Dispatches by Adrian Conoza

Courtesy of: http://textualweb.com/wp-content /uploads/2013/02/writers-block.jpg Writing is a growing and ongoing process. I've been committed to writing for almost 3 years, cultivating the craft through papers and Webpages whenever time permits. I have grown better and learned further as I write. Yet, there is still more to know and learn. There's more room for improvement, as in more more rooms. It's a realization for me: I have a lot to learn. Though I'm flattered whenever I'm complimented, I still know in myself that I have more to learn. I see errors in my posts here when I just started blogging, which I care not to erase to preserve originality, and maybe see to it that so far I have grown. Thus, I have to practice more often. How will the craft be honed if there's no output to work on? No wonder I'm writing this piece. I have to learn a lot not only in grammar and structure, but I also have to learn a lot outside the writing thing itself. I have to im...

Source: www.ebookstorm.com Many of us still read teen-oriented novels, from the foreign bestsellers of John Green and Veronica Roth to the local stories of HaveYouSeenThisGirl. There's more to that, however. We miss a lot from old young adult (YA) novels, those of which—unfortunately—can only be found (or better say unearth) luckily in secondhand bookstores. There are many YA novels that I now consider classics (not only Tom Sawyer or Little Girls !), but for this review let's take an American author who was for 10 years a chemistry teacher—Paul Zindel. He writes so much about the realities of adolescence, starting with Confessions of A Teenage Baboon . He reveals more of those in My Darling, My Hamburger , a novel that is now around 44 years old. The story centers around Maggie and her best friend Elizabeth (or Liz). Dennis and Sean, best friends as well, joins along with the two in a roller-coaster course each of them will ride on. They are all in the senior year, thus they ...

Source: http://www.katarinaforss.com/img/silence.jpg I know it in myself. I cannot deny it. Many people, especially very close friends in high school, see me as a talkative (at the least) and engaging guy. By timing and exposure, I get to speak and talk and converse among people. Yet, many still have an impression of me as the opposite, and I don't deny that. At many circumstances, I'm silent. Quiet. Static. Loner. But, silent is the best term I'll accept. Perhaps this is one of my marks of being a writer; a mark making my desire for writing really fit to me; perhaps the reason why I'm inclined to make my voice heard through written words rather than spoken ones. But, believe me, I want to break that silence. I've already did that before, but I want to do it again. I seek to break the barriers that are still there, and have more connections while still being myself. I've recently heard and learned that it is said that there are 4 personalities in general: sangui...

Last year, I won 3rd place in field reporting in the radio broadcasting competition of the District School Press Conference, and the school our whole team were representing won 3rd place in the competition proper. I did the script of a 5-minute (at the least) newscast, and played a role on one of the 4 field reporters. I was urged by my English teacher and some fellow seniors to join the team for the competition. I decided to go since it sounded interesting. At first, it was sort of uncomfortable for me to do, but as I went on knowing the basics and practicing and preparing for the contest, I began learning a lot and enjoying the experience with my teammates. Picture from: http://charlieagatep.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/lights-camera-how-philippine-tv-began/ Signing-on Ever since as a child I gained interest in media, from television to print; yet what seems to be not much appreciated by teenagers is still my unfading interest. As an elementary student, I would turn that circular par...

One pounding beat. Then another. And another. And one last more. A brass fanfare follows, alongside a snare, slowly going crescendo, then blasting before it pauses. Alongside this sound is a capture of a long, black, swivel chair that seems to be a kind executives sit on. The atmosphere around the studio is black and serious. Spotlights show up, shining at the chair, then to four people sitting on one side. This is how every Mastermind episode begins. This is what the game show is known for—its seriousness, shown in the dark studio and in the theme music entitled "Approaching Menace". This is a game show where intellect counts a lot. This is not aired in the Philippines, but it is very popular in United Kingdom, where it aired since 1972, and stopped at around 1997, then came back at 2003. Mechanics There are 2 rounds in Mastermind. In the first round, the four people are going to be asked, one by one, by the game master about a specialist subject each of these contestants h...