A GRAPHIC NOVEL BY ARNOLD ARRE IS OUT

Hi, class. Hope you're all doing well... There is a graphic novel that just came out, but if you want to get a copy, you'll have to go to QC, i think, or purchase it online or through a bank. It is not yet available on local bookstores. Anyway, the title is Martial Law Babies by Arnold Arre. It's a graphic novel, so I think manga fans would love it. Arnold Arre is by the way one of the best local graphic artist/writers we have in the country. Check out his website at www.arnold-arre.com... God bless.

Ma'am Joan

Thank you so much, class...

Hi... I'm still alive and cramming as usual. I'm trying to beat the deadline for the submission of grades tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll have your grades posted just in time.... I'm going through your blog posts now, and I'm almost half-way through. But before I fall off my chair from drowsiness, I want to say thank you so much for making this past term meaningful for me. Since the term is over, and I hope I don't see you guys again next term (in Hum 014;P), I can reveal my secret to you... Huddle up(:P). I was really nervous to teach this course; I hope that wasn't too obvious whenever I step into the classroom. You can just imagine the amount of preparation I put into our every class discussion to at least show some amount of mastery on the topics we will be covering. I ask the experts around (special thanks to Ma'am Dianne and Ma'am Recillo); I read as much as I can. In fact, I was so anxious about our course that I think I wasn't able to handle the other subjects I'm teaching well. I think the effort was well worth it though because reading the essays you have written and seeing the results of your final exam make me think that you got something from our sessions. And I have to thank you for that as well. If not for the witty observations and reactions you have shared in class, I don't think we would have reached this level of intellectual maturity (naks!). And class, I seldom become this emotional to my students, but I have to admit that I will really miss you. I don't do well on outward manifestation of affection, but I'll treasure our class interactions in my heart.

I owe my dedication to two professors that I have had: Ma'am Jurilla and Dr. Lua. They are my models of what an exemplary teacher is. I learned a lot from them because they really exerted an effort to make me learn. So you have them to thank also.

It's almost midnight, so I gotta go back to checking your blog posts. Let's keep in touch. God bless!!!

(I hope the rumor that they are planning to remove Phil. Lit. in English from the new curriculum doesn't push through...;( )

Ma'am Joan

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies on Monday, August 17, 2009

Hi, class. The ribbon-cutting ceremonies will push through on Monday, 1pm, at the ET Yuchengco lobby. For those who are free by 11:30, please drop by at the 2ndfloor faculty room to help me in the arrangements. If I'm not there, I'll mostprobably be at the ET Yuchengco lobby. I have already invited the available teachers to grace the event.I have talked to Prof. Cora Vergara already, and she gave permission to excuse Jet and all the others from the physics lab on Monday, from 1 to 1:30 pm. Hopefully, the ceremony will not run longer than that. I didn't want to trouble the other teachers anymore since I know a lot of us are rushing on the lessons since the finals week is fast approaching... For the rest, if you're free, just please drop by. God bless us.

For the group of Jet Bodoso in A14, please see the file of your script that Ihave uploaded here. Please start memorizing your lines. Thanks.

Ma'am Joan

TANAGA RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONIES RESCHEDULED FOR THE LAST TIME

For the nth time, the ribbon-cutting ceremonies will be on Monday, 1PM, August 17, 2009, instead. I shall be inviting the faculty members and the admin people to grace the event. I'm sending the invitation after I post this message, so there'll be no taking it back. I hope more students can come by this time. I'll see you at the ET Yuchengco lobby, okay? The programme is still the same. Opening prayer shall be led by Lara Vizarra, Intoduction of the Tanaga shall be Harpst, and the short message on poetry shall be Jethro Bodoso. I'll get another student from A14, to balance the number of participants in the programme. Then we'll play the recording of your poetry readings. God bless us.

I'll see most of you...

JOAN

Change of Ribbon-cutting ceremonies schedule again...

Sorry, class, for the postponement of the ribbon-cutting ceremonies again. Let's move it to Saturday, 12nn instead. Final answer.:) I'll post the invites to the teacher tomorrow. I'm having the recording of our poetry reading edited, hopefully by Saturday, it will be ready. I hope Mark Lester will be able to do wonders on it. For the programme, let's have this tentative line-up:

OPENING PRAYER: LARA VIZARRA
BRIEF INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE TANAGA: JOHN VICTOR HARPST/ JETHRO BODOSO
TO INRODUCE THE COMPILATION OF POETRY READINGS
& TO THANK THE PEOPLEWHO GRACED THE EVENT: JOAHNA EDUARTE

I hope this is okay with you guys... By the way, for A15, bring the final scripts of the plays tomorrow, and please reproduce copies of it for your groupmates, then just ask them to pay for the photocopies. This way you can all review the scripts and revise them accordingly. Please photocopy the scripts before the start of our class. Reproduce them according to the number of characters that you will be needing. And I hope you have read Conrado de Quiros's column today in Phil. dily Inquirer.

God bless, class. Be ready for our quiz.

Ma'am Joan

CHANGE OF SCHEDULE FOR THE RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONIES AND OTHER STUFF

Class, IF YOU HAVE TIME, PLEASE DROP BY AT THE ET YUCHENGCO LOBBY ON FRIDAY, 12NN, FOR THE RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONIES OF OUR MINI-EXHIBIT. I decidd to postpone it because I'm still trying to find a way how we can improve on the recording of your poetry reading. If there's anybody who can do it, please let me know. I will also invite the available faculty members to grace the event. Let's prepare a programme when we meet in class.

BTW, regarding your one-act plays, I just learned from our Dean that if we want to use the auditorium for our performances, we should schedule them not later than August 22, 2009, which is next Saturday already. This is because we cannot hold anymore activities at the auditorium the week before the finals. I think that's to help the students concentrate on their academic review. Plus, if we hold it in the auditorium, there are the sounds, lights, and other things that we have to take care of. You will also be preparing your props. The alternative venue is the multi-purpose hall. That's the room across the auditorium. I have told you before that I have seen plays performed in smaller rooms, pretty much the size of that hall. Let's talk about this more inside the class. Perhaps, we can delay the discussion of the novel until the 11th week to give way to the rehearsals of your plays. The scripts have to be done this week so that the practice can commence next week...

Aside from this, I also learned from Prof. Dinne that Letran Calamba is staging a musical play this Thursday and Friday. The play starts at 6PM, and the tickets cost P100 each. It's too late to make arrangements now, but you can go there on your own. Let's talk about this more, again, during our class. If you're interested, ask permission from your parents already. Remember, if you do decide to go, you'll be going with your friends, and not with me although I might see it on either of the two performance dates...

That's it. I guess. I hope this message of mine doesn't get erased because the first one did. God bless, class.

Ma'am Joan

Burried in a mound of papers
Crawling like worms into my skin
Peeling me off, layer by layer
Flesh starts to dismember
Exposing the fragile bone within

Class, this is me, getting gory every second...
Eyes wide with panic with the mounting papers...
and blog entries:P to check...

Hehe. Anyway, for A15, get ready for our quiz tomorrow. Regarding your Tanagas, I'll try to look into them later tonight. But I think it's better if we can discuss it with each other personally because it is sometimes difficult to find the words to faithfully convey the thoughts running through my mind especially when you are not present to explain your reason for choosing certain words over others... (Nagpapalusot...) My husband is already here. I need to accompany him to the doctor, so 'til later... Hopefully:P

God bless. See you!

SCHEDULE OF FIRST LONG EXAM

BTW Class, our first long exam will be on Saturday, July 11, 2009. That will cover everyhting we discussed from the start and an analysis of a short story, not the ones we have discussed in class. Thanks. God bless!!!

DOUBLE WHAMMY!!!

Hi, class. This is still related to the never-ending case of Manuel Arguilla. I think it is problematic to classify his works as purely art for art’s sake because his subjects later on took a different route; he started depicting life in the city or slums in his later stories. Also, his stories “Midsummer” and “How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife” faithfully capture the life of rural folks even as he makes use of vivid and sensuous language. In fact, Arcellana said that Arguilla used English “as if it were a Philippine dialect – so adequately does he find it for his purpose.” He was what could be considered to be the perfect embodiment of a balance between the formalist and socialist style. (We were neither right nor wrong after all… lusot…) Perhaps, I’ll let you be the judge. Try reading Arguilla’s works, and know for yourselves. I guess, this is the easier way out for me:P

In class, we maintain appearances. :P Here’s to more fruitful and argumentative discussions in the future. You can always question my statements, class. Let’s have a real discourse.

PS.
Your assignment on archetypes has been uploaded in our yahoo group. I changed some of the items. Please check it out. Write your own interpretations. Thanks. God bless.

THE PRETENDERS IS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BOOKSTORE

Class, the book "The Pretenders" is already available at our bookstore. The copies will be on shelf this week. Any unpurchased copies might be pulled out the following week, so I suggest you buy your copies immediately. I think the book is priced at P230 each. Thanks.

RE: GROUP ACTIVITY FOR MY FATHER GOES TO COURT

Class, we'll do the diagram exercise on Carlos Bulosan's My Father Goes to Court inside the classroom instead. But (For A15), if you have already prepared the powerpoint presentation, you may still present that in class. For the rest, please bring a cartolina or manila paper and some pentel pens. The reason for the change in instructions is we ran out of time in my other secton (A15), and I wasn't able to group the class. So for both sections, please bring the materials I mentioned, and as much as possible, answer the questions about the material, which I have uploaded in the FILE section of our yahoo groups, to prepare you for the presentation of analysis next meeting.

Thank you. And start reading Nick Joaquin's "Summer Solstice". God bless!

OOOOPS....

Hi, Class... This message goes to A15... I just realized when I had already left the classroom the blunder I committed when I said that Arguilla falls under Art for Man's Sake. He actually belongs to the tradition of Villa who believes on Art for Art's Sake. Villa's works, as exemplified by Midsummer and How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife, depicts the life in the countryside with the exactness and "luminosity" characteristic of Amorsolo paintings. However, unlike F. Sionil Jose or Bulosan, his stories, at least the ones I mentioned, do not advocate for change in society,which as we discussed, is the primary concern of artists espousing Salvador P. Lopez's literary thrust...

I'll talk more about this in class... I just can't let the day pass by without clearing up the mess I had made. I am more lucid now:P

God bless... and sorry for the confusion. Thank you

COMPILATION OF READING MATERIALS

For those who don't know yet, I already left copies of your reading materials with the 2nd floor photocopying machine operator. That's where you can get a copy of carlos bulosan's my father goes to court. thanks

NEW INSTRUCTIONS

There's no need for you to post your photos on the comments section of our class blog since blogger doesn't seem to have the feature which allows that. Just post the pictures on your own blog, and we'll just look into them Thanks.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT

For your next entry, choose two among the authors whose works we will discuss in class (Carlos Bulosan, Estrella Alfon, Bienvenido Santos, Nick Joaquin, Jessica Zafra, Conrado De Quiros, F. Sionil Jose, Marjorie Evasco, Francis Macasantos...) . Link a picture of them to your entry and write a one-paragraph entry citing their significant contributions to the development of Philipine Literature in English. This is due on Friday, June 26, 2009. Please always cite your sources. Place the web address in parenthesis at the end of your paragraph or indicate the book/ other sources this way:

BOOK: AUTHOR. BOOK TITLE. PLACE OF PUBLICATION:PUBLISHER, DATE OF PUBLICATION.

(Source: Lumbera, Bienvenido and C. Lumbera. Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology. Manila: Anvil, 2005.)

WEB RESOURCE: AUTHOR (if available). WEBPAGE TITLE. DATE OF WEBPAGE. Web. DATE ACCESSED. .

(Source: Panitikan.com.ph: Your Portal to Philippine Literature. 2005. Web. 21 June 2009. <http://panitikan.com.ph/authors/a/laarceo.html>.)

Indicate also the source of your photos, so I'll know whether you uploaded them from the web, or took them yourself. Start reading "My Father Goes to Court" by Carlos Bulosan; we will begin discussing it this week.

Moreover... congratulations class!!! I enjoy reading your blog entries... although, of course, some can be further improved... Also, you have to write in English because ours is still an English class. Thanks. God bless.

CLARIFICATIONS ABOUT MY INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT

You have to choose a picture representative of your perception about what literature is. You have to upload or post this photo in the comments section of my first entry. You also need to post the same photo in your blog. Why am I asking you to do this? It's to save us time in viewing the photos when we look at them during our class. Just make sure you state your name and your section together with the picture. You don't have to add any explanation with the photo when you post it in the comments section. You can do that in your own blog.

I hope this clears up everything... See you all in class. God bless.

FOR THE FIRST ONES TO BLOG...

To Leah - There seems to be something wrong with your blog because whenever I try to press on the link I made in the blog list, a prompt to save the file appears... Or it could just be me...

Anyway, for the first people to create a blog, thanks, nice job, although I'm a little freaked out with Harps'ts entry and picture in the profile:) But that's a good way to see literature, it does free up the mind... Btw, the first three get additional points...

MISSED YOU GUYS...

I'm sorry for missing our class, got tonsillitis... No, harpst, it's not ah1n1, thank God. Well, we'll see each other in class soon. I hope you already have a copy of our readings. I left it around 5pm yesterday at the 2nd floor xerox machine operator. Sorry, couldn't do it sooner... Be prepared for a recitation on our next meeting about what you discussed in class with Prof. Siriban. Take good care, all of you. God bless.

A BAPTISM OF FIRE:)

Hi, class. This is the blog I was talking to you about. You are all required to check out the entries in this blog regularly and post in the comments section of the related entry the photos which you have personally taken. These photos must be symbolic of a significant part of the respective reading material. Please be reminded that only one photo for each student for every reading material is required. Always provide your name and your section when making a post for identification and proper grading. Further details shall be given in class.

Aside from this blog, we also have a yahoo group which shall contain important presentations, files, announcements, and other resources. You are highly encouraged to join our group. Here is the address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hum014_12009-10eduarte. The group name is hum014_12009-10eduarte. I will also be providing a link to the group in the links section of this blog.

Please be reminded that you have to create a blog specifically for our course. Your blog will largely be a PHOTO BLOG which means it should contain mostly photos and minimal text. The photos that you will be uploading in the comments section of our blog are NOT supposed to contain any text except for your name and section. Just make sure that you are posting on the relevant entry or literary piece. You can reserve your three to four-sentence-explanation on your own blog. Everybody is also highly encouraged to comment on the blogs of your classmates to make our blogging and learning experience more fruitful.

Upon creation of your personal blog, please e-mail your name, section, and blog address to me at jteduarte@mcl.edu.ph so that I can include it in my blog roll. Think about your BLOG TITLE well as this will signify your perception about the course. Create a profile, too, or a short description of yourself, and upload a photo of yourself or representative of yourself in the profile section of the blog. For your first entry, post a photo, which you personally took or was taken from the web or somewhere else, that is representative of your perception about LITERATURE: what it is, and why is it important? Include a one paragraph explanation. This is due before our third meeting, which means I should have received your e-mail containing your blog’s address at least a day before, the earlier the better. Create your blog using BLOGGER.COM since that is also what I’m using. You don’t have to pay for anything to create one.

I hope I am not daunting you this early with this task that I am requiring from you. The Internet has become so integrated in the lives of people now, that we cannot ignore its use in classroom learning. This is also a sign of how exciting our class will be, not without your enthusiastic contribution, of course. And it is my fervent hope that through our course and class discussions, we will indeed be able to MAGNIFY the excellence, the superb artistry and intellect, of our FILIPINO authors. It is also my wish that our course will spark an interest among those who have never laid their hands or eyes on literature before.

(If there is anything unclear about my instructions here, please feel free to comment on this entry, e-mail me, or approach me personally. Thank you. God bless to us.)