Response to Memory, History, and Forgetting: Literature as Antidote

[These are the comments I gave as reactor to the “Ang Unyon ug ang Katawhan Lecture” by Dr. Rose Arong …

Top Ten Reads of 2019

The year that was had been a hectic one, peppered by worthwhile endeavors and some useless distractions that took away …

Top Ten Reads of 2018

Last year much of my time was taken up mainly juggling (1) domestic duties, (2) masters thesis proposal writing, (3) …

Maya Daniel: poet-painter, revolutionary

This was the last Facebook update of Maya Daniel just before Aug. 14 midnight. A few minutes later, he would …

Adventures at the UPV Main Library, Miag-ao

[This essay is forthcoming in the next issue of Pagbutlak, the official student publication at UP Visayas Miag-ao.] After settling on the …

Libraries I (Diliman)

The library fee takes a significant portion of the school fees we’re paying in graduate school. This is the biggest reason …

I Dreamt about the Workshops of the Future

Originally posted on Signals:
North Korean futurist architecture, credits to Koryo Group ,We need workshops that are based on mutual interest,…

Poem: Duta’ng Ginapakig-awayan (with Filipino and English Translations)

Originally posted on mayadanielblog:
? Poem: Duta’ng Ginapakig-awayan with Filipino and English Translations ? Halad sa mga Tumanduk sa Sentral…

5 classic must-read novels about love this February

February is the month of love. Here are 5 classic must-read novels that you can read this month, whether you …

The Splendor of Portugal (and the Colonization of Angola)

António Lobo Antunes’ Splendor of Portugal is a splendid novel dealing with the ugliness of the Portuguese colonial enterprise in …

Ilustrado: A Fragmented View from the Apex of Privilege

Criticism of didacticism is common fare when talking of works of literature. Poems or novels must not express political views. …

Some Thoughts on the Death of Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I wrote this reflection for the Philippine Online Chronicles. I was reading the final pages of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Of …

Papa and Fidel: An Alternative Story of the Cuban Revolution

Papa and Fidel is about, in Karl Alexander’s own words, “what might have happened, what should have happened if Ernest …

Beyond Our Comfort Zones: On Pagbutlak, Literature and Politics

Tol, pasok ako sa UP! Pano ba yan, iwan mo na kami? Malabo, wala naman akong pang-tuition. —TV commercial The …

Miclat’s Not So Secret Revelations (Fragments from an Unfinished Critique)

Disappointing. Nothing less can describe the supposedly untold stories unveiled by Mario Miclat in Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions. Miclat’s …