tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32680074789711155682024-02-20T00:57:45.476+08:00things small & silentseeking connection but nowhere to be foundcvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-54690023184140128922023-04-17T03:30:00.003+08:002023-04-17T03:34:16.434+08:00Practice Notes: Letters of Credit, by Steven M. Richman<div style="text-align: left;">He <b>looks</b> <u>deeply</u> into<u> the mirror of his children</u><br />but <b>cannot see </b>himself, though he <b>knows</b> he is there,<br />somewhere in the <u>depths</u>. They <b>speak </b>to him<br />with the greatest politeness, and if there is affection,<br />he <b>feels</b> it <u>as the slightest warm breeze </u>in summer,<br />a hot <u>dying breath of presence</u>, not of comfort.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />He <b>works</b> <u>their love like his job,</u> studying precedent<br />and applying law to fact, to derive a holding, a balance<br />of truth, justice and equity, <i>completely anomalous<br />in the calculus of emotion</i>. Still t<b>here is</b> a sense of obligation,<br /><u>like <b>throwing</b> coins into the tollbooth-</u>-regardless of whether<br />they hit, or bounce off the rim, and roll away, t<u>he debt</u> is <b>paid</b>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />They are <b>gone</b>, <b>glimpsed</b> through materializing letters<br />on the instant messaging boards of computer screens,<br />or in the electronic conversions of voices to ear, <b>heard</b><br /><u>like the ocean in shell</u>: false, imitative, distant and faint,<br />or <u>like letters of credit</u>, <b>carrying</b> <u>his value</u> into the void<br />of commerce, of life, to distant lands he will never see. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>from Law and Poetry: Promises from the Preamble, (2021) ed. Kristen David Adams, p. 35.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Depicted here is a parent who sees his or her children like a letter of credit, a vehicle through which he or she pays a debt to its recipient. Here, parental love is phrased as duty rather than emotion, and the relationship between parent and children, characterized by an awkwardness unmediated by affection.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stanza two suggests that they are obliged, as a debtor might be obliged to pay their children. Stanza 3 suggests that the children then become the vehicles through which the parent's value is exchanged (as in commerce) in their own lives. One might also read Stanza 3 as suggesting the children/letters of credit are sent out by the parent into the world as payment to an unknown creditor. But who is this unknown creditor? What obliges us to pay this creditor by losing ourselves, emptying "our value" into the children we then send them? And what do we get in exchange? The character that the persona describes is alienated, not only from his children's affections, but from his or her work/labor. And in this character's world, all that a self amounts to, it seems, is his or her use value. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In a world where individuals are viewed/self-view themselves in terms of their use-value, the inevitable result is alienation, isolation. In such a world, love can only register as a steep, unmitigated loss. </div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-37460642772088791792023-04-06T18:17:00.003+08:002023-04-06T18:40:10.178+08:00Practice notes: translating "Gahasa," by Ruth Elynia Mabanglo<p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Rape</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">by Ruth Elynia Mabanglo</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“I was embarrassed. I found the talk completely offensive. It’s something that was thrust upon me, not for something voluntarily entered into. It was offensive and degrading.” - Anita Hill</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Words raped me</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over and over,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over and over.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Until my spirit tore into shreds.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My memory, big-bellied,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Bearing curses and slurs.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My heart, bruised,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My flesh, battered.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I complained to the dark,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A reproach that wounded the wind’s caress.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I sued the wall,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Trembling voice, rippling terror.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Opinions raped me</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over and over,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over and over.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Until what’s human perished.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The belly, inflated</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With the scourge of voices.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The skull, fractured</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From the public flogging.</span></p><p class="p2" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I complained to the law,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It noted my looks, drew attention to my physique.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I filed my suit at city hall,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>was studied, scolded, for my name, my sex.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The decision raped me,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Once,</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just once.</span></p><p class="p1" style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Reducing all hope to rubble. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Translating Ruth Elynia Mabanglo's poem, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/352722985/gahasa#" target="_blank">"Gahasa" (1992)</a> into English made me think about how different discourse communities talk about rape. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Mabanglo's poem, which references, in its epigraph, the controversy involving American lawyer <a href="https://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/gcarr.html" target="_blank">Anita Hill </a>(who had testified that a nominee to the US Supreme Court had sexually harassed her while she was employed as his assistant), describes the far-reaching effect of unwanted sexual contact from the vantage point of victims. They suffer, not just from the original violation of their human dignity and agency, but from being the object of rumors and public criticism, and from being treated harshly rather than sympathetically, by a justice system that is more concerned about treating the perpetrators "justly" rather than securing the justice the victims seek. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In a recent decision (<a href="https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/248049-people-of-the-philippines-vs-efren-agao-y-anonuevo/" target="_blank"><i>People vs. Agao,</i> G.R. No. 248049 [2023]</a>)<span style="font-weight: 700;">,</span> the Supreme Court insisted on defining consummated rape in terms of the penetration of sexual organs--a stance that Associate Justice Marvic Leonen has correctly described as favorable to the perpetrators (its primary aim being to distinguish consummated rape from attempted rape, which carries a lower penalty). But to a victim, rape is rape. "<span style="color: #2e2e2e;">To further discuss which part </span><span style="color: #2e2e2e;">of </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">her
</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e;">vagina was violated serves no other purpose than as a platform to </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">determine
</span><span style="color: #2e2e2e;">how </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">this </span><span style="color: #2e2e2e;">Court can lessen </span><span style="color: #1f1f1f;">her </span><span style="color: #2e2e2e;">rapist's punishment," Leonen wrote in his <a href="https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/248049-dissenting-and-concurring-opinion-justice-marvic-m-v-f-leonen/" target="_blank">dissent</a>.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial;">The majority decision took pains to note that it was constrained to talk about rape in anatomical terms because that was how current black letter law defined the crime. But, this is a conservative stance, one that fails to properly acknowledge other judicial interpretations of rape that exist and define the crime in more progressive terms--that is, under terms that consider the crime from the vantage point of the victim. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In <a href="https://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/2014novemberdecisions.php?id=1019" target="_blank"><i>People v. Quintos</i> (G.R. No. </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #000305; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/2014novemberdecisions.php?id=1019" target="_blank">199402 [2014]),</a> the Supreme Court had already ruled that "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000305; text-align: justify;">A person commits rape when he sexually assaults another <i>who does not consent or is incapable of giving consent to a sexual act</i>." </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000305; text-align: justify;"><i>People v. Quintos</i> interprets black letter law in a manner that allows the Philippine State to comply with its obligation under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), particularly the obligation to "</span>modify
or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute
discrimination against women" <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women" target="_blank">(CEDAW art. 2(f)). </a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #000305; text-align: justify;">Just as the Court had previously issued the interpretation that there can be no such thing as frustrated rape (<a href="https://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/1990aprildecisions.php?id=384" target="_blank"><i>People v. Orita, </i></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d5156;"><a href="https://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/1990aprildecisions.php?id=384" target="_blank">88724 [1990]</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000305; text-align: justify;">), it could have ruled that there is no such thing as attempted rape--especially since rape has been reclassified by legislature as a crime against persons (instead of a crime against honor) and--following the Philippines' ratification of, and assumption of obligations under CEDAW--t</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #000305; font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">he Court itself had already declared the lack of consent of a sexual act as the main element of rape. It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has taken a step back in <i>People v. Agao.</i></span></p><p>*</p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Translating "Gahasa" also made me realize something about the decision I made years ago to study and practice law. What attracted me to the law was its rational, orderly language, which I mistook for wisdom. If I learned its language, I might have a better hold on my emotions, and all of life's disorderly bits. Perhaps the law's language could help me (not only vindicate, but) transcend the personal injuries and hurts one (or one's client) has sustained as a result of (what one considered) injustice. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I realize now that I was mistaken. The law speaks the way it does to preserve order. Whether or not you will be hurt further by it (its logic, its reasonableness, its imposition of order) depends on which side of that order you inhabit. </span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-83266502326424823722023-04-05T19:06:00.005+08:002023-04-06T01:01:53.033+08:00University of East Anglia (virtually) in May<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL2nkX1X4bnVYUoKlplQR21OkxQQHHBpJXCKmXySdIq62k5HXtJW15N6QemVteswzaJk4fzeLpGIC9tCdE4-iJR8yybi15c-47s8Eyi6fBDXFQK6ula6fx0cWHqBXKyEAHG_qA0ZmKRHjg5XgrdOy-onQpxgWg1k3wfVDXmtLYFKCmqWIvJDIZQrRBKw/s640/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-05%20at%207.02.43%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="640" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL2nkX1X4bnVYUoKlplQR21OkxQQHHBpJXCKmXySdIq62k5HXtJW15N6QemVteswzaJk4fzeLpGIC9tCdE4-iJR8yybi15c-47s8Eyi6fBDXFQK6ula6fx0cWHqBXKyEAHG_qA0ZmKRHjg5XgrdOy-onQpxgWg1k3wfVDXmtLYFKCmqWIvJDIZQrRBKw/w465-h176/Screen%20Shot%202023-04-05%20at%207.02.43%20PM.png" width="465" /></a></div><br /> Maybe I'm taking this archival bit way too seriously. Maybe not.<p></p><p>I need all the help I can get. </p>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-34007173308260732072023-04-03T15:00:00.010+08:002023-04-03T15:59:01.776+08:00AprilIn the United States, April is National Poetry Month. Some poets outside the United States celebrate it too, writing a poem a day until the end of the month. It's a great way for friends-in-poetry to get together, hunker down and write poems together. It's also a good way to jumpstart a daily practice of writing (may-be-poems). <div><br /></div><div>This year, I've decided to join the rest as a way of finishing the creative component of the dissertation. I've come up with a list of subjects that would fit into my project: fifteen items on a "conceptual list"; twenty on a "places" list. The first list contains bar and non-bar subjects that students are required to take in law school. The second list contains places associated with legal enforcement and adjudication. </div><div><br /></div><div>Everyday, I go through a bunch of poems that are about any of the following:</div><div><br /></div><div>- lawyers and judges</div><div>- non-lawyers' encounter with the legal system</div><div>- historical trials</div><div>- prison</div><div>- legal concepts</div><div>- the application of legal metaphors to non-legal subjects (mostly, romantic love).</div><div><br /></div><div>By "going through" a bunch of poems, I mean encoding each of what I read in a computer file. I find the process to be a bit like throwing a line with a bait into the ocean. Once something bites, I begin writing.</div><div><br /></div><div>My goal is to write a minimum of 14 lines--without necessarily having the 14 lines develop into a sonnet--daily. I try to keep in mind that the language of law as I know it fails--as all language fails. And so when I write "about" the law in poetic form, I think about what it is that legal language fails to say, and then attempt to say that as directly and precisely as one can do through a poem. Poems, too, can't say everything. So it helps to clarify my intentions and make it just this, at the moment.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thus far, I've been able to write two out of three days in April. Today's work begins with the line, "Comes now the time to say things plainly." If the diction sounds archaic--well, it is meant to be so. They're words some attorneys use to begin their pleadings ("Comes now the plaintiff unto this Honorable Court."). This poem fulfills the requirement that I come up with a poem that on a procedural law concept. In this case, the concept is that of a "real party in interest." I suppose it is more accurate to say that the poem plays off the concept. It isn't really about the concept as much as it uses it to talk about how the law operates. Or at least that's what I intend it to do. One can hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other April poem was about law school welcome rites. </div><div><br /></div><div>Considering that I'm also doing quite a bit of archival research, I'm happy. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-62252333510670882772023-03-31T00:30:00.001+08:002023-03-31T08:41:07.722+08:00Into the archive<p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></blockquote><p>Yesterday, I began in earnest what I've been struggling to get myself to do since December. I actually sat down and checked a card catalogue--yes, a card catalogue--detailing the poem titles of 49 books. When my friend--the librarian--had suggested I simply go through his library's poem-title index (discontinued in 2009), I wasn't too excited; can you actually tell what a poem is from its title? </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZMkLuQhYhwvycVPFt0H4RtCJWl29hCgWnN7J_2qGTuvdUsbxyd6YfHRxZbpPF-XcuvX1wLZx9s7xJYs9MuVag8GjzZYkTKHyYkgQOcFiAbkvj5maUiP2rYXLoMlg_8zY1nHT_NxQN_e_sVzOWMbVaMszpj951TClaJkEr7Xn3FeJnqUZD_ajScqPaHw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="455" data-original-width="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhZMkLuQhYhwvycVPFt0H4RtCJWl29hCgWnN7J_2qGTuvdUsbxyd6YfHRxZbpPF-XcuvX1wLZx9s7xJYs9MuVag8GjzZYkTKHyYkgQOcFiAbkvj5maUiP2rYXLoMlg_8zY1nHT_NxQN_e_sVzOWMbVaMszpj951TClaJkEr7Xn3FeJnqUZD_ajScqPaHw=s16000" /></a></div><p></p><p><br />By the time I finished going through the available catalogue (the rest of the entries had been encoded, but the machine on which the file was encoded had been 'retired'), I realized that there's a lot you can tell from going through a book's poem titles. For example, you can tell which books were compilations of occasional poems, and those whose energies were propelled by certain concerns that required? captivated? obsessed? their writers. In the latter case, even the titles tended to be specific (and memorable) rather than generic, indicating a particular stance and point of view. Certainly not the usual. </p><p>For somebody writing about my topic (and trying to do this by reflecting on how my topic has been reflected in poetic writing), reading the titles was surprisingly inspiring. Just the thought of having to go through thousands of books made me dread the work. In my mind, I imagined going through all the poems, book by book. But going through a small box, title by title? That seemed doable. And when I went through a card, the title of the poem performed like a koan. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-23583523085642495612022-05-18T00:10:00.001+08:002022-05-18T00:10:49.410+08:00Flower fairies, evidence of<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0wKWHgNdj_6ZwunwKXg9YpYIQ-kNt956qR8lc2anvvOdHi6fFf5Wa-gtRSgzZoqjilOTvxp6k1kcfiB4PcQ2WoHd8acHyEOWMzE0FPpkOzMoJ8wF7G-nfl3OykUGajF4TDbNzQgspu6I_Eh9qLMW336IcZxUeBMunaRk5ATpi9ARYZQqZsEXx3aiL3w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="508" height="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0wKWHgNdj_6ZwunwKXg9YpYIQ-kNt956qR8lc2anvvOdHi6fFf5Wa-gtRSgzZoqjilOTvxp6k1kcfiB4PcQ2WoHd8acHyEOWMzE0FPpkOzMoJ8wF7G-nfl3OykUGajF4TDbNzQgspu6I_Eh9qLMW336IcZxUeBMunaRk5ATpi9ARYZQqZsEXx3aiL3w=w593-h720" width="593" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-92200637445757792822022-05-18T00:04:00.001+08:002022-05-18T00:12:33.562+08:00X Ways of Speaking about Silence<p> </p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;">----------------------------------</span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419;">"Everyone is driven by the urge to 'say something'...We are oppressed by silence. We feel that to be silent before a wrongdoing is to be an accomplice to it, and that to be silent before the obscure is to be overwhelmed by it."</span></p><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span> </span><span> </span>- Resil Mojares, on "Writing a column" in </span><i><span style="color: #0f1419;">House of Memory</span></i><span style="color: #0f1419;"> (1997, p.7-8), Anvil Publishing.</span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;">"...the problem of speechlessness, which is a state without agency... that we feel impressed upon by things but unable to push back at them." </span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span> </span><span> </span>- Mark Doty on <i>The Art of Description: World into Word </i>(2010), Graywolf Press. </span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #0f1419;">"</span><span style="color: #050505;">Everytime my country </span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;">breaks into a war of words, </span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;">I make sure I break out </span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;">the heavy artillery </span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;">of my silence. "</span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span data-markholder="true"></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #050505;"><span> </span><span> </span>-Allen Samsuya, "34" (2022). </span></div>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-70435512401491061902022-04-24T15:50:00.001+08:002022-04-24T15:50:15.305+08:00Upon drawing attention to a kapok tree in full bloom for the nth time this summer<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVP_GcX2FRdOUfN9GmSWWURT0fIbSqzrpzLiqLMBWR79SEPogXeWmpXd7trseIyHbPxIkl61N2rO0m1X7s5TMSEGaQBKYzvSioqAy2NbDVkOiJZQZxOpVtVOjQbzovPCdxZW0jVJ6-hicPnQ8dgCWQ5x5X6vHL5UDYPkHH3oKy8aVRNW0BkciCrnwMvQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="613" height="590" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVP_GcX2FRdOUfN9GmSWWURT0fIbSqzrpzLiqLMBWR79SEPogXeWmpXd7trseIyHbPxIkl61N2rO0m1X7s5TMSEGaQBKYzvSioqAy2NbDVkOiJZQZxOpVtVOjQbzovPCdxZW0jVJ6-hicPnQ8dgCWQ5x5X6vHL5UDYPkHH3oKy8aVRNW0BkciCrnwMvQ=w544-h590" width="544" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-49229784022609682572022-04-18T17:29:00.001+08:002022-04-18T17:30:04.226+08:00Rumi is a mood.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSP6XEPxwgUB5cXu23ca1Bhe__Bm05MykZnie1vLxpwKsesjkthfBd0iqrYtTrukRl5OZoM5XPNIkWuyUr5Vriy1lkA5JkyDMy4Xac2MLlnZ5NQV45Pm2tQqvQ-xlh4zst28bnslXmz-Qvj6oY57G95H4-8Og3_xwPaUPPOh4My8Fz1mp6CTMDSkUow/s803/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-18%20at%205.23.22%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="544" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcSP6XEPxwgUB5cXu23ca1Bhe__Bm05MykZnie1vLxpwKsesjkthfBd0iqrYtTrukRl5OZoM5XPNIkWuyUr5Vriy1lkA5JkyDMy4Xac2MLlnZ5NQV45Pm2tQqvQ-xlh4zst28bnslXmz-Qvj6oY57G95H4-8Og3_xwPaUPPOh4My8Fz1mp6CTMDSkUow/w434-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-18%20at%205.23.22%20PM.png" width="434" /></a></div><br />cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-12106691831695360572022-04-16T16:09:00.012+08:002022-04-16T16:24:28.228+08:00Long fallen wide<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiI-Gn9WLBU4v3ZcKfW0iJeOuDHeLS4CZtFCmw5JE5Y97HteuYjKKMfX17Ibo2gOeZZFlt1w_2RHqWWU2DdADQzkSzZncOd09YfaDXzeOGnQ_DTlGlH9bzwlsihRXLnrJOVeAkNIlnM7hNhBru2-esE8WPnXGOB1I6qom0qKjlkAkCXxk7rduAZnM8sBg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="526" height="653" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiI-Gn9WLBU4v3ZcKfW0iJeOuDHeLS4CZtFCmw5JE5Y97HteuYjKKMfX17Ibo2gOeZZFlt1w_2RHqWWU2DdADQzkSzZncOd09YfaDXzeOGnQ_DTlGlH9bzwlsihRXLnrJOVeAkNIlnM7hNhBru2-esE8WPnXGOB1I6qom0qKjlkAkCXxk7rduAZnM8sBg=w542-h653" width="542" /></a></div><p><br /></p>What is it that makes one think this really isn't a poem about a house filled with photographs and cutlery, cushions and stools and vases? Is it the attribution of sadness to a thing? One's own propensity to live for other people's comfort? To have been raised to be that comfort to those who will outgrow the need for it? One's stubborn performance of home-liness, stasis, to call back into existence what is no longer there? Though we would like to believe in permanence--the idea of it, spurring us forward, further into the future, with the promise that there will always be <i>home</i> to return to, no matter what--we are, all of us, irredeemably fickle, neglectful, and beyond that, mortal: so that even those amongst us who have in fact promised, in earnest, to return, are party to ruin--if not today, then some day. <p></p><p><br /></p>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-12375868048147946452020-01-05T15:46:00.001+08:002020-01-05T15:46:22.976+08:00Lucky 2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeCOOsygURFLgkzh7ZWXIWQF31nlmrSl5helcO3QmN_EsKEEa8MBqxeWWxsg_kNfTa537idtOn0dRB8ZDvp93SNOLy9HBpjAJt14EH6dsccsNZpKdwmwu7vbtQVLVfg69a5kv2736XFFaQ/s1600/15782101792771943644993.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeCOOsygURFLgkzh7ZWXIWQF31nlmrSl5helcO3QmN_EsKEEa8MBqxeWWxsg_kNfTa537idtOn0dRB8ZDvp93SNOLy9HBpjAJt14EH6dsccsNZpKdwmwu7vbtQVLVfg69a5kv2736XFFaQ/s320/15782101792771943644993.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
S was curious about Fully Booked's 2020 Fukubukuro promo. We were circling the bag pile at ATC when she yanked a Wildcard bag from the middle of the pile with such conviction--<br />
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I gave in.<br />
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It turned out to be a pretty good deal. This illustrated Edith Hamilton volume is 1 of 19 Fully Booked gave away this year. We also got two interesting business bestsellers, a Newberry award winner that S says is really good, and a Neil Gaiman pocketbook. Oh, and a steel bookmark too.<br />
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Lucky us. Lucky S.cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-22045267847295173262020-01-05T13:56:00.002+08:002020-01-05T14:15:22.619+08:00Quiet, by Susan Cain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCU-aE0wo6RKHS9DVIF8GozRJHvURBnANCPfzLVgyNOnO5qEpDQCjFcQjJECe3tv3nJR9EQvV-CoWU49qq-2Hyr087JDjf7jNBOdPi7uwbfoXPiELxIQql5y7n8Aav5IBFHqDg9r2VqdYr/s1600/Quiet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCU-aE0wo6RKHS9DVIF8GozRJHvURBnANCPfzLVgyNOnO5qEpDQCjFcQjJECe3tv3nJR9EQvV-CoWU49qq-2Hyr087JDjf7jNBOdPi7uwbfoXPiELxIQql5y7n8Aav5IBFHqDg9r2VqdYr/s1600/Quiet.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Introvert and high self-monitor here. Very consoling. Helps recalibrate self in places that privilege extroversion. Good first read of the year.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Paired with: Whittaker's Single Origin Samoan Cacao: Extra Dark Chocolate from the family's holiday gift stash. </span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-9076163112265366162019-05-24T23:14:00.000+08:002019-05-24T23:24:15.532+08:00Marking timeStudents advised - 1<br />
Dues collected - 1<br />
RPDR episodes watched - 5<br />
Meetings attended - 1<br />
<br />cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-2081685257058414002019-05-23T20:12:00.002+08:002019-05-23T20:16:42.946+08:00Marking time Abstracts begun: 1<br />
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Books-in-progress planned: 2</div>
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Advanced reader copy reviewed: almost all of 1</div>
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Sick child cared for: 1</div>
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Meals cooked: 2</div>
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Naps taken: 1</div>
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Books of Caroline Hau read: 2<br />
Loads of laundry done: 2</div>
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cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-45824066037603430822018-08-18T11:58:00.003+08:002018-08-18T11:58:29.311+08:00Apollo 8 takes EARTHRISE Photo<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Edzxppp81cQ" width="480"></iframe>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-13861823674234562492018-08-18T11:58:00.001+08:002018-08-18T11:58:27.680+08:00Apollo 8 takes EARTHRISE Photo<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Edzxppp81cQ" width="480"></iframe>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-63329376944653270122018-07-07T19:08:00.002+08:002018-07-07T19:08:14.065+08:00Books for breakfast: Anna Felicia Sanchez' How to Pacify a Distraught Infant. UP Press, 2017. Unsettling in its depiction of Filipino middle class suburbia, and the women and children trapped within. Reporting on my favorite stories in the next few days.cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-74795643823290740052016-09-16T10:00:00.000+08:002016-09-16T10:00:02.922+08:00Endings inspired by a sestina (fiction prompt)From Poets&Writers, Week 35:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Find a short story you've written in </span><span class="il" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> past and select six important aspects of </span><span class="il" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> story, such as characters, words, and images. Write a new, alternate ending by reiterating or revisiting these motifs on </span><span class="il" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> last page.</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-83206804026758442732016-09-14T10:00:00.000+08:002016-09-14T10:00:01.330+08:00A poetry prompt inspired by your travelsThe older I get, the less my body likes traveling. I do think about it from time to time--like I think about the pleasure of eating dessert (which I don't care for very much in real life).<br />
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Here's another way of thinking about one's travels.<br />
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From Poetry&Writers' "The Time is Now":<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Have you ever stepped onto foreign soil--whether it be another town, state, or country--and immediately felt like you were in a different galaxy? Or conversely, have you traveled to a seemingly faraway place only to find that it felt surprisingly just like home? Write two short poems about places you have visited or passed through, and explore your expectations and feelings of familiarity or strangeness in each one.</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-53054582466923079972016-09-09T10:00:00.000+08:002016-09-09T10:00:01.573+08:00Writing Prompt from a post from The Verge<a href="http://scoooops.com/p/46719-mit-developed-temporary-tattoos-control" target="_blank">Technology is a wonderful thing</a>. <div>
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cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-57469076672293691642016-09-07T10:30:00.000+08:002016-09-07T10:30:02.796+08:00Prompt on clothing choicesFrom Poets&Writers' "The Time is Now" series, Week 24:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Write a personal essay that examines the progression of your own clothing choices. Have you gone through phases when your outfits--whether influenced by a job, emotional state, or cultural shifts--were formal or informal, plain or adorned, monochromatic or colorful?</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-59965672564632498612016-09-02T10:30:00.000+08:002016-09-02T10:30:33.942+08:00A Password Prompt: FictionFrom The Time is Now, Week 23:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As personal information and financial transactions become increasingly digitized, more and more reliance is placed on online accounts and password-protected websites, thus the number of accounts any person maintains is growing each year. At the same time, studies report that most people reuse the same five or so passwords, and the most popular ones remain the same, year after year, such as: </span><em style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">password, 123456, football, baseball</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">, and </span><em style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">qwerty</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. Write a short story in which your main character finds a list of important passwords. What does the combination of passwords and accounts reveal about the person who created them? Is there a pattern that leads to the discovery of additional information? If there are consequences for your character's unexpected access to someone else's private data, how do they play out in the context of your story?</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-49397596219898421162016-08-31T10:30:00.000+08:002016-08-31T10:30:14.274+08:00Love, judgment, forgiveness: Poetry promptFrom Poets&Writers' "The Time is Now" series, Week 23:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them," writes Oscar Wilde in his 1891 novel, </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The Picture of Dorian Gray</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. Drawing upon your own experiences with parents, guardians, mother or father figures--or your personal history as a parent yourself--compile a short list of specific memories and observations divided into three categories: love, judgment, and forgiveness. Would you agree with Wilde that children's love for and judgment of parents are inevitable, but forgiveness of them may be less so? How might you see forgiveness as a more conscious component of a parent-child relationship? Write a three-part poem that explores the many nuances of a parent-child relationship as it evolves with age.</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-28950224198056320272016-08-26T10:30:00.000+08:002016-08-26T10:30:27.321+08:00Fiction promptFrom Poets&Writers' "The Time is Now," Week 29:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In "Superpowered Storytelling" in the </span><a alt="http://www.pw.org/content/julyaugust_2016" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D0016lGcKVDIpwIZQ7L47E3tZDWkEzTJlqaIKwkhdD37pbq3pNJyyqmeOkcz-HfB-FC-jsb38adx5sw8A8nEcidW3u_VfTGsOgoZfOfyac8TQlf_H0StnKeDNEZHM2_EthSN2XhQ0HPi_634BKuaJrNqkC6sIu0o9dpZ326oS3-p1pn0BavjgchD4SOUP9nOoXvA_GL2uE0zKrM%3D%26c%3DC_JYjgFp_-Yo9iddwR1xbA7hLoF2ZsmkZW6n2W9jPD_WsI6kgTstAw%3D%3D%26ch%3DDdW4vA2AmmOMUO6IEGXd0zqeuJO0bKNsznuPf9udsOq5MDt9Dg17tg%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1471141913307000&usg=AFQjCNHDQhZOuBTjSaHqux5I2vEyTehjkw" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0016lGcKVDIpwIZQ7L47E3tZDWkEzTJlqaIKwkhdD37pbq3pNJyyqmeOkcz-HfB-FC-jsb38adx5sw8A8nEcidW3u_VfTGsOgoZfOfyac8TQlf_H0StnKeDNEZHM2_EthSN2XhQ0HPi_634BKuaJrNqkC6sIu0o9dpZ326oS3-p1pn0BavjgchD4SOUP9nOoXvA_GL2uE0zKrM=&c=C_JYjgFp_-Yo9iddwR1xbA7hLoF2ZsmkZW6n2W9jPD_WsI6kgTstAw==&ch=DdW4vA2AmmOMUO6IEGXd0zqeuJO0bKNsznuPf9udsOq5MDt9Dg17tg==" shape="rect" style="color: #3c628e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">July/August issue</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> of </span><em style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Poets & Writers Magazine</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">, </span><a alt="https://www.pw.org/content/benjamin_percy" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f%3D0016lGcKVDIpwIZQ7L47E3tZDWkEzTJlqaIKwkhdD37pbq3pNJyyqmeOj-F4lfIXbhi2H_LLz14CVK8peVPQjMIMb-Q0hH-9H6AzfZDdP-4cIql-9eGRcAFptV0LLrPiEd3d2WUojfQuB8LJAFjNd5oWTfVlqC0WUGGiZ67rtmQLaKzBJJBuEn7iOfC30vF-lyXzkzqYwLauK8%3D%26c%3DC_JYjgFp_-Yo9iddwR1xbA7hLoF2ZsmkZW6n2W9jPD_WsI6kgTstAw%3D%3D%26ch%3DDdW4vA2AmmOMUO6IEGXd0zqeuJO0bKNsznuPf9udsOq5MDt9Dg17tg%3D%3D&source=gmail&ust=1471141913307000&usg=AFQjCNFHUBrgRkMjnJx-KKrcm1Mx03VzAw" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0016lGcKVDIpwIZQ7L47E3tZDWkEzTJlqaIKwkhdD37pbq3pNJyyqmeOj-F4lfIXbhi2H_LLz14CVK8peVPQjMIMb-Q0hH-9H6AzfZDdP-4cIql-9eGRcAFptV0LLrPiEd3d2WUojfQuB8LJAFjNd5oWTfVlqC0WUGGiZ67rtmQLaKzBJJBuEn7iOfC30vF-lyXzkzqYwLauK8=&c=C_JYjgFp_-Yo9iddwR1xbA7hLoF2ZsmkZW6n2W9jPD_WsI6kgTstAw==&ch=DdW4vA2AmmOMUO6IEGXd0zqeuJO0bKNsznuPf9udsOq5MDt9Dg17tg==" shape="rect" style="color: #3c628e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Benjamin Percy</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> refers to Tony Earley's quote: "Every story is about the thing and the other thing." Percy explains by citing two examples of fiction in which the story is about a character working a job, and an added layer about that character in a developing relationship. Write a short story in which the exterior plot follows the day-to-day actions of your main character at work, while the interior landscape is about her evolving relationship with a secondary character. How can you manipulate the details about the job to serve as a metaphor for the relationship?</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3268007478971115568.post-5398892056318175672016-08-24T10:30:00.000+08:002016-08-24T10:30:30.303+08:00A Creative Non-fiction Prompt that you can use for fictionFrom "The Time is Now," by Poets&Writers (Week 30):<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Imagine that you have to consume one type of food for a ten-minute all-you-can-eat contest--what food would you choose? Write a short essay about how you would prepare physically and psychologically, and recount your favorite memories that involve this food.</span>cvlaohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03983750480198025153noreply@blogger.com0