Our professor Ms. Kisha Aleena Abuda had always written about animals for as long as I could remember. In my second year of taking up a BA in Creative Writing, we analyzed her short story, “Nang Mahulog Ang Mga Ibon.” And by the time we began our thesis journey, we used her MA thesis, “Pag-alagwa sa Hawla: Pagkatha ng Makabagong Kuwentong Hayop” as our basis.
In each one of her stories, her poetics and politics of telling the stories of animals not as symbols for human consumption came alive. Although I had consumed many of her works in the past, all I could say was that she was in the right. Animals did have stories of their own.
Luckily, it did not end there. As I searched for an internship at the beginning of the school year, Ms. Abuda shared some of the places she had worked. One of these was the Animal Scene Magazine, for which she contributed some articles years ago. All I thought then was, “I like animals, I guess.” I immediately applied.
A month later, my internship for Manila Bulletin’s Animal Scene Magazine began. Little did I know how much it would change the way I wrote.
THEORY IN PRACTICE
On the second day of this internship, the team required me to cover an animal-themed convention and create many reels. There, I saw a variety of animals. Some of them were petite, some were jolly and fat. Some had long curly hair, some had scales to match.
Yet each one was a jewel, the most priceless of all. All works of art, each one worth appreciation.
These were things I already knew about animals. The sounds Cats made were different from the moos of a Cow. Bunnies hopped, and Dogs ran. Their differences were what I was fascinated by the most. I observed them from afar, admiring their qualities through my camera’s lens.
It was only when I began writing the first article that I understood what appreciation truly meant.
Appreciation was visible in language as it was in action. It was embedded in the way we angled stories, the words we used to describe animals, and the symbolism we attached to them. Though it was Ms. Kisha who taught me such things, it was this internship that truly put those lessons into action.
Writing about and for animals required a heart of gold. It went beyond telling stories for art’s sake. With each animal I met, I realized they had their own names, personalities, and stories that only we could tell others.
ALL MY GRATITUDE
And so, as I entered the Manila Bulletin building day by day with one question in my head: How do I tell their stories?
Not only that, but I began to realize that in writing about animals, even if creative nonfiction, the author had to decenter themselves. Writers took on the role of translating the stories of animals into words that humans understood.
Repeating this over and over in my head, I began to see animals in a new light. The stories I pitched were not for my convenience, but in the interest of animals that lived in the metro.
Whether it was the Cats around UST and the people who advocated for their continued safety and security, the Dog and their human companion who won a fun run, or a stray living inside Intramuros’ walls, the animals’ story was put into focus. No longer was it about what these animals meant for us humans, but who these animals are as individuals with their own dignity.
THEY’RE NOT OBJECTS
The Ber-months quickly flew by, and my time as an intern for this amazing magazine quickly came to a close. I learned how editorials worked, the printing process behind them, the tiring work of a journalist sent to cover events, and how to write about animals.
Still, my greatest achievement was realizing that we did not have to look at animals as lesser beings, with humans as subjects and them as objects. Animals are their own characters, with their own lessons to learn, their own conflicts (mostly man-made), and their own arcs. It was the duty of writers to translate their barks and meows.
The fun thing was, there was no one way to do it! The stories of animals lived on through articles, short stories, comic books, films, plays, and so much more.
THE END IS A BEGINNING
Nowadays, I am most interested in diving deep into why we use animals to describe people negatively and critiquing the culture through literature. Hence, “Tiger Sun” was born and drafted. Many more stories were to be born out of love for animals, I was sure of that.
A huge thank you to each and every animal I got to meet in those conventions, fun run, and along the streets. I’ll never forget trying to find a Chicken inside Intramuros. A big thanks as well to Doc Stef, Sir Jeff, and Ms. Tin, and to Ms. Kisha for introducing me to them.
