Writing Home: 19 Writers Remember Their Hometowns
Writing Home: 19 Writers Remember Thier Hometowns Edited by Ruel S. De Vera Anvil Publishing 191 pages, An anthology of essays, poems and short stories As of writing this review, I am yet to finish four more entries: The Bacon vendetta by Eileen R. Tabios (Santo Tomas, Candon, Ilocos Sur), The Adopted Hometown by Alfred Yuson (Dumaguete), Habit of Space by Karina Africa Bolasco (Lipa) and Outward Journey by Jaime An Lim (Cagayan De Oro). Just immediately before I sat down to write this review, I read one which is closer to home: EBJ Freedom Park by Alex de los Santos (Antique) which is a poem that remembers how the park came to be when "we heard the volley of gunfire that made this park a tomb. " EBJ stands for Evelio B. Javier who was a much-beloved Antique Assemblyman and governor who was assassinated in 1986. In the poem's opening lines, the park for Antiquenos is "here is where we rise, here we bury victories." And as closing lines, the...