mababang langit

    bambi eloriaga-amago and i gave a comics writing and pitching workshop at de la costa hall, where the english department used to be during my time. it was pretty nostalgic, seeing how the ol' campus had changed. bambi also noted how the "sweat corn" vendors outside no longer sold corn quite as "sweat" as they were in the 90's.   this workshop was a pretty big deal for me, being the first time i got paid to talk about comics. who would've thought it was possible?   special shoutout to  st. bernadette college of valenzuela for sending over a bunch of curious senior high schoolers to listen to us!

since i was doing my MA in creative writing at UP anyway, i thought why not try and see if some of the stuff i'd written for class could get me into one of the most prestigious writing workshops in the country? only problem was, i got in.       our venue was the baden-powell international makiling , a short drive up into the mountains from UP los banos. it's the boy scout national headquarters, i think. during out stay there was always some sort of camping activity going on in the adjacent field just to the right of the above photo.  to an uninitiated fellow ("fellow" is what  they call the people whose work is being read. personally i don't consider myself a fellow, i'm more of a dude) like me, the workshop felt like a rigorous weeklong training camp for the criticism part of your brain. i spent all night reading and all day trying to think up something helpful and/or clever to say about what i'd read the night before. it didn't always work. there wer...