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Showing posts from 2012

For the past couple of years...

I have been in transition.  Since I received my MFA, I embarked on my career change into the academic world.  I became an adjunct instructor at a local community college, not making enough to make ends meet even with the spotty freelance work I get from time to time, mind you. I have been in the crux of subsistence living and putting up with folks who think less of me because of it.  Because of it, my creative life is nonexistent.  Because of it, I have withdrawn further within myself.  Because of it, I have no romantic life to speak of. We are approaching the new year and I am anxiously waiting for the tides to turn but trying yet to hold off my desperation.  I have to let go of old and tired things in my life and break old habits.  I even plan to change my daily driving route. I read a little today about the history of post-modern poetics.  How it interests me so.  If I had money, I probably would take another major in literary theory.  Imagine a poet championing for lit

Backyard Farming

My mom grew up in a small sea-side village in the Philippines, and growing up there as a child has given me a different set of lens and a great appreciation of  what it means to live very close to earth. Coming stateside, however, throughout the years, have been quite a total disconnect.  Recently, I have discovered a plethora of information pertaining to this subculture.  I am still experiencing the wonderment no matter where I am-- even in a nondescript suburb of Florida.

Big, Red Vein

I assume it was a normal season when I was born in 1967. The typhoons raged through the dirt streets of Angeles City every year, yet it never washed away the gregarious GIs, the loud-mouthed go-go girls of the strip clubs and whore houses so eloquently called cabarets. Here in this one Philippine city, I grew up with everyone’s second-hand stories—stories that lingered like the smoke of barbecue meat cooking outside the bars and discos at two in the morning, wafting in and out of my life, sometimes blinding the full view of my adolescence. The clamor of their drama still rings in my ear to this day. The frenzy and ire outside the military gates of Clark Air Force Base include the whir and hum of jeepneys (army jeeps left by the United States after the Second World War made into colorful commuter vehicles) and tricycle checkpoints that whisk their patrons through the big, red veins of prostitute alley—a girl running topless after a garish Aussey while her friends sit outside on

My Joey

Okay, now here's my son, Joseph. He's going to be turning 18 this April. When he was little, I kept trying to encourage him into taking music or art lessons but he didn't want to, even while his sister took up viola classes and photography and was much more open about her artistic sensibilities. We never knew he had a natural ear for music until he came down to visit me in Florida one summer and he won a super cool electronic keyboard at Busch Gardens. It was then he started playing like he took lessons for years! Mixing his melodies in with electronic beats-- were for sure something so professionally put together that I could envision his music actually being played at dance clubs. Since then, his musical interests have been evolving. Now he's teaching himself electric guitar and fashioning himself with the great metal guitarists of all time. Here is my Joey playing a piece for us!

My Generation

In the 80's, I was reign supreme on my block as the pop-lockin' queen and wanted to express my youth and my tribulations with fortitude, angst and fervor, emulating and resounding with the youth of my culture. Whitney Houston was only four years my senior, looking so great, I thought, but in the inside, where the seams of her garments held her utmost fears, revealed the truth. She died at just 48 years-old. I chose one of her recent videos in lieu of her old school iconic classics to remember her by. I believe we should all go out singing and dancing into the oblivion. Artists live too close to the fire sometimes...

Doing the "I GOT MY EDUCATION" Dance!

Yes, I was thinking about this song that came out (I guess) way back in the 90's, "I Got My Education" by Uncanny Alliance.  Well, believe it or not, it inspired me to do just that! I started my community college education when I was in my mid to late 20's and have been going on and off until I received my associates, my bachelors and then to my MFA in Creative Writing.  Although a good liberal arts degree doesn't guarantee me a six-figure income, it did give me the satisfaction of reading the best and finest literary works and the tools and knowledge to create my own.  I am hardly without passion and interest in regards to the field of fine arts. Without further adieu, get up and dance to "I Got My Education" and celebrate if you are pursuing, or got the degree(s) to show for.  And if you're thinking about it, take that first step and enroll in a community college or university and do the "I Got My Education" dance!