EGOTRIKK

HANG-AW 2

2011-11-14T17:22:00.001-08:00

Group Show of the Kasikasi Art Association of Tacloban

November 9 – December 10, 2011

Adamson University Art Gallery

The Kasikasi Art Association of Tacloban reprises its show last year, this time through small works done in a variety of art media that bear images, scenes and issues in their culture and community or broadly explore themes that inspire pure creative expression. “Hang-aw” in Waray means to peer from a window, the equivalent of the Tagalog “dungaw.” The exhibit is thus a way of giving the Manila audience a sampling of artworks coming from the province, in this case Leyte. Often overlooked in comparison to their Manila counterparts, province-based artists are nevertheless productive and committed to art and artmaking. They in fact offer something that can be described as more community-specific or local-inspired in contrast to urban artists who generally deal with themes that are more national or universal in scope, outlook and style.

But to make “hang-aw” is a two-way process. While you are the one being viewed, you also view in return, which makes it possible to learn or be influenced in one way or another by what you see.

The exhibiting artists thus hope to enrich their artmaking by selecting the most valuable of what they get from their foray into our country’s most urban environment, Metropolitan Manila.

The participating artists, all members of the KasiKasi Art Association of Tacloban, are:

Rico Palacio Dante Enage Archie Prisno

Crispin Asensi Raul Agner Bebot Flandez

Billy Pomida Ernie Ybañez Jasmine Diaz

The group regularly exhibits in Tacloban and is considered the most active art group in that part of the Visayas. Individually and as a group, the artists have also joined shows in Calbayog, Ormoc, Cebu, Boracay, Iloilo, Bohol, Malaysia, and Japan. -rda

“HULAG”

2011-11-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

“HULAG” Group Show of the Kasikasi Art Association of Tacloban

4-18 November 2011

PhilamLife Building Lobby, U.N. Ave., Ermita, Manila

Artists from the provinces remain largely unheard of even if they are just as productive, hardworking and talented as their Manila counterparts. “Hulag,” a Waray word that describes a fish’s splashing movement up to the water surface to take in air, is a modest attempt by a group of Tacloban/Leyte-based artists to make its artmaking efforts felt in the big city. In this show, the artists present works in different media that bear images, scenes and issues in their culture and community or broadly explore themes that inspire pure creative expression.

Surely this exhibit may not produce a big splash in the urban art landscape but it may succeed in issuing a firm statement that art is alive and vibrant even in places far removed from the glare of publicity and big sponsors usually concentrated in urban centers. In those localities – in this particular case Leyte - artists continue to toil, as this show demonstrates, despite the daunting challenges that come with their chosen passion. More than anything else, the pursuit of art has become its own reward. The occasional foray to the big city – their second – is both a chance to share what they have made and a moment to inhale fresh ideas and inspirations from a different environment and heartening encouragement from a metropolitan audience.

The participating artists, all members of the KasiKasi Art Association of Tacloban, are:

Rico Palacio

Dante Enage

Archie Prisno

Crispin Asensi

Raul Agner

Bebot Flandez

Billy Pomida

Ernie Ybañez

Jasmine Diaz

2011-04-24T00:25:00.000-07:00

drawing drawings

2011-04-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

mat drawings

AdU Enrolment Campaign Poster

2011-02-23T02:49:00.000-08:00

Inspirations

2011-02-23T02:44:00.000-08:00

Monuments, statues, portraits, and similar artistic creations are primarily mnemonic tools built lest the community they have been intended for forget the significance of the figure or event they represent. They also give viewers a visual configuration of the person/event. Obviously they add an aesthetic character to any given milieu and eventually, they serve as powerful symbols of the institution they inhabit, resonating profound meanings, core values and convictions among the members of its community.
The man in whose honor the university’s Engineering building was named must be smiling from heaven, happy to know that a bust in his likeness now occupies pride of place at the entrance. Not that he would have wanted it, considering that men of his kind usually go in humility mode all their life. It’s just that the living find him extremely worthy of such an honor. Installed on December 8, 2010, this sculpture of the founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SSVP), Blessed Frederic Ozanam, is an icon long overdue. While the building bore his name since its erection in 1979, even just an iota of information about the man was nowhere to be found within the structure.
On the occasion of its 150th anniversary, the SSVP–Philippines came up with this bust project, finally filling the conspicuous vacuum. Mounted on a granite pedestal, it gives everyone an idea of how this charitable Frenchman looked like; the accompanying brief biographical plaque outlines who he was and what he accomplished.
Visual signifiers like Ozanam’s ought to multiply around the campus to honor those who deserve recognition and saturate our vision and memories with images that will articulate our common heritage and identity. The more prominent existing ones to date are St. Vincent’s, George Lucas Adamson’s and Ozanam’s. Surely, there are many more that have made remarkable and historic contributions to the development of the University through their respective fields of expertise. The source of candidates is a vast fertile field: administrators, alumni, former faculty and even former employees. It is only a matter of perspicaciously selecting the most deserving.
The manner of honoring them is not limited to busts alone. Naming hallways, rooms, pathways, gardens and other venues after them is another good option. The most hospitable means, because it can accommodate several names, is an institutional museum. From the most noble to the most unsung, it can provide the appropriate niche for many.
Adamson University is going on 80. About time it morphs into a place where role models and those they are supposed to uplift live and interact in close quotidian association - an environment that gives off a nostalgic, inspiring and artistic vibe.

2011-01-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

"Tagay, Sangkay"

Acrylic, 2011

"Hang-aw"

2010-06-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

“Hang-aw” Art Exhibit Held at AdU Art Gallery

Composed of painters and sculptors, the Kasikasi Art Association of Tacloban, Leyte is currently exhibiting its artworks at the Adamson University Art Gallery located along San Marcelino St., Manila. Dubbed “Hang-aw: East Visayan Artistic Expressions and Impressions,” the show opened last June 22 and will run until July 16, 2010. Mrs. Lourdes Supetran, owner of ACS Manufacturing Corp. and Atty. Sol Arboladura, representative of Mayor Alfredo Lim, opened the exhibit together with AdU President Fr. Gregg L. Bañaga, Jr., C.M.
The participating artists are Ernie Ybañez, Billy Pomida, Crispin Asensi, Rico Palacio, Archie Zabala, Archie Prisno, Jun Olimberio, Dante Enage, Jasmine Diaz and Raul Agner. Their artworks range from hyper-realist (Olimberio and Pomida) to stylized figurative (Agner, Prisno, Enage, Zabala, Asensi) and from semi-abstract (Ybañez, Diaz) to pure abstract (Palacio).
“Hang-aw,” which means to peer from a window, was conceptualized as a show that would give the Manila audience a chance to view artworks from the province, art being mainly Manila-centered. On the artists’ part, the visit to Manila would be an opportunity to meet an urban audience and explore the Manila art scene. The exhibit is also a fund-raising event in support of the University President’s “Bridge Program” scholarship assistance.
No theme was set for this exhibit. Instead, each artist was free to choose his own subject or idea to paint or sculpt. Some artworks depict local scenes and people. Others are commentaries and statements about important issues in life and society. Still others dwell on personal experiences and memories that the artists feel emotionally attached to.
This is the Kasikasi Art Association’s first foray into the big city but it intends to make the Manila exhibit an annual event. Kasikasi was started in the year 2000 and continues to be a prime mover in the local (Leyte) art scene. RDA

Exhibition Notes
Raul Agner

Peering from a window is a metaphor for getting an observantly larger view outside of one’s limited frame of reference. This is what “Hang-aw: East Visayan Artistic Expressions and Impressions” is all about.
“Hang-aw,” the Waray equivalent of the Tagalog “dungaw” is an attempt to afford the big city audience a chance to experience and appreciate art from outside the Manila art scene. Paintings and sculptures by members of the Kasikasi Art Association of Tacloban, Leyte are featured in this show. Diverse, style-, technique- and thematic choices-wise, the artworks are either deep personal statements or simply an aesthetically stylized mode of treating what is rather mundane or usual.
On the other hand, the visiting artists get to feel the beat of the big city, witness its art scene and interact with an urban audience. All these help them expand their visual vocabulary and absorb healthy influences which can enrich their artmaking once they’re back in their creative comfort zones – their studios. “Hang-aw,” in a sense, is pretty much a two-way passage.
For sure the works in this show support the fact that while art in this country is mainly Manila-centered, there are artists in the regions who continue to toil, creating artworks that are just as skillfully executed and sensibly imagined as their city counterparts. If exhibits such as this can be held more often in more venues presenting as many other province-based artists as possible, art enthusiasts and the general public alike will have an expanded view and a more accurate picture of what Philippine art looks like in its entirety.

A Leadership School for the Poor

2010-06-30T03:16:00.000-07:00

Adamson University’s School of Good Governance for Social Development
by Raul Agner 5/6/10

A tricycle driver cannot sit as representative in Congress, or so Commission on Elections Chair Jose Melo thinks. The driver, he reasons out, does not possess the necessary knowledge and skills to function effectively as such.
Adamson University’s School of Good Governance for Social Development believes otherwise. With their experiential learnings and given enough time and proper mentoring, tricycle drivers, or any lowly worker for that matter, can be transformed into effective leaders who can truly represent their own kind, yes, even in Congress.
But this is only among the many goals that AdU-SGGSD’s vision hopes to accomplish for at its core is the ultimate aim of nation-building through poverty alleviation.
Fr. Nonong Fajardo, C.M., the Vincentian priest who came to be known as “Fr. Riles” for helping railway squatters get a fair relocation deal from the government, has come full circle. Now the director of Adamson’s Integrated Community Extension Services (ICES) whose outreach arm is the Vincentian Center for Social Responsibility (VCSR), he has tapped the entire University community in organizing the same evictees into a federation of self-sustaining communities with some assistance from government and business. The former informal settlers, some 100,000 families in all, are now housed in sprawling relocation sites known as Northville and Towerville in Bulacan and Southville in Laguna and Cavite. Since relocation in 2004, they have been receiving all sorts of assistance designed to help them build their communities largely through their own efforts.
The latest project that Fr. Nonong has conceived for them is the School of Good Governance for Social Development.

Northrail/Southrail Project
The saga of Northville and Southville residents began with their gradual eviction from the slums along Metro Manila’s railway tracks. This was to give way to the implementation of the Northrail and Southrail Project that would cut across the metropolis from as far north in Pampanga and south in Laguna. In these mass movements, homegrown leaders whose style, engagement methods and processes developed as they journeyed with their communities emerged. That these leaders led their people from homelessness to a formal community setting with some degree of success proves they have both innate and acquired leadership and community-building capabilities. Today in fact, the relocation communities can boast of livelihood, health care, entrepreneurship, finance, sports and many other programs that are securely in place largely on their account. Unfortunately, no one has tapped the richness of this phenomenon which actually holds concepts, processes and solutions that are potential paradigms for freeing people, and the nation as a whole, from the clutches of poverty.

Vision and Mission
The School of Good Governance for Social Development is an attempt to mine this lode of community-centered leadership practices and experiences with the assistance of other stakeholders.
During the past few months, the ICES and VCSR together with the key leaders of the relocation sites had formulated the vision-mission of the School. They came up with this vision: “A school of community-based leaders who facilitate knowledge formation among themselves and their communities in order to deepen and develop with them new directions towards nation-building.” The statement seeks the institutionalization of the skills and learnings of seasoned leaders. Using a systemic approach and marrying institutional leadership approaches with community-tested ways, the end-goal is to solve poverty and bring back the off-tangent democratic venues and processes to their original path where stakeholders participate through informed decision making. The organizational and leadership skills of born leaders will be enhanced and harnessed so that these same resources can be passed on to others who will continue to lead their people towards a more dignified life. The learning process will be horizontal, engaged and community-led, and the leaders themselves will serve as faculty. The Adamson community, as well as other experts in their field of competence, will be there as a support group.
A six-pronged mission statement accompanies the vision: to provide a venue where seasoned community-leaders can share and formulate theories out of their experiences and learnings; to discover new directions and emerging cultural and national patterns out of the experiences of the leaders and other stakeholders; to implement their processed knowledge together with their communities into new paths towards nation-building; to organize all these initiatives and peoples’ movements into a nerve center so that it can be replicated to the other sectors of society; to strategize and pull together all their social and intellectual capital towards higher political engagements; to provide intellectual, managerial and technical skills to our leaders.

Training

AdU-SGGSD started with a one-week trainors’ training-seminar after Easter. Since then, monthly sessions have been conducted to monitor and plan out an improved partnership with their constituents and other stakeholders in the relocation sites like those who are in charge of health, religious life, education, peace and order, the youth, the elderly, the environment, waste management, etc. These sectoral leaders will have monthly sessions for planning, implementation and evaluation. The School, whose physical center is at Adamson University, acts as nerve center for all the activities of the leaders and the communities.
Fr. Nonong says that “SGGSD is one of Adamson’s many concrete responses to poverty alleviation and nation-building. This is leading with a social conscience. This is re-engineering Philippine social structures through democratic processes available for all and with all stakeholders of development.” Adamson University itself has been deeply involved in the relocation communities. It has been sharing its academic, technical and human resources since the VCSR was established in 2007. Volunteer faculty, employees, administrators and students have been conducting seminar-workshops and various activities regularly for the benefit of the residents.

Curriculum
The initial program of the SGGSD is a one year training that leads to a Certificate in Good Governance for Social Development.
The first three months is devoted to Personal Engagement and Values Formation. This broad area takes up Human Rights (Self-Knowledge, Human Rights and Obligations, International Bill of Rights, Philippines Constitution Bill of Rights, Spirituality of Social Development, St. Vincent de Paul) and Capability Building (Facilitating Meetings, Parliamentary Procedures, Resolution Making, Basic Accounting, Basic Computer, Public Speaking. Basic English).
Following this are five months spent for Community Engagement which tackles Issues of Relocation Sites (Education, Youth, Livelihood, Women, Peace and Order, Political Engagement, Health, Waste Management, Elderly, Religious Groups, Urban Development).
Finally, two months are allotted for National and International Engagement which covers two areas: Venues for Peoples’ Participation (Barangay, Local Government Unit, Planning and Budget, Provincial Government, International Commission on Housing and Development, World Urban Forum) and Organizing Political Rights (People’s Organizations, Homeowners Association, Local Housing Board, Provincial level Engagement, National Coalitions and Federations, Party List).

Future Possibility
Note that the last item is Party List. This brings us back to Melo’s dilemma of the tricycle driver in Congress. With AdU-SGGSD’s vision and goals coming in crystal clear, it is not really impossible to send a leader from society’s less privileged sector to government institutions like Congress. Not that AdU-SGGSD’s agenda is to eventually engage in politics; but even at this incipient stage, the School is already confirming beyond reasonable doubt that what people like Chairman Melo think cannot be done are doable and possible.
If someday a leader from an impoverished community who was honed in the humble halls of the School of Good Governance for Social Development crosses paths with fellow representatives who trained at University of the Philippines or Asian Institute of Management in the hallowed halls of the Batasang Pambansa, Fr. Atilano “Nonong” Fajardo, C.M. would be the least surprised.

(Individuals and organizations that wish to volunteer, partner with or extend financial support to ICES-VCSR may contact the office at tel.:400-0919 and 524-2011 loc 259).

The 1st St. Vincent de Paul National Awards

2010-04-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

"Mambobola," pen and ink on paper, 21"x29", 2009

2009-12-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

Green is the new Adamson Blue

2009-12-07T05:59:00.000-08:00

Adamson News/NOV 09 issue/Editorial

In environmental advocacy, there are myriad ways to express one’s statements and convictions. Some bare their flesh to get their eye-popping message across while others invade the streets armed with screaming placards and vocal chords. Still others prefer the quiet but potent tentacles of the www to engage a cyber audience, or lobby in congress hoping that its so-called Honorables will forego their own narrow interests and support what is good for the majority.
Like the poet Carl Sandburg’s fog that “comes on little cat feet,” the formal launch of Adamson University’s latest environment-friendly endeavor resorted to no hype save for a solemn blessing. On a rainy November 5 afternoon, the university’s top and mid-level administrators witnessed the inauguration of the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), said to be the second of only two existing among the schools in the country today.
This Php10 million watershed initiative adds a new badge of honor to the University but for now, the movers and shakers behind this project are content to relish the completion of one that challenged the university’s resources and demanded their resourcefulness and determination to see it finished. Sharing its technological, environmental, economic and even educational benefits with other schools is a future move.
Simply put, the STP collects 250 cubic meters of dirty liquid per day from various septic tanks in the first few chambers of the plant which is located in the narrow strip between the estero and the back of OZ building. As the collected water flows from one chamber to another, it becomes cleaner and clearer until it reaches the final stage wherein it is ready to be sent back to the toilets for reuse in flush tanks or for watering plants. The plant in effect returns 200 cubic meters per day of reusable water - which is the same amount of clean water that will be saved by the university once the STP operates in full. Engr. Merlinda Palencia, chair of the Chemical Engineering department and coordinator of the project, said that the structure is good for some 20 years while the equipment in the adjacent control room will last five years.
There are several messages that this new facility conveys.
First, it shows how resolute the university is in its attempts to come up with a clean campus environment. Late last year, it introduced and encouraged the practice of the 5S program, the Japanese-inspired systematic cleaning up of the workplace and surroundings. To that basic effort, Adamson has now added a higher level of environmentally sound practice that comes close to the kind that some big industries have. It is therefore in solidarity with the bigger national and global push to clean up and preserve the environment.
Second, by virtue of its being built with an all-Adamsonian cast of engineers, consultants and administrators, the project attests to the competency of Adamson alumni engineers and the excellent quality of the school’s engineering education that these alumni went through in their college days. Homegrown technical professionals doing a big project for their Alma Mater, nothing could be more inspiring.
Lastly, although the University is the primary beneficiary of the STP, the outside community will also be able to share in a cognate effect: the minimization of the pollution of the Estero de Balete and of the Pasig River that the former is a tributary of. Wastewater disposal to the estero will be considerably lessened.
As Adamson steps up its green cause, not because it is the hip thing to do these days but because the dangers that can come from a damaged environment are real, imminent and as fearsome as the “2012” flick, it is important that every member of the Adamson community throw in his share. No matter how minimal, the contribution of each will count and gather weight when put together.
As a school, our official colors are blue and white to symbolize our search for excellence but these do not prevent us from going green.

2009-10-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

SV Building
Adamson University
Typhoon "Ondoy," 26-27 September 2009

Mired

On September 26, 2009, Typhoon Ondoy poured its fury on Metro Manila in the form of the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in Philippine weather history. In a matter of hours, large areas of the metropolis and outlying provinces were inundated with murky water rising up as high as 20 feet in some places. Damage to property was extensive and not a few lost their lives as the floodwaters raged on.
It was a different sight altogether when the waters receded. Anywhere TV news cameras panned, it was the same thick brown mud that viewers could see deposited on streets and inside houses mixed up with debris that were previously tossed about by strong currents.
Ondoy brought untold suffering to many and it will surely take some time before the survivors can fully rebuild their lives. In true Pinoy fashion, though, many responded immediately by extending assistance in whatever form and by whatever means to those who were affected. In spite of being badly hit itself, Adamson University quickly mobilized its community so that help could be given to its adopted marginalized communities that were just as unlucky. As of this moment, the relief efforts are still ongoing.
By way of salvaging some positive residue, lessons from this tragedy abound for the taking: preparedness when disaster strikes, treating nature and the environment with more respect, throwing trash where they should properly be, valuing relationships and spiritual treasures more than material things - which can be wiped out in a flash, faith in God in spite of the seeming hopelessness of the moment, rising up again by overcoming adversity instead of wallowing in despair, and so on.
If applied, a future difficult situation similar to what Ondoy brought about might be more manageable.
But even in perfect weather there is perfect mud, the kind that has mired the nation for some time now, effectively hindering progress and advancement: it is the culture of corruption, dishonesty and rabid self-interest that thrives in our government institutions. The problem may be enormous but not entirely irremediable. Again, Adamson University, as an educational institution, can contribute a lot to the clearing up of this bane. By raising and molding students with the right values, outlook and critical vision, the University can produce socially responsible, God-fearing, and productive citizens who will eventually pluck this country out of the quagmire we all wish to be freed from.

Shades of Summer

2009-03-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

The News Next Door

2009-03-29T03:17:00.000-07:00

The News Next Door

Raul Agner

Pen and ink on acid-free paper

2001

An inconsiderate neighbor can be a pain in the a__. His whole household can disturb your simple luxuries like reading the morning paper. You, an unlucky guy, have no choice but grit your teeth and bear the cacophonic repertoire of conjugal fights, videoke singing, the sizzle of mah-jong tiles at midnight and other “ear-ritants.” That’s the subject of this drawing.

An Old Work

2009-03-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Geronima

Raul Agner
Acrylic on canvas
2001

The “Balangiga Massacre” or “Balangiga Encounter,” as some prefer to call it, happened in the small town of Balangiga in the southern part of Samar Island in September 1901. A company of American soldiers sent there to help clear the island of Filipino insurgents was nearly wiped out by sundang (long knife)-wielding townsfolk who became fed up with the restrictions and abuses of the soldiers. The townspeople, far inferior in arms than the occupying forces, hatched up a plan for a dawn attack on the soldiers. Dressed as women, and pretending to carry coffins of child cholera victims – which in truth contained bladed weapons, the men assembled in the church at midnight purportedly to say prayers for the dead. A brave woman risked her life by carrying several sundang hidden beneath her skirt to the church for the men to use as additional weapons. The attack on the American camp near the church was successfully carried out at dawn, signalled by the frenzied tolling of church bells, while the soldiers were having breakfast - the only time of day when they don’t carry guns. A few Americans survived the attack which the Filipinos considered justified given the superior weapons of the enemy and the unbearable extent of their abuses.
This painting was one of the artworks exhibited in the show "Echoes of Balangiga" in Hiroshima, Japan in 2002.

Chronicles of an Accidental Friendship

2009-03-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

by Raul Agner
(photo of Bobi borrowed from philvisualarts blog)

My accidental visit to an art gallery in Manila twenty-five years ago exemplifies the old saw that everything happens for a reason. It started off a friendship with a person that would be enriching especially for me, resulting in art-related pursuits that would be advantageous to others as well. After our first meeting, I gradually learned that he was playing an important, self-defined curatorial role in the incipient stages of post-Imeldific Philippine art.

Accidental Friendship
While attending a Museology symposium at the National Library on October 3, 1984, I spent the lunch break looking around Mabini St. for cheap frames for my small drawings. At U.N. Ave., I chanced upon a shop with a glass storefront whose attraction was hard to resist because the paintings inside looked freshly familiar. I had no clue then that I was at the doorstep of Hiraya Gallery. Before leaving Tacloban the previous day, I had been reading an article in Focus magazine about an upcoming artist named Renato Habulan. Noticing that the paintings visible through the glass were the same as the photos in the article, I got excited and decided to go in. My eyes feasted on everything they could set their sights on, even as I sensed that somebody was watching my visual exploration through a gap between a suspended display panel and the wall.
That guy later introduced himself as Bobi Valenzuela who, as I was about to leave, asked me to sign the guestbook. He also offered me coffee. I didn’t know what to say but any probinsyano would certainly feel important and welcome if extended this friendly gesture especially in a very impersonal place like Manila. With a hesitant yes, I found myself sipping coffee at the mezzanine. Moreover, I met the artist himself who was responsible for the moving works downstairs. Still clear in my memory is the sight of Habulan, a social realist artist, shedding a tear as he lamented the prevailing social conditions. These people, I thought, must be serious about art and life.

Letters
Back in Leyte, I wrote Bobi to thank him for his hospitality. In two days, he wrote back to say he was glad to have met me, reiterating an invitation that I drop by Hiraya every time I happened to be in Manila. That initial exchange of letters became a groundbreaking step for our regular, almost weekly, communication until the advent of e-mail and cellphones made it obsolete.
In his letters, Bobi shared his ideas about art, his work as art curator, updates on the Manila art scene, the artists who mattered, and even some characters he found hard to deal with. In return, I wrote about my museum job, my attempts at artmaking, the local art scene and artists, and culture in general. He always emphasized that art should go beyond a show of artistic skill; he disliked the done-to-death Madonna and Child. More importantly, it should have something important to say, a sensitivity to realities that affect country or community.

Projects, Events
Our friendship, our letter writing, led to many things that would not have happened had I not decided to step inside Hiraya Gallery that fateful day in October.
In 1991, Bobi and Manny Chaves accepted my invitation to redesign the Divine Word university Museum in Tacloban which I curated then. From a drab repository of artifacts, they transformed it into a more visitor-friendly place that employed the local colourful banig as design motif. We agreed to name the whole permanent exhibit “Sungdu-an: A Confluence of Leyte-Samar Culture,” the Waray word meaning ‘meeting point of two rivers or confluence.’ I believe it was through Bobi’s suggestion that the word was used as title for the group show of visual artists from all over the country initiated by the NCCA-Committee on Visual Arts in the late ‘90s. Incidentally, Archie Zabala, a member of my hometown’s art group, qualified as Eastern Visayas’ representative to the “Sungdu-an 3: Making the Local” exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2004.

More Activities
Through Bobi, upcoming artist Alwin Reamillo came to Palo, Leyte in 1994 to conduct an installation art workshop for the Atitipalo Art Group. It was an important learning experience for the members as it exposed them to the alternative possibilities and purposes of creating art. Ironically, Bobi, a non-Visayan, connected us to the other Visayan artists in Bacolod so that in 1994, the Atitipalo was able to join the 3rd Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference in Dumaguete. From that first attendance, the other artists from Eastern Visayas were able to network with the VIVA EXCON and regularly attend the succeeding gatherings. The high point of this inter-island networking was when the Leyte artists played host to the 6th VIVA EXCON in 2000 in Tacloban, with Bobi serving as exhibition curator.
Another workshop was made available to young artists in our area again through Bobi’s efforts. Noel Cuizon and Emong Borlongan conducted a Basic Drawing and Paper Sculpture Workshop in 1995 accompanied by Bobi and Ditas Samson of the CCP.
The first local group show of the Atitipalo was in 1996 in our hometown, largely through the encouragement of Bobi. In the same year, Bobi invited me to contribute to Ang De Latang Pinoy, a collaborative exhibit at the Hiraya Gallery. In 2002, I held my first show of drawings at the Drawing Room in Makati, a humble achievement and a somewhat late-blooming output of my long letter-writing-based “art education” with Bobi.

Contribution
Bobi chose to work behind the scenes. In one letter, he wrote that his favourite line was “the tragedy of being public like a frog,” from Susan Sontag. What really mattered was that the work was carried out as envisioned. Bobi’s contributions to art in my part of the archipelago may not be known to many but then he was never after quantity. The few who understood his message continue to make art along the path that he delineated.
Bobi became my kumpare, godfather to my second daughter, in 1996. The last time I saw him was on March 20, 2008 when together with my wife and two daughters, I visited him in his BF Paranaque home. In a few months, he would finally leave for the great beyond.
A stack of his letters sits quietly at home in Tacloban, a testament to our friendship that started as a chance meeting but, because it bore so many fruits, makes me believe that it had to happen for that reason.

Graduation in a Time of Lent

2009-03-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

by Raul Agner

(Editorial written for the March 2009 issue of the Adamson News)

That the graduation rites for this second semester of school year 2008-2009 falls within Christendom’s holiest week is a coincidence replete with symbolism.
Those who went through the crucible of college education know that earning a degree is no walk in the park. It is in fact a kind of agony of the body, mind and soul that the student has to go through, often peaking in a crucifixion of sorts when the going gets really, really rough. Exams, projects, theses, numerous requirements, terror teachers, you name it, they bring in all sorts of pain – including that which causes parents’ wallets to go anorexic. Thus not a few fail to reach the finish line, like runners that burn out along the way, mainly because of financial problems; which should make those who succeed feel fortunate and grateful that their dreams have been attained.
Graduation, therefore, is some kind of resurrection, a glorious moment. Not that anybody has died while pursuing a degree but there are countless tales of difficult struggles in the course of getting hold of that much-coveted diploma. We have heard of a successful businesswoman who had only a pair of shoes to wear through college. Then there’s the respected engineer who in college had only four hours of sleep as he juggled the obligations of work and study. Indeed graduation becomes sweeter if it bears the stigmata of sacrifice. It can bring one advantageous dividends in the world of work and career building later.
But failure to finish a degree doesn’t necessarily mean failure in life. Because an Adamson education is not only an exercise in knowledge acquisition but also a total package that includes value and spiritual formation, even those who spent only some years in the university internalize it. Luisita Zarsadias Esmao, who finished only three years of her accounting course, is a case in point. Her being at the forefront today of the farmers’ struggle for the extension of CARP shows that the Vincentian value of social responsibility runs alive in her veins. That and her other advocacies have landed her a revered place in the Ten Outstanding Women of the Philippines (BAYI) awards.
Still, completing a course and graduating from college is the ideal thing to achieve. The university knows this enough that it always seeks ways to ease the difficulty of acquiring a college degree. For one, many kinds of scholarships are made available. There are also discounts for the taking, like the Alumnus’ Child and the Siblings discounts. But most of all, at a time when the economic crisis comes foisted on everyone like a heavy cross to bear, the University extends a Cyrenean hand – by not increasing its tuition fee.
And so, to those who will be graduating on April 6, we extend our most heartfelt congratulations. You have beaten the odds, you have hurdled the challenges and you deserve your triumphant moment. Celebrate and enjoy to the max.
But please remember that as you move further up your journey to a brighter future and begin reaping the fruits of your labor, it might be good to look back and reflect that those who are left behind are still in struggle mode. Helping them in any way might be a Lenten value that can lead them to their own graduation, nay, resurrection.
Happy Graduation, Happy Easter!

Prof. Tomoe Shitaba

2009-03-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Prof. Tomoe Shitaba of Tokyo International University in Saitama Prefecture, Japan was a friend. I met him through Prof. Rolly Borrinaga of the UP-School of Health Sciences in Palo, Leyte sometime in the late '90s. Rolly still teaches in that school and is also a local journalist, and an historian who did extensive research on the Balangiga Massacre in Samar in 1901. The last resulted in a book, “Balangiga Conflict Revisited” that tells the story of the incident from the point of view of the survivors or at least from the relatives of the survivors. I don't know how Rolly met Prof. Shitaba but I came to know the good Japanese professor as a person who was a peace advocate. He conducted the so-called Shitaba Seminar, a study-tour for his students for which they came to Leyte every year to immerse themselves in the life of the locals, particularly in the island-province of Biliran where Rolly was born. At one point, Rolly got hold of the memoirs of a Japanese soldier in WWII who was assigned in Biliran as a radio operator. His name was Kennosuke Nakajima and his memoirs revealed his disillusionment about the war, how he befriended the townsfolk and his interest in learning about the local culture. Parts of his memoirs sound like an ethnographic account. A special friend, a young lass, became the object of his affection at one point during the peaceful period preceding the liberation of Leyte. Prof. Shitaba became interested in this story and used it as an inspiring piece of history to further push his peace development advocacy. Together with Rolly, he established the Peace Development Fund (PDF).
Prof. Shitaba showed interest in our art group too, the Atitipalo Visual Arts Group of Palo, Leyte. He liked our being community-based artists and our own brand of artmaking that drew inspiration from local culture and history which at the same time tackled issues and concerns affecting the country and our community. He therefore sponsored several group shows that we mounted, including that which we assembled for the Balangiga Massacre centennial in 2001 (Echoes of Balangiga) and the one inspired by the Nakajima memoirs (Sunset in Biliran) in 2004. The works in Echoes were brought to Japan and exhibited in Hiroshima during the 57th anniversary of the atomic bombing. Prof. Shitaba sponsored my trip to Japan from August 13-18, 2002 where I travelled with him and his students from Tokyo to Hiroshima for the mounting of the exhibit. During my stay, I had the chance to tour the Saitama area where Prof. Shitaba resides. In Hiroshima, aside from visiting the peace memorial park and museum and seeing the sights (including the famous fireworks in Miyajima island), I talked about my group’s artmaking and the culture and history of Leyte and Samar to the viewers and audience of the exhibit. It was an interesting discussion that elicited so many questions especially from the younger audiences.
In 2005, Prof. Shitaba wrote a book “Learn How to Become a Global Citizen.” When he gave me a copy, I was surprised to see my drawing on its cover. Titled “Life Saver,” that drawing was a composite of four frames showing four ordinary folks, each holding a part of a circle which when put together as one frame appeared like they were also clinging to a hoop that looked like a lifesaver. The idea was to convey the message that cooperation in community life makes things easier to achieve and life more bearable and liveable. I gave that drawing to him as a gift back in 2001.
Prof. Shitaba, a respected professor, a peace advocate and a good friend, died in October 2007.

Folk Motif in Social-Realist Art

2009-03-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

"The Pulling Game," and "Speedster"

By Constantino C. Tejero
(Article published in the Lifestyle section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 10, 2002)

Anyone who has been to the public market of Tacloban, Leyte would have seen these richly colored, lavishly decorated mats. Made of buri or buntal, they’re cool to the skin, so soft in texture and fine in craftsmanship one would think only infants are fit to lay their heads on them.
These intricate mat patterns dominated the 17 pieces of pen and ink on paper in Raul Agner’s recent exhibit “Drawings” at the Drawing Room, Metrostar Building, 1007 Metropolitan Ave., Makati City.
“Since I come from a region that produces richly decorated mats, I have been using the mat as a folk artistic motif and symbol for my community’s ever changing and challenging social conditions,” says Agner, who hails from Palo, Leyte.
The pieces are carefully composed and finely detailed, with symmetry, exquisite patterns and formal elegance that make them look like illustrations on playing cards. This is not quite folk art, but social realism utilizing folk motif, reminiscent of the book illustrations done by Diego Rivera.
“The drawings are about the ordinary people in the community where I live,” says the artist. “They focus on people’s continuing pursuit of a better life, the forces that control them, the issues that affect them, their best and worst qualities.”

Flat statements
The pieces are often hortatory, and sometimes they border on satire with a surrealist edge. The flat statements would be boring if not for the masterful draftsmanship.
In “Magtaralwas” (Liberator), three men and two women are strapped to a mat while a central figure of a man with a halo, a yoke on his shoulders, and a sheathed bolo on his hip, is breaking his own straps. He is obviously the pesante as Christ figure.
In “Plataporma” (Platform), a man in barong with a flowery heart is gesturing like the Sagrado Corazon in a niche, with the folk as audience. Beneath is a TV set showing a dancing pair, while on the sides are subliminal images of hands grasping beer bottle, chainsaw, money bundle, wine bottle, armalite, and a scantily clad woman. This is obviously a portrait of a politico.
“Hukip” (Bribe) has small human figures queuing up to a looming central figure and receiving money bills from him, while below is a figure strapped upside down with arms outstretched as if crucified.
“Biyahe” (Trip) shows a tricycle overburdened with seven passengers, while overhead is a picture of the San Juanico Bridge, and four men in barong talking of cable cars and clouds, obviously government officials and bureaucrats.
The most platitudinous in this series is “Pagsalikway” (Betrayal), a portrait of a tearful woman with all limbs strapped and surrounded by subliminal images of fish, wildlife, trees, nipa huts, while overhead a row of figures with backs turned are waving to a huge hand coming out of the sky and proffering a money bill. This is obviously a portrait of Mother Philippines.
“The drawings attempt to appreciate and understand as well as criticize what is going on in their economic, political and social life, “explains the artist.

Surrealist edge
We like better the plain portraits, the small vignettes, or those with the surrealist edge, such as “Kontra-Sulog” Countercurrent), a family portrait in which the man and wife are rowing a fishing boat while their four grownup children are sleeping on mats beneath the outriggers.
Or “The News Next Door,” where a quarrelling couple and a cat and dog tear up and burst out of the newspaper being read by a man supine on a mat. The startled man is surrounded by flowering vines and crawling buglike object such as beer bottle, coconut shredder, microphone, which could be part of the mat’s pattern.
Or “Paspasero” (Speedster), a close up an ever-so-cool Jeepney driver with the smaller figures of his anxious passengers, the image notable for the cropping and arrangement of figures.
Then there’s “Magsinggiton” (Hecklers), a menacing yet funny portrait of three brawny punks heckling at someone or something, shouting and giving the finger.
The more charming pieces are the smaller ones, such as “Guitar Man,” a hawker of guitars. Or “High Note,” a videoke king with all the screaming and gyration.
“Kangkong Woman” shows a robust woman peddling a bundle of kangkong, who appears rather menacing for the bolo on her side, the water canteen on her hip looking like a hand grenade, the strap across her chest looking like a bandoleer, and her boots looking like the footwear of fascists.
“Father’s Day” depicts a potbellied man smoking a cigarette and quaffing from a beer bottle while carrying a child in one arm, obviously a husband left to tend the house while the wife is at work.
The most charming in this series is “Shopaholic,” showing a woman overdressed and overburdened with goodies, sipping drink through a straw. With her sturdy legs, striped skirt and determined face, she looks like a woman of the Cordillera stepping down from the rice terraces.

Deep sympathy
Agner took up philosophy at Adamson University, and his master’s degree in anthropology at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.
For 16 years he worked as curator of the Divine Word University Museum in Tacloban. For three years he represented Eastern Visayas at the National Committee on Visual Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
He has had no formal art studies aside from numerous workshops he attended, ranging from installation art to basic drawing, printmaking, paper sculpture, photographic silkscreen printing. This was his first solo exhibit.
“Ordinary people’s struggle for a better life and how this can be conveyed subtly and meaningfully, in a folk artistic way, are my simple concerns as artists,” he says.
This is not lip service, as it can be readily gleaned from his art and years of community service. The images in the exhibit could not but come from someone who had deep sympathy for the common folk and a deeper antipathy toward their exploiters.
“I think art is about connecting to people,” Agner continues, “learning from them and, in return, creating works that can be sources of insight, inspiration and empowerment.”
Here’s one artist who’s not just a keen observer and a sharp critic of society but is actually close to the heartbeats of his people.

Revisiting My Old Drawings

2009-03-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

"Platform," "Hecklers," "Countercurrents," and "Trip,"

Pen and ink on acid-free paper, 2002

Back to My Blog

2009-03-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

"Paraiso"
Acrylic on canvas

2009

_____

Just glad to blog again, after six months and to paint again, after six years! It's baby steps again to painting - after focusing on drawing and being sidetracked to day job and family, which required more time and effort.

The previous entry is an article for the Feb issue of The Adamson News intended to be an enrollment come-on pitch.

A COOL PLACE TO BE

2009-03-06T01:11:00.000-08:00

Raul Agner

“Cool” evokes images of ice cream, halo-halo or iced beverage in summer. It also connotes hipness as in cool gadgets, bling and clothes. Most of all, it implies first-rate or excellent quality and in that sense, the word aptly describes time-tested learning institutions like Adamson University.
For those looking for a nice place to study, let Adamson University be the answer because it is, in many ways, cool.
No school can be more cool than one which has reasonably affordable tuition fee (and the latest news is that it is not increasing its tuition fee in School Year 2009-2010!). But don’t get us wrong because inexpensive doesn’t mean cheap. On the contrary, one even gets more than his money’s worth because the quality of education one is able to avail of is way above average standards.
Its classrooms, laboratories, offices, conference rooms and theatre, being air-conditioned, are literally cool, made even more so by modern and high-tech equipment. Studying in Adamson becomes a no-sweat adventure into the world of ideas, knowledge and skills. The campus ambiance is just as student-friendly. With a mini park, with some areas lined with trees and greenery, with study centers spread across the campus, and with a quaint mix of old and modern buildings, the school landscape offers an overall aesthetically pleasant experience.
Its students have shown that they’ve got what it takes to excel. Landing among the top 20 passers of the licensure exams for Accountancy, Architecture, Chemistry, Law, Pharmacy, and Engineering courses have happened at one time or another. Topping the chemical engineering licensure exam - like Levi Miranda did in 2008 - is amazingly cool; same thing with those from other courses in years past.
Majority of the faculty are master’s degree holders, plus some with a Ph.D. Not to mention a good number who are industry practitioners too, thus carrying a strong theory-practice credential.
Alumni have made significant inroads in their fields and have made important contributions to society. Did you know, for instance, that the lead process engineer for the design of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline – Engr. Leo Gasendo – is an Adamsonian who graduated in 1950 with a B.S. Chemical Engineering degree? Are you aware that the first person to use the DNA technology in a forensics case that was admitted in U.S. courts – Dr. Teodorica Leano-Bugawan – is a 1974 graduate in Chemical Engineering? Do you know that Mrs. Lourdes Supetran, B.S. Chemistry 1970, is the name behind the giant ACS Corporation that manufactures Pride detergent and other popular household products? These are just three among a long list that keeps on growing.
And the school is both Catholic and Vincentian, which immediately calls to mind the important dimension of values-education, moral formation, and love for the less privileged - all meant to mold God-fearing and socially responsible graduates.
Wow, with this litany, doesn’t Adamson University rock?
Now that you’re clued-up about the school, make your move.
Enrol and have a blast!

On the Wings of Culture

2008-09-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

Pintado Dance

Raul Agner 2005

Acrylic on canvas

Culture and the Arts include all forms of creative expression that fall under any of the so-called seven arts: literature, music, dance, theater, film, visual arts, and architecture. These are distinct from the more anthropological sense of culture as a complex whole that encompasses the totality of learned and shared behavior acquired from being a member of a particular society. The latter, though, is a rich source of inspiration, memory, imagery and abstraction for the former which have been dubbed as the elitist meaning of the term because their artistic and creative output can be appreciated only by a few who have a specialized training or background.

That Culture and the Arts are elitist is however quite a sweeping statement. While there are works that seem esoteric and profound for the ordinary viewer or listener, there definitely are many that people can relate with, enjoy or be moved by. It is important to point out that there are works that are done purely for aesthetic reasons – the art for art’s sake variety - and there are those that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also rich and powerful in meaning and message as far as content is concerned. Just to name a few examples, the poems of Jose Garcia Villa, the paintings of Arturo Luz and the songs of Lea Salonga represent the first kind. But Rizal’s Noli and Fili, Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium,” and the films of Lino Brocka belong to the second category.

But elitist or not, there’s no gainsaying the fact that culture and the arts in general have the potential, nay, the power to influence our way of thinking and behaving and even bring about a better quality of life. In other words, aside from entertainment, they are effective tools and important components of education. It is within this context that the university has been earnestly integrating into its academic life various cultural performances and activities. One single important step it has taken in this direction was the major makeover of the theater in 2005. Since its completion, the renovated facility continues to reap cultural dividends that have brought about a different and enriching experience to students and the whole community. The buena mano dance drama performed by the Integrated Performings Arts Guild (IPAG) of Iligan raised awareness of certain Mindanao dance forms and environmental issues. The series of screenings of i-Witness documentaries offered object lessons in truthful journalism and painted a clear picture of pressing issues like poverty, environmental degradation and ordinary people’s heroism.

As of late, the doubleheader “Welcome to Intelstar” and “Pragress” of Tanghalang Pilipino were hilarious but deeply enlightening plays, the former a veritable litany of the ironies of a call center job, the latter a sarcastic characterization of corrupt government bureaucrats. And the hip jazz ballet Hi-Skul Musikahan staged by Lisa Macuja-Elizalde’s Ballet Manila mesmerized the audience with the endless possibilities of creative fusion of dance forms. If culture and the arts can make one wiser because they open up his eyes to the truth; if they can make one more human and humane because they inspire him to be creative and resourceful, sympathetic and compassionate; if they give one a sense of spiritual well-being because they bring him to an other-worldly dimension of serenity and inner bliss; in short, if culture and the arts do make one a better person, a better citizen and a better Adamsonian, then they should continue to play a major role in the university.

In the face of a stiff competition in the form of commercial entertainment and computer gaming that vie for young people’s attention, the serving up of the best oeuvres possible becomes a great challenge. Done consistently, the appreciation of the real value of culture and the arts will prevail and negative attitudes towards their necessity, including some misguided individuals’ whining about the cultural fee, will eventually sound hollow.

If the Falcon symbolizes the university’s aspiration for excellence, culture and the arts can be one steady wind that pushes up her wings.

"Resilience"

2008-06-05T03:17:00.000-07:00

3rd Prize, 2006 Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) Annual Art Competition (Drawing Category), pen and ink on acid-free paper, Artist's collection

Drawings

2008-06-05T03:10:00.001-07:00

Street Vendors, pen and ink on paper

...AND MILES TO DRIVE BEFORE HE SLEEPS

2008-06-04T03:18:00.000-07:00

Raul Agner

Ever since, he is always a picture of equanimity, the dizzying network of roads he has traveled - as if represented in miniature by his silvery hair - notwithstanding. Still at it after more than thirty-five years, his face shows no telltale symptoms you expect would register as wrinkles and creases from dealing with the city's unforgiving traffic, rude motorists, badly maintained roads and long out-of-town drives.

On a typical Monday morning, he sits quietly behind the wheel of the university's spanking new bus while waiting for the nursing students bound for apprenticeship duty somewhere to fill up the seats. Inside, the bus smells factory fresh, its upholstered seats still wrapped in protective plastic covers which, vis-à-vis the students' clinically white uniforms, should be unnecessary. Outside, the exterior surface is flush with pictures of athletes, students, facilities and buildings - purposely done so the bus doubles as a humongous mobile billboard. This forty-seater, the latest addition to the school's fleet, is a world removed from the antiquated blue, snub-nosed oddity that he used to drive from way way back. That quaint artifact must be rotting somewhere but through it he once transported regular passengers from a lakeshore town to San Marcelino St. and back, in the process collecting memories he might someday in retirement get occasional flashes of. For example, he might remember them as super-behaved boys in prayerful silence on the way to school but as a boisterous lot on the return trip. He'll surely recall how on the way home they freely released their tension from studies by storytelling, arguing, singing, flashing the "peace" hand sign (so '70s) to every chick in sight and covering their noses from the stench of duck droppings upon finally reaching the access road to home sweet home. He might also remember that often the departure from school was stalled because some were still gaping at a skillful Iñaki or Oyarzabal swipe with the cesta over at the Jai-Alai building or sneak-quaffing beer at the walkway carinderia.

But the point in this bus driver's life is that he has parlayed hard work to ensure the success of his children who have earned college degrees and landed decent jobs. Quite a feat for a humble but dedicated driver. But not only that. Somehow, he is also part of the success of a lawyer in Manila or a fitness consultant in Alberta. There's no doubt that he is partly behind the professional achievements of an accountant in the Philippines or part of a Florida real state broker's thriving career. No one can question that whatever good deeds a Vincentian priest in Lebanon or in the Philippines has done is, again, partly due to him. In short, he has contributed a small part to his former regular passengers' attainment and realization of successes, dreams or calling. He steered them safely en route to their destinations, a role akin to being a benefactor to a beneficiary or a patron to a protégé but inconspicuously outside the pale of the limelight.

This down-home, portly man is one of life's many important little people. He has played his role to the hilt and is happy with it. Last time we checked, he still goes by the name of Mang Tony. And while he has experienced all kinds of roads, he still has "miles to drive before he sleeps and miles to drive before he sleeps…"

The Top and Nothing But

2008-05-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

Raul Agner

His father, a retired overseas musician, has all the reasons to play one cool triumphant rock anthem on his guitar or keyboard these days. So does his Alma Mater, Adamson University. For Levi Layague Miranda has just nailed one feat in his relatively quiet academic life: garner the topmost spot in the latest board exams for chemical engineers given last April 21-23, 2008 at the Manuel L. Quezon University in Manila.
Equally proud are her mother and two siblings who saw in him an average student who was nevertheless serious with his studies in spite of a sickly frame. After third year at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, he was refused reenrollment after incurring a second long absence due to illness. When he applied for transfer at Adamson, he was readily admitted and went on to graduate on October 2007.
Levi was born on November 29, 1983 in Las Pinas City to Liberato Miranda, a Batangueno, and Sylvia Layague, an Ilocana. He attended high school in Molino, Cavite. After his stint at the PLM, he moved to Adamson in June 2004 where he had to repeat his third year studies to catch up on the demanding chemical engineering course. His enjoyment of a full academic scholarship for two semesters meant he was able to cope up with the rigorous studies. Then the course became just too heavy that he couldn’t maintain the grades required by the scholarship program. He didn’t enjoy that benefit in his last years in the school but he enjoyed studying anyway, thermodynamics being his favorite subject. When pressed for his favorite teacher, he declined to name one but hastened to say that all the professors he studied under were helpful and very professional. It also helped that the university’s facilities were excellent enough to respond to the needs of the students. These included the library, where he loved reading technical books, the laboratories that had new equipment, the air-conditioned classrooms and the relatively spacious campus.
When the results of the board exam were released, none was more surprised than himself because he didn’t expect to land at the top. Aside from his generally average performance in college, he found the exam really hard not even the one-year review he undertook was a guarantee he’d make it. That’s all water under the bridge now for this simple Adamsonian who chose a course that was her mother’s frustration (only a year short of her graduation at UST). One thing is sure though, he was not wanting in hard work, dedication and discipline. At the moment, he’s just happy to have made a milestone for himself and the university. Not used to being lavished with attention and praise, he appears a bit awkward when congratulated but acknowledges them the best way he can.
On May 25, 2008, he will join other new chemical engineers for the formal oath taking at the Manila Hotel. His proud family will be around to bask in the honor of his rare first-place achievement. The whole Adamson community warmly congratulates him for bringing a big honor to the institution. All Adamsonians at the moment are just happy and proud to be members of the tribe of Levi.

Perched On An Elevated Landscape

2008-05-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

Raul Agner

It was a long and winding path that Christian Ceasar Pineda had to tread before he was finally able to set foot on a more pleasant landscape. His difficult climb to the second uppermost spot in the March 2008 Landscape Architect Licensure Examination goes back to when he was but a kid.
A 1994 BS Architecture graduate of Adamson University, Chris and his siblings grew up shuttling between their mother’s and their father’s – sometimes their uncle’s – house after their parents separated. He was barely four then and this moving about extended all the way to his college days. Born in Quezon City in 1972 to Ernesto Pineda and Nancy Evelyn Pineda, both of Pampanga, he graduated valedictorian from the Ramon Avancena High School in 1989. He then enrolled in Adamson, enjoying a full PESFA (Private Education Student Financial Assistance) scholarship from the beginning until he finished his course.
Today, Chris Pineda is based in the Middle East working for WS Atkins, an internationally renowned structural engineering, design and architecture company. He is the Senior Landscape Architect there and is happy to be in the center of all the mega architectural buzz and boom in full throttle that part of the globe. Sure the job pays well but it is in being able to give something big as a Filipino and as an Adamsonian that he finds most fulfilling. But in spite of the lofty perch he is in now, this Falcon cannot forget his stay in the University. He reminisces with joy and pride the good old days in Adamson when he and his friends had to help each other out especially during the advent of the feared thesis defense. Spending late nights in other friends’ houses, sweating out on projects, cramming for the deliberations and developing teamwork and camaraderie are valued memories. He and his friends even creatively fashioned a way of coaching each other during the thesis deliberations by signaling to each other keywords that instantly recalled answers to difficult questions. “The difficult times,” he says, “are the most memorable. My days in Adamson were very straightforward. I wouldn't really say there were a lot of happy moments. I was there for a purpose, to study and graduate so I can have a good job. I even enrolled during summers so I could graduate in five years.”
Asked for some personal reflection, he waxes philosophical. He likens life to an architectural structure where his parents who gave him good education are the foundation, his siblings the shell – walls and roof that give protection, his friends and society in general the landscape that gives color and meaning to life and God the terra firma where he stands. “Take away any of these and I’ll surely crumble,” he states.
His message to fellow Adamsonians: “We all have the potential to make a difference. No matter how small or simple our contribution may be, the ripple effect will be enormous. We are Adamsonians.”
Architect Pineda may be up high in the firmament of early success but his feet remain rooted in the ground. He is a precious addition to the numerous alumni the current crop of Adamson students can draw strength and inspiration from.

Angles: A Photo-Essay

2008-05-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

At night, on the wall next to the ST gate, the names of the university and the congregation that runs it, and the year the school was founded glow with silvery luminosity. Stainless, each letter is backlit by neon tubes that follow its contour. Not quite diamond but very close to it, the color of the letters may remind us of the 75th anniversary of the school last 2007.
The whole assemblage is an interesting subject for amateur photography and so, one evening, I clicked my merry way, unmindful of the questioning look of some passers-by while relishing the ethereality of the moment.
Viewed up front, the whole text is easily readable. Shot up close from different angles, they hardly make any literal sense but present a different reality that borders on the abstract and purely conceptual, even surreal. Each shot can stand on its own and engender many associations and interpretations. It is amateur photography imitating art.
It is also photography imitating life. Life is a camera that allows people to view reality from the angle they choose, hence the multiple and differing points of view, opinions, beliefs, takes and spins anywhere you go, with tolerance and respect making their peaceful coexistence possible.
Huh! The letters brought us this far...

“Adamson University: 75 Touchstones At Year 75”

2008-05-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Raul Agner

Adamson University turned 75 last year. To mark this Diamond Jubilee, it commissioned a four-figure Jubilee sculpture which now graces the main building’s front yard. It also published and launched a coffee table book entitled “Adamson University: 75 Touchstones At Year 75” last February 5, 2007.
As the title suggests, the book gathers 75 stories in the university’s 75 years of existence in one sleek and elegant volume. Each is contained in a spread that is laid out with photographs, digital art and an accompanying write-up. The first for instance, entitled “The Adamopoulos Odyssey,” is an interesting graphic timeline retracing the journey of school founder George Lucas Adamopoulos from Greece, to Australia (where he changed his name to Adamson) and to the Philippines. Another article, “Adamson-Ozanam Educational Institutions 1964,” presents the turnover of Adamson University to the Congregation of the Mission or the Vincentians. It is illustrated with a huge blown-up photo of George Lucas (president for 32 years) and incoming president Fr. Leandro I. Montañana, C.M., signing documents with two other representatives witnessing. “AddyoU: Branding Adamson,” “The Evolution of the University Seal,” “Art in the Everyday Campus,” and “Campus Cuisine,” are some of the titles of the other articles in the book.
The book is not written as one continuing narrative but as a collection of easily digestible stories that are separate from yet related to each other. The reader can therefore start reading anywhere he wants. Written by a team of writers that includes Fr. Gregg L Bañaga, Jr., C.M., Fr. Francis Cruz, C.M., Raul D. Agner, Sharleen P. Banzon, Bianca S. Consunji and Kannika Claudine D. Peña, the writing style hews close to the techniques of creative nonfiction: fresh, playful, concise and loaded with information and imagery.
Book designer Manny Chaves, who also acted as editor, did the layout and design. Manny came up with a style that approximates the vibrant rhythms of motion graphics and advertising; really very hip and contemporary. Because it is colorful, generous with breathing space and balanced all throughout, it is not a boring read. Vintage photos from the university Archives provide defining moments and memories of the school. The photographs of Mar Bustamante, At Maculangan and Fr. Francis Cruz and the digital art of Ryan Abela illustrate the pages with an unmistakably sharp and discerning eye.
“Adamson University: 75 Touchstones At Year 75” is available at the university’s bookstore.

Within Biting Distance

2008-05-02T04:24:00.000-07:00

"Bamboo Boat," installation art by Gerry Leonardo, Feb. 2008, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasinaya 2008.

Raul Agner 4/29/08

On any given weekday high noon, human and vehicular traffic at Zobel and Mercedes Sts. in Ermita are at their heaviest. A good part of the student demographic from schools in the hood swarm to the row of kainan for their lunchtime refueling. Caught up in the dizzying swirl of hungry stomachs and eager intestines crisscrossing the narrow backstreets to pick the best hole-in-the-wall are the hapless motorists taking a short-cut route to San Marcelino. From perhaps a smooth 50-kph sweep of Ayala bridge, they decelerate to pushcart speed on left turn to people-clogged Mercedes and Zobel. The scorching heat or the drenching torrential rains, whatever the case, raises the whole commingling one notch higher to inconvenience.
Even so, there's a fiesta mood in this quotidian chaos. Smiling faces, school uniforms (ditched on "wash Wednesdays" in favor of chic, colorful casuals or emo-gothic statements), personal accessories, school thingamajigs, smoking barbecue stands, vehicles of different colors and shapes, lingering election campaign buntings and posters - all make up a psychedelic assemblage reminiscent of a Joya abstract or a Pollock "dripwork." If a background musical score were to be supplied, any opus with displaced tonality would be hands-down appropriate.
Food counters display a slew of mouthwatering offerings to choose from, ranging from the succulent adobo to the hot and spicy Bikol express, from the crispy chicken to the sauce-dipped barbecue and from the crunchy half-cooked toge to the soupy mongo. But reality TV-type hindrances must first be hurdled before one can finally enjoy a piping hot meal, including dodging oncoming vehicles, steering clear of sidewalk grilling stands, vying for the food attendants' attention and jockeying for tables and chairs in trip-to-Jerusalem fashion. Once these are accomplished, then he can settle on the hard-earned chair and put the grub where the mouth is, in partial fulfillment of one's ego's requirements (parang thesis title ah?).
Yes, "in partial fulfillment" because food, wherever or whenever taken, satisfies only half of the human person, the body, but not the soul, which needs a totally different kind of nourishment. And while one won’t find such nourishment in this crowded nook of Ermita, it's not like you'll have to spend a fortune in order to enjoy it. In not a few cases, they can be had for free or at a minimal expense. All it takes is a nosy detective's perspicacity to find them. Art, literature, music, dance, architecture, theater, film - all food for the soul you’ll surely agree (in addition of course to your religious beliefs and practices) - are around every which way you look; and what better place to start than the vicinity of Adamson University.
For the architecture buff, the area around the university provides an eyeful. The dilapidated Meralco building along San Marcelino was a beautiful art deco structure in its heyday but even in its present state of rot, some elements remain artistically pleasing. On the extreme left of its façade is a big cement bas-relief by Francesco Monti consisting of female figures composed in an upward-left movement. Appearing sooty, one cannot quite make out what the figures are doing but its sheer size must have added a touch of class to the building when it was new. There are other smaller sculptures that can be seen in some wall niches and the decorative pattern beneath the second story overhang is quite pleasing. This is balanced by the rooftop iron grills and the main entrance iron gate. Monti was an Italian sculptor who taught at UST before the war. His works can also be seen gracing the exterior of the Manila Metropolitan Theater, itself a fine member of the art deco family that once included the now forever gone Jai-alai building, its disappearance courtesy of then Manila Mayor Lito Atienza. The hood teems with neoclassical stuff too. Easy shoo-ins as best representatives are the Post Office, the National Museum and the Tourism buildings, the Supreme Court, Department of Justice and U.P. Manila buildings. Our own SV building belongs to this grand architectural breed and tradition.
Visual arts groupies have many venues to visit. First off is the National Museum where the humongous Juan Luna masterpiece, the "Spoliarium," hangs as a proud testament to world class Filipino artistry. If one is looking for an equally impressive Filipino mural, there’s a Botong Francisco at the Manila City Hall and a freshly restored one at the Fleur-de-lis Theater of St. Paul University, Manila. In-house, we have the three newly acquired Amorsolos, all bequeathed by Sofia Adamson, late wife of the late George Athos Adamson, former Dean of the College of Engineering. Hunting for contemporary art is a no-brainer; all one has to do is go to nearby commercial and alternative galleries like the Galeria de las Islas and NCCA Galleries in Intramuros, the Kanlungan ng Sining at the Luneta, or the Philam Life building and Hiraya Gallery along U.N. Ave. Bobi Valenzuela, well-known and respected art curator, and Manny Chaves, his assistant, used to hold court at the Hiraya during the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Hiraya, still open at present, used to be an exhibition space that showed works that were not only well-crafted but also rich, relevant and progressively Filipino in content. Some of the best contemporary Filipino artists came out of that cul-de-sac: Santi Bose, Imelda Endaya, Emong Borlongan, Charlie Co, Nune Alvarado, Noel Cuizon, Mark Justiniani, Bobby Feleo to name a few. Skip the Mabini area tourist art galleries for they have been painting to death the same subjects over and over again from way way back.
Music enthusiasts also have different venues to pick the preferred free musical fare. Fridays at Paco Park is concert day with both amateur and professional performers giving out their best. Classical pieces, timeless kundiman, pop music are some tunes to sit down to in the quaint and airy ambience of the former cemetery. Sundays at the Luneta open-air theater are concert days too but with a more variegated offering. If you’re lucky, you can catch such rare gems as Joey Ayala, Grace Nono, Lester Demetillo, The Wuds, Susan Fernandez Magno, Noel Cabangon or Bayang Barrios. But they come few and far between. Last April 6, 2008, park habitués were treated to a four-hour music and dance concert by a cross-section of the best cultural groups and individuals within and outside Metro-Manila. What a rich variety of Pinoy talents and artistry on the occasion of “Concert at the Park’s” 30th anniversary.
Museums, where our Filipino soul can best be felt, are also in the vicinity. With the National Museum just a few brisk steps away, Adamsonians couldn’t get any luckier. With its new addition – the Museum of the Filipino People housed in the old but refurbished former Finance building, the neoclassical twin of the Tourism building which in turn was the former Agriculture building right up front – the place is a cultural gold mine waiting to be explored. In Intramuros, the culture-hungry Adamsonian can visit the San Agustin Museum, the Archdiocesan Museum of Manila and inside Fort Santiago, the Rizal Shrine. Along Roxas Boulevard stands the Museo Pambata beside the U.S. Embassy. In case one has a day to spare, he can purposely go to the Cultural Center of the Philippines not only for its shows but also to see the beautiful non-conventional set-up of the Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino. In the CCP galleries and hallways, one has the added bonus of seeing ongoing art exhibitions by select contemporary visual artists.
Admittedly, theater is rarely free but tickets are not always prohibitive. If one is really interested in experiencing it, then he wouldn’t really mind the cost. An alternative to theater is performance art done usually by visual artists who act out their ideas and convictions alone or with the support of fellow artists or friends. These are for free. Last April 25, 2008, the Kanlungan ng Sining at the Luneta, home of the Art Association of the Philippines, held the “Tupada,” a performance art event joined by artists coming from different parts of the world.
There are more in the vicinity for the Adamsonian’s educational uplift. Public art, historical buildings, old churches, plazas, and many other cultural events abound. So next time you feel like spending another hour on a TV gossip show or get that itch to play a round of DotA (Defense of the Ancients!) or any other mind-zapping computer game, skip it. Think of these alternatives. Think about the finer things in life that your soul badly thirsts for. You may not realize it but you may be already culturally dehydrated and in danger of spiritual meltdown.
Food for the body, culture for the soul - no diet could be more perfectly balanced than this.

Walking Along the Brighter Side of Life

2008-04-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Raul Agner 4/20/08

Where I live is only two long blocks away from the university I work in and where my daughter, Marielle, goes to first year secondary. In very rare instances, such as when we see that she’d be late for the school’s 6:45 flag raising or when the skies threaten a downpour, we take the pedal-powered or motorized trike. Most days though, it’s a sole-powered 200-meter walk that we do, a ready-made form of physical exercise or a coin-saving scheme or both.
The stretch of San Marcelino St. that we negotiate from Padre Faura down to Adamson University may not be a postcard-pretty promenade but we have taught ourselves to appreciate what it has by making the most out of what we see along the way. If Joey Ayala in his light and playful song “Maglakad” encourages people to refresh their minds by taking a stroll, my daughter and I try to make the walk fruitful and enjoyable instead of just doing it as a passive performance of an almost requisite act.
Since we began, we decided to look at the benefits of walking, instead of complaining about the way it exacted a toll on our shoes and legs and dwelling on its negative side. Indeed we wouldn’t be able to experience or enjoy many things if we opt to ride.
One is safety. With walking, we are perfectly in control of where we’re headed and we have a full unobstructed view of the vehicles whizzing by in the opposite direction. By their rider-unfriendly design, trikes deny their passengers these simple but convenient privileges. With a sidecar that is nearly fully wrapped in tarp, including the part where a windshield is supposed to be, you’d feel like Jun Lozada being given a scary joyride to nowhere by someone whose identity you have no inkling of.
Another is the chance to engage in fruitful conversation while walking. We literally walk the talk, stride after stride, telling stories, learning some words or expressions or making observations of people and things that we see along the way. Once she asked what the expression “looking for greener pastures” means. In simple terms, I told her that it means moving from one situation to a better one, like the walk to school every day being actually a protracted effort at moving to a better quality of life in the future especially for her.
Still another is the serendipitous discovery of lessons that people would normally ignore or dismiss as insignificant. Every day, for instance, we pass by a regular huddle of homeless denizens along the perimeter wall of the Philippine Presidents’ Line (PPL) property engaged in various domestic chores in a house that has no hope of becoming. Some are cooking a simple meal kindled by bits of wooden scraps salvaged from everywhere. Others are sorting out trash not to be thrown away but as a stateless currency that the money changer they know best accepts and converts into pesos: the nearest scrap buyer or junk shop. One middle-aged man I saw was squatting against the cement fence contentedly puffing a cheap cigar, fully enjoying an after-meal piece of heaven in what passes for a long veranda otherwise known as a sidewalk. What’s there for us in this quotidian sight? In the cul-de-sac that we live in, that has the euphemistic name of studio-type apartment, we can call ourselves lucky. It is our family’s comfort zone, a home where we are able to bond and hug each other and carve out our cherished dreams. I therefore cringe at the thought that if we were in their place, God forbid, it would really be a horrible life. My daughter has developed a deeper appreciation of the word blessing.
Sometimes we while away the time by looking for something inspiring or amusing. Two people we always see are a married couple on a bicycle who we assume are on their way to work. With the man driving and the woman sitting sideways and cosily up his front, we conclude that they must be a sweet loving pair. They are also a lesson in punctuality because we gauge our own by where we meet them. Seeing them halfway from our starting point means we are on time; to see them just a minute after we left off means we better hurry; and if we don’t see them at all, not even a taxi ride will bail us out of tardiness. Hate late? Beat the couple, we kid ourselves.
Just like any other place, San Marcelino has its own downside. These are givens and we refuse to be discouraged. After all how can you avoid pollution, discourteous drivers, smelly beggars, impassable sidewalks and even unsightly and dilapidated old houses and buildings anyway? You can’t. They are an inextricable part of the territory. Only one’s political will to see the brighter side of the street will do the trick.
My daughter agrees that if we extend that mindset to the bigger reality called life, then we are in I guess for a rewarding journey.

Truth Bearer’s Gig at AdU

2008-03-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

Raul Agner

If threats - death and otherwise - could not muzzle Jun Lozada, then there was no way that a downpour during the latter part of his visit to Adamson University could.
When he emerged from the Office for Student Affairs wearing a t-shirt printed with a multi-colored “AdU” last March 3, 2008, the ST quad went into overdrive. Necks craned and feet jockeyed for position. The ladies (and lady-wannabes) shrieked and the machos shouted. TV cameras rolled and phone cams went into frenzied clicking. Jun, looking more like a delighted emoticon than the harassed whistleblower that he initially was, waved back at the students. Halfway in his talk, the rains came, parting the audience in half, sending it into the hallways at both sides of the quadrangle. But the visitor, protected by a tarp tent set up on the stage, went on, later fielding questions from a motley group of students who braved the rains, crowded in another tent facing the stage. Once the rain stopped, those at the corridors reassembled at the quad to get closer to the guest who obliged photo-ops before leaving.
Jun reiterated in strong terms his crusade against corruption, repeating his call to those involved in the highly scandalous NBN-ZTE deal scam to reveal the truth and stop hiding under the mantle of executive privilege or escapist legalese. He gamely answered all questions, including those that he had already clarified in various media fora and forays to different schools.
While some students and student groups had a “Gloria Resign” stand, Lozada didn’t explicitly call for this. What was urgent, he said, was for the people to pressure the government into uncovering the extent of corruption in the NBN-ZTE deal so that once and for all, the evil and plague that hound it will be exorcised. He also drummed up the need to be truthful among young people in whose hands the future of the land lies.
For its part, the university is clear about its stand, not calling for resignation but echoing that of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines or CEAP, which essentially is summed up in the slogan “Speak The Truth.” It joins the general expression of indignation and disgust over the alleged corruption in the deal and for the government to reveal the truth instead of resorting to lying. Even so, the university respects the different stands and opinions of other people in the AdU community.
One faculty member for instance disagrees with the schools and the church being involved in politics. On the other hand, an observer noted that the issue was not politics but the basic tenets of honesty, transparency and truthfulness. Indeed many high officials in government had lost moral ascendancy in view of the string of scandals that has rocked the foundations of good governance, namely the “Hello Garci” episode, the Joc-Joc Bolante fertilizer scam, the Cha-Cha move in Congress whose agenda was the abolition of the Senate and extension of GMA’s hold on power beyond her term’s end.
Jun Lozada only knows too well that many government officials have lost their sense of delicadeza, an old Filipino value that is much wanting today. If one looks at the Japanese and the Koreans, for instance, they are protective of their personal honor. Their officials resign if they get linked to scandals and controversies. Lozada’s campaign for truth gains meaning and urgency in the light of the contrasting current situation obtaining in the country.

A Hair-Raising Horse Run

2008-02-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

Raul Agner 11/28/07

It has been celebrated more than sixty times already but people don’t seem to get tired of it. Each year, the so-called Leyte Landing Anniversary, popularly known as Liberation Day, is observed. People troop to “Red Beach” in Palo, Leyte where during WW II Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed on October 20, 1944 to fulfill his famous “I Shall Return” promise. From Leyte, the General, with his trademark corncob pipe, went island hopping until he reached Manila to wrest the whole archipelago from the clutches of Japanese rule. My family, when I was about six years old - must have been 1960 - was one of those who planned to go to the beach that year and this is where my story of the stubborn horse that rebelliously galloped us into a freak accident, begins.
Ideally, it was important to go early to Red Beach (so called because that was its code name during the War and not because the seashore was colored red with blood during the fighting as some mistakenly believe). Aside from being able to easily get a ride, one also had the chance to spot important people, like the President of the Republic, in attendance at the outdoor ceremonies. For some reason, our family was not able to leave early. Tatay and Nanay must have been very busy with house work and all that. We became ready to leave only at around noon, when the sun was at its peak and scorching hot, as in your skin will get tanned even if you go under it for only a few minutes.
In those days, jeepneys were not as many as they are now. A more common and less expensive form of transportation was the kalesa, better known in our province as a tartanilla, a horse and carriage ensemble that was slightly different in design than those you see in Manila. Our province’s version had its entrance at the back and the seats were parallel to the sides so that the passengers sat facing each other (unless they opted to turn their heads right or left to avoid looking at an unpleasant face or something) the way passengers in a jeepney do. Although Tatay had already hailed a tartanilla and settled the fare amount with the kutsero (the rig driver), still some preparations had to be finished. We the kids had to strip off the outer skin of the banana trunk we felled at the backyard which we planned to use as abayan or floater that we clang to as we swam further off the shore. The kutsero patiently waited, parking his horse and tartanilla under the cool shade of the nearby tree that had the thickest foliage so that he and his horse had a sweet time waiting for us to finally come down from our house. In a short while, all eleven of us were tightly packed with our belongings you would think the frail woodwork of the carriage could break from our compacted force.
Finally, it was time to leave. We were all excited and raring to go...
Except the horse!
Given the searing heat of the noonday sun, it was probably thinking there’s no way you’re going to have me step out of this cool shade even just a fraction of an inch. Sensing the sheer recalcitrance of the animal after the usual few whips that were supposed to jumpstart the four-kilometer journey fell on deaf skin, the kutsero increased the intensity and quantity of the lashes. Still no horse leg moved. With the wounded pride of a master who is disobeyed by his slave, he flagellated the 500-kg. catatonic repeatedly with all the strength he could muster that in a split second it darted and ran very fast, jolting us like passengers in a roller coaster that makes a sudden and treacherous dive. Every one of us suddenly felt very tense, instinctively holding on to each other as the horse ignored intersections and perilously dodged vehicles passing the highway. The galloping intensified, as if the horse was trying to give the statement that “this is what you get for forcing me out of the shade.”
Meanwhile, near where the MacArthur historical marker (the spot were MacArthur was believed to have landed and long before it was expanded into a park that resulted in the eviction of a whole village), an overloaded jeepney was slowly inching its way through the thick crowd of slowly dispersing spectators. It was three quarters past twelve, the ceremonies and speeches were over and those who had nothing else to do were on their way home. The jeepney was going back to the town proper. After crossing the Bernard Reed Bridge (named after the first American soldier to have crossed the river during the first Liberation), it turned right instead of going straight to the main intersection where the road bifurcated, the westward branch leading to the terminal at the town market. Little did the driver know that at the curved end of the road where he just made a right turn for a short cut to the paradahan or terminal, a bad surprise was awaiting him and his passengers.
Hard as he tried, our kutsero could not slow down the horse’s tantrum clip, much less bring the whole tartanilla to a stop. The more he pulled the reins, the faster the horse went his angry way until we reached a downward slope that curved sharply to the right. Because of the lush vegetation on both sides, there was no way the hapless kutsero could see any incoming vehicle. Still nervously huddled inside the fast-moving cart, we could only expect the worst. I’m sure Nanay uttered a prayer or two even before we passed the old adobe church a few seconds back. But it seems her prayers were not heard for in a split second, our tartanilla rammed straight into the side of the incoming jeepney the moment it made the sharp right turn! The left one of the two wooden shafts in between which the horse is hitched gored the jeepney’s right fender with a thud, crumpling its upper part to an irregular shape. On impact the shaft and the lower right portion of the windshield broke with a cracking sound similar to that of a long bamboo pole being split by the worker Tatay once hired to build our fence. Both the jeepney and the tartanilla came to a full stop, with our faces looking like a Richter scale registering an indescribable shock. I saw our kutsero fall flat on his stomach on the asphalt pavement. I heard the screams of my sisters, I saw the cover of our kaldero roll off with a clanging noise to the ground. I felt the pain of a slightly displaced pelvis and could not utter a word. But the horse, unhurt and unmindful of everything, stood still as if nothing happened, easily reverting to catatonic mode once more because the collision took place in a shady area!
We gathered our belongings and walked slowly back home, feeling very sad that our excursion to Red Beach was not pushing through, still shocked from the accident but thankful nevertheless that nothing really serious happened to any one of us.
A couple of years later, when Nanay and I were relaxing in our porch one somnolent afternoon, I was stunned by her sudden invocation of the names of saints. “San Pedro, San Pablo, San Juan, Por Dios Por Santo!,” she blurted out in loud litany. When I turned my head in the direction of the street, I saw a swiftly moving tartanilla being pulled by its horse but without a kutsero or passenger on board! I was stunned. What if the driverless moving carriage hits unwary pedestrians or kids playing in the streets? My fear turned to a sigh of relief when a few minutes later I saw the kutsero running as quickly as he could after the vehicle, trying to catch up with the wayward horse. Wow, Nanay’s litany was quickly attended to this time by the saints in heaven. We never knew, though, whether the kutsero caught up with his horse or not but the absence of news of anyone being hit by an unmanned tartanilla was enough to assure us that no accident happened. This was clearly a different case, not of a horse refusing to budge but of one wanting to move on on his own probably because his driver was too lazy to work.

Drawing

2008-02-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

"Glide," 2007, 6.5"x6.5," pen and ink on acid-free paper

Drawing

2008-02-06T15:16:00.000-08:00

"Taho Peddler," 2007, 6.5"x6.5," pen and ink on acid-free paper

Drawing

2008-02-01T01:59:00.000-08:00

"Toy Peddler," 2003, pen and ink on watercolor paper (sold)

Drawing

2008-02-01T01:27:00.000-08:00

"Terra Firma," 2007, 16"x12.5,"
pen and ink on acid-free paper

E-mail the artist for inquiries.

"Material Fool"

2008-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

"Material Fool" is a pen and ink drawing on Pinoy mall culture. The artwork focuses on the Pinoy's sometimes excessive predilection for malls: sale, entertainment, shopping, etc., as represented by a fool dancing mechanically to the motion graphics in a video monitor and the beat of loud music. It was adjudged Best Entry during the 57th Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) Annual Art Competition in 2004, held at the GSIS Museum, Pasay City.

"Material Fool," 2004
18" x 24"
pen and ink on watercolor paper
Artist's Collection

Adamson University Historical Marker

2008-01-28T01:28:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights of Adamson University’s Diamond Jubilee celebration last year was its being declared a historic site on February 8, 2007 by the National Historical Institute. NHI Executive Director Ludovico Badoy and Deputy Executive Director Emelita Almosara attended the formal unveiling of the official marker in front of the SV building. With this distinct honor, AdU joins its historic site neighbors - the Manila City Hall, the old Congress building, the former Agriculture and Finance buildings, Sta. Isabel College, the adjacent St. Vincent de Paul parish church, the Casino Español, and Paco Park among others - in the list of “must-see” for a historic tourism itinerary.

Culture Interrupted: The DWU Museum In Retrospect

2008-01-21T18:40:00.000-08:00

by Raul Agner (9/07)

Twelve years ago, the Eastern Visayas saw the lamented closure of its largest university, the Divine Word University of Tacloban, an institution run by the SVD congregation. With it inevitably came the locking up of the Leyte-Samar Museum and Library, an integral part of the university, a helpful educational tool and an important repository of East Visayan heritage. Attempts to keep it open to the public in spite of the university's closure hit a snag. Budget for personnel and upkeep was simply hard to come by.
Unofficial sources say that today the collection remains intact and in fact could still be viewed albeit by appointment only. Which is good news, if true, for enthusiasts, students and serious researchers of local history and culture alike although nothing can be more ideal than a restoration of its regular or daily accessibility. With no solution in sight, crossing one's fingers appears to be the only alternative for the eventual full reopening of this painstakingly assembled labor of love also known as the DWU Museum.

Birth and Growth
The museum, which would have been 41 years old this year had it continued operating, opened on November 26, 1966 to fill up a cultural vacuum. Fr. Anthony Buchcik, SVD, a German priest assigned at the university's Graduate School had challenged his students to gather artifacts that, if pieced together, would tell the story of their culture. As if mortified that they were more conversant with Longfellow and Shakespeare than local writers or that they knew more about the Taj Mahal or the pyramids than their own past material culture, the students responded with an encouraging initial salvo. One came up with an antique stoneware jar. Several lugged along different old wooden santos to school. Still others presented Chinese ceramic wares, rare traditional household implements like a sandstone water filter, yellowing manuscripts of poems and short stories by vernacular authors and an array of gold thread-embroidered church vestments and vessels. In a few months, the pieces were numerous enough to be exhibited in their entire quaintness and historical richness in a one-room museum.
After the formal opening, more items kept coming in as news of the museum's acceptance of donations spread. A huge hardwood door panel depicting in high relief a purgatory scene was turned over, ushering in the arrival of two wheel bells that further increased the cache of religious items. Wartime artifacts like Gen. Carlos P. Romulo's flare gun, Pres. Sergio Osmeña's leather shoes, a Japanese bayonet and machine gun found their niches in the exhibition room. But the more significant acquisition was a portion of the archaeological finds from the Sohoton caves complex in nearby Basey, Samar. Karl Hutterer, SVD, head of the excavation team that conducted research in that area around 1968 generously donated funerary materials that included a calcified skull and another one with a flattened forehead. Also in that inventory were stone tools (adzes, flake tools), rust-eaten iron blades, personal ornaments made of shell, glass beads and metal, and gold-plated teeth. The whole package was a veritable gold mine of the region's pre-colonial practices. Animistic belief, for instance, was apparent in the phallus-shaped shell pendant worn by women to induce fertility. Personal ornaments and heirloom pieces like large bowls lying side by side with human bones were clues to the widespread custom of having the dead buried with their wealth to ensure comfort beyond the grave. Just how artistic the so-called Pintados (the ancient tattooed inhabitants of Leyte and Samar) appeared was indicated by the abundance of personal ornaments recovered from the diggings: rings, earrings, pendants, bracelets.

Literature Round-up
The gathering of literature about the region for the library section hauled in a slew of rare pieces. Among these were the original manuscripts of local literary luminaries of the '40s and '50s like Iluminado Lucente, Eduardo Makabenta, Francisco Alvarado, Casiano Trinchera, Jaime C. de Veyra and Vicente de Veyra, to name a few. Copies of rare publications were a prize catch: Eco de Samar y Leyte, the Philippine Commission Reports, the Henry Allen Papers and old Waray-Spanish dictionaries. Entrusted to the museum was the voluminous Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) memorabilia, a compilation of speeches, correspondence, legal documents, news clippings, photographs, cards and various items about this former Speaker of the House of Representatives from Leyte. One highly valued manuscript was the "Las Islas e Indios de Bisaya…1668" written by Spanish Jesuit missionary Francisco Ignacio Alcina. It is a lengthy and richly detailed description of the local flora, fauna and way of life of pre-Spanish inhabitants of Leyte and Samar supplemented with drawings the author himself made. A typewritten English translation by Cantius Kobak, OFM was donated by the translator himself, a Franciscan missionary who worked for some time at the Christ the King College in Calbayog City, Samar during the '70s.
Fr. Raymund Quetchenbach, SVD, an American, was the second curator of the Leyte-Samar Museum and Library. Growing by leaps and bounds under his care, it was allotted a special place in the main building. Fr. Quetch collected vintage photographs. He also edited the Leyte-Samar Studies journal and other university publications. It was during his stewardship that the DWU Museum Foundation, Inc. was established. Prof. Marlu Vilches took over Fr. Ray's responsibilities and came up with her own accomplishments, including the editing and publication of the book "Readings in Leyte-Samar History." This writer became the next curator in 1979 when Ms. Vilches left. In a year's time, the museum relocated to its new home at the third floor of the VOR Hall, a new building named after the university's first law dean Vicente Orestes Romualdez. Wide, airy and well lighted, the third floor had more than enough space for the office, library, main exhibit hall, temporary exhibit hall, memorabilia section, museum shop and storeroom.

Makeover
After some time, the museum had to take on a different tack. New approaches began ditching the idea of museums as mere repositories or showcases, adopting instead the view of a museum as a living extension and affirmation of a community's culture, identity and memory. Along that more culturally correct line, the DWU Museum underwent a makeover in 1991. Tapped to do the redesign were Bobi Valenzuela, writer and then curator of Hiraya Gallery in Manila and Manny Chaves, graphic designer and then assistant curator of Hiraya. Later, the artist Mario de Rivera lent his fine touch in the arrangement of objects. Several brainstorming sessions later, "Sungdu-an" materialized as a working theme and title. A Waray term that refers to "the meeting point of two rivers," it can as well be the equivalent of the more abstract "confluence." The designers capitalized on the richness of its meaning, design possibilities and its aptness as a metaphor. First, the flat whiteness or usually drab interior of museums was avoided. To breathe color into the DWU Museum, the local banig (mat), which symbolizes folk artistry, cultural resilience and confluence, was extensively used as a design motif. One sees them as timeline markers and wall accents. Utilizing the banig (a local craft that even the chronicler Pigafetta took notice of during Magellan's Homonhon Island landfall in 1521) created a light atmosphere redolent of a Pinoy fiesta. Secondly, several small platforms (painted with the colors of the banig together with the boxes and pedestals) were joined together to form a wide central platform on which the various artifacts were displayed chronologically and in a clockwise direction. Around the platform were the narrative texts. The entire layout allowed for a smooth segue from one historical period to the next and a visual crossover to the opposite side, thus, like the local mat, hinting at the "sungdu-an" or interweaving of historical periods, indigenous elements and foreign influences in the local culture.

Users and Researchers
Many people looking for cultural and historical information about the Eastern Visayas found them at the museum's library. Part of historian Rolly Borrinaga's background info on the "Balangiga Massacre" in Samar was researched in that library, (in the process stumbling upon his potentially controversial hypothesis that the redoubtable Lapu-lapu was possibly a Waray!) Poet-writers Vic Sugbo and Nino de Veyra extensively explored the nooks and crannies of vernacular writing in the works of Lucente, Makabenta and other Waray writers. Marlu Vilches used the Waray riddles collection for her University of Leeds M.A. in Literature thesis, later published in 1981 as "A Collection of Visayan Riddles from Leyte and Samar." Prof. Nenita Tamayo made the museum's collection of Waray proverbs the subject of her master's thesis. Gregg Luangco edited "Waray Literature: An Anthology of Leyte-Samar Writings" and "Kandabao: Essays on Waray Language, Literature, and Culture" both in 1982, two books sourced largely from the library's compilation. Local artists like the Atitipalo Art Group, whose artmaking sought inspirations from local history and culture, thankfully found the museum a rich source of texts and images. Leo Villaflor, known for his tuba paintings, used the file photos of Leyte's past governors for his oil portrait series. When the Pintados Foundation was planning the first Pintados Festival of Tacloban in 1987, the museum library's source materials on the early pintados proved very helpful. Countless other people did research in the museum's library.

Save the Heritage
Today one wonders where those who want to take a glimpse of Leyte-Samar's past (and its connection with the present) or those who need information on East Visayan history and culture go. Sure there are other museums in Leyte and Samar but none compares to the DWU Museum and Library collection's quantity and quality. U.P. College-Tacloban's Leyte-Samar Heritage Center has local literature and traditional implements in its collection. Imelda's expensive objet d'art are what the Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum in Tacloban keeps (or shows off). The Zaldivar Museum in Albuera town in Leyte is a family collection of heirlooms, travel souvenirs, antiques, ceramic wares and curiosities. In Calbayog City, Samar, the Christ the King College Museum has archaeological pieces, church articles, ceramic wares and various items from Samar but doesn’t have a library section that made the DWU Museum truly informational. Biliran town in the island province of Biliran is just starting a museum with a few artifacts gathered so far.
It's bad enough that people of Leyte, Samar and Biliran can't have ready access to their own heritage. Allowing that same heritage to deteriorate would be even worse. No one knows if the DWU Museum collection, since its closure in 1995, has been cleaned up or checked for damages or given preservation treatment. If not, then the materials are in danger of disintegrating due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors and eventually lost. It is high time that concerned individuals, cultural organizations, academic institutions, the provincial and city governments and government agencies in the region join hands and take action. Among the things they can work on are the museum's possible reopening to the public, making a digital version for easier access, having the status of the collection examined and even moving the collection to a better location. They can coordinate with the SVD congregation that legally still owns the collection.
It's the people though who are the real stakeholders. If the Waray people wake up one day and find their heritage missing, they will have no one to blame but themselves.

_________
The author is former curator of the DWU Museum of Tacloban from 1979 until its closure in 1995, current archivist at Adamson University and co-authored the coffee table book "Adamson University: 75 Touchstones at Year 75."

"Pag-ahon" (Ascendancy), 2005

2008-01-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

This is my 2005 drawing entitled "Pag-Ahon" (Ascendancy), a pen and ink drawing on paper using a pilot V-5 sign pen with Rotring ink on watercolor paper. The artwork is about choosing and going for the more important and substantial things in life as a key to our personal and national progress. If you remember the old coins that feature a Filipina holding a hammer beside an anvil as a symbol for industry, the image here is lifted from that. Here she is forging implements that have a practical use like long knives, plows, sickles, etc. At the same time, she is fashioning abstract geometric shapes that soar above to form a stylized star. This represents ideas, dreams, aspirations which are equally important. The figure she is stepping on is bubbleman, a symbol of futility and senselessness. The banig pattern is my personal motif taken from the colorful mats (banig) that Leyte and Samar, the region I come from, is known for.

"Pag-ahon" (Ascendancy), 24" x 18," Artist's Collection

Fishballs For The Adamsonian Soul

2008-01-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

Raul Agner (11/2/2006)

"The Best Things In Life Are Free" is the title of a 1956 musical film and a 1992 Janet Jackson-Luther Vandross hit song.
But most especially, it's an enduring catchword, a wise reminder that even without shelling out cash, many good things come our way or that money can't buy many of life's essentials.
Free Things Around
That slogan rings true in Adamson University, a veritable grab bag of "freebies" that appear to have been dropped from above though no one asked for them. By some measure they may not be the best but they are free nonetheless for everyone to savor. Not that the university enjoys a special treatment from heaven's dispensers of graces, because many of these can also be found in other places. It's only a matter discovering and realizing that they've been there all these years and appreciating their real value.

Such as the trees inside the campus that play their roles quietly: as giver of cool shade, as recycler of San Marcelino's toxic emissions into breathable oxygen or as pliant sculptural forms adding pleasant aesthetics to the campus landscape (that’s multi-tasking long before humans adopted it in the workplace!). Often, they would send a short message, in the shedding of a leaf, that life is a cycle of endings and beginnings, of change and renewal.

Imposing and postcard-perfect, the SV building is another free thing we enjoy. One can simply feel good in its hallowed halls or one's sagging spirits can find solace in the beauty and strength of its neoclassical architecture that at the same time evokes endurance and tenacity. Its rich history gives the Adamsonian a sense of pride and lets him bask in an inherited glory. It would be nice to wrap the building like a gift, because it is, (the way the installation artist-couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude did with the Reichstag in Berlin and other structures), if only to dramatize its significance.

Other good things are found in the campus. Tinted glass doors can double as instant mirrors for walk-by grooming. Those craving for mental nourishment have the numerous journals and magazines in the library to pig out on. The throbbing dynamism of student activities fires up anyone's passion for life. In corridors and walkways, the congenial smile people flash makes your day a tad bearable. The big-crowd anonymity gives one a kind of psychological security cloak; and in the ethereal serenity of the chapel, one can feel the reassuring presence of the Maker …and Freegiver.

Person- Gifts
But more important are people who make a difference in your quotidian living. And they are for free at all times. There’s the kind classmate who helps out with your problems. There's the restroom cleaner that makes our answering to nature's calls a pleasant trip to an almost clinically sterile spot. Not to mention the roving security person who gets out of his way to maintain order or help people locate a classroom or office. Of course no one can ignore the traffic aide who risks health, life and limb so Adamsonians can reach the other side of the street intact.

This inventory and hundreds of other examples, enough to fill a book, point out only one fact: in our university, free gifts - big or small things and nice people - abound. No need to be extraordinarily perspicacious to sense their presence; only those in hopelessly irreversible “eyes-wide-shut” mode won't notice. A line in a song says, “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone." Knowing and valuing the free things and people around us lessens the chance of losing them.

In reality, when we come to think of it, each one of us is a gift. Every person can give or share himself or his gifts with others, a "person-gift." A community made up of mutually and freely giving “person-gifts" is an ideal groundwork for a socially oriented institution like Adamson.

In whatever form and quantity the free gift comes, it nourishes our souls to some degree, the way fishballs, a snack staple for many Adamsonians, succeeds in sustaining an empty stomach up until the next full meal, or even if none, comes.

AdU @ 75

2008-01-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

AdU @ 75: Passage and Transition
Raul Agner

Forbidding and ugly, the massive wall in front of the SV building has been finally demolished, replaced with a grill fence that allows for appreciation of the SV building façade's full neoclassical glory. The inspiring view should awaken a sense of pride in every Adamsonian who takes his Alma Mater seriously.
To the unfamiliar, its fresh coat of paint makes the structure look so new and recently built it seems to belie a storied past. Its colonial period architecture helps to correct this wrong impression and establishes the SV building's true historical age. But it's not only the building that can boast of a history, for the whole university itself can.
At 75, Adamson University is one humongous storybook about passage, transition, and transformation. Over time, it has changed location, physical facilities, administration, institutional vision, and educational orientation. In the process, it has reinvented itself; more importantly, it has transformed lives and hopes to do so for as long as it lives.

An Itinerant School
1932 is the year of the one-room beginning in Sta. Cruz, Manila - captured in an extant sepia picture with all of 42 pioneering enrollees and the Adamsons packed together with a handful of chem lab equipment. Very seminal, a world removed from the numerous air-conditioned rooms and spacious labs available to the modern-day Adamsonian.
A month past its first founding anniversary, it moved to a better location in 1933, the first in a series of three nomadic transfers. Along General Solano St., San Miguel, Manila stood the baroque three-story building where students enjoyed more elbowroom for doing experiments and schoolwork. The place, though, couldn’t be big enough just yet. In 1939, a larger building in Intramuros became the school's third stop, where it attained university status in 1941. The new university found a permanent home along San Marcelino Street in 1946, re-opening in the SV building after a war that left a wake of destruction. From thereon, AdU was on a roll, crossing San Marcelino to acquire the Meralco building and its annexes and the whole St. Theresa's College - Manila campus.

Physical Facilities
Several buildings stand in the campus, with the iconic SV getting stellar billing. But while other schools erected buildings cumulatively on a sprawling field, Adamson did not. Except for the Ozanam (Engineering) and Francis Regis Clet (High School and Elementary), the rest are hand-me-downs - having had previous owners and uses but reused for educational purposes. The long one-story structure, old chem lab to many, that is now used for classrooms, offices, carpentry shop, university store and computer labs was the tranvia's pre-war Manila depot, the street railway system operated by Meralco. In the 60's, Meralco put up a main office building in front of it. That is now the CS or Cardinal Santos building. What also used to be a seminary and central house of the Congregation of the Mission (C.M.) is now the SV building. Except for some minor makeover, the STC-M cluster was the easiest to reuse because it was previously also a school.

Administration
From the Greeks to the Spaniards to the Filipinos - the ownership-administration succession follows that order. George Lucas Adamson, a chemist from Athens was the sole founder, some sort of reverse OCW who found the proverbial greener pastures in our land. He later invited his cousins, the brothers Alexander Athos Adamson and George Athos Adamson, to work in the school. Had the Filipinos heeded that line from the classics about fearing the Greeks even if they're bearing gifts, Adamson University wouldn’t be around today. When the C.M. assumed ownership, the Spanish Vincentians became the next set of administrators, with some Filipino confreres as understudy. Expectedly, the institution shifted from being a secular to a Catholic-Vincentian one. Upon the Spanish Vincentians' gradual return to Spain, the Filipinos became the new administrators.

Institutional Vision
To teach Filipinos how to make soap, salt, sugar and other products through a short training in industrial chemistry and to help the country manufacture local raw materials-based products was the goal of the Adamsons when they opened a school. Later they would have the broader vision of offering especially engineering and a mainly technical college education.
That of the Vincentians didn’t come from any hip advocacy but was anchored on their motto: the evangelization of the poor. To offer affordable quality education especially to the socially disadvantaged was the school's new vision, a war cry if you will, because providing education is a way of waging war on poverty. Consequently, Adamson continued to be one of the least expensive schools, made available many scholarships and strengthened the study grant program for student assistants.
At close range, one notices the parallelism of the Greek and Vincentian visions. Both looked upon education as key to attaining a better quality of life.

Educational Orientation
More recently, the administration has redirected the purely technical orientation of the students, veering to a more holistic one. Total development of the human person through a comprehensive cultural program is being pursued. Among the giant steps in this direction are: the establishment of the Cultural Affairs Office, the makeover of the theater, the opening of an art gallery, the recognition of several culturally-oriented student organizations, the opening of the university archives, the opening of the school's permanent history and memorabilia exhibit, the purchase of new books on literature and the arts, the installation of three plasma TVs in strategic areas playing videos on school history and activities, the much-improved library, the facelifting of facilities for a more aesthetic ambience - with a fountain and palm trees, the ST Quad looks more relaxing - and many other enriching servings.

Transformed Lives
That a tree is known by its fruits may sound jaded but the success stories of many alumni reflect the kind of tree that Adamson University is. It is one enduring institution that is faithful to its vision and mission and transforms lives by doing so. From schooldays struggles to rewarding careers, from being nameless to being known, from meager resources to abundant blessings - alumni homecomings are punctuated by falcon-like soars like these. Not only that, they walk the Adamsonian-Vincentian talk, extending their success beyond their personal boundaries. They support scholarships, sponsor school improvement projects, employ Adamsonians in their companies, involve themselves in their communities, serve in their parishes and help empower the poor. In short, they continue the cycle of sharing the benefits of their success, albeit in a low profile manner, hewing to the pay-it-forward ethic of their Adamson education.

Cuing The Future
February 5-11, 2007 was the weeklong celebration of the Diamond Jubilee. Within that week, many significant activities and events took place. A marker from the National Historical Institute declaring the whole university a historical site was unveiled. With its colorful past, there's no doubt that the university deserves the honor. It's another feather on its cap but one more reason for it not to rest on its laurels.
And so, as the new Jubilee sculpture (unveiled in the same week) cues, the transgenerational passage of the school will continue. St. Vincent de Paul, C.M. founder and university Patron Saint and George Lucas Adamson, school founder, are shown in the mis-en-scene as giving a young man and a little girl that precious legacy called an Adamsonian-Vincentian education. Two streams becoming one river on which young people sail to fulfil their dreams.
As history would have it, the one-room experiment became a full-blown project. Today it is an exciting work in progress, holding a lot of promise for the future.

Welcome!

2008-01-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

welcome everyone. to have room to share my articles, artworks, photos, thoughts, etc., that's the reason i am having this blog. the big picture on this page is that of my pen and ink drawing entitled "bubbleman: off course." you can have your own interpretation of it. the picture on my profile is another drawing called "asinus asinum fricat." again you can figure out what it is all about.
"egotrikk," the blog title is a re-spelling of "ego trick," a title of another artwork which started my "taong bula" or bubbleman series of artworks featuring a soap-bubble-spewing pinoy archetypal fool as my metaphor for all the futile and senseless things that continue to hamper our national and personal lives. unfortunately, i don't have a photo of it at the moment.
the articles i write are mostly about adamson university where i have a regular job as an archivist. if you are an alum or a student of that school, chances are you could be interested in reading them. of course i write on other subjects too.
as for the photos, no promises but i'll try to share those that are worth sharing.

again, welcome!