Hi to all students and alumni of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). We welcome you to this site dedicated to the creation of our first ever UPOU student e-publication, KAPE at DYARYO ng OU: A UP Open University Student Publication. It is a take-off from our rich and lively exchange of ideas and experiences in the UPOU Kapehan (www.upou.kapehan.net) and a response to the challenge of giving more voice to the students in view of the recent crisis that beset the UP Collegian.

With KAPE at DYARYO ng OU, we hope to further the convergence of our minds, hearts, and convictions to further our learning and our relevant contribution to student life in the UP Open University.

You may post here snippets of your thoughts, opinions, or commentaries as a UPOU student, your take on certain topics or issues, even policies, or your suggestions on how to improve the way things are done in our Institution. And for those who think macro, you can even make your commentaries or editorial on national issues or societal problems–an awareness very characteristic of a UP student.

You need not be a very prolific writer, or someone with a mastery of grammar and rhetoric. Feel free to write down your thoughts and share them with us. Back in my Varsitarian days in UST, our former literary editor F. Sionil Jose (now National Artist for Literature), once taught us not to edit your work as you write, because it will only impede the flow of your creative juices. And he told us never to doubt the worth of our written work, because we can never tell how soon it will prove its relevance.

So just keep yourselves ready for the push of the pen and the flow of those creative juices. We shall be looking forward to your postings! 

Don Rapadas (MDC) Afro

p.s. We shall post your contributions with your very own byline  Wink