Letters to the Future

(Please take note that these letters are in block style since the semi-block style is difficult to use in these posts.)


Barriada, Legazpi City
July 26, 2009

Dear 53 year-old me,

I think you already know what happened when we were 13. Let me ask about you then. What is our work? Are we successful? You know that I must be successful. You know what reasons we have in secret. What did I become, an engineer, a lawyer, a doctor, or a nobody? I know that I won't let myself be a nobody. I'll be studying hard and am going to work hard to be able to be successful.

Do I have kids? How many? Do I have twins? How many boys, how many girls? Who is my wife? My wife has to be beautiful not just from the outside but also from the inside. I need someone who understands me in different ways.

These are all the questions I want to ask you, my 53 year-old self. I hope you remember this night when I wrote this letter.


Truly yours,
13-year-old Aljo
(II-Narra)

***

Purok 5 Alcala
Daraga, Albay
July 28, 2009


Dear Pauline,

You know what? I am experiencing so many problems. I thought it is because I was born to be the unlucky girl, but I am learning that these problems are meant for me to learn and have enough wisdom when I grow up.

This thought helps me so much in remembering that I should not lose hope and do my best to have what I want to have. We have to be strong in every step of our life because in everything we experience, we learn. Our learning will make us successful in everything we do.

I hope you apply what I am learning and do what is right and that you are contented with what you have.


Yours,
Pauline
(II-Narra)

***

1643 Lakandula Drive
Daraga, Albay
July 27, 2009


Dear 53-year-old me,

I want you to know that I am having fun as a teenager. I have great experiences as a 13 year-old. Yes, I am growing older, but I am having fun. After all, the older I get, the wiser I get.

I wish I could see you but that is too impossible. I wish you have a great life and a better future ahead of you.

God bless and may God be with you.


Truly yours,
June Martin as a 13 year-old teenager
(II-Molave)

***

Dearest Me,

Hello! I guess you are a little bit old now. I wrote this letter from the past for you to read in the future. I am 14 years old when I wrote this. See the difference?

I will share and make you remember all the pieces of wisdom, experiences and moments that you've done during this time. High school... it is here you shared your laughs with your friends and loved ones. Right now I am funny, a good friend. I also shared my tears with my parents. I have learned many things. Remember what Mom said? "You aren't going to be a leader if you're lazy and don't use your initiative.

I hope you followed my dream of being head chef in a restaurant or a successful businessman. Don't forget your health, and Mom, Dad, and our brothers. Say "I love you." from me. I hope you are still with your family and your best friends, Ella and Jan Marie. Are you still single? It's okay. Don't forget: life is too short so make the most out of it. Bye!

Lovingly,
Leo
(II-Acacia)

Summer Reading

What books are you reading this summer break?

3 Hindu Love Stories

Savitri (performed by II-Molave)

Ramayana (performed by II-Acacia)

Sakoontala (performed by II-Narra)

(Please click here for more pictures.)

Personification Exercise: The City

by I-Mars

This is a class poem focusing on personification as a literary device. Each I-Mars student was asked to write one line about the city and what it does.

The city wakes up early to give us a brand-new day
It starts the day anew with a yawn at dawn
It is awakened by the rising sun,
It is awakened by the rumbling of the cars.

The city feels these sounds crawl past as rays of light touch the paths
It gets busier and busier as seconds and minutes pass
It moves with hurrying people - old or young
It moves through the overpass into the students' class.

The city is always in a hurry like a father going to the office
It rushes to its job after taking a bath, when it looks neat and smells good
It smiles like a baby searching for its mom
It smiles after surviving a powerful storm.


The city plays with the children on the streets
It dances with the music that surrounds it
It sings with the people on the road
It sings with the jeepneys and the radios.

The city finds difficulty in breathing polluted air,
But it eats everything it wants from the fastfood chains
It follows the fashion of the time
The city is a lot of fun.

The city grows from its small state
It is changed by good leaders who care
Sometimes it stays up late to celebrate
But tonight it sleeps early, tired from all the day's work.

Nothing But the Truth: A Note from AVI

Here's a note from AVI (Edward Irving Wortis) about his novel "Nothing But the Truth."

When detectives and lawyers work on a case, they try to gather together all the evidence so as to get to the truth. That collection of evidence is called "Discovery." Discovery, was the title of this book when I was first working on it. For what I set out to do is put the reader in charge--like a detective--by presenting all the evidence pertaining to an event that happened--or did not happen--in a school. It's all fiction of course, but it reads very realistically. What's more, it asks the reader to decide what really happened in the story. You have to decide for yourself. You have to read very carefully to decide what actually happened. After all, when you're asked to swear that you will "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," every body says they will. And yet they do not agree about what happened. That's what this book is all about, the complexities of truth.

Who is AVI?

from wikipedia

Edward Irving Wortis (born December 23, 1937), better known by the pen name Avi, is a prominent American author of young adult and children's literature. He is a winner of both the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal.

Avi and his twin sister Emily Wortis Leider (also a writer) were born in New York City to Joseph Wortis, a psychiatrist, and Helen Zunser Wortis, a social worker. In the year after Avi's birth, his family moved to San Antonio, Texas. When he was young his sister gave him the nickname "Avi," which he adopted as his pseudonym. Two of Avi's grandfathers were writers, and one grandmother was a playwright. In interviews, he recalled his mother reading to him and his sister every night, and going to the public library on Fridays. He is also the first cousin of the Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin.

After he failed Stuyvesant High School, Avi's parents transferred him to Elisabeth Irwin High School, a smaller private school. There he studied with a tutor, Ella Ratner (whom he credits for his writing success), and found that he had dysgraphia, a condition causing him to reverse or misspell words.

Avi is a prolific author, having written over 60 books for young readers. He has written books for different age groups and in many different genres. Perhaps his most famous books fall under the category of historical fiction, but he has also written fantasies, comedies, mysteries, ghost stories, adventure tales, realistic fiction, and picture books. Avi has won many prestigious awards for his books, including a Newbery Honor for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle in 1991 and another for Nothing But the Truth in 1992. His fiftieth book, Crispin: The Cross of Lead, was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2003. As of the end of 2005, Avi has published 58 books, all written for children/young adults. In 2006 Avi wrote a sequel to Crispin: The Cross of Lead titled Crispin: At the Edge of the World. After living in Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1980s and 1990s, Avi now lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Linda Cruise Wortis.

On-Line Quiz 10: Verb Forms

Substitute the past or past participle form of the verb inside the parentheses, whichever the sentence requires.

1. The fishermen (cast) the net early this morning.
2. Kriss and Kathy (begin) answering the quiz.
3. We had (creep) out of the door before they noticed us.
4. The boys (dress) their best for the dance.
5. Have you (forgive) us?
6. Kissin' Kate Barlow (hide) her loot.
7. Stanley Yelnats (dig) several holes under the scorching sun.
8. Finally, the sun has (rise).
9. His feet (swell) to an incredible size.
10. As children, we were (teach) to be respectful.

Metaphor Exercise

These are from the September 17 Demo Fest lesson on the use of metaphors in writing prose. They were given ten minutes to write their paragraphs.

An older sister is a book of tips. She's gone through everything you're going through as of the moment, from peer pressure to catfights. She'll give you tips and how-to's on every teenage girl's problem you could possibly think of. She will be your guide when it comes to identity crisis. She'll help you escape when you're stuck in a sticky predicament. Sure, she could be pretty annoying sometimes, especially when she starts tattling to your parents, but remember, she's only doing that so you could be taught a lesson. So thank God for older sisters.

~ Joanne Paulette F. Miraflor


The storm was a blitzkrieg raging toward our barracks and ruining others. All the people were locked in their houses, all scared to be bombed by the flying roofs, branches, etc. They were hopelessly waiting for a hero who will save them from the disaster.

~ Benedict Rey M. Serrano


Life is the running water. It is something that is continuously moving. Sometimes there are also stones that obstruct the flow. They are the struggles we encounter in our journey. But we can also see the running water as a lesson. It teaches us to go on, to move on, that after encountering these stones, we get delayed but we do not stop. We continue again, flowing.

~ Maria Sushmita L. De Leon

Durvasa's Curse

from the output on Sakoontala

When Sakoontala was so caught up in her dreams of her husband Dushyanta, who was unfortunately called by duty to save his kingdom from trouble, an old, irritable sage visited the ashrama. Sakoontala failed to notice him. This raised the old man's ire and thus began Sakoontala's woes.


"Light of spirit, by my spell,
Person in mind, will never return,
Memories of you will be gone as well.
To you I throw this, so you would learn."

~Group 5, II-Acacia


"I, Durvasa, a well-known sage who's in front of you
Is not recognized, what a cruel thing to do!
Covered by my anger, I give my wrath to your life
More painful than a heart stabbed with a sharp knife
I'll give you an everlasting suffering by this curse of mine:
The person who you are thinking know you no more,
His memory of you will be kept within a forever locked door."

~Shiva's Guard, II-Narra


"You, ungrateful person, who ignored my presence,
Be cursed by the power vested in me by the Hindu deities.
In the spirit of my curse,
The unfortunate person in thy mind would never return,
Andhis memories of you will vanish!
To you, I bestow this,
So you will learn!"

~Shiva, II-Molave

On Work by Kahlil Gibran

(from The Prophet)

Then a ploughman said, "Speak to us of Work."

And he answered, saying:

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.

Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.

But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,

And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,

And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,

And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,

And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,

And all work is empty save when there is love;

And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.

And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."

But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.