I am hereby posting a copy of the first issue of a scholastic magazine I created, The Lit'terariat, which was inspired by my previous work as the editor cum writer of Diwa Scholastic Press Inc.'s publications Bato Balani (Science & Technology Magazine for High School), Magica (English Magazine for High School), and Abracadabra (English Magazine for Elementary).

Instead of wasting away my passion for researching and writing about various subjects of my interest, add to that the fact that I have so much time in my hands right now to spend for self-studying and writing, I decided to continue my personal crusade to share knowledge with as many people as possible.

For, I am the Lit'terariat.

The Lit'terariat©

A Magazine for Culture and Literature
Volume 1, Issue 1

Concept, contents, design, and layout
by aLfie vera mella

The Lit’terariat (A Magazine for Culture and Literature),
Volume 1, Issue 1.
Copyright ©2004 by aLfie vera mella.

All rights reserved. Printed in British Columbia, Canada.

No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without a written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews, properly acknowledging the author.

For information and inquiry, e-mail elfideas102@yahoo.com.

The Lit’terariat©, eLf ideas©, and the eLf-shoe logo are trademarks owned by aLfie vera mella.

The originators of the illustrations used in this magazine are given due respect and acknowledgment by including in the references the publications or Web sites from where they were obtained.

The author wishes to acknowledge his cousins Mike and Marivic, Kenneth and Jinky Arado, for whose computers had been helpful especially in the research stage of the production of this magazine.

Perhaps originating from 'littérateur' or 'literatus,' the word lit’terariat came to my mind in 1998, when I began my quest to uncover the story of a visionary—the Lit’terariat—who devoted most of his life to learning and eventually documenting the diverse cultures of his homeworld, in the hope of not necessarily creating a single, unified culture and beliefs for everyone but influencing every inhabitant to understand and respect the cultures and faiths of others without necessarily renouncing his/her own.

I never realized until recently that I have inevitably become the primary character in the story myself. I have become a lit’terariat whose days and nights are being solemnly devoted to unraveling further what are out there to be learned and to be shared with others—and who is hoping to foster understanding and mutual respect among races despite idiosyncrasies and peculiarities.

I dream of a better world—not one that has only one color, language, culture, God and beliefs but a world like where we live—diverse, multicolored, multilingual, multicultural, and polytheistic—but where people take time to “speak” each other’s “language” so they can truly begin to accept one another’s differences without ignorance and prejudice. That for me is the ideal world, where I would love children and the young at heart to feast, frisk, and frolic.

I, the Lit’terariat

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"Boontawee became a spokesperson for the impoverished but hardworking people of the Northeast—Thailand’s poorest region."

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“Literature is also an art, for it can be learned. It can be demonstrated not only by the gifted few but also by those who have acquired such literary skills. As the saying goes, ‘Geniuses are born; scholars are made.’ Therefore, everyone can avail of the literary skills and become a littérateur.”
—Rainald C. Paggao, Of Stories and Poems (1992)

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"It is really regrettable that a foot-deforming custom such as foot-binding continued for centuries."

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"Instead of delighting me through and through, Winter stabbed my heart with sadness and wounded it with yearning to return to where my thoughts always dwell."

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