my friend Bebang Siy has experienced first hand the kind of oppressive treatment of writers over at Psicom Publishing. now it’s rare that writers speak the truth about publishing houses and contests, even as this might save other (younger naive) writers from being treated badly, too. so here, the first of the many issues i know writers have against Psicom. (more…)
it seems that we are in a bind, and are in over our heads, about this whole discourse on racism. and yet we seem to be trivializing it really, by invoking racism when we don’t understand it, when we do not even discuss it on the level that makes it dangerous, we make it even scarier than it is. so we invoke it against Arnold Clavio’s opinions about the Azkals, we invoke it against Jimmy Sieczka who did the 20 reasons i hate the philippines video. both will be discussed at length soon. but this must be said about the former: oh honey, we just missed out on the humor that was in that one. (more…)
which is not to say i don’t enjoy it, these small exhibits that are premised on the creative process of artists, where their artmaking is what’s pushed to the fore, and used as / become the objects of art. in Felix Bacolor’s Leavings one of the smaller West Gallery spaces is turned into an art studio of sorts, with no dirt on the floor or walls, no semblance of work being done, other than well, in the work that’s installed: on the walls, on the floor, against the post in the middle of the room. (more…)
March is International Women’s Month and March 8 is Women’s Day.
It’s the perfect time to kick-off The Be Cause. This is a tiny project that I’ve been wanting to launch as a way of dealing with contemporary women’s issues, central to which can only be the images of womanhood that we’re bombarded with everyday. It isn’t just that these images are false – if not impossible – for a majority of us; it’s also that this has normalized superficiality in discussions about being Pinay in this day and age. (more…)
