Dr. Alegria Visaya

Mark Barba
IP 411

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Guest Speaker: Dr. Alegria Visaya

On Friday, October 12, 2007, IP 411 was lucky to have Dr. Alegria Visaya come down to the University of Hawaii and tell us about her experiences as a Filipino poet. It was a long awaited coming, which for most of the class, was an unexpected appearance.

When the class started engaging in a conversation with Dr. Visaya, there existed this casual atmosphere in the room that made it good for interaction. She discussed various aspects of her career in which turned her life around. There were situations such as, her editing years back in high school and later writing for bigger magazines such as the Banawag. One particular story that caught my attention during her speech was the issue about finding her identity. Dr. Visaya mentioned that she wasn’t full Filipino but shared a Chinese side as well. I enjoyed this section of her speech because I felt that as being young and still in college, there are many of us still looking out for what we want to do with our lives especially now that college is a stepping block into a bigger world. She made it clear that finding out what makes you happy and doing it is a great motivation in fulfilling your life.

Another part of her stories that I enjoyed was her explanation for her poems. It went along the lines of, “You find beauty in the simple things.” I thought that was amazing because there is a lot of truth behind this statement. Beauty lies in everything and as individuals we have to put how much worth it really is. Dr. Visaya also mentioned how she was quite an observer. If something she saw along the road gave her interest, she would photograph it. I felt that I could relate to her on this because I do the same thing.

I felt the meeting with Dr. Alegria Visaya was one of the greatest experiences this semester. Although it may have been cut short, I left with a lot of knowledge. It was inspirational to hear the success of a Filipino writer because it builds motivation for those who are striving for their own meaningful expression.