Markets of Resistance

Market places buzz with electric, sometimes frenetic, energy during their waking hours. This week until November 9, the currents of a different kind of energy are radiating through the Baguio Public Market.

Markets of Resistance is a "multi-disciplinary collaborative art and cultural project between the Institute for Heritage, Culture and the Arts in the School of Fine Arts and Design (SFAD) at Philippine Women's University and the Ax(is) Art Project, spearheaded by Angel Shaw, Institute director, media artist, teacher and cultural activist. 70 plus SFAD students, Baguio and Manila artists, poets, scholars and community cultural workers will launch a unique two-week exhibition in Baguio City market stalls -- painting, photography, media installations, mixed media works, zines, performances and a spoken word event.

"The artworks will not be for sale in the traditional form of a monetary exchange. Instead, an interested buyer must negotiate with the artist about what he/she deems to be the equivalent value in terms of goods -- the artist's needs in daily life..., which the customer must purchase themselves and then give to the artist in exchange for his/her work."

I bartered a wooden spoon handmade by Jason Domling for a kilo of potatoes. A friend of mine got herself a handwoven binakol bag for two kilos of longganisa. Another friend bartered a hand-printed t-shirt for a kilo of beans. Rocky Cajigan is bartering half a kilo of food produce for one of his matchboxes-turned art-piece. Dumay Solingay is accepting crocheting materials in exchange for handmade chap books of her poetry.

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Cordillera Folktales and Story-telling

It was cold and wet outside on the day of the launching of The Golden Arrow of Mt. Makilkilang and other Cordillera Folktales . But inside Mt. Cloud Bookshop we were warmed by stories read and performed by the Aanak di Kabiligan community theater group. Storytelling on a stormy afternoon. Paco Paco. A Benguet story from the book, published by the Cordillera Green Network. Aanak di Kabiligan means children of the mountains. The theater group was born out of the Cordillera Green Network's eleven years of conducting workshops in which children transform their grandparents' stories into theater productions. Here they perform the title story of the Golden Arrow of Mt. Makilkilang and Other Cordillera Folktales.

Lola of Maipon

It's all too easy to fall asleep under the blanket of everyday life and to smother dreams with the mundane things I surround myself with. But once in a while, along comes a sparkling vision that jolts me out of my daily sleep and reminds me of the existence of convictions and worlds so different from my own. "Our beloved LOLA of Guinubatan, Maipon, Albay is the last true messenger of God. So, let us follow her holy teachings so that we will gain TRUE SALVATION without sufferings and without death." In another story I, the intrepid heroine, the adventurer seduced by mysteries, the pilgrim in search of truth, would follow them back to Guinubatan from Session Road, thirsting to see and hear their Lola for myself. However, it's all too easy -- much safer! -- to fall back asleep under the blanket of everyday life, and to smother dreams with the mundane things I surround myself with. Then along comes 9 a.m., and really, it's time to down the dregs of coffee at the bott

Ritual for all Occasions

Attended a talk delivered by Dr. Albert Bacdayan, UP Baguio. Feb. 20, 2013. "Ritual for All Occasions: The significance and persistence of the 'Senga' in Northern Sagada." The senga is a ritual in which at least one chicken and one pig -- sometimes more -- are sacrificed. The senga is usually performed for milestones such as the completion of a house, the opening of a new business, a wedding, a funeral, when someone is ill, when someone is leaving on a journey. He spoke of how Cordillerans have a ritual for almost every occasion or ailment. Indeed, the word he used was not ritual but "remedy."Dr. Bacdayan described this as a "healthy agnosticism."He mused that the abundance or such remedies and rituals is the reason there are rarely feelings of helplessness among Cordillerans. He described ritual as a bundle of activities that assures people and anchors identity. When one calls the old men and is the principal of a senga, you are perceived t

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