When I was 4, I would record myself singing and telling stories on cassette tapes and my mother would send them to our loved ones abroad. She said that those tapes would make our families happy.
When I got a job, I would save up money to visit my siblings and cousins, and their children abroad. This year, I saved up to experience 3 summers: one in Manila, one in California, and one in Melbourne. Unfortunately, those family reunions didn’t happen.
With the travel ban restrictions due to the pandemic, my siblings and cousins would just send me videos of my niblings. On weekends at 5:00 a.m., my niblings would call to play and chat with me online.
Time zones are making my body clock crazy but my niblings are adorable. I savor these moments when they still need me and think that I’m the cool aunt.
Sometimes I worry that they would forget me. Silly me. I still remember Tita Bengga and Uncle Cris, and every little gift they gave me. #ripplesworld
Schools and higher education institutions in the Philippines have implemented remote learning as the response to the community quarantine due to the global health crisis. Understandably, this has brought about challenges to the different sectors – students, educators, and administrators. The drastic and radical changes have also brought in new concepts that everyone had to absorb at a limited time. As in most communities, whenever a new concept is introduced, the tendency is to borrow the term that represents it. New concepts are packaged by coinage (neologisms, e.g., Zoomustahan) or existing terms re-contextualized according to the needs of the new concept (e.g., share screen). Adapting does not necessarily mean that people automatically conform to these changes; at times, they come up with strategies to cope temporarily and after adjusting, come face-to-face with these challenges, expressed by phrases that call to more inclusive and grounded solutions.
Hinga—breathe
Pahinga—rest
TATAG UP—Tatag University of the Philippines (UP) is a play of Tatak-UP or stamped with the UP brand. Tatag means “resilient, firm, determined”, a call for the University constituents to respond to the growing needs of the community amid the crisis due to the pandemic.
Acad Freeze—is a call for an academic freeze to give ample time for students and teachers to attend to immediate needs in the time of a global health crisis.
#NoStudentLeftBehind–is a call for access to equal resources to implement remote learning.
Solusyong Medikal, Hindi Militar—”information, not force; medical and financial support, not guns”
Malasakit—compassion
The Team:
Olive Nieto is a performer. She is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts, University of the Philippines Diliman. She is one of the seven Initiating Artists for Ripples.
Jem R. Javier is an assistant professor at the Department of Linguistics, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman. His research interests include Philippine structural linguistics, Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia, and culture studies.
Thea Tolentino has over 14 years of experience as a music educator and preschool teacher in the Philippines and abroad. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education at the U.P College of Music, Diliman. She is a classically trained guitarist and has also composed music for various educational and media projects. Thea is currently a Master’s of Music Therapy student at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. After graduating, she intends to bring the practice home to the Philippines with the focus of using music therapy to support mental health goals.
Camilo De Guzman is a 4th Year BA Theatre Arts student from UP Diliman. He has been involved in various productions under Dulaang UP during his time in the program. He is also part of different advocacy and leadership organizations in the university as well alongside serving in the student council in his college.
Video Contributors from UP Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University, and MINT College:
PIA CRUZ VJ PARREÑO SINA JOSE ALY LOVERES HAZEL TOQUE MAMEL PALAGANAS ALLELIE BOBIS CJ CORREA DENISE MILARION RICA ALCAZAR BLESSY DELFIN ARCEL QUEZADA DANICAH CHAVES DAPHENE GIGA LISSE DE VERA MARGA ESQUILLO PETE LAPUT ETHAN VALENCIA CZARINA ENDAYA SOPHIA QUIBOL CRIS ZANDRO RAMON GEMIMA AURELLANO KAYLA HUBILLA LYNETTE MANAAY RJ MACUTAY KONNI DELOS REYES GAB PEBENITO SILVER RACCA KRIS MIRANDA DYASTIN ADARLO JESSY SO ELA FIGURA JEMAY BRAVO REGINA BUCO DAVID ESGUERRA ROBIN TRABALLO KYLE LAPUS FRANCES CHAN JAEL GONZALES ANNA CUBACUB RONI FORTUNA JANNA CORTES CJ BARIMBAO FRANCES FERNANDEZ BELLE GINEZ LUCKY SIMPLINA ANJ SALUDES JOHNNY MAGLINAO KYANNA VILLALAUREL
Grateful to have helped the UP community in recording the Rondakamusta project, and orientation videos for two community isolation facilities: Kanlungang Palma and Silungang Molave.
For the first time in the history of UP Diliman, the university is implementing remote learning. Faculty members have been working tirelessly to prepare course packs for students with or without access to the internet. Preparing course packs is a challenge for both faculty and student because of the limited resources (e.g. gadget, internet connection). The College of Arts and Letters’ BAHAGINAN through the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) and the UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (UPD-OICA) is responding to this call through brown bag sessions entitled 𝗘-𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻(𝘁)𝗰𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 from 9 October to 25 November. The sessions will focus on possibilities and problems of theatre and performance in the time of the pandemic with the following themes:
• new and emergent performance forms (multi-media/digital performance, online festival);
• the state of artist welfare during the global health crisis; • urgent and emerging roles in performance-making (actors as dramaturgs, playwrights as online content-makers, stage/production managers as OBS software managers);
• digital modalities of learning and teaching theatre and performance.
Speakers include: Mara Agleham, Soc Amon, JK Anicoche, Layeta P. Bucoy, Pia Ysobel Cruz, Joyce Sahagun Garcia, Camilo P. De Guzman, Robert Arlo De Guzman, Eric V. Dela Cruz, Karlo Erfe, Neomi Gonzales, J-mee Katanyag, Maria Stella Rossa M. Lopez, Guelan Luarca, Juan Ysmael C. Mendoza, Olivia Kristine D. Nieto, John Carlo V. Pagunaling, Maria Kristine Chynna Roxas, and Nikki Garde-Torres
Links to sessions via the UPD CAL’s official YouTube page:
Honored to be 1 of the 7 Initiating Artists for RIPPLES which will run from 10 October (World Mental Health Day) to 21 December.I’m already a fan of my fellow artists:
ABIGAIL SENA ATSUGAH – AFRICA (GHANA)
(TAU) PETER ROCKFORD ESPIRITU – OCEANIA (HAWAI’I)
TAKUMÃ KUIKURO – SOUTH AMERICA (BRAZIL)
SAVITA RANI – ASIA (INDIA)
AHMED SOURA – EUROPE (GERMANY)
LIZZY TAN – NORTH AMERICA (USA)
You may click here to view our reasons for holding space for this project.
Sending my love via virtual yakap to friends who will shape this project with me (starting this week), and to future friends who will help us make a ripple in this journey.If you want to be a part of this project, you may PM me. There are also instructions on the website. Mas clear yun. Hahaha.
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All cried out today for doing 2 performances with Sari Saysay of Layeta Bucoy’s Diavlog 2:
Matinee for iDefend’s TAPIK event and gala for the launch of Sining Banwa’s Project Sumpay. Wow parang ECQ tour sa online platforms. — Dedicating this performance to my nephew Reggie in the USAF, and Kuya Jerome in the Logistics business. Both are frontliners in the USA. Mabuhay din ang mga healthworker at ang kanilang mga pamilya. Pag sinabi kong mabuhay, sana manatili silang buhay.
