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!

so i've been trawling the web for like-minded people who think it was a mistake for the ateneo de manila to cancel final exams and not have anything useful in its stead. but all i could find was enthusiastic facebook chest-thumping from people who were "so proud to be an atenean!" and this one blog post comment : err… di ko alam kung maiinggit ako o ano. i'm not sure whether it's a testament to my poor googling skills, or proof that people just can't resist anything with an ateneo seal and a "person for others" label on it.

for those needing background, here's the optimistic, fuzzy-hearted letter from ateneo's philosophy department chair that's been making the facebook rounds lately, to unanimous and even fuzzier-hearted acclaim from ateneo alumni everywhere. and here's the original memo from VP cuyegkeng cancelling final exams this semester and encouraging the student body to do volunteer work instead. now let me clearly state my contention: instead of calling off the exams altogether, why not offer volunteer work in place of them? hi kids, your "biology finals" will be held at the covered courts, where you will be packing relief goods for a minimum of three hours, or longer if you so choose. it won't be graded but your professor will be there, checking attendance. you won't have to study and you get to embrace your "infinite responsibility for the other." isn't that nice? compared to this (or any other practicable solution), simply calling off exams an...