How to Answer Kia Anarna's Question

"Anong mas masakit na pagkakamali: Yung Type 1 error wherein you conclude that a relationship exists when in fact it doesn't OR Type 2 error where there is really a relationship but you fail to recognize it."

Take-nology for Granted

Technology is greatly appreciated at least twice in their entire existence—when it is first introduced (or discovered) to significantly make lives easier, and decades after it is no longer produced and has outlived its use (and users). In between, it is unappreciated and taken for granted. Such is the concept behind the museum and artifacts. One era’s junk is another era’s treasure. The Ayala Museum, for instance, houses the most ordinary stuff— decades and centuries ago. Nothing’s so special about plates and pots, clothes and ornaments until time makes its mark on them.

Two Close for Comfort

Narrow streets are pedestrian-friendly, I’ve been told. But two entire afternoons of walking on those in Intramuros transports one’s tired legs back to pre-public transportation 19th century the way history books can’t.

Kung Bakit Nagbabasa ng Sulat ng May Sulat

 Isang kaibigan, kamakailan lang, ang nagsabi sa’kin na sinubukan niyang magbasa ng mga liham ni Rizal. Pero hindi raw niya ito nagustuhan dahil pakiramdam niya na parang masyado na raw personal. Tinamaan ako sa kanyang pahayag. Nasaling namin ang paksang iyon habang sinasamahan ko siyang maghintay ng jeep. Dala-dala ko pa noon ang isang munting kopya ng Rizal’s Letters to His Family Members na isasauli ko na sa Filipiñana pagkaalis niya. Mahilig akong magbasa ng ganoong mga sulatin— mga personal na sulat ng kung sinu-sino. Kung kaya’t hindi ko maiwasang makaramdaman ng pangangailangang ipagtanggol ang hilig ko sa pangangalkal ng mga tinuturing na pribadong bagay. At ito ang naging motibasyon ko sa papel na ito.

On the (Perhaps) First Codex

The history professor who gave me my very first INC once told us during a few lectures, non-verbatim, "Katoliko ako pero hindi ko alam kung mabuti akong Katoliko. Ayokong magbasa ng bibliya dahil baka hindi na ako maniwala." He thought the contents of the bible were mythological and there was so much violence.

A pastor from a Christian discussion I attended last December told us of a prominent sociology professor and journalist who read the bible but couldn't understand it so he set it aside.

I used to have my own set of objections to the bible. But then I realized how unjustified I was for holding those opinions because I don't really know anything about it-- I haven't even read it then. So I started reading it. I haven't finished it yet and there are a lot of things I still don't understand, but I found it a pretty addictive read when I realized what it really is about.

16 na Aral Mula sa Unang 18 Taon sa UP

1. Ang UP ay overrated at sobrang stinereotype. Hindi lahat ng guro dito ay magaling, hindi lahat ng magaling ay nandito. Hindi lahat ng mag-aaral ay "matatapang, matatalino, walang takot kahit kanino." Hindi rin sila pare-pareho mag-isip. Napaka-diverse ng populasyong UP na ang pinaka lehitimong heneralisasyon yatang maaaring makuha sa kanila ay pare-pareho silang pumapasok--maluwang ang paggamit sa salitang "pumapasok" (No pun intended!)--sa UP.
   

An intellectual Discourse Between a Nietzsche-ish Psych Major and a Kantian-ish Philo Major

Tula ng Pag-Ibig

This poem was originally written for my fourth year high school Filipino class, but later edited to comply with the word count for UP Writers' Club's 100: The Hundreds Project. This was inspired by Jose Corazon de Jesus' Pag-ibig.

The Irony of Too Much

Virgilio Piñera's Meat is one of my favorite short stories of all time. I just finished reading it for Latin American literature class, and was reminded that I wrote a reaction paper on it for an English class during my second semester in college. 

Nietzsche and My Examined Life

These letters were originally written for and read aloud in front of my contemporary philosophy class two sems ago. I am honored to learn that this piece made one of those classmates cry, inspiring her to include something like this as an activity for the philo classes she now handles. The note was added later for submission... and edited even later for posting.

Sa Mga Magtatangkang Magbasa ng Panitikan

Sinulat ko 'to para sa  huling bahagi ng huling pagsusulit sa paborito kong panitikan subject noong nakaraang semestre. Paboriko kong Filipino dept faculty iyon, anak ni Rogelio Sikat at pinsan ng isa kong philo friend. Nagustuhan niya, at natunaw ako.

May Babaeng Colorblind

Hindi ko alam kung anong sinabi ng aming magiting na hayskul bio teacher (o baka st) kaya mula second year ata dala-dala ko (at ng mga kabatch ko rin ata) ang paniniwalang walang babaeng colorblind dahil carrier lang sila. Pero meron, meron, meron. Nashock tuloy ako nung nag-Bio 12 ako.

Diachronic and Synchronic Consistencies

When I first read Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self Reliance, his rejection of consistency bothered me. It made sense but it didn't feel quite right. He says,

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.

But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity: yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life, though they should clothe God with shape and color. Leave your theory, as Joseph his coat in the hand of the harlot, and flee.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

My first contentions were on it's implications on knowledge. Concern for consistency is not just some silly obsession with public image, it is also a check for truth-value, and a check against hypocrisy. But then, he supposes

no man can violate his nature. All the sallies of his will are rounded in by the law of his being, as the inequalities of Andes and Himmaleh are insignificant in the curve of the sphere. Nor does it matter how you gauge and try him. A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; — read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing. In this pleasing, contrite wood-life which God allows me, let me record day by day my honest thought without prospect or retrospect, and, I cannot doubt, it will be found symmetrical, though I mean it not, and see it not... We pass for what we are. Character teaches above our wills. Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment.

There will be an agreement in whatever variety of actions, so they be each honest and natural in their hour. For of one will, the actions will be harmonious, however unlike they seem. These varieties are lost sight of at a little distance, at a little height of thought. One tendency unites them all. The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks. See the line from a sufficient distance, and it straightens itself to the average tendency. Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. Act singly, and what you have already done singly will justify you now. Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. The force of character is cumulative.

My apprehensions lessen with the consideration of time frame. I imagine two notions of consistency: diachronic and synchronic. Diachronic consistency is consistency through time--  the past word and action matches those of the present. Synchronic consistency is consistency across time-- the present word matches the present action. Emerson, thus, is not entirely against consistency--just diachronic consistency. A hypocrite is not one who changes beliefs through time. We all go through that. It is the nature of human identity. A hypocrite is one whose actions do not match what he claims to believe. Thus, synchronic inconsistency.

My other apprehension has something to do with the assumption of character. Emerson seems to regard all characters as equals so long as they are self-reliant. I am not quite convinced... yet.

Eighteen Units of Nationalism

If we want to be technical about it, this course I'm enrolled in should really be called Araling Pilipino. That's the official name of the course, as all courses offered by the Filipino Department have Filipino names. This language difference is significant as it differentiates B.A. Creative Writing from B.A. Malikhaing Pagsulat. In practice, however, people, especially those outside our department, more often use the English translation to refer to A.P.  This usually doesn't pose much confusion in the undergrad level since KAL is the only college that offers it for undergrads. The confusion arises in the masteral and doctoral programs which are offered in both KAL and the Asian Center. But more often than not, people don't really care.

Personally, I find it more practical to use the English translation with those who may not be familiar with AP. But as I have written earlier, I still think AP and Philippine Studies (as it is known in other countries and maybe in Asian Center but I wouldn't really know) are different. This difference is one of the things I keep pondering on along with the things my professors teach. In fact, I seem to enjoy analyzing the course itself more so than studying what it actually teaches.

There is a total of only six AP subjects with the course title AP in the entire AP undergrad curriculum-- two of which I am currently taking. The ones I'm taking are the introduction to AP and a course on research methods. The ones I shall no longer bother taking are the seminar on Philippine culture, society and economy, another research methods course which doesn't seem to be included in the revised curriculum, the thesis proposal class, and the thesis class. The other required major subjects have the course title Fil and Pan Pil, the rest are the panloob and panlabas na disiplina. The AP-titled-subjects hold the degree program together with its nationalistic paradigm. This nationalistic paradigm is the difference between a non-AP student taking a cognate elective and an AP student taking the same elective as panlabas na disiplina. The elective taken by the AP student is supposed to simply be a means to the nationalist end.

I'm not certain whether it is just an effect of having activist professors-- I hope it is-- but the nature of this nationalism seems to be predominantly Marxist. They claim, though, that Marxism is just one perspective from which to study Philippine culture and society. They teach Gramsci, Althusser, and more local ones like Sison, and Constantino but those are only variations which are essentially Marxist in nature rather than entirely different perspectives. In fact, one of the first things they teach is the preference for Marx's materialism over Hegel's idealism.

While I do admit that Marx's materialism is a perfectly valid, if not a necessary, assumption for the study of culture, history and society, I am uncomfortable with the political and economic Marxist ideas on which my professors base AP. This discomfort, I guess, lies in the idea that the human condition is much more complicated than class struggles and Marxism is not the only framework for nationalism. Moreover, the AP student manual (yes, we have a student manual) does not specify this particular framework  but instead emphasizes the use of different perspectives so long as they are nationalistic, scientific and makamasang kulturang pambansa. Perhaps the other aspects of the human condition  and other nationalistic frameworks are meant to be supplied by the panlabas na disiplina but since there isn't another discipline that emiphasizes Marxism (well I couldn't think of any), they teach it in AP. But... I don't know.

The point is: AP is nationalistic Philippine Studies.