(Al was the COCONUT Adviser from 1961 to 1970. His former students at Quezon Provincial High School treasured the superb quality of his teachings in English and Literature classes. He also served as a guidance counselor before he left for United States.)

I immigrated to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1970. My original port of entry was St. Paul, Minnesota but deemed the state too cold for me. Before Lincoln I stayed for a few days in Tokyo, then on to Honolulu where I got my green card (everything was so much easier these days; even my visa application was approved two months after my interview.) I stopped at L.A. and Denver, nothing impressed me until I saw the Grand Canyon.

Within two weeks after I arrived in Lincoln, I received an offer from a school superintendent I met at the University of Nebraska to work as a counselor in Madrid. I stayed in that school for two years.

At NU, I began my master's and doctorate program in linguistics. I received my degrees in 1975 and 1978 respectively. Now here's the rub, my job now doesn't require these degrees in linguistics but I chose to follow a career in psychology and counseling for immensely personal reasons.

For 15 years I worked as a psychotherapist, educational therapist and clinical psychologist in Lincoln and Omaha. I chose this career to keep myself mentally strong and healthy. Yes, I take my crazy streaks seriously.

Got married in 1977, had children in 1978 and 1980. Joyce and I met at NU graduate school. We took some courses together and she got my attention in every class because of her razor -sharp mind and standout beauty. I remember my pick-up line, "Do you like Chinese food?" Joyce is well-travelled and she is familiar with international cuisine even then. After six months of intense dating and another six of getting to know each other at all levels, we devoted to get married.

Joyce taught high school for two years (she was a speech and drama, and literature major) but she decided it was not for her. Took law, made law review, graduated with honors and worked for the top firm in Omaha while I worked as a clinical specialist at Lutheran Medical Center. Then Joyce received an offer to teach law at Oklahoma University Law Center. Summer of 2000 she taught at universities like Oxford and during this fall semester of 2000 she is teaching at Washington University in St. Louis where Lisanne is a pre-med student.
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Over the years I've written poetry, short stories and book reviews, the majority of them have luckily been published and included in anthologies. I write book reviews of contemporary Philippine literature for WORLD LITERATURE TODAY, an international publication universities worldwide subscribe to. I also work as a director of counseling and gifted program coordinator .

Alana and Lisanne are both oustanding students. They have maintained their 4.0 average since grade school. Alana enjoys full scholarship at OU and Lisanne is a National Merit Scholar. They got their looks from their mother, a former Nebraska beauty queen. She will kill me if she finds out I mentioned that.

Joyce and I are now separated; we live in separate houses. Since we married in a Catholic ceremony, divorce is not recognized. We get along quite well but we have separate interests now. When our schedule permits, we still travel together. We have nothing bad to say about each other to other people. To each other, yes; to other people, no.

We both travel a lot and it feels great to have that freedom and independence again. I left out a lot of details such as awards, etc. Those to me are boring to other people. I have also taught historical writing at OU to foreign graduate students. I help edit their dissertations.

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On Writing Prose and Poetry

One thing I've learned about life is: no matter how you look at it, our life is utterly meaningless to the world in general except to those whose lives we've actually touched. Most people are egoists; they essentially think only of themselves and when they think of other people, it's usually in relation to themselves. That's why it's pointless to worry about what other people think of us because chances are they're only thinking of themselves.

Sounds pessimistic, maybe, but don't you think this is true? Say for example, in my creative writing class back in college, the professor asked the class if they'd read what their classmates had written if they weren't required to do so and the honest answer was no. I am even guilty of this. Someone would ask me to read an essay or short story he/she had written and I'd read it cursorily. Now if it were written by a relative or a close friend I'd read it thoroughly out of curiosity.

What I'm driving at is, we are all essentially selfish, if we're honest enough to admit it.

When people asked for (samples of) my writing, I give it to them, but I don't really expect them to peruse it; I don't even ask for a feedback.

About writing, I'm partial to poetry because it's writing in its purest, most exact form. Poetry, unlike prose, can't be verbose. Preciseness is its soul.

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My definition of poetry? Let's see. Poetry must be like an egg frying on a sizzling hot sidewalk. It must show its best sunny side up even if no one intends to eat it.
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