Carry On: Of Changes and More of It

"There is nothing permanent except change."

- Heraclitus (Greek philosopher)

Indeed, he got that one right! Change is good. It reinvents ourselves in ways we never thought was even possible. Change makes us look back, rethink and realize what we have, what we lost, what we're still missing and what we ought to do. Change made me realize that there is a lot more things to learn, to see, to understand and to achieve.

MOST RECENT CHANGES IN MY LIFE
(c) Reese Corpuz 

I turned 21 this May and I couldn't be anymore happier as I was able to spend my special day with family, friends and even a very special guy friend. My whole family, including my father who was always away, was by my side, wishing me a happy birthday! I was also able to share my celebration among my most treasured college friends. He was also able to successfully surprise me with a visit at home. (Awww!)

I recently developed a love for cats because of our baby, Harry Potter, a persian blue cat. (Self-explanatory, I assume.) There's nothing more to say about him and his utter cute-ness!

I also graduated from College (Yes, I know, it's surreal!) last June along with a hundred fellow Lasallian graduates. I was privileged enough to receive a special commencement award - Cultural Development Award - as DLSU Administrators believed I was able to promote Philippine Culture in DLSU in my four years of stay. I couldn't have done this without the support and lessons I learned from La Salle Dance Company - Contemporary, my second family, my special professors - Dr. Tonton Contreras, Prof. Dindo Manhit, Dr. Antonio Pedro and Dr. Eric Batalla. I am ever so grateful to all of them.

Finally, the biggest change in my life, (I still cannot believe this, up to now.) I entered into law school! I got accepted in San Beda College of Law (Which btw, for me, is the most prestigious, most highly acclaimed law school in the land!) unexpectedly and even though I wasn't 100% sure of it, I accepted the challenged and made a promise to myself that I shall finish this journey no matter what it takes!

So many changes took place within a span of less than a year and as I ponder on them now, I feel like it all went by so fast; too fast that perhaps I wasn't able to let them all sink in first and ponder on how I should go by these changes properly! Changes took place but I wasn't able to take advantage of them as I worried too much on the little things and forgot about the bigger picture. I am mortified to have let a whole semester pass already before I realize these things. I wasted so much time, so much opportunities! 

So I wrote this as a constant reminder of the day I accept change and utilize it for the better. I shall not fret for it is never too late to pick myself up, sprinkle a little "wake up call" on my face, plant my goal inside me and say, "Carry on!"

On other news!

I am proud and very happy to say that I will be back on business (Blogging business, I mean.) for the benefit of fellow law students like me. I shall post about law school life, lessons, tips and tricks and perhaps a little more extra ;) Case digests will also be seen here every once in a while as I intend to make your lives a little bit easier, of course with the link to the full text of the cases as it is still recommended to read the whole text and not the digests only. I shall post pictures as well of my lovely new family, 1L and give you glimpse of what it's like and how it is. Excited? Well, I am too. So, here's to the changes that took place and even more to come! ;)

♥ Reese Corpuz

The Lovely Three

Blog article for Culture of Production during field trip: May 10 and 11, 2012

First stop: Liliw, Laguna

We went to Liliw, Laguna on March 10 after we finished our trip to Calamba. We arrived in a small town with a very serene ambiance with nice houses and a line up of stores. It had been years since I last visited Liliw and I was very excited to re-live my wonderful memories about it. I remember being so happy after we went to Liliw when I was still in high school but I don't particularl remember how or why I was happy so I wanted to find out that day of our field trip exactly what it was with Liliw which made my heart skip a beat.

It was very obvious that the culture of production is Liliw is very important as I saw lined-up rows of stores selling the product which it was most know for - footwear. The Municipality of Liliw is known as the "Land of Footwear". This is their source of living. According to the sales lady which we talked to inside one store, the business runs in the family. She and her little siblings are required to help the family run the store during weekends. She is proud of her part-time job because she carries the name of the company which her parents worked very hard for. She said the the busiest days are Saturdays because that is when the foreigners come to buy their souvenirs. Liliw is very commercialized because of its extreme pride and the intense advertising tactics. 

Although my third visit in Liliw, Laguna wasn't as magical as the first two, I have to say that I still enjoyed everything in it.

Next stop: Luisiana, Laguna

As compared to Liliw, Laguna, the cultural products of Luisiana, is not that big of a deal and is not given that much attention. These products came from a natural resource which is abundant here in Luisiana and it is called the pandan. When we got to Luisiana, it immediately had a very barrio feel to it. I think it is possibly because it is very small and there were only a few people outside. One of the first things I noticed was the small shop near the plaza and the church which was selling native bags, hats, baskets and blankets. I had no idea before that they were made of pandan leaves. The care-taker of the store explained to us that it came from this huge plant with long leaves like a fountain which I remembered seeing as we went to the place. Perhaps the community of Luisiana had other sources of income because having one store in the town projects that it is not given much importance. 

Our visit to Luisiana was short yet very interesting as we heard so many knowledgeable facts from the guest speaker. Next time I visit Luisiana, I'll surely get myself another souvenir. 

Last stop: Lucban, Quezon

Like Liliw, I also had been to Lucban before with my family. I remember the church and our very delicious meal after hearing mass. I remember that days after our visit in Lucban, my brother and I always request for longganisa breakfast because of our Lucban experience.

Lucban is a town of joy! I love the ambiance in Lucban - I feel like it is something in the middle of the high and low class societies. The area was clean and the houses and infrastructure were nice. It was a combination of the old and the new as the designs of the houses were sort of traditional but the stores and decorations of other infrastructures were new such as the 7/11 and Buddy's. The children were enjoying the open area, playing with one another as I see some adults slowly strolling around. 

We bought our souvenirs in Lucban in a small store which were best known for their delicious longganiza. It was located in a street, standing beside all other souvenir stores selling buri hats and other native items. The products here in Lucban are known all over the country however the stores and the town itself do not seem as commercialized as those of Liliw's. However, the difference or advantage of Lucban is that its famous food chain, Buddy's, has branches in the Metro so it is a common taste already for the Metro tongues.

It was a pleasure being able to experience these three wonderful towns in the South! I am also very proud of the three towns because they continue to establish their living through the cultural products that they sell. I will surely come back here someday to update me learning.

Source for Images: Google Images

Editing: (c) Reese Corpuz

♥ Reese Corpuz

Bonjour la petit étudiant!

Blog article for February 6, 2012: French Cultural Studies


Out of the five main theorists we discussed in class, I chose to further discuss my favorites in my blog. The ideas which these three theorists introduced to me were remarkable for me.

Fernand Braudel

Source: Google Images

In Braudel's book, The Mediterannean (1949), he argued that History should not be viewed only as a single narrative account unfolding in a single life span because history is a progressive story happening in different places to different subjects at the same time. According to Braudel, there are three types of time. 

1. Geographical Time - long-term relationship of humans and environment
2. Social Time - long-term course of human institutions and attitudes
3. Individual Time - short-term experiences of the individual and groups of their immediate natural, social and historical environments.
   
   
    (c) Reese Corpuz

Braudel also believes in the concept of Everyday Life. He believes that everything happens in our "everyday lives" as it is the most basic site of experience and argues that this so-called "everyday life" must be considered in order to identify the norms. He also stressed that in identifying the norms, one should not look at the lives of the elite for they constitute very little of the population and their actions and experiences in their own "everyday lives" are very much different from the greater population - the commoners.

Together with other historians and philosophers, Braudel formed the Annales School of Historiography which emerged before the second World War. The School gained momentum right after WWII as it opposed the prevailing positivist orientation of French historiography. The Annales theorists rejected the sequential narrative model of viewing and writing history.

Fernand Braudel was one of the pioneers of the Annales School of Historigraphy.

PERSONAL INSIGHT: Braudel made me actually understand further how we should rightly view history.  He made me question what were the origins of history, who were behind the idea of recording events and practices. He also made me more conscious about Time. Thanks to him, I view time now not as a single entity in a singular linear momentum, rather a multiple and multi-linear one. It amazes me how me, as a single entity in this world, can actually experience several types of time.

Henri LeFebvre 

Source: Google Images

LeFebvre introduced the concept and ideology of Consumerism through the analysis of the Quotidian in his book Everyday Life in the Modern World in 1967. 

• Quotidian - Everyday life as it is experienced and lived in modern societies defined by recurring routines of labor and leisure.
• Consumerism - Drove expansion of mass culture in industrial societies by deeply penetrating everyday life, affecting every aspect of existence and thus becoming a natural occurrence.

Source: Visual Thesaurus found through Collecting Words

PERSONAL INSIGHT: LeFebvre further explained to me how the idea of consumerism emerged in our society. By studying the Quotidian, LeFebvre was able to pin-point several norms or common practices and from which emerged the idea of consumerism. For me, it is only necessary that society understands what consumerism is before being able to properly "do it". He gave everyone sort of guidelines and his theories served as models or somehow basis for understanding and analyzing the behavior of consumerism these days. Such research on a very practical yet extremely familiar and close to our hearts subject definitely made LeFebvre more interesting to me.

Michel de Certeau

Source: Google Images

Michel de Certeau argues that the central problem of the late capitalist society was that consumption has become a form of production. He believes that it is the mass' way of revolting against the elites. It is their Tactic against the original plan.

(c) Reese Corpuz

The tie-dyed shirts, grunge up pants and low riders are just some of the examples of Tactical Resistance which de Certeau studied in his book The Practice of Everyday Life (1984). Mass produced commodities are transformed into cultural forms that oppose the dominant culture that produced them. Suppliers tend to produce products which serve different purposes, look differently, appear varied and might even be biologically or chemically altered from its original stand point possibly as a reaction to the overtly dominating cultures.

In the article Culture and Critique by Jere Paul Surber, the main example used to explain this phenomenon was the emergence of modern day malls. If you analyze the reason behind the construction and the sole purpose of existence of these modern malls, you will understand in an instant that they were built to sell products at a large population and to earn heaps of cash. However, society came up with a tactical resistance move which does not necessarily contributes to the mall owners' main goal for its space. Some people use malls as meet-up or hang-out places, they somewhat abuse the venue to satisfy their personal goals and objectives and does not contribute to the mall's financial income because they do not buy anything. Some people even oppose the main goal of the establishment of malls as they use the venue to earn cash for themselves. An example might be a beggar, roaming around the common areas of the malls, asking each mall patron for some change. This beggar does not contribute to the mall's income growth and at the same time even cost the mall some "damages" as the beggar might scare off or turn off patrons who were originally possibly interested in actually buying something from the mall.

PERSONAL INSIGHT: The lessons presented to us by Michel De Certeau were extremely helpful as I am sure pretty much all of us could relate to it. I enjoyed de Certeau's direct and simple manner of explaining his theories because I find it refreshing and fitting because afterall he analyzes direct and simple subjects.

♥ Reese Corpuz 

Les Etudes Culturelles Francaises

Blog article for February 6, 2012: French Cultural Studies

OUR GROUP REPORT!

Excusez-moi, je voudrais en savior plus sur les etudes culturelles francaises. Merci!
(Excuse me, can you please teach me more about French Cultural Studies? Thank you)

The origins of Traditional French Cultural Studies would be from two points of interest. First of which would be Historiography and finally, Existentialist Philosophy. It is known to be directly focused on Popular Culture. It is labeled such because the theorists originated from France and that it analyzes France's popular culture first before looking over their boundaries (since they were based in France).

To summarize Traditional French Cultural Studies analyzed international popular culture by examining and basing their analyses on history and theories rooted from existentialist philosophy. It is designed to understand the important changes that have affected French culture, as well as the culture outside of France.

This is the video we prepared to present to the class. Our group was so excited to show this to everyone because we really worked hard for it. As it was playing, we hoped that everyone understood the lesson easily, especially with the aid of our handouts.

Sources for the video:
(Images) Google Images / Wikipedia
(Data) Culture and Critique by Jere Paul Surber

I was able to breathe a little lighter after our group presented our video to the class. I’m glad we were able to summarize the topic assigned to us: Traditional French Cultural Studies in front of the whole class.

I am thankful to my group mates for being so cooperative in everything we did! Our extra effort was definitely rewarded when Sir Contreras commented, I quote, “I’m impressed!” after our report. I am very to happy to have impressed him because it was our secondary goal for this report. (The primary goal was to present the subject well and help the class understand our topic easily.)

I will further discuss the French Cultural Studies on my next articles.

♥ Reese Corpuz