Other Stories notes that the 59th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is open beginning March 1. Each contestant may submit only one entry per category.
I took the following write-up from the main page of my multiply page, my multiply page, which for now is also named “Other Stories.” I want to play around with the concept a bit more, but I suppose this is as good a place as any to start the WordPress Cache of Other Stories.
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The theme of “other stories” has followed me around since my gradeschool days. (Hence “alternativity” which has been my email avatar since college.)
The basic idea is that there are certain stories that have not really found their way into the our society’s conversation.
These stories (or approaches to stories) rarely find their way into the headlines, dont get discussed in polite conversation, and are only breezed through in university lectures.
They are, among others,
- the story of a sixth-grade pupil whose intellectual exploration the teacher dismisses as hubris.
- the story of an educator who finds he has more questions than answers.
- the story of a development advocate who isn’t quite convinced he’s advocating the right approach to development.
- the story of a storyteller in a land where stories are considered distractions from the necessary tasks of daily drudgery.
If the list seem’s self centered, I’m afraid that’s because a writer is limited by his formative experiences.
On the other hand, that’s the point, isn’t it?
The entire philosophy of focusing on “Other Stories” is summed up in the act of saying “Hey, look! My story is important too!”
Not because I have unusually important stories to tell, but because we all do.
In the end, the philosophy of “Other Stories” is about empowerment.
My story is important. Your story is important. These other stories that routinely get ignored? They matter.
They say the pen has a power that is far greater than the sword.
Here’s to spreading that power a bit.
Here’s to…
… the other stories.
