8/7/2019 Quill 2011 (Part 3)

1/4

March 2011 9Qui l l

Social Politics:byIsadoraRomeral

Back in high school, liking what

everybody else liked was a taboo. You

could not admit to preferring some-

thing mainstream over something un-derground without being shunned. But

then showing appreciation for a little

rock would merit you some poserpoints. Oh, yes. Such was the teenage

politics of my time confusing andtotally contradictory.

That was back in 2001. From what I

hear from my twelve-year-old nephew,though, not much has changed.

I remember sitting at home with

him one lazy afternoon, listening as hewas narrating the latest happenings in

his neighborhood in Mandaluyong. He

had just started a tiff with his closest

and longest friends over a discussion of

who discovered this one song first. Tomake a long story short, they did not

speak for a couple of weeks.

Now tell me, is this good? I mean,

why is it that we tend to hate eachother for being into the same thing?

What is so wrong with sharing a com-mon interest with a few (or a lot) of

others? Why do we have this urge tohate someone when we find out that

they too are into the band only a select

few of us are supposed to know about?

Do we not have equal rights to enjoy

the things made available to the public?I know it has been said before that

conformity is the best way to corrupt

the mind but what if it is by choice?

Because honestly, it bugs me when I

hear friends in their early twenties who

still subscribe to this kind of philoso-

phy. I admit, I was also the same wayonce-upon-a-time. But now that I look

back, it was just plain annoying. I can

no longer understand why we would

exert so much effort in dropping the

things we like just because everybodyelse suddenly likes them, too.

We should not have to feel the need

to be different just for the sake of be-ing... well, different. Like what YouTube

stand-up ItsKingsleyB**** said in his

You Are Not Cool video, If youreoriginal then theres really no need to

forceit.Itjusthappens.

According to the latest Census

count, there are nearly seven billion

people in the world. Now take into con-sideration the number of books, songs/

artists, television shows, movies, fash-

ion trends, and everything else pop cul-

ture has to offer. Yes, I am aware that

there are also billions of those. But we

cannot seriously expect that there willnever be a large number of people

somewhere out there listening to thesame songs or reading the same books

as us because only a few are generally

made available worldwide.

Just think about the situation this

way: Your favorite band or author orwhatever put time and effort into pro-

ducing their masterpieces. Their talents

were meant to be shared, and that is

I t s t o o c o n f u s i n g !

I s i t t i m e a g a i n t o d i s a g r e ea b o u t a n y t h i n g , e v e r y t h i n g a n d w h a t ' s o nT V ? I t ' s a v i c i o u s c i r c l e , n e v e r e n d i n g ; a

l i n e a r e q u a t i o n w o r l d l y - e x t e n d i n g . - T e e n a g e P o l i t i c s , M X P X ( 1 9 9 5 )

chose my organization as my second

priority. Now, I am certain that the con-

sequences our organization is experi-encing is the fruit of my decision.

I was never confident that I wouldexcel in my academics for I was really

in love with some other activities. More

so, I have always been convinced that I

can only do one thing at a time and Icannot manage to get the best of both

worlds. But eventually, one professor

made me feel that the only key is to

have the guts to lift both hands on the

same level to achieve balance.One time while pondering on the

things that served as factors of my fail-

ures, I smiled and realized that I neverhad a successful planner. I love buying

one but I only write on it on the month

when I bought it and then after, it al-ready becomes a display in our shelf. I

never made a schedule for each day ofthe week. I only do things whenever I

believe Im available.

This is not the best habit to bear inmind. It has led me to danger.

But as one of my Professors said,Giving up is never an option andThereisalwaysroomforimprovement.

Thus, I believed, prayed and workedhard to survive. Now, it seems that the

situation is already smooth-sailing.

From this experience, I learned that

surviving college is not just based on

the things you learn in class or the

tendency of failing a subject which gen-

erates consequences that I have to en-

dure for the next half of the school year.To some, it might sound really

irresponsible, but forme, it was like a

bell which

rings every

dismissal ofthe class. I had

been so used to

it and I had become

bitter because of it. I always

believed that I have beentrying my very best to

defeat the situation by

being responsible for a lotof things. In my mind, I

am amazed by the fact

that God still blessed mewith something good

which makes me think thathe still believes in my capa-

bilities. This became an in-

spiration for me to move forward andstart something new. But as the follow-

ing semesters sailed, it seemed really

hard to give my best especially when

nobody could help you but yourself.

Thus, I ended up choosing betweenwhich one to exert more effort to and

which one to give just a bit of attention.

I had to choose the main reason that

made me enter college in the first place.

I had to focus more on my studies. I

The end of the academic year is

drawing close. As I reminisce how it

was in the past four years of my sur-vival in St. Scholasticas Col-

lege, I realized that itwas only here

where I experi-

enced the hard-

est problems Ihad in life so far.

Being a teenager is

crucial for it is during this

period when a person is already

expected to be inde-pendent in manag-

ing his or her own

problems without

the help of otherpeople. It is during

this period when boysand girls turn into debu-

tants and become of legalage, too. Once they reach this

stage, they start to have that

tendency to think that they

need to solve their problems

on their own.As a student, it has never been my

goal to defeat the top students in our

class. I certainly believe it will neverhappen, but perhaps, this was the rea-

son it never did. In my four years in

college, I always ended up feeling like

placing my feet on the tip of the cliff

after each semester. I always had the

BalancebyCamilleMariePonce

ImagecourtesyofGoogle

Images

exactly what popularizing their work

will do. Why put yourself through the

unnecessary stress of worrying about

being like everybody else in one or twoways? Youll just be adding years to

your age.

There is more to life than social poli-

tics. Remember that the next time

someone discovers your latest secretobsession.

Imagesfromtumblr.com

grades that you get. Its also important

for you to balance things and use your

time wisely. Its when you focus on aplan that you can keep things in order.

It is the motto that I would keep on myway after I graduate. This is a piece of

wisdom I would treasure forever.

ITSNOTEASYTO BALANCEacadem

icsandextracurricularactivities.PhotobyCamilleMariePonce

8/7/2019 Quill 2011 (Part 3)

2/4

Qui l l

remember being young and ca-

pricious. I detested going to class

and opted to stay in my motherswell ventilated room. I remember ask-

ing her about the people outside her

place of work. For several years, I

failed to notice those people holding

placards and shouting their protests,remaining to be the same homeless

yet wide-eyed sympathizers they

were, even during the night. I was in-

solent and impervious I spent half ofmy life wasting the education and

money my mother provided by spend-

ing my time on bottled beers, peers

and designer goods.

Good thing I went to college and

learned in my junior year. I had my

internship in an alternative online me-dia organization which delved in peo-

ples views and stands on issues that

affect the lives belonging to the work-

ing class. I exchanged conversationswith various people: consoled the

widow of a slain journalist in Maguin-

danao, talked to a prosecutor, broke

down after covering a demolition andlearned with peasant and health work-

ers. The next thing I knew, heading

home would not be complete without

me thinking of them the struggle ofpeasants for land, workers for decent

living and working conditions, poor

for basic social needs and youth for

proper education. After my internship,

I thought that these sentiments wouldend, I thought of just moving on to the

next phase of my life, yet it was not so

easy, for this kind of rage didnt go

away with sleep.

Now, the office which I used to

stay at so often, the place which I

eluded because of people holding ban-

ners of protests and wrath, would bethe same office I would go to every

now and then, this time not mainly for

my mother but for the peasant work-

ers from Hacienda Yulo going on hun-ger strike or peasants from South Lu-

zon demanding for their right to land.

Just a week ago, I went with Ta-tay Pedring to the hospital, he used to

be a peasant worker from Hacienda

Luisita. His son, Jesus Lava was one of

the victims of the violent dispersal

that happened in Hacienda Luisita

back in 2004. Although old and sick,

the original and insightful conversa-tion I had with him helped me expand

my new perspective of what really is

genuine in our society that every-

thing I witnessed starting from televi-

sion news to newspapers were justblatant occurrences and insufficient

reports spreading like bushfire around

the world.

During the past few years, I have

always been amazed when hearing

colleagues begin each day with long

discourses about what the latest newsis on the mainstream media. After ex-

changing thoughts with Tatay Pedring

and his family, I began to notice more

of the intellectual life off the campus,too. Then, I realized that life is more

than just the best grades, scholarship

awards and right jobs. It is beyond the

four walls of the classroom. It does notonly comprise of secular education but

collaboration of knowledge obtained

from the eyes of others: informal set-

tlers, minimum wage earners, over-seas domestic workers, farmers, co-

journalists, and the like.

Now, having a particular journal-istic knowledge where I can protect

existing information could be of help

to my fellowmen. Through writing, I

am able to do my little share by intro-

ducing unraveled issues into the pub-lic sphere and creating poems where

my pen can be a sword to fight injus-

tice, oppression and tyranny taking

place in our country. I also get to de-claim poems to the toiling masses.

Frankly, I still do not know what

to pursue once I graduate from col-lege I have given up being a lawyer,

filmmaker or even a development

communication practitioner. It never

crossed my mind to be in the main-

stream media. But one thing I am cer-tainly sure of is to never decline those

people holding their banners of pro-

tests; those people struggling for their

rights. I wish that someday, I couldprofusely give my service to them: to

Tatay Pedring, to Tito Lito, and to

Nanay Rhiza.

March 201110

Months from now, I will be walking to thecadence of success and fulfillment. It is not only me who would be present but

my debonair batch mates and professors who also yearn for thatspecial day to come.

Then, everyone would contemplate on what one would want to pursue r ight aftergraduation: fashion cr itique, top model, actress, media practitioner, etc. but not

me.

Marching offbyAndreaZarahDayao

SOMETIMESTHE BESTLESSONS IN LIFE ARE LEARNEDOUTSIDETHE CLASS

ROOM. The author shared snapshots of rallies she has attended and hope she can

makeadifferencesomeday. PhotosbyZarahDayao

I

8/7/2019 Quill 2011 (Part 3)

3/4

March 2011 11Qui l l

YoungLoveLove, love has come my way.And

everything is gonna be okay, Heart

Evangelista sang. I was 14 years old andhe was 21. I was a sophomore in high

school and he was a bum. I lived in

Makati and he lived in Quezon City.

These were big differences, but love

kept us together.It was the 25th day of the month of

August 2004, when we committed our-

selves to each other. We saw each otheronce a week without my parents con-

sent. We painted plenty of

memories with one an-

other for 22 months. Itseemed perfect. Ithought he was my

forever. I dreamt of

spending my lifetimewith him. But every-

thing ended unexpect-

edly.It was late at night.

It looked as if every-body was sleeping, but I

was still with him and

his friends. We werelaughing out loud at the

basketball court. Our

laughter and happy

voices filled the air when

suddenly, my phone rang. Ilooked at the screen of my

phone and saw my mothers name.

With an anxious heart, I answered the

call. A restless and angry voice blockedmy eardrums. She was asking me to go

home immediately, before my father

scolds me.

I decided to go home alone but he

insisted and went home with me to for-mally introduce himself as my boy-

friend. I did not know what to do. All I

know was that I was in trouble at that

moment.As we got near my house, I saw my

brother and mother patiently waiting

for me. My knees were shaking as I got

down from the jeepney. I left him withno words. I only glanced at him once

because I went inside our house quickly

to avoid being nagged. My mother came

to my room and warned me. She re-

minded me that I was too young and Imust prioritize my studies over my love

life. I loved him but I love my mother

more. Since that incident, I never an-swered his calls, responded to his text

messages, and stopped connecting with

him via Friendster.

Missing:MeLove hurts. Two years with him

was not that easy to forget. My heart

was broken. My mind could not take the

pain. I lost all sense of direction in mylife. I had no reason at all to wake up. I

did not attend my classes and locked

myself in my room. I threw things

against the wall. I did not talk to any-

body. I messed up my life. I stopped

living. My family did not know how tohandle me, and it came to the point

when they sought professional help.

ArtofLettingGoI was not myself that afternoon. I

tuned in to MYX channel and sang out

loud. A lady dressed in blue scrub suit

and pants came to our house. In herwhite shoes and with

her hands inside her pockets, she

walked towards me, sat beside me and

stared at me. Behind her, a man in

white top and pants and with good phy-

sique also walked in and sat in front ofme. I sat beside the lady. She said hello,

she took an injection out of her pocket

and injected it to me. It caused me diz-

ziness.She stood up and asked me to go

with her. I followed her as the man ac-

companied me. The three of us boarded

a van and suddenly, I fell asleep.It was already dark when we ar-

rived at an unfamiliar place. She opened

the one-way glass door for me and I

stepped in. The moment I walked in, Isaw a living room full of strange people.

The lady in blue showed me my room. I

thought it would just be a room for me

but it turned out to be a ward for eight

girls. I was going to sleep with a bunchof girls I didnt even know.

My first new friend was so caring.

She offered me a pillow and a blanket.She also gave me a book entitled, OurDailyBread. She told me that the next

day, she would be going out becauseher doctors said that she was already

cured. I did not mind what she was tell-

ing me because I could not understand

what was happening. After our conver-

sation, few people were shouting out-

side our room. They kept on yelling,Bible study! Bible study! They

knocked on our door and invited me to

Iwasanaddict.Not

todrugs.Nottoalco-

hol.Rathertolove.I

devotedmyselfto

lovingsomeonetoo

muchwhodidnot

lovemeasmuch

inreturn.

byMarieGaieNolledoA Patient of Love join the so-called Bible study. As Istepped out of our room, I found at myleft the girls bathroom and at my right,an orange-black painted room with

pumpkins painted on the wall wherepeople were gathered for the so-called

Bible study. Bibles were on the chair. I

sat down and looked around the orange-black painted room. It was getting coldinside the room and there were no

more vacant seats. We started. A for-

eign guy in a checkered polo began the

activity with a prayer. He was a pastor.

He shared the good news but I couldnot help my eyes from closing, so I

stood up, unconsciously dropped the

Bible on the floor and walked out. Iwent straight to my bed and slept.

The next day, I know I was still not

myself. I looked for the lady in blue

scrub suit because I wanted to go home.

She refused to tell me the truth, con-vinced me to go back to my bed and

asked me to wait for the wake up bell. I

failed to find out where I was and wentback to our room sadly.

I did not know what was happening

until the lady in blue explained to me

that I was in a rehabilitation center, the

Life Change Recovery Center (LCRC). Iwas in a place for drug addicts, psychot-

ics and old people. Sadness and tons of

questions filled my mind and heart. I

did not know why I was there in the

first place. I was not a drug addict nei-ther a psychotic. All I knew was I was

broken hearted.

Every afternoon, we were requiredto take a nap. Then few hours after, an-

other bell would ring for a session with

psychology interns. We always had ac-

tivities concerning our painful life ex-

periences. Through those activities, Islowly and unconsciously felt healing.

I did not see my family for a few

weeks. I did not have my cell phone to

text them, landline to call them andeven paper and pen to write a letter for

them. I felt so alone when I was there in

LCRC. I was so helpless. I did not havefriends. I did not trust anybody until I

started to have a new set of friends. We

were four in our group and I was the

youngest. They were all my kuyasandmy ate. I had two kuyas, Mike andMighty and one Ate, Karen who was a

Paulinian. They were all drug addicts

but with good hearts. They only heeded

attention and love from their parentsthats why they took drugs. They all had

different life stories that inspired me as

I continued my journey inside that re-

covery center with them. I felt at homewith them. I started to fix my broken-

ness and felt complete again. I never

felt I was in danger even though they

were drug addicts. I was in good hands.Aside from establishing bond with

other patients, I asked and talked to

God. I always got up in the middle of the

night, grabbed the Our Daily Bread

and read it for guidance. I felt His touchand His unconditional love for me. That

was my motivation to survive in that

rehabilitation center.One afternoon, after taking a bath, I

went to the living area to watch TV with

my friends. I did not feel anything unor-dinary but when I unexpectedly saw the

familiar top of my elder sister, I glancedslowly from the top to her face and real-

ized it was my Ate Grheyzie. She gave

me a hug and I felt so much love and

happiness. My parents and my brotherswere also there and did the same thing.

My whole family and I were happy as

we entered in the orange-black painted

room with the psychologist. She was Dr.Violet Bautista. She explained to me

that we were having a family therapy.

She asked me about my experiences

inside the recovery center, how my re-lationship with the other patients was

and so on. I shared everything from my

adjustment period until that day. Aspart of the healing process, the psy-

chologist asked me to narrate my bro-kenness. I completely revealed my love

life and my biggest secret was dis-

closed. They all seemed deaf becausethey did not utter a single word. All I

saw were smiles - smiles of forgiveness

and acceptance. I felt I was loved.

The family therapy happened twice

a month. I also had consultations with aforeign missionary and my psychiatrist,

Dr. Randy Dellosa, the Pinoy Big

Brother registered psychiatrist. I felt Iwas a celebrity patient.

After three months, I received very

good news. The nurses were instructed

by my psychologist and psychiatristthat I was ready to be released from the

rehabilitation center.

On the very

day of my

release, therewas a small

gathering

and they

called it myGraduation

Day. A bou-

quet of flow-

ers; a notefrom my fam-

ily and

friends; and

words of wis-

dom fromthe heads of

LCRC were

some of mysouvenirs

from that

place I considered home for three

months. I could not explain what I felt.

Overflowing love and happiness filledme. I already loved the people the

heads, the nurses, the staff, the patients,

and my friends. It was very hard to saygoodbye. But in every goodbye there is

a new beginning. As I stepped out of the

one-way glass door, I brought home

tons of memories to keep, new life les-sons and a changed me.

LessonsLearnedEverything has its own time. Maybe

I rushed love and did not care aboutmyself. I am so grateful for having a

loving God; for all the people behind my

changed perspective in life; and for my

family who sacrificed a lot for me. I felthealed through that haven. I would

never be shy to share with anybody

that I once lived with drug addicts and

psychotics. Rather, I would be proud ofit. I enjoyed every single day of my life

with them- my first and I hope, the last

time of being a patient of love.

THELIFECHANGERECOVERYCENTER assistpeoplethroughtheir troubledtimes,

especiallyduringtimesofcrises,sothatpatientswillexperiencewholeness,wellness,

growth,andhealingintheirlives. CreditfromtheLifeChangeRecoveryofficialwebsite

YOUDONTNEED

TOBEADRUG

ADDICTOR AN

ALCOHOLIC

toseekprofessional

helpandhealing.

Photo

courtesyof

GoogleImages

8/7/2019 Quill 2011 (Part 3)

4/4

Qui l l

is a laboratory paper produced as final output for theFeature and Technical writing class of 4MCPJ.

It is a thematic paper that contains purely soft news/

feature articles focusing on the theme, Scholasticans in

the service of Christ, Country, and Creation.

March 201112

Editorial StaffJasmine ShewakramaniEditor in Chief

Camille Anne De AsisManaging Editor

Anne Ednalyn Dela Cruz

Camille Marie Ponce

Maria Isadora RomeralEditors

Carmela QuidolesLayout Artist

Karen Marie PastorCirculation Manager

Andrea Zarah Dayao

Rose Anne ValledoPhotographers

Jenny de Venecia

Cielo Eunice Flores

Tiffanny Queen Navarro

Marie Gaie Nolledo

Kleir Pineda

Cristina TupazReporters

Atty. Prima Jesusa QuinsayasAdviser

OTANG

D.A.MS. PJ

KLEIR

ISSA

CIELO

JAS

CAMZYEDZ

INNA

KAI JEN

CARMELAZARAHTIFF

GAIE

Noodles; Para kanino ka bumaban

gon? an ad for Nescafe Coffee, andHonest Annie, an advertisement for

Milo. All three advertisements were

made by Publicis Manila advertisinggroup.

In the field of broadcast journalism, a

special citation was also given to AkoMismoTV in addition to those receivedby Castillejo and Soho.

For projects and works dealing with

d evelopm ent com m u nication ,

Gabrielas ProjectRunaway were givenawards, as well as ABS-CBNs Ma

tanglawin and the Vote for Kids cam-

paign by Tulakabataan.

Special citations for print and online

media included Anne Marxe Umalis

articles on womens issues published

on Bulatlat.com, an alternative onlinenews magazine. WomeninAction, the

magazine of Isis International was also

given recognition, as well as PCIJs CashOverload,MediaOverdrive:thePressand

theMay2010elections.

The award is named after St. Hildegard

von Bingen of Germany, the celebratedmedieval Benedictine nun considered

ahead of her time. St. Hildegarde was a

counselor, linguist, naturalist, scientist,

philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet,

visionary and composer.

The Hildegarde Awards is an annual

event staged by the department of MassCommunication and its graduating

class. It is said to be the sole award-

giving body recognizing womens roles

PROF AMELIA LAPENA BONIFACIO AND CAROLYN ARGUILLAS shared their in

sightsandexperienceswiththeaudiences.ThetwowomenarethisyearsHildegarde

lifetimeachievementawards. PhotobyMelcaSison

SSC holds......frompage1