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June 23 , 2011 1:00 P.M
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Title: Vigan and Other Stories
Author: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
Publisher: Anvil (Philippines)
Short story anthology
In “Vigan and Other Stories”, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard sets in motion a sundry compendium of cultural and historical narratives that are vibrant, dynamic, fanciful, nostalgic, and melancholic. Such narratives have become a staple of Brainard’s works. Leaping decades and continents, the narratives in what is her third collection of short stories are noted for their compelling characters and choice themes. Having mentioned just a few of the impressive virtues of “Vigan”, the one that stands out the most is how the work brings home for Filipinos a past and present idea of their collective self-identity.
Arguably a Filipina version of Virginia Woolf or, perhaps just as accurately, Isabelle Allende, Brainard’s fictional publications are marked by a balance between the public and the private, the individual and the collective, and the local and the universal. Set around the intermingling and intertwining of all these designations, “Vigan”, like her other works, was conceived by the author above all as, according to Oscar Campomanes, “an investment in the cultural development of the ancestral homeland.”
Cobbling together an enthralling ensemble of characters, Brainard sews together a heartfelt and intimate tapestry of an anthology that comes upon the reader with an exceptional perception of the human condition, especially as it pertains to women and to Filipinos. Combined with Brainard’s supple and introspective prose, “Vigan” merits comparison with other wonderful and engaging Asian American short story anthologies.
In her collection, Brainard dreams up situations, ideas, and characters that are framed by her own personal life as well as by her creative initiative. Perfectly balancing her personal reminiscences and her poetic license, Brainard’s stories become a matter of the heart, the human emotions, and of the challenges that fate has in store for people.
“Vigan” is also a historiographic piece, meaning to say that the anthology is very much a product of the author’s historical consciousness and treatment of the history that she has embedded her book in. In her story “The Artist”, Brainard, with her distinctively pensive literary voice, takes us back to the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule. Historical names and terms from this period like the Galleon Trade, Legazpi, Magellan, the Parian—or Chinese neighborhood of Manila—make cameo appearances in the story. But however brief these appearances are, they still give the plot of “The Artist” historical weight.
The very title of her book and its namesake story reaffirms Brainard’s undying fidelity to Philippine history and expansive respect for the past. “Vigan” the story is a sort of reconstruction of the author’s previous stays in the city which is located in the northern province of Ilocos Sur. Situated on South China Sea, Vigan maintains a prominent history as a major colonial-era trading post. For the purposes of Brainard’s story, the city serves as the backdrop for her story about a young girl dealing with the death of her father and with the tragic experiences of her “bad luck” mother.
With “Vigan” as an anthology, the reader comes into possession of psychologically-impacting stories that are greatly influenced by conflicted yet benevolent personalities and perspectives. Included in Brainard’s literary equation for her characters are the positives of love and renewal, the subtle reverberations of a sublime soul-searching, and a reserved spirituality that is concealed below the surface but which can nevertheless emerge just enough for the reader to draw the conclusion that some divine force in the book is being alluded to.
What reader would not be enriched in the heart and in the mind by a literary sensibility as reflective and exquisite as Brainard’s is in “Vigan”? People will certainly appreciate a good read when they see it, and the upshot of this review is that “Vigan” is exactly that: a good read. Not only that, it is a read that presents an opportunity for taking a contemplative sojourn into the Filipino historical, cultural, and social landscape on which Cecilia Manguerra Brainard’s stories rest.
ALLEN GABORRO
2011 |
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Twin treats: Pacquiao in the raw, Circus at its best
Recah Trinidad
Bare Eye
First Posted 01:35:26 30/12/2010
Filed Under: Boxing, Manny Pacquiao, Freddie Roach, Julio Cesar Chavez
Are you really sure you know Manny Pacquiao inside and out, up and down, left and right?
In a country that worships and swears by Pacquiao 365 days a year, it goes without saying that thankful citizens have lapped up all available details on their hero, from his hungry boyhood to his incredible ascent as undisputed pound-for-pound king, winner of world boxing titles in eight separate divisions.
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So, as a Pacquiao devotee, you’re sure you know enough?
So to whom does the Pacman owe his colorful and exciting style?
Freddie Roach? Buboy Fernandez? Erik Morales? Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao?
* * *
You’re not even close.
“Julio Cesar Chavez,” answers Pacquiao. “He was exciting. He was a sport unto himself. I studied him, just as I did with other fighters. But with Cesar Chavez, I studied more than his techniques. I studied the level of excitement that he generated.”
This long-hidden info bursts into the open in the book Pacman-My Story of Hope, Resilience, and Never-Say-Die Determination, now available in all National Bookstore outlets.
Of course, it’s not a mere autobiography; all for the happy, honest fact that Pacquiao again dishes out his best, pours out everything in giving his life and deeds for his country.
* * *
Notes the sales blurb: “Although written in English (with Timothy James), the narrative manages to capture the innermost thoughts and recollections of Pacquiao, from his childhood to his recent life as a champion. The book contains new anecdotes and shows Pacquiao’s deep sense of family and loyalty to friends.”
The book also portrays heartwarming humility as he recounts “mistakes” of the past, lessons he learned from them.
No wonder, the Pacquiao autobiography, released in the Philippines by Dunham Books USA and Anvil Publishing Inc., also harmonizes into a classic confession.
Now is the time for all self-proclaimed Pacquiao fanatics to give themselves a gift of this one-of-its-kind literary achievement.
* * *
You think you’ve given the kids enough goodies and happiness to last them through the holidays?
Look around, please.
What about the Carnival?
To those unaware of its ancestral impact on Filipino life, the carnival was synonymous to all things exciting, wonderful, beautiful and truly unforgettable.
There is, in fact, a carnival in town.
Fifty-two members of the world-famous Grand China National Acrobatic Troupe are in the country for a series of performances billed as Splendide: The Grand China National Acrobatics Circus.
The show is ongoing and will last until Jan. 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.
* * *
Indeed, it’s not just another circus, not just another holiday entertainment.
The visiting acrobats are the gifted ones who never fail to dazzle with their liquid grace, precision and superhuman litheness.
They are the same acrobats who, after seven years of preparation and planning, thrilled the whole world at the Bird’s Nest during the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Big Dome again turns into a world stage with these world wonders from the Chinese Mainland.
In fact, Carling Castañeda, a well-loved community leader from the Lambingan Bridge area in Sta. Ana, Manila, plans to haul kids from his neighborhood to the Big Dome.
His way of saying thank you for being elected director in the Liga ng mga Barangay in Manila.
“It’s nice to be loved by poor people,” said the gentle, generous gentleman.
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Facing down the beast of depression
By Yahoo! Southeast Asia Editors – November 17th, 2010
By Elizabeth Lolarga, VERA Files
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia
With upbeat tunes like “Feels So Good” and “What a Wonderful World” played at the launch of Margarita Go-Singco Holmes’ Down to 1: Depression Stories, a guest wondered aloud if the condition discussed in the book is being trivialized.
Perhaps, that is the program’s point: the beast called depression can be understood and licked. What comes after is a realization that life can be given another chance.
Dr. Holmes, a clinical psychologist who has been identified with bestsellers on Filipino sexuality, summed up the condition, with help from her colleagues at the University of the Philippines psychology department, in this spoofy song to the tune of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicion”:
“Every time I wake up, I wonder what my life is good for / Every time I wake up, I wonder why there isn’t more / Why should this be so painful to me, the ex life of the party / Starting to think ‘Oh, what’s the use?’ Am I really hopeless and what’s more, just crazy / Depression torments my heart / Depression tears me apart / Depression, what can I do?”
Karina Bolasco of Anvil Publishing, the book’s publisher, said it took them 10 years to put together Down to 1 as they wanted to show that far from being “a happy smiling, singing people,” many Filipinos suffer from clinical depression. But, she added, these Filipinos are “conveniently dismissed as genetically crazy. Have you ever noticed how parents always try to trace the family origins of anybody a son or daughter is likely to marry? First, the place of origin to establish regional traits, then the family of origin, to make sure walang lahing sira-ulo.”
The title refers to a depressed person’s severe feelings of aloneness, even of abandonment–that no friend, partner or any other being could possibly understand what he or she is going through. Three of the 10 story tellers in the book went onstage to describe depression as a “condition too painful to bring on the table.” It is one where one feels “faith vanishing in the desert” and “looking into the abyss and knowing you don’t want to go there.”
Called the FCD 10 (formerly or currently depressed), psychology professor Kay Añonuevo, bankers Roman Azanza and Jeremy Baer, film director Peque Gallaga, writers Alya Honasan and Babeth Lolarga, restaurateur Nina Poblador, TV director Lore Reyes, author Mike Santos and fashion designer Patis Tesoro openly and bravely reveal what it’s like to be, or to have been, depressed. Some detail their suicide attempts, their medication, what helped and what didn’t in getting them out of the condition that is beyond what Bolasco called “the blues that affect most people in the course of normal life.”
 Holmes, who acknowledges suffering from the condition periodically, guides the timorous reader looking for help through a simple test. The score can be interpreted to find out if one is within the mild or severe clinical range of depression.
In her forthright manner, she demolishes commonly held beliefs and myths about suicide. To the quasi myth that “no one but God decides when your time is up ,” she writes, “This is claptrap because many don’t believe in God, even more don’t believe in a God that insists one suffers needlessly.”
Best is her definition of depression: a thief that “takes away your joy, sense of wonder, the taste of your favorite food, even the smell of freshly washed hair…Most painfully, depressions steal you away from yourself. For many, one of the worst things they fear is whether their real selves will ever come back.”
The FCD 10′s first-person tales of surviving depression resonate long after one has put down the book. Añonuevo states with the force of truth: “While sadness is ordinary, not wanting to live isn’t!”
With admirable candor, the British Baer, Holmes’s husband, talks about the anti-depressant Prozac, how it reduced his libido (down to one from a high of making love 52 times a week) and how he and his doctor arrived at a combination of medications that is satisfactory to him.
Still on medication, Honasan musters her strength when she hears of people calling her “unstable” because she was on Prozac. She writes, “I don’t hang around them anymore. Experiences like this can teach you a lot about who you should keep in your life.”
Tesoro writes candidly about her addiction to Valium to control her rages and how she overcame it. “I got worse and worse, but when I wanted to throw that pair of scissors, not just to vent but hoping it might hit its mark, I stopped all my medication cold turkey.” Today, if she takes medication, she only has half a pill and has calmed herself through gardening and walking the land.
If anything, Down to 1 assures the suffering that they are not alone.
Photos by Anna Leah Sarabia
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VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”
Link: http://ph.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/17/facing-down-the-beast-of-depression/
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“Queena’s quest for hands-on parenting”
Sun.Star Davao, Nov. 13, 2010
Before my eldest daughter entered grade school, I was faced with the dilemma of whether to personally tutor her or not.
“Could I handle the stress?” “Do I have enough patience and time to help my child with her school work?” These were just among the many questions that raced in my head.
What made me finally decide to take the plunge was when I read one of the most important books I’ve encountered about hands-on parenting, “Helping Our Children Do Well in School”, written by Dr. Queena Lee-Chua and Ms. Maribel Dionisio, M.A. The bestselling book received the National Book Award for Education in 2004.
In the book’s preface, Dr. Queena writes, “As a psychologist-educator, I am often faced with the problem of student mediocrity and underachievement. I try my best to motivate them by using creative and innovative teaching styles, but learning is not the sole responsibility of the teacher. The family environment is even more crucial, especially in forming good habits early on”.
Success at school begins at home
Because Dr. Queena and Ms. Maribel wanted to highlight that home and family are major factors in student learning and achievement, they did an extensive study of the parents' best practices at the Ateneo de Manila High School.
“Helping Our Children Do Well in School” contains the results of the comprehensive study with 533 respondents detailing their families' actual practices and beliefs. These are parents of Ateneo honor students, athletes, student leaders and students excelling in extracurricular activities.
I will be endlessly grateful to Dr. Queena and Ms. Maribel for coming up with the book. It has been years now since I began tutoring my kids. The task is challenging yet fulfilling. It requires time management on my part as I juggle my work in the family business with writing for this paper and my active involvement in the Parents-Teachers Fellowship in school, among others.
More than the very good results in their academics, tutoring my children allows me to bond with them while teaching life skills and reinforcing values like doing their best, love for learning, discipline, patience and diligence. I intend to tutor each of my children until they are ten years old. Hopefully, by Grades 5 or 6, they will be self-reliant and more than prepared to independently study on their own. I learned this from Dr. Queena and Ms. Maribel’s book.
Even if he is busy with his law practice and business, I thank my husband Gary for sharing tutoring duties in subjects like Chinese of which I have no strong background. Although Gary himself studied in a non-Chinese institution during high school, he has willingly accepted the role of tutoring our eldest child in Mandarin, with guidance from my father-in-law.
At times when my grade school child’s load is too heavy for me, Gary helps me in tutoring our pre-school child too. I hope more fathers will also do the same and actually take the front seat with their wives on their children’s early academic development.
Multi-awarded educator
Recently, my co-Davao Christian High School Parents-Teachers Fellowship (PTF) officers and I had the privilege of organizing the “Helping Our Children Do Well in School” free parenting seminar at the DCHS Auditorium with Dr. Queena Lee-Chua as guest speaker.
It was quite an honor to meet Dr. Queena in person---warm, down-to-earth and an articulate woman with so much substance and heart. She is someone I hold in high esteem.
Dr. Queena graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 1987, with a degree in BS Mathematics, summa cum laude. In addition, she has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the same university, where she is a professor.
A science and health columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and in-demand consultant to schools, governments and businesses, her forte includes mathematics, education and learning psychology, as well as child cognitive and behavioral development.
The brilliant academician has garnered numerous prestigious awards such as the Ten Outstanding Young Filipinos, The Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service, the Metrobank Outstanding Teacher Award, and the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.
Dr. Queena is happily married to Smith, a banker, and they have an adorable and equally gifted son, Scott.
Special people
Anvil Publishing represented by Ms. Gwenn Galvez and Ms. Juliet Braceros supported the seminar by offering Dr. Queena’s well-loved books such as “Helping Our Children Do Well in School”, “Eureka: Thoughts on Math”, “Straight Talk” and “Ten Outstanding Filipino Scientists” at 20% discount during the event.
Before the main talk, 12-year old Scott promoted his “Top Ten Travels” book featuring Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and New Zealand. Scott has been traveling since he was six years old. His parents have greatly influenced him for his love to visit spots and learn about other cultures by not traveling the way other people do. Instead of joining package tours, Scott and his parents set their own pace and linger in places doing their favorite activities.
Next year, Scott will be coming out with another batch of “Top Ten Travels” books highlighting local destinations, Davao, Cebu and Manila.
It was through my fellow PTF officer Julie Tiu, Dr. Queena’s best friend since grade school, that we were able to invite our guest speaker. So, it was only fitting that during the talk, it was Julie who did the introduction of the speaker. For this, the PTF officers profusely express their collective appreciation to Julie’s efforts in directly corresponding with Dr. Queena to make the event possible.
That evening, Dr. Queena’s special guest was Fr. Dan McNamara, S.J. to whom she lovingly presented her latest book, “"Learning: What Parents, Students, and Teachers Should Know".
Fr. McNamara was the former Physics department chairman of the Ateneo de Manila for over 20 years. He has recently been transferred to the Ateneo de Davao University as rector. He is Dr. Queena’s longtime mentor since her college days and one of her closest friends.
The “Helping Our Children Do Well in School” parenting seminar and open forum lasted for more than two hours but because of the lively, passionate and heartwarming way Dr. Queena presented her studies and real-life stories, the parents and teachers who attended the event were glued to their seats until the last question was answered.
Dr. Queena’s quest for hands-on parenting is indeed admirable and contagious!
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As the project chairperson, I am extremely thankful for the success of the "Helping Our Children Do Well in School" PTF parenting seminar.
My sincerest gratitude to Sir Arthur Yap, Ma'am Franelli Pableo, Julie Tiu, Sir Jimjim Carreon, Ma'am Jazzie De Guzman, Shem Labor, Ma'am Jigs, Ma'am Jocy, Teacher Jay, Teacher Mildred, Teacher Loida, Teacher Ging, Edgar and his dynamic team, my fellow PTF officers led by Pres. Stanley Tan, our sponsors, and of course, the DCHS teachers, parents and non-DCHS parents who attended the seminar!
To God be the glory!
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Happy 4th year anniversary to Mom-About-Town!
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PARENTS’ FEEDBACK REGARDING THE SEMINAR:
“It was one of the best 2hrs ++ spent on a very important and dear subject (our children). Kudos to you and all the organizers, of course to one of the best speakers (and authority) on the subject, Dr. Queena Lee-Chua. Best regards to the family. God bless and more power!” --TEEM SABLADA
“A wonderful, wonderful experience :-)” --DEBBIE OCCENA SABLADA
“Learned a lot :-)” -----GWENN BOSQUIT
“The parents I invited had a nice time. Keep up the good work. Nobody could've done the job better! :-)” ---LYNN PAMELA COYUKIAT GO
“The parents I invited were so blessed and indeed learned a lot in such a short time. Efforts paid off by the good attendance of those who came... Was even trying to re-echo her message in our upcoming PT conference...God bless you always”.--ANN MITCH SAMONTE ZANORIA
“Nice work, Wow! At first it was kind of boring coz it was more of theories, and I was worried my husband will tell me he's bored. Good thing he decided to be patient and in the end he even asked me to buy two books of Dr. Queena. We even stayed until the last question was answered. It was quite a revelation not just to me but also for my husband. Muah! God bless! See you in school!” –LORETTA DY GO
“So inspired by Dr. Queena and the book "Helping Our Children Do Well in School". It was a great read, every mom/dad should have”.—TOTI LUY
“Just want to thank you for accommodating us at Dra. Chua's speaking engagement. Jong and I had fun and we learned a lot.” –ATTY. MARIA CHRISTINA SAGMIT
“At first, being a grandma, I thought I need not attend this seminar. But, after hearing Dr. Queena, it was indeed inspiring for me to extend what I have learned to my daughter Tessa in rearing her 2 kids. Thank you so much, Ms.Wowie, for encouraging me to attend such an important event. It gave us wisdom on parenting. Congratulations! Job well done! Keep it up!”--MA. FE JAVIER
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