from Coach:”Soccerly yours”

This picture was taken during the 11th UPMin Ladies Football Festival.

Soccer peeps…

In relation to the annual soccer celebration every February, the team organizes a football festival, wherein they themselves conceptualize the awards. This team effort has been handed down to succeeding generations by the UP Min Ladies Football Varsity. The first football festival was held at the CSM field in 1997 February 9^th.

Up to this day, the UPMin Ladies Football Varsity Team continues to exist not only for themselves but also for a team and for the university. It is not a question of passion that remains but the love for it. It is not a question of who made it in history; rather it is about the value that one gives outliving many memories.

I have been a member since March 15, 2006 and at present. You know there is always one thing about playing soccer that keeps me from quitting; it is because of the team and because of the people behind it.

Sometimes I feel sorry that others had to say na “UP lang man na” It is how they underestimate us. We are indeed bringing the name of the university. I don’t blame them anyway because their burdens don’t include coping up with difficult-to-manage academics. It’s all too normal lang naman talaga. It’s not because we value our academics more rather it is because of other considerations in our lives. I don’t really know each of our constraints but there is one thing that goes for each of us: the passion for soccer( if this is all too vague to understand, then let it be as inexplicable as it goes for me) Personally, I wanted to stop playing soccer a few years back. I just thought that I don’t have the skill for it, the time for it. I’d put it on the least of my priorities, but all the while it stayed there…the more it asked for attention.

Catch A FAlling Star by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo

“Catch a star and put it in your pocket….”

from a song

I. Introduction

Catch A Falling Star is a collection of short stories by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo. Prior to its publication by Anvil Publication Inc., earlier versions of the stories appeared in magazines such as Philippine Free Press, Philippine Graphic and the Mirror Magazine. The book is dedicate to the author’s husband and two daughters. The author had returned to realistic short story, which was a departure from her earlier tale mode of earlier published books Tales for the Rainy Nights(1993) and Where Only the Moon Rages(1994). Hidalgo has written three short story collection and six collections of personal essays, travel narratives, two volumes of critical essays and a novel. She was awarded with a Carlos Palanca Grand Prize and the Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award.

Musings: An Essay About Performance Art

With the performance art challenge, I first had two pieces in mind. The first one entitled “Musings” was supposedly about the bounds of being a woman in a society. The other one is about the self-expression. The former was rejected because it was too common while he former was further developed into the final performance art piece. There is one thing that I noticed on most of the performance art examples shown to us in our CW 120 class: the pieces had themes about the Self. This for me is a good thing to start at. It is because one should be familiar with one’s piece and everything about it. The most important thing to consider is the concept because this is where the performance would be based. At the first instance, I only had an idea in mind later I realized that a more technical term could be related to my concept about the self. The social psychology theories were the bases for my piece. I wanted something to do with a soccer ball since, I was to do self-expressing. I wanted a piece that I know of, I wanted something that partly reveals my self. Soccer for me is an important sport. This game helped me realize the value of myself, of the team and of enthusiasts. I play when I feel depressed, play when I am happy and play when I want to get away from everything else. Every time I see the soccer field, I long to be as carefree as a rolling ball. I won’t care if I’d sweat or smell after playing, all I care about is the game I had in mind. That is why my concept is about it. I want a performance that I’d not dread doing. I want a something I’d love to do. I wanted my performance to be about myself.

I used materials such as soccer ball, candle, three cones, cloth and play money. These served as representations of the words I wouldn’t utter. The ball even signifies my self- black is for the pessimist mode while white is for optimism. The cones arranged in the triangular formation represent society. In soccer, this formation is essential in play. It enables three players to have an advantageous position and passing in the field. This also represents the three things I mentioned earlier – realize the value of one’s self, of the team and of enthusiasts- these three are also evident in any performance art piece. These in a performance art piece would be the concept, performer and the audience/spectator. The limits of space are set by the cones like how one is within the society. There are boundaries such as regulation and law. Each cone covered with white, green and black cloth symbolizes innocence, life experiences and death respectively. The candle detail wasn’t present in the libretto but in the final presentation, I had a lit candle to represent the time duration of innocence and life experience. It was placed inside the black cloth-covered cone because in the end upon blowing the candle the presentation would end, and this suggests death. The play money revealed my judgment of a person- their value based on my impression of them. The act should appear as light-hearted and playful as how it is in a soccer game. In the end, exhaustion wearies out the person thus, the ball is kicked hard and the candle is blown off.

Dio Chrysostom, a Hellenistic critic on a lecture said “On Knowing God, painters and sculptors invest the God with the human body, the vessel of wisdom and reason, seeking to manifest the imageless and unseen in the visible, which can be portrayed”[Preface to Plato, Bosanquet's trans.]. In the performance art piece the message of the concept should be conveyed to the audience/spectator. As in Joycean statement that literature emanates meanings, discovery through concrete objects, those materials were essential for my piece so that the audience/spectator would trigger interpretation.

I retained the title “Musings” because I like how light the word sounds to the ears. The impression it gives me is like that of how fun it is to think of things that one likes. The title seems self-revealing. One muses of many things most of the time. The libretto was in turn, the script to be followed for the performance. There was a step by step process on how the performance would progress.

When the final presentation came, the changes tied the whole concept together. I considered the site to be an area where most people pass by. I just wanted them (passers by) to stop for a while. I intended this for the performance without straining somebody to find the venue. The audience/spectators were cooperative enough. The performance art piece was interactive. The materials in the piece should allow the audience/spectators to understand it within the limits and range of his/her own perspective and life experiences (qtd. from Fineberg). There were revisions on the libretto for improvement.

I added some details because the first script was incomplete.

“Ang Pasiunang Bakak”

Mao na ang mga opisina ug kani sila nag mga cubicles. Kadto didto mao ang akoa, kani mao ang imong cubicle. Kini imong telepono. Ayaw kana’g tubaga. Ang Voicemail System na bahala niana. Mao ni ang imong Voicemail Sytem Manual. Dili ginatugot ang personal na mga tawag. Pwede ra og emergency. Kung kinahanglan nimo mag-emergency phone call pangutana usa sa imong supervisor. Kung di nimo siya makit-an, pangutan-a si Phillip Santos, kadtong nagalingkod didto, kay iya kining ipa-check ni Clarissa Nicolas, kadto siya didto. Kung magbuot-buot ka’g emergency phone call, basig matanggal ka.

Taurean

Taurus

Venus, when placed in the sign of Taurus, denotes a romantic, affectionate lover and friend. Rich beauty and sensuality are attributed to this placement and your emotions are stable and dependable. A lover with Venus in Taurus is likely to be enraptured forever and will be more responsive and devoted as the commitments get heavier. You often have a penchant for the finer, more luxurious things in life.You may spend a lot of energy on obtaining possessions and material objects for emotional security. Often there is a talent or appreciation for creativity and culture of any realm. Opera, fine food, wine, performance, art, and music will be enjoyed immensely. You are blessed with the capacity to savor each moment to the fullest extent, and instinctively seek out the beauty in your surroundings. However, you may want to watch out for a possessive streak! You will be happiest in a relationship that provides you with a real sense of belonging and stability.