Monday, March 19, 2007

l(a

l(a

l(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

ee cummings



Edward Estlin Cummings was a controversial poet during his time. He opted to write his name all in lower case letters and without using periods (i.e. ee cummings). For him, punctuation marks and any capitalization whatsoever means something else in his poetry. He is a recognized poet due the the unusual layout of his poems. His reason could be that he has some special purposes for making his poem unique. The layout of his poems could represent something that Cummings wanted to mean.

In the poem l(a, you could look at its construction and decipher what Cummings wanted to say. When you omit the line breaks, you would end up with this: l(a leaf falls)oneliness, and when you omit the phrase in the parentheses, a familiar word is recognized – LONELINESS.

One explanation of this poem could be that the phrase is inside the parentheses is an case of loneliness. It is already known that any plant or tree really has a lot of leaves. Whatever species a plant is, its leaves would be in groups or in bunches. When one leaf falls, it would be removed from its group. The fallen leaf's state would be loneliness.

The group of leaves represents a community and each leaf represents one individual within the community. When a leaf falls, it departs from its community or it is taken away from the community by a force. One example of a departure is when a family member (e.g. a mother) goes abroad in order to gain more money for her family. That leaf would really feel lonely because of the withdrawal from her family. An example of a forced departure is death. When a person dies, he is taken away from his family. And if there is really an after life, he would definitely feel lonely due to his state of removal from his loved ones (I am currently in deep self-reflection if I really believe that there is an after life).

Indeed, the analysis of this poem is really hard because Cummings would give special meanings to the style of his poetry. One has to dig deep to find the inner meaning of his works.

As what I have already said, the phrase ‘a leaf falls’ is an example of loneliness. There must be a reason the Cummings used this as a case of loneliness. I wonder what it could be. Since Cummings is fond of using the ambiguity of the letter ‘L’ in the typewriter, maybe he also played with the 2 definition of the word ‘leaves’. Leaves could be the plural form of leaf or a singular present tense of the word leave. Cummings might have used this in his poem of have a multiple function. Poetry really is beautiful because of the hidden messages.

If you look at the layout of the poem, you may be able to see this:
A half-arrow may be drawn on the poem's layout.

An explanation of this is simple. As what I have stated above, a person may be withdrawn from the community. A person when humiliated maybe turned away by the community. This leaf would fall down. This diagram could explain what happens to a person when humiliated (a leaf falling down).

You could see that in the upper part, 'l(a' is the form of the person when he is still on the top. 'iness' is the form of the person when humiliated. The wider 'iness' shows the disintegration of the dignity of the person.

A poem can be interpreted in numerous ways. I found Cummings’ poem really beautiful because of its multiple purposes of each elements of his poem. I can’t believe that a poem that short contains a lot of meaning.

march 9, 2007

It was March 19, 2007. It was a fine day in school. All was well. School was still school, and lessons were still lessons.

In the afternoon of that day, section Gonzalez had physics for the first period, while section Tan had research for theirs. After those subjects, the fourth years had the next period, CWTS.

CWTS is pretty much like the CAT but way a lot less harsh. We had the usual things to do. We had the usual inspection, and we had the usual drills. But since we have to give a little treat to the retirees, all of the fourth years have to be in the pass-in review.

The pass-in review is a march that we will give the retirees. It needs marching skills of all the fourth year students. The marching has to be perfect so that we can give them our best performance because that is something that they will remember us for. In order to achieve this perfection, we really have to practice, constant correct practice. Everything has to be perfect.

The marching is perfect when there is no sound during the marching, the legs must be parallel to the ground, and the most important aspect of all, synchronization. Once again, practice is really needed.

We started to practice on March 2, marching was terrible (I’m just being honest). But the thought of perfection is in arm’s reach. March 9 was only the second time that we have practiced. As I was saying, the marching was terrible. There was a loud sound when they were marching. To eliminate the sound during marching, the marcher has to land his foot on the ground with the tip on the foot and gently lower rest of the foot. I have trust in all of us that there would be that elimination of that sound.

I, being one of the CWTS officers, would strive really hard so that the sound would be gone because we were once like that when marching. I don’t know why others don’t look like they are serious of the pass-in review. I can’t see sincerity in their faces. I don’t know if they really understand the purpose of it. Some don’t look like they are trying their best to perfect this (if you are guilty, please try a little bit harder). All of the cadets were asked to march to see if there was synchronization, but there was none. Some were too fast, some were too slow. What bothered me was the sound they produced while marching. This took much of their energy.

(Moving back to the happenings on March 9) In the middle of the practice, all were to carry chairs to the Arts and Sciences building because HSAT (High School Admission Test) would be held there the next day. This added to their fatigue.

After practice was over, the officers had to dismiss the cadets. Richard Rey Caminade called up platoon Babaytan for formation. They came late. The summon (humanay) has to be complied within 15 seconds only. The platoon came for 46 seconds. Of course, an incompliance of an order would result to punishment. That is the agreement (THIS IS REALLY THE AGREEMENT). Usually, the punishment is the pumping (a.k.a. bombers). The number of bombers is the time that the platoon consumed to form their formation minus the time of compliance (15 seconds). That is 46 – 15. Babaytan had to perform 31 bombers for their punishment. An additional of 5 bombers were given because when their commanding officer asked them if they wanted more, only one answered. That answer was ‘yes’.

Now I ask you, was Richard being harsh or was he just doing his task? For me, he was doing both.

You see, 36 bombers are really tiresome. Thinking that they were also from a tiring practice and also from a chair-transporting task, the fatigue that the platoon had was really great.

BUT think also about the time they consumed just to be in formation. Isn’t 46 seconds too far from 15 seconds? If I was the commanding officer there, I would feel a little disrespected because the platoon didn’t comply with orders right away. It would be natural that Richard would become angry. And if you look at the agreement (incompliance of an order would result to punishment), the 31 bombers were the consequence for the mishap. The additional 5 bombers, it was also to be complied with because one answered yes. Platoon members are in the idea of all for one and one for all. A mistake of one is a mistake of all. When the one who wanted more answered yes, it would follow that all would receive the same. Just like one lesson of the Practical Law class, dura lex sed lex, the law is hard but it is the law. Think of it, was their punishment proper?

For me, Babaytan shouldn’t have been late so that the disaster wouldn’t have had happened. It is unfair in Richard’s part because his fault was the only side that was heard. By Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion, one is touched when it touches. Since Babaytan had a fault, that fault would come back to them.

It may look like I am on Richard’s side, but I am really in the neutral side because both parties had done something wrong.

Now I ask you again, was Richard being harsh or was he just doing his task?

Sunday, March 18, 2007

friendship..


"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."
-- Bernard Meltzer

There are about 6.6 billion people in the world today. What is the probability that 3 certain individuals would meet and know each other and become friends? It is so little that it seems impossible.

But as you see, I have them. The inseparable three(because we are classmates for four years) are namely: Paul Andrew Cinco Gutib, Gian Carlo Casinto Labadia, and Dan Henry Yee Montaño. We may not seem to be the hanging out type of friends, but we are indeed friends.

Our friendship started during the first year of high school in section Bartlett. The thing that we had in common was our fondness of playing computer games. It started with an RPG games without graphics. It was Shimlar. It is a little bit weird because Shimlar wasn't that exciting.

By the time we were second year students (the three of us were in section Palma), we played another game. This one was exciting because there was already graphics in it. It is an MMORPG. Our server was Chaos. At that time, Chaos had a lot of players. Averagely, there were ten thousand players logged in when we play but now there are just about three thousand. Everyday, we went to Surf n' Play just to play Ragnarok. But we got a little bit bankrupt because it was a Pay-to-Play game. That means, we had to buy load for us to play it. 50 pesos is just worth 8 hours of the game. Just image, I spent about 2000 pesos for the whole duration of playing (that is load + computer rental). Other than playing computer games, we also liked to play chess. Palma 2005 was the chess capital of UP at that time. Almost all boys of the batch played chess every lunch and every dismissal.

Then we became third year students (the three of us were still in the same section, Sison). At the start, we played a version of Ragnarok. It was a version wherein no top-up (buying load) was needed. Plus, there were experience and item drop multipliers. Leveling-up was now a piece of cake. We would play every Wednesday because third years are dismissed early every Wednesday. There came another game named DotA (Defense of the Ancients) introduced to us by Robert and Byron. We would be in an internet café after classes playing DotA.

Now that we are in the fourth and last year of high school (and again, we are still classmates- in section Gonzalez), computer gaming after classes is a thing of the past for us. In spite of that, we are still friends. The usual lunch at the canteen is still present (we had that since first year). We still are friends.

Through the years, we stood as friends from start to finish. Isn’t that incredible?

The three of us are filled with flaws. All of us are imperfect. Even if that is true, we still consider we other as friends.

love is both an act of will and of the heart...

Dan Henry Montaño was the type of person who plays practical jokes on people. He would tease his classmate for him to achieve laughter. But that Dan Henry was long gone. A new one was shaped.

During the enrollment for school year 2006-2007 of UP High School in Cebu, the students in fourth year section Gonzalez already started to choose where they want to sit. Naturally, close friends wanted to sit beside each other. But one chose a seat just to irritate someone. Together with a friend, the “irritant” planned to annoy that someone. The prank was started.

The irritant started to tease that someone everyday. But both got closer to each other. Both got to know each other. The irritant still continued to tease but significantly lesser than the start of the school year. Eventually, something magical happened.

Love is said to be indefinable. It is said to be something that only the people who are in love that truly know what love feels like. It is said that it is an ethereal bond that joins a man and a woman. Love may be all those but it is something that everyone has his or her own definition.

Love for me is something that encourages a person to improve himself or herself. Though it contradicts what Shakespeare says in one of his sonnets that states “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds”, some people would still agree with me. As what you might have discovered, I was the irritant. I want to change because I fell in love with the girl of my life (do not react!).Yes, it is true. And I am not ashamed to let the world know. I am sure that there are plenty of others out there who are like that.

But when one wants the other to change, that is not love. It is because when one falls in love, that someone already has accepted you for who you are, the whole you. And demanding for a change is just an action of that person to mould his/her “loved” one into his/her dream somebody. But if a person wants you to change in order to make you into a better person, then that is just fine. (As want I have already stated in my other posts, this is just my opinion. You don’t necessarily have to agree with it.)

The website http://www.dictionary.com defines will as power of choosing one's own actions. It also defines heart as the center of emotion. For my opinion, love is an act of both the will and the heart. Falling for someone needs a decision whether to let it continue or let it cease. In falling in love, one has to choose one of those things. One has to weigh things and not just let emotions take over. Because when emotions are made to choose, one may end up in a bad situation (e.g. stop schooling). When both will and heart are used by both sides, the resultant relationship that they would have would be true and sincere. And the love that they share is intimate.