interPRETENDERS.

The Pretenders by F. Sionil Jose

I'm not really in to it. reading this novel is very boring at first, and mind you that i did not really finishing reading all the chapters. but, understanding the whole story from the discussions on our class and from all the presentations. while reading the Choragus makes me more interested though. the story talks about lots of different stories. i mean different themes as what you have understand it in different perspective. there is this two characters namely, Antonio Samson and Carmen Villa, which took the role of the poor and the rich. this two people can be describe as round or dynamic characters. and as what I've noticed it doesn't contain just one kind of story. it even talk about not only their relationship but, shows the situation of the country before and actually up to the present. they even uses business and history to strengthen the idea's.

A very creative mind of what F. Sionil has. when i listen to the reports of my classmates and because of our discussions, it makes me react like "ahhh!" or "owhh" very funny though. but it makes me feel what do i have to do change our life, makes all things equal, and what can i do fo the betterment of our society. i don't want to end my life just because i can help my self or the people around me sacrificing their selves for equality among men.

The Class (Essay)

It is indeed a one hell of a term. honestly, i did'nt enjoy even a single meeting, maybe. and
i'm the only Alpha batch in our class, its difficult to cooperate or socialize with the class.
but, so glad that Prof. J. Toledo-Eduarte handled our class. because of her the time run faster than i could ever imagine. there is this time where i wanted to cut class, but thank god i did'nt.

lovebirds

Playing around, flying above the cypress trees
together build the nest of their dreams
twittering, tickling as if there's no tomorrow

always staying beside, protecting from enemy's claw

Estrella Alfon's Servant girl

The story of Estrella Alfon is very Filipino, the setting, the theme and how the story goes.
for me its very simple because its like the same movies that I've watched especially local films, which there is this "Bida" that is always struggling and facing lots and lots of problems.

and also, there is this guy who helped the "Bida" and the "bida" dreamed to see the hero of her or what so ever.

for me nothings special.

2nd Post: Filipino Authors

Carlos Bulosan was born in the Philippines in the rural farming village of Mangusmana, near the town of Binalonan (Pangasinan province, Luzon island). He was the son of a farmer and spent most of his upbringing in the countryside with his family. Like many families in the Philippines, Carlos’s family struggled to survive during times of economic hardship.

The discrimination and unhealthy working conditions Carlos had experienced in many of his workplaces encouraged him to participate in union organizing with other Filipinos and various workers. Carlos become a self-educated and prolific writer determined to voice the struggles he had undergone as a Filipino coming to America and the struggles he had witnessed of other people. Like many of his fellow Filipinos in his time, Carlos never had the opportunity to return to the Philippines. After years of hardship and flight, he passed away in Seattle suffering from an advanced stage of bronchopneumonia. He is buried at Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.

(source: Panitikan.com.ph: Your Portal to Philippine Literature. 2009. Web. 25 June 2009 http://www.bulosan.org/html/bulosan_biography.html )

(image source: http://www.palhbooks.com/bulosanx.jpg)

Bienvenido Santos was born on March 22, 1911 in Tondo, Manila. In 1932, he obtained his BA from the University of the Philippines. As a scholar under the Philippine Pensionado program in 1941 he pursued an MA in English at the University of Illinois, Columbia University and Harvard University. During the war years, he served as public information officer under the Philippine government in exile in Washington D.C. In 1946 he returned to the country to be a teacher and university administrator. He accepted a Rockefeller fellowship in 1958 at the Writers Workshop in the University of Iowa, where he later became a Fulbright exchange professor. He was also honored with the Guggenheim fellowship, a Republic Cultural Heritage Award, Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, and an American Book Award. Santos also received honorary doctorate degrees from the UP and the Bicol University in 1981, and from Wichita State University, where he was a Distinguished Writer in Residence from 1973 to 1982. After he retired, he became a Visiting Writer and Artist at the De La Salle University in Manila. He passed away in 1996.

Santos’ works of short fiction, among which are well-known stories that depict the Filipino condition in America, include the collections You Lovely People (1955) and Scent of Apples (1979). His six novels include The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert Taylor and What the Hell for You Left Your Heart in San Francisco. His poetry collections are entitled Distances: In Time and The Wounded Stag: 54 Poems, while his nonfiction has been collected in four books, among them Memory’s Fictions and Postscript to a Saintly Life.

(source: Panitikan.com.ph: Your Portal to Philippine Literature. 2009. Web. 25 June 2009 http://panitikan.com.ph/authors/s/bsantos.htm )

(image source:(image source: http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Groups/Santos.gif )

Bicycle

For me, Literature is like, riding on a bike, aha!

it is hard for someone or for a first timer to ride on a bike, especially how to balanced it.

but when you learn to.. you will have fun and keep riding on it every time, and you can go faster and further!and for literature, when you love literature, when you learn something from it you'll try to learn more to appriciate it even more!