Category Archive for: panitikan

radikalchick.lit

on Of Love and Other Lemons, v.1*

Making Lemonade

There is a romance that we like to imagine about writing, and especially the writing of a book. And while my rebellious self would like to tell you that this was not the case for Of Love and Other Lemons, that would be a lie. Certainly it came from a personal history of love and loss and sadness, complete with the high – if not OA – drama of buckets of tears. But the writing of this book didn’t happen while I was going through all those things.

Instead the writing happened when I was at the point of reckoning with the cards life had dealt me (naks high drama), and particularly when I was away from Manila. Distance allowed me to think of freedom, where Manila – the Philippines – felt oppressive, too small that I couldn’t even stretch. (more…)

kultura

a quickie: prostitution ain’t witty

it was literature that taught me about the objectification of women. no, it was philippine literature that taught me about the oppression of the Filipina, the kind that objectifies her, makes her into nothing but image, nothing but stereotype. half-naked if not totally so. skin and leg and boobs and butt. image not voice. body not thought.

and just in case everyone thought this witty and funny, and thought nothing of the layers of this image we’ve used to sell a a government-sponsored international literature festival.

the red light district, is about prostitution, and carries with it the contingent oppressions of woman in this country. (more…)

komentaryo

i have no specific expertise

but i thought it quite timely to re-post this piece on the Manila International Literary Festival (MILF) 2011, while the PILF (yes, they changed Manila to Philippine) 2012 is happening. because i hear they were laughing as they wondered whether i would go this year (no), or if GMA News Online would send me (yes, but i said no).

because you know this year they take from prostitution and objectification of women, to sell Philippine literature. what fun.

(more…)

kultura

this book Of Love and Other Lemons

one of the blurbs for this first book asked: what took you so long, ina?

and in truth, i’d like to think i took exactly the amount of time i needed. much of what’s in Of Love and Other Lemons is about refusing to write the way i’m expected to, or at least the way i did when i wrote mirrors. i read too much of the personal essay as it’s written and published in these shores, but also i read poetry in english by our contemporary women poets. i read works in English and Filipino. but more than the reading, i’d like to think i took my time at living: through teaching, some broken hearts, losses large and larger, a career in writing, writing, writing. (more…)

kultura

beyond that house: compass & mt.cloud

tara sa Baguio! — Compass, a community-supported program for the promotion and appreciation of poetry, partners with Mt Cloud, an independent bookstore in Baguio, on May 19 and 20 2012. A poetry reading with Baguio-based poets will be held at Mt Cloud Bookshop on the evening of May 19, Saturday, followed by a free poetry and publication workshop on Sunday, May 20.

(more…)