What Happened When I Was Twenty-Five?
Visited 707 Times Published by Rico January 31st, 2007 in Blogging, Philippines, What and Writing.
When I was twenty-five, I became one of the founders of The Bayanihan Blog Network, the first Filipino blog network.
Up until then, I was writing only for my own benefit. Fool for Five was actually born out a selfish need to publicize my views and interests.
But that (somewhat!) changed after I wrote my analysis of The Departed. It proved mutually beneficial. Readers liked my “very good review” (*cough*), while I found out what inspired the film. It became clear that writing wasn’t merely a tool for expression, but a way to help others as well. My review highlighted a movie that many people would enjoy, while I learned something new from the discussion generated by the comments.
That got me thinking: how else could my writing help? How could it make a difference? I thought about for a while, then realized that the Filipino culture needed a little more exposure. Positive exposure, that is. More of Lea Salonga, Manny Pacquiao, and Kenneth Cobonpue. Less of Andrew Cunanan and Onel de Guzman. Hearing so much bad press about my race, many times from local media, can be very demoralizing. I want that to change.
That’s why, along with my partners Abe, Sasha, Melissa, and Connie I started The Bayanihan Blog Network. We currently manage a network of ten blogs, covering various Filipino topics. It’s not all about our unique content, but our outlook as well. Which deserves getting showcased to the world.
I’ll be writing for the network blog. Hopefully my posts will prove helpful, by letting readers know what’s going on in the BBN, and leading them to wonderful content—all produced by Filipinos.
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16 Responses to “What Happened When I Was Twenty-Five?”
- 1 Pingback on Feb 5th, 2007 at 2:31 am
- 2 Pingback on Feb 16th, 2007 at 2:00 am
- 3 Pingback on Jul 1st, 2007 at 11:25 pm
- 4 Pingback on Jul 1st, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Rico, Salutations and felicitations are in order.
Thanks Juned!
super congratulations rico, ang GALING!
Wouldn’t have been possible without my partners’ help.
“Filipino culture needed a little more exposure. Positive exposure”
I absolutely agree! That’s why I started my sites in the first place. I will be one of your most ardent supporters in this project.
Congratulations and Mabuhay!
Thank you Jun, we really appreciate your support!
I never saw mabutingbalita.net; you never told me about it!
I’ll be checking it out later…
Mad Props!!!
Now when I was twenty-five…
I didn’t know what a blog was! Besides slashdot.
But Abe tells me you were one of the first Filipinos on the Internet or something, so mad props to you too! I mean, you actually used BBSes right?
One of the first? No, maybe among the first 1000!
There actually was a discussion before: who was the first Filipino on the Internet?
BBSes, yup since 1993 which makes me a latecomer already.
Being part of the first 1000 still falls under “early-adopter” status in my book. I mean, you used the Internet regularly before it became mainstream!
Hey. The BBN should really have a fiesta/festival blog. And during the ‘ber’ months, that blog would talk about nothing but Pinoy christmas.
Let me join in on the congratulations. It’s about time we highlighted our strengths as a country and as a people. I am happy that this is also your concern. While we recognize our weak points, affirming our strong points after decades of bashing will help us to heal and grow.