Filipino Flash Fiction

I remember a girl's stress-management/back-to-nature weekend with Kris and Mitz from my english block in uni.

Aside from eating healthily, breathing in countryside air, and taking long long showers, and a lot of girl talk--we actually had some time to read/write.

Kris was settling in with a book by Jostein Gaarder, which was something she hadn't had time to do in between medical residency. And our IT/Chemistry whiz Mitz, settled in with some back-to-basics reading, and even threw in a book for me. On the other hand, I took some time to figure out what would make prose poetry, prose.

The result of my kulit project to figure out that puzzle is forthcoming in the Milflores Anthology or short, short fiction or "flash fiction" in English (note: go check out the book to find out!). There is also a flash fic in Filipino language as a complimentary collection. At 750 words, realized being impressionistic in prose is tough compared to poetry, considering that I used to be a lecturer of LIT 13, Fiction, and am supposed to have a rather fair idea what makes a story, a good one!

The cover looks really interesting. Got a good look at it via email so far. And with the hectic workload here, it's a simple pleasure to get email with news on a brand spanking new anthology!

And having encouraged my students from LIT classes with some short short fiction work by A.S. Byatt, etc. realized that it's great to grapple with the form and see how Philippine realities can be represented in such few words other than poetry. Since I was awarded my first writing fellowship to a national workshop as a university freshman, I realized I had been very focused on poetry. Other than essays, I hadn't attempted to write prose - fiction seriously--other than during my own LIT 13 class.

My wonderful friend from UP and Iyas Writing Workshop, co-fellow and perpetual roommate, Anna, is there as well as co-fellows from IYAS.

Will post when it's out--I'll still be in Thailand when it gets published in the Philippines, but I'm already excited!!! You guys will need to let me in on how it is when it comes out!

Tripping at the Bacolod IYAS Workshop

The past week in Bacolod was a blast--especially with oysters, beer, lit-talk about writing in dialect among fellows and panelists at the IYAS workshop.

Among the works in English, Filipino, Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a served up during the workshop was the heady combination of food, nature-tripping, visits to haunted homes from the turn of the century and of course, the steady stream of libation---coffee, milo, beer, atbp!

The fellows roster below in alphabetical order:

Bryan Argos (Poetry in Hiligaynon)
Lawrence Bernabe (Poetry in Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a)
Nina Calleja (Poetry in Filipino)
Catherine Candano (Poetry in English)
Douglas Candano (Fiction in English)
Igor Dela Pena (Poetry in English)
Nino Manaog (Poetry in English)
Marcel Milliam (Poetry in Hiligaynon)
Bernadette Neri (Fiction in Filipino)
Nikka Osorio (Poetry in Filipino)
Ned Parfan (Poetry in English)
Joshua So (Fiction in English)
Christian Tabalzon (Fiction in Filipino)
Ana Maria Villanueva (Fiction in English)

For the fellows, remember these lines:

"My kinaray-a is not a pig."

"If I were Anna Karenina and I met this character, instead of killing myself, I would push him off the train platform myself!"

"Of course, from the pen name, I think we already know who Gyudon Devourer is."

Bacolod Bound--IYAS Natl Writers' Workshop

Ana kulit-meister is the reason why I actually got off my butt and sent in an application for a Fellowship in English Poetry at the IYAS National Writers Workshop. One of the few opportunities for a free writing vacation/inuman/bonding over everything written down in our country.

Ana and I met in 2005 at as roomies and co-fellows at the UP Writers Workshop. And once again, because of her constant encouragment/nagging, I'm packing my bags to go to Bacolod for the DLSU IYAS Workshop. Once again her fiction and my poetry are going to get the microscopic treatment of some really cool writers. More re-birthing pains than anything.

Funny thing is, Douglas, my brother also got it. We got the calls that we got into the workshop the same day. Since the application process requires us to submit un-marked works with a pseudonym, the organizers and judges only really found out who we were after they matched the pseudonym on the submissions to the sealed enveloped with our contact details inside.

So yes, there's me, Anna and my brother, for a week with writers in Bacolod:)

Thanks Anna, for bugging me with love:) Even if Sir Cirilo Bautista won't be there this year:( WAHH...

Weekend Book Hunt--She Scores!

Being a Sunday after a lot of dizzying changes--drastic ones that I've been unable to wrap both head and arms around--it wasn't far from my thoughts to spend the weekend to decompress with a lot of old hats like the Rolling Stones, the Doors, the Cream and other rockers of by-gone eras for company.

To compliment the time travel, been meaning to get my hands on and finally get started on my Maxine Hong-Kingston book, "Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book," a 1960's take on trippy San Fransisco based Chinese-American who's own life bears ties with the Monkey King of Chinese ancient Buddhist fables in "Journey to the West."

Prixie's influence at the English Department, and her extended loan of Hong-Kingston's "Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts," a collection of short talk-stories (whose return I had continuously deferred having read and re-read the darned book) are to blame.

Her writing was a sympathetic and unapologetic take on the ABC (American Born Chinese) life.

Even before multi-cultural literature became hot stuff, she was already one of the few women writers who took a stab at the largely syncretic and very confusing life of nth-generation Chinese youth on paper. Charlson and Danton had been right to recommend it in early 2005--but I had no idea how right they were then.

A visit to a second-hand bookstore after a heart-to-heart father-daughter dinner revealed gems hiding among the troves written by fiercely honest female writers.

"Wilderness Tips: Stories" by Margaret Atwood and "Raisin in the Sun" a play by Lorraine Hansberry were both steals at under a hundred pesos, peaking through the tons of pulp-fiction paperbacks, gorgeous dream-like eureka moments enough to make a book-lover giddy.

Anita Brookner, Dumaguete Natl Writers' Workshop

It's cough and colds time once again at the office--and I didn't stand a chance.

Everyone's sniffling and snarling at each other with the office bug in the air. Last Friday, I couldn't take the aching feeling in my bones.

This weekend, I took advantage of bed-rest and curled up with Anita Brookner's novel "A Closed Eye" for a little 'me' time. It struck me that "A Closed Eye" and Brookner's other works all have the same melancholy that Jean Rhys has in "Tigers are Better-Looking." Both the collection of short stories and novels were about silent, strung-out, kept women and their unnamed despair.

It reminded me of Ana's comment about my latest Travel Series poems--that there is a certain melancholia to them. I told her way back in Baguio it wasn't intentional. I just liked the way it sounded--sweet and at the same time, sad. As if the coupling was a necessary one. Happy memories always with the heart pangs.

Then a couple of weeks ago Marc and I had a telephone chat that left me realizing when exactly in my life should I start bringing up my writing "A" game. Meaning--in between the projects at work, family, friends, I've let the writing slide.

Marc mentioned someone at work who dreamt of going to Dumaguete workshop. I shared that Doug was just there last year--for 3 weeks of fun, frolic, and of course, the fellowship with fellows and other famous literary faces. When he asked me why I hadn't tried out--I gave my standard spiels which I had used since university--summer classes, my every year internships/work during summer months, no vacation leaves at my work today for the 3 week respite...it was a staple. The other workshops on the other hand took at most 2 weeks out of your life. But 3?

Ana and I in a separate phone conversation planned a reunion post-UP Workshop--what if we both tried out for Iligan (at MSU), DLSU IYAS (Bacolod), and of course the Dumaguete workshops? She even emailed me the links in practically 5 minutes. This planning was more, her going, "Cathy--you better do this." And me going, "um, okidoki?"

So, here I am--vascillating again--between my excuses of no leaves at work, to just "eh, wala akong bagong tula." As a reminder, I'm cross-posting the announcement for the workshop deadline below. And of course, as an invitation to other writers---calling Marc..to try out!

***

National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo has announced a March31 deadline for applications for fellowships to the 46th NationalWriters Workshop to be held in Dumaguete City from May 7 to 25.

Panelists this year are Gemino Abad, Alfred Yuson, Susan Lara, AnthonyTan, DM Reyes, Marjorie Evasco, and others. They will compose therevolving panel of writers together with National Artist forLiterature Edith Lopez Tiempo, and resident panelists César RuìzAquino, Bobby Flores Villasis, and Ernesto Superal Yee. Fifteen (15) fellowships are open for young writers all over thecountry. The first screening panel, composed of the workshop's residentwriters, selects the writing fellows for the summer based on themanuscripts submitted by the applicants.

These selected manuscriptsare forwarded to the Director of the Workshop, who does the finalscreening and formally approves the final lineup of writing fellows. The writing fellowship covers lodging for the full 22 days of theduration of the entire workshop, a modest stipend, one-way farereimbursement, and workshop manuscripts and reading materials.

The applicant must submit original manuscripts consisting of at leastthree to five short (3-5) stories, or three to five (3-5)essays/creative non-fiction, or two (2) one-act plays, or seven to ten(7-10) poems. Stories, poems, plays, and essays in English arepreferred. Only unpublished manuscripts are accepted. Works which havepreviously won in literary contests will not be accepted.

Other requirements include an application letter addressed to WorkshopDirector Dr. Edith Tiempo; a diskette or CD containing the varioussubmitted literary works encoded in Microsoft Word; a recommendationletter from a renowned writer or literature teacher; two 2x2 pictures;and a brief biodata or résumé. These must be sent before the 31 March 2007 deadline to Dr. EdithLopez Tiempo, National Writers Workshop Director, c/o CollegeAssurance Plan, 2nd Floor, CAP Building, Rizal Boulevard, 6200Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines. Accepted fellows are usually notified by postal mail, or email, or byphone call, although the announcement is usually published by majorPhilippine dailies. Interested parties may also apply for sit-in or auditing privileges.

The National Writers Workshop was established by Edith and EdilbertoTiempo in 1962, making it the longest-running creative writingworkshop in Asia. The 2007 edition is sponsored by the NationalCommission for Culture and the Arts, Silliman University, and CollegeAssurance Plan, in coordination with the Creative Writing FoundationInc. and the Dumaguete Literary Arts Service Group, Inc. Donors to thefellowship program include Senators Edgardo J. Angara and Mar Roxas aswell as former NCCA Chairman Jaime Laya and Ms. Erlinda Panlilio.

Excesses of beauty

There are a few poems I have nearly memorized.

Nearly, being the operative word, forgetful lover of words that I am.

These are the few which continue to mean different things for different moments in my life and continue to speak to me.

When I cannot sleep, a particular poem by a one of my favorite Filipino poets comes to mind--Eric Gamalinda

He teaches at the Asian Studies Program at New York University. He is also the million peso award-winner of the Centennial Literary Competition that the NCCA held to celebrate the centenary of Philippine Independence with a novel, "My Sad Republic." Which also happened to be the novel a requirement for my lit classes.

This one, entitled Subterranean from his collection Zero Gravity, quells the heavy, heady dose of restlessness a lot of us quarter-life-kids may have been having these past days into the new year. You can listen to Gamalinda read Subterranean by clicking on the link.

A kind of unsettling feeling that comes with the uncertainty of what lies ahead in the immediate future, knowing the longer-term has been set in stone. Friends and family who we have lost also remain and linger in memory early on in the year.

The only difference lies in those who respond to being able to live artfully!

Reel Lives - Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo

In the world of books, metafiction, a technique which recreate worlds conscious of themselves, any one will tell you, is not an easy topic to talk about to the average college freshman.

In this case, I felt it best to let Woody Allen do the talking.

Yup--I mean who doesn't love Woody Allen right? Funny, neurotic and painfully stuck in a time of old world charm. So essentially I was forcing kids as old as my little sisters to watch a movie they parents watched, before they were even born!

There were difficulties at sourcing old Woody Allen movies--um..it wasn't in ACA video or even at the college library which was supposed to house ALL the great learning audio-visual materials in the WORLD (including classic Sociology staples like 70's social realist Pinoy flicks like 'Macho Dancer'! Even the English Department professors who I'm sure had their own personal stash of obscure art house flicks, asked me to share a downloaded copy if I got my hands on some.

Friend Kokoy, who was a fellow at the local workshop when I was Workshop Mommy, came through! And on his gig USB flashdrive, was a classic!

Woody Allen usually uses the technique of metafiction in bits and pieces in his movies, aside from the typical font of his end-credits. One example of this self-consciousness is when suddenly the character starts talking directly to the audience--breaking the bubble of the reel.

But since I really needed a more obvious use of the technique--settling then on "The Purple Rose of Cairo."

The 1985 movie (definitely BEFORE these kids were conceived!) has the priviledge of being one of the top 100 movies of all time in TIME magazine's list.

To name a list of cool things in this movie that show off the movie as an "art object" as a creation of a cast of thousands (stage hands, actors, director, camera crew, set designers, scriptwriters, etc.) to create a "reel reality":

1) Incidentally there are 2 movies entitled "The Purple Rose of Cairo," which audiences watch--a movie within a movie!

The first is a movie called "The Purple Rose of Cairo." Created by Woody Allen shot in 1985, that you pop into the DVD player in 2007.

The second is the movie within Allen's movie, also called "The Purple Rose of Cairo." Shot in black and white and set in the opulent 1920's Jazz Age, is the movie the characters are watching to escape the hardships of 1930's Depression America.

2) One person plays 2 different lead characters in this film. No twin roles here.

Jeff Daniels plays 2 characters--the actor playing a "Tom" in the Jazz Age movie and "Tom" itself. They actually interact and fight for the same woman...(What a love triangle, eh?)

3) Imagine if a character in the movie was watching someone in the audience (who is actually watching the movie) and suddenly came down from the screen!?

In Allen's movie, that happens!

"Tom" who plays an explorer in the Jazz Age movie actually steps down from the screen and into the movie theatre! He notices Cecille, a woman in a loveless marriage, as she regularly escapes her hard life by going to the movies. He falls in love and decides to leave his fellow castmates on the screen unable to finish the film!

As the two embarked on a forbidden romance, the "reel world" and the "real world" collides. To the point that the actor playing the character of "Tom" has to fly to New Jersey and persuade the character to get back into the film so that it can finish!

A title song that plays throughout the film is "Cheek to Cheek" by Irving Berlin, the famous big-budget Broadway musical. Sung by legendary tapdancing star Fred Astaire, the love song definitely paints a paradox of physical intimacy. I mean, what happens when "we dance cheek-to-cheek with a dream"?

So what's the take-away from this film (aside from the illustration of metafiction of course--can't help the giddy teacher in me)?

Without giving away the ending, the characters are painfully aware of whether they are on the "real" or the "reel" side of the fence.

The choice Cecille makes--between "Tom the perfect character, written that way" and the "Actor playing Tom"--shows us sometimes what gets us through life is knowing uncertainty was the most real thing there was we bravely faced and lived through.

And at the same time, this randomness makes us make things the way we wish they could be, in an attempt to hold on to something more.

And what is the difference between the things we make-up and make and the stuff in the world we have no control over, plan and shape as we wish (love, luck, the weather:)?

An unnamed character watching the movie gets upset when Tom gets down from the screen and the other characters can't play their scenes till the end of the film. She NEEDS for the film to NOT let her down.

Saying, "I want what happened in the movie last week to happen this week. Otherwise, what's life all about anyway?"