#LITFILI

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Photo a day # 16: Something you wrote

[timeisfast-blog]

What is a “family?”

A “family” is a group of people related by blood or marriage. But this definition can further expand to a genetically related family adopting a child/children, or living with one or more persons to whom they share tight bonds with. There is a line from the Internet, which says, “It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us a family.” This is an example of a healthy family trait that is still present until now.

There are good family traits that started in the past, and continued to branch out up to this day. But there are also traits that are being forgotten through the course of time.

[piyong-blog]

Yours, Always

Baler Movie Review

The movie started out with 15-year old Daniel (Played by Philip Salvador) experiencing horrible and traumatic experiences through Spanish soldiers. These soldiers hurt him and abused his sister in front of him. These occurrences triggered him to despise and fight against the Spaniards in the later years of his life. He also married and had children; one of them was the beautiful lass, Feliza (Anne Curtis). Daniel was not able to prevent Feliza from Celso (Jericho Rosales) because they hid each other’s feelings from him. Celso and Feliza’s love for each other quickly developed despite all the conflicts and hardships they had faced. One of theses conflicts was the war at Baler, which lasted for 377 days. The Filipinos were able to fight back against the Spaniards and trap them in a church. The Filipinos soon became confident and they did not let their enemies get out and outsmart them. Lope, Celso’s friend, also had a Filipina lover outside who were friends with Feliza. There was an instance where the two young men would sneak out the church to meet the love of their lives and get a bit food and hurriedly go back to their camp, the church.

Feliza sent a letter to Celso secretly informing him that she was pregnant, and he was the father. The sad part is that Celso wasn’t able to be there for Feliza during her labor.

After several months, the Spaniards raised the white flag and surrendered because they came to a point that there was no more hope for them if they continued to make pride the center of their decisions. The Spaniards set out their camp and stood still in front of the Filipinos. Feliza approached them and looked for Celso. She entered the church. She was shocked to what here eyes saw, the love of her life tied and left bleeding. It was too late; he passed away because his comrades executed him due to his action of trying to finally escape.

The battle at Baler finally ended in victory for the Filipinos. The movie ended by showing Feliza holding here child. She named the boy Celso.

Their love for each other remained true and faithful despite being apart for a long time.

[fourthography]

A Parent and his family

In the two stories we've read, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and The Mats, we could see the realtionship between the father and his family. In both stories, we saw how a father facilitates his family and rule them as well. Respect of all family members for a father never fades. 

Though this books were written before World War II, our tradition in the family like those in the story never fades. Our respect for our Padre de familia and a love of a father for his family will always stay. Our fear to our father even though we deny iy will stay inside of us And we can still see this inside a Filipino family today. Even in a broken family, a single mother or a single father, you can see them working as a mom or a dad, and they never let his or her family down. 

This kind of stories not only happen to Filipino families only, I've read this award-winning book of Kenny Kemp entitled Dad Was a Carpenter , a real story between a father and a son, in this story, a father's love, strength and courage emerge in the story. His father was not really a carpenter but a pharmacist, he likes to rebuild things from scrap and in each chapter every scrap was build to a new usable thing and a relationship between a father and a son is also build.

Today there are a lot of families get broken, but even though there will always be a parent that will always keep a good relationship in each of everyone in his or her family.

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Here comes Technology

To start off, technology is one aspect of radical change in our society. Families in the past, let’s say the 70’s, had simpler lives with simple resources unlike today. Mode of communication back then was not as advanced as what we have today. Writing letters to families and friends took long lead-time. Nowadays, almost every teenager and adult own a cell phone or has access to the computer and internet for instant messaging and social networking.

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Games of Change

Children used to play outdoors with friends. Playing outdoors increases a child’s self-esteem, and becomes more social and open to new faces. But now, due to technology, the children would rather sit at home and play video games. Though they are not all bad. “Video games with positive goals inspire positive behavior and improve health in the individual playing it.” -@uberfacts on Twitter

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The Filipino Hospitality

Filipinos used to be so hospitable and accommodating to household guests by offering them loads of home-cooked meals and ask them to dine with them. This trait is still seen today but not as grand as thirty years ago. Two of the causes is the price of food nowadays due to the hard economy the Philippines is facing today, and time value of people because people work harder and longer hours just for additional income to sustain and support their families. We sometimes just “take out” food from fast-food restaurants and groceries to adapt to this situation.

[timeisfast-blog]

Religion and Faith

Ever since the Spanish influence, Filipinos have been very religious, especially Christians. Many Pinoy families then and now are still prayerful and still attend mass at least once a week. The only difference is what we wear to the House of the Lord. There have been instances where some young women wear very short shorts and sleeveless tops, while there are both some men and women using cell phones during mass. These acts show disrespect to God and to others who are diligent inside the Church.

[fayetanjuaquio-blog]

History repeats itself

One of the films I liked that shows the alternative history of the Philippines is the Aishite Imasu. It is a combination of drama, romance and war during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines. Inya, Edilberto and Ignacio are the main characters in this movie. They are best of friends. Inya and Edilberto already love one another since childhood. Ignacio is gay in the movie and he secretly likes Edilberto but he didn’t pursue it because when they grew up Inya and Edilberto ended up together. Ignacio dresses up like a woman everytime he’s going to sing in the stage. When Japanese came to the country, Ichiro, a Japanese Captain got attracted to Ignacio. He thought Ignacio is a real girl. Edilberto is part of the guerilla. He convinced Ignacio to continue acting as a woman so that he can spy the Japanese. Ignacio agreed because he loves Edilberto.  Because of Ignacio, the guerillas were able to know the plans of Japanese. As time passes by, Edilberto was more focused to the battle instead of his relationship with Inya. Ignacio is already falling in love to Ichiro so he stopped spying. The guerillas thought Ichiro sided to Japanese.

The story is mainly about the friendship of Inya and Ignacio that despite of what’s happening their friendship remain. It is also about Edilberto’s love to the country, he really dedicated his self for the country. The historical about the story is how relationships were handled and what happened during the occupation of Japanese in the Philippines. This story is also about the relationship of Edilberto and Inya and how their relationship survived even though Edilberto is busy with the war. It is also about Ignacio’s relationship with a Japanese Captain.  The movie showed how Japanese treated the Filipinos badly. Japanese are so cruel that time. The ladies during that time were being used for Japanese sexual needs.

I think the movie is accurate with the things they showed that happened during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines. The film showed realistic situations. My grandmother also tells story about that war and some of the scenes in the movie really happened during that time. The story really portrayed how brutal Japanese were to the Filipinos.

This is important because it will help the Filipinos remember and visualize what happened in the past. We know that people will appreciate it more if they can see it visually than just reading it from books. We could also learn from this. How to value relationships despite of different conflicts we may encounter. It is important to the next generation because we don’t know what might happen. This kind of situation might happen again. There are a lot of lesson from the movie that people should absorb and learn so that when it happened again they can do better and doesn’t repeat the mistake from the past.  

[piyong-blog]

The Wind of Change

Change is one of the most constant things that happen in our everyday lives. It may be good, or not. But everything happens for a reason. Events in the past make up what we are today. Strife and conflict we have experienced are truly hard and stressful, but there will always be that memory or person that makes you go on with life, endure its trials and difficulties, and have a smile at the end of the day. We just have to look hard enough.

Some of the major events in Philippine history are the Spanish, American, Japanese Colonization, and World War II. These events became inspirations for Filipino Feminist writers to get out of the box, live without gender racism, and write stories of empowered female characters.

In today’s modern life, the Philippine population consists of around 50% of females. Women nowadays can work and live as equals with men. In fact, the jobs like attorneys, doctors, and politicians are now also open to women. Women also have sparked change in the development of their country. Gabriela Silang, Gregoria de Jesus, Lualhati Bautista, and Cory Aquino from the Philippines are good examples of empowered women.

Besides the rise of strong women, technology has also advanced. In the past, mode of transportation and method of communication had long lead-time and was not as comfortable as what we have now. Mobile phones, portable computers, cars, and improved public transportation are some of those drastic changes through people's developing intelligence and through the course of time. Technology is good for man, but what makes it bad is how some abuse its capabilities. I would like to borrow a line from the movie Spiderman 2 that was launched 8 years ago. "Intelligence is a gift to be used for the good of mankind." This is short but delivers a lot of meaning. The gifts we receive should be used for good purposes for us to achieve development beyond boundaries.

[fayetanjuaquio-blog]

As time passes by.......

As time passes by, people and things change. We can see the difference between the past and modern life through the stories we discussed in class. The stories, Games, Documents and The tale of the spinster and Peter Pan defined what love is for the people nowadays.

Before, love is discussed in the story as something valuable and precious. In the past if a man wants a lady, he needs to court the lady and her family. He needs to prove to the lady and her family how serious he is. Nowadays, courting is not necessary. A man just needs to tell his feelings to the lady he likes and from there, love will just develop. Another difference between past and modern life is how people take love seriously. In the past, love is not an ordinary thing but nowadays, some people treat love as a game. In the modern life, people don’t take love seriously. For them, infatuation is the same as love. They enter relationship even though they’re not yet ready and not sure with what they feel. Some people don’t know the real meaning of love anymore. For them, it’s just a simple word that’s easy to say.  In the story “Documents”, it looks like the lady is the one who is making a move to get the attention of the man which is exactly the opposite of the situation in the past. While in the story “Games”, it is shown that they don’t really take their relationship seriously. It also looks like they’re just playing a game and having fun with one another. In “The tale of the spinster and peter pan”, the lady was only infatuated with the man and when she figured out the bad side of the man he stopped liking him.  Another difference in the past and present life is the communication between the persons. Before, people spend time together but now, they just spend time talking through phones or computers. Before, men are exerting effort to see or talk to the ladies but now a simple text and call through phones are enough.

Modern life has advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that it makes our life easier. Another advantage is through the experiences in the past people learned. We are learning from the experience of other people in the past which is a good thing. It is an advantage for us who are living the present life. There are many disadvantages of modern life over the past life. One is being comfortable with an easy life. It’s contradicting to the advantage of modern life making life easier but because of this people are not working hard nowadays. For example, if you want to communicate with your GF/BF, instead of talking to him/her personally, you’ll just talk to her through cellphone. Another disadvantage is we are lacking of physical connection with other people. In the stories it is also shown, like in “Games”, they spent more time talking through phone than meeting up personally. They just keep in touch through gadgets. It is a disadvantage because personal approach is better. We are just relying on the gadgets we have to communicate with others. A disadvantage of lacking personal connection is that misunderstandings were formed.  It is hard to talk through gadgets and it is more unclear.

Technology has a big role in the modern society. It affected our way of thinking, perception and living. In the stories, the role of technology was discussed. Technology really made our life easier. In “documents”, the word processor became the way how the man and the lady communicate; in “games” through phone they express their feelings. Technology also affects our relationship to other people. Because of the technology, handwritten letters run out of style and replaced by e-mail. Instead of writing a letter with a pen and paper, we can sit in front of our computer and send an e-mail. Cellphones made our life easier too, and nowadays without it we cannot live. In our everyday life, technology is always there and we always use it. Technology has an impact in our personal life too. Based on my experience, most of the time I communicate with my family and friends through social networking sites and cellphone. When I need something from my parents, one text away and I can get what I want. But because of technology, relationships became weak. Bonding moments with family was lessened, because most people spend time playing gaming gadgets, surfing the net or texting. Technology is not bad for us, but we should learn how to control ourselves from using it.

Don’t let technology dictate your life!

[fayetanjuaquio-blog]

Be ready to face the consequences

I want to focus to the story Love in the Cornhusks by Aida Rivera-Ford. One of the problems discussed in the story and also discussed in the class is about Tinang having no choice Tinang is a maid who got pregnant. She loves Amado but Amado went away. Tinang got pregnant and married a Bagobo. We discussed in the class that Tinang married the Bagobo because she cares about the future of her child. Women who got pregnant before marriage is not acceptable to the society and they also think they cannot raise their child without a man. They marry the father of the child even though they are not yet ready and sometimes it leads to an immature relationship. Nowadays, the number of incident of teenage pregnancy is getting higher. The difference between before and now is that women in the present can already stand on their own. Some teenage moms are wiser nowadays. They think before entering marriage. I know some women who got pregnant at a very young age but they don’t marry the father of their baby. For them, it is not appropriate to marry the man just because they are pregnant. They don’t want to marry at a very young age, because they know within theirselves that they’re not yet ready and still immature to enter the sacred marriage. I read an article where it is stated that most teenage moms suffers poverty because they cannot sustain the needs of their child. I think that’s the reason why some choose to just marry the father of the child. I know that once you enter a relationship some believes that you have to give everything for it to work. If you gave up your virginity to the one you love, you should think first if he’s really the one and you’re ready to face the consequences if you do it. We shouldn’t forget that we have to think first the consequences of doing something.

I also want to give my personal opinions about these issues.  For me, if what happened to Tinang happens to me, I would not do what she did. I believe that each one of us has a lot of choice but most of the times we made the wrong decisions. There are times that we regret the wrong choices we made but we cannot take back the time. The only thing we could do about it is to learn from our mistakes. Those wrong decisions will help us in the future, and help us to become a better person. I’m not going to marry someone just because I need him. Some relationship fails, because of immaturity. Women should know their worth and should not depend on men.  Women should change their image in the society and we shouldn’t let anyone degrade us.

Source:

The Challenges of Teenage Pregnancy.Welcome to pregnancy guide.Date accessed:February 11,2012.<http://www.preparents.com/teenage/statistics-of-teenage-pregnancy-in-the-philippines.php>

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The Diverse Worlds of Individualism and Collectivism

Individualism is “the opposite of collectivism; together they form on of the dimensions of national cultures. Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family only.” People from individualistic cultures tend to think only of themselves as individuals and as “I” distinctive from other people.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTZUqI5dVPWpK_37dEO5RRHKSJIVJwMTFg0-Q2m0aJFxlkj08iS

Collectivism “stands for a society in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.”  Collectivistic cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of “we”. Harmony and loyalty within a company is very important and should always be maintained and confrontation should be avoided.

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Stated above are the definitions of Individualism and Collectivism. These two terms are of opposite worlds. Individualism gives the sense of being less dependent on other people in the society, while collectivism emphasizes on the aspect of belongingness to a certain group or organization. People from collectivist cultures enjoy the feeling of fitting in and sharing the same interests.

The shift of collectivism from the first three Philippine literature works "My Father Goes to Court," "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife" and "The Mats" to the latter works of individualism of the stories "Divide by Two" and "The Bread of Salt" is drastic. The first three dealt with the emphasis on strong group and relationship bonds especially in family ties, while the last two portrayed self-pleasure. An example of this would be when the teenage boy from The Bread of Salt when he would imagine the beauty of Aida, the girl he likes. At times the teenage boy thought it was his duty to stay in the house in the service of the young maiden. He even dreamed that she likewise keeps an intense emotion for him, which she will only dare manifest in the right time. This line from the blog of The Bibliophilic Night Owl shows a sort of individualistic approach of the boy having fantasies of him and Aida having a romantic affair.

Filipinos are more of the collectivist type. It can be seen everyday in the Philippine society. An example would be in a Philippine school setting. A typical Pinoy would rather hangout, study, and eat together. There is an impression in the Philippines where if there is a person is always on his/her own, he/she is labeled as a loner and is kind of treated less important in groups due to exclusion of that individual. Filipinos would rather work in groups to build cooperation and team building, and the statement “It’s WE, not ME.” can be applied.

Sources:

http://www.via-web.de/individualism-versus-collectivism/

http://llamalima.xanga.com/730743454/individualism-being-alternative-for-the-sake-of-it/

http://fvdb.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/the-orwellian-deception-of-the-collectivists/

[fayetanjuaquio-blog]

One for all, all for one

In both stories, we saw the shifting from a collective mindset to an individualistic one through the clash of ideas of the characters in the story. In the story “Divide by Two”, there’s a conflict between the characters because Belle and the narrator argue on some things because they are two different individuals with different perspective.  In the story “The Bread of Salt”, the interest of the narrator to be with Aida was tackled. In both stories, the actions and decisions of the characters were for themselves. The personal interest of each character was also discussed showing that the story is individualistic. 

For me, the Philippine Society is collective culture because most Filipinos care about their co Filipinos. Camaraderie is one of the attitudes of Filipinos. It has many manifestations in Philippine society, one of which is when someone is in need we are always ready to help. One example is when one member of the DLSC College Faculty needs cash donations. The College Faculty organized an event to raise money while the students and other members of DLSC community supported the event. I know some student who saved money from their allowance so that they can donate and help in a little way. Another example is when some part of the Philippines suffered from a typhoon. Filipinos all over the world are willing to help. Like the recent typhoon Sendong who brought disaster to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. I read an article about the Filipinos from Canada who gather help to the victims. Some of them are OFWs, meaning they are working because they need to sustain the needs of their family in the Philippines but they still chose to help and donate small amount of money to the Sendong Victims. The Filipinos in Canada donated money and clothes. They also invested time and effort on organizing a benefit concert to raise money for the Sendong Victims. Last example is when a taxi driver returned the bad of a British tourist that contains all his money and passport. The driver has financial problem but he still chose to give back the money. My examples show the collective culture of Filipinos where instead of thinking for your own interest, most of the Filipinos think and decide what’s best for everyone. 

I think it is normal for Filipinos to have this attitude, because before Filipinos really possess this kind of attitude and no matter how long time passes by some of it will still remain. We inherited those attitudes from our ancestors. Inheriting good attitudes from the past is important because it reminds us of our ancestors and at the same time helps us become a better person. 

Sources:

Hernandez, Zen.(June 23,2011).Honest Cabbie returns P200,000 to tourist.ABS-CBN News Nation.Date accessed:January 27,2012.< http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/06/23/11/honest-cabbie-returns-p200000-tourist>

Docto, Cecil.(December 28, 2011).Pinoys in Canada gather help for Sendong victims.ABS-CBN News Global Filipino.Date Accessed: January 27, 2012.<http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/12/28/11/pinoys-canada-gather-help-sendong-victims>. 

[piyong-blog]

Close Family Ties

Common Filipino citizens highly value their families. There is no surprise to find grandparents living in their children's homes because that is a common trait of a Filipino family, then and now. I've personally experienced having a family composed of my parents, younger sibling and my grandparents. It is a common sight here in the Philippines because each member of the family develops a strong connection with the other members, and this leads to children not leaving their parents' home at least before marriage. Children are often taught by their parents to say "po" and "opo" when answering to elder people especially to their grandparents. 

In a traditional Filipino family, the father is considered the head and the provider of the family while the mother takes responsibility of the emotional growth and values formation of the children. They both perform different tasks that contribute to the welfare of their family. The offspring see their mother as serene and serves as the light of the family or in other Filipino sayings “ilaw ng tahanan”, while the father is regarded as the strongest and supports each member financially. But nowadays, both parents have jobs and a career to further support the family because of the unstable economy today. There are also some uncommon instances where the mother earns more.

Even after earning a degree and finishing college, some Filipino children take their parents to their homes and continue to take care of them. This is because of the strong connection formed when they were younger. My parents told me before that what you do to your parents today is what your future children will do to you.

Here's a video I found on YouTube weeks ago and I want to share it with you guys. It's not that relevant to what I said above but in this video, Lolo Mario shows the happiness he felt when he saw his newborn grandchild. This line was my favorite, "Napakabilis ng panahon. Hanapin mo ang magpapasaya sa'yo, Huwag mong sasayangin sa mga walang makabuluhang bagay."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVJ3VONNKxI