defy gravity!

i dread interviews.

well, only when i’m not the one asking questions. i tend to clam up when asked to, er, elaborate. especially if it is about myself. it is altogether disagreeably vainglorious and chesty to go on about ones self, but since i was asked so nicely by Arrah Quistadio, i said yes and indulged
her piece is coming out in Volume 3 of the book Cebu Journalists and Journalism to coincide with the annual Press Freedom Week this September.

i’m sharing the raw correspondece here, in its entirety. can’t wait to read what she does from it
p.s.
i’m deep in Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. salacious, delicious, dark, and worlds apart from the musicale. but i am further convinced that i AM elphaba!

Questions for Jude Bacalso

1.Please tell me about your college education.

I’m a Genetics major from UP Los Banos. I specialized in Entomological Genetics, my thesis on “Preliminary assessment of within- and among- population variabilities in host preference of local populations of the rusty plum aphid Hysteroneura setariae (Thomas)” It’s quite a mouthful, but the Biology program, which was our umbrella program, encouraged us to go into research (UPLB is the science research center of the system) instead of a career in medicine; until I was sidelined by other interests, I was working towards a PhD in Molecular Biology and not an M.D. Although I was steeped in the hard sciences, the discipline of the Scientific Process and research came in quite handy in journalism.

It may paint a clearer and more concise picture of me if you knew that, simultaneous with my career in journalism, I have kept a separate career as an Aquatic and Wildlife Biologist doing Environmental Impact Assesment on behalf of private corporations for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (recent projects: the F3 building and the one fronting it, the IAFT Film School in Mactan). I do not speak of this much as it only confuses most people.

It would seem, having said that, the hardest question for me to answer with a straight face is: what do you do?

My standard line? I’m a professional mermaid. Since I spend half of the assessment time underwater, it’s not a complete exaggeration. But doesn’t that sound loads more fun than aquatic biologist?

2. Kindly narrate your involvement in the media from most recent to least recent, including the job description, inclusive years and the media outlet.

I first began writing in 2000, as a contributor to the then magazine pullout Weekend under its then editor Erma Cuizon. Orly Cajegas (formerly of Sun.Star) gave me that break. He had seen me performing for private functions as a stand-up comic/singer and assumed that, since I could speak good English, perhaps I could write just as well.

A little after a year, Sun.Star Lifestyle (as Live! was known then) absorbed me first as a contributing writer and, soon after, Contributing Editor under Pura Kintanar (Editor), a title I have kept until a few days ago when I resigned. That position had me involved in the planning of the issues on a daily basis, farming out stories to writers, gathering them at deadlines, copy editing text, organizing the logistics of shoots (between subjects, our photographers, the venues, and all that nitty-gritty), supervising daily layout, as well as writing stories for the section (and Weekend, too until around 2005 when I was asked to concentrate on the Lifestyle section). In 2006, when the entertainment section was made a separate entity called Show, I was named its first editor.

I also started as a writer and stylist for the People section of The Cebu Yearbook 2004, Sun.Star’s prestige publication; Managing Editor for 2005 and People Section Editor for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In 2005, ABS-CBN approached me to host a segment of their Sunday morning talk show Chikahay Ta!, which was hosted by Angela Calina and Rico Lucena. The five minute segment eventually became the one hour Cebuano-language show Jud Morning!, when the management decided to reformat the existing program. It became one of their highest-rating programs on both the local network and The Filipino Channel consistently for its two-year run, until I left it abruptly a month ago.

Last year, I also fulfilled a long-time fantasy. I finally became a radio jock for Y101, a station I had grown up with from high school. June Rabin, the station manager, asked me to co-host a raunchy Sunday evening talk show we call Roommates, which is on every Sunday from 4-8, and streamed worldwide.

3. Do you have any significant achievements/recognition given to you in honor of your work? Kindly name the award/s you have received.

Does best-dressed count? J Well, there was that one time we were nominated for the CAMMA for Jud Morning as Best Talk Show, I think in 2006. This year the show was also nominated for Best Live Program in the KBP Golden Doves. I’m not really sure on the years and the categories since I never kept track.

4. How many years have you been in the media?

Seven.

5. What led you to the world of media?

People who have given me a big break (whether it be on print, television or radio) based solely on their assumption that I could J

6. What standards do you set for yourself in your work as entertainment editor and radio host?

It’s the same for everything I do: do things to make my momma proud, as they say. I would like to believe I did work that would hold its own on the world stage, especially with it getting smaller each day. We are read, heard, and seen all over the globe, and not just on our side of the planet.

7. What personal characteristics do you think helped you to be where you are now?

Adaptability. Put me in any situation and, given some time, I will have made myself comfortable in whatever it is. I also have a natural curiosity for everything and anything…the scientist in me, I guess. I expose myself to new things and ideas all the time so as not to be dated. And, something I learned from my science…I am fearless in the face of the novel because simply by dissecting it to its component parts, anything can be understood.

8. What is a common misconception about your line of work (entertainment media)? How do you want to correct such misconceptions?

Ah, this is a touchy subject. Because I had a bad precedent in my position, I have tried so hard to live down the same expectation of me: that we wield the power of media to amass personal gain and enforce influence. It is true on some fronts, sadly.

And also that the entertainment sections/media carry no weight, and are of no real consequence.

How to correct that? I can only deal within my sphere of influence, I wouldn’t dream of overturning the status quo overnight. At the end of the day, that is the best anyone can do.

9. What does it take to be successful in the entertainment media?

A keen eye for the next big thing, a ready ear for the next headline, an intuitive heart that keeps on going, and, yes…a good, thick hide.

10. What would you say is your contribution to Cebu journalism?

Making people sit up to think that, perhaps, fun, glib, terse, and an all-around import are not mutually exclusive. Not taking yourself too seriously is always a good thing.

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