Though it was published in the 112th founding anniversary supplement of The Manila Times last October 11, the online version of the first article--the one with my byline, to be exact--I wrote for the newspaper only appeared yesterday. Below are the introductory paragraphs:
In one of the graduate-level literature courses I enrolled in several years ago at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, I remember award-winning author and critic Dr. Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo exalting the country's creative writers with a statement that I believe still holds true today. Writers, she asserted then, serve as the "memory of the [Filipino] nation."
I think this can also be applied, to a certain extent, to other artists--actors, dancers, filmmakers, musicians, painters, sculptors--working today. The techniques and the technologies available today may be more sophisticated, even innovative; but observers would nonetheless point out how many of our artists--the older ones, especially--continue to draw inspiration from the past, or at least aspects of it. This is hardly surprising, considering how easily we seem to forget our history. In our country, art not only serves to entertain and enlighten, but also to remember.The rest of the article can be accessed here.
