Posts Tagged "elbi"

elbi students

Posted by ai on Jan 3, 2009 in FEATURED, UP kasi, UPLB naming MAHAL | 31 comments

Here’s a toast and roast to UP students in Los Baños (the ones I’ve handled, at least) who are worth the stay for about four years now in the University of the Philippines:

1. Elbi students’ fashion sense is extreme. In one room, you could see the typical maong and shirt/blouse, as well as shorts and sleeveless, but sometimes there are also cardigans and ties, flats and stilettos, sarong and malong, animé costume and “SpeechCom costume” (smart casual or semi-formal), party dress, summer dress, and ‘cross-dress’.

2. Some nurse an attitude problem.

Three Reasons for Loving Him*

Posted by ai on Nov 30, 2006 in KULTURA Articles, UPLB naming MAHAL | 5 comments

freeedom park

I love him. Ever since my freshman days, I find him interesting, nay,
appealing. In my last semester, he still is my inspiration. So
inspired am I that I breeze through my college days as if everything
was a game—all right, a challenging game.

Why do I love him? I know, searching why you love someone diminishes
the excitement, the mystery, the x-factor of the sensation. But I
needed to. Dear readers might learn how to love him, too. See, love is
not selfish. And so I divulge my reasons, and share him to all:

S.U. building

One, intelligence. He has the capacity to learn, reason and understand
which is rare in this third world country that doesn’t value education
much. The best companions, of course, are those whom I can talk to
(sensibly for that matter). It might sound boring. Intellectual
sweetness. Who wants boring philosophers anyway? But then, there are
Nietzsche and Kafka and Eagleton—they are intellectuals, but never
boring. That is why I love him as much as I love these animated thinkers.

facade of SU

Another, humaneness. His is a system of thought which is genuinely
interested with the human race. This he manifests by appreciating my
inclination to the Arts. The Humanities. Anything sociological.
Philosophy. He has an exceptional understanding why I prefer creative
writing and critical writing and journalism to science and
mathematics. We share this affection to things that explore our very
own selves. He made me realize that the best way to understand and
celebrate humanity is through the arts, unlike other fools who laugh at the idea of graduating under the
Arteum Baccalaureus programs.

What’s laudable here is that I pursued
something I like, that I did well in the field I like, and that it is
the Arts which I like.

Without art, Life is virtually unimaginable. He himself laughs at
those fools who search for the connection of their AB degrees with the
career they wish to assume. Which leads me to my last reason.

I love him because he lets me enjoy every minute of our togetherness.
He does not look into the future—not that he has predicted our
short-lived relationship; ironically, his pragmatism let him persuade
me that life after graduation is of no use if I do not enjoy the
present. In other words, what we experience is not really a sort of
preparation for that trite “tomorrow”. Arguing with amateurish
teachers, sipping iced tea at Grove, translating my insights into
papers, lying on the park beside him: only these are of greatest
importance for the time being. These are the secrets of happiness.
These are the secrets of love.

park for academic refugees

The big But: Like every love story, conflicts are inevitable. This
April, I shall be leaving him. I know we would still meet. But
everyday no more. I know he’ll be a lover to a hell lot others when I
am gone. He will also sweet talk youngsters during hell weeks, heaven
days, registration period and semester break. He will court grade
conscious academicians and lovers of Life, gimmicks, orange skies and
pancit canton. He will make love to others who appreciate Arts,
perpetual learning, and Scholarship. But that’s fine with me.
This is how I love UP.

the creek under Palma Bridge

*published in UPLB Perspective vol. 31 no. 11 (Feb. 2005) Under Scrutiny (opinion column)