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BY PETER SOLIS NERY
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Monday, June 12, 2017
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AS OF THIS writing, I have worked a total of eight years in Nursing. All in the US. All in California. All in just one hospital.
As of this writing, I am retired as a nurse. Three years, two months, one week to be exact.
I don’t know if I would ever go back to nursing. If I do, it’s just because of boredom. Or, because the job pays relatively well.
I am/was an excellent nurse. Eight months into my first job in the US, and I was already given a national award for extraordinary nursing. And then, I always had to be on my toes to substantiate my nursing award even more.
It’s like my Palanca awards. A total of 18 now.
The first time I won a Palanca for my writing, I could not believe it. So I labored to make sure I won some more just to show others, but especially myself, that my winning wasn’t a fluke. None of those beginner’s luck superstition.
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And year after year, I tried to prove myself that I was really good with words and storytelling. I just felt that I had to be always on my toes to substantiate my first Palanca award. And then, the Hall of Fame.
These days, I write a little more leisurely. But I still write for the Palanca. I still write to compete because, well, because there is a contest that is open to me.
I’m not crazy about awards. I don’t even submit to other competitions. But I just feel that for as long as the Palanca is available and open to me, I will do right by Palanca, and produce more works that are worthy to be called “the country’s top literature.”
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I think I will continue to write, and join, the Palanca contests until I don’t win any more awards.
Here’s the thing: Every year, I grow old. Every year, new writers are born. New writers bloom. Every year, the sets of judges change. Writing trends, and the judges’ tastes, also change.
I do not kid myself. There will be a time when my style, or my ideas, or my words, will no longer find favor among the judges. I think that would be the good time for me to stop entering the Palanca contests.
Meanwhile, I strike while the iron is hot. While I am still able to write. And still able to stir, and impress, the judges. While my ideas and words still qualify as the country’s top literature.
I love the challenge of the Palanca awards. And I love the idea that I am proving my competency to write, my commitment to Philippine literature, by winning consistently. Year after year.
I have won six golds in six consecutive years since 2011. I think that’s a record.
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I also write lightly. I’m not all the time seriously literary. I write for Ilonggo newspapers, for Christ’s sake!
I’ve been writing as a columnist in Ilonggo newspapers since September 2000. That’s going to be 17 years in about three months. So, maybe I’m one of the, if not the, longest running/writing columnist in Western Visayas?
I know! It’s been six newspapers: The News Today (2000-2003). The Daily Guardian (2003-2005). Panay News (2006-2013, shave a year or so in between). Iloilo Metropolitan Times (2013-2016). Panay News, and Panay Balita (2016-present). The Visayas Chronicle (2017-present).
But unlike most columnists who write opinions on political and social issues, I write my own brand of column. Because I can.
Because my publishers and editors indulge me. I think they indulge me because I am a multi-awarded literary writer who can also write high brow. If I want to.
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I am my own kind of columnist. My columns are unlike anything you read anywhere else. I write self-indulgent stuff. I write about me, me, me.
I know! My column writing can be lowbrow. It can be crash and brassy. Egotistical and self-indulgent.
But this is the newspaper. Something you read on the go. You don’t like what I write? Read the column next to mine!
And seriously, I would have stopped writing those kinds of columns early on in my career, too. But my columns, my egotistical and self-indulgent columns, are popular among readers. Even competition newspapers read my columns!
When I’m getting tired and bored of writing my columns, I give my notice to stop writing all together, but the editors and publishers beg me to stay.
They tell me, But your public needs you! The public will go crazy if they don’t get a dose of your craziness.
And so, I persist. Because I am a pleaser. And I value consistency, competence, and commitment.
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I do not need another newspaper. I do not need to write for a newspaper at this stage of my retired life.
I can decide to just park my columns. I can decide to dedicate my life towards more literary writing. Slow, not for deadline, but highly literate, writing. That only true intellectuals and literates can read.
But I understand your need for me, and my humor. And I do not leave people behind. Most of all, my readers and fans.
I do not leave my readers behind. It’s all part of my ministry of accompaniment.
I will be there for you, if you need me. I will be there until you decide you don’t need me anymore.
But you know what? Your life is not fully lived until you have read me. And understand, at least, some of my humor. Because I am a testament to living, and thinking, out of the box.
I am a provocateur. I am an avant garde writer and artist.
You can be who you want to be. But unless you see what other possibilities are there, you lose. Big time.
Now, where to look for those other possibilities? Around. And I’m telling you, unless you have explored the possibilities of a Peter Solis Nery, you haven’t seen every, and all, other possibilities.
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So, go ahead, and mock me. Laugh at me. Scoff at what I do. Belittle what I write. Insult me, if you must. But remember, I am greater than what I write.
Maybe, I am even greater than you. I’m not just a columnist. I’m also a stylist columnist, a stylistic columnist. I am also a literary writer who has secured his place in Philippine, and Hiligaynon, literature. I am also a nurse. A teacher. A life coach. A healer. An artist.
My other works are quite popular. As a teacher, I was a favorite. As a nurse, I was award-winning. As an author, I am famous. As a filmmaker, I am an actor, a boldstar, director, writer, producer, set designer. As a social advocate, my LGBT rights and HIV screening advocacies are gaining grounds. I am awesome!
For you, I’m just a columnist. Even a lowbrow columnist. That’s fine. That’s what I want you to think. Because if you really buy that, then I can be sure you are stupid and ignorant.
And though it doesn’t give me pleasure, it makes me feel better that someone is more stupid and ignorant than I. That I am truly greater than the stupid and ignorant you!
But if you read me, and think I am funny and smart, you get the joke. You get my humor. And you can move on with your life thinking, Why not, indeed? (500tinaga@gmail.com/PN)
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