Hola! It’s me again, Chloe. Let me ask you something. Have you ever been to another country? How ’bout a province different from yours? Well, check out this story that I think you’ll find interesting.

“An Earnest Parable” caught my attention because of its oddity at first and this wonderful creation is written no other than by Merlinda Bobis, an award-winning Australian-Filipino writer who grew up in Albay, Philippines which figures prominently in her writing and performance. As a child her main interest was painting, but at age ten, she began writing poetry because “painting with words” was cheaper. She has published novels, short stories, dramas and poems, and even plays in Australia, Philippines, Spain, USA, Canada, and all other places around the world. For ten years she taught Literature and English at Philippine universities before coming to Australia in 1991 on a study grant and these, my dear reader, are just some of her achievements as a world-class writer. Her love for arts and poetry made her create the “An Earnest Parable”. Perhaps you’ll ask why and how.

So as I was saying earlier, what caught my attention is the story’s oddity. The story evolves around a Filipino chef who shared latik, an Australian couple who shared vegemite, an Italian butcher who shared the word bella (meaning beautiful), a Sri Lankan tailor who shared cardamom tea, and a Turkish baker who shared biscotti bread. Obviously, they are all migrants from around the world. They made their homes in a neighbourhood at Bessel Street. They pass a “tongue” to each other every time they get the chance to do it. Weird, right?

So that’s basically it. If you’ll just read the story and won’t try to dig deeper to it, you won’t really enjoy it that much. The tongue symbolizes “various languages and delicacies”. Bobis includes an additional dimension to it. She attributes the production of language to the “tongue” which also serves as the repository of the memory of taste and smell. She said that the tongue had an excellent memory that even when it had moved in a new mouth, it still evoked the breath of spices, sweets and syllables of the former host. The view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve special acknowledgement of their differences within a dominant political culture is called multiculturalism and it was strongly seen throughout the story. It showed how flexible and diverse we are when it comes to adaptation of other cultures, traditions, and even language. What I love the most about the story is how it was constructed by the writer. I did not feel a dull moment while reading this because it was written creatively. You will really look forward on what will happen to this character or that character, this scene or that scene, and etc. I also admire Merlinda Bobis for her mind and courage to create such a wonderful work. If it wasn’t for all the hardships she experienced in life and if she looked at things in a negative way, her talent for writing won’t be discovered by the world. If there’s a part that I did not like is the part when I got bothered for imagining that they are passing a “tongue”. But nevertheless, it is an amazing story. It will teach us to respect every race, gender, nationality, and etc. Let us not be like others who laugh at the aetas and refuse to talk to Muslims because they are “terrorists” but instead, let us break the stigma. As a HUMSS student, I believe that equality in the society is important which is why I highly recommend this book to everyone and I’m giving it a 10 out of 10. “An Earnest Parable” could become an eye-opener for us to change how the world works and will encourage us to just love and respect one another despite our differences.

Hello there! It’s me, Chloe. Let me guess. Maybe you’re thinking that I’ll be posting another same ol’ blog post about random happenings and stuff but hey, this one’s different. It’s about this book that I find really amusing yet factual at the same time.

“The Green Sanctuary” is written by the Filipino author, Antonio Enriquez, who was born and raised in Zamboanga. He’s a two-time Palanca Memorial Award for Literature Grand Prize winner in 1982 for his first novel “Surveyors of Liguasan Marsh” and again in 1993 for hist third novel “Subanons”. He also won first prize for the short story category in 1973 for his work “Spots on their wings” and third prize for the same category for “The Icon” in 1969. Tha Palanca Award is considered the Philippines’ most prestigious award for literature. These are just some of his achievements as a writer though. He passed away on June 2014 in Cagayan de Oro city at the age of 77. The literary text originated in Pikit, Cotabato. When I finished reading the book, I realized why it was entitled “The Green Sanctuary”. It’s because of the pleasing environment of Mindanao which is the setting of the story. Aside from that, I can really say that Mindanao has much more to show when it comes to their culture because of the way how practice of the Moros was discussed in the story.

It started in a Spanish ship that dropped an anchor in Palanggi river in Pikit. Pikit is a small town in Cotabato wherein commercial buses are not allowed inside their place. These commercial buses stop near Pikit so the driver could drop his passengers. These passengers walk bare-foot until they reach the nearest barrio in Pikit to buy slippers or any footwear. Perhaps you’ll ask what happens to the commercial bus that enters their town. They destroy the commercial bus that enters their place. There was even an instance wherein a 4-year-old kid was left inside and unfortunately, they got the kid killed. Also by 6pm, stores and other public places should be closed. By this time, residents of Pikit are not allowed to go outside of their house. Whoever disobeys this law gets caught by the policemen who turn into civilians during curfew hours. There is only one man who is allowed to roam around Pikit during curfew hours and that is Datu Mantel. He is a very strict leader, almost like a dictator. They also mentioned on how the Moros including Datu Mantel watched in a movie house that shows the movie of Fernando Poe Jr. as the protagonist wherein FPJ killed a native or a Moro so Datu Mantel got fired up and he took out his gun and shoot the whole place out due to the feeling of being attacked and offended by the movie.

So that’s basically it. Honestly, I love every part of the story. What’s not to love about it, right? It enlightened my mind regarding social issues that is why I’m giving it a 10 out of 10. I would recommend the book to the readers out there who are a fond of nature and interested in learning different cultures of different places. It seems like Antonio Enriquez really loves to discuss social issues and realistic events in his books rather than fiction, romance, teen-fiction, and other genres that are high demand in the market during that time and I admire him for that. For me, books like “The Green Sanctuary” are the ones that need much more attention. Remember that an eco-friendly world is a wonderful world. Imagine what will our future generations be if we ignore the fact that Mother Earth needs to be cured. Also, world peace. It’ll be much more enjoyable if we love and communicate with each other instead of spreading hate and anger within other race, culture, nationality, gender, and etc.