Free admission to lectures
The Ortigas Foundation Library offers free lectures every third Thursday of the month.
The OFL Lecture Series cover a range of topics related to Philippine history, arts, and culture, and the environment. Talks usually start at 6 p.m. and last up to an hour.
FEBRUARY 2008
THE BATTLE OF MANILA: MYTH AND FACT
By Peter Parsons
February 7, 6pm
About the Talk
The talk will be based on Mr. Parson's video documentary Manila 1945:
The Forgotten Atrocities. It will focus on the violence committed by the
Japanese in Manila during the battle which took place in February of
1945. Between one hundred and two hundred thousand Filipino civilians
were killed at that time. The researcher on this topic has to walk
through the landmines and booby traps of both fact and fiction.
A few excerpts from the video which has recently won an award for
documentaries at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival will be
shown during the talk.
The Ortigas Foundation Library is using this opportunity to recognize
the 63rd anniversary of the Battle of Manila. Copies of the video Manila
1945: The Forgotten Atrocities will be available for purchase.
About the Speaker
Peter Parsons is one of the sons of Cmdr. Chick Parsons, who worked for
General Douglas Mac Arthur during World War II as his liaison with the
Philippine resistance.
OCTOBER 2007
Our Sense of Country in Our Poetry in English
By : Dr. Gemino H. Abad
October 18 at 6pm
For the writer, poem or short story is only a convenient label; when they write they do not adhere to any fixed criteria or theory of the literary work. They aspire to creating something unique in their playing field which is the field of imagination; they make new things or make things anew. We need then to restore to our reading of the poem’s text the performance of the text itself precisely by attending first to its form. Form is the matter of art, content is the matter of interpretation.
To speak of poetry as “cultural text” is to regard my country’s poetry as “our native clearing” within the language that has been adopted for the artistic mimesis. If one’s country is how one imagines her, it follows that in our literature, our sense of our day-to-day living in the very element of our history and culture is essentially a poetic sense, for it is work of imagination in and through language upon our own ground. The literary text, as language purposefully worked, may be the clearest expression of one’s sense of country: in that light, a poet’s sense for language may be his most intimate sense of his country’s landscape and his people’s lived lives. By the same light, if reading like writing is finding your way through language, then the same poetic sense may well be operative. For one’s country is what one’s imagination owes its allegiance to.
About the Speaker:
Poet and Literary critic Dr. Gemino H. Abad obtained his B. A. in
English from the University of the Philippines and his Ph.D in English
Literature from the University of Chicago.
Abad co-founded the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC). He has
authored over ten books of poetry, fiction and criticism. Titles include
Fugitive Emphasis (1973), The Space Between (1985), Orion's Belt and
Other Writings (1996), and Getting Real: An Introduction to the Practice
of Poetry (2004). A tireless worker, Dr. Abad edited the landmark
historical anthologies Man of Earth (with Edna Z. Manlapaz (1989), A
Native Clearing (1993) and A Habit of Shores: Filipino Poetry and Verse
from English, '60s to the '90s (1999).
Abad has garnered numerous prestigious academic and literary awards to
his own name, including the UP Outstanding Faculty Award, Palanca, Free
Press, and the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas. He has also received
several grants and professorships here and abroad, among them the
British Council (Cambridge and Oxford) and Rockefeller (University of
Chicago) fellowships, as well as the Carlos P. Romulo (U.P.) and Irwin
(Ateneo) chairs. At present, he is Emeritus University Professor at the
College of Arts and Letters in U.P. Diliman.
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SEPTEMBER 2007
Filipiniana Internet Resources
Speaker:
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Lourdes David Director
Rizal Library
Ateneo de Manila University
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September 20 at 6:30 pm
The Internet has provided individuals and libraries to access articles, documents and entire books that are freely available online. Many however, do not know that such resources are available. This presentation will serve as an introduction to sites that will provide access to free Filipiniana Internet resources. It will discuss how the URL http://www.scholar.google.com in particular could lead to thousands of credible sites for Filipiniana materials on the Internet. Finally, tools for harvesting the Web for Filipiniana materials will be introduced but not demonstrated.
About the Speaker
Lourdes T. David is the director of the Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University. Prior to her transfer to the Ateneo, she was connected with the University of the Philippines first as an instructor with the Department of Chemistry at Los Banos, then as a librarian and professor of library science in Diliman. She holds a bachelor’s degree in food technology and a master’s degree in Library and information science. Her specialization is in information technology for which she obtained training at IBM, Philippines and in various institutions here and abroad. She is a member of a number of national and international library associations including the Philippine Library Association where she was a one-time president, the American Library Association and the International Association of School Librarians. She has also been a consultant of various organizations such as WHO, FORD Foundation, DOST and UNESCO. She is presently coordinating the testing of an ODL module on Library Automation that she designed and wrote for UNESCO Bangkok.
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AUGUST 2007
History as Literature
Speaker:
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F. Sionil Jose
National Artist For Literature
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August 16 at 6 pm
About the Speaker
F. (Francisco) Sionil José, founded the Philippine Center of PEN, an international organization of poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists. His work includes eleven novels, five books of short stories, a book of verse, a collection of stories for children and four books of essays. His five-novel Rosales saga consisting of The Pretenders, Tree, My Brother My Executioner, Mass, and Po-on have been published in the United States and translated in various languages in Asia and Europe.
José has received numerous fellowships, honorary Ph.D's and awards, which include: the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Award (1980); the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors for the Arts (1999); the National Artist Award for Literature (2001); and the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award (2004).
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JULY 2007
Loco Loco Over Deco!
by: Ivan Man Dy
July 19 at 6 pm
Shanghai. New York. Bombay. Miami. Rio de Janeiro. Manila.
Separated by oceans, continents and time lines; what do these cities have in common?
Not much, except all cities are a treasure-trove of Art-Deco architecture. Come and take this arm-chair journey down the swinging 30's as we explore Manila's rich Art-Deco heritage! This talk is all about the age of speed, jazz, boogie-woogie and the American colonial experiment in the Philippines.
About the speaker:
Born, bred and educated in the city of Manila. Ivan Man Dy is the principal guide of Old Manila Walks, one of the leading cultural tour outfitters in the city. Rain or shine, he takes people in a tour around his beloved city of Manila. He is an operations manager by profession and a street walker by avocation.
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JUNE 2007
The Rizalian Precepts of Patriotism and Education
Speaker:
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Dr. Celestina Boncan
Philippine Historical Association
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June 21 at 6 pm
A talk on Dr. Jose Rizal. Dr. Celestina Boncan will discuss the principles and ideals of Dr. Jose Rizal in respect to how patriotism and education can be the means towards achieving economic freedom and progress. Selected writings of Rizal will be reviewed along with efforts of the Philippine Historical Association to promote the life, works and ideals of Rizal.
About the speaker
Dr. Celestina Boncan is the current President of the Philippine Historical Association
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The Ortigas Foundation Library is located at the 2nd Floor Ortigas Building. Ortigas Avenue cor Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Complex, Pasig City
For more details please call 631.1231 local 222 or email: maticat@ortigas.com.ph
* event titles and dates are subject to change without prior notice
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