You can’t bring an unwritten place to life without losing something substantial. Manila is the cradle, the graveyard, the memory. The Mecca, the Cathedral, the bordello. The shopping mall, the urinal, the discotheque. I’m hardly speaking in metaphor. It’s the most impermeable of cities. How does one convey all that?
Interpretation
This quote expresses the complexity and multifaceted nature of a city, particularly Manila, emphasizing the depth of experiences and emotions tied to it.
Miguel Syjuco's quote illustrates the intricate and often contradictory essence of Manila, portraying it as a city filled with a rich tapestry of life and experiences. By juxtaposing elements of beauty and decay, he suggests that capturing the city's true spirit inevitably involves loss and the acknowledgment of its diverse, sometimes harsh realities. He emphasizes the challenge of conveying such a layered existence, highlighting the intimate connection between place and memory.
In practice
In a speech about urban development, one might quote Syjuco to underscore the emotional and historical significance of a city.
I started out really young, when I was four, five, six, writing poems, before I could play an instrument. I was writing about things when I was eight or 10 years old that I hadn't lived long enough to experience. That's why I also believe in reincarnation, that we were put here with ideas to pass around.
Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented
The poem, the song, the picture, is only water drawn from the well of the people, and it should be given back to them in a cup of beauty so that they may drink - and in drinking understand themselves.
The very best design, I feel, is that which resonates so deeply that people can't help but discover something within themselves when they see it.
I knew I could only play Cyrano if he were Americanized. I had no intention of writing the script myself. I was afraid of it. You're playing with fire when you tamper with a classic. So I went looking for a writer. But it was such a personal idea, and anyone I would give it to would make it his own. It's hard to ask Neil Simon to write your idea.
Photography is only intuition, a perpetual interrogation - everything except a stage set.
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