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The Chronicles of the Dandelion Progeny: -----------The Point of No Return----------- there she parries a grin, at the bay-window slurping milk next to a mug of capuccino., ravishing a plate of blueberry and yam., ricocheting- simultaneous-to-cuddling bleu cotton handy throw pillow., and in pernacious hobbling, she, scoops for pc works. accrued and sidled and accruing plushies., and in a paucity of humor and fondling, stockpiles self-made accessories in, her reclusive-as it speaks per se- rubble-made caddy., a totes mcgoats secrecy, from them from you while, there she plops

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July 27, 2014

Her First Non-fiction Story Exchange : Starters

by liruandlegallyraven | 02:32 AM | favorite

"I create all kinds of write-up. Yes, but, I haven't recently created long ones; only proses and poetry. It isn't because I am having a writer's block, nor do I lack in ideas and scripts. It is the mere fact that I seek symphony. That is why when I see inviting literary blogs, I only glance up and wouldn't share or create one piece or give a penny of my thoughts. Besides, it has only been recently that I recommenced writing free verses. The only constant literary piece that I have been stuck on for couple of months now is the novel I am working on. Well, even that gets its own intermissions.
However, those unwritten skits in my heads never went to waste since there are always or so people who I can exchange philosophies, debates, rebates, and stories orally with. They say they are always intrigued with how I think when I do say what I think.
Anyway, I saw the account of @artigraphy and it gave me a spur to write again. And he was grateful as to how he can inspire others. He was contributing spur, yes, but, I do not remember how and what really instigated my writing stint again because this time what I know is that I combine writing and photography (well, I did and still do writing-and-illustrated art too).
And then the rest follows.

Yesterday was a big something for me though.

You see as much I'd want to, I would lay a low profile at most times given where I am and what I do. You could say I have my own multiple masks or facade while staying true to myself. I have my own mask that depends on which situation I am in. As per normal.
But, whether I intentionally do something or not, I make mistakes too which is why I was in mixed emotions when I read a post from my former mentor. He gave the speech last 2010 but just posted this recently in facebook and my mom told me about it since she was tagged and I don't have an account there.
Here is an excerpt:

Many weeks ago, too—I cannot remember anymore exactly when—another leader like Gigi, one already in the making and is certain to go places, texted me, or rather kept bugging me about a set of insistent questions for which she somehow thought I had the wisdom and maturity to provide satisfying answers. Like Gigi, she is in your midst too, and you better recognize that she has a script in mind or by which she is already tailoring a lead role or in which she is seeing one such role for herself. Her name is Lei Madiam (I believe she is either now a student at SMU or a young instructor there), daughter of schoolmate Lani Madiam, again from my SCS days. In a series of texts that did not stop (irrespective of how disruptive it was of my routine that day—I think I was trying to finish revising a chapter for my book manuscript) until she got the answers she wanted or had them clarified to her satisfaction, she asked “Sir, how does one distinguish a real man from somebody who isn't? (paano daw makikilatis and tunay na lalaki mula sa lalaking hindi).” Geez, I thought, how does one respond to a question like that, and what was Lei thinking that I might actually be the expert on the subject, or that I might have something meaningful to say about it from actual experience, if not scholarly knowledge? I was tempted to turn off my phone, needless to say. Not immediately getting a reply, she texted again: “Is a real man somebody with confidence or somebody who has conviction?” Whatever the context was for her quandary, whether she was checking out someone for romantic purposes, or thinking about the nature of masculinity generally, as a kind of proto-feminist thinker maybe, I actually did not care about at this stage. I found myself effectively shanghaied into this virtual exchange. I remember retorting: “A man is real when he not only exhibits self-confidence but also the conviction that his confidence is not misplaced, in short, if he is self-possessed without being self-absorbed” or something to that effect.

Lei was not satisfied with my answer (which, if you will note, is actually based on the very terms of her follow-up question, having produced, in the interrogative mode, while firing that question, the very criteria of ‘confidence’ and ‘conviction’ that it would have taken me some inordinate time to even approximate in formulating; in short, these terms, hers, were already perfect and basic, to my mind). She texted: “But what if a man has conviction but lacks confidence or does not or refuses to manifest it?” And another text: “Which is more important for us to be able to spot a real man: confidence or conviction?” At this stage, I remember feeling either irritated or simply stimulated, and I do not remember which I mainly felt, but I was moved to text back: “Real is the man who has conviction and is so convinced that he has it that he needs no confidence to express it or does not need to express it as confidence. Confidence is easy to project, conviction difficult to keep and make consistent. Confidence is a natural once conviction is set.” Again something to this effect and long-windedly so, and here of course my load clock was ticking down to exhaustion and I was half-praying that Lei would cease haunting me with her questions. She texted an interjection, something like “Ahh...” and I thought that, mercifully, that was the end of that. Sometime later, I was netsurfing something and it happened by pure serendipity when I typed a search term, totally unrelated actually as I recall, and found myself led to Lei's blog and a write-up she did based on our exchange! I was seeking yesterday to connect to her URL so I could quote from it to show you how much farther she has taken that exchange and refined my formulations to address what, I believe, are questions of leadership, rather than simply romance or masculinity as I had initially suspected, but I have not been successful.

What is this point about my second anecdote concerning a second local leader, a leader in your very midst and who comes from your ranks? Is it the case that confidence and/or conviction are qualities or postures we require of a true leader and we expect as manifestations of authentic leadership? Not quite, although possession of these two qualities or exhibition of these postures does go a long way in making genuine leadership happen and happen impressively. Rather, I wish to make a big point about the second most important quality that, to my mind, a leader ought to have, and which Lei has in oodles—so much so that I now want very much to be like her (she is my role model), or if I already am, to remain so. That quality is “intellectual curiousity”—of the kind that is heedless, that is unforgiving and, yes, insistent, like it were second nature. Lei is set, in other words. Her intellectual curiousity is heedless, she did not care if I was a busy person and might not have the time to stop what I was doing so that I could discuss with her a matter of pressing importance according to her determination: how to distinguish a real man from somebody who isn't. It was unforgiving (in a word, 'makulit') as no one reply was enough to pacify or mollify her insatiable curiousity, at least until she could obviously get to the point where she had learnt enough from the other to take that learning in a direction that is decisive for her own purposes (how was I to know that our texting exchange was going to end up as a much-refined and profound statement about self-leadership, a blog entry with the playful title 'Grin and Bear It'?). It is the kind of intellectual curiousity that is almost like second nature because she has obviously trained herself to make, or some teacher or mentor had done a mighty fine job of making, that insistence a matter of habit for her, a way to live and proceed.


What will intellectual curiousity do for anybody aspiring to a position of leadership in any endeavor or sphere of activity? First, it will show to everyone including himself or herself, that you have a person who thinks and deliberates, and who has the humility to learn about the vastness of the world and its mysteries, to learn from others and listen to their perspectives, before acting and performing as a leader—in a word: apart from the faculty of 'understanding' that I made to surface from Gigi's case, the facility of learning or wanting to learn all the time. A teacher must first study seriously and be a good student before he or she can teach well. A leader must first be a good follower before he or she can lead others or expect others to follow his or her lead. Real is the leader who can only say or speak on her own after he or she has listened attentively, or expressed the willingness to do so, to others speak their mind or say their piece. I felt so touched, when I finally got over my mild sense of irritation and my jealous sense of the limited time I had to do anything, by Lei's gesture and courage, her humility and her insistence. One day she just dared to disrupt somebody else's routine—mine—just so that she could listen to what I, as her Other, had to say, about a subject of importance (at least to her, but thinking about it now, to anyone who just wants to be able to spot or recognize good character in a person, or a man in this case, when they must). Second intellectual curiousity of the heedless and unforgiving kind as Lei's is the true hallmark not only of thinking and deliberation, but critical thinking and a methodical disposition. You want a leader who is capable of being critical so that he or she can stand criticism; you want a leader who not only deliberates with others but with himself or herself so he or she can make a habit, a way to live and proceed, out of being methodical, of thinking and doing, acting and performing, with great precision and care.


I know when I am acknowledged. That is normal to me. But..

(here is what I responded to his post: I am greatly humbled by this aside from the fact that I felt embarrassed on how I was an annoying little thing back then (although I am aware I get very annoying [chuckles]) and honored to know you can still sort of remember me po -- at this point I do believe I did more than to be '"sort of" remembered [half-apologetic]. My public blog during those times was in Multiply which sadly switched into having become an entrepreneurs' site. I did change sites. I have been using tabulas.co (not tabulas.com). However, since I half-use it for private use too, I set the acct unsearchable for public viewing and was restricted to friends-only acct. I'll set it to public viewing one of these days po. By the way, I don't actually have FB acct only Instagram, Researchgate and Line. I mainly use Instagram as my literary outlet with illustrations, paintings, or depicted photos. Sometimes, just the regular daily photoshoot. If ever you will drop by there po, my username's liruandlegallyraven. It's the same username for my blog. I didn't plan to send back a verbose response. I do hope you won't get annoyed or something po (which I doubt -- haha). It's good to be able to keep in touch with you again po. Continue to be a blessing to others po as you have been to me.)
['po' is a courtesy word in the Philippines]
 
And now I think somehow I am more motivated to continue doing my craft. To write, to express, to explore, to understand, to share, and to inspire. I feel more triumphant as it is already.
 
I do hope you get what I meant, . I still have a long way to go as a writer and as a person, but I am already viewed as such (although I do get almost synonymous views from a few others).
Such is how I see things as.

It will be a next story the next time, E. I enjoy being a private person, however, I don't mind if you share this. Likewise, it's up to you where your  thoughts on this will fall on which series.
Thank you for the time and thoughts.
Bless you

P.S. Funny how you already know (?) my real name as opposed to my penname as a writer and pseudonym as a graphic artist :D

Filed under the frantic disciple counts, orinji no iru | hn. your pen's toilet



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