Gracias, Maam Fely.

I have long known I wanted to write, that I wanted to get into print. I knew back then that I wanted to be a journalist. And she, too, might have known.

I was then a sickly, skinny grade six pupil when she asked if I wanted to join the school publication. Needless to say, I joined her 'army' and went to saturday pressworks, which went until I was in highschool.

In those days, I learned how to write a lead or what an inverted pyramid is--a useful heads-up of almost all the things I needed to learn in college. Maybe back then she knew I could write and edit news stories that she had no qualms sending me to inter-school competitions.

But more than just a mentor or a publication adviser, she was also a friend. When my first boyfriend, who was an editorial cartoonist, won a national competition, it was she who broke the news to me. She knew how inlove we were back then. She even hoped that guy and I would end up together (which is, as of this writing and in infinity, is impossible).

She helped me see what I wanted to be. She was one of those who first believed, one of those who opened the gates to my dreams. And I would always owe it to her that under her wing, I first experienced the joy of seeing myself immortalized in print.

Gracias for everything Mam Fely Ibarientos, may justice be served.*

*Mam Fely was brutally raped and killed. Her body was found in Daet Tuesday morning. This is a real story.