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BY PETER SOLIS NERY
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Wednesday, January 4, 2017
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Birth of a legend
IN THE LAST five years or so, more often than not, I am asked by students, and participants to my writing workshops, this question: When did you realize you were destined to be a writer?
I can go back to as early as age nine, when I was in third grade, and point to that particular incident when my haiku-like poem was volunteered by my teacher for the elementary school wall paper.
You see, I came from a poor provincial town, and I am a product of the public school system. At the Dumangas Central Elementary School, in the late 1970s, before the advent of all these printed publications that are being judged in elementary schools press conferences nowadays, we had a wall paper called The Crab (after our traditional icon for Dumangas – the alimango, supposedly our town’s tastiest product) where news, opinion, and literary pieces, supposedly written by the school’s best pupils, are tacked and posted on the board. The wall paper was the domain of fifth and sixth graders; but my Grade 3 teacher pushed my poem to be published there, so that was a source of much pride and self-confidence for me.
Right there and then, I knew I was destined to be, at least, the editor-in-chief of The Crab. In Grade 4, I remember competing with, and winning over, fifth and sixth graders in the school-wide essay writing contests during the celebrations of the Nutrition month, Fire Prevention month, Linggo ng Wika, Boy Scouting week, and the likes.
When I finally became the editor-in-chief of The Crab in Grade 6, I also became my school’s number one contestant for writing competitions — in all genre, in both English and Filipino languages, at the congressional district level of Central Eastern Iloilo. Winning the district-wide, I also competed in province-wide contests, and ended up representing the Division of Iloilo in the Western Visayas region-wide contests. So yeah, I was pretty much a multi-awarded essayist when I started high school in June of 1982.
I guess I was just too new, and too shy on my first year, to take the qualifying exams for the school paper, The Pioneer, in high school. But around the second quarter, or the second grading period, the school paper adviser, Mr. Romeo Taneña, sought me out and asked me if I’d be interested to join the school’s delegation to the Office of Media Affairs’ (now Philippine Information Agency) Basic Campus Journalism Workshop. Of course, I said yes.
How did Mr. Taneña know me? Well, my father was a World History teacher in the Social Studies Department of the same school, but he wasn’t the chummy type. So, I guess it was my reputation as the only entrance examinee in the 36-year history of the high school then, who scored higher than perfect. Imagine a 100-item test, with a bonus essay question worth 5 points. Now, imagine me giving all the correct answers to the 100 objective questions, and answering the bonus question most satisfactorily. I am a multi-awarded essayist, remember?
And then, again, it could be my first year English teacher, Ms. Juana Delicana, who claimed that, in all her 12 years of teaching at that time, I was the first student to ever get right her first quiz every year. It was a test on following instructions. We were given five minutes to answer a 10-item test. The test starts with No. 1.) Do not do anything until you have read all the directions; and ends with No. 10.) Write only your name and submit your paper quietly.
So, yeah, it was fun seeing my classmates doing No. 4.) Stand up, and say your favorite color aloud; or No. 7.) Shake the hand of your seatmate. And I’m pretty sure everybody enjoyed No. 5.) Make a stick drawing of your family.
I finished the test in less than three minutes, and my classmates were still asking time extensions when Ms. Delicana started to count down the last ten seconds. Right there and then, I knew I was going to be my English teacher’s pet. And since Mr. Taneña and the school paper were under the English Department, it’s easy to deduce that the old maid Ms. Delicana may have suggested me to the sassy Mr. Taneña who, prior to coming to the lowly Dumangas General Comprehensive High School, was a star teacher and school paper adviser at the Iloilo Provincial High School (now Iloilo National High School). (To be continued on Friday)/PN
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