By IVAN EMIL LABAYNE
www.nordis.net

We are here, it’s June, the sun is out, and my nose is missing the smell of fog you are probably licking in your paws now. That was a tacky turn of phrase. When the sem has ended, we were quietly rioting.

At some point during the start of each semester, when we are discussing the course guide, I will call attention to Audre Lorde and her description of the learning process in the formal classroom as a riot. What a rowdy, rugged description. Learning as riot: not something very clinical, neither very orderly, nor diagrammable, made clean by rubrics and scoresheets. What Audre wrote, not in a way that she was lording it over Adrienne Rich who interviewed her in this material we read in class: “I came to realize that in one term that is the most you can do. There are people who can give chunks of information, perhaps, but that was not what I was about. The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot. And then, just possibly, hopefully, it goes home, or on.” I already included chunks of this quote in my course guide, making it a staple, so that I won’t forget mentioning it in class. Learning as riot, something you can incite, something that may catch fire, something that may wither right away, something that may be frittered away, away from the summa cum laudes and the Unos Dos Treses.

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We ended the sem discussing Audre Lorde and Eka Kurniawan, marginalized figures in the “world literary space” but who are otherwise being salvaged in efforts to expand and question the literary canon. After Lorde’s and Rich’s interview, we read Eka’s “Caronang,” where the human characters thought that the titular creature “might be a species of bear, one that raised itself up on its hind legs to attack. But it wasn’t. And it was small—about the size of a miniature poodle. It had given up walking on all fours completely. In fact, its anatomy had developed to make walking on two legs easier” (25). Wala pa yan sa scale ng unusualness, ng peculiarity. Nakarinig ka na siguro tungkol sa lalaking tinubuan ng ikatlong nipple, sa babaeng may malaking puyo sa bumbunan, sa buntis na may malaking pilat sa likod ng tuhod, sa lasing na may fourth eye. Physiological peculiarities lang ito, na nagiging normal at normal lang din habang parami nang parami ang pangyayari nila. Iba itong caronang sa kwento ni Eka: “Everything was going well until one horrifying morning when it got out the hunting rifle, loaded it, and pulled the trigger. When it had learned how to use the gun, we hadn’t a clue. But not only did it know how to use a gun, it knew what a gun was for” (27).

Para saan ba ang baril? Iba siguro ang isasagot ni Duterte at ni Bato at ni Darna at ni Kian Delos Santos. Bakit pa ito ipapabasa sa mga undergrad na kailangan ng Literature units? Bakit hindi na lang magbasa tungkol kay Shakespeare na nagpakamatay matapos matanggap ang fake news na patay na si Romeo? Masyada nang riotous ang naging turn ng piyesang ito. Balik tayo sa halina na kaayusan.

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Unang araw ng Hunyo, sa Kyusi, matapos ang opisyal na pagtatapos ng klase sa Elbi. Nagpresent ako ng papel tungkol sa isang maikling nobela ni Eka, Man Tiger. Ang title, “The Riotous Rural in Kurniawan’s Man Tiger.” May mamamatay dito, pero para hindi ganun ka-spoiler alert kung mabetan mo mang basahan tong libro, hindi yung inaasahang mamamatay ang mamamatay. At higit pa, tulad nga ng sinabi ko sa papel, iba na ito sa Whodunnit kind of mystery. Malalaman natin agad kapwa kung sino ang pumatay at sino ang pinatay. Ang tanong na lang, bakit niya ginawa yun? At bakit si X ang pinatay niya gayong for majority of the novel, si Y ang kinamumuhian niya?

At ang pinakamalupit sa lahat, kalebel ng linyahang “But not only did it know how to use a gun, it knew what a gun was for” sa Caronang. Sa Man Tiger, pagtatapat ni Margio, “‘It wasn’t me,’ he said calmly and without guilt. ‘There is a tiger inside my body.’” Tigre sa loob ni Margio? Narinig ko yung expression na dinadaga ang dibdib, parang ganoon ba yun? Pero yung daga sa dibdib, hindi naman kayang pumatay, unless… kaya nitong pumatay gamit ang kaba? Heto ang pasilip sa “riotous rural.” Kanayunang taliwas sa romantisadong pinta ni Amorsolo, orange-ish na sunset and all, at mga pawisan ngunit naghahalakhakang mga magsasaka, content with “their day’s work.” Narito ang ruralidad na maaaring kabahagi ng mga tao, pero umaalpas rin dito, may kapasidad magsagawa ng dahas.

Ganito natapos ang sem, tahimik pero may katiting na kurot ng dahas. Na sana mas simboliko kesa pisikal, kurot sa kukote kesa sa katawan. Namimili ako para tapusin ito: takaw sa salita, o timpi sa kahulugan? Riot o kaayusan? Tanong o deklarasyon. Tuldok at tandang-pananong. # nordis.net