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BY PETER SOLIS NERY
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The stage and Peter Solis Nery
IN MID-January until I left for the US in February, I taught a course called “Creative Writing: Flash Fiction” at The Stage, an institute for communications currently housed at Robinsons Place Jaro.
Although the enrolment was not very high then (mine was a first course offering, and The Stage was just starting to promote itself at that time), I found the workshop a success.
It was a sweet success for me because it attracted a diverse group of people. The youngest participant was in grade school; and the most mature was a retired accountant and bakery owner. In between, I got a college student, a poet, an event organizer, and even a teacher at the institute, among others.
I was sad that the workshop participation was badly affected by the Dinagyang fever, and I know better than to compete with Dinagyang.
But after five months in the Philippines, I have a deadline, and I needed to be back in the US before Valentine’s Day.
Still, I think that it was a wonderful workshop because it was effective in so far as I was actually able to squeeze something out of the participants. To actually see my “students” sit down, and produce something brilliant or terrifying in 20 or 30 minutes is amazing.
But what was most beautiful for me was seeing how their eyes lit up with understanding when I tell them why a passage they have written is effective or not. Such moment is only surpassed by my reading of their much improved succeeding attempts.
I know I’m a very good teacher even before I took up units in Education to become a licensed professional teacher in the Philippines. And although I also taught Philosophy at the University of the Philippines, my knowledge and expertise cover and traverse many fields.
These days, although I can still lecture about Philosophy, Nursing, Biology, and English Grammar, I am more at home in Literature and Creative Writing. And I am most effective in helping people write, and discover their potentials as writers because I have my 25-something years of award-winning writing experience.
Of course, there is no substitute to the actual experience of a Peter Solis Nery writing workshop. That is why I encourage you to attend at least one. (I promise you will be hooked — if you are not a stupid, closed-minded student/participant.)
Very honestly, I have yet to hear a negative comment about my teaching style and strategies. From Macau and Ateneo Iloilo (formerly SMCS) to UPV, I have always been a favorite and best loved teacher.
From all my writing and theatre and film workshops all over the country since 2000, I am most loved and adored. My 5,000 friends on Facebook, and some 700-plus pending friend requests are testament to this.
I mean, most students I have “touched”, instantly want to be friends with me, even just on Facebook!
So, anyway, I’m telling you all these because although the actual lectures and workshops are the real deal, knowing you are in capable hands adds to a better appreciation and understanding of my literary education advocacy.
I am arriving in the Philippines on Aug. 16, and will be in Iloilo on Aug. 17. On that first weekend of Aug. 19-20, I will once again conduct a workshop for The Stage. It’s called “Poetry: Words for Performance and Songwriting.”.
The greatest thing I will teach on this workshop is the element of Stability. It works for both performance poetry and songwriting. Stability is a valuable and primary concept that I don’t think is ever taught anywhere in the Philippines. I mean, my world and writing greatly changed once I learned this concept in the USA.
So, if you are interested, or if you know of someone who might be interested, or someone you think might be helped in their writing life with a “secret concept”, and an inspiring mentor, consider The Stage course offering with Peter Solis Nery.
Register at The Stage, 2nd Floor Robinsons Place Jaro; email them at: thestageiloilo@gmail.com; contact them at 0917-762-4171 or 0939-103-6184.
I’ve seen that the world cannot be changed immediately by words alone. But I still truly believe that words and ideas can change the world.
People can be changed by words and ideas. When I am angry, I remember wise words and quotations on nonviolence, and I rise up to be a better man.
And the effects in me are immediate. I guess it’s because I have so much faith in words.
What can I say? Words are my life.
Look, I’m not supposed to be blurting out this yet. But I have insider info that I have won yet another Palanca Award this year (no details yet, but we will know next week).
That’s in addition to the 18 that I already have. It’s my seventh consecutive winning year. Now, if 19 Palanca Awards, and 20-plus books under my belt, are not enough credentials for me to teach writing and poetry, I don’t know what is.
Some people say that it’s a rare opportunity to meet me. That’s becoming truer. Not because I shy away from people. But only because I am doing serious travels around the world now more than ever.
So, when I go to the Philippines, I always try to have people and groups arrange workshops and lectures or meet-up events for me.
The Stage at Robinsons Place Jaro on Aug. 19 and 20 is the first, and probably the only open to the public, teaching opportunity for me on Panay Island. I’m on a time-limited vacation, and my other engagements are pretty private and corporate.
So, see you when I see you! (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
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