Newsletter: EDTECH 101

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Life and Times An EDTECH 101 Newsletter

Introduction By Lean Aquino

There was once a boy whose name was

Lean. He was born on the 5th of November

1994 in a place called Dasmarinas.

As a child, he never wanted to grow up.

He wanted to become one of Peter Pan’s lost

boys, who wander forever in Neverland.

What he soon found out, however, was that

growing up is a requirement of life.

Today, he mostly lives with fiction. He

loves writing; he loves fantastical stories.

Words are his best friends. His very own story,

however, is just about to begin.

My Unlikely Friend BY CHRISTEL JIMENEZ

Why unlikely? Well, here’s why.

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Why Snobs Like Joel Stein Are Wrong About Adults and YA Literature

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Manila Int’l Book Fair at SMX FROM THE PHILIPPINE STAR

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Why unlikely? Well, here's

why.

When I first met him, (I

think it was when we were still

in prep) he was the silent type.

That transcended on

until the early stage

of high school. Sure,

we were 'pals' before,

but that was just it.

You see, Lean was

very, very quiet

before. He would just write,

write and write. He didn't have

that much friends until around

our sophomore year when he

started to become outgoing. It

was such a pleasant surprise! He

started talking.

One thing led to

the next and he

became one of

my closest

friends. He began opening up

and really expressing himself.

That's when I realized that there

really is a whole lot more to him.

He's very interesting! Or

rather, he has a wide variety of

interests that make conversing

with him such a treat. Also, he

may not show it that much, but

he really cares about his friends.

During my 18th birthday, he

gave me a mixed CD of songs

that reminded him of

me and to be honest,

that's one of the

sweetest things anyone's

done for me, and I didn't

expect it to be coming

from Lean. He’s also

very persistent and he's quite a

perfectionist when it comes to

tasks. I admire him for the fact

that he was an amazing editor-

in-chief of our school paper. He

made sure that whatever we

published would

be of quality.

He may be

quite outspoken

at times but one

thing is for sure, Lean is a

keeper. He will stand up for

what he believes in and I truly

respect him for that.

My Unlikely Friend

Mr. Introvert

By Christel Jimenez

Lean may just be

the most opinionated

person I know. If we are

to base on stereotypes,

you may know him as a

shy, silent, and introvert

person, but he's more

than that. Beyond that

front of his is a vast

world that many of us

may not understand,

which is typical for great

minds like his. He has a

lot more boundaries to

cross though, but I

believe he is highly

capable of doing such.

By Angelo Del Rosario

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I suppose Joel Stein thinks he’s being

rather clever and sophisticated in his riff for the

New York Times about why grown-ups

shouldn’t read literature aimed at young adults

(something he conflates with picture books). He

sniffs:

I appreciate that adults occasionally

watch Pixar movies or play video

games. That’s fine. Those media don’t

require much of your brains. Books are

one of our few chances to learn. There’s

a reason my teachers didn’t assign me

to go home and play three hours of

Donkey Kong. I have no idea what

“The Hunger Games” is like. Maybe

there are complicated shades of good

and evil in each character. Maybe there

are Pynchonesque turns of phrase.

Maybe it delves into issues of identity,

self-justification and anomie that would

make David Foster Wallace proud. I

don’t know because it’s a book for kids.

FEATURES

…CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

Why Snobs Like Joel Stein Are Wrong About Adults and YA Literature

By Alyssa Rosenberg

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like the Hunger Games

franchise can keep Katniss a

virgin throughout the

majority of the three books

and still communicate the

horror of surrendering your

sexual and romantic

autonomy. Harry Potter may

be the first encounter a

generation of

readers has with

the evils of

torture and

nasty class bias.

Tamora Pierce’s

Provost’s Dog

series is an

unflinching

exploration of crime and

poverty. Simply because

these novels are also

appropriate for younger

readers doesn’t mean the

ideas in them are stupid or

the prose is unworthy. Not

all things written for younger

readers are masterpieces, of

course. But there’s plenty of

bad trash, insipid prose, and

deeply stupid ideas in books

written for adults. Joel Stein

is welcome to it.

(continued) I’ll read “The

Hunger Games” when I

finish the previous 3,000

years of fiction written for

adults.

Where to begin? First,

with a bit of history.

Adolesence as we understand

is a rather new invention, and

more to the point, the idea of

literature aimed squarely at

children or at young adults is a

relatively new phenomenon in

narrative fiction.

The first

picture books

begin trickling

out in the 1600s

as a combination

of instructional

or pleasurable reading. And

the distinction between

children’s, young adult, and

plain literature doesn’t come

until 1802 when British critic

Sarah Trimmer proposed two

categories of books, one for

those younger than 14,

another for literature

specifically aimed at those

between the ages of 14 and 21,

a time when children

transitioned into formal

adulthood. In other words,

those 3,000 years of fiction

include an awful lot of writing

intended for audiences of

mixed ages, whether it’s Jane

Austen’s novels or lives of

saints, which can be decidedly

R-rated.

Second,

the ideas

that children and young adults

are only capable of digesting

mush, or that the only way to

discuss sophisticated themes is

to include explicit sex and

violence are pure hogwash.

Young people are capable of

fairly sophisticated reasoning,

of empathy, and even of

significant evil, and many of

them can rise to meet fairly

high bars as readers. A series

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Manila, Philippines - In

celebration of its 33rd year,

Manila International Book

Fair (MIBF), the biggest

and longest-running book

fair, heads back to the

SMX Convention Center,

Pasay City on Sept. 12-16.

One of the most

widely anticipated events

for students, teachers,

school administrators, and

those who love reading in

general, the MIBF

showcases the largest

collection of literature for

LEAN CARLO A. AQUINO

2011-44155

Writers:

Christel Jimenez

Angelo Del Rosario

LIFE AND TIMES An EDTECH 101 Newsletter

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SOURCES USED

Rosenberg, A. (2012, March 30). Why snobs like Joel Stein are wrong about adults and YA literature. In Think Progress. Retrieved August 20, 2012 from http:��thinkprogress.org�alyssa�2012�03�30�455937�why-snobs-like-joel-stein-are-wrong-about-adults-and-ya-literature�?mobile=nc

Anonymous. (2012, Aug. 20). Manila international bookfair at SMX. Retrieved August 20, 2012 from http:��www.philstar.com�Article.aspx?articleId=839829&publicationSubCategoryId=79

italmsa. (2012). ��[Fan art for The Hunger Games]�. Retrieved August 20, 2012 from http:��italsma.tumblr.com�post�19732377437�happy-hunger-games-the-girl-who-was-on-fire-is

�icesplendor (2007). ��[Fan art for Harry

Potter]. Retrieved August 20, 2012 from http:��Icesplendor.deviantart.com�art�Harry-Potter-60453872?q=boost�3Apopular�20harry�20potter&qo=44

Paceos. (2012). �[Official art for Int’l Book

Fair]. Retrieved August 20, 2012 from http:��www.paceos.org�images�events�thumbnail�94.jpg

both leisurely and

academic reading.

MIBF runs from

Sept. 14 to 18 at the

SMX Convention

Center, Seashell Drive,

Mall of Asia Complex,

Pasay City. MIBF is

organized by Primetrade

Asia Inc., in partnership

with Asian Catholic

Communicators, Inc.,

Book Development

Association of the

Philippines, Philippine

Booksellers Association,

Inc., and Publishers

Representatives

Organization of the

Philippines.

Manila Int’l Bookfair at

SMX

From The Philippine Star

Official art of the MIBF