Blindspot

(It's not cowardice. It's prudence.)

We want to be a lot of things. Some want to steal the crown and the scene, others want
to take the throne from the queen. Some pretend they can teach a thing, others just
want to hoard everything. Some play prim and proper, others make their followers
suffer. Some believe they are as bright as the big dipper, but in reality, they’re just a
pitiful piper.

Some of us want to walk in the hall of fame, but this someone only brought shame.

BLINDSPOTTED: a girl who disappointed her family and friends when she threw
her caduceus to the winds of no return and embraced a religion of myths. Faster than
you can say, “So long, you glorified maids, you!” she puts on her turncoat and became
one with the pyramid. You’d have thought she’d be prouder about the change than a
gamer leveling up to 30 in Sorority Life, but ‘nu-uh’, she has to go and snub her new
home. And in public too, no less.

Some of us want to be on the big screen, but this someone just makes us want to
scream.

BLINDSPOTTED: a woman born with a perpetual scowl on her face. When

everything is fun and sun, she’ll always be there to toss a cold bucket of water over
your head, not literally but close. If there’s someone who can play the spiteful, wide-
eyed, grammatically-challenged maid in a drama, she’s the one to call. She’ll be oh-so
perfect.
Some people want to be the awesome ‘It’, but this someone we just want to push in a
bottomless pit.

BLINDSPOTTED: a teacher who teaches all the wrong things, and doesn’t know his
students’ major if it crawls up behind him and bites his mooner. Is he blind, or is he
really blind? Maybe his dance routine for his students is distracting him. But he works
that contagious trembling dance move just fine; it earns him lots of brownie points—
and behind-the-back laughter. Word of advice Mr. Robot: Read what’s in a class’
curriculum again; maybe this time you’ll get it.

Some people want to be striking, but this someone just pockets everything.

BLINDSPOTTED: a woman with disturbingly deep compartments on her person.

She can be a heroine, and we can all name her the “Amazing Sticky-Fingered Girl.”
She can be the mysterious villain in a book, but only because she’ll be tucking
enormous amounts of paper it’s printed on inside her handbag. She can be an amazing
writer, on account that she has dozens of pencils hidden away to a windswept cave
down there in the green hills of Ireland. And get this: she’s as good at bossing people
around as she is in commandeering materials, which makes her a double threat.

Some people want to be inspiring, but this someone is a champion at cursing.

BLINDSPOTTED: a girl who looks like she sits on toadstools, but actually just
resembles a toad, period. She is the good Catholic girl you want to bring home to
Mommy. She’s smart and she’s pretty…smart. She’s accomplished and has leadership
potential. But as they say, still waters run deep, and her waters rival the current of the
Pacific. It’s all very nautical, you see, and by nautical standards, her mouth is like a
sailor’s—a bucketful of colorful expletives that can even make the Devil blush like a
fragile virgin.

Some people want to be excellent, but this someone is simply absent.

BLINDSPOTTED: an officer who lords over

nocturnal birds. Also, he is Argus of Greek myths; he watches over vast glittering
riches for his goddess (or god?). But alas our dear friends, unlike our great
mythological creature, he pulls a quick one every single day, hightailing it out of the
office faster than you can say, “Holy Zeus!” His poor followers are left behind to do
work, and to officially clock out after him two hours Blindspot… from p13

later. Oh dear Argus, bad air is hell on the lungs.

Some people want to travel to France’s capital, but this someone is the Text Capital.

BLINDSPOTTED: a professor unlike any other, but only because her cellphone is
her hand’s eleventh finger. Her beauty is infinite; she’s the Queen and her eleventh
appendage is the electronic scepter that she wields with such awesomeness. She
smites dragons and friends alike with her text messages. But there is a power struggle
in motion here, which bring us to this, “Which of the two is in control here: the queen
herself or the scepter?” What about her servant-slash-people—we mean students—
who get caught up in the crossfire. And by crossfire, they don’t learn anything except
the 10 Ways to Beat a Text-Happy Professor Silly with Her Nokia.

Some people want their libraries hushed and still, but this someone wants it only for
FarmVille.

BLINDSPOTTED: a scribe bent on setting a bad example. You can’t really blame it
if students in our cool, modern info-licious paper factory are logging in to Facebook
to check their strawberry farms without fear; because this girl makes it all easier. It’s
all okay, have fun, visit your neighbors, harvest the wool of your black sheep—
awesome, she draws ‘em all in by turning her monitor to the double glass doors so
they can all see how pretty dull her farm is. Ahh…nothing beats this poster girl for
social networking in school property.

We want to be a lot of things but all of the above ain’t cool,

We see you, we know you, coz CALibers ain’t no fool;
We hope you try your best, make a change, and try to see the light,
We’re all only doing this to make it all alright. ■

(Published in Budyong, The Official Student Publication of Bicol University College

of Arts and Letters. Volume 2 Issue 1 October 2009-January 13, 2010)