From

Paintings by Brod Popoy Castañeda, UPLB'55

Part 2

Thanks to free Viber overseas calls, I had the chance to recently reconnect and have a happy catching up on family news (like the "apos-tolic" duty for many of us granddads now) with Brod Popoy. And when I asked if he could share more of his paintings, he graciously obliged.

As I had mentioned in the Tumblewoods Viber chat group a few weeks ago:

"In over 15 years, to me the best, the most interesting and most relatable article we’ve published in the UPBSI-International website is the one written by Popoy Castañeda, UPLB’55, “A Betan’s Journey Thru Time and Space”, which you can find on the side bar in ‘Memoirs & Reminiscences’. Popoy gave it to us in 4 installments and we posted them in 2008 - from his early frat days in Los Baños to his Calypso journey with Costeau. I remember eagerly waiting to receive and read each one; and I have reread it a few times since its publication. It is a treasure chest of Betan brods and stories, and of Popoy’s eclectic and remarkable life experiences. If I may suggest, read the memoir and view the pictures better on a full screen on your desktop or laptop.

You can also see his 11 beautiful bird Paintings (Part 1) in ‘Artwork’. (While there also look at the works of multi-media artist Ed Defensor LB’63). In ‘Environmental Awareness’, Popoy contributed several articles - from the damage to our coral reefs and rainforests to the beauty of Tubattaha Reef.

For the latest on Popoy, you can read Freddy Fajardo’s “Summer in Sydney” (Jan 2019) in 'Chapters>Los Baños' and Willie Vergara’s “My Pilgrimage to Australia” (Aug 2019) in ‘Travelogue’. Below is the latest photo in Sydney 2019 of Popoy with LB brods.

All UPLB Brods: April de Peralta 95, Mario Manzano 85, Pykes Pico 72, Edwin Antonio 65, Freddy Fajardo 64 and Popoy Castañeda 55.

MABUHAY KA POPOY!!"

Norman

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As an introduction to our writer-artist, I will let Popoy do it himself by including here the first paragraph of his "A Betan's Journey Thru Time and Space" published in 2008 in 'Memoirs & Reminiscenses'.

A Betan's Journey Thru Time and Space

Chapter One: My Young Frat Days at Los Banos

I am Porfirio Gregorio Castañeda, the first born son of Dominador Castañeda of the Castañeda clan from Cavite and Sofia Gregorio of Paranaque. I was born on September 15, 1937 and I spent my childhood years growing up in the barrio of La Huerta, in the town of Parañaque (now a city). On my 6^th grade, my parents tried to suppress my adventurous spirit and confined me in the convent of the St. Andrew’s Catholic Church of Parañaque run by the Belgian missionaries. After my high school graduation, it came as a surprise that my father, then a professor of painting at the U.P. School of Fine Arts, who tutored me in the rudiments of drawing and painting since I was 6 years old, and my mother whose hidden agenda was for me to take up priesthood, urged me to apply for admission at the College of Agriculture of the University of the Philippines at Los Baños.

Paintings

Part 2