Solons seek to increase SUCs budget — Page 3 Philippine Collegian Opisyal na lingguhang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas - Diliman 6 Oktubre 2011 Taon 89, Blg. 15
DILIMAN COMMUNE Kultura
Dibuho ni RD Aliposa
A series of drills
Banta sa pag-iral
Conflicted peace
Opinyon Page 8
Editoryal Pahina 2
Features Page 6
6
On column-writing and filling space Terminal Cases Delfin Mercado
I
t was always my intention to totally conquer this space, this side of the Collegian’s front cover weekly, to fill every sentence with my personal angst, to utilize every comma and dash for my benefit. For fifteen issues now, I strived to write about things that I think would, at the very least, be tangentially related to you, the reader. I tried to talk about relevant things – from discussing how a reduced subsidy for UP would undermine its operations to how Harry Potter has become an integral part of our childhood. I tried to talk about my life, and piece by piece reveal upon you my identity, my background, the context in which I write this column. I tried to conjure an illusion of you and me building a budding relationship – each week I reveal a part of myself to ardent readers who would notice the little nuances of my personality that I add upon my musings. Slowly but steadily, I thought, Delfin Mercado would grow into a different being, thriving and existing in this small column space, a part of me that is not totally me, an independent creation. Each week, I try to come up with something fresh, something that would let me cover this ten-inch column with text, something that would let me once again claim this piece of space for my own. And yet, when the time comes for me to sit down and write this column, all ideas for a good write-up disappear, leaving me staring at a blank Word document for a long while, with the cursor in the screen blinking for more than a hundred times before I even attempt to write the first word. I don’t believe in writer’s block or any of that lot. It’s just that the very thought of owning your own space is too overwhelming for me. Instead of claiming this space for myself, the column space conquered me. For you, reader, I may be anyone whom you’ll meet in the sidewalks, the staircases, maybe even a classmate in one subject. But I can only be Delfin Mercado the columnist through this narrow space. My identity, my existence in your plane of reality is and will always be connected with this column. Just as land can never be truly a property of the landlord, this space right here can never be truly mine. And as an old friend always tells me, “You can never really own something that outlives you.” ●