AS A schoolchild of the late 60s and early 70s, we were taught how to read and write using paper, pencil and chalkboards like most children before us. The English language was the primary medium of instruction in Baguio and we only heard the Filipino dialect from our Tagalog speaking classmates from Manila or Bulacan. I never liked mathematics and I avoided numbers especially on multiplications, divisions and subtractions. I liked listening to teacher’s stories and reading comics or illustrated magazines. I have spent many hours reading Marvel and DC comics at a magazine stand along lower Mabini Street and I came to admire the heroisms of the characters of the Justice League of America. I liked the muscular illustrations of the superheroes and this also introduced me to learn human anatomy, muscles, bone structures, proportions and body contours including facial expressions.
Before Japan’s animation characters like Voltes-5 and Mazinger-Z invaded young people’s attention in the early 70s, one of my classmates in Grade-2 was already flaunting his drawings of Isuzu trucks. Challenged and motivated to also show what I can do, I drew images of cowboys, galloping horses and Chinese Kung-Fu warriors in varied positions. I must have done dozens of Bruce Lees before the legend of silver screen passed away.
I liked doing school projects and art lessons and soon I realized during my early years that I can be an artist myself and I even dreamt to be a famous painter like Fernando Amorsolo and Juan Luna. I must have drawn hundreds of RP maps, Jose Rizal Portraits and animals before I finally decided to take up fine arts for my college course. While at the University of Santo Tomas, we had a subject on Lettering and it was at the Philippine’s oldest university where I scribbled on parchment paper using pen and ink and wrote letters following the Old English, Gothic, Times New Roman and Brush Script fonts. I actually attempted to write poems but I ended writing graffiti and allegory on walls. I do not have much works on canvass but my personal collections are mostly editorial cartoons, illustrations and some paintings that remind me that I am indeed a Fine Arts graduate with a major in Painting.
There are certain similarities of being a journalist and being an artist. We both communicate to express. However, as an artist, we tend to impress and bestow more of our personal feelings than depict realities in life through our mediums. As a photojournalist and reporter, we chronicle events and use mass media to disseminate and relay information.
Now that I have experienced teaching in two universities and attained the status of a grandfather, I can imagine the big difference and technology gap especially with today’s new media. My grandson Akiboy has been introduced to YouTube as his alternate babysitter and knows Facetime as a tool to connect with other people using smart phones. I myself consult my online dictionary or computer programs such as MS word whenever I need to have my articles and stories checked for its grammatical correctness. Just a month ago, I happened to snap typhoon related incidents that shows uprooted and fallen trees. In my Facebook account, I posted several photos with a caption that goes…”Pine trees were felled, electrical cables were cut and it is blackout in most part of the city as of this posting..Typhoon Ineng is making her presence felt. Now closed are Leonard Wood Road near Botanical Garden, South Drive near Teachers Camp gate and Laubach Road..I have not scoured the rest of the city as driving with no specific purpose is not advisable”
As a result, a netizen named Carlo commented and added a question mark after the word felled.. “Were felled? Somebody who goes with the username Elle Marie said “tama pala yun… Mali si Teacher Martinez sa turo nya sakin”. Then a certain Carla Cruz posted “Xine paki explain nga why you said it is correct. I will consult my English professor before I comment. As what i understand, Fell is past tense of fall. Were is past tense of was... redundant.” Using my FB name Droplets, I thanked the netizens for their interesting exchanges of comments re "felled" adding that we actually use it in news headlining especially on typhoon related matters. Then Xine replied to Carla with a lifted quote saying that "Felled, on the other hand, is both the past and past participle form of the verb word ‘fell’ which means ‘to cut down something, usually trees, with blows or with cutting tools on purpose'. Many trees were felled for wood.”
Social media to me is one avenue for learning. It has also become a resource library, depository of knowledge and virtual art gallery. It is also where I deposit and exhibit my photos and artworks for the world to see. Unlike before where I paint an artwork or perhaps compose a quatrain for a specific purpose, today, I create contents for everyone, anyone or whoever that gets to see my works. I have already convinced myself not to be too engrossed and absorbed by it but I take this form of mass media as a therapy to keep my senses working.