CONTRIBUTORS

ABIGAIL ADRIATICO has always wanted to be a writer ever since she was nine. Twelve years later, she’s well on her way to becoming just that. However, if you ask her what she would like to be now, she will most likely just say one word while holding her nth cup of coffee, her weary eyes staring at you intently.

“Asleep.”

CZERIZHA ADZUARA has been a wordsmith ever since she was young. Now a woman-grown, she still holds the pen for a student publication along with the pursuit of her literary studies. Besides finding solace in words, you will find her arms enfolded around a four-legged feline creature.

She loves to read and aspires to be read— which is what you are about to do.

LANCE CARLO ANGELO is a student of the University of Santo Tomas where he is currently taking up his Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing. He aspires to be a renowned novelist. A freelance writer who writes audio scripts and a master procrastinator who treats coffee like water. From incorporating wholesome and heart-fluttering themes in his stories, he is now turning to the dark side with his murderous and violent themes. A Once who always wonders What is Love?

FATIMA BADURIA is a writer who dreams of becoming great. Following this ambition, she writes for The Flame while pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Communication. She spends plenty of her time in her room, writing (or staring at a blank page for hours).

One day, she hopes to see her name printed on a book cover or written on a byline or both. For now, she does her best as a literary writer.

SHANNIA BERNAL is a yellow person—an admirer of summer, Siar and Narra, and city lights. Her ultimate life goal is to be radiant in thoughts, words, and actions.

KRISTELA DANIELLE S. BOO shot both living and non-living things still for The Flame. Now a journalism alumna, she is trying to finish reading the works listed on Bianca Schulze’s “101 Books To Read Before You Grow Up.”

SOFIA ISABELLE D. CABARROGUIS is a Philosophy student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters at Santo Tomas. She started writing vignettes and poems at 16 on social reading platforms, mostly on grief, love, and nostalgia. Her passion for Philosophy provides a cynical take on writing and a bold perspective on romanticism (although now mainly involved with technical writing). She developed a fondness for music, biking, coffee, photography, and Adam Sandler. She’s the eldest of 4 siblings, two humans and two dogs. Her works are on most social media platforms; it’s abecdz.

Having a versatile personality makes TCHEKY NICOLE CABRERA indescribable. She is someone who cannot be determined because she is always capable of changing. She is an artist who does not like final knowledge. Her goal is always to reach what is out of reach.

JUSTIN ANDREW CRUZANA is a Literature student in the Faculty of Arts and Letters and is a contributor to the upcoming sixth issue of Alien Magazine. He likes taking long walks, the multiplication table of seven, and he cannot stop thinking about September. He lives in Metro Manila.

CATHERINE DABU, who’s usually called “Cath”, loves doing the most mundane things because she almost always run into trouble immediately ever since she was a kid. But ironically, she believes in sheer dumb luck, the alignment of stars, and taking long walks aimlessly just like Sisyphus rolling a massive boulder up the hill.

JECELIE CLAIRE DE LA ROSA is a creative writing major from the University of Santo Tomas. She won 3rd Place at the 36th Gawad Ustetika for her poetry collection, “The Women in My Family”. In 2020, she was a contributor for the Dapitan Literary folio in 2020. She spearheaded projects related to poetry and its impact on society especially with regards to mental health, such as writing as therapy for rehabilitation patients and writing as a coping mechanism for students. She loves trying new things and learning new things. She thinks that there is a space for the creative arts in the future, and that writing can keep track of the fast paced life. She is interested in learning different languages, loves animals, and hopes to continue writing in the future.

FRANZ AUSTIN DE MESA is a third-year Creative Writing student. A fictionist and a poet, his works mostly tackle the violence and duality of Filipino society, though angsty drama does come up from time to time. When he isn’t cramming schoolwork, he likes to play video games and watch movies. Sadly he has no pets, but at least he has deadlines to keep him company.

LEIGH ANNE DARLENE DISPO is a fourth year student in Economics and works at a BPO company. She rereads Nabokov and devotes her mornings to oatmeal and running. She lives in Cavite.

ANDREI DURAN is a twenty year old student from the ‘Travel City of the Philippines’ Pasay City and advocate for gender equality, youth empowerment, among others.

Growing up as a kid, he aspires to connect people with their stories which then made him take Journalism as his undergraduate program. Currently, he is in his third-year at the University of Santo Tomas and since then he nurtured his skills that he will use to further his path as a media practitioner in the future.

In the same university, he works as a Photographer for the official publication of his college which is Faculty of Arts and Letters.

Through photography and writing stories for his fellowmen, he is aiming to live up to his duties as young journalist while infusing his advocacies to whatever content he is producing.

ZYMON ARVINDALE R. DYKEE. 24. Taurus Sun, Aries Moon, Aries rising. Side.

(He wishes to thank Leo Baltar for providing tremendous insights into the early drafts of his work.)

Labing-isang taon nang sumusulat si SOPHIA EUGENIO. Mula sa maagang pagkamulat sa mundo ng literatura noong elementarya at junior high school, nabuo ang desisyon niyang magpursigi sa pagsusulat pagtungtong niya sa senior high school kung saan naging hilig niya ang pagsulat ng katha at tula. Ngunit mas napamahal sa kanya ang sanaysay at dula nang lumawak ang mundo niya sa ilalim ng kursong Creative Writing sa University of Santo Tomas.

Ilan sa mga parangal na nakuha ni Sophia Eugenio sa elementarya at junior high school ay ang Best Scriptwriter, Best Director, Master Essayist, Young Journalist Awardee, at ang ikalimang gantimpala sa Laguna Divisions Schools Press Conference (DSPC) noong 2015 sa kategoryang Copy Reading and Headline Writing. Nagtapos siyang Salutatorian ng kanilang klase, kabilang na rin ang pagiging Secretary ng Student Council at Editor-in-Chief ng buong paaralan. Sa kolehiyo, nagtrabaho siya para sa iba’t ibang organisasyon – ilan dito ang UST Literary Society kung saan siya ay naging EA to the Secretary at parte ng Creatives Team, The Flame kung saan naglimbag siya ng mga sanaysay, Artistang Artlets kung saan nagwagi siya ng Best Script sa unang taon niya bilang apprentice scriptwriter, at TomasinoWeb kung saan isa siyang Stories Writer.

Si Sophia Eugenio ay ang kasalukuyang Production Designer ng Artistang Artlets, kung saan siya rin ay nagdidirekta at nagsusulat ng mga dula, at mga sanaysay naman para sa TomasinoWeb. Nagwagi siya ng ikalawang gantimpala para sa sanaysay niyang “May Pakpak Ang Tagabantay Ko sa Gabi” sa ika-36 na Gawad Ustetika.

RAINIEL ANGELYN BUENAVISTA FIGUEROA, better known as Rain or "Ulan", is a journalism student at the University of Santo Tomas and currently the Chief Photographer of The Flame. Rainiel started her journey of photojournalism way back in fourth grade. To her surprise, she's still pursuing it. She joined student publications, journalism contests, and photography communities, and even took journalism for college. But don't get it wrong. Journalism is a writing career yet Rain is not much a fan of fancy words, she can't even finish at one seat this hundred and fifty self-description for Dapitan. But, on the other hand, it is the exact reason why she pursued journalism—to learn how to write. She promised herself

that after four years of stay in journalism school she can proudly say that she is a writer now.

Instead of telling how orangey the sunset is, how this man stands on his balcony alone, Rain much prefers to show it—a visual storyteller. Happiness for her is seeing people happy because she finally puts into visual the imagination, the words, the idea on someone’s head.

And as a photographer, her happiness is that she's able to freeze the moment through single frames. Joining The Flame was "suntok sa buwan" for Rain--- she was very nervous. Rainiel passed her requirement literally at the last minute of the deadline because she was not confident with her work.

Two years later—it's the best decision she ever made. You grow the most on the things you are afraid of.

Si NICK GARCIA ay nagtatrabaho sa media industry. Bagama’t nakaka-stress ang pinaggagagawa niya araw-araw, lagi siyang updated sa showbiz happenings.

ANDREI JOHAHN I. GREGORIO is a second year Behavioral Science student. He is a person that has the widest of interests. To pursue understanding of the incomprehensible for him, he tries out different things including sports, music, and writing. He believes that it is one way to understand if you get to experience such things and these experiences can also relate to others as all things are interconnected. Currently in writing, he is trying to explore other styles and genres that could further improve both his creative and academic writing. Not only in writing is he continuously trying to challenge himself for self-improvement, as much as possible he wants to have a general understanding of things so that one day, he can also teach practical techniques and skills to those who need it.

THEA LACAMBRA is a graduate student under the Master of Arts in Creative Writing program at the University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. While she writes both fiction and nonfiction, Thea aspires to become a full-fledged novelist. The range of topics she hopes to explore in the future is focused on the LGBTQIA+ community. Thea likes hoarding books, then leaving them untouched and dusty on the shelf for an indefinite period. She adores J.R.R. Tolkien.

Si ISABELLE LAURENTE ay isang mag-aaral sa Creative Writing at may pagkahumaling sa mga pusa. Nakakakuha siya ng inspirasyon tuwing nakikinig siya sa mga kwento ng iba’t ibang tao sa restaurant, sa coffee shop, o kahit sa mga parke. Nais niyang mag-iwan ng marka sa mundo na pinaglalaban niya ang kababaihan sa pamamagitan ng pagsusulat.

Si MA. CHRISTELLA LIM ay nag-aaral ng Panitikan sa Unibersidad ng Santo Tomas. Dati pa niya nakahiligan ang magsulat at magbasa, pero tinamad na siya simula noong ni-require na ng course niya. Hinahanap niya pa ang motibasyon para makapagsulat muli. Nagsusulat siya noon ng mga tula, pero ngayon ay hinahangad maging manunulat ng creative nonfiction. Si Christella ay naging Fellow for Poetry/ Tula ng Haraya Manawari, ang ikalimang creative writing workshop na inorganisa ng UST Literary Society. Siya ay mahiyain, pero miyembro ng Artistang Artlets, isang theatre organization sa Faculty of Arts and Letters ng kanilang unibersidad. Naniniwala siya na ang pag-ibig ay nasa pagkain at nasa K-pop idols niya tulad ng NCT at ONF.

HANZ LONTOC. A stumbling artist still on the process of discovering the style which fits his taste. Risk-taker, Clutch-taker, Dream-maker artist but not a heartbreaker.

GABRIELLE LOPEZ is an aspiring author and artist with a background on media productions as she pursues a bachelor’s degree in Communication. She has been poring over books all her life and dreams of getting published and becoming an editor for a publishing company. Gabrielle writes about love, mental health, self, womanhood, and other little things in life, drawing inspiration from nature. In her free time, she loves to cuddle cats, watch sunsets from her bedroom window, eat potato chips on the couch, and hike mountains.

JERICHO CHRISTIAN LOPEZ, also known as J.C. Lopez, is a 2nd year Creative Writing student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters. He started writing poetry when he was in Junior High School and decided to pursue writing as a career when he entered the University of Santo Tomas as a Senior High School thomasian. Lopez recently discovered that while he’s an English fictionist, he writes poetry best in his native language, Filipino. Currently, he’s exploring multiple genres of fiction from fantasy, sci-fi, to mystery, in search for his soon-to-be genre of focus.

MS. TRIXCY ANNE LOSERIAGA is a 19-year old student from Marikina City. She loves making fan arts and fan fictions of her favorite games. A selfpractitioner of art and poetry. Immersing herself with other artists and players in Grand Summoners to further improve her craft.

JUAN CARLOS FELIPE G. MONTENEGRO (or Loaf) is an AB History graduate. His works have been featured in Ani, Dapitan, Voice & Verse Magazine, and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. He was also a poetry fellow at the 6th UST Thomasian Undergraduate Writers Workshop. Aside from literary writing, he occasionally participates in debate tourneys either as judge or competitor. He currently resides in Quezon City.

LAURICE MUYOT. The Feral Fantasy.

Imagine a figure sitting at the edge of your bed, or a lone statue of a jester in a dilapidated amusement park. Imagine the golden saturated sunset suddenly shift into the most violent grey storms, or a reflection of yourself in a hall of mirrors. Imagine a person in a black trench coat sitting behind a wall full of splattered paint and visual statements in graffiti or a shape-shifting skinwalker that can mimic anything to pounce on a prey with its art of ripping its insides and consuming it.

That’s what Laurice Muyot is, an absolutely unexpected individual. They can be an impressionist that can romanticize reality as they see fit, observing your every move to try and sketch out your breathtaking features with their handy dandy pad with any pencil they can find. They can exude their ever-changing feelings with the flowing watercolors as every stroke, tap and lash, there will be a chunk of their heart accompanied with it. With even newspapers or candy wrappers they can find in the street or magazines that can even go back from the vintage 60s, they can and they can find an opportunity with such garbage and make it a work of art, much more in a Dadaistic approach as well. This is what they love the most: the randomizing of images they can cut out, the surreal and rather chaotic expression of each piece, and especially the never-ending love, passion, and excitement that comes in each piece.

ADA PELONIA enjoys the pitter-patter of rain, booming thunder, cacophony of birdsong or anything that would muffle the voices in her head. Her works have appeared in Philippines Graphic, Dapitan, Philippine Daily Inquirer, CandyMag, among others. These days, she’s a full-time mom of her works-in-progress and takes good care of them by frequenting Google Docs.

ARWIN NATHANIEL A. ROMANO, a 19-year-old incoming journalism sophomore from the University of Santo Tomas has been a campus photojournalist for five years. With his passion for capturing photos, he started to be a freelance photographer. He is also a writer at Fact-Check Patrol. His friends call him ‘Direk’ because apart from the journalistic side, he is also passionate in telling stories through visuals as he also became part of the Thomasian Film Society as director of photography in the year-end production. He is the current head of the directors’ pool of UST Tiger TV.

“It seems I’m more into photography these days,” FRANCESCA SENA said, compiling her photos and clicking submit. Currently a 3rd year Literature student at 20 years old, she seems to have formed a new love for photography, improving day by day. Proofs of this can be found on her photography Instagram dump (@ cheskys.cam). She has no idea whether this may be an actual path in her life, but it’s good to have options.

It has been a year since she last wrote her creative self-description. But DAWN SOLANO’s still lost in the woods she found last year. She’s writing away her feelings and drowning all her worries down the river of gold.

As of the moment, she is in her third year at the University. Next year, she’s off to pass through the centuries-old arch to find another forest to get lost in.

LORRAINE C. SUAREZ is an artist of The Flame. Aside from doing artworks, she loves to write stories for kids. When she’s bored, she likes to annoy her favorite person, her niece. She’s fond of babysitting to the point that nursery rhymes become her all-time playlist.

BRANDON JAMES T. TALIP is a fourth year Creative Writing student in the University of Santo Tomas. He has been recently occupied in almost everything besides those that academically matter. What has been keeping him busy, for the most part, is covering his old books (that he has yet to read) with plastic covers to keep them in pristine condition. Never mind that the pages had changed in color. He finds it calming when he cleans the house when he’s alone. He also doesn’t mind cooking and eating alone, but he does miss going out at night to look for cheap, affordable food that tastes nothing like pre-packed food. Most of all, he misses bringing the rice cooker to class for breakfast.

If there is a man who can write in words every feeling and emotion in the world, that is ADOLF TALON. He tries to put poetry into critical perspective and open perspective into poetry. There are a million things he has encountered and a million more he seeks to experience through hard work and dedication. To do the things he loves, he finds himself constantly prioritizing time management and objective planning in the everyday hourglass. The leadership he possesses is one of a listener and a doer; always for inclusive progress and collective action. Although he may be exposed to pressure, the ways to accomplish will always be in his mind throughout the struggle which makes him experienced and tested by difficulties. In all that is left to say, he is without a doubt a wanderer, determined, and battle-hardened warrior.

ANGELINE TANQUECO, or Angge, became a photographer for The Flame by leap of faith. A December miracle one might say. In the midst of her annual year-end existential crisis came the spark of hope that soon turned into a fiery purpose. A third-year journalism student drowning in articles and essays, Angge made it through the school year thanks to her family, friends, BTS, Wheein, and The Flame.

JEANNE PAULINE TECSON. Little is known for certain about the life and habits of Ms. Tecson, save that she’d rather be spared the mortifying ordeal of being known. However, contemporary sources suggest that she is still on her Genshin Impact grind, and has graduated from drip coffee to discover the wonders of double shot espresso. Whether this is behavior typical of a Pisces Sun, Pisces Moon, and Taurus Rising native remains to be seen.

She is a struggling Literature student who lives out her frustrated dreams of being a visual artist by staffing for The Flame. Currently, she is harboring an inordinate fondness for math rock, the Land of the Lustrous manga, and all things Taika Waititi.

AEDAN JEFFERSON TROPA, 21, is a 2nd year Creative Writing Student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters in UST. He is a cactus and succulent enthusiast/ collector, and a Swiftie living and surviving in Cavite. Writer in Filipino talaga siya, napilitan lang mag-Ingles sa iba niyang mga naisulat dahil sa iyon ang itinakda ng puso at isipan niya, minsan dahil rin sa requirement. Tamad pero may pakinabang pa rin naman paminsan-minsan. Pwede ko bang sabihin dito na NBSB ako? Ah, basta. Bahala na. Ah! Minsan nang nag-cutting at tumungo sa isang branch ng kilalang fast food resto sa Pinas para dagdagan ang bilang ng mga salita

sa minsan niyang sinumulang nobela. Masaya siya kapag konti lang ang tao. Mas masaya kapag mag-isa. Nasanay na siya e. Basta, buhay pa siya. Humihinga pa. May ipinaglalaban e. (At saka NBSB nga kasi siya. Hindi siya papayag na matsugi nang hindi nagkakajowa! Pero happily single naman siya ngayon at wala pang balak humarurowt at the moment.)

JULIA DOMINIQUE YANCHA is passionate about art and one day dreams to become a successful artist. Other than that, she loves reading cheesy young adult novels, writing her thoughts in her journal, and all things Stranger Things. If she ever gets taken by Vecna, save her by playing Harlem Shake para funny.

During moments of waiting during the rush hour traffic, LANCE JESTER ZAFE likes watching Korean dramas and listening to songs by various K-pop groups. At home, he waits for his plants to grow a new leaf, flower, or a new pest to deal with. If he’s not feeling dazed from his tasks, he sneaks in a round of Valorant. Sometimes, he writes.