IT IS probably a little late if you are just thinking of the Peter’s Prize Pandemic Literature Chapbook competition just now.
But hopefully, not too late.
Tomorrow is the start of submission, and the contest will have its deadest deadline on June 30, midnight, Philippine time.
Online submissions only, send via email to:
If you are Ilonggo, you would understand that the email refers to 500 words, as in the 500-word story of the earliest Peter’s Prize.
***
Pandemic Literature is more than just Covid-19.
While we may write about our losses, restrictions, disorientation, and confusion, there are also opportunities to write about our shining hour, our heroism in the time of darkness.
Most of us think of the pandemic as a story of patients, nurses, doctors, healthcare in general.
That is all good and necessary.
But what about the vaxxers and anti-vaxxers?
***
We may write about our own social isolation, physical distancing, or depression and mental health.
But how was it with the jail inmates and prisoners during the pandemic?
How was it with our men and women seafarers?
Did you think of our people working on cruise ships, and hospitality and tourism industries?
***
I’d like to hear stories about big and small businesses during the pandemic.
About job loss.
Or creation of opportunities for new jobs.
I always smile when I hear stories of prostitutes going online sex work.
And I always feel a little sad when I hear stories of our young people going online sex work to survive.
***
There’s this writer, estranged from his family.
Before the pandemic, he was doing okay with lots of “rackets”.
During the pandemic, he was so hard up he started selling nude photos of himself online.
The scene was ready for it.
***
Vidjakol—a corruption of “video call” in both spelling and practice, started to gain currency online.
It’s a video call where people, mostly boys, masturbate over phone camera, mostly for a fee.
Because again, people are horny; they can’t meet people and have sex because of travel restrictions and physical distancing.
***
Because of vidjakols, others progressed quite rapidly into sex collabs, especially in the alter world.
“You are famous for your vidjakols, I am famous for my vidjakols; let’s f*ck together and sell our videos.”
It’s a numbers game, baby.
That is what’s happening among alters on Twitter.
The alter world, of course, is an informal community of consenting adults who use Twitter as a platform for sexual expression.
***
So yeah, dark stories.
In addition to the militarized government response to Covid, to economic depression, to deaths.
And darker still are the graft and corrupt practices of politicians involving Covid funds, health insurance, foreign loans and international aids.
***
But there are some shining stories as I said.
My friend, the coffeeshop owner, found his wife during the pandemic.
Everybody was bored.
Everybody was hooked to their phones.
Was it Tinder, Grindr, or Facebook Dating?
Who cares now?
***
As I write this, I see him and his wife, and their six-month son saying goodbyes.
He’s from Panay, she’s from Negros.
The plan is for her to move to Iloilo.
She needs a job transfer.
I’m praying they’ll get it sooner.
***
As for coffee, I do not know.
He opened his coffee shop in April 2021.
But it was a slow start.
When the restrictions were lifted in 2022, that’s when he had a business boom.
Like people were so tired of isolation they wanted to hangout.
They even started to like coffee, or at least, bond over coffee.
***
But I’m also thinking, social media advertising did it.
The pandemic made our phones our lifelines—
Source of news, source of information, source of health tips, source of inspiration and aspirations.
Social media became our habit.
We post everything we eat and do.
If I post a coffee photo, with a nice background, you are going to ask, Where is that?
When such question is asked, it is not long before you visit the place if it is within 30 kms distance.
***
So yeah, now is the best time to reflect about the effects, and our experiences, of the pandemic.
Write personal stuff; and maybe about our collective experiences, too, if you can.
Write them in poetry, short stories, essays, maybe plays; maybe a mixture of these genres.
Write them in English, Filipino, or Hiligaynon; maybe a mixture of these languages.
Write them in 18-24 pages of a Word document (as you would imagine your work in a book), and email to: before the June 30 deadline./PN
