that most of our schools have taken it upon themselves to prioritize ‘in’ courses. That is to say, the programs that attract the most number of enrollees.

If you think about it, our universities seem to cater to the demands abroad. The courses that produce professionals needed abroad get the upper hand. This can be observed even in some commencement exercises in the region. B.S. Nursing graduates get ‘special treatment’ in these events. They are the first ones to be called, and prior to the march, even their invitations and graduation programs get printed first. The others just have to wait.

Nevertheless, I still think that the academe can help this country become a republic of readers and writers. Here’s how I think it should be done:

• Hire more prize-winning writers in the faculty. M.A. units can sure help, but I think literary arts is contagious. If the teacher is himself/herself a writer, more students will develop love for literature.
• Reward student writers. Budding pen pushers who qualify for national writing workshop fellowships, get printed in prestigious publications, win prizes in contests ought to be lauded. Posters or tarpaulins should be displayed in campus in their honor. Their published works should also be posted in the bulletin board.
• Invite prominent authors for speaking engagements. This will make students realize that not all famous writers are dead. This will also expose them to their wit and eccentricities.
• Hold poetry performances. But then, nobody must read from song magazines thinking that it’s poetry.
• Post announcements about call for submissions for national workshops, publications and contests.
• Support campus-based writer’s groups by offering financial grants.
• Sponsor literary workshops and contests, and publish a literary journal regularly.

The academe has to spearhead the development of literary arts in the country. It has to continue being the haven of writers.

Right after the Marquez-Pacquiao rematch, I have been hearing and reading various post-bout analyses. Basically, there are disagreements. It is really very hard to determine the fanatic from the critic and find out the more objective diagnosis. Boxing is a sport, and just as it is guided by rules, laws and technicalities; it is also adjudged according to entertainment value. And in the case of postcolonial Philippines and Mexico, it also comes as a measure of national pride.

Since the boxing experts, foreign or local are at a disagreement, I think the decision of the three judges must prevail. No matter how scientific they are, they will always be humans and subject to a certain margin of personal bias and error. Let us not forget that the first time Marquez and Pacquiao met, the latter was robbed of victory because of a miscalculation in one of the judge’s sheet. But still, as mandated by the rules of the game, the ringside judges are the ones who have the sole power to determine the outcome of the bout in case there is no KO or TKO. That is why even if it was seen as controversial draw, the 2004 verdict prevailed.

As a writer, here’s my take on the matter. I think, similar to literary contest judges, the ringside judges also have the sole power to decide the result of the bout. They are the ‘designated experts’ for the occasion. Otherwise it would become a mere numbers game with people, experts or otherwise, casting their ballots as to who should win right after a bout. But then again, just like when readers express their opinion with regard a poem, story or novel; boxing viewers can also share their verdict and sentiments with regard the fight.

That is why I say, if it were a poetry contest, and both Pacquiao and Marques were entrants, here’s my take: Pacquiao was the poet while Marquez was a mere versifier. For one, Manny’s punches had more substance and style. Just look at his 3^rd round short left-hook that sent Marquez’ back down the canvass with both his hands and feet in the air. Just look at his 10^th round out-of-the-book ‘fade-away’ left hook that completely caught the schooled boxer in Marquez off-guard. Compare that with the counter-punching skills of Marquez that did as much as to keep Pacquiao at bay and at the same time score. Manny was more art than science, while Manuel was more science than art.

Now it all boils down to the ultimate purpose of boxing. You box not just to hit and score, you box to eliminate and knock the opponent down. Same with writing, it is not all about craft, you have to have something to say and send your message across. True, Marquez’ boxing skills made him score. All those scientific moves of his should have been directed to its ultimate purpose of knocking the challenger down at least once. But this did not happen. He simply used them to keep Pacquiao at bay and as the defending champion he should have done more than that.

Pacquiao is the champion because he reinvented boxing and at the same time retained the primordial purpose of a punch—to knock the opponent down.

True enough, just as there are many things about poetry that graduate school can’t teach you; there are also many things about punching that even the childhood-to-adult boxing training camps of Mexico can’t just produce. And this includes the patented and genetically specific Manny Pacquiao punch.

________________________________________________________________

During the Kantaramon at Lolo’s Bar last Saturday, March 15. The Kabulig-Bikol also invited the ABS-CBN to cover the event. This writer was one of those interviewed by reporter Jonathan Magistrado. He asked me about what can the younger Bikol writers contribute in the flourishing of Bikol literature. Almost instinctively, I responded it is information technology that we have. We can use our blogs and podcasts in pushing for regional literature.

In line with this, master fictionist Jose Dalisay, in writing about the Juliana Arejola-Fajardo Workshop and Premio Tomas Arejola in his Penman column in the Arts and Culture Section of The Philippine Star (March 17, p. G-6) likewise expressed the role of the internet in promoting regional literature. He wrote: “Our regional literatures have always had a hard time competing for space, attention, and funding with writing in English and Filipino (not to mention Harry Potter and Tom Clancy), but thankfully the Internet has evened things up a bit, and today there are a number of literary blogs devoted to the resurgence of writing in Bikol, bannered by such young writers as Rizaldy Manrique, Jason Chancoco and Kristian Cordero—previous winners all of the Arejola Prize.”

And that is why we blog and can’t stop from blogging.

I just sent my thesis to a nearby photocopy shop for book binding. It will be ready for distribution soon. I think to myself, there goes the paper that made me decide to pursue studies here in the Bicol region. Why study in Manila when here you can save on boarding expenses, and at the same time work for Bikol literature. I think most of the materials for a decent work on Bikol literary criticism lurk somewhere in the region, and one only needs to look.

And so there I was, quite surprised that I defended it well (and was even given a grade of A or Excellent). Another surprise was that writing in Bikol was never an issue. You see, I hear that the institution I am in is pro-globalization (whatever that means) and will not dare accept a thesis written in the regional language. Good thing that they did accept my 248-page paper, making for history and glory (ala-Gerard Butler, haha).

I called it ‘Pagsasatubuanan: Modernistang Poetikang Bikolnon.’ It is more of a book really, than a thesis. Honestly, the thesis format bores me. A writer ought to avoid writing too much in it. But then somebody has to do it. And I did reconcile the writerly and the academic.

I think I can attribute the success of my defense to the fact that what I have written there is right in my head. I even practice it or do lectures out of it. It is a praxis on the rawitdawit as Bikol aesthetics. As I always say, creative writing is my day job while literary criticism is my hobby. I guess that is why I enjoy writing workshops. I have attended most of them except, of course the UP and Dumaguete workshops. Aside form the food and the booze, I love to observe the eccentricities of our elder writers during critiquing. We writing fellows always get a good laugh out of it. Like Doc Bien and Doc Deriada who would seem to be asleep but would suddenly ‘wake up’ and blurt out something cool or nasty.

As I said, I already made lectures out of ‘Pagsasatubuanan’ like the one I did at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary attended by, well of course, seminarians. As part of my paper’s recommendations, I intend to have more critiquing sessions on creative writing and apply the theory. Others ought to write theses and studies in their respective local languages also.  

Amigo/Amigang Parasurat

Dios maray na aldaw!

Ipinapaabot mi tabi na magkakaigwa utro nin pagsusurompongan an mga parasurat sa maabot na ika-13 nin Pebrero, Miyerkules alas-siyete nin banggi sa Lolo’s Bar, Avenue Square, Magsaysay Avenue, Siyudad nin Naga.

Aapodon ining Artist’s Night mantang dugang pa sa mga pagrarawitdawit may kaibahan naman ining karantahan pati naman pagdidibuho sa karahayang-boot kan mga katood tang animators. Bilang imbitadong parasurat, nilalaoman ming maheras ka tabi kan saimong mga rawitdawit sa programa. Puwede man ibareta an saimong mga proyekto. Igwang kadikit na arak na rararaon asin sertipikong mareresibi an mga imbitadong parasurat. Ipaabot lamang samuya tolos-tolos an saimong pag-ako sa imbitasyon na ini.

Dios mabalos asin maghirilingan kita!

Minagalang,

JOSE JASON L. CHANCOCO
Literary Editor, OragonRepublic.Com

FER BASBAS
Webmaster

SHEILA BASBAS
Webmaster, Events Organizer

I got an SMS from Far Eastern University instructor and writer Miel Kristian Ondevilla on January 23, 2008 at 5:30:06pm informing me that I will sit as one of the judges along with himself, Kristian Abe Dalao and Alfonso Dacanay for the 2008 Transition Literary Contest. And on January 26 (Saturday), I received via LBC the entries for the poetry and one-act play categories.

For poetry, I am supposed to prepare a ranked shortlist of 10 poetry collections, although only five of which will be given prizes. I got from the mail a total of 42 entries for the poetry category. I immediately screened the manuscripts and eliminated 19 entries, leaving me with 23 entries for my first shortlist. During my second screening, I removed 12 more entries, leaving me with 11 entries for my second shortlist. To come up with my top ten, I eliminated one more entry. Then I started ranking the remaining entries.

And here’s my final and ranked shortlist:

1. et., al by humblestsauthor

2. Nursing is an Art by Poet with a Lamp

3. Rain of Ours by Drench

4. Poems by Atomos

5. Necessary Truths by Go the Distance

6. Miscelaneo 2007 by El Soñador

7. One-Night Stand by Fool

8. Mirror of Thy Soul by Atropos

9. Mendacity by Miss Nomer

10. When White Wings Became Black by Akimoto Ren

I think “et., al” deserves the First Prize because the poems in the collection have clear and intuitive images and clear-cut endings. The author also has eye for detail and contrast, and knows how to shift POVs and use run-ons effectively. The collection also presents 3^rd World reality and has a well-established milieu (Quiapo, Manila area).

This eye for detail is exhibited in the way “The Gypsy” is described for characterization and likewise in lines such as: “And then you asked yourself on what sight might embrace you upon arriving home. Perhaps/a house, columns so fragile to touch, eaten by some/pests, a withered frontyard yielding death, kitchen/sink growing moss, appearing like mini continents//and islands floating on infected waters.” (The Wanderer)

Also, observe how the author employs the magic of enumeration: “On her way she saw everything/was the same but then more significant, substantial/in her subconscious: the rough texture of the pavement, the number of lines the pedestrian lane//has, the faces of the people distinct despite mixed up in the crowd.” (The Victim)

Stark contrast also amplifies irony in the way “The Woman” is described: “Sleeve of a cloth, more so/like a rag, protruded in her dilapidated suit case, perchance/she spotted in a trash bin of an executive company.”

Effective use of run-on lines also shows that the author has great grasp of the ebb and flow of words and details—and emotions: “Some clients who have proven/her factual go back and offer a gift as a gratitude:/sometimes a charm, sometimes an adorable stuff toy,/sometimes money, which she will accept with extreme//joy.

The poet also veers away from the pitfall of didactic poetics such when presenting in a detached manner a situation or image that could justify why a mother would rather be a fake fortune teller just so she could support her ailing child: “As she opens the door, a child about nine years/of age, crippled by polio and suffering from renal/failure, smiles despite pain, a teddy bear in her grasp. (The Gypsy)

The same may be observed as to the concluding vision of the problematic persona in “The Wanderer”: “In the end of your vision an inhabited shore in grief,/from afar resembling like the hand of your only son,/trembling in the dusk, begging for a filament of light.”

The greatest virtue of “Nursing is an Art” is sincerity of voice and tone, establishing the collection’s common persona early with the first poem “Memoirs of a Nurse”. It deserves the Second Prize because poem after poem, the author displays sound stanzaic strategy. The collection also presents the insights of a nurse still very much attuned to his humanity and thus exposes us to common issues surrounding the life of a healthcare front liner. In effect, it brings us to the phenomenology of caring. This type of poetry may very well create a niche in the Philippine literary landscape to coincide with the “Nursing Syndrome” we are into now.

Sincerity in this collection is not coupled with ignorance but with knowledge: “There is pain/deeper than wounds./Immeasurable, incurable pain./Pain resistant to medications.” (Pain)

Great poetic control is exhibited by inserting great emotions into separate and short stanzas: “”Papa, if you will stop the chemo,/I will love you more.”//His words like daggers/stabbing me infinite times,/every stab a pang of death.//But what can I do?/I hugged him tight,/kissed him/and hugged him again.//Unspoken love.” (Paternal Love)

Healthcare workers are humans after-all, with personal longing and needs: “Then she called me anak,/an endearment/I longed to hear/eversince.//I was struck.//Should I present reality/that I am not her daughter?/Or should I give in/to my emotions/and pretend/even just for a moment/that she is my mother?” (Mind Games)

Third Prize should go to “Rain of Ours”. It caught my attention because of its collective design. It has rain as central image. Now the challenge is on how the poet will situate it alongside various POVs, situations and personas and not run out with fresh insights. The author was able to achieve great success most of the time, if not for some lines that would tend to be bare and declaratory. The modern poet as a philosopher should also try not to romanticize and yield to higher powers and let them operate and resolve the pivotal issue within the poem.

The author exhibited great skill on craft just with the first poem “Rain”. He/she was able to employ the first and third person POVs without much trouble—from She, he to I. Likewise, the author was effective in using rain as metaphor for human situations and temperaments. Just with the first poem, he/she was able to summarize the collection’s thesis: that we as humans, give meaning to the rain even though the rain is just as it is. That is why we have a she-persona so happy about it, and a he-persona so sick of it, and the I-persona also joining in the contemplation.

There are great lines such as the hyperbolic: “Falling, your force/creates clanging, disturbing sound against/our roof, moreso like tiny, billion death/bells struck all at once.” (Rain, 3)

There are cool images too such as this one from “Rain, 4”: “Papa once walked there, the crack/grew like a spider’s web from his point to all directions./He said it was frightening.” Or this one from “Rain, 5”: “According to the news, there was a village already soaked underwater,/cadavers floating like brown leaves.”

However, there are lines that are actually good but go too far and declare: “It is falling rain, giving everything/to the land yet getting nothing/beautiful in return, only rain/again – cycle of sadness.” Or “I gaze on the outside through the pane, wondering/how rain depicts sadness and loss/despite giving itself unselflessly,/persistently – sacrifice.”

There are also parts that would tend to overspeak and romanticize: “We thrive in your center, oh rain, let us/thrive within you, wash our minds from/sorrow, claim our bosom from pain, grudges,/revenge, fragmented love and lost dreams.”

The same yielding to a higher power is seen in this deus ex machina line from “Rain, 4”: “Yet, still, we pray. In the night/endless rain came and soaked everything.” Or from “Rain, 5”: “Still, we pray./Slowly, rain subsided like a child’s whimper, fading.”

Fourth Prize should be given to “Poems”. Same as “et., al” the poems in the collection are well ensconced in its Manila milieu. Employing the same intuitive imagism, the author also has eye for contrasting details. The poems, having high degree of orality, are very much performable. The poet also found effective use for line-space as pauses. However, some poems would tend to delve into what I call as “angas poetics” and contaminate the poet’s philosophy with ranting.

Intuitive imagism can be seen in lines such as: “Too much for this,/we uncoil our hair,/chop off/and outside/where pebbles are scanty,/we shooooouuuuut/our baptismal names,/running barefooted/along the rampaging shore.” (Amateur)

Here we could visualize the first-person plural poet-personas running wild as if in Silliman Beach, leaving their poetic footprints for posterity.

Also notice the effective stanzaic strategy in segregating contrasting images/details between the Nazarene’s foot and the devotee’s in the poem “Quiapo”: “In Your/greasy, wounded feet/with nails blood tinged/and jagged and swollen ankles,//Bless these acrylic, well-trimmed/nails of silk feet in a/polished leather sandal.” Indeed it seems that it’s so hard to follow His ways, even in Quiapo Church.

However, with the poem “Postmortem,” inasmuch as it can be better served by a stanza break starting with “the smell of incense/and formalin, telling you/it’s time to start the postmortem care before everything decays and fouls” can also be rid of it’s “angas poetics” with regard the sound and legal purpose of postmortem. Perhaps the poet could be more specific with regard the postmortem’s ‘client’ so as to justify that indeed it’s already a clinical abuse of his/her resting body.

Now even if “This Morning, Or We are Never Tired of Using the Rain as Metaphor All Over and Over Again” succeeds in effecting the tone of apathy with regard its persona, the poem “Free Verse” is again, pure sexual ranting as “An Incident in the Cemetery During a Windy Todos Los Santos” is pure “angas poetics” and existentialist hopelessness

Fifth Prize should go to “Necessary Truths” because of its cool lines, effective use of repetitions and oriental endings. However, I could sense that the poet offers not much new insight even if he/she uses poetic devices. The poetic form ‘haiku’ is also erroneously employed in the “Haiku Exercise”, being that it is not really in conformity with the haiku’s 5-7-5 syllable structure.

Repetition is effectively employed in the poem “Dancers”: “They are there,/gymfit, sculptured bodies…//They are there,/bodies moving,/” However, here, the persona/voice seems to be an outsider looking in, and therefore maybe too judgmental. This is not the case with “Avenida, 2:57 AM” from the collection “Poems”. It’s the better poem because there is involvement with regard the persona in being one with the ‘ghosts’ of the streets.

Arguably, the best poem in this collection is the “Embalmer” with cool lines such as: “You have spent/almost your whole life,/and maybe, your remaining/productive years sealing/ a covenant with the dead.”

The poem also exhibits oriental temperament when it ends with: “One night while sleeping/on your working table,/a dried leaf rested on your face/from an open window.”

“Child Poem” and “Morning Scenery in Japan” are poems devoid of fresh insights. The first poem for instance simply restates that love necessitates child-like innocence and the second poem is simply the persona’s visualization or contemplation of a Japanese scenery as depicted in a calendar.

I received 7 entries for the One-Act Play category. I would eliminate an entry early on—whenever I encounter too much grammatical lapses or get the plot figured out just with the first or second page. I am also particular with form, so if it’s not a one-act play it’s out.

Here’s my final ranked shortlist:

1. Violet by Zuj

2. Cosmic Lapses by Martian Hunter

3. ‘Where Is It Again?’ by Bad Robot

4. ‘Because I was Gay’ by Siegfried Ulysses

5. Maria Clara of 20^th Century by Bittersweet and Strange

6. The Decision by MondE

7. Sitting with Eloisa by Vanrout

First Prize should go to ‘Violet’ because just as it is cool to watch because of its theatrics, it is also well-grounded on Philippine realities. It also builds its thesis with convincing characters, smart dialogues and a plot with a parting shot. However, we ask, do we really have to use the male archetype in forwarding feminist ideals? Here, the powerful Don (ala-Godfather), revered and feared by many turns out to be a woman named Angel who wants to start a new world order, a feminist one, that is. Again we ask, will it not simply reverse the polarity?

Second Prize should go to ‘Cosmic Lapses.’ I read this as an existentialist play with an interesting thesis with regard the absurdity of this world—that everyman is really for himself. Here, a mentally ill protagonist is met with detachment and apathy by his female psychiatrist and her secretary/intern. This way, he gets more chances at psychological normalcy from his imaginary friend. My only argument with this play is that it is hard-up on Philippine realities and could very well be set somewhere in the US. Even the imaginary friend looks like an American.

Third Prize should go to ‘Where is It Again?’ because just like ‘Cosmic Lapses’ I read it as an existentialist play, a story within a story delving on the absurdity of life. Here, the protagonist has a peculiar need to always carry something in her left arm. She looks for a book where a story that she will need for an upcoming class is printed, but simply cannot find it. One of her friends tells her of the story’s plot—an absurd tale of mishaps, only to find out later that she has the book safe in her left arm the whole time. This play could get a bit talky and dragging so it needs to be trimmed down a bit.

Fourth Prize should go to ‘Because I Was Gay’ because it’s an unusual love story albeit with the ‘highschool reunion genre’ as backdrop and saccharine ending. And although ‘Maria Clara of 20^th Century’ ranks fifth, I don’t recommend it for a prize because it’s quite sophomoric and tends to be predictable.

Since the 1950’s, the Transition Literary Contest has been part of FEU’s literary tradition. It’s a hell of a big deal for FEU writers to win a Transition prize and get printed in the Transition journal with the late Jess Q. Cruz‘ pointillist cover design. With the Transition and the FEU Press, we can expect more great writers coming from this university.