Mideo Cruz' "Kulo" and James Soriano's "Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege": My Humble Opinions

Let me jump into the firestorm that is James Soriano's Manila Bulletin article entitled Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege (in http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/2011/08/mila-d-aguilar-in-reply-to-james.html; scroll down after Ms. Aguilar's response).

I have never read so much pagbubuhat ng bangko (bench, not bank), and so much pangungutya from a Filipino writer of his own race. He has undone what our vanguards of cultural equality have painstakingly done in word and deed in just a few paragraphs:

"These skills were required to survive in the outside world, because we are forced to relate with the tinderas and the manongs and the katulongs of this world. If we wanted to communicate to these people — or otherwise avoid being mugged on the jeepney — we needed to learn Filipino."

"But perhaps this is not so bad in a society of rotten beef and stinking fish. For while Filipino may be the language of identity, it is the language of the streets. It might have the capacity to be the language of learning, but it is not the language of the learned."

And his coup d'grace:

"So I have my education to thank for making English my mother language."

Read more: http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/2011/08/mila-d-aguilar-in-reply-to-james.html#ixzz1WUtY1AGZ

I have read two responses to Mr. Soriano's now-much-googled piece. Mila Aguilar's is the kinder
rejoinder:

"This is not to disparage James Soriano, a young man who may have learned German, but hasn’t yet seen the world in all its gritty detail. I wouldn’t quarrel with him, especially since I’m a very old woman of 62; but I would love for him to learn a thing or three about his country."

Inez Ponce De Leon in her blog did not mince her words:

"Your opinion piece did not raise Filipino or English to any level whatsoever. It only showed your readers that you brought Filipino down to the level of admonitions, a language of mere orders, a means of communication with those whom you perceive to be beneath you."

"Can you not see what you have done? English is not a language for you, Mr. Soriano. It is your weapon to wield so that you can reassert your perceived superiority over everyone else.

http://inez.abcruz.com/Diary/2011Aug27Sat060531

This issue brings back to mind the spectre of the CCP-Mideo Cruz "Kulo" exhibit. In my very limited understanding of visual arts, I will not even attempt to deconstruct the pieces that I saw online. I just didn't feel like looking at it for longer than a second. Kinilabutan ako sa hiya. Isn't art supposed to make you look closer and longer at something? I don't know. As I said, ME=Art-stupid.

But I do know a tad about English. It was and still is my bread and butter. Like the three aforementioned writers, it is my language of choice and comfort. But Filipino is the language of my blood. It was never just a subject to me. It is in my veins, from home to work and everywhere in between. I listen closely to the dialogues in Amaya and play Joey Ayala songs on my laptop. If that puts me in the level of manongs, tinderas and katulongs, based on Mr. Soriano's simplistic social stratification, then it makes me proud to be Filipino.

GLEE, UNGLUED

Blogger's Note:  I first posted "Wheeeee for Glee!"  on:
http://lexaprone.blogspot.com/2009/12/wheeee-for-glee.html
Back then, there was just a handful of Gleeks, Charice was doing cheesy commercials, and Gwyneth Paltrow, if not for Iron Man, was a superstar fast fading into the sunset. Oh, and back then, only Jack TV in the Philippines carried the show, touting it as a "surprise hit", and  "the show that's taking the U.S. by storm." So as more and more Losers are lipsynching to Rachel and Finn's 80's duets, let me reprise what I said back in '09, then put my final grade on the series, with two episodes left in Season 2:

foxtv.com/glee

I HATED HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. ALL THREE OF THEM. High schoolers bursting into song aren't exactly endearing to me, or realistic, since I deal with high schoolers everyday and believe me, they aren't always up for pep squad or choir duty.
A HIGH SCHOOL GLEE CLUB ("NEW DIRECTIONS") BURSTING INTO SONG ON TV, AT LEAST THRICE EACH EPISODE IS SOMETHING ELSE. It is something else,entirely: funny, poignant, preposterous, sarcastic, campy, classy, witty, cheesy--you can't pigeonhole what the first 13 episodes of GLEE have been. You just can't stop with the pilot and assume that you've heard one song, you've heard them all. Instead, you watch on and sing, breathe, quip, cry, snicker with the characters.You hold your breath to find out who won the Rachel vs. Kurt diva sing-off using "Defying Gravity" as the contest piece. You cringe along with Teacher Will as he sings "Don't Stand So Close to Me" to an infatuated student, Rachel Berry. You get goosebumps as a guest hearing-impaired glee club signs John Lennon's "Imagine." So many moments, so little time. I AM SO LOVING THIS SERIES, it hurts that there won't be a 14th episode until April 2010.

-End of December 2009 entry-
That was then. This is now:
I HAVE STARTED TO HATE GLEE SEASON 2. I don't know when  the hate began: Sam's first appearance (because he reminds of The Bieb)? The Madonna/Britney dream episode (lame knock-offs)? The Rocky Horror episode (another lame knock-off)? So many minute, insignificant things have turned me off. With the mediocrity of local TV, and the redundancy of cable programming in this country (how many Master Chefs are there anyway?), Glee was supposed to be my idiot box heaven. So when some episodes drove me to the wall, I turned to Criminal Minds, where teens were murderous and mothers were noxious child abusers.
But one can't really ignore the pull of Glee. Ep. 1, I was ready to diss Charice, thinking, she has nothing that Rachel/Lea Michele doesn't have. I was wrong. To date, it was the most watched one-hour of Glee, and Pinoys had someone else to thank besides Pacquiao for the dip in metro crime, at least for a night. I was wary of every new character, probably because I am a TV pilot purist--whoever's on the pilotor first season  must never be replaced (aside to Criminal Minds: Axeing JJ and Prentiss? Wrong move, execs.). Ok back to Glee 2: none of the episodes have really appealed to me musically. Where is "Don't Stop Believing"? "Alone"? "Defying Gravity"? The new covers are too predictable.
But not the twists. In the most recent episode, "Prom Queen", Kurt and the jock--in-denial are named prom queen and king respectively. If anything, the series is generating a healthy dose of discussions and speculations, and that's a very good thing. If students can make intelligent guesses about what happens next in a TV show, then they are actually practising the skill of predicting outcomes and drawing conclusions. Here's my fb exchange with one gleek student (name blurred to protect student's identity):

The songs may not be to my liking (for I am ancient, and my trip is 90's grunge), but the core of Glee is its depiction of complicatedly entangled relationships and its championing of Losers. My favorite episode of the season is Kurt's and his dad's heart-to-heart on what sounds like sex education at the parental level. The endearing awkwardness of the father, and the defiance of the son is further tweaked by Kurt's own sexual orientation and the struggles he's been having about his identity. Perhaps both pro-and-anti-RH Bill proponents could review that episode and understand how difficult it is to discuss such a subject matter to a teen with raging hormones. It is Kurt's story that I follow most closely, because in him I see a lot of my students, past and present: wanting to belong, struggling with identity, finding solace in his talent, his friends. I do not agree with much of Glee's sexual content and its caricaturizing of school officials and teachers, but I do applaud its ingenious scripts and the writers' respect for youth culture and personality. The show is ripe for a critical analysis of popular culture, and I would get such a kick if high school students actually do it!
Each of New Directions' members has painful stories to tell, and for me, the telling is more poignant and meaningful than the singing.
Will I watch the last two episodes? You betcha. I am going to bark, frown, and throw vitriolic barbs at the TV screen,Sue-style, but I'll be munching my popcorn with unabashed glee through it all.
Pre-final Grade: B+
Further reading:
An excerpt from http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_etahquitz26.3136eac.html
on the possible positive use of facebook in schools:

Beyond the classroom portion, Roe has set up several Facebook pages and does a daily principal's update on one of them. Another Facebook page has helped create a Parent Teacher Student Association with 81 members, an extremely high amount for a high school. Students may receive a Twitter announcement that if they show the tweet at a game, they will receive an entry discount and a free drink.

Upon entering the school, a poster in the front office shows at least six websites that the school is associated with, and its official site garners more than 2,000 hits per day. Its student newspaper is an entirely online entity, helping to save printing costs, and the school is always looking at new ways to bring more technology into the classroom.

"It's not about the teacher saying what they taught today," Roe said. "It's about what the students learned today.

"Either we get on the leading edge of technology or we will be obsolete in five years."