It’s past 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m fighting not to close my eyes as members of the House of Representatives explain their vote whether to junk or not the impeachment complaint filed against President Arroyo.
Lack of sleep is one of the hazards of the trade, especially when covering politicians who just love to talk. Sometimes it’s fun. I mean the coverage, not the politicians. One has to learn to survive on cigarettes, cups of coffee or glasses of cold water to remain sane.
Journalism is not a walk in the park in a country where everybody has an opinion on everything political or otherwise.
As our politicians talk on television, I entertain myself trying to read a biography of William Shakespeare. Politics in the Philippines anyway seems to be a mix of comedy, tragedy and bad poetry.
Friends from abroad ask how we, Filipinos, afford to smile and even joke about the tragedies we encounter daily. “We’re born to it,” I would say.
What better way to survive in our world of contradictions than to have a big dose of humor.
I find it funny that the only book within my reach as our lawmakers start to recite litanies of their “convictions” and even quote poetry from time to time is Stephen Greenblatt’s “Will in the World” on “how Shakespeare became Shakespeare”. - JT
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
bay,
it is 3:15am, 24 august 2006, and i am also still awake.
nia pud ko nag-monitor sa proceedings diri sa congress kay mao man ni ang akong bread and butter, walay segarilyo kay di man ko manigarilyo, maayo na lang kay dunay computer para maka-basa sa mga entry sa blog ni joe torres.
murag unya pa ko alas siyete sa buntag maka-uli sa balay kay di pa man matapos ang buwa-buwa (bubbles on the mouth) sa atong mga maayong laking mamamalaud (legislators).
abangan ang sunod nga mga hitabo...
salamat and God bless.
terence
Post a Comment