Wrapping up October; misspelling `barangay’

Yes, I’ve somehow managed to submit the final grades of my students in between speaking engagements and other tasks within and outside the university.

I’ve also been able to update the Links section to include the blogs of those who requested a link exchange and those who took the initiative to link this blog to theirs. Please try to read a new static page of this blog titled “Disclosure Policy” which is an edited version of what I got from disclosurepolicy.org.

That's me at the Bloggers' Kapihan 2.0 (Ramon Magsaysay Cubao High School, 13 Oct. 2007)

Anyway, the photo above was taken by Gibbs Cadiz last October 13 during the Bloggers’ Kapihan 2.0: Blog Ed 101 at Ramon Magsaysay Cubao High School.

Six days after (October 19), I gave a half-day seminar on copy reading, headline writing, editorial writing and feature writing to high school publication advisers at The Nazarene Catholic School in Manila upon the invitation of the Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association (MAPSA) which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The activity had a very interesting theme: “MAPSA @ 50: Building Bridges through Campus Journalism.”

A few hours after my lecture, I then traveled by bus to Bicol to speak at the Lunduyan 2007 Journalism and Arts Festival. The bus left Manila at around 7 p.m. and I arrived in Naga City at around 4 a.m. the next day. Organized by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), this year’s Lunduyan was held at the Ateneo de Naga University. I actually gave two lectures there last October 20; the first being a plenary discussion on journalism ethics, immediately followed by a seminar on online publishing.

Much as I would have wanted to stay longer in Bicol, I had to leave on the same day to take care of other matters in Manila. Yes, I’ve treated the long travel from Manila to Bicol as if I’m just going from Manila to Quezon City. You ought to know that this is nothing new to me.

My wife Joy hails from Bicol, and there was a time in 2004 and 2005 when I would travel from Cubao to Tabaco City (Albay) almost every Saturday night (after our presswork at Bulatlat) so that we would be together the whole day Sunday; and then leave Sunday night to return to Manila so that I wouldn’t miss any of my classes or other obligations. Feel free to visit Danny & Joy: The Wedding Special for more details.

As regards my other activities, I am scheduled to do board work for Usapang Media on October 29 (Monday), so please tune in to DWAD (1098 khz AM station) from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. if you have time. While we will be discussing media killings, we might also discuss the baranggay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections which will happen on that day.

Spell check: Yes, baranggay is spelled with two g’s, if you are referring to the basic unit of governance. The Iloko word barangay means boat (English) or bangka (Tagalog).

In any case, I am bracing for an even busier November, and I’m not just referring to the start of the second semester on November 9 where I will be teaching the following courses:

J 117 HUV (Online Journalism)
Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (BNR)

J 122 HWX (Publication Design and Layout)
Thursdays, 1-4 p.m. (BNR)

J 109 FWX (Writing for Popular Audiences)
Fridays, 1-4 p.m. (M 211)

Before the start of classes within the first week of November, I will be going to Tagaytay to speak before community journalists at a workshop on journalism ethics. In the middle of November, I will go to Laguna to give a seminar-workshop on newsletter writing for the top-level management of a private company. It is also possible that I will give a three-day seminar-workshop on technical writing for selected government and private sector employees in Quezon City within the last week of the month. I am still in negotiation with another private company which holds office in Ortigas for me to conduct yet another writing workshop.

I’m sorry if I cannot give specific details of my schedule of speaking engagements in November for security reasons.

In any case, I hope you go to the voting precincts on October 29, if only to check if the ballots spell baranggay correctly. Thank you for reading!

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