My First Komiket (1 of 3)

Komiket Poster: Zsazsa Zaturnah by Carlo Vergara

What is a Gen Xer doing in Komiket?

This was the question I asked myself the moment I stepped into The Elements at Centris for the February Komiket 2019. Of course, I was there as chaperone for our Media and Lit Club members, as well as a librarian looking for good comics and zines to buy. Turns out, the Komiket is an event for people from all walks of life who loves art, literature, culture and entreprenuership. At the Komiket, one gets to buy stickers, prints, art, comics and sequential art, zines, bookmarks and all sorts of "anik-anik" alongside the super konyotiks to the avant garde artist. At Komiket, one will have the pleasure of having a favorite art commissioned. From K-pop to anime, indigenous art and pop art, the Komiket has everything for the nerd, the geek, the scholar, the Titas and Titos, bekis, beshies and business people. It is a good place to establish linkages and networking. 

There were adults my age too who were shopping for art and literary materials. One guy asked the sellers at Kawangis Komiks on the new issues of Mai-I and the activity booklet that goes with it. He admitted that his wife is a teacher and that they own a school. His advocacy is to keep kids away from gadget addiction and to use them as tools for creating art instead. I bought from Kawangis Komiks the wordless comics that they sell and the picture book they published that was written and made by a young boy. More of this in the next blog post.

Komiks and zines for the library

I met friends from the children's book industry and former co-teachers and students in Xavier School. Why they are everywhere I go is beyond me. Fr. Johnny Go SJ was right when he said "you can leave Xavier School, but Xavier will not leave you". It was a happy reunion that confirmed my ties to the past will forever be connected to my present. 

I ended the day with a bag of comics and zines which our students and Media Arts club moderator helped select. For part 2 of this post, I will write about the comics and zines we acquired from Komiket.

November In Review: Art, Books and Music (3 of 3)

At the tail end of National Book Week, I visited the De La Salle Science and Technology Center (DLS - STC) Grade School Library for a Zine Making activity with a group of middle grades and junior high school students. This literacy and literary engagement was made possible through the effort of Ms. Candy May Schijf, library coordinator.

It was their first time to hear about Zines, let alone make one. That is why, I took simple steps and basic concepts in introducing this literary genre and format to them. Making the Zines along side these young readers and writers was a learning experience for me too. At the end of the session, there were two students who finished making a zine.

A high school student made this zine!

It was my hope that they continue making their own Zines. If not, creating their stories and producing their own works of art in whatever medium is the long term goal. Inspiring kids to read and write is the beginning of language and literary development. Engaging them to write and create their own stories in a medium of their choice is empowering. Apart from the classroom, it is the library where literacy development and empowerment through language use happen. Teachers teach these skills, yes, and students get assessed and evaluated on learning gained.

But, when librarians involve themselves in the process of creation, where individual differences are respected as well as varying learning modalities, then the librarian facilitates learning! Kudos to Ms. Schijf for making the classroom-library connection happen.

Helpful links: On Zines and Zines Making Workshop @ the School Library

SLIA Posts on Zines: Zines and Self Publishing
SLIA Posts on Zines: Zine Collection in the School Library

DIY: Zine Making for Kids
Zines: A Beginners Guide
Zines as Teaching Tools

The FALAKASTALAS Forum 2017 at the Philippine Normal Univeristy

My professor in college, Prof. Ruth Alido, is now the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the Philippine Normal University (PNU). When I received her invitation to be a panelist in the annual Panayam (dubbed as FALAKASTALAS), I said yes. How can I say no to my Alma Mater and to Prof. ALido who introduced me to Nick Joaquin, Paz Marquez Benitez, Estrella Alfon and Ninotchaka Rosca. What made this speaking engagement equally meaningful is that, I gave the little knowledge I know about language learning through library services to students of education majoring in Literature, Language (English and Filipino), Music, Speech and the Arts.

L-R: Sir Joel, Ka Heber, Prof. Alido, Zarah G., Sir Noel and Bebang Siy

I hope that this little knowledge multiplies having interacted with 500 PNU students!

That day of the forum was World Read Aloud Day. So, I began with a read aloud of the book, Library Mouse (Kirk, Scholastic). I had to read the book since the audience choose to. I have a copy of the e-book, but the PNU students prefer seeing a live read aloud session. Another highlight of the morning of the was my tandem telling of Juan and the Rice Pot with Jude, a music education major. I told the story in Filipino. Jude told it in his mother tongue, Cebuano.

It was an enjoyable session and I did learn and gather insights from the rest of the panelists.

Pinoy Zines

Bebang Siy shared, showed and told stories about self publishing and Zines, pamphlet like reading materials of a story or stories produced using a photocopying machine. In this day and age, writing and literature are taking a movement towards mass readership. Think Wattpad, Amazon self publishing platforms and yes, Zines. If librarians pay attention enough on Zines, we can bring our readers closer to resources that will inspire them to create their own stories. Sir Noel Taylo of CCP's Tanghalang Pilipino emphasized the importance of research when creating art with different peoples and communities. Ka Heber Bartolome remains to be a force to reckon with. Here is a man who has seen the rise and fall of leaders and the changing of the guards. His love for country is still very muc evident in his music.

I wish I could have stayed the rest of the day at PNU to visit old haunts, friends and the library. But, work awaited in Binan. So, there is reason for me to go back.