MINIATURES

This is one of my nativity scenes. Bosch of course always stirs my curiosity, always the provocateur that makes one wonder; What is he up to? In the late Middle Ages, there was this debate between going on with sacredness in the face of an emerging secularization, or I may even use the word - "profanity". It had surely influenced  the eccentric Bosch. Anyone can mention here the strange alien-like features of the child Christ, the seemingly smiling cow that reminds one of the popular french cheese brand "La Vache qui rit". But it's that shepherd at the back with his "usisero" mannerism who really caught my fancy. The Bible did say it, the angels approached a group of bored shepherds to spread the news that Christ was born. Bosch then put his shepherd sneaking naughtily into the nativity scene.

"Im Westen Nichts Neues" ni Remarque Almusal- Nagkakape sa hardin. Sa bisperas ng ika-100 taong anibersaryo ng pagtatapos ng Unang Digmaang Pandaigdig. Nasumpungan ko muling basahin, mula pa kagabi, ang akda ng sundalong manunulat Aleman, Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970). Ano pa't tila nagtatanong ang may akda: Kung ano ba talaga ang kanilang pinaglaban? Sa wari'y naghahayag din na kahit paano, sa panig ng Alemanya at kanyang kaalyado, mayroon din naman tumutuligsa sa kabaluktutan ng digmaan. Nakilala ang obra sa buong daigdig sa salin nitong Ingles, "All Is Quiet In The Western Front ". Isa sa mga librong sinunog ng mga Nazi sa pagluklok nila sa poder. ~ Lungsod ng Pasig    

Our image of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar is that of a young warrior with debonaire look and that wavy hair brushed on the side part - Sa gilid ang hati. Looking at this cropped photo of a Goyo with Aguinaldo's party in a train for the long travel that will bring them to exile in Hong Kong 1897, we can probably speculate that del Pilar prepared for this trip with a haircut. Mukhang bagong tasa  siya pero sa gilid pa rin ang hati. I remember reading once an article about omens of cutting hairs and its practice among teutonic tribes in Roman times. Long hair to some symbolizes strength but for these tribes of Central Europe, cutting it doesn't mean diminished power instead it is a symbol like that of gathering the clouds (letting it grow again), to be unleashed later into a violent storm. After exile, Goyo returned to the country and they say each one that crossed his path, was never the same again.

Behind-- the gigantic poster of the former First Lady's Green Revolution program The regime desperately tried to convince the world that Filipinos were experiencing positive change. I remember catchy mottos, all emphasizing "change." But our youthful skepticism often resulted in humorous reinterpretations. One example was Imelda's "Metro Manila - City of Man," which, after a bad monsoon that flooded the streets, became "Metro Manila - City of Manholes" in our eyes. My experience mirrored this disconnect. My brother, attending public elementary school, came home one day enthusiastically brandishing vegetable seeds, declaring, "We have to plant vegetables!" He transformed our backyard into a radish patch, the only successful crop. Tragically, our dog destroyed the beautiful cabbages before we could harvest them. After a radish dinner, the digestive consequences filled the air, leading to my own gas pains and a desperate need for relief....

Rizal's letter to Blumentritt (Dated 20. July 1887) Years ago I was asked by a Dutch colleague about what to him was Rizal's 'strange' affinity with Germany and the Germans. Knowing his country's sad experience at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, right away I felt that his question was laced with something of the bitter past: Warum Deutschland? (Why Germany? ). I told him the Germany Rizal admired was that which stands for Schiller, Goethe, Heine, etc those great men of Philosophy and Letters, above all, Science. But I knew then he was half-convinced if only I had in my hand that time the collection of the correspondence between Rizal and Blumentritt, then perhaps he would have understood more of Rizal with these lines in the letter: "I always argued with a young German from Schwerin, because he was a fanatic, that he claims Germany is at the top of everything. I never agreed and told him that Germany is a great nation but one cannot clai...

Working late one evening on some writings, I opened old stuff and found this book on Franz Kafka again. It features a number of his letters, compiled into a sort of personal testimony to form this "biography from within". I remember telling somebody the first time I leafed through some pages years ago, that reading this, particularly the first part - Kafka's letter to his abusive f ather, was so shattering. Never did I find words concerning paternal authority such as "fear" (Furcht) and 'gratitude" (Dankbarkeit) so eloquently yet harrowingly used in German prose as in this letter. The first few lines go: "You asked me lately why I claim that I am afraid of you. As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could even nearly keep in mind while talking. And if I now try t...

The photo reminds me of Thornton Wilder's novel "THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY", wherein the narrator in the story Franciscan friar, Brother Junipero presented five characters who succumbed to a terrible mishap, the collapse of a hanging bridge in Peru. Junipero himself witnessed the tragic event. Compiling then backgrounds on the victims, he seeks answers and a divine explanation of why it happened. Discussin g topics such as fate and destiny, connecting the circumstances behind the five unrelated characters - why they were there on that given time and day. In the Zamboanga bridge collapse, we cannot possibly argue about fate or seek out cosmic explanations. Definitely, politics plays prominently here and the culture of corruption is very visible. Yet the Filipino way of finding oneself in the order or chaos of things in the universe came out as one of the politicians who took a dip in the murky water later then said in an interview: "Blessing in disguise ...

"El Asesinato del Gobernador Bustamante" (detail) Félix Resurrección Hidalgo (1855 – 1913) Hidalgo's graphic portrayal of Governor-General Bustamante's murder at the hands of the friars. This painting was featured in the 1905 St Louis Exposition in the US. But I often wonder what could have become of Hidalgo if the opus was displayed publicly and garnered controversy at the height  of Filipino confrontation against Spain and the friars. It could have been taken as open defiance against the powers at that time.  Some imply that Luna and Hidalgo hid their sentiments against the mother country behind the essence of their works, yet there  were also the likes Rizal, Jaena, and M.H del Pilar who used words and satire to boldly declare their criticism of the colonial system. Played safe in a time when others fought openly?