Laughter by Maningning Miclat

Laughter by Maningning Miclat speaks about a difficulty Maningning has experienced. It is about how she fought for her love. They experienced problems but Maningning always laughed and laughed. Maybe it is a way Maningning used in order to forget all those bad memories; on the other hand, her loved one misunderstood her and thus left her. This poem consists of irony which were used and carefully chosen. This adds to the beauty and flow of the poem. Overall it is a good and nice poem to read.

img src: http://www.maningning.com/home.htm

Tanaga

img source:http://nicole0525.deviantart.com/art/Lone-rose-4619493

The flowers dance with the breeze,
I touch one gently, it falls down.
The little flower still lives on,
Braves the wind and learns to move on.

Estrella Alfon's Servant Girl

Estrella Alfon's "Servant Girl" speaks about a girl named Rosa who serves for a mistress. It was there where she experienced different trials and experiences that showed how her life as a servant is.

This story showed how a servant faces the challenges in each day that pass - teasing of other people, maltreatment of their bosses, and seeing them as low people. Estrella Alfon also used an image in her story which was portrayed by Angel, or later we known as Pedro, the cochero who helped Rosa in her injury and also in her duty. This image of Angel was the only thing that traveled along Rosa's mind that she felt that this Angel was there even if he was not. She thinks that this Angel will always be there to help her in times of troubles. What Rosa discovered in the end is that this Angel of hers who she thought of as an ideal person was not the way it was. It was also this Angel who returned her back to the place she does not want to go anymore which is the mistress' house.

The story of the Servant Girl is a good story that shows reality on its own simple ways.


Image Source:
http://www.sushidog.com/bpss/stories/servant.htm

Filipino Pride

BIENVENIDO SANTOS

A novelist, short story writer, poet, and activist, Santos's early writings were in the English language he learned at school, Tondo (the language of his mother's songs at home), and Tagalog (the native language of the Philippines). In 1932, he earned a B.A. from the University of the Philippines. Under the Philippine Pensionado program (a continuation of the U.S. one begun in 1903), Santos came to the University of Illinois for a master's degree in English. Later he studied at Harvard, Columbia, and, as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow, at the University of Iowa. His first two novels, Villa Magdalena and The Volcano, were published in the Philippines in 1965. Santos became an American citizen in 1976. One year later, the Marcos regime banned his novel about government corruption, The Praying Man, and he and his wife remained in San Francisco. Scent of Apples (1980), his only book to be published in the United States, won the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. He wrote more than a dozen books about exiles in both of his adopted countries, including the short story collections including You Lovely People (1955) and Brother, My Brother (1960).


(Source: factmonster.com.ph: People. 2000. Web. 24 June 2009.
<http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0880711.html>.)

Image Source: http://www.thewilyfilipino.com/images/santos.jpg



FRANCISCO SIONIL JOSE

Francisco Sionil Jose has been called a Philippine national treasure. Born on December 3, 1924 in Rosales, Philippines, he was introduced to literature in public school and later at the University of Santo Tomas. While working as a journalist in Manila, he moonlighted writing short stories and eventually novels. In the late fifties Jose founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization of poets, playwrights, and novelists. In 1965 he started his own publishing house SOLIDARIDAD, and a year later he began publishing the remarkable Solidarity, a journal of current affairs, ideas, and arts, still going strong today.

Jose wrote in English rather than in his national language Tagalog, or his native language Illocano. In 1962 he published his first novel The Pretenders. Today his publications include twelve novels, seven books of short stories, a book of verse, and five important books of essays. His works are available in 28 languages. He has been awarded numerous fellowships and awards, most notable being the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the most prestigious award of its kind in Asia, and most recently, and the 2004 Pablo Neruda Centennial Award from Chile.


(Source: me.uvic.ca.com: Francisco Sionil Jose.Web. 24 June 2009.
<http://www.me.uvic.ca/~art/afsj.html>.)

Image Source: <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2cJ6gOF8zV1bUKcvwkDBoRPMwKQB3vxx5pa_Xy8GO8_hdCDRtVppRcj015vjWskPaUy2zm_0a6GIxVLRcaUh9n35fG0FkTLXVZGWDudh9lVXUqLorIDJQZ_Zj-Dr_aWhQ-e68_l_2HRg/s1600-h/fsj.jpg>

Literature in our midst

I see Literature as a growing seedling. It all started as a seed planted in a rich soil which then grew and developed into a young plant, hoping that it will become a mighty tree someday. Literature started way before and still continues to grow and live alongside with us. With the help of the writers as the light, and their experiences and emotions that pursued them, the seeds became cherished and loved by many. Though present in different forms, it is still understood by many because what matters is not the way it was done, but what content and message it portraits. When the right time comes, these seedlings will to turn to trees; trees that give life to us. Literature develops not only ourselves but also the people who makes it a part of themselves.

Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_johnson/3464744502/