What does it take to be a good leader?

(1) A good leader is empathetic.

Obama shed a few tears for the death of students after a school shooting. This shows how much the incident has affected him and shows just how much he cares for the people he governs.

http://nymag.com/…/obama-speech-on-connecticut-school-shoot…

http://www.people.com/pe…/mobile/article/0,,20656617,00.html

Just like Obama, Espina turns emotional at a senate hearing for the incident that took place in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. It shows that aside from being one of the dead SAF members' officer, he is also a comrade who mourns for the loss of him fellow police men

http://technology.inquirer.net/…/espinas-crying-at-mamasapa…

(2) A good leader shows extreme bravery.

All Filipino citizens know how vocal Miriam Defensor-Santiago may be. She is a woman who has a good head on her shoulders and she is not afraid to let people know it. She is not afraid to say just what is on her mind even if it meant having to "eat death threats for breakfast".

http://www.rappler.com/…/83724-miriam-santiago-purisima-sen…

(3) A good leader is humble and is a good role model. 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known as Pope Francis who is the recent leader of the Catholic Church, is a man not only of great faith but of great humility as well. The Church suffers some ups and downs and it is timely to have a leader who "walks the talk." He is a great example of how a religious leader should be, one who does things similar to what Jesus did. 

http://fortune.com/2014/03/20/worlds-50-greatest-leaders/

(4) A leader cares deeply for his/her people.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is one of the most important church leaders our country has at present. He is able to capture every single person's sentiments and is able to do different good works for his people. He is even dubbed as the "asian pope francis" because of all the things that he has been able to do

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/669157/cardinal-tagle-urges-catholics-to-pray-for-fallen-saf-men-killers

(5)  A leader knows how to motivate himself as well as his people. 

Steve Jobs, despite his death in 2011, remains immortal in his work. He has inspired many different entrepreneurs, small and big alike, to improve their work. Despite the failures he experienced early in his career, Jobs did not give up on his dream and later on became on of the most successful men in the business world we ever had. 

http://www.forbes.com/steve-jobs/

Reading list

POEMS

• Where The Mind Is Without Fear - Rabindranath Tagore
• Ink - Guillermo Castillo
• She Walks In Beauty - George Gordon Byron 
• Solitude - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
• Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep - Mary Frye
• The Erl King - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Phenomenal Woman - Maya Angelou 
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
• Annabel Lee - Edgar Allan Poe
• Alone With Everybody - Charles Bukowski

NOVELS

• Les miserables - Victor Hugo
• Without Seeing the Dawn - Stevan Javellana
• Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
• A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

SHORT STORIES

•   The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe

• In a Grove - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

• The Hunger Artist - Franz Kafka

• Our Lady's Juggler - Anatole France 

• The Smith Who Could Not Get into Hell - Peter Asbjornsen

PLAY

• The Deserted Crone - Zeami
• Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare
• Hamlet - William Shakespeare 
• Ang Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio - Paul Dumol
• The Vagina Monologues - Eva Esler

Poem Review: The Erl King

O who rides by night through the woodland so wild?

It is the fond father embracing his child;

And close the boy nestles within his loved arm,

To hold himself fast and to keep himself warm.

Sore trembled the father; he spurred thro' the wild,

Clasping to his bosom his shuddering child;

He reached his dwelling in doubt and in dread,

But, clasped to his bosom, the infant was dead.

   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a many-sided genius. His works show him to be a man of impressive power. He is known for being a novelist, an essayist, and  a poet. He also had his masterpiece which is entitled "Faust". This work was based on the legend of a magician who sold his soul to the devil for the acquisition of excessive knowledge.

   All my life, I find reading poetry one of the best things I spend my time on. I always enjoy challenging myself in understanding the deep, diverse, and impressive thoughts of poets. I have already  read lots of poems and there's one that I, up until such time as now, still couldn't forget due to the fact that it was just the best. The Erl-King was a fine literary work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This poem relates how the king of the elves persuades the sick child to follow him to his kingdom even as the father desperately tries to hold on to his child.

   It's on one fateful evening when a father and his feverish child were traveling at night. The boy could see the Erl King which his father couldn't. The father denies that it was but a dark wreath of the cloud. The Erl King spoke to the child and asked him and go with him in his kingdom for there were many toys and playmates there. The child was so afraid but his father asked him to be at ease and reminded him that it was just his imagination. As time passed by, the sick child was consumed by his own fears. The Erl King finally took him by force, and at the end, the father arrived home and he found out that the child he was embracing in has arms is already dead.

   For me, this is simply the best poem I've ever read. It has a plot twist that I didn't even think of in the first place. The father symbolizes light and the Erl King symbolizes darkness or death... or they may symbolize it otherwise. In my first argument, I can say that the Erl King is death. He was trying to get the child but the father serves as the light not to let go of his life yet. The father tells him to look at the positive path and hold on to what is present. On the other hand, the Erl King might be symbolyzing independence. It's like the kid is coming of age and he has to live his life on his own foot, yet the father is preventing him from growing up. In the end, the child's heart has become bewildered.

   In retrospect, The Erl King is beyond spectacular and striking. Whatever my argument may be, this will always leave me questioning what this poem is really about. Still and all, this piece of art is something that I'll always find time to read over and over again.

Written by Eiffel Ruby Valeros

Photo credit:  http://comons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erlk%C3%B6nig_Carl_Gottlieb_Peschel_1840_Goethe.jpg

Play Review: The Tragedy of Prince Hamlet

“To be or not to be.”

   Hamlet is a tragedy play made by the well known writer, William Shakespeare. The play was written between 1599 to 1602and is the longest play that Shakespeare has written. It is about the son of the late king, Hamlet, wanting to avenge his father’s death by killing his own uncle. The play starts with the guards on duty, namely: Barnardo, Horatio, Marcellus, and Francisco seeing a ghost that resembles the late King Hamlet. Meanwhile, after the king dies, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius becomes the kin and marries Queen Gertude, the mother of Hamlet. The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his uncle, Claudius. Hamlet swears revenge.

   But it is in Hamlet’s character that delays him. He enters melancholy and sudden madness; which leads to the king and queen to ponder on it and give him Ophelia as his wife, but Hamlet refuses it and sends her to a nunnery.

   Madness and confusion are two of the most prominent themes of the play. And it is in this very theme that the quote arises; “To be or not to be”. A confused Hamlet ponders on the thoughts on killing the king and in life and death. He feels that he needs to kill the king as if it was his duty.  It means ‘To live or to die’. It is said that Hamlet does not fear death but he fears damnation; for ending a person’s life is a sin. But he is confused for he feels that killing Claudius is a sin, but he feels that it is a filial duty that he must complete.

   What made me notice this beautiful play was because of its theme: confusion.

   I am a teenager, which means that it is in this stage that we often find ourselves pondering on the question of which we should be, or how should we act in order not to be judges by the cruel eyes of the society. We are confused on what the ‘jury’ tells us to do and on what we want to do and what we want to be.  And the quote, ‘To be or not to be’ just made my eyes widen and relate to it. It is a question that every living soul that walks the earth has asked their selves. It is like asking to choose between dream and duty, between heart and mind, and between rational reason and impulse. It is like being an heiress or an heir, being confused on whom to choose – the one you love or the one that will make your business flourish. And in relation to being a college student, it is also like choosing your course; would you choose your dream, or would you choose the one that our parents told you to take and be practical?

   All these things made me like Hamlet. It is an excellent play. And it makes you ponder and think deep on how deep a sin can be, on how confusion can drive you mad, and on what life means.

Written by Marie Chriselle C. Tangonan
Photo credits: http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.607992452727574127&pid=15.1&P=0

Ink: A Poem Review

Ink

Bottled in glass

Meaningless in itself

Black and mute without language

Silent but strongly urged 

To speak

Ink 

Chance-impressed on white

Inarticulate, unintelligible, chaotic

Welcome on the bareness of white

But still foreign

Excommunicate

But ink

Pen-lifted, pen-impressed 

On blank white paper

Will-ordered

Interprets, intensifies, clarifies

Expresses 

Life

     The poem is about a writer and his paper. His ideas, the ink that are enclosed in a bottle, mixed up, and meaningless until he decided to set free his thoughts. And when he started to add few drops of ink on the paper, his mind now explores. As if every single drop of his idea leads to something new and followed by another topic until he has few ink left and finally started to end up his paper with the last drop of idea (ink) from the bottle which is meaningless at first. It was like the ideas were trapped inside that bottle for long time and when it has the chance to mess with the paper, everything flows well as if the thoughts were just rushing through the head of the writer. But when the writer kept everything for himself, time will pass and the ink inside the bottle will dry up, will remained unused and unsaid until another brave person came up with that idea and share it to others. It is just like courting a girl, when the guy has feelings for someone he should not be afraid to express it or else other guys will go for the girl and he will be hunted by the "what if's" and regrets. When he is rejected, it's fine, atleast he tried and had the courage to show his feelings. And maybe he was rejected because his approach to the girl is too aggressive, just like in creating ideas, others will not appreciate your work if you have unorganized thoughts or your approach on the piece of paper is wrong . And on the last stanza, it said that if you wrapped your idea in order or expressively, it will shows life.

     I like this poem because it summarizes life. As a youth, we have our thoughts and feelings left unsaid because we are afraid and unsure. At first, we are pointless inside our box, we can't decide for ourselves but once we step out and reach for other possibilities we will be open to reality, to a different world, we never knew existed. We will suddenly have this desire to let go of our feelings and when we had our chance to prove ourselves, our meaningless life will have sense. It may be good, bad, hatred, hardships, success, it all depends on us.

     We, young people are so curious that's why we want to try everything, as if we are birds who escaped from our cages and want to fly far until our wings weakened. And when we see real things, our innocent mind will be filled with ideas that may affect our belief; it’s on us how we will filter them. The most important thing to remember is we cannot carelessly write anything on our book of life without the support of others. We should let ourselves be affected and be inspired by other people. At first try it is fine if we will end up in a dirty sheet of paper, for we are careless, and we write everything that comes in our mind, no drive, no direction. But once we are given another sheet of blank paper, this time we should set goals and ideas that you want to focus on, on what you want your life to be.

Written by Thea Katrina Fernandez

Photo credits: https://www.tumblr.com/search/an%C4%91eli

Poem Review: Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

Coveted her and me.

Annabel Lee is the last poem completed by Edgar Allan Poe before his death. Annabel Lee is a well know poem of Poe’s that may refer to many women in his life, but scrutinizing some of Annabel lee’s line we infer that this poem talks about his wife Virginia Clemm, Poe’s wife, who he married when she was still in a young age and died a couple of years before him because of a disease.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulcher

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

Reading a few stanzas we can know that love is a huge theme in his poem. It promotes undying love that even the death of his loved one won’t stop him for loving her, and truly death won’t tear them apart and no one can stop him. While the main theme of this poem is love it doesn’t only address to the sweet happiness you gain from it, it digs deeper to the dangerous fragments of this affection he had, the way love can torture and destroy you leaving you all alone.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—

   Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

   Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

It somehow talks about envy, like the angels are not happy, that’s why they made something that causes the death of dear Annabel Lee.

What is it with this poem that attracts me? Maybe the 4 years in high school that we have tackled this poem or maybe the catchy lines that makes me ponder on it more. This poem tells us that love on any forms has no boundaries, even death. Death can’t stop us from caring, loving our beloved ones or even forgetting them. Death can’t change our dreams and hopes and is a challenge we can surpass.

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling—my darling— my life and my bride,

 In her sepulcher there by the sea—

 In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Review written by: Venice Majella Napo

Photo credits: https://www.etsy.com/listing/74071598/annabel-leeedgar-allen-poes-muse

Les Miserables - A review

          

  I was never one who enjoyed reading classical novels but Les Miserables by Victor Hugo was an exception for me. Les Miserables is a novel set in the time of the French revolution, a truly dark time for France. Hugo will take you back in time and put you in the shoes of different characters, different points of view. The novel starts off with the story of Jean Valjean, and how he ended up as 24601 for stealing a loaf of bread. Aside from Jean Valjean, Les Mis is also filled with stories of Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Eponine, Javert and the Les Amis to name the major characters of the novel.

            These characters, though they are many, all contribute to the picture that Hugo is trying to paint with his book. Jean Valjean is the face of sacrifice in the story. He stole a loaf of bread and ended up in jail for the son of his sister who was starving to death. He also sacrificed a lot in his later life for the little girl Cosette. Fantine, just like Valjean, also represented sacrifice. She, as a single mother, did everything to provide for her daughter, Cosette. Cosette was the face of purity in the novel. Through all the violence that happened in the story, she remained untouched and untainted by all the bloodshed and unfortunate events that happened around her. Marius represented uncertainty, which I am quite sure that it is something not unusual in a time of uprising. Marius was torn between Cosette and his friends in the Les Amis. Love against Revolution and Friendship. Eponine showed selfless love which was directed towards Marius. Even though Marius loved another, Eponine still loved him the same and was even able to die for him. Javert was the face of justice. He was a man who built his life based on law. The Les Amis, last but not the least, represented the majority of the French population in the time of the revolution. They were young revolutionaries who were idealists and had high hopes for the future of their beloved land.

           

Les Miserables, just like any other novel that is taken up in English classes, is also filled with metaphors and symbolisms that will surely make the reader think deeply and philosophically about the novel. This is one reason why I loved the novel. It had a lot of room for thinking and analyzing. Another reason why I am very fond of this novel, and quite possibly my favorite reason why I am passionate with this particular novel, is that I am able to identify myself with the characters especially Eponine. Eponine, throughout the novel, had an amazing development. She started out as a spoiled brat, a daughter to two thieves and a girl who made Cosette’s childhood miserable but when she finally grew up, everything about her changed. She was changed by her love for Marius. She was no longer the selfish, spoiled little brat but a brave, selfless woman who was ready to do anything for the man she loved. I identify with her in such a way that I also would like to think that I am a changed person because of love.

Les Miserables is both timeless and timely. It is a classic novel that voices out the past while also shaping the present and future. It is a novel that will always overcome the test of time because it is beautiful and remarkable, two traits that renders a story immortal. 

Review written by: Ma. Angela Villanueva

Photo credit: http://pixgood.com/les-miserables-book-cover.html