James Soriano and his mother language

Poor thing. My thoughts are with James Soriano and how he must be feeling now with all the flak he's gotten and still getting with his essay Language, learning, identity, privilege that has since been taken down from Manila Bulletin.

Even my 14-year old son got so upset with his article I actually encouraged him to post a comment. But that was before I got to read what he had to say. And now that I've actually read his essay, I think he was gravely misunderstood. Admittedly, I started fuming when he started to sound elitist and high-nosed but simmered down when he faulted himself for not being Filipino enough - Only recently have I begun to grasp Filipino as the language of identity: the language of emotion, experience, and even of learning. And with this comes the realization that I do, in fact, smell worse than a malansang isda. My own language is foreign to me. And before that he wrote: There are ideas and concepts unique to Filipino that can never be translated into another. Try translating bayanihan, tagay, kilig or diskarte. I could add more to this list but that would be for another time.

I share Butch Dalisay's view. James should have stopped at this point. Having said that, I think what James needs now is to get out of the country, which I'm sure his parents can afford, and prove his perception of the English language and see if it truly is the "language of the learned". Because I can't say the same given where I am now.

"Trial by Jury" convention

Before leaving the Philippines, I was helping advocate for the adoption of trial by jury  into the country's judicial system.

I have since left the group but following years of ground work, advocates now led by my good friend Megs Relente, have incorporated and now call themselves Kamalayan sa Katarungan ng Lahing Kayumanggi, Inc. They are organizing their first convention to formally open the discussion towards changing the judicial system. 

The convention is entitled Trial By Jury in the Philippines with the theme TRIAL by JURY : A STEP TOWARDS A BETTER PHILIPPINES and will be held on 9 June 2011 at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon Avenue. Registration fee is 1000PhP. Early bird discount of 800Php will be available until 27 May.

I won't even begin to discuss the benefits of a jury system because it's best left to the experts, but seeing how judges fear for their lives when presiding over controversial criminal trials and not to mention accusations of graft and corrupt practices of these men and women in robes, I believe having a jury is the best way of handing out justice.

The red book

Three girls approached me at the info desk.

"We're looking for a book." said Girl 1.

"What's the code?" Girl 2 asked Girl 3. "I don't know", said Girl 3.

I walk up to them and asked what they were looking for. 

"It's a book on event management", said Girl 1. 

I went to the OPAC and made a search for books on event management - search results 50 titles. "Who's the author?", I asked them.


"I have no idea." Said Girl 1. As I was scrolling down the search results, their eyes glued to the screen, Girl 2 exclaims, "It's a red book!" (They were looking at the screen shots of book covers next to the titles.)


"Wait, wait. I'll go ask my friend." Said Girl 1.


"Don't worry about it!" Girl 1 told me from a distance. "My friend's got it!", then waves the book at me. 


The book's cover? Black.