20040910
scandal is sweet
a comment on recent events with the manila critics' circle on their recent awardees for the annual national book awards. this blog is gleaned from events going on in manila. wanna join the fray? read on.
it started with a concerned children's book writer questioning the awarding of the best young adult novel to a 'chick lit' novel, about a 28-year-old woman looking for the right man to marry. i did a double take on that information, even from way out here in chicago.
from that frustrated piece, responds from noted writers who had little or nothing to do with the choosing of 'almost married' avalanched from all fronts - the blogs, mainly.
and since blogging is unedited and instantaneous, topics moved to other gripes, from young poets expertly delivering to a standard to seasoned writers and their 'mafias' or barkadas, or cliques of writing.
i heard it said before that one does not do that, comment on a writer's piece, stand or issues, publicly, especially in philippine letters. you just don't do that. but there it is - clear as day, in daily broadsheets and on most writers' blogs.
maybe they just blogged because they knew blogs were informal spaces to rant or rave unbridled about any topic that's seized them for the moment.
maybe they just blogged because they needed to vent.
maybe they blogged because there really needs something to be said about the state of philippine letters nowadays.
other writers claim that there needs to be a change in the way people put together words in the philippines; and that for philippine letters to compete in world literature or merely survive, the change must come right now. that there already is ample training and experience to draw from in the rich native loam of philippine soil.
but then maybe they just blogged because they knew this is a mere passing storm, and if they stay silent now, no one will respond to anything they've to say about this certain topic. they blog and write to get response.
someone from the manila critics' circle should have been receptive enough to see that the awarding of the best novel for young adults to 'almost married' would cause this string of rebuttals. someone should have said something the very moment it was announced. the circle seems established and respected enough to brave any sort of attack on them.
as for the writers whose works are now being targeted, it is their right to remain silent if they choose. everyone can use criticism, but not when it comes in the way of your originality for the moment.
let the mudslinging continue. but let it be professional and for genuine desire for change. this puts all of us on the spot for change. we'd loose credibility if we stay the same. isn't now scandal sweetest that way. :-P ¶ 9/10/2004 01:16:00 PM
it started with a concerned children's book writer questioning the awarding of the best young adult novel to a 'chick lit' novel, about a 28-year-old woman looking for the right man to marry. i did a double take on that information, even from way out here in chicago.
from that frustrated piece, responds from noted writers who had little or nothing to do with the choosing of 'almost married' avalanched from all fronts - the blogs, mainly.
and since blogging is unedited and instantaneous, topics moved to other gripes, from young poets expertly delivering to a standard to seasoned writers and their 'mafias' or barkadas, or cliques of writing.
i heard it said before that one does not do that, comment on a writer's piece, stand or issues, publicly, especially in philippine letters. you just don't do that. but there it is - clear as day, in daily broadsheets and on most writers' blogs.
maybe they just blogged because they knew blogs were informal spaces to rant or rave unbridled about any topic that's seized them for the moment.
maybe they just blogged because they needed to vent.
maybe they blogged because there really needs something to be said about the state of philippine letters nowadays.
other writers claim that there needs to be a change in the way people put together words in the philippines; and that for philippine letters to compete in world literature or merely survive, the change must come right now. that there already is ample training and experience to draw from in the rich native loam of philippine soil.
but then maybe they just blogged because they knew this is a mere passing storm, and if they stay silent now, no one will respond to anything they've to say about this certain topic. they blog and write to get response.
someone from the manila critics' circle should have been receptive enough to see that the awarding of the best novel for young adults to 'almost married' would cause this string of rebuttals. someone should have said something the very moment it was announced. the circle seems established and respected enough to brave any sort of attack on them.
as for the writers whose works are now being targeted, it is their right to remain silent if they choose. everyone can use criticism, but not when it comes in the way of your originality for the moment.
let the mudslinging continue. but let it be professional and for genuine desire for change. this puts all of us on the spot for change. we'd loose credibility if we stay the same. isn't now scandal sweetest that way. :-P ¶ 9/10/2004 01:16:00 PM
