preoccupations

Here’s 1 sentence each from 8 journals I wrote as a queer adolescent:

• Thought I wouldn't see him, but I did! (Journal #1, 2 August 2013)

A person’s silence can mean different things. Being silent after an argument can mean resentfulness or acceptance of defeat. Silences imply something and sometimes can result in “ambiguity, uncertainty, an uneasy feeling” (Grant-Davie 2013). Silence is an obvious theme in Babette’s Feast (1987), and I would like to discuss two cases of silence in the film: Babette’s silence about her trauma and the congregation’s silence during the dinner. I will discuss these silences through Keith Grant-Davie’s (2013) five scales or continua that describe and differentiate forms of silence according to their ‘rhetorical strength,’ that is, voluntary-involuntary, significant-incidental, unexpected-expected, active-static, and temporal-topical.

When her personality suddenly changes, as she was seemingly possessed by her mother and a deceased friend, Jiyoung’s husband Jung Daehyun decides to bring her to the psychiatrist. She recounts her life to this professional, reliving events from childhood, adolescence, marriage, and motherhood. She remembers: a grandmother who preferred a grandson; a male classmate bully whose behavior was excused as boys will be boys; a mother giving up on her dreams for her brothers; a male client and his inappropriate comments; and more. These repressed memories were relayed on her sessions with the psychiatrist who eventually diagnoses Jiyoung with postnatal and childcare depression.

*salin ng tula ni Shane Carreon

Balang araw tatanungin ko si Tatay kung paano kilawin ang dilis o tunang hilaw, ibinababad sa suka’t gata, kinakamay ang bawat piraso mula sa iisang mangkok kasalo ang iilang taong katiwala.

Barok na salin ng tulang “Illustrated Books and Newspapers” ni Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Talastasan ang dating kadakilaan ng Tao, At himala ng kanyang kamay ang nasusulat na wika; Saka dumating ang Limbag na sumasaklaw Sa kaisipan—larangang laganap at absolutong Inilalatag ang katotohanan, pinalalawak ang pag-ibig. Ngayo’y wala nang dangal ang prosa at berso

You suggested we go sing karaoke. You suggested we go for a drink together. I said no to both proposals ... in vino, veritas. In wine, truth. But then, you said we should go drink together and sing karaoke. I rolled my eyes at you. You and your humor are both out of taste but it made me smile.

Salin ng tula ni Bertolt Brecht

Sino bang nagtayo ng Pitong Pultahan ng Tebas? Tanging pangalan ng mga hari ang matatagpuan sa libro. Mga haring ito ba ang nagbuhat sa mabibigat na tipak ng bato? At palaging nagigiba ang Babilonia. Sinong paulit-ulit na nagtayo nito? Sa Lima, Gintong lungsod, saan nakatira ang mga manggagawa?