The knowledge of how to do something, limuhag. This Cebuano term unfolds in the poetic movement that the fisherman routinely performs as he casts his net to the open sea, or with how the gardener determines which plant to water and when to do so. But how does this kalimuhagan apply to us, readers and seekers of the essay? How exactly do we know how to read and experience the different works in this vast genre? These types of questions form the backbone of this project journal and website, questions that we try to answer with each paper and project featured on this website.

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And this search for a better understanding of the essay has been the heartbeat of our journey in our CL115 (Creative Nonfiction) classes, where our knowledge of reading and experiencing the essay still grows more and more as we continue to navigate the many forms and complexions of the essay, building up our kalimuhagan. In our journey as readers and writers of the essay, the writings of Christy Wampole, Lee Gutkind, Nicole D. Wallack, and all of the vital knowledge we have accumulated from the years as Creative Writing students, has helped to incrementally build up our knowledge of how to do certain things, in our case, to deepen an evergrowing understanding of how to read and perhaps examine a text in nonfiction. This steady and lifelong process of the limuhag was immensely important in our undertaking of this project and in the establishment of this site. The projects we have collaborated on, the activities we took part in, every piece that we wrote, are part of our learning and growing process as readers and writers. Though the journey of learning is a never-ending process, we made this site to showcase our developments in our hopes of one day fully understanding what the essay tells, or in Cebuano, ‘kalimuhágan námo ni’.

 

But in the course of wanting to deepen our understanding of the essay, we must always try. And whenever we would read or discuss an essay in our Creative Writing classes, we are often reminded of the origin and the spirit of the word itself, 'essayer'. Trying, as it turns out, is something we partake in whenever we touch our pen or our keyboard to come up with yet another attempt at telling the world what’s already been told. We can say that this spirit of trying has been the catharsis, or should we say, the basis, of the ideas and feelings that would spring in writers whenever they engage with the genre. This notion of trying has been deemed to be more true and more honest in modern contemporary essays, and on this site, we discuss them to be able to:

 

1. Read how the works embrace and utilize the 'try' to their fullest, and see the author within their words. 

2. See the 'attempts' in not just on the exploration of the interest of the essays, but also on the form and limits of the essay as well.

3. Affirm Christy Wampole's observation of modern creative nonfiction: chaotic, fickle, and uncommitted, yet still timeless and beautiful.

 

The projects that are showcased in this site range from the comparisons of classics like the fortresses of Bacon or those of Montaigne, to the hybrid essays featured on entropymag.org. Here, we try to capture the heartbeat of a hummingbird, witness the slow death of the moth. In this site we try to chronicle our journeys from Kyoto to Britania, writing our journey of trudging through the streets of the First Quarter Storm only to end up in a cold New York boulevard. In all these, we find not only the spirit of trying but also discover the process of knowing how to do something, how to do a reading or a crafting of an essay- Limuhag.