“The beauty parlor of civilization”

Andrew Taylor, on his blog The Artful Manager, shares a thought that struck him while attending a conference on the arts: a participant said, "We need to stop making the arts so special."

It may seem counter-intuitive, but it's true. Art, the literary arts included, needs to be treated as if it were just like any other thing we do. Because when we give it special treatment, then we create what we have right now: a "strange and often self-produced gulf between creative expression and everyday life." Taylor says:

Art and artistic expression shouldn't be the jewelry of society, it should be part of the blood, part of the muscle, and part of the bone. When our strategies set us apart from the world so that we can be separately admired, supported, and valued, we shouldn't be surprised when we are perceived as separate.

Then he ends with the money quote, from John Dewey:

As long as art is the beauty parlor of civilization, neither art nor civilization is secure.

A whiff of freshness

Jan, one of our lit majors in the English Department, posted this bit of dialogue [contacts only] she overheard in the Rizal Library (the main library of the Loyola Schools, or college). She found it funny, and so did I (funny in a painful way). With her permission to repost it here, I give you (slightly edited) this whiff of just what we teachers of freshmen (or freshies, as we like to call them) have to deal with.

So today I was lining up for readings on the third floor of the Rizal Library when a certain freshness in the air (aka freshman) came up behind me and questioned Ate Imelda (the photocopying lady near the Art Books):

FreshieA: Ate, are the readings for Lit 13 here?

Ate Imelda: Sinong teacher mo, iho?

FreshieA: Uhh . . . ate . . . di ko maalala. Basta Lit 13 po.

Ate Imelda: Sinong teacher mo? Si Serrano ba or si Gino Dizon?

FreshieA: Ate, basta Lit 13 po. (Turns to friend) I can't remember my teacher's name, pare!

FreshieB: What's your block ba?

FreshieA: Dude, I can't remember. Shit man. I can't remember talaga! (Goes to one side and tries to remember who his teacher is or what block he is in.) Shit shit shit. (Sees a friend) Dude! Pare, I can't remember my block! What's your block ulit?

FreshieC: I'm R---

FreshieA: Ayun! I'm two blocks below you. (Turns to Ate Imelda) Ate, yung readings po for R---

Ate Imelda: Sorry, iho. Di ko alam kung anong blocks nito, eh. Sino bang teacher mo? Si Vince or si Gino Dizon?

FreshieA: Ate, I really can't remember! (Turns aside and whispers) Shit. Anong gagawin ko? I need those readings. (Turns to Ate Imelda with confidence) Ate, yung readings po ni Gino Dizon.

FreshieB: Pare, are you sure teacher mo yun?

FreshieA: No, pero bahala na.

FreshieD: Hello guys. whats up?

FreshieA: I'm getting my readings pero I can't remember my teacher's name.

FreshieD: Lalake ba?

FreshieA: Yeh, guy. Can't remember if it's Gonzaga or Gonzales, basta G!

FreshieD: Dude, you remember what your teacher looks like?

FreshieA: He's . . . (gives description).

FreshieD: Dude, that's Sir Gino Dizon.

FreshieA: Talaga! Shet! Tangina! Salamat! (Turns to Ate Imelda and with a voice that is louder than what is appropriate in the library) Ate, yung readings nga po ni Sir Gino.

One week into the semester and his memory fails. Fasten your seatbelt, kid.

The tension between the “sacral” and the vernacular

National Catholic Reporter correspondent John Allen reports on a conflict in the US bishops current meeting concerning a translation of texts used in the Catholic mass. I'm not aware of the details, but as for the broader concerns I sympathize with both sides.

On the one hand, I agree on the need to make the language of the mass more "sacral," more formal, as befits sacred ritual. Reading this I was reminded of a recent wedding I attended in which the bride and groom each said "I marry you" at the end of their vows. My ears pricked up. I wished they had chosen to say the archaic but much more evocative "I thee wed." In a world in which language, and much practice and custom, is turning more and more casual, we need to preserve spaces where formal language and ceremony hold sway. I think this is necessary in helping preserve a sense of the sacred in our everyday lives.

Yet I also feel for those who object to the translations because certain passages are difficult to say (and so sound unnatural) or contain words their congregation likely won't know (like "ineffable" or "gibbet"), which will be alienating. As one of the critics says, "The vernacular has been a blessing to our people." Indeed. Bringing the mass to individual communities, by transforming it with their language and customs, has helped bring the faith to people.

Hence, the need to foster a sense of sacred mystery versus the need to bring the mysterious into the realm of the familiar.

Excerpts from Allen's report:

Heading into the U.S. bishops’ spring meeting in Orlando, it didn’t seem likely that a proposed new translation of the Proper of Seasons, part of the prayers and other texts for the Catholic Mass, would stir up much dust. . . . Like it or not, many concluded, Rome has made clear that the new translations must be closer to the Latin, both in structure and word choice, thus producing a more “sacral” language sometimes remote from ordinary English usage.

All that changed this morning, however, when Bishop Victor Galeone of Saint Augustine, Florida, rose to oppose the proposed text . . . Galeone made a forceful argument that the new translation is simply too unclear and awkward to be effectively used in American parishes.

Among other things, Galeone cited the text’s use of the phrase “the gibbet of the Cross.”

“The last time I heard that word was back in 1949, during Stations of the Cross in Lent,” Galeone said.

“I challenge anyone to proclaim what’s given here at Mass,” he said. “It’s very difficult.”

“A good translator has to understand not just the original language, but also one’s own into which these texts are being put,” Galeone said. Despite assurances to the contrary, he said, the new texts are “slavish” with respect to the Latin originals.

“I’m an obedient son of the church, and if these texts are passed as they stand, I will pray with them,” Galeone said. “But I feel that the vernacular has been a blessing to our people.” . . .

Galeone’s speech seemed to open the floodgates, as other bishops rose to voice reservations about the new translations.

Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba of Milwaukee, for example, said, “If I have trouble understanding the text when I read it, I wonder how it’s going to be possible to pray with it in the context of worship.” . . .

Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, a longtime critic of the new translations, said the texts contain a number of “archaic and obscure” terms, pointing to words such as “wrought,” “ineffable,” and “gibbet.” He also said that the text’s preference for mimicking the sentence structure of Latin, featuring long sentences with a large number of dependent clauses, impedes understanding in English. Trautman cited one prayer in the new Proper of Seasons presented as a single 12-line sentence with three separate clauses.

“John and Mary Catholic have a right to have prayer texts that are clear and understandable,” Trautman said. “The document before us needs further work.” . . .

Other bishops, however, argued that admitted imperfections in the text don’t justify further delays in the process.

“It’s an imperfect sacramentary for an imperfect people, to be prayed by a celebrant who is also imperfect,” said Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco. “I respect those who say let’s move forward and get a new sacramentary, before they all fall apart in the sacristy.”

Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb, the retired archbishop of Mobile who sits on the Vox Clara Commission that advises the Vatican on liturgical translation, said that he doesn’t find the new texts “unacceptable or unproclaimable.”

“Our genius in celebrating,” he said, will make up for any deficiencies. Further, he said, the average Catholic will receive the new texts “with the eyes of faith,” rather than focusing on its problems “like an English teacher or a Latin teacher.” . . .

Echoing a point made by others, [Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland] argued that today’s texts may seem more “proclaimable” simply because they’re familiar. With time, he said, the new texts will also become familiar, and the issues of syntax and word choice cited by critics “will be a non-problem.”

Bishop Arthur Seratelli of Paterson, New Jersey, chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for Divine Worship, defended the texts.

“On whole, the translation is a marked improvement,” Seratelli said. “As we use it, as we ourselves and our priests become more familiar with the new language of the liturgy, it will not pose as great a problem as we fear.”

Just another character in “the great big novel of moving”

Here is a piece by poet and essayist Larry Ypil. He grew up in Cebu but teaches with us at the Ateneo's English Department where he is getting his MA. An excerpt from his poignant piece on coming going:

Only this time around, it seems to take longer than usual. And one realizes that the Manila one left a few months ago is no longer the Manila that one has just returned to. A housemate’s gone. A good friend now works in Makati which mean you’ll be seeing less of her. Friends have seemed to move houses, or switched places, or changed favorite colors. Even the department one works in seems full of strangers as new teachers fill in the places left by the ones who have left.

And in the great big novel of moving, and leaving, and traveling, you discover that by some twist in the plot you’ve ironically become the character that’s actually stayed. That in spite of the constant whir of flying, and returning, and saying good-bye and finding one’s footing in the now-strange, now-familiar place of where you are, you’re actually the one who hasn’t left at all. Caught between the memories of a home left, and the hopes of a home never arrived at, you’re forced to swear citizenship to a space of eternal nostalgia, or repeated regret, or unwavering hope.

The rest is here.

How to turn goals into habits

Here's a good piece from Zen Habits, a blog that I follow. Blog owner Leo explains how to turn goals into habits, a method he has put into use when he prepared for his first marathon, cut down on his debt, and wrote a book. It sounds like a good way to make changes to your life without being overwhelmed by them:

I try to turn my goals into habits, and in doing so, I put my goals on autopilot. Turning a goal into a habit means really focusing on it, intensely, for at least a month, to the exclusion of all else. The more you can focus on it, the more it’ll be on autopilot.

But once you put it on autopilot, once a habit is firmly established, you don’t really have to focus on it much. You’ll still do it, but because it’s a habit, you only have to use minimal focus to maintain that habit. The goal becomes on autopilot, and you can focus on your next goal or project or habit.

More details here.

And now for something completely different 8

Here's another hilarious video from the same guys who gave us the Spanish love song. This is "Ooh Girl," an "honest R&B song." Coz, like, no one really makes love all night long. (It's impossible.)

Tanghalang Ateneo goes absurd with “?” Two by Ionesco

Tanghalang Ateneo jumpstarts its 30th Season, Echoes, this July with two modern classics by Eugène Ionesco — Ang Sopranong Kalbo (translated by Rolando S. Tinio) and The Lesson. The double bill of absurd plays, wildly funny on the surface but sinister in its implications, comes together under the name “?” Two by Ionesco, with the question mark representing the reaction of people who cannot apprehend what the other is saying.


Ang Sopranong Kalbo introduces characters or the “non-characters” rather, who engage in silly banter, storytelling and poetry recitation in attempts to relate with one another. The Lesson, in turn, is a frustrating attempt by a seemingly harmless professor to teach mathematics and philology to a bright, young girl, an effort that results in violence.

Common to both plays is the horror of miscommunication. In Tanghalang Ateneo’s version of Kalbo, however, this horror arises not from the hollowness of identity, as in the original text, but from the hollowness of national identity. In The Lesson, the horror comes about as a colonial educator seeks to impose his will on a native subject. The comedy remains, however, as nonsense, noise, and non sequiturs dominate the text.

“?” showcases the talents of an all-student ensemble. Kalbo has Exzell Macomb and Peanuts Valerio play Mr. and Mrs. Santos while Gelo Brillantes and Ia Solis play the Martins. Regina de Vera portrays the maid, Marie, alongside Mel Pante who portrays the fireman. The Lesson features Mikey Panopio as the Professor, Bea Gulinao as the Pupil, and Mon Querubin as the Maid.

Ricardo Abad and BJ Crisostomo co-direct the plays. Set design is by Monica Sebial with Peanuts Valerio and Sam Quizon handling the costume design.

“?” Two by Ionesco runs from July 2 to 5 and 9 to 12 at 7pm, with additional 3pm shows on July 5 and 12 at the Communication Studio of the Ateneo de Manila University. For inquiries, contact Ia Solis at 0916-5415165. The plays are excellent material for classes in the humanities and the social sciences.

Wifi Body Festival 3 features IndepenDance (plus highlights)

From June 12 to 15, Wifi Body Festival 3, an annual independent contemporary dance festival now on its third year at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, will celebrate Independence Day with its main performance showcase “IndepenDance.”

With the theme “Dance in Revolution: Revolution in Dance,” IndepenDance will feature “Indios Bravos” in the choreography of Dwight Rodrigazo, to be performed by Airdance, a dance company led by Paul Morales. Airdance was part of the Philippine delegation that opened the World Expo 2005 in Nagoya, Japan and that represented the Philippines in the 7th Asia Arts Festival held in Guandong, China.

Airdance performing "Indios Bravos"

“Indios Bravos is a multi-media contemporary dance piece that creates a time-line from the Indios Bravos, who at the turn of the century were expatriates prominent in the fight for Philippine independence, to the present day Filipino working abroad. Both are united in their struggle, hardships and the glory they bring to the country,” said Myra Beltran, festival director. Angel Baguilat is associate director for the festival with Morales as choregraphers' network chair.

Provisional Danza

Ava Villanueva, first prize winner of last year’s New Choreographers Competiton, will also present her latest works. Also part of IndepenDance are invited international artist Shigemi Kitamura from Japan performing “Song for Life” and the dance group Provisional Danza, with artistic director Carmen Werner and Alejandro Morata, of Madrid, performing “The Sky in my Pocket.”

Shigemi Kitamura

Away from the stage
Other festival performances include the Blackbox Initiative, a series of shows at the CCP’s studio theater (Tanghalang Huseng Batute) and Dance-on-site, a series of pieces choreographed specifically for certain locations within the premises of the CCP.

“The Blackbox Initiative takes dance away from the “regular” proscenium stage and unleashes it in a more intimate studio setting,” says Beltran. “On the other hand, Dance-on-site furthers this idea even more by having dance pieces created in non-stage spaces, for example, the loading dock of the CCP main theatre stage or the gift shop enclosed in glass at the lobby. These projects frames our ideas about space, they show us the many faceted ways contemporary dance can be seen and appreciated.”

Up-and-coming choreographers will be highlighted in the New Choreographers Competition, a competition solely dedicated to the solo and duet form. “The solo or duet form most conveys a choreographer’s artistic vision, in compact form. The solo can be a channel for engagement, and the duet can inspire us to see how intimately we connect with each other,” says Beltran. There is also an Emerging Talent Showcase where young talents from various school-based groups will have the privilege to perform in contemporary dance pieces.

Learning and discussion
To engage the public and to help them explore the world of dance, there will be Contemporary Dance Workshops where “anyone of any age, size or shape can join” and a workshop on Dance Journalism to be facilitated by Rosita Boisseau, French journalist and dance critic for Le Monde and Telerama. The Dance Journalism workshop will tackle the subject of “What is contemporary dance” by tracking the “family tree” of contemporary dance as it has evolved in Europe, and will guide participants on how to write about dance.

A forum titled “Plenary: Towards a Philippine Contemporary Dance Network” will also be held where all contemporary dance artists, students and teacher are invited to exchange ideas and map out the possibility of a national contemporary dance network.

Wi-fi Body Festival 3 is presented by the World Dance Alliance-Philippine Choreographers' Network (Basilio Villaruz, president; Corazon Iñigo, vice-president; Shirley Halili-Cruz, secretary-treasurer), the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts; in cooperation with Japan Foundation Manila, Instituto Cervantes Manila, Embajada de España en Filipinas, Ministerio de Cultura-Gobierno de España, Alliance Française de Manille, and Ayala Corporation. Publicity and promotions for the festival is provided in part by The Lemon Circle Event Management and Consultancy.

For schedules and details, call 8321125 loc. 1801 to 1808 or 8323681 or log on to www.geocities.com/wifibody. Tickets available at CCP Box Office (8323704) and all Ticketworld outlets 8919999.

* * * * *
Festival highlights

performances

IndepenDance
Proclaim independence and dance! With the theme “Dance in Revolution: Revolution in Dance.”
JUNE 12-14 / 8PM
Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theatre)

Black-box Initiative
In the space of a black-box, we inhabit worlds beyond our usual parameters and yet, exchange intensely with each other’s energies—dance for a black-box.
JUNE 12-15 / 5PM
Tanghalang Huseng Batute (Studio Theatre)

Dance-on-Site
Dance frames questions about space—see dance made for various sites of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
JUNE 12-14 / 930PM
Various sites at the CCP

Uncensored Bodies
The compulsion to capture the moving body in a frame—dance videos record the power of the live, performing body.
JUNE 12-15 / 3PM
Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino lobby (Little Theatre lobby)

wi-fi body Gala
The 2008 wi-fi body map at the wifi-body Gala.
JUNE 15 / 8PM
Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theatre)