NOTRE DAME OF SALAMAN COLLEGE INC.

Founded in 1965 by the Oblates

Owned by the Archdiocese of Cotabato
Managed by the Diocesan Clergy of Cotabato (DCC)
“Service for the Love of God through Mary”
(B.E.S.T)
Amare Est Servire

CREATIVE NONFICTION
HUMSS 101 – BEED/BSED 2 Bridging Class
Week 11 and 12

Course Instructor : Rosalie M. Blanca

[email protected]
Mobile #09300351868

Week 11
Unit 3: Reading and Writing Creative Nonfiction
Lesson 2: Conflating Worlds Literary Journalism
Learning Objectives:
The learner is expected to:
 describe literary journalism as a type of creative nonfiction
 analyze a sample literary journalistic piece;
 express his/her opinion on the content of a literary journalistic essay
 conduct a brief research as an initial activity for writing literary journalistic piece

A. How are literature and journalism similar to and different from each other?
B. One of the principles of conventional journalism is objectivity-that is, the supposed "neutrality" of
the journalist (he/she should not take sides) and a "truthful" portrayal of events. Is journalism "truthful" and "neutral"?

Comparing Notes
Literary journalism is a type of creative nonfiction that is closely related to magazine and
newspaper writing. Some references call it narrative journalism or immersion journalism for it requires a close
connection to the subject of the piece. It can largely be in the form of an essay in which case it is called the
literary journalistic essay. It shares some of the elements of traditional fiction such as dialogue, setting,
characterization, and plot structure to make the narration vivid. Unlike the autobiography, the personal narrative or the
testimonio, literary journalism deals with another personality (i.e., t is not the author), because of which it may require
some research on the character and the events in the narrative. In the Philippines, one of the most popular practitioners of
the genre is the late Nick Joaquin, also known as Quijano de Manila, whose reportage pieces clearly deviate from straight
journalism with its employment of literary devices and elements of fiction such as those cited earlier. When he won the
Ramon Magsaysay Awards, Joaquin said that the old distinction between literature and journalism no longer holds true, as
the elements of the two genres can actually be fused in order to produce something more creative and interesting.
Three among the writers whose creative nonfiction works are featured in this book are practicing
journalists and award-winning writers: Yasmin Arquiza who specializes on environmental reporting, Criselda Yabes who
specializes on the Philippine military and Mindanao peace issues, and John Iremil E. Teodoro who specializes on cultural
reportage. Arquiza and Yabes started their journalistic career with the Agence France Press and the Associated Press,
while Teodoro started with Bandillo ng Palawan, a nonprofit cultural and environmental news agency based in Palawan.

Reader’s Corner
A. Pre-reading
1. What do you know about Cebu?
2. Cebu is also known as the "Queen City of the South" What do you think does the nickname connote?

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 1
B. Cultural-Historical Background
Dubbed the "Queen City of the South Cebu is an island province in the heart of the Visayas. It is
composed of the main island and more than a hundred islands surrounding it. It is also one of the most developed
provinces in the Philippines, with industries engaged in manufacturing, information technology, and tourism.
Cebu has been a bastion of Roman Catholicism since the Spanish colonizers first set foot in the country,
and this is evidenced by the sheer number of Catholic churches standing in the area, as well as by the number of practicing
Roman Catholics attending Mass regularly. The Cebuanos' faith is likewise demonstrated in the annual religious festival
called Sinulog, which centers on the devotion to the Santo Niño de Cebu, considered the oldest Roman Catholic icon in
the country. The Sinulog is participated in by both local and foreign tourists.
Historically, the Cebuanos are also recognized for having defied the Spanish colonizers early on. Lapu-
Lapu of Mactan (a city in the island province) is considered as the Philippine's first anti-colonial hero for resisting the
navigator Ferdinand Magellan who claimed the Philippine islands in the name of the Spanish monarchy. The natives
under Lapu-Lapu fought and defeated Magellan and his forces.
Cebu is also home to several notable writers such as Vicente Sotto (also a politician), Gardeopatra
Quijano, Napoleon Rama, and Resil Mojares, who have written both in English and in the vernacular. The renowned
Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, recognizing the significance of Cebuano literature in Philippine culture,
now has a separate category for writing in Cebuano.

C. Previewing ( Read the selection on page to answer the questions given below.)
Scan the text below for the answers to the following questions:
1. Who is considered as the "Father of the Modern Short Story"?
2 What does the Cebuano word tuyom literally mean?
3. What is described as "the Cebuano version of the moro-moro or komedya"?

D. Vocabulary Building
Complete the word or phrase in each sentence by supplying the missing letters. Scan the next selection
below for answers. Also provided are context clues in the succeeding sentence.
1.The city boasts of EN__ __ANT__NG beaches. Countless tourists are attracted by their white sand and
blue waters.
2. Regularly, one would see children FR__L__ CKIN__ on the beaches with their parents. They would play
all day long.
3. The trash which the waters had washed ashore was JAR__I__ __to the eyes. Everyone who witnessed
the incident was deeply disturbed.
4. Our INDEF__ __ __GABLE mayor has promised to keep the resorts clean. She never seems to get tired
of looking after her constituents.
F. Reading

The following creative nonfiction piece is about the author's about the author's foray into Carcar City in
the southern part of the island province. It was not a simple vacation, however, for the experience provided him with
informative insights on the cultural wealth of Carcar, including the city's rich, albeit largely unexplored, literary tradition.
Read the selection and take note of how the traditional boundaries between journalism and literature are seemingly
blurred.

CARCAR CITY: A LITERARY TOUR

John Iremil E. Teodoro
The sea between Cebu and Bohol was so calm that morning. The summer season was coming to an end
but it was so humid and the sun was extra generous with its rays, rendering the seascape and the surrounding landscape
golden. We were on the rough roadside of Tuyom, overlooking a white-sand beach where families were having picnics
that enchanting Sunday morning.
Tuyom is a seaside barangay of Carcar City, Cebu, and we were there on a "literary tour on June 21. It is
where canonical Cebuano writer Marcel Navarra wrote and set many of his stories. Navarra is acknowledged as the
"Father of the Modern Cebuano Short Story" His best-known story "Ug Gianod Ako" (And I Was Swept) is included in
Philippine literature textbooks. He is only one among 16 writers hailing from Carcar, thus making the city a literary tourist
destination.

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 2
Carcar City, located 40 kilometers south of Cebu City, is considered the cradle of Cebu's colonial heritage where
until today century-old landmarks, ancestral houses and public buildings can be found. An hour bus ride from the Queen
City of the South, it is very accessible through public transport, and the trip will always be worth it.
There were two coasters of us in that tour, mostly writers and literature students of Cebu. The panelists and
fellows in the recently concluded Subay Baktas: Literary History Writing Traning Workshop 2015 of the Cebuano Studies
Center at the University of San Carlos also joined. There were also a group of writers from lloilo City. Iligan City-based
writer Christine Godinez Ortega, the chair of the National Committee on Literary Arts of the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts, was there.
“Tuyom” is a Cebuano Word for a particular kind of sea urchin, which assumed was or still is, abundant in the
area. So, I was a little bit worried about the kids frolicking on the white-sand beach. But it seemed they were enjoying the
sea that morning which made me envious. I Was it he was watching. would be very happy. envious. It was tempted to
abandon the tour and stay on the beach and enjoy the sea. l'm sure Navarra, if he was watching, would be very happy.
Also, in tuyom is the crumbling Moro watchtower called Bantayan sa Hari. When we wondered about its name,
thinking that a king would never do such a lowly job of watching out for the coming Moro pirates, poet Merlie Alunan
regally replied, "Well, during the Spanish colonial era, everything belonged to the king.” This watch over is one the
locations of Renato Madrid’s novel, Mass for the Death of the Enemy. Madrid is the penname of a priest who was once a
parish priest of the nearby Valladolid Church.
On our way to the city proper, we passed by to pray at the shrine of Bish0pTeofilo Camomot at the Daughters of
Saint Teresa convent in the barangay of Valladolid. Bishop Camomot's selfless service to God is legendary. It is even
believed that he can appear in two places at the time to minister to the faithful. His shrine is a place of miracles. His
beatification is now being processed at the Vatican.
Before we went to the Carcar City Museum at the City Hall grounds to meet the mayor, we visited Mercado
Mansion, an old Spanish bahay na bato painted Mediterranean blue by the main highway. Mercado is an old political
family in Carcar. We had a great time taking group pictures and
selfies in that house.
Then we went to the museum where Mayor Nicepuro Apura was so happy to meet us. He underscored Carcar
City being a heritage city and told us, "1 am positive that you will be amazed with Carcar's abundant literary heritage and
cultural riches, not to mention its diverse culinary delights!" He thanked us for visiting their city.
The Carcar City Museum is a small two-storey building with a beautiful American colonial architecture. It was
built to be Carcar's elite club house but was transformed into a mini-hospital during the cholera outbreak at the turn of the
20th century. The marble tiles on the floor have black stars, which are jarring to the eyes but beautiful in the historical
sense.
From there, we proceeded to the neighboring grounds of St. Catherine's College for the linambay lecture by Cebu
historian Trizer Dale Mansueto. Linambay is Cebu's version of moro-moro or komedya, and Carcar has a great tradition
of this in the past. According to Mansueto, the rich families
in Carcar would produce and act in these productions that were shown for free in the public plaza. Sister Maria Fe
Lobetos, O.P., directress of St. Catherine's College, welcomed us with rice cakes, coconut candies and cold water. She
was thankful to the Cebuano Studies Center for Center for involving them in this activity and said, "We support the CSC's
drive in educating the young Catherinians especially on the efforts to include these writers and their works in our classes
to manifest ownership of our very own gifted people.” She was referring, of course, to Carcar's magnificent writers.
The lunch at the terrace overlooking the old municipals swimming pool (waterless and not being used to
conserve water, we were told) was a blast. I had to stop myself from getting a third helping of the divine humba-humba
spread over a plate of heaven white rice. Humba-humba is a tradition Cebuano pork dish akin to adobo. It was so
saboroso in a deadly way, the tasty pork lovingly melted in your tongue.
We were welcomed by a a rondalla of little girls in that beautiful venue at the back of the museum. They were
playing Cebuano folk songs while nforosa we were looking at the exhibit on the writers: Juanito Florido Alcordo,
Sinforosa Oliveros Alcordo, Vicente Barcenillo Alcoseba, Vicente Alcudia Mariano Alcover Diosdado Garces Alesna,
Epifanio Alfafara, Leoncio del Mar Florido, Mariano
del Mar Florido, Vicente del Mar Florido (Yes, they are brothers!), Jose Dayagro Galicano, Maria Alcordo Kabigon,
Galileo Varga, and of course,Navarra. The rondalla was playving while we were enjoying our lunch.
After lunch, some of us hiked to the public market nearby to buy pork chicharon (Mat-Mat was the best brand,
we were told), ampao (Sweetened rice puffs), and banana chips. These are the traditional Filipino delicacies, which Carcar
is known for in Cebu.
On our way back to Cebu City, we passed by Carcar Shoe Expo, where Christine Godinez Ortega frantically
shopped for shoes and sandals. I bought a brown leather belt for only PhP280. And it was of good quality, maybe worth
more than a thousand pesos in malls in Metro Manila. Outside of one of the stalls, I saw Merlie Alunan eating lomboy

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 3
from a plastic bag she bought from a vendor. Of course, I helped myself with that fruit with the sweetness that brought me
back to my childhood in not-so-far-away Antique.
The Carcar Litera Tour was organized by the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos under the
directorship of the indefatigable Hope Sabanpan-Yu, a writer, critic and literary mover.

E. Questions for Discussion

1. Which experiences in Carcar did the author enjoy as suggested in the essay?
2. Why is Carcar tagged as a "literary tourist destination”?
3. Why did the poet Merlie Alunan (also one of the author's companions during the tip) say, "(D)uring
the Spanish colonial era, everything belonged to the king"?
4. Who was Bishop Teofilo Camomot?
5 Was the trip a purely "literary tour"? Why or why not?

Writer’s Bloc
Look for a short news article from a newspaper (it may be a national broadsheet or, when available, your
school paper). Rewrite the article into a literary journalism piece. Be sure to express personal observations
and feelings, and employ creative and artistic descriptions to make your piece
more vivid. Use bond paper for this activity.

Criteria Proficient Nearly Proficient Attempted Proficiency

(8-10 pts) (5-7pts) (0-4pts)

Clarity All ideas are expressed Some ideas are expressed Many ideas are confusing.
clearly. clearly.
Vividness All ideas are articulated Some ideas are articulated The manner in which ideas
convincingly. convincingly. are articulated is not
convincing enough.

Organization All ideas are presented in an Details mostly evince a sense Details are not organized
organized way. of organization. . properly.

Correctness Grammar, Syntax, and Grammar, syntax, and The composition is riddled
mechanics are correct, with mechanics are largely with errors (six or more).
just one or two errors. correct, with three to five
errors.

“The literary snob’s disdaining of journalism is a thing of the past; now, the greatest literary artists are producing reportage.”
-Nick Joaquin
END OF THE LESSON

Week 12
Unit 3: Reading and Writing Creative Nonfiction
Lesson 3: Making the Private Public: The Personal Narrative
Learning Objectives:
The learner is expected to:
 describe the personal narrative as a type of creative nonfiction
 analyze a sample personal narrative
 express his/her opinion on the content of a personal narrative
 write an epilogue for a sample personal narrative

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 4
A. Close your eyes and recall one particular episode in your life that you consider memorable. Share it with the rest of
the class.
B. Which aspect or aspects of one's life should not be shared? Why or why not?
C. What do you think is a personal narrative? What characteristics do you suppose does it have? Do the word
association map below.

Comparing Notes

A personal narrative shares some aspects of the traditional structure of fiction such as characters and setting. Like the
other types of creative nonfiction, however, the details of such a narrative should not just revolve around events; they
should also incorporate the narrator's personal (hence, the term) thoughts and feelings. One should also employ
literary devices used in traditional fiction such as figurative language, say, in describing a place or a character in the
story. While the personal narrative should be about a real event, for example, the narrator may find it useful to use a
figurative language, say, exaggerations. Such additions are aimed at making the narration more colorful, more vivid,
and, therefore, more effective.
The personal narrative, of course, as the term itself suggests, is told from the first-person point of view. But not
like the autobiography which deals with a chain of events, the personal narrative often concerns a particularly happy,
sad, humorous, or outrageous episode in one's life.

Reader's Corner

A. Pre-reading
1. How different is life in the city from life in the countryside? Give examples.
2. Would you wish to live in the city or in the countryside? Explain your reasons.

B. Cultural-Historical Background

It is no exaggeration to say that Filipinos are all over the world. At present, it is estimated that about 10 million
Filipinos, or roughly 10 percent of our population, are living or working outside the country. The numbers may even be
higher, with more than 6,000 Filipinos leaving the country every day according to 2014 data. I he primary reason for
going overseas, of course, is employment. Professionals seek jobs somewhere else instead of devoting their knowledge
and skills to the service of
their country and their fellow Filipinos. The unsavory result is of what is commonly known as "brain drain." To confound
it all, some of these professionals’ land jobs that may be below their level of qualification. Hence, for we example, we
have college degree for wages holders that working as domestic helpers or entertainers in exchange for wages that would
be difficult to earn while in the Philippines. Worse, several migrant workers become susceptible to abuse, discrimination,

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 5
and many other forms of maltreatment. Finally, the Filipino in exile lives an alienated life far from the country of his/her
birth, uprooted by circumstances over which he/she has no control. Indeed, there is always in the Filipino migrant a
yearning for home.
Fortunately, flexibility is a patent trait of the Filipino in exile. He/she easily adapts to the new environment,
including its people. He/she easily learns the tricks to survive the vagaries of life away from his/her country of origin.
Living in the Philippines has instilled in the Filipino migrant the value of simplicity and the importance of companionship
in the face of uncertainties.

C. Previewing
Scan the text below for the answers to the following questions:
1. What is the name of the village?
2. Who is Anna Liza?
3. What are the ardoise?

D. Vocabulary Building
Give the meaning of the underlined word. Choose the letter corresponding to the correct answer.

1. Her claustrophobia influenced her decision to live in a big house, with more than enough space for
her and her two-year-old boy.
A. fear of heights C. fear of open spaces
B. fear of enclosed spaces D. fear of the dark
2. It was my first time to leave the Philippines, but I found solace in the hospitality shown by my fellow
workers.
A. sadness C. consolation
B. anger D. joyfulness
3.There was a time in US history that being black in an all-white school was quite an oddity.
A. something sacred C. something immoral
B. something strange D. something racist
4. Because there was widespread hatred against Asians in the area, I, a Filipino, tried my best to be as
inconspicuous as possible.
A. not worthy C. not obvious
B. not devoted D. not concentrating
5. Almost nightly, I would pass through that silent meander among bamboo and balete trees with much apprehension and
fear.
A. wist C. night
B. ground D. hole

E. Reading
The following personal narrative is about its Filipino author's brief stay in a remote village in France. The title
itself suggests the author's attitude toward the place. Pick out details showing her impressions or her French village, and
how different they were from her fellow Filipinas own impressions. Note also the examples of irony in the narrative.

My FRENCH VLLAGE
Criselda Yabes
Les Ardennes is hidden in the northeast region of France. The French don't give it much of a thought, unlike the
Riviera in the south, the countryside of Normandy in the north, or the waves of the Atlantic against Brittany. If by any
chance they've come across it, they'd say it's at the end of the world, or describe it as "the finger stuck in the ass of
Belgium with which it shares the frontier.

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 6
For three consecutive summers, I stayed in a small village referred to as part of the region's la valleé. Even that
has an ominous ring to it: that being in a valley depicts the imagined claustrophobia of a people, its small mindedness, its
fear of strangers, and that l, being an Asian, from a country many had probably never heard of, was an oddity.
My village, Haybes, faces a wall of a thick green forest that people find oppressive, as if it keeps them
imprisoned. I should have been surprised but wasn't when I discovered that a Filipina has been living here among 2000
souls, married to a retired French man and making herself as inconspicuous as possible.
Anna Liza rang me up one day when she'd heard of me while oat an arrand at the pharmacy situated by the river
and across the steel bridge as one enters the village. That was normal: the pharmacist is my ex-husband who had had the
urge to return to his place of childhood, this damn valley as he would sometimes say out of frustration.
There's not much to be done in Haybes; it doesn't even have a decent café. The restaurants would be far from
seeing their names in the Michelin guide. The pizzeria run by an Italian is ranked lower than its counterpart in the next
town about ten kilometers away. The bakery has had its ups and down with the clientele that finds the baguette a tad
below its taste.
What this village has-the entire valley for that matter-is the one thing could not escape from: nature. And so, I
invited Anna Liza, my fellow Pinay for a stroll in the woods just behind my house. It was where I’d go for walks in the
late afternoons and it became like a park for me, choosing any of the trails that wove through other villages, a silent
meander among pines and oaks and other trees not seen in my own country.
Having been here more than 20 years, raising a daughter, tending to a household in what resembled a subdivision,
the forest was a strange apparition for Anna Liza. She was afraid of snakes. She feared getting raped (although there had
been no such incidents in our part of the woods).I showed her there was nothing dark to it, making her listen to the
soothing run of the stream, pointing out to her the infrequent marks of caves from which stone slates known as the ardoise
were gathered in the old days.
The ardoise had been the valley's industry, along with other massive manufacturing and metallurgical factories
that had made this region wealthy enticing migrants from Italy and Spain through the first half of the 20 th century. But it
had been more of a relic, until the village historian made a rather impressive movie about what took place in Haybes
during the First World War.
That was one of the rare occasions when residents came out of their dwellings for a public gathering. At the very
least they were proud of what the community had done one hundred years ago, trying to defend the village from the
German soldiers. There had been a massacre. The church survived razing by the enemy, the only structure in which Anna
Liza was hoping to find solace as she would have done back home; but it has been locked to keep away vandals and is
opened only for weddings and baptisms.
She arrived in Haybes in the early 1990s when prosperity was already waning, the rich protecting themselves in
their enclave while the growing unemployed, the immigrants, the poor Arabs put up in social housing were pushed the
backside of the village. Anna Liza seized me in a pan when we ran into Muslim teenagers playing by the creek.
In my house made of the ardoise, thin purple slates fitted to the walls, I would wait for the sun to shine. The
valley's worst reputation is for its rain, consistently wetting the forest and filling up the river. The mist covers the village
like a phantom that comes to visit from time to time. As the slight hint of the bright rays, l’d be off on my bicycle,
trundling down the hill until I reached the level ground of the track along the River Meuse.
That was where I chanced upon Anna Liza a few days after our forest hike. She was walking to the pharmacy to
buy some creams on a doctor’s prescription. Her legs had swollen from a rash after we'd sat on a bench in the arboretum. I
felt guilty and made up for it by inviting her for a bike ride along the Meuse as autumn was fast approaching. She came
for the sake
of exercise when the weather called for it.
approaching. She came for the sake
But the river for her was useless, "Walang silbi" she said, because the sight of the water made her pine for the
seas back home thousands of miles away. I came to Les Ardennes for this river looping around villages, sending out the
ducks, geese, swans to the banks, displaying the hues of the verdant
greens. I love this river. It made me daydream, it made me go forward, and it gave me a certain amount of strength.
The biking track from one end to another stretches to about 90 kilometers, starting from the city of Charleville-
Mezieres-home of the rebel poet Arthur Rimbaud of the late 1800s-to the frontier town of Givet that Belgians flock to for
the restaurants by the quai, the shops and supermarkets and the odd
McDonald's by the fields. Givet is the nearest thing to civilization from our village.
HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction
Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 7
We would go there for the movies and for the patisserie that sells the Paris Brest l'd boast to everyone as the best
tasting one in the whole of France-and I am, of course, exaggerating. Luckily for us, a new salon de thé opened close by
this summer, in the town where my ex-husband grew up, his family home already sold when his parents retired to the
Riviera. It is right across the river and I could bike to it if I wanted to.
It's our saving grace in our corner of the valley, if you ask me. The pastries are good enough to boost us out of our
afternoon gloom. We take home baguettes for our meals for the days ahead and the croissants saved for our Sunday
breakfast treat. That’s how little it would take to make me happy
being in Les Ardennes.
I am tempted to call my village simple. My days followed the weather. mostly to be able to schedule hanging out
the laundry by the terrace of that garden, the clothesline tied to a rowan tree that Anna Liza made me swear never to cut
because she said it was lucky. When it gets gray, other women friends come by for tea and we do an exchange of
homemade fruit jams particularly the summer blackberries picked from the shrubs along the river.
One Sunday morning, after buying fruits and vegetables from the friendly Turk who unloads his produce at the
plaza rain or shine, I saw a striking, gray-haired woman getting off her bike by the river. I watched her remove her socks
and then her shoes. She balanced herself on a rock by the banks, found her place to sit, and dipped her feet in the river.
That was one of the small things that made me happy about Les Ardennes, and I thought that might do the same if or
when I return to my French village.
(Positively Filipino, 2015)

F. Questions for Discussion

1. How different is the author from her friend and fellow Filipina, Anna Liza?
2. The author claims, "1 am tempted to call my village simple" What details in the story indicate this
"simplicity"?
3. What was it that the residents of the community had done "one hundred years ago"? Why were the
contemporary residents of the village proud of it?
4. Why did Anna Liza say that the river for her was "useless" or "walang silbi'? What feeling was reflected
by that impression?
5. What did the author like about the village?
6. As a personal narrative, what linguistic or literary strategies does the piece employ?

Writer's Bloc
The brief narrative ends with a suggestion of the author's desire to go back to the village. Let us
suppose that after twenty years, she does get the chance to return. But by that time, the village will have
transformed into a highly modernized and highly industrialized area, with just a few reminders of the quiet, laidback rural
village that it had been. Write a short first-person paragraph about that imagined encounter.

“There is no longer such things as fiction or nonfiction; there’s only narrative.”

-E.L.Doctorow
END OF THE LESSON

HUMSS 101 Creative Nonfiction

Name:_______________________________________________________________Program/Year:______________________________ 8