Everybody has a dream. Everyone craves for that one precious thing they long to have. And they do everything to achieve that dream. ANYTHING that could help them grab hold of that one thing which they’ve forever longed for.
As a matter of fact, and I bet you didn’t see this coming, I have a dream. (Pardon this little Martin Luther-King homage) Aside for my dreams for my life and career, I have this one very materialistic dream.
Several months ago, the National Press Club commissioned the Neo-Angono Artists Collective to do an 8-foot mural on the topic of Press Freedom. Here’s is their final product:
Click Thumbnail to enlarge
It is a very compelling representation of the past and current state of Press Freedom here in the Philippines, what with freedom fighters Chino Roces, Marcelo del Pilar, Ninoy Aquino, Eugenia Duran-Apostol, Letty Jimenez Magsanoc and several others depicted in the painting.
A unique feature of the mural is the fact that the faces of the people in this man-on-the-street scene are media figures, press freedom icons and presidents of the National Press Club seen mingling with common and unnamed people. They are depicted or cast, not in their usual fighting stance, or projected stereotypically, but in a light and casual manner to suggest that journalists are like everybody else in the streets; that despite the threats to their lives for telling and reporting the truth, the journalists’ passion redounds to the same dream of ordinary citizens who want nothing more than to reap the benefits of transparency, public accountability and good governance, a society free from the clutch of poverty and corruption, and advancing press freedom – ideals which journalists fight for.
A similar distinct feature of the mural is that writers and journalists in various moments of historical juncture are (re)contextualized and reconfigured.
For this reason, it might initially escape belief and comprehension – and even solicit fun – that Joaquin “Chino” Roces is preventing a child (symbol for an emerging imperialist America) from shooting a bird resting on the street signage titled “Kalayaan”;Marcelo del Pilar rummaging through a garbage can for a cigarette stub and being furtively handed a letter by Mariano Ponce under a street sign labeled “La Solidaridad”; Eugenia Apostol smirking on the declaration of Martial Law; Epifanio de los Santos and Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc debating on the hot issues of the day; Antonio Luna, also an NPC hall of famer, being interviewed by journalists covering a rally of protesting journalists; or Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino listening pensively to Dr. Jose Rizal’s point on the issue of abduction and the “desaparecidos.”
Photo from http://www.gheblawi.com/nostalgia.jpg
*Please see update below… waaaay below. =)
Just a few hours ago, I turned in my last-ever requirement for the sem. It was a photo-essay plate on my joyride adventure to Old Manila aboard the Pasig River Ferry boat (which can also be found here). I had mixed feelings, even though it went by as quickly as I imagined it would. Holding the piece of delicate paper on my hand, I trudged the halls of Masscomm one last time, feeling the feeling of the floor on my feet, the dirty walls, the brightly-lit corridors… but beneath all the physical traits that will make me miss CMC sorely, I believe I’ll miss the CMC people more than the actual place.
I walked up the stairs, and the place was very quiet. It felt like Wednesday when half of the university doesn’t have classes. Masscomm is unusually silent, like somebody just turned the mute button on. It was eerie. Masscomm is never this silent. Good thing great friends IA and Elsie (along with her boyfriend Frank) greeted me as I reached the stairs’ landing, lest I cry of too much sentiments and memories of that god-forsaken place.
I opened the department’s door and the usual quiet Ate Racquel greeted me with her usual stillness and impeccable silence. I rushed to the pigeon hole and dropped my plate off as quickly as I could. There. It has ended. It felt nothing. At first. Like it’s just usual. Ordinary. Normal.
Maybe I forgot how it felt being free. Because right now, I feel like screaming… I’M FREE! SHET!! I’M REALLY REALLY FREE! I think I’m having a Cristina moment right now. I’m free. Damnit! Damnit! Oh, take this off! Get this off! I can’t breathe!
So now it comes to a close. History has been written. Former President Joseph Estrada has been proven guilty of plunder, but got acquitted for perjury.
I’ll leave the political and legal analysis to the experts and lawyers, but here’s what I have to say. I don’t feel vindicated by Erap’s conviction. No, not at all. Why? Because it didn’t feel like we triumphed over evil at all. Yes, we ousted a President who has been proven a plunderer, but unfortunately for we have replaced him with someone even worse.
Erap’s conviction, for me, was all just a ceremony 6 years in the making. Had this present administration proven its worth, I would have been entirely happy of kicking Erap’s ass out of the palace.
And while the media was all hush-hush about this recent development, I appear to be too indifferent to care. As a matter of fact, I slept through the entire coverage.
The last thing the UP Community needs right now is a thoughtless, hasty generalization. And today, it comes in the form of an editorial cartoon:
Photo taken from Inquirer.net
(The New Oblation: UP’s Culture of Violence)
Sure, some of you will say we deserve it. Some of you will even say it’s true. And fine, I agree with you. Our culture of violence has really defined our university. The endless hazing, frat wars and deaths in UP has risen in gigantic proportions.
As promised, Malu Fernandez returns to her usual column, “Divalicious”, in Manila Standard Today, err… today. =P
Photo taken from annalyn.net
I was quite frustrated to see yet another article about elitist lifestyle. Somehow somewhere I expected a tinge of a statement about the issue, but there were none.
Here it is in true divalicious fashion:
EDIT: Ederic of Tinig.com has compiled/will be compiling in a writing project (aptly called Proyektong Malu Fernandez) all the posts about this journalist. Go check them out!
The genie thanked the little pig for setting him free. In accordance with International Genie Freedom law, the genie was to grant the little pig three wishes.
The little pig thought real hard about what to ask of the genie, but nature and instincts acted up first.
JM is a 1920-year-old senior BA Journalism student at the University of the Philippines - Diliman. His hobbies include ranting, surfing the net, photography and pestering his classmates with his wit, glamour and his sometimes atrocious sense of humor.
ako nga rin puro acne na...
