A Mother/Daughter Journey: Connecting Girls at a Time of Risk

Nonfiction by | March 11, 2012

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Month in UP Mindanao is “Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures.” It is quite an honor for me to have been given this opportunity to deliver the keynote address. Yet, like Adrienne Rich, “I did not choose this subject; it had long ago chosen me” (15). This task has brought me face to face with my own disconnected, alienated girlhood, and forced me to think about how I shaped my futuredespite the betrayal of my mother.

Even though I lived with my mother in our ancestral house in Pasay City until I was 27, I have no fond memories of her. There were no bedtime stories, no lullabies. She was not a source of nurturing or comfort or validation, the way we are socialized to believe mothers should be. She had always been a career woman because my father had left her even before I was born. I always believed that she was simply too busy trying to be a father that she forgot the whole “motherhood” thing. And yet I know now that it was more than that. For how can motherhood be reduced to an algebraic equation? Rich notes that “motherhood is earned, first through an intense physical and psychic rite of passage—pregnancy and childbirth—then through learning to nurture, which does not come by instinct” (12). I remember feeling sorry for myself every time my grandfather told me the story of the first time I ran away from home.

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Afya

Play by , , | March 4, 2012

Editor’s Note: In celebration of International Women’s Month, Dagmay is featuring a series of monologues about the status of women in Davao. These are creative works based on interviews with real women.

Character:

Afya: 18 year-old attractive woman. Wears hijab and loose clothes.

Setting: Inside a bedroom with an electric fan.

(A male voice is overheard) “Afya ha, dito ka lang talaga yan sa bahay. Hindi na maglabas muna. Basta, bantay ka lang talaga kapag makita na naman kita yan sa labas kasama yun si Tarhatta! Afya ha?”

(No one answers. Then Afya enters and slams the door.)

(male voiceover): “Afya?! Afya! Tai babuy Ini! Afya!”

AFYA: (shouting) Owai ba Ama! Hindi lagi ako mag labas-labas uy!

(muttering to self) Sige na lang balik-balik uy. Hindi lagi ako maglabas ba. Hindi lagi uy. Kahit gud gusto ko gud magpunta doon sa kaibigan ko kay manood kami nitong No Other Woman ba. Kinuha ko pa naman ito sa pwesto ni Ina kahapon sa palengke. Buti na lang kay nag- alis si Ina kay mag sambahayang siya nung tanghali na yun. Ako na lang muna gipabantay niya kaya yun, nakuha ko tong DVD. Gidugo man gud ako nun ba. Hindi pa talaga sana yun siya maniwala. Saka na siya naniwala nung nakita niya na nalapsan ako. Pero pag wala ako giregla nun, ngek! Pilitin ako mag sambahayang ba!

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Call for applications to the Ateneo National Writers Workshop 2012

Editor's Note | March 2, 2012

The Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP), with the support from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and in cooperation with Humanities Division of Ateneo de Davao University and Heights: The Official Literary and Artistic Publication and Organization of the Ateneo de Manila University, is now accepting applicants for the 11th Ateneo National Writers Workshop (ANWW) to be held from May 21 to 25, 2012 in Davao City.

Each applicant must submit a portfolio in triplicate (3 copies) of any of the following: a suite of five (5) poems OR a collection of three (3) short stories written in Filipino or English with a title page bearing the author’s pseudonym and a table of contents. Entries must be addressed and submitted to the Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP) c/o Department of Filipino, School of Humanities, 3rd Flr. Dela Costa Bldg., Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108.

The portfolio must be in Garamond, font size 12, with one (1″) inch margins on all sides. The portfolio must also be accompanied by a CD containing a file of the portfolio saved in MSWord (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text format (.rtf). All submissions must include a sealed envelope containing the author’s name, address, contact number, e-mail address and a one-page resume including a literary CV with a 1X1 ID picture. The resume must mention the applicant’s province of origin.

Twelve slots are open to beginning writers, from which a few slots will be allocated exclusively to writers from Mindanao and to Heights members. Food and accommodations will be provided for all accepted applicants. Deadline of submission will be on March 31, 2012. For more information, e-mail AILAP Director Dr. Edgar C. Samar at esamar-at-ateneo-dot-edu; or this year’s workshop director, Mr. Allan Derain, at allanderain2003-at-yahoo-dot-com.

Para Kay Ma'am

Play by | February 26, 2012

Tauhan:

Ma’am Jen – Ang guro na hinahangaan ng mga nasa Kolehiyo de San Ignacio. Di lamang maganda kundi matalino, magaling magturo, at maaruga sa mga tao.

Art – Isang 3rd year student ng Kolehiyo de San Ignacio.

Kaklase 1 – isang kaklase ni Art. Isang lalake.

Kakase 2 – isang kaklase ni Art. Isang babae.

Dr. Xion – Ang chemistry teacher ng mga 3rd year students sa Kolehiyo de San Ignacio.

Pagsasadula:

      (Closed Curtains)

Narrator: Ang pag-ibig ay walang pinipiling lugar, oras, panahon, kasarian, edad, etsetera, etsetera. Wala!

Narrator: Ehem…

Narrator: Ngunit, wala rin itong pinapaboran. At kung minsan pa’y nakikipaglaro sa tadhana ng tao.

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Departure

Poetry by | February 26, 2012

Sorrowful praying the litany
as the crating ceremony starts,
gently cleansing the cold corpse
like a rose, frail and white.

Lethargically endowing the suit
that will be the suit of death,
just veiling it on delicately
delicately as if to a fragile baby.

Retaining the features on the frame
fashioning the breathless grimace,
making the inanimate shine
like the best resemblance ever made.

Sorrowful praying the litany
as the crating ceremony ends,
gently lifting the cold corpse
as the in-coffining accomplished.

Musika I

Poetry by | February 26, 2012

Karon ania napud ko
Ilawom sa landong ni’ng dakong kahoy,
Kauban ang karaang gitara
Sa pagsakit diri ako magdanguyngoy.

Sa paggitik ko ni’ng instrumento
Hinay nga milupad ang mga tono
Puno sa kasakit padulong
Sa walay katapusang kawanangan.

Og ang gikumot kung dughan
Giabuhap sa nipis og mainitong musika
Nga miagi sa gamayng dalan sa akong dalunggan
Paingon sa paghilot sa napiang kong kasing-kasing.

Sa kada kaskas ning karaang gitara
Inubanan sa paghaplas sa kanunayng init nga sonata
Sa paglupad sa mga pino og hinayng tono niini
Hamis og humok nga mga kamot sa musika tambalan ka.

Musika II

Poetry by | February 26, 2012

Ilalom sa landong sa dakong kahoy,
kauban ang karaang gitara,
niingkod ako og niplastar
aron musika sugdan na.

hinay nga naglupad
mga lami nga tono,
nga mudakop sa mga dalunggan
sa kung kinsang makadungog.

Ako lawom nga miginhawa
ug sa pagkanta misugod,
musika og tingog ko nagsayaw
maanindot nga sonata misunod.

Nikanta ako og nikanta
musika sa ako mikatawa,
bisan ako sa tono wala na
malipayon gihapon akong nakigbayle kaniya.

—
Macky Marquez is a a third year student of University of Southeastern Philippines, taking AB Literature. He was a fellow of Davao Writers Workshop 2011.

White Roses

Fiction by | February 19, 2012

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

“It’s alright.”

Noah is busy adjusting the lens of his camera. His back is facing Karen, who has arrived fifteen minutes late. Karen is upset. It’s not usual for her to be late, especially for business appointments. And who can blame her? Her boss just asked her to drive all the way from the city to his rest house practically located in the middle of a forest.

Now, she’s standing here in her boss’ safe haven surrounded by trees approximately fifty feet tall. She watches him take pictures of leaves and flowers and insects and so much more. The trees scare her a little. But the forest is peaceful, very peaceful, and she likes it.

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