ILOKANO SHORT STORY WINNERS AND PRIZES

Quote of the Day:

""The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to be credible."--Mark Twain

Here the blogger speaks of the plausibility of the short story, whether it is fantasy
or the so-called magic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez: can it happen in the world of the living?

FOR THE RECORD


Theme, language and structure as criteria for blogger in evaluating the 18 entries in the Alex Yadao Ilokano Fiction Contest, the 4th edition. We didn't know whether the two other judges applied the same criteria but such measurement is a given in short fiction.

Anyway, after lengthy deliberations of the Board of Judges composed of Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (chair); Linda Lingbaoan-Bulong of the University of the Philippines and Peter La. Julian, US-based creative writer and journalist (members), six writers emerged winners with corresponding cash prizes

The winners received their prizes and certificates on April 17-19, 2015 during the annual national convention of Ilokano writers in Quezon City in the Philippines.
    

"THE WRITERS' HOUSE THAT NEVER WAS"

Quote of the Day

"A man's experience with the war, never ends with the war. A man's work, like his life, is never completed."--Jakob Been, poet and translator, quoted by Anne Michaels in her novel, "Fugitive Pieces."

How do you prevent people--those who had knowledge about "the house that never was"--from speaking about the structure and what appears to be now as a sad and ugly narrative in the history of Ilokano writers? The structure, in all its rotting beauty, is still standing there in Suso, Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur in Northern Philippines. Earlier, in an FB account, the blogger reacted to comments of Ilokano mannurat Julio Belmes. He had said he regretted he designed what would be a two-story house but never completed, saying it was an "instrument of corruption and cheating" among some writers. Various Ilokano writing groups, and even individuals, from the Philippines, Hawaii and the US mainland contributed money for its construction that started in 2002, according to records.

Yes, how do you stop Dr. Maria Teresa Benas, Infocenter Manager of the Philippine Information Center in Bangued, Abra, from saying that she and her group also gave money to the failed project? It was her who said, "the house that never was"-- a very painful commentary.

How do they "put closure" to that particular narrative? Rebbaen ti pasdek tapno awanen mangipalagip iti daydiay a panawen?

A, the warrior-novelist from the province of Abra, now earning his keep as an architect somewhere in a country near Vladimir Putin's Russia! Long live, comrade of the pen!

ON WAITING FOR INSPIRATION AND SEEKING GOODNESS

Quotes of the day:

"You can't wait for inspiration; you have to go after it with  a club."--Jack London

"Whatever good we are seeking is also seeking us. Any good we have ever known in our family of humankind will find us again. The psyche is a universe  unto itself in which nothing is truly lost. Any lost or missing parts to the Holy we will dream again. We will dream the holy anew."--(Until the Strong Woman by Clarissa Pinhola Estes)


Our Etermal Gratitude

Our dear Sonny Boy Voltaire has started a three-month vacation rest from a 24-hour night shift work. Our prayers and energies for him who has taken in his Lexus cars  his Mommy and Daddy to the vast wonderland of America. We shall always be indebted to you, Bong.
A nurse who graduated from one of the best schools in Baguio, Bong worked for a number of years in London and other European countries. He  is a globe-trotter and has toured South American countries like Argentina and Peru, Japan, Singapore and, of course, Europe and Israel.God has been good to him and has shared his blessings especially to the poor in his native Philippines. Two of his scholars graduated in medicine last summer and are now undergoing residency programs.

Condolences

They have crossed the Great Divide, into the eternity of time, in the eternal light where they will become immortals. Such departures from the land of the living are always sad and painful to those they left behind. (Our time, too, will  also come when we travel the same route they have taken.) Our condolences to the loved ones of  Dr. Jane Lartek, who died two days ago at the SLU hospital in Baguio; and Rose Daprosa, who breathed her last  in Hawaii a week ago. Rest in peace, beautiful souls in the world of angels and the Almighty God, who is also everywhere on earth watching us mortals in our imperfections and weaknesses. 

Three Pages a Day

"The wolf may lose his teeth, but never his nature."--Proverb of foretelling/as strategy for dealing with situations

"Forget injuries, never forget kindness."-Confucius

"Remember, three pages a day. That's all you need to write. In a year, 365 days later, you will have written 1,065 pages that could be three books."--Julia Campbell

Note to Mayette:

It was a sunny this morning. A fine day for walking and jogging in Menifee, From the house along Water Wheel Court, I walked slowly towards the Audie Murphy park, I was in jogging pants and yellow sweater. The Muse was not at the curve near the traffic lights, Neither was she along the cemented sidewalk facing traffic, But I walked-jogged on and concentrated on the activity. Decided to buy something at Walgreens, a 24-hour convenience store, a mile or so away, where a serious-looking female clerk always greets people, "Good morning." The Muse was not here while I was looking for a pair of gloves made in China. She was not at Wal-Mart in Hemet yesterday.

ILOKANO WRITING

  
"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original; whereas if you simply tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."--C.S. Lewis


"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then there will be true peace."--Sri Chin Moi Gosh

Notes from an interview with a Filipino pukan cane worker called sakada, who worked in the plantations of Hawaii after World War II. He, still in his teens then, was one of several Ilokanos recruited for work in the islands. They left aboard the SS Maunawili at the Salomague Port in Cabugao, Ilocos Sut. He is Hermenegildo Barroga from Bantay, Ilocos Sur, The interview took place at their home in a classy neighborhood near the Waikiki Heights sometime in 2003. Manang Pacita Saludes, then president of Gumil Hawaii, the Ilokano writers' organization in the Aloha State, accompanied me and my wife Estelita to their place.

"iti aldaw, trabaho; iti rabii, bandido
Kinuna daydi nanangko, Anakko, no matiliwdaka dagiti Hapon, nasaysayaat no igasanggasatmo ti bagiyo, ngem ti maparparigat; nasaysayaat no agtaraykayo, no paltogandakayo.

"Iti maysa a bigat, nasagangmi kadagiti kapatadak dagiti soldado a Hapon. Nagtataraykami ngem sisiak ti natiliwda.Kinulatadak. Dinanogda ti rupak. Ngem nakalibasak kadakuada. Taray dayta nga uray la nga. Apo, isurom man ti nasayaat nga aramidek, kinunak bayat ti panagtarayko. Dimmanonak iti maysa a lugar nga asideg ti maysa a kaunasan.  Maysa a balay ti naiparna a nasungadko--adda dagiti babbaket sadiay nga aglutluto. Sibsibet dagiti Hapon a napan nagpatrulya sadiay a lugar. Adu kano ti pinatayda. Nana, pangngaasim ta pastrekennan. Umayko dengngepen ti matak, ta limtegen
Kuna ti maysa a baket, Ay, anakko, 'gurka ta innak mangala iti kutsay tapno itapalmo. Napan nangkettel iti kutsay sana indengngep iti limteg a matak. Kalpasanna, inikkandak iti kallugong, Impatuldoda ti pagnaak. Amangan no agsubli dagiti Hapon.

"Napanak naglemmeng manen iti maysa a kaunasan, Kada adda agkarasakas, uray bao, ipagarupko a dagiti Hapones, Napalalo ti kebbakebbak.

"Sangapulokami nga agkakabsat. Maysa kadakuada ni Rene Ragunton a nagbati idiay Filipinas. Violeta ti nagan ni baketko a taga-Abra."