Talk

Putting the blog on hold until I’m done with this.

As of now, about fifty people are going. The emcee has confirmed, poster’s up, national anthem’s ready. I have soft copies of the stories to be discussed if you’re interested, please send a message or e-mail.

Acuña, Arbeen R. “Entry Taken From The Encyclopaedia of Biomechanical Convertebrates.” In The Anthology of New Philippine Writing in English: Kritika Kultura Literary Supplement 1. 2011: 89-96.

Angeles, Kathleen Siena A. “Mga Tala ukol sa Sakit ni Mama ayon sa Kanyang mga Sintomas.” In Eskapasismo. Unpublished thesis. March 2012: 59-87.

Bautista, Kevin Moses E. “Flights.” The Sunday Times Magazine. 22 Jan 2012: B4.

Solacito, Riena Marie L. “Pader.” In Ang Pagtatapos. Unpublished thesis. March 2012: 33-45.

The paper will be revised following relevant feedback from the reactor and the open forum. Revision should be ready about a month after the forum. You may have that as well.

Annotation 3: Solacito’s “Pader”

The story [1] consists of 106 posts on Bianca Mendoza’s Facebook wall, 76 comments, 54 likes, a view of 5 recent activities, and a drop-down for viewing “Older Posts.” Karla Fajardo flooded this wall and was responsible for 76 of the posts found there. Here we find a curious mix of Karla’s declarations of love and calls for attention (“Dream of me. Mwa!”), her outbursts also and threats (“ISINUSUMPA KONG DI KAYO MAGIGING MASAYA!”), most of which directly address Bianca.

In five of the 76 posts, Karla mentions Lallie. Since the story proceeds in reverse, the reader will hear of Lallie in the second page

Alagaan mo si Lallie ha :)
December 24, 2010 at 06:00 AM . Like . Comment

and about six pages after

Lallie is sad. :(
November 23, 2010 at 07:19 PM . Like . Comment

only to recognize its identity and significance in the last three pages of the story:

Yehey! Naupload ko na pictures natin together! Ang cute ni Lallie dun sa isang picture na karga natin siya. HAHAHA!! Magbukas ka naman ng account mo! I love u!! Ganda naman ng profile picture mo! Witwiw ;)
November 15, 2010 at 11:04 PM . Like . Comment

Miss na kita! Ang purita mo talaga gurl! Wala na ngang pamasahe hindi pa makapagtext man lang. :( Katabi ko si puppy ngayon. I named her Lallie. :) Paramdam ka naman jan! :*
November 3, 2010 at 9:56 PM . 3 people like this. Comment

PUTA KA! MAHAL NA MAHAL KITA! Salamat sa regalo mong tuta pero sana pumunta ka pa rin nung birthday ko. Hinahanap ka ni mama (nakakahalata na? :p)
November 3, 2010 at 7:30 PM . 6 people like this . Comment

The last page gives us the above first post, love and invective, a black and white picture of a puppy resting its head on a phone, and four comments that will trail off to “View Older Posts…” In the coming annotations, we take look at what Karla’s posts reveal about her situation and (b) take stock of Bianca’s replies. I would also like to evaluate the activity of the couple’s friends, but maybe I should leave something to my incoming students.

       ______________________________
[1] Solacito, Riena Marie L. “Pader.” In Ang Pagtatapos. Unpublished thesis. March 2012: 33-45.
[2] Annotation 1.
[3] Annotation 2.

Annotation 2: Solacito’s “Pader”

Some of the aforementioned ephemera [1] find resonance in the single-word title. “Pader” refers to the Facebook Wall, the virtual, primary setting of the story, the very shape and motive of its narrative [2]. The Wall accepts the participation of expected (“friended”) and interested parties, some of whom are more voluble than Bianca herself, the owner of the profile. However, none can claim even half as much writing-on-the-wall as Karla, Bianca’s pursuer.

Let us allow for the idiomatic and entertain the following possibilities: talking to a wall, that is, Bianca’s general unresponsiveness; hit a wall being ultimately the death of Karla [3]; and walls have ears pertain to others, Bianca’s friends or acquaintances from various circles, whose presence allow for the relationship to become more of a spectacle.

       ______________________________
[1] Annotation 1.
[2] Solacito, Riena Marie L. “Pader.” In Ang Pagtatapos. Unpublished thesis. March 2012: 33-45.
[3] “Hit a/the wall” and “Bumangga sa pader” should be treated as two different idiomatic expressions. The former could include relatively minor and usually temporary blocks to a mental of physical activity. The latter posits the presence of an insurmountable character, a figure of power. For Karla, a fitting description of Bianca.

Annotation 1: Solacito’s “Pader”

Solacito [1] uses the structure and language of pre-Timeline Facebook to tell her story in reverse. A lover lays bare her feelings to an unresponsive beloved through posts that are, in turns, crazed, hostile, and pining.

We find at least four ephemera. Most glaring is the mortality of the lover. We begin (in the first two pages) and end (in terms of chronology) with word of Karla Fajardo’s death. Next, the gender of the beloved, Bianca Mendoza, whose change of partner signaled her shift away from being a lesbian. As had been posted on her wall: “Condolence dude... err dudette na pala! XD pero condolence talaga.”

Third, language itself, in particular the J3j3mon register. Consider by AnA GaRciA’s defense of Bianca—“Hey! wG kUnG anO2x iNiiCp hA!!!?! d qAh mY kZalANan”—posted on Christmas day.

Fourth, the platform. While it seems Facebook won’t go the way of Friendster or Multiply in the immediate future, the end remains a possibility. To prevent its death, FB has to be very responsive to its market and must provide timely corporate changes in as non-disruptive a manner as possible. Its change to the Timeline signals the end of the FB Wall [2], the format that provides both title and narrative structure to this story.

       ______________________________
[1] Solacito, Riena Marie L. “Pader.” In Ang Pagtatapos. Unpublished thesis. March 2012: 33-45.
[2] Timeline of Facebook. Wikipedia. Accessed 20 Dec 2014.