End of July

July has been unbelievably taxing, with everything that's happening in government, when threats to our security come from the very institutions that are mandated to protect us.

I'm not going to lie. I'm scared. Very. It would be foolish not to be. But one look at this little perzen and  I'm reminded why the voices that tell us to be scared are the very same ones that tell us not to be silenced or paralyzed by this fear.

Years from now, when events of this period are reduced to stories and pages in history books with questionable veracity, what do we tell our children / grandchildren when they ask us what we roles we took on during this time? How do we tell them that our silence fueled the existing oppressive forces? That we were too busy with work, research outputs, chalking up points for promotion? That the form of 'activism' that we chose was the one most convenient for us?

Or are we already drawing up our own version of historical revisionism in our minds?

"But how will she know if you won't even be around anymore to tell her about it?" asks the equally scared supposed-dissenter who is just being practical.

Oh, she will know. She will know.

Ang Kwaderno

"Indi matakos ang paghigugma"
Ini ang ginsulat mo sa panid sang akon kwaderno
Sa wala mo pa ini ginpilas agod butangan
Sang imo ginsugudan nga binalaybay,
Sugilanon, o kon basi panaysayon man.

Apang sala ka, palangga.

Tungod nahibaluan ko nga mas dako nga paghigugma
Ang akon ginahatag subong sa kwaderno
Nga ginpasugtan ta ka gision, bisan pa
Wala ka nangayo sang pahanugot,
Kag ginapatawad ko man ikaw
Bisan pa wala ka nangayo sang
Pasaylo. Sala ka.

Matakos ang paghigugma tungod kahibalo ako,
Mas dako ang akon paghigugma
Subong, palangga, sa kwaderno
Nga ginhukasan mo sang pahina
Sang sa sadtong bilog pa ini.

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Power UP! stint

Prof. Early Sol A. Gadong of UP High School in Iloilo (UPHSI) and graduate faculty of the Division of Professional Education emphasized the need to understand the nature of 21st century learners in the classroom to ultimately make these learners learn during her session in Contextualizing Learning and Instruction for the 2019 In-Service Training for Teachers, dubbbed as POWER UP, of Cawayan National High School, Carles, Iloilo, May 28 - 30, 2019.

POWER UP is the public service program of the Division of Professional Education, College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas.