Reviving a vanishing art

Someone once asked me what I do to "kill" time. I said, I don’t "kill" time, I use it to the fullest. I spend my mornings, afternoons and nighttime working, talking and laughing. The private little time that I have I usually spend reading and sometimes crying. But reading to me is not just for relaxation, it is religion.

I used to read three books simultaneously in a week’s time. Even when my body is tired, I still manage to open a book before I drowse myself to sleep. That has always been my routine. In my car on my way to work, I bring with me books that I can read. I love politics, biographies, history, power enhancing books, and poetry. I am slowly building my own library. In my collection of books, I treasure Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda, Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Taubman, Bob Woodward.

A sage once said that "reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man." This we learned in high school. I remember in the seminaryo where I spent high school, my teachers would give us the classics as reading fare – Silas Marner by George Eliot, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, Robinson’s Crusoe, The Swiss Family Robinson, Mutiny on the Bounty, Treasure Island, Shakespeare – these were books that nurtured my young mind even when I was being flagellated by lessons in Latin. Samar was a distant land from the dreamland called Manila but my teachers made sure that despite the distance from the big city, we still got good education.

The world is colorless without books. In the olden days when computers were unheard of, we only had books and magazines to rely on for our research and for our pastime. Now that the computer-age is here, the art of reading is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Even my other manikurista Leila is complaining because her children "ay nahihirapang magbasa." I would ask her why and she would tell me because they spend hours in computer rental stores watching video games. And Leila is asking "mahirap ba talaga mag-aral ngayon?" What my dear manikurista does not know is that you start everything at home. Encourage your children to open their books and slowly they will come to love reading.

And here’s good news that will hopefully bring back our love for books and the art of reading. The Francis Padua Papica Foundation will be giving out books in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the whole year round. Lawyer Francis Padua Papica, the founder, is playing the good Samaritan. Papica, through his Read to Live Program, hopes to resuscitate youngsters to go back to reading. He is based in the US and works as a junior partner with the law offices of Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette, Blythe and Jefferson. Very often he comes to Manila to oversee the programs of his foundation. Aside from the Read to Live Program, The Francis Padua Papica Foundation is also offering a four-year scholarship grant to deserving high school and college students. It has also started its Leadership Achievement Awards, Youth Leadership Conference which is on the first Saturday of February every year, and a medical mission where free medical check-up and free medicines are distributed. There are a few good men like Francis who not only supplement what the schools cannot do but also make young people feel empowered.

The sound of the classics

Pop classics are definitely here to stay. Despite the onslaught of new songs, new singers, new music genres, the classics are here to stay. And it seems we could not get enough of them. For instance, a memorable song by the Platters called Only You, is now revived by former Pinoy Big Brother housemate Sam Milby. It is also the title of a popular Korean telenovela shown on ABS-CBN. Each time the opening billboard is played, we would hear Sam Milby’s voice on the background singing Only You. Michael Bolton has his own version of the Perry Sledge original When A Man Loves A Woman.

Music of the ‘50s and ‘60s continues to charm us. Thus, Alpha Music relives the days of wine and roses through its impressive collection of songs that will reminisce the wonderful years of the ’50s and ’60s. Titled The Hits of the ’50s and ’60s, it is a compilation of dance, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and soul pieces from original artists who are now pop icons.

Included in the package are such collectible hits as the Foundations’ Build Me Up Buttercup, Chubby Checkers’ Let’s Twist Again, the Supremes’ Baby Love, the Platter’s Only You, the Foundations’ Baby Now That I Found You, Little Richard’s Lucille, Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Archies’ Sugar, Sugar, You Really Got Me by the Kinks, The Drifters’ Save the last Dance for Me and Under the Boardwalk, Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, Andy Williams’ Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by the Platters and Jackie Wilson’s Doggin Around and Higher and Higher.