Typhoon Ondoy’s Outrage
Flood water level came up one inch every 60 seconds as dams released 100 cubic meters of rain water per second; overflowed rivers ran 20-30 miles per hour; helpless people stuck waiting on their roofs, even the rich and the famous weren’t spared; some perilously clang on to trees or held tight on floating logs; streets and high-ways under thigh-deep to chest-deep flood water; bridges went invisible; cars, if not fully submerged swam like fishes; the worst — hundreds drowned in minutes.
What a heart-melting sight!
The Greater Manila Area and some 25 more neighboring provinces were under the state of calamity as typhoon Ondoy (international name: Ketsana) flaunted its raging winds and unquenchable rainfall. Within six hours, many parts of Metro Manila, which were hit the greatest, went almost 100 per cent under murky water.
This did not happen in more than 40 years! Though a furious flash flood swiped the area in June 7, 1967, people thought it would never happen again, but unfortunately, it did, September 26, 2009. The day the whole Philippines would never forget. Yet it was not as huge as the waters of Ondoy. This was the worst so far.
*courtesy of www2.canada.com
***
This was also the worst time not to have a television at home. Our set died down two weeks ago.
It was Saturday, and I woke up hearing the wooshing wind. It seemed very unusual and unfriendly. My husband and I still took the time to go to Dagupan City to buy some things for our baby. The wind came in duet with drizzles.
Careless of anything else, I walked down the isle of colorful baby clothes and cute, little bottles. My eyes were feasting. I did not know what and where to put my hands on. I was in the midst of careful choosing, when my husband said “It’s already 12 noon.” I replied, “Please don’t put me in a hurry, I am still enjoying.” I was thinking it was my right to take my time since it was my first time to go shopping for our baby. He defended, he just heard the bell rang which implied it’s 12.
I would constantly ask my husband, laying down five pairs of booties to choose from, and ask “which is cuter?” He would answer “up to you, you know better than me with those things.” I had a couple rounds of which-is-cuter and he would say the same thing every time.
Finally, we’re ready for the cashier. We had three pairs of pink booties, some white baby caps and mittens, and three milk bottles.
We went home satisfied yet surprised on how costly 15 pieces of baby stuff cost. In the afternoon, my husband went to Binmaley to pay his relatives a visit while I attended a church activity on fitness and healthy living. Everybody enjoyed the aerobics. Even I as an spectator with my huge tummy had a blast taking pictures of mothers burning some extra calories. It lasted till 5 p.m.
At home, my husband called at 6 p.m. He said he would be on his way home in minutes. I was puzzled why, on a regular Saturday family visit, he would go home that early. He then anxiously told me that he just watched over the television about a typhoon. He was horrified on what he saw on the screen that’s why he hurried home.
With the television broken, everyone at home were unaware of the typhoon, nor of the destruction happening in Manila that time. We turned on the radio and tuned in to AM radio.
On the other hand, my mother was booked for a flight to Cebu that night for a week-long affair. After hearing the news over the radio, she made a bunch of calls confirming their travel to the airport in Manila. She was anxious of going yet saddened not being able to go to Cebu. Text messages flooded her cellphone, flash reports about typhoon Ondoy enshrouding streets and high-ways made her and her party’s plan of traveling impossible. She was finally calmed and convinced. She decided not to go.
I later realized that those times I was in a delight choosing cute booties and entertained in our church activity, many of my fellow Filipinos were on an exact contrary with my situation. They were trying to save each other’s lives from the cruel waters of Ondoy. I felt a bit guilty yet immensely grateful that we only received buzzing winds, but not destructive, and some rain showers.
***
But it was not until Monday morning that I witnessed over youtube the horrific site caused by the unforgiving Ondoy. I was greatly interested when our neighbor informed me on how even famous Filipino actors and actresses with their families were on their roofs, helpless! As my eyes glued on the LCD and my ears covered with ear phones, I saw how Magazine cover girl Cristine Reyes called GMA News Station solicited help and rescue, as she with her mother and two nieces, one aged 10 were soaked wet, hungered, shocked, and fatigued on the roof of their two-storey house for more than 24 hours! Friend and co-star Richard Gutierrez, upon hearing the news instantly went with a speed rubber boat to the rescue.
Celebrity couples Gladys Reyes and Christopher with their two children, one is an infant also witnessed the massive flood on their roofs. It was reported that Gladys fortunately made a call to her celebrity friend Judy Ann Santos. Few hours later, Judy Ann’s husband Ryan came on a rubber boat.
Showbiz reporter and celebrity, Boy Abunda was on The Buzz describing how Ryan swam the water just to at least hand in some milk for the baby and food for the rest of the family.
What really filled my heart was Abunda’s descriptions on how ordinary civilians wanting to help but unable to get to the stranded victims on their roofs, packed some food and provisions and let it float and swim towards their hungry and chilling fellow citizens, to whom some were children and babies.
With the rescuers outnumbered by the victims, rescuing eveybody and on time was quite impossible. Perhaps even life savers themselves needed to be rescued. So, every one capable of helping, even ordinary people stretched out a hand.
Abunda then followed up with profound thoughts: “This only means one thing, that everyone is a victim, whether you’re rich or poor.”
Indeed, even the two-storey mansions of celebrities were not spared.
Few weeks ago, I happen to read on a magazine a feature on TV host/actress Carmina Villaroel’s mansion. As the pictures imply, it worth millions — neat furnitures, nice and costly gadgets, fully-furnished rooms, luxurious bathrooms. But with Ondoy’s unwelcomed visit, the mansion, their refrigerators filled with food, and cabinets full of clothes and every good and expensive things in it went broken or useless. The only thing left useful to her, to her husband, and to her twins, during the typhoon was their roof.
Abunda’s co-host Kris Aquino expressed another lesson worth pondering: “We were not prepared, no body was.”
Truly, this was a lesson on preparedness. Merely knowing that ABS CBN’s special coverage on Ondoy had solicited over 9 million pledged donation in cash and over 20 million worth of food and clothing, and still counting would give one a big picture on how many people needed help, how great the number who were not prepared.
Ondoy and many other natural calamities were proof of today’s need for expecting the unexpected — a low, public warning signal number 1 was given to Metro Manila, yet the damage done was obviously intense. This tragedy served as a wake-up call for the estimated 300,000 people affected by a single typhoon and the rest of the Filipino people.
If we look on the bright side, however, one good thing happened. Impressive amount of rainfall flooded the afore mentioned areas, relief goods, clothing, and cash donations likewise overflowed. Every Filipino from government officials, private business establishments and companies, to ordinary citizens helped out. If the places left by Ondoy were soul stirring, so was the love drowning the victims.
Categories: CHIT-chats Tags: ketsana, ondoy, philippines worst flood, typhoon ondoy
Tips in Feature Writing #2
Tips in Feature Writing
1. Avoid Wordiness.
If you can express your thoughts in one or a few words or phrases the better. This would make your feature story more profound and would avoid the “elementary” and running-round-the-bush effect. Prefer words or phrases that are featurized and concise. The most effective way to avoid wordiness is to have a wide vocabulary.
Example: “She was not given her rights to be educated,” is good, but “She was deprived of her rights to be educated” is better. Even though the two sentences have the same number of words, the vocabulary word “deprived” makes the difference.
“He did not know what to do” could be elevated to “He was confused.”
“Was not given” and “did not do know what to do” were replaced by more exact phrases and word “deprived of,” and “confused,” respectively.
However, you can be intentionally wordy with a purpose, especially when writing a descriptive feature story.
2. Make sure your feature story triggers your readers’ emotions.
Unlike straight news, where it plainly states facts, a feature story initially appeals to the emotions of the readers. The kind of emotion the feature writer wants or aims to draw from his or her readers varies. It could bring out happiness, inspiration, motivation, loneliness, pity, sense of importance or belonging; it could also squeeze out anger, realization, or spiritual uplifting. The feature story may possess one or more of these emotions at a time depending on the writer’s will.
3. Avoid a plain informative feature story, or a plain narrative feature story.
If your feature story simply throws out information, or is merely relating a story, it would probably lead to boredom or monotony. It is highly suggested that an informative or a narrative feature story be coupled with one or more types of features, or one or a variety of emotions, as aforementioned (tip #2).
Example, an informative and inspiring feature story, or a narrative/descriptive feature story are better than a plain informative or narrative.
There is one exception though, a pure narrative or informative feature story could stand reader-friendly by its own if the information or the events in the story itself, by nature, is undisputedly interesting, which could easily draw a certain emotion, except boredom.
But, still, you should be careful in taking this risk because the delivery of information or how the events of a story are related through pen is still very vital.
4. Use words and phrases that are excitingly appropriate and related to your feature story’s focus or topic.
One of my favourite entrepreneurial books is the Gonegosyo’s celebrity edition.
Example, on page 142, Lucky Ann Llanes’ feature story on artist Dominic Ochoa’s ice cream business (Thumbs Up!) stated: “…it seemed like everything that they had planned was about to happen – scoop by scoop.” Another line expressed: “The strategy of making him the face behind the business worked so well that soon enough, Thumbs Up! Managed to have a freezing breakthrough in the industry.”
Notice how the phrases “scoop by scoop” and “freezing breakthrough” were creatively composed and uniquely used by the writer as they fit perfectly with the feature story’s topic – an ice cream business!
Karlo Jose R. Pineda, on page 26, featured Marvin Agustin’s restaurant business and penned: “More breaks came, which he deliciously accommodated.” “And so Albert [Martinez] continues, much like a well-oiled machine that just keeps on going, fuelled by passion and determination,” concluded Michelle Elaine Valete on her feature story (page 74) about Martinez’s gasoline station business.
5. Revive or renovate old idioms.
Idioms undoubtedly enhance one’s speaking and writing; but using a worn-out idiom defiles the purpose and does nothing but the opposite. Just like how termite-infested houses need renovation, and time-stricken songs need revival, old idioms as well need a nose-lift.
Saying “She is looking for a needle in a haystack” sounds century-old. We could revive the idiom and create a newer version which doesn’t compromise the meaning, only improving your feature story. You could rewrite it in a different format keeping its essence in tacked. You may say, “The needle enshrouded in a haystack could not be found.” Rearranging the words from the idiom and injecting a vocabulary word make the sentence more interesting and thoughtful, straying away from the old idiom’s close-to-boredom effect.
Another, instead of saying “She is not used to poverty because she is born with a silver spoon in her mouth,” revive the idiom and say “The silver spoon in her mouth makes her unacquainted with poverty.”
The meaning of the sentence stays the same, but the composition and delivery of thoughts with idiom revival make the dainty difference. You also did not use the aged idiom verbatim but played with it (even omitted “born with”) giving your readers a unique and a fresher one. Also, notice the change of a phrase with a more profound, featurized, and concise phrase: “is not used to” is substituted by “unacquainted with.”
Categories: Feature Writing Tags: feature, feature story, feature writing, informative feature, narrative feature, tips in feature writing
How about a rice field art in the Philippines?
The design of the 1st rice field art in Thailand
One Friday night as I was watching the news over GMA 7, I came across a headline about Thailand’s rice field art — an art of strategically planting different colors of rice showing amazing patterns as the rice plants grow months later. Aside from how magnificent that kind of art is, what really caught my attention was the fact that the above mentioned art initiated by Green Peace, which was the very first of its kind in Thailand was created honoring the country because it’s the World Record Holder for exporting the largest amount of rice!
That is indeed an achievement for the Thais.
An example of a rice field art from a bird's eyeview
Yet as I was contemplating on it, my mind landed on a little contradiction: The Philippines is the home of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Triggering my curiosity, I further researched about IRRI and Green Peace on the web.
IRRI is the largest “autonomous, non-profit, agricultural, research and training organization” with offices in 14 nations worldwide. Established in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundation in cooperation with the Philippines, IRRI aims to “find sustainable ways to improve the well being of present and future generations of poor rice farmers and consumers while at the same time protecting the natural environment. IRRI was established to help poor rice farmers in developing countries grow more rice on less land using less water, less labor, and fewer chemical inputs.” This 252-hectare farm located at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños exists with a mission to “reduce poverty and hunger.”
An up-close look on a rice field art
On the other hand, prior to the creation of different branches outside the Philippines, Thailand was one of the countries who sent people here to be trained in IRRI. Now, few decades later Thailand beats Asia’s home of the Green Revolution.
The meticulous planting of different varieties of rice plants is evident on this photo.
If you’re pondering and arriving at my point, you would likewise realize that there is a huge irony going on: the student becomes better than his teacher!
What happened? Have we down cycled and leveled down? Have we lowered our standards and caliber? Having IRRI in our soil should be a huge advantage; enough to make the Philippines the largest exporter of rice; enough to scatter rice field art works and make it a household name here in the Philippines. But the saddening fact is: We don’t even have one. Another intriguing thought: our very own the Banaue Rice Terraces is world renowed in its grandeur and glory. Are these not enough to be the king of rice in Asia?
The spic-and-span Banaue Rice TerracesIt is a privilege to have been chosen as the cradle for an international organization as the IRRI. If almost ten years ago, the Philippines was given this rare privilege, I could just imagine how strong and stable, independent, and potential-filled, our country and economy was; how our neighboring countries including Thailand looked up to us; how other foreign countries believed and trusted us (knowing that the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundation which established IRRI in the Philippines are international organizations run by people of other race).
Rice fields in the Philippines
Reviewing IRRI’s goal, it is inevitable to ask: has poverty reduced (specifically in the Philippines)? Has hunger relieved? What do farmers’ hunger strikes imply? What do farmers’ rallies in front of the Department of Agriculture convey? Why do their cries rang real loud still? Why do we still need to import rice from Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian countries when we were the ones who taught them how to have abundance in the rice fields?
I hate to admit, it seems like the rumored tag for the Philippines has become a nasty reality. Do we disclose we are a “sleeping giant?” If the IRRI irony repeats itself over and over again in other aspects besides agriculture, and rice training, then we are bound to answer a shameful “yes.”
Being Filipinos, we should know our potential, our talents and capabilities then put it into proper application. In 1960, the world has seen us worthy to be a caretaker of an international organization, after that, there wasn’t any of its kind built again in the Philippines.
Stop the snooze Filipinos!
Thea Louralei’s 2nd Birthday
It was my niece Thea Louralei’s 2nd birthday. After church at 4 p.m. everyone was busy in the kitchen. Her mommy Dolour prepared some spaghetti, macaroni salad, and home-made ice cream. Her Auntie April cooked special fried chicken – a recipe of her own, while her Grandma and Grandpa had birthday cakes for the celebrant.
We were on a rush as triggered by our rumbling stomachs. The table was set. “Let’s pray, let’s pray,” we all spoke at the same time. The one to lead the prayer was not yet assigned but as we bowed our heads and closed our eyes, Thea started, “Heavenly Father…” then she quickly mumbled some words beyond comprehension, went on and said “cake,” and muttered a few more. “Birthday,” was her next recognizable word and ended with a clear “Amen.” The very moment we realized she was praying, her Daddy Thelmo told her, “Oh wait baby…” But the toddler went on, and so while she was praying, we all took a peek at each other with the same conversing eyes and smiles, had good giggles, and uttered a huge “AMEN!” after she’s done. Laughs and amazement immediately filled the room; though that was not the first time she volunteered to pray, she still kept us adorning her.
We all okayed to her prayer, and I’m pretty sure the One above also did.
Speaking of praying, there was this one dinner where everyone was on the mode of giving grace while my mommy was busy by the kitchen sink adjacent to the dining table, Thea blurted, “Grandma pray!” There it was, a baby reminding an adult to pause and pray!
Thea indeed exuded surprising abilities long before she turned two. I actually kept track on her fast intellectual progress; and even checked on the cellphone and digital camera videos of her with stamped dates on it.
Avoiding expected biases or exaggerations, (given the fact that she’s the first and only niece and grandchild in the family), we indeed have observed how extraordinarily smart she is.
Before she turned one year old, we taught her of course the popular “close-open” and “clap your hands.” She easily learned how to call on our cats and dogs, including the traditional sounds we utter, the Filipino way. We even taught her how to slap on mosquitoes and imitate the U.P. oblation pose. At first, we thought it was all plain baby tricks, until we noticed her fast learning, and how long she retains and how well she retrieves whatever she is taught.
At one year old, she already had a firm and proper grip on a pen. While a three-year-old student of mine held a pen like a cane. She could even name or point at the different parts of the body like, eyes, ears, nose, hands, face, feet, hair, neck, mouth, teeth, elbow, shoulder, and even the navel.
A little over one year old, she displayed a surprising skill in communications. Caught on video, her mommy was talking to her about a ruler she was playing with. Ate Dolour worried her baby might poke her eyes with it, was saying “Baby be careful with the ruler, Ok?” After a few more gentle coaxing, the baby replied with a cute and clear “OK!”
As early as one and a half years old, Thea knows how to count from one to ten!
Her interest in music was likewise enhanced. Her list included: full version of “Twinkle, twinkle little star,” first stanza of “Somewhere over the rainbow,” “I am a Child of God,” just to name some. Our relatives, on a family gathering were thrilled when they heard her sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” on the videoke! She could utter the first line clearly and though some words in between were ambiguous, her melody is extraordinarily recognizable.
Long before turning two, she audibly sings from “A” to “now I know my ABC, next time won’t you sing with me;” with a few stumbles on the “L,M,N” part. Her articulation of English phonetics, with her crisp consonants is likewise a wower.
Not to mention, she answers the phone!
To relate an amusing story:
If it rings, she dashes towards it, picks it up and utters an immediate “hallo?” If my husband calls, she gives the phone to me; if Ruslan calls, she passes it to her Auntie April; but if her mom calls, she talks to her. One time the phone rang, as usual she’s the first one to answer. Her dad, Kuya Thelmo, who was expecting a call from her wife, politely asked for the phone. The baby won’t give it to her daddy, instead she was giving it to me. Kuya Thelmo insisted but her little girl, too, insisted on passing it to me, and so I did get the phone. To my surprise, it was my husband calling! No wonder why. She indeed evokes an exceptional communication skills; knowing that there are four communications/journalism major in the family, including of course her mother.
Not only is she musically inclined, intellectual, profoundly articulated, but she is also emotionally intelligent that her parents need not lure her, or peek and run from her when they ought to go to school or someplace else leaving her with a baby sitter. They will simply tell her the truth, “Baby, Mommy will teach, I’ll be back later Ok?”, “Daddy needs to go to school.” The baby understands. Gives her mom or dad a kiss and a sweet “bye!” Also, she knows how to say polite words like, thank you, please, excuse me, sorry, bye, take care, and good night.
I mentioned many times that if I tutor my niece at the age of three of four, I would not have that much difficulties, since she already knows some fundamentals of learning such as reciting the alphabet, identifying shapes, counting from 1-10, and object names. She stores at least 200 English object names which create a huge jumpstart for any teacher.
It is an inside joke in the family knowing that her grandmother graduated as a cum laude, and her mom was a magna cum laude, then baby Thea Louralei is foreseen to finish as a summa cum laude!
Categories: CHIT-chats Tags:
Tips in Headline Writing
Source: Secondary Schools Handbook in Campus Journalism
By: Dr. Lourdes D. Servito
1. Headlines are telegraphic or short cut, basically because space on newspapers is highly considered. So some words can be substituted by punctuation marks.
Example 1: 800 mentors and students participated in the writing workshop
Headline: 800 mentors, studes attend writing workshop
Note: and is substituted by a comma.
Example 2: “Feature writers have rich vocabulary,” says Dr. Servito
Headline: Feature writers have rich vocabulary — Servito
Note: “says” is substituted by a dash, and the quotation marks were omitted
2. Shorter words are preferred I headline writing.
Example: 800 mentors and students participated
Headline: 800 mentors, studes attended
Note: “Participated” and “students” were substituted by shorter words “attended” and “studes”, respectively.
3. Active verbs used in headlines should be in the present tense.
Example: 800 mentors and students participated in the division journalism workshop
Headline: 800 mentors, studes attend division journalism workshop
Note: Use “attend” NOT “attended” in place of “participated.”
4. Enrich your vocabulary:
Long words Short words
participate = attend
celebrate = mark
students = studes
senators = solons
conflagration= fire
inundated = flooded
pledge = vow
frightens = cows
arrests = nabs
conference = confab, gab
emphasize = stress
embark = launch
elucidate = clarify
inaugurate = install
employment = job
finished = done
exchanged married vows= married
duplicate = double
cases = raps
names = tags
mother = ma
father = pa
South Korea = Sokor
North Korea = Nokor
Pangasinan = P’sinan
Corazon Aquino = Cory
Constitutional Convention= Con-con
Charter Change = Cha-cha
vice president = veep
president = prexy
5. Delete redundant words/phrases.
Examples:
Personal opinion = opinion
Final completion = completion
Repeat again = repeat
Return back = return
6. Delete articles a, an, the, and expletives this is, these are, that is, those are, there was, there were in headlines.
Example: There were 800 mentors who attended the journalism workshop
Headline: 800 mentors attend journalism workshop
1,600 studes, mentors attend division training in journalism
Some 1,600 campus journalists joined the 2009 Campus Journalism Workshop at PNHS.
A huge crowd of 1,600 high school students and language teachers attended the 2009 Division Training Workshop for School Paper Advisers and Campus Journalists held at the Pangasinan National High School (PNHS), Lingayen, Sept. 2-4.
With the theme, “The Millennium Development Goals Uniting the Nation to Fight Against Poverty Through Responsible Campus Journalism,” the seminar-workshop was highlighted by lectures on photojournalism, news writing, sports writing, editorial writing, copyreading and headline writing, editorial cartooning, and radio script writing.
Feature writers filled the PNHS Library.
Simultaneous lecture sessions were conducted at different venues within the PNHS Campus. Writeshops followed afterwards and students’ outputs were evaluated by the discussants.
Dr. Lourdes D. Servito, B.S. Journalism Cum Laude and KSS Consultant, lectured on feature writing to a group of around 400 students that jampacked the PNHS Library.
Dr. Lourdes D. Servito lectures on feature writing.
Critiquing of the students’ articles and selection of the best writers in each category were done by the lecturers, so as to help the campus writers improve their works by identifying and analyzing their strong points and common errors, as well.
Servito congratulates the top 15 best feature writers.
The top 15 best feature writers in English and in Filipino were awarded certificates of excellence by the KSS Learning Center as a gesture of encouragement and inspiration for the young writers.
Categories: KSS News Tags: English speaking, Journalism
“Filipinos” chocolate
This is very interesting.
My sister Dolour’s laugh was contagious. I was immediately drawn to what she was chuckling about — a video on youtube. Ever heard of the “Word of the Lourd?” It is a compilation of video clips by a guy named Lourd, which tackle intriguing and thought-provoking issues, mostly on Philippine patriotism.
One of the videos entitled “Word of the Lourd: Putim” dealt on racial colors: how the Americans love to get tanned and how the Filipinos envy their fair skin.
How ironic. Two nations wanted to switch colors!
Increasing the fact on this irony, interestingly Lourd showed at the near end of the clip, a chocolate bar manufactured in Spain intriguingly named “Filipinos.” The perfect description for Filipinos: brown in the outside; white in the inside.
If we put our thinking caps on and critically think about the logic behind this chocolate, we would probably conclude: yes, we are a representation of this satiric bar of snack. Born brown yet wanting white.
But this is actually not an issue on color alone, the entirety of our individuality and culture seemingly enshrouded by “white” clouds — our thinking; the way we talk, dress, act; the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the food we eat, the places we go to and want to be in.
But what’s wrong with this? Does it hurt?
I have personally witnessed this paradox during my college years in Brigham Young University- Hawaii (BYUH); actually even long before that. This irony on colors has long been alive here in the Philippines, since who-knows-when.
In BYUH, many Americans marry Filipinos: one proof that the true Filipina color and beauty undisputedly magnets the Haoles (as they’re referred to in Hawaii). Definitely a complete compliment; as the attraction is mutual.
More on color concerns, I had this major class in BYUH which centered on the study of international cultures and cultural differences. We had one discussion on racial colors; the same irony on the let’s-switch-colors issue.
I was the one orally reporting on the topic. I went on talking about how Filipinos carry their umbrellas around anywhere they go on a sunny day with the most concern on not spoiling the whitening cream they just rubbed on their faces, necks, and arms, (but even if there’s no such, umbrellas are still tightly hand-gripped). How benches are nowhere to be found in any spot in the Philippines where sunlight could reach. How Filipinos go from buying costly whitening creams to enduring painful peeling effect of astringents; and now, undergoing equally expensive and painstaking surgeries.
Everyone in the class which was 80% American was somewhat amazed; knowing that they themselves would want a chocolate or a mocha tinged skin and yet Filipinos appear to be incubating themselves just to get rid of some melanin.
But there was one statement I blurted out which made me regret saying. I ended my report with “Maybe when I’d come home I would go back under my umbrella.” Then I got negative and disappointed “Ahhh’s” from my classmates. One of them was my sister Dolour who is an advocate of Filipinos’ natural characteristics and culture, including color,language, and hair.
As a pure Filipino, I should’ve acted better, should’ve been prouder of my color specially in a foreign country.
But in general, I have never been prouder of my roots, my color, my language, and everything that makes up my being a Filipino than when I am hundred of miles away from the Philippines.
We are a race of unique and rich culture; home to famed and unsung heroes; hardworking, fun-loving, god-fearing, hospitable, and happy people; land of beauteous natural resources…
Hence, as Filipinos, we should hold our heads high, be righteously proud and close our umbrellas, take off our jackets (except of course with the purpose of avoiding UV rays), and flaunt our beautiful pigment; flaunt our beautiful land and culture; flaunt us, the Filipinos: brown in and out.
Categories: CHIT-chats Tags: filipino chocolate, filipinos chocolate
Servito speaks at Campus Journalism Workshop
Dr. Servito discussing tips in Feature Writing.
KSS Consultant/Campus Journalism Trainor, Dr. Lourdes D. Servito, discussed some tips on writing features during the Division Campus Journalism Seminar-Workshop held Sept 1, at Lingayen I Central School (LICS), Lingayen, Pangasinan.
Some 1,600 kids — Grade 2 to Grade 6 pupils from the public and private elementary schools of the Division of Pangasinan I attended the 3-day workshop, Sept. 1-3.
Local media practitioners and other veteran school paper advisers and administrators lectured on the different journalistic writing — news, editorial, sports, copyreading, headline writing, editorial cartooning, photjournalism, and radio broadcasting as well.
The aforecited lectures were conducted simlutaneously at strategic conference halls within the LICS campus. Feature Writing was tackled by Dr. Servito at the LICS District Conference Center with around 200 young feature writers and their school paper advisers.
Dr. Servito flashes a "shaka" with some 200 elementary feature writers.
Writing workshops followed after each lecture and the pupils’ outputs were marked and checked by the discussants.
To help the beginning writers improve their writing styles, Dr. Servito pointed out the strong points and the weak points, as well, duting the critiquing session.
The top ten feature writers in English and in Filipino, respectively, were awarded Certificates of Excellence by Dr. Servito. Servito’s KSS Learning Center provided the certificates for the 20 best feature writers of Pangasinan Division I, elementary level.
Categories: KSS News Tags: Journalism