There’s still time: The 59th Palanca Awards

Other Stories notes that the 59th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is open beginning March 1.

This notice is all over the net by now if you’re reading stuff from Filipino literary circles. I’m posting it here in case anyone on my contacts list is not, and would like to join.

I’m also encouraging anybody with literary aspirations to come up with something and try to join.  Winning a Palanca might just be the big break you need.

I copied this information from Dean Alfar’s blog, but it seems to be a press release as I’ve seen the exact same thing several times this week.  I’ve reformatted it a bit so that you can more clearly take note of the categories.

So, without further ado…

Each contestant may submit only one entry per category in the following:

English Division

• Short Story,
• Short Story for Children,
• Essay,
• Poetry,
• Poetry Written for Children,
• One-act Play,
• Full-length Play

Filipino Division

• Maikling Kuwento,
• Maikling Kuwentong Pambata,
• Sanaysay,
• Tula,
• Tulang Isinulat Para sa mga Bata,
• Dulang May Isang Yugto,
• Dulang Ganap ang Haba, and
• Dulang Pampelikula

Regional Languages Division

• Short Story in Cebuano
• Short Story in Hiligaynon and
• Short Story in Iluko

New categories this year are Poetry Written for Children in the English Division and Tulang Isinulat Para sa mga Bata in the Filipino division. Entries must consist of a collection of at least 10 but not more than 15 poems. It may deal with any subject and must be comprehensible within the grade-school reading level of children ages 6-12, but accessible in its oral form by younger children.

Contest rules and official entry forms are available at the Palanca Awards’ official website. For further information, call 856-0808.

Entries with complete requirements may be submitted to the Foundation’s office at the 6th Floor, One World Square Bldg., 10 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Hill Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City or may also be entered online through the Palanca Awards website or sent through email at palancaawards@yahoo.com.

Deadline of submission of entries for this year’s awards is midnight of 30 April 2009.

Winners will be announced on 1 September 2009.

Good luck, everyone!

-30-

What on earth had I gotten myself into?

“The truth of the matter is this,” began the investigator. “Somebody lied.“

I stared at him, incredulous.  “And they call you an investigator?“

I paused at that moment, aghast. Sarcasm was something I tried not to demonstrate to the people of this town.  They never took it well.  It simply wasn’t part of their culture.  It was a far too confrontational a mode of conversation when most of the townsfolk wanted nothing more than to live quiet lives with zero conflict. (Boring, actually, but what can you do.)

But the investigator’s statement had been so commonsensical that I sat on the chair in my office, looked him straight in the eye, and sarcastically questioned his qualifications as a cop.

My goose, so to speak, had been cooked.

Or so it would have been if there had been geese in this town…  But I’m rambling.

At any rate, I sat there, frozen for a good minute or so, wondering whether I was about to be arrested.

What was that smile on his face? He had shown up just before closing time at the museum door, and asked for the curator – yours truly – because he said he had a few questions to ask, in connection to a crime.

He never really told me why it was that, in investigating that crime, he sought me out for questioning.  For all I knew, I could have been his primary suspect.  And there I was, questioning his intelligence.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

But not as stupid as that smile on his face.  What was he smiling about, anyway?

“Don’t worry, you,” he laughed.  “I’m not here to accuse you of anything.“

I suppose you can imagine what a big sigh of relief I … er… sighed just at that moment.

“I just need your help.“

“Of course,” I said, deciding that I would from there on choose my words more carefully. “Whatever I can do to help.“

“Well, you taught journalism at the university, right?“

“Yes.”  Finally, I felt I was on safe ground.  I could cling to my academic credentials like an overboard sailor clinging to a lifebuoy.

“Could you be more specific?” I asked. “About what exactly you want me to do, as a former journalism teacher, I mean.“

Little did I know that he would launch into a monologue so long, it would almost seem like a comedic moment. Almost, if I didn’t at that precise moment really really need to go take a piss.  Or piss off. Or whatever.

“The way I figure is, if we could get everybody’s story put together, check for inconsistencies, look for patterns, and so on, we could get an idea what it is we’re dealing with.

“But Im busy with the main body of the investigation.  I have to go get the usual stories from the usual suspects.

“The thing is, even if I tried to piece all those usual stories together, I probably wouldn’t be able to.  There are just too many inconsistencies.  Whoever the perpetrator is, you see, he’s one hell of a good liar. He’s got everyone else confused.

“What we need are the other perspectives that will fill in the gap.  They’ll be the glue that puts the big picture together, and once we manage to do that, whoever isn’t being consistent… well, we’ll throw him in the slammer straightaway.

“So, you see, I need you to go find those other stories.”

What on earth had I gotten myself into?

Why “Other Stories”? (The Original Concept)

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.

+++

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.