Today's CAROLINIAN - August 2013 Issue by Today's CAROLINIAN

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Marlouize Villanueva Associate Editor (Internal Affairs) Reyna Angeli L. Pesquira Associate Editor (External Affairs) Patrisse Bea D. Prospero News Bureau Editors TALAMBAN CAMPUS Kathleen Alexandra Belleza DOWNTOWN CAMPUS, SOUTH CAMPUS Lesley Cara Delos Santos Feature Editor Gabriel Ramon S. Arcenas Literary Editor Dylan Briones Art Director Karl Adrian Aguro

The Progressive Student Publication of the University of San Carlos

UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS Cebu City, Cebu Philippines 6000 VOLUME XXIV No. 4 AUGUST 2013

OPERATIONS Managing Editor for Administration Ki-Jeong “Jenny” Shim Finance Officer Keziah Cyra B. Papas Staff Secretary Andelene Mae Atillo Todayscarolinian.net Managing Editor Kim Tiangco

EDITORIAL STAFF News

Bureau SENIOR CORRESPONDENT Emmanuel Mendoza Hernandez NEWS WRITERS Mara Thesa A. Cotejar, Arnela Mae M. Gonzales, Raynielle Beatrix Lacson, Paolo Louis Manghihilot FEATURES WRITERS Alem Garcia, Katrina Roa RESEARCHER Smith Dwight Cabe COPY EDITOR Niño Miguel Santos CONTRIBUTORS Guillermo Rossotorres, Craeg Jose Nerbes, Marc Abuan, Kristoffer Lambert Cuizon

Creative Department LAYOUT Bernadette Jacolon, Karl Adrian Aguro, Giofranco Ocampo, Alvin Dave Bensig, Ea Aballe (Contributor) PHOTOGRAPHY Editor John Matthew Flores Photographers Phoebe Kate Espejo, Noel Benjamin Fernandez, Gellie Abella, Jana Camille Tiu Baduel, Hafid Lising Caballes, Alessandra Isabel Caballo, Marben Lawas, Christian Lora, Stephen Suico, Vincent Dior Villanueva VIDEOGRAPHY Editor Neil Angelo Briones Videographers Alexander Louis Mendoza ILLUSTRATION Senior Illustrator Van Kevin Opura Illustrators Josephus “Koi” Travero, Zachary Borromeo

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE Reyster Mae Perez TECHNICAL ADVISOR Sam Nervez

THE COVER Pessimism – the state of mind wherein the individual expects the unwanted demise, worst of the worst outcomes. In a transfixion of either heading to the end of postmodernity or reverting to the medieval ages, humanity is faced with a wager of which outcome to bet on. As the 11th thesis on Feuerbach by Karl Marx goes, “The philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it.” Illustration by Van Kevin Opura

HOW TO REACH US LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, with the writer’s name, e-mail address and contact number, should be e-mailed to info@todayscarolinian.net. Letters may be edited for reasons of space and clarity. © 2013. TODAY’S CAROLINIAN All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited. Today’s Carolinian publishes one to two issues per academic year. Today’s Carolinian may also publish occasional extra issues. An electronic version (PDF Format) of every publication is available in the Today’s Carolinian website

Calling all writing enthusiasts for essays, poems and short stories Send in your entries to info@todayscarolinian.net. The email must contain the following information: Name, Course and Year, ID Number, Cell Phone Number and Email Address. The email must contain 2 attachments, a PDF file of your entry, a JPEG of your study load. The submission must follow the format of Arial, font size 11, 1.5 spacing, justified. The submission must be entitled WRITING FEST - Category of the Submission – Name (ie. WRITING FEST – Poetry – Juan De La Cruz) All submission must be accompanied with a statement of the originality of the work. Contestants must be bonafide students of the University of San Carlos. Former and present Today’s CAROLINIAN staffs are disqualified to join the contest. Entries must either be in English or Cebuanao. All entries must be in relation to the theme, Senses. No pen names or anonymity is allowed. Non-compliance with one or two of the requirements is cause for disqualification. All entries will be considered properties of Today’s CAROLINIAN. Deadline for submissions will be on September 21, 2013. The overall winner will receive a P2,000 cash prize, a Moleskin journal, a P500 gift certificate from La Belle Aurore, a P300 gift certificate from Tea Religion, computer accessories from iCampus and certificate from Today’s CAROLINIAN. The overall first runner-up will receive a P1,000 cash prize, a journal, a P300 gift certificate from La Belle Aurore, a P300 gift certificate from Tea Religion and a certificate from Today’s CAROLINIAN. The overall second runner-up will receive a P500 cash prize, a journal, a P100 gift certificate from La Belle Aurore, A P100 gift certificate from Tea Religion and a certificate from Today’s CAROLINIAN.

CONTENTS

2 4 6 8 10

EDITORIAL

On the Promises of Great Men in History: Why this Sick World Is Always Divided into Two?

EDITOR’S NOTE

FEATURE

The Middle of Media Responsibility and Proper Use of Information OPINION

Boobs for Sale

OPINION

The Ambiguous Case of the Lost Self LITERARY

Growth & Decay

14 16 18 20 22 25 26

SURVEY

Carolinian’s Today: Survey 2013 FEATURE

I Am Marx’s Lack of Complete Surprise FEATURE

Our Eastern West FEATURE

Dependency of the Poor FEATURE

Too Hearty for My Taste REVIEW

Bad Books We Suggest You Don’t Read FEATURE

I Think Therefore I’m Sick: The State of Carolinian Health

28 30 32 34 36 38

FEATURE

State of the Nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Address

OPINION

Under the Helm of Tyrants

OPINION

We Will Be Workers Anyway! VOX POPULI

Is the government to blame for all the lapses in the country? OPINION

OUSTanding Government

INFOGRAPH

Spirituality of the Carolinian Student Today

40 42 44 47 49 51 52 54

OPINION

Boring, Wannabe Hipster Kids with No Taste

FEATURE

Indecisive Students: A Culture of Shifting FEATURE

A Vicious Paradox: The Increasing Commercialization of the Philippine Educational System REVIEW

A Confused Nation of a Confused People REVIEW

Man of Steel Film Review LITERARY

Down and Out Escario Blues FEATURE

Paltik: Guns of the South REVIEW

Good Books We Suggest You Read

EDITOR’S NOTE

Illustration by Karl Adrian Aguro

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Human civilization, despite innovations to improve human life, seems to remain vulnerable. The quest for the “good life”, though interpreted differently through time and along socio-economic boundaries, proves to show that man’s insatiable hunger for a better life is the driving force of history. However, this growing appetite for wants makes mankind more defenseless against the unforgiving challenges of a glocalizing world. As human civilization progresses, the frailties of humanity become more apparent while the symptoms of man’s shared common sickness become more tangible. In this issue, Today’s CAROLINIAN endeavors to present the different angles of a dilapidating sick world that mankind lives in. From the inability of modern medicine to cure or treat illness, the worsening indecisiveness in to the deterioration of man’s personal moral integrity, this issue will present the “sickness” hurdled by the individual self. With these weaknesses of the physical mind and body, it is inevitable that it is society’s duty to respond to these individual vulnerabilities. However, the supposed foundations of

society, such as the government, the media, culture, healthcare, as featured in this issue, are worsening the human condition, at best, they are no longer even responsive in catering to these ballooning needs. TC recognizes that this contemporary “sickness” remains to be pervasive and permeates through well-defined structures of society. The contemporary “sickness” of human civilization seems to be fluid as it seeps through the crevices and cracks of human nature and social institutions. Prima facie, this issue is perceived to be pessimistic. However, like any sickness, an effective treatment or cure needs an informative diagnosis of the current state. TC dares not to be ambitious in providing an accurate diagnosis nor provide the philosopher’s stone that will cure this “sickness”. Nevertheless, this issue aims to convey the reality, in a famous quote of the movie Iron Lady, “Yes, the medicine is harsh, but the patient requires it in order to live.” If the panacea to this “sickness” is ever found, the cure will be bitter and the results remain uncertain. TC

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FEATURE

THE MIDDLE OF

MEDIA RESPONSIBILITY &

PROPER USE OF

INFORMATION Reyna Angeli Pesquira

The media is the source of rather outrageous and sometimes annoying crazes and trends. Conversely, despite the funny memes and foolish videos, the media has also been the source of insolent scandals and extraneous issues that when given thought to, are inappropriate for wide-scale coverage or dissemination because they are products of exaggerated misconceptions, or just overreactions of unverified information.

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FEATURE

The word media is derived from the Latin word medius which means “in the middle of”. Today, we operationally define media as a means of communication, and a system for information and entertainment. Its venues include radios, televisions, newspapers and magazines. However, the emphasis on the role of media nowadays, is unfortunately for entertainment purposes. Media nowadays plays the role of the entertainer while ignoring its other, more important role as an information provider. Where can the media situate itself when concerning social issues such as health, education, or politics? Has the media been situated in the middle or has it deviated, focusing on other, more “entertaining”, perhaps even irrelevant, of things? Ideally, the media must play an unbiased and objective role. The main purpose of media should be to inform the society in order to lead the people to comprehensively understand and be aware of certain situations or issues that will evidently affect society. In political psychology, media is considered as a cognitive shortcut or a heuristic because the processing of information is direct and not costly (Carmines & Huckfeldt, 1996). This means that when people watch the news, whatever information that the news distributes is what is absorbed by the people at less cost. This is what people prefer over the costly way of getting information through the process of the acquiring, analyzing and evaluating data. Here, the media plays a role as an agent of socialization because it is assumed that the heuristics that it provides helps people create both their perceptions and impressions, which thus lead to their actions and decisions. For example, a commercial that portrays unhealthy products as something interesting and leisurely will bring in the tendency for people to purchase the product despite the prior knowledge that it is unhealthy. The media plays a role in

the shaping of the people’s judgments based on cognition. With politics, a simple, “non-profit” commercial for superficially philanthropic initiatives may either have a conscious or unconscious effect on the people’s political decisions. Due to the limited knowledge and information provided by the media about politics and public affairs, majority of the public have a lack of understanding of basic facts, salient issues and significant political figures (Carmines & Huckfeldt, 1996). In psychology, the Informational Influence Theory says that people use the reactions of others to judge the seriousness of the situation (Burn, 2004). This theory principally points out the vital role that the media plays with the provision of information, and it highlights the negative effects that irresponsible media and the improper use of information can bring. If the media reacts to an issue and considers it as a serious situation, people are influenced to consider it as a serious situation as well, even if it does not directly concern their well-being. The International Principles of Professional Ethics in Journalism (IPPE) and the Declaration of Principles of Journalism Education are the personification of the epitome of media responsibility. In 1983, the Consultative Club of International and Regional Organizations of Journalists in Paris issued the IPPE, which enumerates ten principles for the organization of professional ethics in journalism: the people’s right to true information, a journalist’s dedication to objective reality, the journalist’s social responsibility, the respect for privacy and human dignity and the promotion of a new world information and communication order, to name a few. As students, it is important to remember that every person has the right to acquire an objective picture of reality by means of accurate and comprehensive information – such information must be correctly

provided to the people by the media. According to the declaration, the public is entitled to be provided with adequate material to facilitate the formation of an accurate and comprehensive picture of the world in which the origin, nature and essence of events, processes and state of affairs are understood as objectively as possible. It is emphasized that information used for media is understood as a social good and not as a commodity, which means that the journalist shares responsibility for the information transmitted and is thus accountable not only to those controlling the media but ultimately to the public at large. In 2007, the World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) coined the Declaration of Principles of Journalism Education which enunciates that “to be a responsible journalist must involve an informed ethical commitment to the public. This commitment must include an understanding of and deep appreciation for the role that journalism plays in the formation, enhancement and perpetuation of an informed society.” Note how the media in the aforementioned is not considered as an outer factor to the formation of society, but something that is involved with the public, media situated in the middle. The media becomes inevitably sick when those controlling it are predominantly occupied with the idea of profit, breaching their fundamental role in the formation of an informed society. The media has the power to prime the judgments of society based on what they choose to cover. Both consciously and subconsciously, whatever appears on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or on the news will have an effect on the people’s impressions. This is why it is important for media to be “in the middle”. Media responsibility and the proper use of information can make or break the comportment of society. TC

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OPINION

BOOBS FOR SALE Ki-Jeong “Jenny” Shim Photographs by Stephen Suico

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OPINION

The prevalent trend these days seems to be telling women what to do. The ever popular classical depiction of woman in Philippine culture is perceived to be Maria Clara, a woman dubbed as the epitome of a woman; in traditional mindsets. However, the media not only portray a single standard of a woman, but a dual standard. Simplifying to the extremes, there are two opposing natures of what a woman should be. In one aspect, she is conservative, pale, black haired, shy, respectable and classy. In another aspect, she is outgoing, social, promiscuous, sensual and spontaneous. Commercials and advertisements from brands like Pond’s, Sunsilk and Rexona, products generally directed towards women, portray a conservative, cute and girly femme; something that is more amiable to the traditional mass. A woman in a woman-friendly advertisement would be smiling yet shy, reserved and kept, bubbly and happy, to the point of dancing when she is on her period or happily washing some conveniently dirty clothes. Whereas advertisements targeted at the male demographic, like San Miguel, BMW and Axe, portray a young, sensual, funloving and sexy woman. A woman is more likely to be assertive and fashion forward with a taste for skin-tight clothes. Maletargeted and female-targeted brands each create “products which are tailored for consumption by masses” (Adorno, 1991:98106). In order to be attractive to a certain demographic, in this case either male or female, products are fashioned to cater to the needs and tastes of a certain gender, with the use of the female image. To the male demographic, a woman is utilized as a beverage holder, revealing her breasts and accentuating her hips, all the while serving the purposes of furniture or décor. For example, the easily observable billboards of Anne Curtis or Cristine Reyes holding up drinks or sprawling on cars, while being scantily dressed. On a conscious level, the observable problem of media is the over-sexualisation as well as the abusive and oppressive usage of the female image, exploiting a woman’s body as a medium for sales.

The dictates of beauty, as society see it, are set by society’s standards. The public may believe that the media is simply employing society’s standardized concept of beauty, to enhance and fix, not to scrap and alter. The opposing imagery of a woman in society creates a conflicting idea of what a woman is, leaving a confused female identity. As aforementioned, the media employs the idea of a Maria Clara, created during the Spanish colonization, who embodies the traditional concept of a perfect woman, conservative, mysterious and virtuous. This woman is still to this day attractive in the eyes of society, she who goes to mass every Sunday, she who respects her elders, she who stays home and cooks adobo, she who tends to her children and mends the clothes of others. On the other hand, a concept of a more liberal woman, brought in by modern Western world, is also employed by the media, a bikini-clad, outgoing woman with little to no reservations. As observable in present society, these opposing concepts usually lead to a confused girl who goes to church, ending up spreading her legs the next day then getting offended when being slut-shammed. It is not to say that a woman cannot make choices of her own, but when her own beliefs are in contradiction, it is questionable why that is so. As with the ideal beauty of a Filipina, straight hair, light skin and a slim nose, these are all features that most Filipinas do not have. These ideals of the status quo are endlessly hammered in the mindset of the mass with the use of media, not only in advertisements, but in teleseryes, films and the entirety of the spoon-feeding media. The constant dictates of beauty is, again, a contradiction to what a Filipina supposedly is. While being aware that the mass of Filipinas are morenas with tan to dark skin and curly to kinky hair, the mass conforms to the standardized concept of beauty in order to be attractive to the mass. Women conform to the concept of ideal beauty, achieving them through means of consuming products made to change

how she looks. Consuming goods that are supposed to change how a woman looks is much deeper than simply “because she wants to look beautiful”. By consuming goods that are made to change her appearance, she is being detached from herself. Products like whitening creams, wrinkle removal creams, face shaping creams and even plastic surgery cater to the needs of a woman who is not content with not only her appearance, but with herself. It is an attempt to change her race, her identity, to ultimately alter who she is, in confusion of who she is and who she is supposed to be, as narrated by mass culture. The common catchphrase or gimmick that producers employ is “we want you to be beautiful” or “you deserve it”. In effect, it may also be perceived that the media is helping us by allowing us to achieve whiter teeth, a slimmer stomach, straighter hair and et al., which are what the society seems to want. The concern that the producers of these consumable goods have for the consumers are, in fact, misused “in order to duplicate, reinforce and strengthen their (the mass’) mentality, which it presumes is given and unchangeable” (Adorno, 1991:98-106). The mass is made to believe that it is out of concern for people that these products, for either men or women, employing the image of a woman, are in the end, for the society’s sake, when this is not the case. The system exploits the perceived-needs of society, employing the “society’s” view of beauty, in order to make sales, in exchange for the mass’ constant unquestioning consumption. With society’s undying subscription to the concept of the “perfect woman”, the media succeeds in implanting the need for consumption, or in short, mass deception. A woman no longer remains a woman, but an object, another scheme used to generate more sales. The continual use of the image of a woman degrades the worth that a woman has for herself, and thus, she is alienated from herself. TC

Special thanks to these people: Hair and Make Up: Christyl Pelayo Production: Alem Garcia

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OPINION

The Ambiguous Case of the

LOST SELF Kathleen Alexandra Belleza

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OPINION

“The self is the complete emergence and separation from another, the formation of an “I” through physical and psychological boundaries. The self is a continually evolving creation, an unfolding of potentials and possibilities that takes a lifetime and can never be said to be finished.” Nathaniel Branden, a Canadian psychotherapist The human race continues to successfully transform greatly at the rate of current modernization. Today, we are capable of gaining access to almost everything we enjoy as we exercise our right to information and freedom of expression. We have the power to be bold. The time now is a generation of novelty. Our generation today is privileged to have our own individual opinions, yet these things tend to be our dying end. What depressing irony we all live in, the powerful enslaved by their own selves. It happens every so often that we wake up finding ourselves in an emotional blur of events that take our lives to a point of uncertainty. This inevitably leads us to assess our distinctness, in comparison to previous times, in this information-driven culture. With the growing media and the hold it has on the people, through technology’s advances, it’s not shocking how well ideas have seeped into our lives. Although on a positive note, it allows us to be easily acquainted with worldly matters. However the value of the average man experiences a minor setback. This is because we have become so dependent of our trendiness that we now succumb to its influence. Their influence, either positive or negative, has the tendency to uproot the very essence of the self without us even knowing. When this happens, we become a downgraded, second-class version of who we are and who we intend to be. We become lost. “To lose one’s self is to experience a loss of moral respect for one’s self” – a cliché prone to being blown out of proportion. The instances of the statement being said are so generic that it loses its value. This universal occurrence is far too dangerous for it has become such a mundane defeat. Soren Kierkegaard in his book, Sickness into Death, once said “The biggest danger that of losing oneself can pass off in the world as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. is bound to be noticed.”

This is a manifestation of how a person’s actual worth is disregarded in the face of superficial worth. With regards to the importance of self and identity, we strive to find meaning, to find for some sense of security and knowledge. A person who holds himself with high regard is likely to have some form of goals or selfimage, which in turn gives him a sense of security, whereas a person with low self-esteem is unlikely to have any direction. A negative self-concept may lead one to pretend, to create a make-believe version of the self: a lethal habit to losing one’s commitment to our very existence, in short losing the self in the self. Pretending is denying the self and furthermore making no room for the self to flourish as a human person. How do we feel about society’s contribution to this? Our world is constantly being pestered with society’s beliefs: the dictation of the status quo, the “norms” and the media. We could also draw attention to the lack of fulfillment of psychological needs, the scarcity of home necessities, monetary issues, and work. From the variety of angles we look through, we are given an inside look of how people are prompted to change how they think and how they go about everyday life. We all have our reasons for being who we are today and for this we respect. History is impossible to change but rediscovering it is promisingly optimistic. However, self-discovery is not about the dead-end destination, it is very much a journey. What we lost, we can reclaim, but only when we acknowledge the feeling of being lost can we do anything about it. Of course, rediscovery is never easy, nothing ever is. But once we see this as a chance to prove how much we want to find ourselves, then fulfillment and security will grace our pursuit. Not many can succeed in achieving one’s true self; some may even remain aimlessly wandering in their past, searching for a loss. The loss of self is a subject requiring a lot of depth. There are a number of ways you can do to address the matter and fortunately, there is only one you. TC

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LITERARY

GROWTH Dylan Briones Let’s take a walk shall we? Hear the noise of downtown weekday far from the gentle hush of a gated community, fast forward to a weekend at a watering hole come drunken laughter bellowing from a haze of smoke. Hear the misery of hard days past howled out into thin air, sucked in with a breath of nicotine and drowned with a bottle, or two, or five. The rush of a Monday morning after, in synchronized and almost symphonic chaos, come the midnight and the claws of light reflected on desperate, hungry eyes. A radio drum beat of the expected of-the-month song the day’s soundtrack. The very heavens themselves dance between heat and downpour.

the fresh green grass and the aroma of exhaust in our local sterilized slice of the first world, the one with shiny ivory-white walls, not the one where a generation pays tribute in English, sleep and dreams.

Smell discarded fish heads clogging a gutter the moist morning after a flood, a multi-color daze of brightly hued plastic wraps lining a heap of roadside garbage like icing melting off a rotten cake. Smell

It’s not hard to spot the decay, even through the candy coated layers of hypocrisy and self-righteous delusions.

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See it, smell it, hear it. We live here. These are the times, this is the place, and those are the sights and smells and sounds. From where better can we take a look at the culture we live through, a culture that is rapidly decaying and flourishing before our very eyes? The story rises up from ground level, where else would it be?

The inter-cultural ignorance and racism speaks out from the television; a blackface drama in the 21st century. The deep sense of fatalistic inferiority, blind fanaticism, a sort of adherence to ignorance and dogma that would make Marcos blush and Rizal weep. A relationship with authority that is,

by default, antagonistic on both ends; a subculture of victim blaming that paralyzes us into banality and apathy. We are proud of these things, let’s not be coy. An affluent political class that rapes the treasury from within, a disenfranchised dispossessed working class all too easy to damn; the list goes on, the rot is piled high upon the gates of hell some delusional idiots want us to call a paradise. Come the rainy season and we’ll even see the River Styx. We endure, haven’t we always? Is it safe to assume that hundreds of years of colonization have shaped and trained us to put up with undeniable amounts of crap? Lo and behold then, the mighty Filipino doing all he/she can to triumph over adversity. Yet there is certain sadness to it, from all we see around us. It’s clear that we would rather put up with something than lift a finger to change it for the better. The status quo is starting to supersede common sense. These are strange and uncertain times and it is all too easy to be caught up in a nostalgia trap. All too easy to idealize the past, to hail monsters of yesteryear as the heroes we need today. Too easy to be cynical and pessimistic, too easy to be afraid and succumb to that fear, too

LITERARY

DECAY

easy cry out for the end times. Truthfully, it’s starting to sound very flaccid and anemic. The rot and decay is not all that’s there to see. Look around, eyes so fixed on the past we almost fail to realize that we’re living in the future. Is it really as boring as we generally perceive it to be? We hold in our hands slabs of class that send messages through thin air, contain highly detailed maps of planet Earth that we manipulate with our fingertips like magic. The common mobile phone holds more processing power than the Lunar Lander, a Nokia trumps Apollo. Too boring? There is an alternate dimension on the other side of our computers that holds an ocean of humanity’s collected knowledge along with all the funny cat pictures we’ll ever need. It’s right around the block; listen for the artificial gunshots and the perennial cursing of noobs and idiots. Look further on, the future face of this city is being raised up from the ground by a forest of construction cranes. The city is growing amidst decay, as are the connections and relationships we’re building with one another.

Illustration by Josephus Travero coffee mugs are being sent off to space, controlled by mobile phone apps. We’re here, living in it, living through it. Whether we like it or not, whether we enjoy or loathe it. Change is as undeniable as time and the world is not exempt, how much more, our little speck of land in the west of the Pacific? Our worlds are growing smaller and bigger at the same time, our horizons broadening and narrowing all at once. What does it all mean for us, the average Carolinian? Soon to be ejected from our educational factory, deeper into the ‘real world’, with all the hopes and dreams yet to be fulfilled or abandoned. What struggles have we inherited from the past, what problems have we to face? Upon our shoulders tomorrow rests, we’ll see the human narrative continue and slowly take our parts in it.

apathy. Everything that begins must end; all that flourishes turns to rot. From that decay comes fertile ground for things to begin anew. Human culture is growing, flourishing and falling to decay, beginning another cycle, rolling along through. Tomorrow will come regardless of our whims and fears. Chaos, harmony, fear and hope, growth and decay; happening all at once beyond our petty generalizations. It’s all pretty sick and weird and beautiful; so much, too much to take in. This is our home, our smells, our sights and our sounds, Ultimately, these are our times. It’s a sick and beautiful world out there, What we make of it is our choice. TC

We can grow and flourish, bettering ourselves every step of the way. We can numb ourselves to everything and rot in

Across the world, blueprints for the first artificial organs are being primed for 3-D printers, the shadow of an atom has just been photographed, probes the size of

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EDITORIAL

On the Promises of Great Men in History: WHY THIS SICK WORLD IS ALWAYS DIVIDED INTO TWO? Illustration by Van Kevin B. Opura

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EDITORIAL

The progress of civilization relies on how society suffices man’s insatiable hunger and thirst to live a “good life”. However, this constant thirst for the “good life” seems to bring this world into an incurable sickness, a sickness that is sought to be shattered by the quest for such. However, there is no clear-cut definition of the “good life”. We may go back to how the sages of the past define it. Some define it as living the life based on the greater scheme of nature. Others insist on the opulence of material possessions as the measure of “good life”. Most define it on the observance of rules, beliefs, dogma, norms, and societal expectations. The quintessential need of man to achieve the “good life” has defined how man has lived its life through the ages. The chronicles of our world and local history have been filled with narratives of the rise and fall of nations and civilizations, the feats of extraordinary people, their idiosyncrasies, and the reasons why their lives are remembered. Perhaps, the spirit of the times is defined by these great men of history. They may have defined, directly or indirectly, the “good life”. Though these great men, imbibed with optimism and ideology, are products of their own social environments, there should be something in their character that makes them stand out from the common people. They usually start from humble beginnings common in their times, rising from the ranks and taking the stage, leading people to believe in the path of a “good life”. Some of the great men may have brought the entire world into tumultuous times; the fight between the Muslims and the Christians for Jerusalem, the Left Revolutionists and the Royalists during the eve of the French Revolution, the Axis and Allied Powers of the Second World War, the battle of the West versus the rest, and the current quest for world supremacy between US and China. What are in these great men that have split the world into factions as

their contemporaries drive themselves and the people who believe in them towards the “good life”? Charisma? Wealth? Connections? Extraordinary brilliance? Character? Will? Perhaps a concoction of traits fit for legend may be attributed to them because of their mark in history. These traits can be summed, in the danger of sweeping overgeneralization, into two invaluable assets that a great man should have – power and self-interest. Both seem to be mutually reinforcing as the power leads to the achievement of self-interest. With their rise, more power is needed to drive their own interests as competing interests have also risen by overpowering those who were once their equals. It seems that history can be likened to people. Many people who may become great men, entering into a tunnel of uncertainty wherein the end brings glory and the achievement of the “good life”. Many fall as they traverse through the tunnel. In the near end of the tunnel, it is not uncommon that two great men, or two entities to be broad, compete for the passage through the exit, and the last one who stands tends to say what the tunnel is and what was inside. The classification and division of “truths” and great men into thesis and the antithesis may explain the emergence of the men of the hour. However, who or what defines the thesis and the antithesis? Perhaps, the one who emerged victor in the wrestle tends to define who is who. As an old adage says “History is written by the victors”, the victors with his liberty tend to define terminologies that may be divisive and where limitations are based, even the definition of the “good life”. Though narratives in our history seems to be presented in a way where great men play the game of power and interest, these narratives usually neglect the stories of the overpowered, the underpowered, and the unrecognized. Much of what we know is from mainstream narratives, yet

there may be other realities that remain to be unrecognized and unheard of. The lives of people living under the sway of great men are the usual victims of sweeping overgeneralizations. The sub-alternation of “truths” and the burying of other narratives can be seen as the cause of the seemingly incurable social cancer that pervaded human civilization throughout ages. Great men, once drunk by the wine of power, unknowingly lead people under their watch into the pits of dishonor and uncertainty. The search for “good life” seems to bring humanity into a vicious cycle, where the higher the peak human civilization may attain places the future into steeper cliffs. These narratives, though not heard of, are products of power play, wherein the truth held by great men are accounted as part of history while the stories of those who have fallen are stuck into the deepest recesses of the ever-growing annals of history. As the definition of “good life” remains to lie in the hands of great men, the meaning continues to change, making man searching for “truths” and may end up either subscribing to other great men or peeking through the crevices of history where other “truths” and meanings of “good life” wait to be discovered and understood. This is the reason why the world remains to be divided eventually into two typologies: the thesis and the antithesis; and the heard and the unheard. Nevertheless, those who hold power remain to define the very symbols we live and place meanings unto them. We continue see power relations as a oneway street – a hard and unidirectional relationship thus leading us to see the forces of the world in dyads. However, if we change our view of power as multidirectional and fluid, will the concept of great men and “good life” change? Will this change the way how we understand history, and subsequently change the way we see “truth”? TC

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SURVEY

CAROLINIAN’S

TODAY:SURVEY 2013 1

I am...

36% Male 58% Female 6% Other

(Transgender, homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, etc)

64% Yes 36% No

Are you proud to be a Carolinian?

92% Yes 8% No 3

What do you think about the uniform policy?

31% Against it 61% For it 4

Have you ever gotten your ID conﬁscated? (The survey showed that CAFA students have the most number of students who have gotten their IDs conﬁscated)

75% No

15% 18% 18% 3% 6

If yes, what was the reason of your ID being conﬁscated? Not wearing of uniform Short skirt (for girls) Long hair (for boys) Cross dressing

9% Not wearing of ID 4% Disorderly behavior 33% Others

If yes, did your actions justify the conﬁscation of your ID?

53% Yes, I did not follow the rules 47% No, the guards were wrong 7

Did you read the Student Manual?

55% Yes 45% No 8

What do you think of University rules and policies?

66% Just and lawful 34% Strict and bureaucratic

14 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

Have you seen any improvements since when you ﬁrst enrolled in USC?

63% Yes 37% No 11

25% Yes

Do you feel that there is a free exchange of ideas among the students in the university without the threat of suspension, expulsion or disciplinary actions from the administration?

Do you feel the impact of the SSC?

43% Yes 39% No 18% I don’t care 12

What do you think about iDiscount?

58% Good 6% Bad 36% What’s that? 13

What do you think about non-Catholic organizations being unrecognized in USC?

48% I think it’s wrong 18% I think it’s right 34% I don’t care 14

Do you think that the USC facilities are sufﬁciently equipped with modern and necessary technology?

61% Yes 49% No 15

Did you have any issues with ISMIS while enrolling?

36% Yes 31% No 33% I enrolled directly at my department

SURVEY

Do you think that USC promotes Filipino pride?

66% Yes 34% No 17

Are you proud to be a Filipino?

30% 56% 10% 4%

90% Yes 6% No 4% I’m not a Filipino 18

34% 36% 16% 14% 19

26% 17% 9% 6% 3% 9% 20

What do you think is the state of the country? Improving Stagnant Digressing I don’t know

Out of the following, what do you think is the biggest issue in the Philippines? Poverty Corruption Unemployment Rate Global Warming Sexism/Homophobia Education

3% 3% 5% 7% 3%

Territorial disputes Westernization Technology Over population Religion

How did you feel about the senatorial results?

35% Sad and disappointed 31% Happy and hopeful 34% Apathetic 22

What/who do you think is responsible for the results?

40% Corruption/Vote Buying 14% Fair competition 23

10% Smart voters 36% Uneducated voters

What is your opinion on those who blame the uneducated poor sector for the senatorial results?

25% I agree with them 35% The uneducated are not to blame 40% My opinion is neutral 24

Does the media have a role in how the people think?

87% Yes 13% No

Media plays a positive role in our society Media is used as a tool to control the people Media is useless with only chismis Media doesn’t affect society in anyway

What do you think is the ultimate goal of media? Entertainment Money Mind Control Education

How do you think the media portrays those outside the norm?

40% Accurately 41% Incorrectly 19% Offensively 28

What do you think is the state of the people of the country?

16% Good 37% Bad 47% Neutral 29

Do you think that the government is addressing pressing matters?

26% Yes 32% No 42% Neutral 21

27% 32% 25% 16%

Continuing from the previous question, what is your opinion about that?

32% 19% 44% 5% 30

34% 10% 12% 44% 31

Out of the four, what do you think is regarded as the most important in today’s society? Money Respect Education Popularity

What do you think of humanity? Beautiful Ugly Scary Average

Do you have hope for humanity?

89% Yes 11% No 32

Are you happy?

80% Yes 20% No

Are we in a sick world?

70% Yes 30% No 15 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

FEATURE

I AM MARX’S COMPLETE

LACK OF SURPRISE: an EXAMINATION OF THE UNIVERSITY-CALL CENTER RELATIONSHIP as the MODERN DAY ASSEMBLY LINE Ki-Jeong “Jenny” Shim In basic education we learn English, Math and Science. In higher education, more specifically in the University of San Carlos, English 3 is taken to better communication skills, while furthering the understanding of coherence and structure by taking up Logic, but rarely are these put into use. According to the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), four out of ten (or 40% of) fresh graduates are not hired because they lack the tripartite key qualities – critical thinking, initiative and effective communication skills. Academic education is held in such blind regard that we almost always forget why it is importance in the first place. An individual only goes through the means of a proper education to reach the end – an employment. Maria Agnes “Gigi” Alcasid, one of the directors of PMAP, has said that even graduates with well to do grades do not qualify for employment in most BPO companies because of their lack of applying what they have learnt inside the classroom – their lack of critical thinking.

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Once, the academe, especially the humanities, was held in importance, however this no longer applies. This can very well be reflected in the diminishing number of students taking up courses that are deemed impractical; such as Philosophy, History, Sociology, Math, Biology, and such. At most, these courses are taken as preparatory courses. The number of students interested in these fields has led USC to become the only university in Cebu to offer Philosophy as a course. As well as the combing of the Sociology, Anthropology and History departments to one – DASH. The humanities are considered to be no longer of use in this ‘progressive’ society. The Philippine government considers three tracks to be of priority disciplines – education science, teacher training, engineering and technology. Our

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educational system is a breeding ground of workers. We spend four to five of our tertiary years in order to be another pawn in a capitalist system, without even properly understanding the discipline. The telling numbers of fresh graduates remaining unemployed due to their lack of critical thinking and communication skills might possibly indicate that students simply take up a course as a means to reach an end (employment) without taking it seriously. The students are going to class, but not really learning. The 2010 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry by the National Statistics Office, presents that the number of call center activities, despite ranking only fifth in the number of establishments, employed the largest number of workers – 221,292 or 43% of the employed. In 2012, according to Benedict Hernandez, president of Contact Center Associations of the Philippines (CCAP), the number of the call centre industry’s workforce hit 500,000. In addition, the industry met its $8.4 billion revenue contribution to the Philippine economy. As said by Hernandez, call centers are typically lenient in accepting agents. Unlike other companies that require degree holders, call centers accept those who are still in college, college dropouts or even high school graduates. For the sake of argument, a call center agent on average pays P11, 000 as a starting salary to a college dropout who only works part-time, plus with the grant of incentives. Whereas a fresh

Psychology graduate working full time in an HR Company has a pay check of P15, 000 without any incentives. A diploma is equivalent to four years of spending roughly P30, 000 per semester, equating to approximately P240, 000 in total, not including books, lunch money, transportation fee, and other requirements – assuming graduation is on time. It is obvious which of the two may seem like a better choice. However, according to CCAP, an average call center agent keeps his/her job for 10 to 22 months. The turnover rate is the highest in the world – 60% to 80%. Regardless of these numbers, CCAP executive director has stated that BPO industry in the Philippines is still going strong compared with those in other countries, in spite of what is happening in the global economy. Despite having the highest turnover rate in the world the call center industry continuously has the largest number of employment rates in the Philippines. Perhaps it is because of the excess of the labor force in the Philippines. Labor is dispensable. Along with the call centre industry, high rate employment industries comprise of workers who are expendable – private security activities, employment placement agencies, cleaning activities and the service industry. Our chiefs and ates’ are not people in the face of a company – the country runs on a fuel of the lower class. While the mass is made

to believe that an education is a way out of poverty, those who have an education do not seriously take into account what the purpose of an education serves – other than the mere fact of employment. Whereas those who choose to remain uneducated feel that education is unnecessary, when there are high paying jobs that do not require a diploma, albeit being short term. The employed, whether behind a front desk, in a cubicle, in front of the bank, or even in the bank, do not quintessentially fulfill their needs as individuals, other than the fact that it pays. In a country where poverty is clearly observable, only money matters – regardless of how money is earned. Further, it is through that process of labor that he/she loses himself. The worker who produces the calls, the checks, the bank notes, the security, the cleanliness, is not in a place to feel detached from oneself because of the work produced. It does not matter to the worker if the work is enjoyable, or if it is demeaning, or if it is causing his growth as an individual to be stagnant. It is through the dire need of employment, that the working class is oppressed. It is from his/her education up to his/her employment that the worker believes that all he does is simply a means to an end – nothing more. If you, dear reader, have to ask what the point of this article is then, I will have to respond, “Nothing.” TC

17 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

FEATURE

OUR EASTE Dylan Briones

Eastern thinking, at its most general, is collective; with an emphasis on harmony and the status quo. Eastern religions are integrative, and focus on the inner, rather than the outer – emphasizing a search of the self through introspection and reflection of lifestyle. Add to that collectivism is the focus on one’s role in society, and most importantly to his/ her own family. Personal development is cynical and never ending. Truths are given and are not questioned, achievement generally lies within. The keys to success are spiritual and virtue is the core principle of living. Emotions are controlled, with introspection and meditation. The collectivism in our culture is obvious and in plain sight. We tend to associate ourselves in groups that we belong to. Mere decades ago those of our parents’ and grandparents’ generation were identified through the weight of their family name. Their identities as individuals came only second. It can be seen in many facets of our society, of what we value and treasure within our myriad of island cultures. There is a strong family connection, a tight and sometimes rigid traditionalism with regards to the roles we play. Those who decry Western influences are quick to assume the worst, that those

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strong family connections will dissolve and our society won’t be too far behind. However, as much as we value family, there is little in the way of valuing our community and our country as a whole. Our feudal oligarchy masquerading as a democracy is much a product of the close family ties we are proud of as the loving moments we share with our families. All in all it has been a mixed bag of blessings and curses. In looking up, the future is unknown and mostly predetermined by outside influences. Development is strictly linear and goal oriented. Again there is an emphasis on looking outside rather than inside. These Western spiritual beliefs were fully ‘successful’ in integrating with our Eastern collectivist nature; resulting in our Eastern West of a nation. It comes as no surprise and with no shortage in irony, in that context that our Western influenced spirituality and our Eastern collective mindset naturally opposes the encroaching Western ideas of society. What of Eastern spirituality, then? What of the multitude of Hindu ascetics, the numerous sects following the Buddha’s

dharma? These ideas seem as foreign to our shores as the Spaniard colonizers who molded us after themselves. What little influences of Eastern spirituality that can be seen in the dominant Roman Catholic tradition are generally few and far in-between? To define this Eastern spirituality is a brief look at an essay on its history by S.P. Rai. “It is essentially spiritual. It is this intense spirituality which has helped it to resist and survive the ravages of time… The concept of religion in the East is not dogmatic. In fact the Sanskrit word Dharma is not an English equivalent for “Religion”. It signifies much more than ritualism and ritualistic observances. Its literal meaning is that which “holds together” and in the broader senses its

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ERN WEST connotation is “Socially ordained duties.” It is all-inclusive, accommodating in its fold the loftiest ideals of the Upanishads to the darkest fetishism of the common man. It is the tolerance of divergence and dissent, the acceptance of many sidedness of thought that lends it its innate strength.” That being put out, our traditions and their influences in our society is heavily felt. Our institutions are dogmatic, and very resistant to change. We can admit then that the Filipino is easily shaped by this dogmatism, would it be fair to say that the Filipino would rather adapt and endure the present condition rather than change it? Further, Rai states that, “We may note a very important concept, the concept of Jnan/Gyan as the path as well as the goal, the means as well as the

state of deliverance. Gyan has no English equivalent. “Knowledge” or “enlightenment” falls short of giving its full meaning… When Gyan, the goal is achieved, one lives yet one lives not.” There is an amazing almost riddle-like quality to that last statement, “one lives and lives not” as the goal is achieved. It would not be too far to put that in the concept of cyclical, never ending personal development; that is the core of Eastern spiritual thinking. Our religious traditions are pretty linear in scope. We are born, absolved by the ultimate sacrifice of the Christ, those we are to live in virtue to reap the benefits of this life and in the life hereafter death. The focus on introspection and meditation is noticeably absent from our daily lives. Prayers and sacraments purify our souls from without, not from within. Everything has a beginning and everything is an end. The line contrasts to the circle. Lacking as Rai’s article is to summarize Eastern spirituality. The difficulty of comprehending its general concepts only hammers a point of the Filipino’s detachment from it. One could go on and on about the concepts of reincarnation, of

the habits of meditation with regards to the beliefs and practices of the Hindu and Buddhist sects. However we as Filipinos are simply not equipped to comprehend, or relate to it. A single article would not do justice to its ideological significance to humanity as a whole. This detachment is a product of our westernization in the hands of our colonizers; it is a product of centuries of living under colonial subjugation. The mixed bag of that has made our beautiful but intensely flawed society, what it is – a large part of the core of our ongoing identity crisis. Our West-influenced spirituality and our Eastern collectivism is something that will stand for years to come. Fearful as conservatives may be of Western individualism, it is simply too complicated and multifaceted to truly worry about. Cultures change, societies change, and ideas flow and integrate, overlap and compete. Our culture and society is not stagnant, but is in no danger of changing beyond recognition, ironies and paradoxes all. This is the hand our history has dealt us, a special case among greater Asia. A mixed bag, a Western East and an Eastern West. TC

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FEATURE

DEPENDENCY of the

POOR Keziah Cyra B. Papas

Poverty is everywhere. Even in first world countries, poverty still prevails. Undeniably, the Philippines is burdened by one of the most dreadful cases of poverty. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported that during the first quarter of 2013 the Philippines had an economic growth of a whopping 7.8 percent, which was the fastest growth rate among Asian countries. However despite this growth, the average Filipino is said to not feel any of its effect, as of now. According to the latest poverty data released by NSCB, the 2006 Philippine poverty incidence rate of 28.8 percent remained marginally touched with its present rate of 28.6 as the 0.2 difference is statistically insignificant.

20 TODAYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

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According to NSCB, as of 2012, 27.9 percent of the country’s population is in poverty. This colossal number is comprised of those who cannot meet the expenses of sustaining their basic needs, such as food, health, education, shelter and other comforts for their wellbeing. As such, poverty is one of the core reasons why there are a number of people who resort to criminality. If we think about it, overcoming poverty seems like wishful thinking. Nonetheless, the efforts of those who remain optimistic and charitable must be applauded. For instance, the current PhilHealth’s Sponsorship Program or formerly Medicare Para sa Masa corresponds to 539, 670 indigent families. There are countless more charities organized here in the Philippines and even a greater number of non-profit organizations centered to help the poor – Gawad Kalinga, Bahay Bata Center, Salvation Army, among others. Students have also shown our support of helping the unfortunate through National Service Training Program (NSTP) and Community Extension Services (CES) activities. Through charity, generosity is supposedly offered without anything expected in return. It is a voluntary action of offering either material, emotional or spiritual relief towards the needy. However, through charity, there is a danger of dependency; there is however indeed a fine line between the two. Dependency is a result of the poor becoming heavily reliant on alms rather

than their physical capability to provide for themselves. The poor remain in their current state because of the enslavement to the idea that they are not capable of self-sustenance. Instead, they choose to walk under the heat of the sun with their palms out and wait for a kind heart to pass by. It is common to see that the beggar whom we gave alms will be the same beggar that you will meet the next day. Even young children choose to hitchhike on the back of jeepneys, singing to the passengers in the hope of receiving spare change. This is a rinse-and-repeat situation. The beggars see that being a pauper is a career that satisfies their day-to-day necessities. Their dependency on charity and alms can be likened to disease; it is unhealthy and should therefore be wiped out.

it does not improve the situation in the long run. This is likened into increasing the dosage of prescribed medication to cure a sickness. But as one can expect, this only worsens the situation as there is a danger of overdosing, or the patient may simply remain stagnant. Likewise, charity may provide relief that is fleeting, but it only creates a bigger problem. It creates a dependent out of the “beneficiary”. Henry Ford, one of the most reputable humanitarians that have ever lived once said “The recipients of charity are usually destroyed — for once you give a man something for nothing, you set him trying to get someone else to give him something for nothing.” In one way or another, charity justifies the disputes of poverty — the plentiful giver and the helpless receiver.

We may easily attribute the poor’s attitude to laziness. However this tendency can be explained through a condition that occurs within psyche called “learned helplessness”. This occurs when a person is condemned to a harsh environment, leading him to believe that he can never escape it regardless of any attempt. Even if he is presented with a variety of opportunities to escape, he will most likely disregard it. Learned helplessness will drive him to think he is absolutely stranded. Undoubtedly, eliminating this thinking would make a difference.

As the popular Chinese proverb goes, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” This embodies the perfect scheme of philanthropy and should be the maxim of every active charity throughout the globe. Charities must guarantee that their methods are free from encouraging dependency to their recipients. If possible, bountiful donations must not be done freely. It is preferable that incentives be created to motivate the destitute and above all, to safeguard their integrity. No matter what their status in life is, they too are human beings with a right to dignity and self-reliance. Furthermore, they too are blessed with the capability to sustain themselves. The sky is the limit, the possibilities are endless. TC

Charity does not hold evil and generosity should never be demonized. However, if left unchecked and not reevaluated, common methods of charity are flawed. Charity is only good for short-term relief;

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FEATURE

TOO HEARTY FOR MY TASTE Smith Dwight Cabe According to the survey conducted by the World Health Organization, the number one cause of mortality in the world is the ischemic heart diseases. The Department of Health’s 2004-2009 survey on the leading cause of mortality in the Philippines affirms this survey. Knowing this, it is only proper that we learn about them and find ways to prevent these from happening to us.

TYPES OF HEART DISEASES Heart Attack

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

It is a sudden interruption in the heart’s blood supply. The coronary arteries, the vessels that carry blood to the heart muscle are blocked. When blood flow is blocked, myocardium (heart muscles) loose oxygen. This leads to damage and the eventual death of the muscles.

Plaque from fat is absorbed by the coronary arteries’ surface epithelium and builds up inside the coronary arteries. This narrows the arteries. Blood flow becomes difficult. Many people don’t know they have CAD until they experience a heart attack. The best time to treat a heart attack is as soon as symptoms begin. Waiting to be sure can result in permanent heart damage or even death.

Symptoms: A heart attack is an emergency even when symptoms are mild. Warning signs include: (1) pain or pressure in the chest, (2) discomfort spreading to the back, jaw, throat, or arm, (3) nausea, indigestion, or heartburn, (4) weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath, and (5) rapid or irregular heartbeats.

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Symptoms: Recurring chest pain caused by the restricted blood flow.

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Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD)

Heart Failure

This occurs when the heart’s nerve system acts abnormally. This causes it to beat irregularly and dangerously fast. The heart’s pumping chambers may palpitate instead of pumping blood out to the body. Without CPR and restoration of a regular heart rhythm, death can occur within minutes. In the U.S., this is responsible for half of all heart diseases causing about 325, 000 adult deaths.

The heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Over time, the heart gets bigger to accommodate more blood. It pumps faster to increase the amount of blood moving out of it and the blood vessels narrow. The myocardium may also weaken. This reduces the blood supply even more. Most cases of heart failure are the result of coronary artery disease and heart attacks.

Symptoms: Racing heartbeat, and nausea due to the irregular beating, but most of the time this happens without prior symptoms.

Symptoms: Heart failures can either be chronic or acute. Chronic means that the condition is ongoing while acute means the condition has started suddenly. The symptom for the former are the following: (1) shortness of breath (dyspnea) when you exert yourself or when you lie down, (2) fatigue and weakness, (3) swelling (edema) in your legs, ankles and feet, (4) rapid or irregular heartbeat, (5) reduced ability to exercise, (6) persistent cough or wheezing with white or pink blood-tinged phlegm, (7) swelling of your abdomen (ascites), (8) sudden weight gain from fluid retention, (9) lack of appetite and nausea, (10) difficulty concentrating or decreased alertness. The latter has the following symptoms: (1) symptoms similar to those of chronic heart failure, but more severe and start or worsen suddenly, (2) Sudden fluid buildup, (3) rapid or irregular heartbeat (palpitations), (4) sudden, severe shortness of breath and coughing up pink, foamy mucus, (5) chest pain, if your heart failure is caused by a heart attack.

Arrhythmia Regular nerve impulses cause your heart to beat but sometimes those impulses become inconsistent. The heart may race, slow down, or palpitate. Arrhythmias are often harmless variations in rhythm that pass quickly but some types make your heart less effective at pumping blood. This can make a serious damage on the body. Let your doctor know if you’ve noticed your heart beating abnormally. Symptoms: Irregularity of the heartbeat.

Cardiomyopathy It is a disease involving changes in the myocardium. The myocardium enlarges. These changes may interfere with the heart’s ability to effectively pump blood. This can lead to a chronic condition called heart failure. Cardiomyopathy is sometimes associated with other chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure or heart valve disease. Symptoms: At the beginning, no sign or symptoms may appear but as the disease progresses the following symptoms appear: (1) Breathlessness with exertion or even at rest, (2) swelling of the legs, ankles and feet, bloating of the abdomen due to fluid buildup, (3) fatigue, (4) irregular heartbeats that feel rapid, pounding or fluttering, (5) dizziness, lightheadedness and fainting.

Congenital Heart Defect It is present at birth. The problem could be a leaky heart valve, malformations in the walls that separate the heart chambers, or other heart problems. Some defects are not found until a person becomes an adult. Some need no treatment. Others require medicine or surgery. People with congenital heart defects may have a higher risk of developing complications such as arrhythmias, heart failure, and heart valve infection, but there are ways to reduce this risk. Symptoms: excessive sweating, extreme tiredness and fatigue, poor feeding, rapid heartbeat, rapid breathing, shortness of breath, chest pain, a blue tinge to the skin (cyanosis), clubbed fingernails.

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Who are at risk?

Suggested solutions

Men have a higher risk of having a heart attack than women, and at an earlier age. But it’s important to note that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, too. People with a family history of heart ailments also have a higher risk of heart trouble.

It is possible to regain your health for example after a heart attack. By avoiding cigarettes, becoming more active, and watching what you eat, you can give your heart and overall health a big boost. One of the best ways to learn how to make these changes is to take part in a cardiac rehab program. Ask your doctor for recommendations.

Leading causes High cholesterol and high blood pressure are major risk factors for heart disease. Being overweight, obese, or physically inactive all increase your risk. So does diabetes, especially if your glucose levels are not well controlled. Discuss your risks with your doctor and develop a strategy for managing them. There are many steps you can take to protect your heart. If you smoke, your risk of heart disease is 2 to 4 times greater than a nonsmoker’s. And if you smoke around loved ones, you’re increasing their risk with secondhand smoke. Each year in the U.S., more than 135,000 people die from smoking-related heart disease. But it’s never too late to quit. Within 24 hours of quitting, your heart attack risk begins to fall. Unhealthy lifestyle is one but is the most frequently blamed. Nowadays, people prefer to ride rather than walk. The ‘Juan Tamad’ culture has somehow rooted in most of the people. The onset of computers also promoted an unhealthier lifestyle. People tend to stay at home and work and play on their computers. For Filipinos, their diet has gone from good to bad to ill. In the 6th National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology in 2003, Filipinos have increased the consumption of fat and oily foods. Saturated and trans-unsaturated fats are difficult to digest and are usually stored in the cells. These are the usual components of the plaque that accumulate on the blood vessels.

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The key to preventing heart disease is a healthy lifestyle. This includes a nutritious diet, at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week, not smoking, and controlling high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes. If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation -- no more than one drink a day for women, two drinks a day for men. Ask your friends and family for help in making these changes. They’ll benefit, too.

Diet and Your Heart What you eat makes a difference. Be sure you get plenty of whole grains, vegetables, legumes, and fruits to help keep your heart healthy. Plant oils, walnuts, other nuts, and seeds can also help improve cholesterol levels. And don’t forget to eat fish at least a couple of times each week for a good source of heart-healthy protein.

Sources: WebMD. (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.webmd.com/heart/ default.htm World Health Organization (WHO). (?). Retrieved from: http:// who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/ Department of Health (DOH). (2010). Retrieved from: http:// www.doh.gov.ph/node/198.html

REVIEW

BAD BOOKS WE SUGGEST YOU DON’T READ Modelland by Tyra Banks It’s weird. The story protagonist is Tookie De La Crème; it took a while for me to realize that it was a person and not food. It’s about a magical world of models and odd imagery, floating out of ears, and “Intoxibellas” (Yes, the author creatively made that word up) and it’s contextualized in a “mysterious place on top of a mountain” (cue sarcastic wow). Reyna Angeli Pesquira

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho I read this book about a year ago, and it was preachy and condescending on many accounts. One basic idea the book it tries to convey is that if you really want something and listen to the desires of your heart, the whole universe will help you in achieving this if you pay attention to omens or signs. This sounded really dubious to me as it suggests a scenario where people no longer work hard to achieve their goals independently. Patrisse Bea Prospero

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger A coming-of-age novel set in the 50s about a misanthropic teen in an all-boys boarding school who runs away to New York running into this and that. I read this in a “dark” time in my youth, in my premature age I worshiped this book because it so understood me. It’s still with me in my memories because it’s not necessarily a bad book; it’s a good book for sad whiny preteens who self-diagnose themselves with I-hate-the-world-ism. But if you’re in your late teens or in your twenties, you need to redefine your choices and put. the. book. down. Jenny Shim

Life of Pi by Yann Martel There will never be a way to sugarcoat the fact that this book is mind-numbingly dull. The book was about an Indian boy in a lifeboat with a tiger. Yes, that’s pretty much all of the interesting subject you can dig up from the book. Although the book contained so many stories from Pi’s early years, it was just a pity how one story would overlap another and it just became a confusing bundle of fictional tales. Most of the time I spend reading the book, I just wished the tiger, Richard Parker, would just devour Pi up, for I just had enough of the extensively long descriptions of the sea, or the irrelevant stories of the animals Pi’s family kept in their zoo. The book didn’t have that much pages but it felt like it was a long, dragging, and not to mention, a painful read. Keziah Cyra Papas

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne The Law of Attraction, the book’s main theme, states that “like attracts like”, where your thoughts can easily become reality. In this case, the book points out that positive thoughts lead to positive events. While it is good to know that one’s thoughts can easily influence action, one cannot solely rely on thoughts to turn dreams into reality. After reading the book, the reader may end up dependent on the Law of Attraction, hoping that the vast expanse of universe will rearrange events in favor of one person. Kim Tiangco

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FEATURE

I THINK THEREFORE I’M SICK Patrisse Bea Prospero

College just seems to turn up a heap of roadblocks to a healthy lifestyle. We might have taken our health for granted just to beat deadlines for school requirements, cram on the eve of the midterm and final exams or even miss out on meals just to attend to early morning classes. Ridiculously busy academic schedules, coupled with social commitments in between, are more than enough reasons to take our health more seriously. In order for us to chase after our academic goals, we should first capitalize on a healthy lifestyle by taking good care of our bodies. It’s quite hard to actually live a healthy lifestyle when hectic schedules smack us in the face and we realize that we cannot drag ourselves out of bed anymore. It is also undeniable that a healthy lifestyle is affected by the social engagements that we do; most, if not all, are engrossed with social networking and jet-setting routines. The university or college education is considered one of the most critical stages in the Philippine educational system because they shape the labor force of the country. It is therefore implied that college is the ‘real thing’; it demands ample

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amounts of physical and intellectual effort. Therefore, battling with sleep and ditching meals are simply “big no-no’s” in that case. In urban cities like Cebu City, urban trends instigate most to adopt a Western lifestyle which involves a fast food diet and shorter amounts of sleep and rest. Indeed, most of us overlook the importance of knowing how to balance things: when to hit the books and when to have fun to avoid compromising one’s health. The University of San Carlos, one of the premiere universities in the Visayas, is estimated to have a number of 19,000 students. Most of these students are exposed to the newest trends in communication technology. That, coupled with the need to go along with what’s “in”, will likely result in poor eating, exercise and sleeping patterns. Due to the rigors of academics, most college students find less time for sleep, to the point of having a messed up body clock. In the study entitled Young People’s Health: Challenges for Education and Intervention, majority of the Carolinian students (66.8%) usually sleep less than 8 hours a day, in addition, 6.4 percent

of the said group sleep only 4 hours or less a day. It was also reported that most of the students (66.1%) sometimes experience difficulty sleeping at night. About 12.3 percent even reported that they always experience difficulty in sleeping. Chronic sleeping difficulty is especially observed among males (12.9%), the older students (14.7%), and among the students of:

CAFA 21.0% PHARMACY 20.2% COMMERCE 14.3% ARTS AND SCIENCES 13.5% It was also described that this problem is likely to intensify with the rise of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in Metro Cebu, where a number of Carolinian students are employed. In a study of call center agents in Cebu, a substantial fifth of the purposely-chosen sample (n=118) have either studied or are currently studying at the University of San Carlos (Amadora-Nolasco, 2010). Judging from this data, it is evident that sleep deprivation, among others, pose a serious problem to the students’ health.

FEATURE

The State of the Carolinian Health

Another prevalent concern among Carolinians is poor eating patterns and habits. As provided in the aforementioned study, about a third of the USC sample (36.6%) usually does not eat breakfast. This practice is especially observed among females (40.5%) and among those who are not living with their parents (50.9%). Among the colleges, the largest proportions that usually skip breakfast are observed among students of:

PHARMACY 44.9% CAFA 44.0% NURSING 40.6% EDUCATION 39.6% Although there are a number of students who go to class in the morning with empty stomachs, majority of the students also think that they sometimes find themselves overeating (75.4%) and under eating (51.9%). These data are usually driven by factors such as dietary constrictions to control weight. The poor eating patterns of Carolinians are not only limited to skipping meals but also the students’ choice of unhealthy food.

According to Agustin (2012), the tendency to consume instant and processed food may also pose physical health and morbidity risks faced by young Filipinos of today. The fast food chains and street food across the school usually characterized with high cholesterol, processed foods and high amounts of carbohydrates which can also endanger the health of students. This unhealthy lifestyle can be seen among students who are very preoccupied with a lot of things. These students prefer food that can be prepared quickly such as instant noodles, instant coffee and the like. Although USC’s cafeterias offer healthy and nutritious alternatives such as vegetable soups and other home-cooked dishes, students prefer to eat outside the school to expand their choices and for cheaper prices. Further, a healthy dose of exercise will enhance the chances of a healthy lifestyle. Although we may be too busy to make time for exercising, USC offers 8 units of Physical Education classes for all students. These include team sports, individual sports and recreational activities which help students take a break from academic rigidity. Surprisingly,

according to Agustin (2012), the overwhelming majority of the students (90.6%) engage in some form of physical exercise. The most common forms of physical exercise are walking (36.7%) and jogging (26.2%). Others include sports, dancing, gym/weightlifting. There are differences observed among students in USC in terms of their preferred type of exercise. Nursing and Pharmacy students have the highest proportions engaged in walking while the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) students have the highest percentage who engage in jogging. Engineering students are more inclined to sit-ups and gym/weight-lifting while those in CAFA are most likely to engage in sports. It is surprising that although there is a number of Carolinians who choose to lose sleep and eat unhealthy food, there is still a large number of Carolinians who value the importance of exercise. Our busy schedules end up making sleep and eating healthy as a choice, not a necessity. It may be hard to squeeze in workouts, but the little activities we do make all the difference. We can opt to taking the stairs to the classroom, run to class to avoid a tardy mark and walk from one department building to another. TC

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FEATURE

State of the Nation’s Health Address Keziah Cyra B. Papas Illustration by Van Kevin B. Opura

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FEATURE

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, safety occupies the second stepladder. Safety is comprised of security of body, of employment, resources, property, family, morality and health. These are necessities that any human being is reliant on, subsequent to the physiological needs. However, as we live in a world where everything comes with a price tag, these needs are worth more than what most of us can afford. Healthcare is a basic need and a basic right. Yet it is safe to say that the access to such need and right comes with a cost. Thus, healthcare becomes the least of the lower class’ priorities, notwithstanding how they are the ones who need it most. A common scenario in the lower class Filipino family is that when a member of the family gets sick, the entire family is in crisis as they are unable to afford proper access to healthcare. Whereas health equity is the insurance that every person, regardless of race, gender, and socio-economic status, has equal opportunity to access healthcare through fair and just resources. Health equity is what this nation is indeed an imperative.. Health equity has been espoused by both local and international law. In, Article II, Section 15 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, it is stated that, “The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.” Further, Alma Ata Declaration of 1978 asserts that “The Conference strongly reaffirms that health, which is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, is a fundamental human right” It is still doubtful, however, whether or not the State has fulfilled its obligations as stated in the Constitution and the Declaration. It is apparent that only those who have the pecuniary advantage can take full advantage of their privilege in

healthcare. Meanwhile, the lower class can barely meet the expense of medical maintenance. Accordingly, President Benigno Aquino himself said that 60 percent of our countrymen who succumb to sickness die without seeing a doctor. This issue is but a complex web that links to other concerns: overpopulation, poverty, fruitless government projects and the deficiency of public service organizations; the list just goes on and on. One that is evidently correlated with the healthcare problem is the low healthcare budget. Corresponding to the World Health Statistics (WHO), it happens that the budget for healthcare is only 3.2 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The current measly 3.2 percent does not meet the 5 percent recommended by the WHO. Though the country may have an abundance of public hospitals, it is questionable that these hospitals have good facilities that can cater to those in need. This is a growing concern that is not given sufficient attention to. For example, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is hospital that is “well-known” for its superior health faculty. In his latest State of the Nation’s Address (SONA), President Aquino announced that VSMMC will now be capable of offering open heart surgery. However it is a Cebuano’s common knowledge that being a public hospital that it is, VSMMC still lacks some proper medical facilities and equipment. To be explicit, in the said hospital’s obstetrical ward, a hospital bed intended for one is shared by three more patients. Further, in an interview with a former patient in VSMMC, the interviewee who chooses to remain anonymous shared his experiences at the said hospital. The interviewee revealed that when he went to get his broken arm treated, he had to wait for 3-4 hours before receiving any medical attention. When he was finally

treated and got a cast for his arm, it was said that a week after the procedure, he found that his arm had been infected and found maggot-like things crawling in his arm. It was found out that when he had gotten treated at VSMMC, the tools were not properly sterilized. While there may be an adequate number of healthcare facilities in the city, the same cannot be said for the rural areas. Therefore, due to the costly expense of acquiring healthcare in the cities, those who cannot afford it resort to “hilot” and other “natural” or “traditional” alternatives. Although we do not have to be against alternative medical practices, we must be aware of its implications and be prepared for its consequences,. We must be especially wary as these alternative methods may be unsanitary and could just make the illness worse. Another alternative that we rely upon is “faith healing”. In a Catholic country, it is inevitable that the sickly turn to faith at dire times when all options have been exhausted. Nonetheless, it cannot be said that faith can actually bring any healing or change to a disillusioned sick person. However the blame is not to go to the health professionals at public hospitals. In particular, the nurses get paid for a maximum of. It a measly salary of a maximum of ₱8,000 per month, it is clear that this does not compensate for the amount of time, money and effort put in to become registered nurses. This continues to force these highly-trained medical professionals that the idea of working abroad is more fruitful than staying in the country. This is a major factor that contributes to the continued aggravation of healthcare delivery in the country. It cannot be said that the government is fully at fault with the ongoing lapses of healthcare. However, there can be no progress in a country of sick people. TC

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OPINION

UNDER THE HELM of

TYRANTS Craeg Jose Nerbes Illustration by Zachary Borromeo

We may think that tyranny is a thing of the past. The rise of democracy and the continual democratization of countries give us the impression that this world has been free from the oppression of evil men who govern on the basis of their whims and clouded passion. Tyranny is not a system of government. It is the disposition of the person in power. Tyranny isn’t a question of “who” or “how many” but a question of how power is exercised. And as such, it can thrive even among those societies, groups and even families that wear democracy for a mask.

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OPINION

In the 12th century St. Thomas Aquinas gave a well-reflected analysis of tyranny, its origin and symptoms. Born in a medieval society where most governments were a monarch in a feudal system, Aquinas believed that tyranny is essentially a corruption of the ruler’s soul, an abuse of a given power and the subservience of reason to the corrupted passions. The tyrant is a ruler or any person who holds power who is beholden to his inordinate desires. However, Aquinas was supportive of monarchy as a good form of government, even thinking about it as reflective of the kingship of Christ. Regardless, Aquinas never meant that authority, even if exercised by one ruler, “may be used and abused for despicable and oppressive ends.” Power cannot and must not replace reason. In fact, it must be held and exercised with reason. Power must not be used as a tool to shorten the route to decision making. A decision made solely on the basis of power devoid of “soundness in reasoning” is typical of tyrannical rule. The problem with a tyrant is that he begins with good intentions. No tyrant started oppressing people with an offer of a destructive vision. In fact one would have a hard time distinguishing a tyrant from a messiah, hero or even a saint. Cleaning society from its ills, promoting justice in all phases of life, purifying a group from critics or at least strictly implementing black and white rules just so that the face of society would be reinvented – these are just a few of the things that tyrants begin with. Things one should not be afraid of, not until the unpacking of the bag. People find it difficult to see the symptoms of a potential tyrant. All roads to hell, after all, are paved with good intentions. In a society where people are crying for justice, the budding tyrant is the hero or the messiah. He is the paragon of righteousness and his plans are the needed tools to purify the believed-to-be rotten rules. But little do people know that evil has various ways of incarnating itself. Sometimes it allows itself to be destroyed by what appears to be “the good”, only to find a replacement of something that is the worse. And so the tyrant offers the promise of helping people clean their mess. He promises those crying for changes and more clarity in rules, the compensation they thought they deserve in exchange for connivances, silence, betrayals and “hidden loyalties.” The tyrant begins his entry into an agreement with whoever supports the cause, one that lures potential supporters with rewards of outstanding character and honors of lifetime greatness. The subterfuge then starts with meetings in an invisible barracks, plans laid down for the creation of a new armada. Greedy and envious the tyrant becomes; he cannot wait to seize his “deserved” power. Those of who were against him, he records in for the subsequent “battles” that are to come, in order to completely wipe out any future

opposition. The one objective the evil ruler always has in mind is to be sure that when he has the power; no one else can take it back at all cost. A tyrant is a determined person but would not show this to the public, he would create an amiable façade. Timidity and smiles may cover up the cruelty and the softness of the voice may even suggest harmlessness. But the poison running in the evil ruler’s blood is so fatal that it can kill any enemy, real or potential, that may come its way. Worse, laws are used to veil the forms of oppression this soulless ruler desires to impose. But the worst of all is that he understands the law, not from the viewpoint of reason, but from power. Anything that can defend and justify the agenda of the powerful is “the rule”, even if it was promulgated outside of the order of things, without compassion and care for the common good. He does not cite the law out of obedience but because the advantage it provides as a weapon to oppress the oppositionists Perhaps, the tyrant justifies further his dictatorship by shrouding it with “the rule of law? . Angered by the achievements of his opponents, the tyrant seeks out means to obliterate them. Jealousy drowns the heart of the incompetent and rotten ruler. As the possessor of vast power he need not kill the opponents with his bare hands, as he may use even holy men and sacred principles just so that contestation would cease to exist. He builds authority on top of the fallen bodies of innocent people; honor and fame are achieved at the expense of the reputation of the powerless. He is good in subverting stories, in blowing things out of proportion. In truth, the tyrant can very well twist and transpose anything into lies. People truly know, however, that the tyrant is not pure but merely puritan; he may not be right, but simply self-righteous. Even God is not spared by the tyrant, for His name is used for the selfish ends of acquiring power. The bottom line is he who is drunk with power succumbs to the passions of the lower appetites. Lust for fame, wealth and power, even intellectual arrogance and the desire to be always correct, immunizes the tyrant from submitting to reason. The refusal to submit to reason brings about cruelty, deafness to the cries of the oppressed, unfeeling of their pain, blind to their destroyed lives, unrepentant for the reputations the tyrant devastated and the joys he killed. The tyrant would always go back to the law and prove with all his might that the law stands by him, that God is with him and that the just ordering of society as a family lies in his messianic hands. The tyrant’s “reason” is corrupted. Fear for loss of money, fame and authority is the cause why his reason is blind. Pride keeps it from admitting mistakes. The tyrant insists that he cannot err and so the blame is passed on to the subjects who, despite their innocence, are made to admit

that it was their fault in the first place. This ruler truly cannot be trusted, for in all the things he does, there is betrayal. Now in our modern times, do tyrants still live? Though far from those ages when kings alone had the inclination to become evil rulers, people of today are still not safe from women and men who are driven by addiction to power. As said earlier, tyranny is not just a form of government, much less an attitude of governing people. Oppressive rulers exist even in the most democratic of societies and even in those groups that claim to be guided by principles of unity and integrity. Tyranny is timeless; it did not fade away with the medieval or dark ages. It is also not gendered as it did not disappear with the emergence of women’s rights. In fact we must say that tyranny has nothing to do with gender because man and woman are both capable of becoming a tyrant. What is common among those who oppressively rule is their damaged reasoning and corrupted hearts. Even those who promise to live by slogans of fair administration and principled leadership cannot just be trusted. These mantras sometimes cover our eyes from seeing the truth about rulers who rule for the sheer reason of satisfying their thirst for power. They want to be safe and comfortable in their own lives and that is why they grab the position of power in order to write the rules of the game. By manipulating the rules, they are safe from being ruled; this evil desire is hidden behind cunning and deceptive moods of volunteerism and passion for service. “Rules are rules, and these are my rules!” Slogans are just so mesmerizing that we tend to overlook the fact that caution must be taken when dealing with anyone who offers to serve. Service, after all, is not anything a normal human being would take, if not for anything in exchange. Only when we are awakened to the realities of power-mongering in our country, city or school – that we realize that tyranny still happens even in modern society. Each group has its own tyrant and all of us have the tendency to become one. St. Thomas Aquinas once remarked that the difference between a good monarch and a tyrant is “charity.” Be careful with those who are so concerned with justice, most especially when their passion for the same exposes their vindictiveness and thirst for blood. Be careful of those who in the name of righteousness – justify their mistakes to the extent of claiming that “the good” sides with them. A good leader is not only concerned with removing all woes and ills of a community but also proceeds with a heart that listens. It is the compassionate heart that allows the ruler to temper personal desires with reason and thus avoid the temptation of being selective. TC

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OPINION

WE WILL BE

WORKERS ANYWAYS! Why academic conservatism is inevitable and how you should deal with it? Guillermo Rossotorres

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OPINION

Let’s face the reality. We go to school, get a diploma, and then hopefully land on a stable, high-paying job. We don’t bother to go beyond the book nor choose beyond A to D for the want of passing the subject without any intention of retaining what we have learned. We murmur against our teachers, we complain about the absurdity of taking minor classes, or even complain the faults of our respective departments and colleges. The bottom line is that at the end of the day, the most coveted passport to the market of labor is in and the hands of those who are have power over us, our teachers and professors. All we can do is to accept the bitter reality: naa ra ta sa tumoy sa ilang bolpen (we are still at the tip of their pens). I can still vividly remember what I heard from one of our classes. Our professor said that by the end of the day, we will just be workers, not intellectuals. I find it ironic that the university, whose main purpose is to educate, is creating mere workers for a market whose insatiable hunger for cheap labor may lead to exploitation. Who cares about our idealism when our employers only see our work based on the meeting between actual production and expected quota? Who cares about our thoughts if it entails more costs to the company when considered?

The same problems can be seen in our experience as students. Who cares about your analysis when it runs counter to the expectations of our teachers? Who cares about our models if they are not found in books? Who cares about our theories if they are not searchable on Google? Who cares about the literature we find if they are not cited many times? Who cares about us if we fail? Would it be the professors? No. As bleak as it sounds, they are just doing their jobs: gatekeepers and sorters of the academically sound from the rotten, non-conformist academically unsound. Perhaps, academic freedom is only bestowed upon people who have already gained their hard-earned titles through years of conformity, not to us who are still fledglings in need of their “guidance and support”. Bitter as it seems, we are just small cogs of a bigger machine. Conservatism is the only way to go if you live the life of financial comfort. Conservatism here does not simply mean as to uniformity of output but also of academic thinking. Little by little, we “learn” much while our creativity is stifled for the sake of being academically intelligent. Conformity teaches us that a chair is for sitting and a table is for writing and working and both of them are not to be used in any other way– unless if you are a child or

psychologically not sound. Our concept of maturity is based on the level of conformity into societal expectations - so as our level of academic maturity is based on common standards. Our eagerness to add pink to a background of black and white is considered as deviance and we can be stigmatized as rebels, instigators, fomenters, or even cowards for such behavior. Any attempt to think outside the box is a threat to the status quo and is seen as a simmering revolution with the purpose of ousting those who sit on the throne of academic prestige. We never wanted to be treated that way. We just want to graduate! How? We just need to take out the light bulb of creativity and replace it by covering our vision with the scarf ofobedience and abidance to all the directives of those who know more than us! Never mind being what you really want, never mind being the “true you”. Reputation, reputation, reputation; it’s all you need to have. The market wants good attitude, not necessarily good character. Nobility of character is a thing of the past. What is fit now is being able to evade traps and be resilient against the pressure of the system. Who cares about the real us? We will be workers anyways! TC

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VOX POPULI

Is the

GOVERNMENT TO BLAME FOR ALL THE LAPSES IN THE COUNTRY? Kathleen Belleza & Patrisse Bea Prospero

“This is certain: as our people aspire for greater things, our government will stand by them and will remain committed to their growth and development.” -President Benigno S. Aquino III, in his speech during the inauguration of the Naga City Hospital, May 3, 2013

The Philippines is a democratic country, which means it is primarily accountable to its people. It must fulfil its end of the social contract. But recently, along with empty promises and depressing conditions, the Philippines still continues to face unresolved issues, many of which damaged with false hopes. The national midterm polls last May was bombarded with pointing fingers and blame games due to the lapses made by different government officials during their terms. Now that the newly elected officials have officially assumed their positions, we asked some Carolinians on their views about the government:

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VOX POPULI

“I’d say it’s about 50-50 on who we ought to blame here. Not only is it our government’s wrongdoing that has brought our country to the state it is in today, but I believe we, the people of the country are also part of the blame. After all, it isn’t only the government that determines how the country does, but it is also the country’s men and women that make a country what it is. Our government has had its share of both great leaders and those that have done nothing but instil corruption on our homeland. Yet, it seems we have done nothing to ease the pain that the latter has done, even in the simplest of ways such as wisely choosing the right leaders to help better our country.” Villanueva, John Michael D.,BSIT-3

a lot of questions but a sad fact is that people hear what they want to hear. People rant and point before they try to understand, when the right thing to blame is that insatiable desire for wealth within us all.” Zaida Carmina Pleños, BSBA - DM:ME 5 “We the people should be blamed for lapses in our country. We are the ones who placed them on authority. So we should just suck it in and live with our choices. Instead of complaining on issues within our country, we should try and act on ourselves and change for the betterment of or own lives. Cause if we don’t, nothing will ever change no matter who’s in office.” Lorenzo Urgel, BSMA – 4

“In my own understanding, the government of this country is its people since we are a representative democracy. Assuming that there were no cheatings or whatsoever during the last election, the elected government officials represent the people who voted them. It is the fault of both the (majority of) voters and the one voted upon if there are lapses in the country. People might react negatively on what I just said there. Looking at the structuralist’s point of view, as they say in the Philippine context, “you are what you are because of the way the society has molded you.” There are lapses in the country because there are also lapses within its people.” Jeconiah Dreisbach, AB POSC – IRFS- ECON 2

“No. We don’t blame them for the negligence that brought to us in this country. Why? As you can see even though they make laws, people don’t follow them. Some people lack discipline and it’s not because of them.” -May Antonette P. Leuterio, BS-HRM 2 “The government is a good thing and the only things making it bad are some of the politicians. It is like riding a Ferrari, the car is very nice but the moment it is driven by a bad driver, the car’s performance wouldn’t be that good as it looks. Same goes to the government which is oftentimes driven by dirty politicians.” Karl Benedict N. Sayson, AB PoSc-LPS-Econ 2

“Avarice. It is to blame, this is present in each one of us, and it is undeniable. If we’d try to fathom the situation, the citizens “built” the government. They simply exercised their right to vote AFTER getting some loot in the bag – money that is from them in the first place. It’s just a circulation: greedy politician gets some illegal money, piles them up for election, gives an amount to a “responsible” voter, greedy politician wins, greedy politicians rule, “responsible” voter multiplies to angry mob. We are ambivalent Filipino citizens with a lot of hissy-fits. We have

“The people depend on the expenses of the State while the State depends on the expenses of the people.” It’s not the government’s problem if people make many babies. It’s not the government’s problem if students don’t study well. The government may be blamed, but it is indirect. It is the people who voted for the government officials, but the people shouldn’t only rely to the government. Ceteris paribus, if the government did their part and the people do their job, progress will be achieved.” Jason Comandante, BS ECON – BUS 4

“The government was chosen by the people thus the people are to blame. Not all of the people but with those who are less educated and easily swayed by false promises and hope. We particularly blame so much in our government but it’s the people who put them in their positions are to blame.” Joshua Matthew Cañete, BSCE – 3 “I don’t think so kay the government is doing everything they can; ang kulang lang kay ang disiplina sa mga tao.” Kiyo Osumo, B.S Larch 4 “No, I believe the country is run in parts. Though the government has a big role, we also have our role in developing the country so we too have our own responsibilities. I guess, we are also partly to blame if we think the country is not progressing at all.” Danielle Majan, BFA AA3 “Yes, because it is their job to monitor all the responsibilities and to make the country and society better.” Bryan Moralde, BSCE 1 “Dili ra man sad ang government ang nay part sa ato kung di kita mismo Filipinos dapat sad molihok sa para sa atong country.” Earl Judith Allado, B.S Psych “Sa ako lang opinion, whatever happens to the country is the accountability of both its citizens and the leader. It’s like a two way street; a give and take relationship. So for who is to blame? It’s a question of, “Is the government doing its part or the citizens’ share too?” I believe that since the public office holds the public’s trust, citizens should take action; they should report whatever situations of the government and also in exchange, the government should give what the people need.” Kelvin Novabos, BSCPE 3

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OPINION

OUSTANDING

GOVERNMENT Reyna Angeli Pesquira Illustration by Zachary Borromeo 36 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

OPINION

Our country is a nation of several achievements, but all the more blunders. It is always hard to say who’s really to blame for all the lapses in the country. Some point out that institutional is a hindrance to development. This however, is the common opinion. The common impression of the mass is not necessarily the fact of the situation. Usually, these remain impressions. The Philippine Government has never been perfect. Systems can be followed and created, but institutions in general are structures that are imperfect, because the people that control it are imperfect. There were good days when our economy was at its peak- the Philippines was a tiger in Asia during Marcos – then came martial law. There were also times when the government strongly promoted freedom and the rights of Filipinos during the Aquino administration – however the economy was overlooked. In the years that followed, government officials were slowly being publicly recognized for both successful and failed attempts of corruption, the largest and most disappointing of which being former President Gloria Arroyo, who is now serving criminal charges for electoral fraud. Currently, President Benigno Aquino brags with the use of statistics that the economy is improving, but do the people feel it? Have the ones that needed an upsurge in standards of living felt this so-called improvement? Filipinos, Carolinians, is it not disheartening to see prominent figures in the country being imperfect? How their mismanagement can lead to the depression of our standards of living? Filipino masa culture tends to dictate a kind of culture that is sensitive to criticism, proud of nationalism and incredibly patriotic – but also quick to blame others. Poverty, for example is seen as a hindrance to development. People in the middle class perceive the poor to be the reason for underdevelopment. However is it not that the poor are not the primary causes of underdevelopment, but victims of it? Another example, although denied by many, is that there are people who criticize the government but make no effort to participate in its affairs. There are people who judge the government for being inefficient, but don’t take the time or make the effort to scrutinize the candidates so they are assured of whom they elect. The common impression of “the government by

the people” is indeed negative. Moreover, the impression “of the people by the people” is also unnecessarily positive. The government has a duty to serve its people; but what we citizens do not always absorb is that the powers that we possess are not just rights, but duties as well. A basic principle in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, located in Article II Section 1, states that, “The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” Whatever principle in Article II that follows that begins with “The State” does not mean that the responsibility solely lies with the government, but also with the people since all government authority emanates from us. Filipinos, Carolinians, is it not disheartening to see prominent figures in the country being imperfect? How their mismanagement can lead to the depression of our standards of living? Let’s turn the question around: Filipinos, Carolinians, is it disheartening to see fellow citizens in the country being imperfect, judgmental, and condescending? It is expected that the common impression about the government is negative. However, it is disappointing that the common impression involves the total blame of the government. Is the government truly to blame? Or are we all? Usually, we as students are faced with the dilemmas of dishonesty, for example, if it is acceptable to cheat on tests. As we all may know, cheating on tests is wrong because cheating is universally a wrong act, regardless of intention. However the scope of the wrongness of the action is considered too much. Just because it is a tiny injustice in class does not make the wrongness of the action any less wrong. It is as if we were saying that the murder of one person is not wrong because it was just one person compared to the large-scale scope of a massacre, where it was the murder of hundreds of people. So no, cheating in

tests is not okay, no matter how little it is. Just like how it is definitely not okay for politicians to cheat the people out of their money during their term. If we all cannot be honest and sincere with the smallest things, how can we be honest with the bigger, more relevant things that affect not just ourselves, but others as well? Likewise, how can we expect others to do the same? How can we expect our government to do the same? The Philippines is a nation of several achievements, yes, but they can be all too sweeping. Is it wise for us to be so nationalistic and patriotic when we constantly recognize achievements of Filipino artists abroad, but ignore the efforts of the government that we face? Should we be OUST-ing the government or OUST-ing our mentalities? Blaming each other will lead us nowhere. Blaming ourselves can be depressing, but taking action and accepting our own flaws will take us places. There are things that we can blame the government for, and there are things that we can blame on ourselves. But again, blaming each other will lead us nowhere. What truly hinders our development is not the lack of better institutions, mismanagement or physical aspects like public goods and infrastructure. Those however, may be factors that merely contribute to the hindrance, or are results of it, but not genuine causes. The true hindrance lies in our negative impressions and perceptions. The first step to rehabilitation is acceptance of our faults and the clearing of prejudices. We are all to blame. “Omnes mali sumus. Quidquid itaque in alio reprenditur, id unusquisque in sinu suo inueniet.” We are all sinful. Therefore whatever we blame in another, we shall find in our own hearts. – Seneca TC

37 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

INFOGRAPHICS

SPIRITUALITY OF THE CAROLINIAN STUDENT TODAY

Study sample by college and going to mass 57.0%

54.4%

69.7% 61.0%

42.6%

40.0% 38.1% 30.3%

3.0%

Br. Romualdo E. Abulad, SVD Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

3.0%

1.0%

ALL

COM

PHA

CAFA

N=405

N=105

N=89

N=100

50.0%

49.0%

What is Spirituality?

Whether they go to church Whether they read the Bible Whether they pray Whether they join religious organizations.

2.1%

ENG

NUR

N=104

N=96

N=104

N=101

College of Pharmacy (100%) College of Commerce (99%). On the other hand, the lowest proportion of church-goers is registered by: College of Engineering (93.2%) The College of Arts and Sciences (94.2%)

Study sample by sex and reading the Bible

63.4%

GOING TO CHURCH Study sample by sex and going to mass/church 57.8%

YES

69.1%

55.4% 44.6%

36.6%

49.7%

1.0%

Students who are in the science and technology-related courses are less likely to go to church when compared to the other groups.

However, the projected data refers to the external criteria which do not necessarily reﬂect the true interior life of the students, nor how this spirituality is manifested in the everyday movements of their life.

54.4%

6.7%

5.8%

Various studies in the medical ﬁeld have pointed out the interconnectedness between body, mind and spirit. This study describes the USC sample (N=699) students’ spirituality level based on the following criteria:

42.6%

The graph shows that the highest proportion of church-goers (“sometimes” and “always”) in the sample is registered by students enrolled in the:

Is there a relationship between spirituality and health?

55.4%

44.2%

44.8%

This is a word which even scholars and theologians have struggled to deﬁne. One might say that spirit is to be distinguished from matter, the soul from the body. The latter is external, while the former is internal. Indeed, true spirituality is an intimate, perhaps even a hidden aspect of the human condition, and yet it has sure manifestations in a person’s external behavior, personal as well as social.

53.1%

44.2%

30.9%

ALL

MALE

FEMALE

N=699

N=294

N=405

45.6% 42.6%

Roughly two-thirds of the sample population read the Bible (63.4%), with a larger proportion of females (69.1%) than males (55.4%) who do so.

40.5%

Always Sometimes

Study sample by sex and frequency of Bible reading

Never

1.6%

4.8%

3.0%

2.5%

1.1%

11.3%

1.7%

9.8%

12.1%

ALL

MALE

FEMALE

ALWAYS

N=699

N=294

N=405

SOMETIMES

87.1%

97% of the sample go to church, either “always” (54.4%) or “sometimes” (42.6%)

ALL N=699

87.7%

86.8%

MALE

FEMALE

N=294

NEVER

N=405

Only 3% of students say they “never” go to church or attend mass A larger proportion of females (57.8%) than males (49.7%) go to church, and a larger proportion of males (4.8%) than females (1.7%) claim they never to go to church.

38 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

(87.1%) rate of frequency of Bible reading. Still, a larger proportion of females (12.1%) (9.8%) males say they do The statistics shows that majority of our students are at least familiar with the Bible.

INFOGRAPHICS

Study sample by year level and reading the Bible

63.4%

38.7%

30.7% 69.3%

36.6%

ALL

1st YR

N=699

N=189

38.4%

61.3%

2nd YR

Study sample by college and praying ALL

COM

PHA

CAFA

32.2%

36.4%

31.5%

34.0%

27.3%

37.1%

20.2%

31.0%

23.8%

43.8%

7.6%

4.5%

39.3%

3rd YR

4th & 5th YR

N=151

N=168

8.2%

Study sample who read the Bible by college

41.6%

27.6%

ALL

COM N=105

31.7%

38.4%

PHA

54.0%

CAFA

N=89

N=100

22.8%

44.2%

43.8% 56.2%

68.3%

46.0% 58.4%

72.4%

N=699

N=104

N=96

55.8%

41.3%

19.8%

28.0%

25.0%

30.2%

19.2%

30.7%

29.0%

30.8%

29.8%

21.2%

41.6%

4.0%

3.8%

1.0%

5.0%

6.7%

7.3%

17.3%

7.9%

ENG

NUR

N=104

PRAY WHEN FACED WITH A PROBLEM

NEVER PRAY EVEN WHEN FACED WITH A PROBLEM

JOINING RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS Study sample by sex and membership in a religious organization

77.2% 24.3%

YES

27.9%

24.3% 75.7%

N=101

PRAYING Study sample by sex and praying MALE

FEMALE

36.4%

29.1%

Once a day

27.3%

22.4%

30.9%

Twice a day

31.0%

26.9%

34.1%

Thrice a day

1.3%

2.0%

0.7%

8.2%

12.2%

5.2%

32.2%

33.3%

95% 5%

*registered the38.4% highest proportion of students who read the Bible. The students from each college might have varying interpretations of reading the bible, this is perhaps one area of concern which can be explored in future research.

ALL

33.7%

Colleges of Commerce, Education, Pharmacy and Nursing say they pray at least once a day or when the need arises.

19.4%

NUR

60.7% 1.3%

36.6%

ENG

N=191

61.6%

63.4%

I do not pray at all I pray only when the need arises

The females are more prayerful than the male students

75.7%

80.6%

72.1%

ALL

MALE FEMALE

JOINED RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS HAVE NOT JOINED RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

CONCLUSION

97%

63.4%

98.7%

THE CAROLINIAN STUDENTS WHO GO TO CHURCH

PRAY AT LEAST ONCE A DAY

READ THE BIBLE

What the impressive ﬁgures indicate is that we have just a few unbelieving atheists among our students, and that is a very heartening thing indeed. The seed of spirituality is therefore in the midst of us. The challenge is to nourish and make the seed grow into a passion that is truly of the spirit, private and creative as well as free, expressing itself outwardly in terms of a stalwart, practical morality and an apostolic zeal for dialogue and mission. Fiscalina Amadora-Nolasco, Elmira Judt T. Aguilar, Zona Hildegarde S. Amper. 2012. Young People’s Health: Challenges for Education and Intervention. pp. 65-74

39 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

OPINION

BORING, WANNABE HIPSTER

KIDSWITH NO TASTE: WHY OUR GENERATION WILL NEVER

BE COOLER THAN THE LAST Marc Abuan

The bucket is full. It is full of dead men, ears and appendages gone, chewed off by not-so-dead men. Yes, who are we not to love zombies. In the recent years it has gone from the cult George Romero classic, to the diluted Resident Evil franchise, into a living – okay, half-living king of pop culture. The world first saw The Walking Dead rise in print back in 2004. Robert Kirkman gave pop culture a peek after the initial waves of horror and into the life of survivors trying to fend off for themselves in a predatory triangle between Zombie, Man and the other Man. Max Brooks stripped down fiction into firsthand accounts from the survivors of a global infection in World War Z. It pushed the Zombie theme against a worldwide façade. Viewers must have loved the stories of the erosion and decay of humanity, so AMC and Hollywood made literature into easily digestible media, AMC’s The Walking Dead and Brad Pitt’s latest big-screener, World War Z. Our childhood heroes too have become big faces on the big screen. Iron Man, Captain America, GI Joe, and the latest flick, Pacific Rim, remind men that they were once snotty little boys who fought over their armies and soldiers of plastic. Since the last miserable attempt to bring a comic book character to life, girls have been flocking to the cinema. Who else, if not the ladies (or the gays), does the half-naked hero with his gratuitous nudity exist for? It seems that Hollywood has exhausted all of its resources trying to outdo Pulp Fiction, Fight Club and Inception. And not one has succeeded. The bucket is full. It is full of hipsters in chino pants and worn-out jeans and denim, boat shoes and moccasins of faux leather. Sitting on their screens all day, flipping from page to page on Tumblr, endlessly diving into the emotional world of quotes in Helvetica, superimposed on a dramatic photo of the sunset,

Photograph by Phoebe Kate Espejo 40 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

OPINION

or the trees, or boys and girls who dress like your grandparents. Hipsters or whatever they’re calling themselves now, associate themselves through disassociation. They claim to not be, to be. The hipster is an offshoot of the late 1990s grunge subculture, championed by Kurt Cobain and his outfit Nirvana, which soon gave way to the goth and the emo in early 2000s. As the subculture reached its saturation, there came a call for being individual. The counter-culture movements of hip-hop, grunge and emo had evolved (or devolved) into the Hipster of the late 2000s, and simplified itself into being the do-it-yourself, worn-out identity, thriving on your own personal taste, listening to your own brand of music, wearing your own style of clothes, which, pretty most often, is a reflection of the glorious past. The bucket is full. It is full of Electronic Dance Music, better known as EDM. It is characterized by beats, synth melodies and an occasional crooner, as well as the trademark bass drop. Tiesto, Avicii, Afrojack and David Guetta are familiar-sounding names of producers from familiar-sounding tracks on earphones, commercials and radio stations. At the end of the early 2000s, the counter-culture emo and punk scenes have been on the decline. There was falling out of fans, an end to following the scene which has apparently become “mainstream” and has evolved into what is now known as the hipster. With the existence of the hipster, with its individuality and dislike for the popular and the mainstream sitting on one end, EDM culture has risen, as if to polarize the presence of the hipster. The patronization of EDM ties up with the clubbing and partying lifestyle, an answer to the death of the “mosh pit” and the emotionally-charged band performances of the late 2000s. You can see the transition from My Chemical Romance being their favorite band in the world, the fringe and the eyeliner, to the sweat-ridden, adrenaline-pumped party scene bathed in lights and eardrum-busting beats. With its recent democratization through plug-and-play DJ apps in tablets and mobile phones, everyone can now become a DJ, pushing the mainstream to a bigger library of homemade music. The bucket is full of trends.

A trend is defined as leaning, a prevailing tendency. The trend report shows a growing society that is appreciative of hipster culture, EDM music, and the mainstream film formula of bigger, better graphics and overused film tropes of familiar characters brought to life. Where do these trends begin and why do people follow them? It is to be understood that through the rise of the internet, there is a free exchange of information to all the corners of the world who utilize it for research, entertainment and communication. And with this new version of the exploration age, pop culture has been homogenized, the younger generation from tweens, teenagers and the young adults are heavily influenced by Western culture. Our tastes are elevated in the backdrop of the traditional Philippine masa culture of variety shows and primetime drama. And this strong influence of Western culture dictates our lifestyle, some drop by clubs on the weekend and party like there’s no tomorrow. Others haunt small, hidden corners of the cities in search of a coven of like-minded individuals, who prefer to stray from the “mainstream”. The movies we watch on the big screen evoke excitement and emotion, amidst the explosive special effects and diluted back stories and the usual formula. We dress like the west, we party like the west, and talking like the west gives you hipster “cred”. Western culture has succeeded to be the Lingua Franca of the internet age. But there are some apparently bigger reasons why these parts of literature, music and fashion become trends. The dumbing-down of mainstream media is a long-standing issue in all forms of entertainment. Are TV show writers, film producers and musicians trying to dumb down their forms of art for easier consumption and produce sales? Are they exploiting their ability to influence the masses with repetitive content, only glazed in different flavors? Are the big corporations behind what we see on TV and the internet responsible for dumbing-down media, entertainment and culture that we consume? Is capitalism behind the production of mainstream culture that is more consumable, familiar and comfortable to translate into sales, than to push the boundaries of culture and challenge the norm? Is this why the independent film and music community is shunned by the greater public because of its unfamiliar, controversial and breakthrough topics and themes? Or is it that these trends reflect how society feels today?

Is the love for the vintage, worn-out, and hand-me-down look a danger for culture? For the first time in centuries, humanity has celebrated an iteration of the past. We clap our hands to those who can pull off a ragged, careless-feel, “looking good in grandpa’s clothes” ala Macklemore. The ladies tend to lean on the vintage aesthetic from button-downs and boots to iPhone cases and bags. Men at the top of the fashion game throw away their Mohawks and fringes for undercuts and coifs in the image of the late James Dean, the lover boy, the Valentino. Are we reaching a dead end in world culture? Are we not pushing forward the boundaries of aesthetics and fashion sense, as we try to gargle and spit the looks of a post-war woodsman? Are hipsters a sign that the world cannot do anything better than the past three decades? Is the garage-rock, hippie revival of indie rock fame homage to the glory days of the Beatles and the Cure, or carbon copies of a winning formula for music? According to Rob Horning, in his article “The Death of the Hipster”, the hipster is the embodiment of an exhausted post-modernist mindset in art, music and aesthetics. Or is the rise of EDM a throwback to the 80’s and 90’s disco fever? The lights, the beats, the drowning sounds, the drugs, all the same landscape. Is experiencing it a method of euthanasia? Are we listening to Swedish House Mafia and Kaskade, their music patchworks of nondescript beats, flowing melodies and borrowed hooks from other pop songs and classics, to not feel too distant from familiarity? Is this interest reflections of humanity’s want to be sedated, as how we are numbed from TV and Social Media? Is everyone looking for a way out of their monotonous, boring, endlessly grinding dayto-day life? Wishing that somehow, in some way, the world around them will change, wishing the same faces we see everyday turned into half-gray, flesh-eating ghouls? Are we all wishing for a way out of the dank, repetitive adult-world mindset which forces us to be escapists in consuming culture? Are we tired of new things, of new stories, new perspectives? Why do we hold on so much to what looks like remains and the old bones of our childhood? Are these trends indicators of a decaying world? Are we reaching our threshold as a world culture? Maybe, we’re at a dead-end. TC

41 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

FEATURE

INDECISIVE

The Culture Lesley Cara Delos Santos

A university is one of the biggest institutions in a society. To be granted admission into a university, there is usually an entrance examination which would qualify students to be accepted in their chosen field of study. However, there are incidences wherein the student’s “choice” is not a personal choice. This is commonly evident in the Philippines. Nevertheless, students continue to pursue “choices” that are not their own because it is what has been laid down and is what seems convenient for them. The chosen field of study then is a the springboard to the profession that the student will expectedly pursue after graduation.. The chosen field of study is a means to meet an end that could define a student’s outcome in life. In the current sickly and exploitative system, education is seen as an intermediate good than an ultimate good. Thus, passing is of utmost importance to the student, either out of fear of disobedience or recognition, be it internal or external. Much to the dismay of many students, some things do not

42 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

go as planned. The number of years that have been allotted for university sometimes extends to a few more years. One of the reasons for an extended stay is shifting. Ms. Marianne Taladua of the Department of Psychology cites 7 reasons why students feel that they should shift: 1) Feel that they do not belong in their course 2) Seeing their potential of a certain course through a minor they have taken up 3) Parent’s choice 4) Peer Pressure 5) Friends 6) Dissatisfaction 7) Influence from other teachers and other mentors or other friends. Expectedly, if the intent of admission to a particular course is external from the student, they tend to be alienated as they continue to fulfill the obligations of the course. These reasons of shifting can be rooted from the indecisiveness of students to create firm decisions and become masters of their own lives. In addition, Fr. Aleksander Gaut, S.V.D., chairman of the Department of History, Anthropology, and Sociology (DASH),

cites his experience in the Department of Anthropology, Sociology and History (DASH) with regard to shifting students. Fr. Gaut lists three main reasons why students shift; first, the original course is not the first choice when they enter the University of San Carlos. Second, some students are also forced to shift for external reasons. Lastly, the students are not interested in the previous course and find interest in a totally new course. Fr. Gaut expounds on the aforementioned reasons, and we have accordingly grouped similar ideas that we deem are appropriate to explain the culture of shifting: 1) The first course is not the first choice of the student when they entered the University of San Carlos The students, Fr. Gaut says, might have forced themselves to enroll in a particular course simply because they would like to study in the University of San Carlos. Some students may also have been unable to meet the minimum requirement of the particular course that

FEATURE

STUDENTS

e of Shifting they would like to study and thus choose a different course. Fr. Gaut continues his discussion and says that students would usually transfer after complying university policies of having incurred better grades within the semester or within the school year. He cites an example wherein there are many students of DASH who were not originally enrolled in any of the DASH courses (Anthropology, Sociology, or History) or that it was never their first choice. The students had wanted to enroll in either psychology, computer science or any of the engineering courses but could not meet the IQ standard or other requirements of the course. The students would usually enroll in one of their offered courses, incur good grades, and then shift to their desired course in the following semester or after their first year. 2) Forced to shift The next reason Fr. Gaut mentions is what he terms as ‘forced to shift.’ This

category is for students who were initially able to meet the standards of the academic requirements of their desired course but, over time, had failed to meet the academic policy of the department such as the retention policy. The students are deemed unqualified and are forced by the department to shift to another course. Fr. Gaut mentions that many of the students that enroll in their department come from another department that no longer accepts them. He gives other examples of students transferring to other courses, such as students from CAFA move to Psychology or students from Psychology transfer to another course within CAS to Business Administration and so on. 3) The students realize that they are not interested in their previous course and find interest in a totally new course

mentions examples of students shifting to their department saying that they realized that they belonged to Anthropology, Sociology, or History. This culture (or the sub-culture) of shifting is a manifestation of a bigger problem embedded in the greater scheme of things: the weakened ability of individuals to decisively decide on matters about their future. Though this may be thought as an act of irrationality by some, we should also understand that shiftees live in different circumstances than we do. We verdict them as “indecisive” even if they may not be totally accountable to the choices they made. However, if they ask us why we do not opt to shift, do we rationalize it by our adherence to expectations of “right thinking”, or do we realize that we are also prisoners of a scheming system we do not see nor feel? TC

Fr. Gaut says that the realization comes naturally as the student find their own course in their lives along the way. In a sense, the student has ‘found a lover.’ He

43 TODAY’S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

FEATURE

A VICIOUS PAR ADOX:

The Increasing Commercialization of the

Philippine Educational System

FEATURE

44 TODAYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

IMAGE: http://wikamag.com/philippine-education-budget-for-2013-forcing-schools-towards-commercialization/

Patrisse Bea Prospero

FEATURE EDITORIAL LITERARY

We’re told that having a good, quality education is every young people’s ticket to success and a bright future. Apart from it being a prerequisite to land a decent job and a tool to survive the tough streets of the real world, the knowledge acquired can be a contribution for the betterment of the society. Of course this notion is perfectly reasonable because whether we like it or not, our society dictates that in order to get ahead in this world, we need a lengthy and attractive résumé. At least this is the thinking that prevails in the Philippine society and is the reason for the pre-conditioned perception that education is only a means and not an end in itself. This only implies that we Filipinos value the education we acquire as much as we value linkages, a brand new car and a nice house to call our own. Most, if not all, overlook the real essence of what education can offer. Many fail to even appreciate education as an avenue where the gifts of knowing and learning flourish. Many fail to spot that it is where we can actually discover our strengths and weaknesses. However, this serious misconception is just one of the few problems that plague the Philippine educational system today. Apart from this issue is the growing problem of the commercialization of various facets of Philippine education, which even horridly took away a young scholar’s life, along with her shattered dreams and ambitions. Just months ago, the alarming suicide of a 16-year old University of the Philippines (UP) Behavioral Science freshman, Kristel Tejada sparked heated education debates and protests. Over a hundred students from UP and other universities in the nation’s capital blamed the university’s strict tuition policies for Tejada’s financial woes. Coming from a working class family, the income of her father, a part-time cab driver, is just enough to feed a family of seven while her mother is unemployed. In the professed socialized tuition scheme of the University of the Philippines, Tejada was classified under the Bracket D in which she had to pay P300.00 per unit, a sum of P7500.00 per semester. With her family on the brink of poverty, she knew she had no other recourse but to stop going to school. She was then forced by UP to file a leave of absence for failing to comply with her financial accounts. She was just a one of the millions of Filipino youth who had to deal with the rising costs of education. This results in either dropping out of school or trying their luck to find employment in this worsening, job-scarce economy. Subsequently, Tejada’s suicide was then considered an appalling consequence of the increasing commercialization of the Philippine educational system that has greatly affected today’s Filipino youth. Most would agree that education is a right and not just a mere privilege. The 1987 Philippine Constitution enshrined the right to education through Article XIV of the Bill of Rights, that is, “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.”

This policy is an indication that the important role of the Filipino youth in nation-building are all recognized by our Constitution, which then is the very basis for its advocacy of the protection of every young person’s welfare. With that, the basic right of education must be provided by the government to every Filipino youth through the programs of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The Constitution and other laws that support it affirm this. However, reality speaks otherwise. We can clearly see that there is a great digression. Ever since the Philippines adopted and implemented the structural adjustment programs, the education sector has now been deemed one of the least priorities of the government. Along with this oversight is the hampering of the realization of the full potential of every Filipino youth. Basically, the education in the Philippines still follows the system of free and compulsory elementary and high school instruction. Nonetheless, the tertiary level is dominated by private institutions which usually entail a higher tuition fee. CHED currently estimates that on the average, a student in a private school will pay P237, 600.00 (€4,200) for a four year course. There isn’t much difference in the public schools, since one has still to pay P233, 600.00 to complete a four-year course. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines tend to increase tuition every year which makes it an added burden to the parents. But tuition is not the only problem students have to encounter within the duration of their college life; one has to think about lodging, transportation and other miscellaneous expenses. These instigated the high rate of drop-outs, which is currently 73% according to the DepEd. These may seem like trifling matters, but Kristel Tejada was one of the few who had to go through the misery of pursuing her education until it reached the point of committing suicide. Since then, she became the symbol for school reforms. Her demise set off the drive of many other students to fight for their right to education and equal opportunities, especially those from the lower economic sectors. This is clear proof that the Philippine educational system is inaccessible to most as the retrograde government has allowed commercialism to thrive in this sector as well as permit the freedom to generate maximum profit. The Philippines is one of the Asian countries which has a large rate of participation in education, as explained by a relatively high simple literacy rate – 92.3% as of January 2013 according to the National Statistics Office (NSO). However it seems ironic that this FEATURE outstanding aspect of our educational system has not been able to live up to being a decisive factor in economic progress and development. Compared to other neighboring Asian countries, it is quite a paradox how we continue to stagnate in the margins while other countries who have a low school index have outdone us in terms of their economic status. The paradox of education continues to be a thorn in the flesh of the society, still thriving because of the government’s actions to propagate education

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FEATURE

policies that aggravate the crises of the Philippine educational system. The main characteristic of this paradox is that the Philippine education is commercialized, given less priority by the government yet still responsive to the needs of the global community. Most universities and colleges offer courses that are determined for their profitability and marketability and how they could be of great need to other foreign countries, instead of its contribution to our economy. It is quite disappointing that as a country with a high potential in agriculture, not many have manifested any interest in taking up an agriculture-related course when in fact, we even teach other Asian countries how to improve their agricultural techniques and strategies yet we fail to improve our own. Perhaps the most disappointing nature of Philippine education is how it suits itself to the manpower needs and requirements of foreign countries. This is greatly manifested in the unparalleled increase of nursing and care giving schools for the past years in order

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to meet the needs of Western nations. In sum, I could say that the future is quite bleak for most of the Filipino youth. Although education reforms do have its advantages, we should remember that the economic value of education should not be limited to answering the manpower needs of the foreign and even local industries, but primarily to help our youth to reach their full potential. Education is a right, not a privilege. The tragedy that happened to Kristel Tejada should be a lesson for every educational institution. The despair that drove her to commit suicide can be felt and understood by the millions of other Filipino youths in the same situation as her. These crises in the facets of education should not be a reason why we should be cynical about our future in this country because these are just the beginning. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give up too easily because as they say, the youth is the vanguard of the battle for a better future, a better nation and a better country. TC

REVIEW

A CONFUSED

NATION of A CONFUSED

PEOPLE An Article Review of “Toward a Revolution of Mindsets: A Critique of the Present Socio-Cultural System Ki-Jeong Shim (Ramirez, Mina. Reflections on Culture. Manila: Asian Social Institute Printing Press, 1993.) A socio-cultural system is a complex institutional dynamics, a manifestation of the collective unconsciousness that has developed over time. The institutional dynamics operates as extensions of culture. Culture, in extension, refers to the people’s shared pattern of thinking, feeling and producing made visible through symbols. The deepest layer, conceived to be values, has high emotional content, under the pretence of being basic life-needs. There are two levels of culture. Firstly, there is the surface or dominant culture, which is the more “obvious” one, propounded by the modernizing society. Secondly, there is the hidden or suppressed culture, which lies in the minds and hearts of the people. However it is not to be presupposed that the dominant culture is the more powerful of the two. When the suppressed culture is brought to surface, it can be critiqued

and analyzed to reveal the underlying “unconscious” patterns and goals of personal and familial goals. The hidden dimension of culture is otherwise known as “mind-sets”. These mind-sets, although may differ from person to person, have in an aspect, similar patterns conditioned by historical and social forces. The external manifestations of a culture may change, however the underlying values and principles will remain the same, if they are not brought unto the surface and collectively examined. In other words, if the collective remain dubious to the underlying structure, they will remain untouched and unchanged. Along with the two levels of culture, there are two cultural systems in the Philippines; the indigenous culture (symbolizing simple

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REVIEW

tools and family) coming in the form of the native language and the modern culture (symbolizing money and technology) coming in the form of the foreign language. From ineffective government “charity” to frequent sexual exploitation of women and children (despite the religious familycentered principles of the country); there is an imbalance of institutional dynamics. An uneducated person, who does not understand the works of money, will not be able to benefit from the government’s effort in reaching out to the poor. The very problem lies in that the individual was never in the first place taught about “cost-consciousness”. These principles are taught in neither churches, schools, nor even within the family. Despite attempts of bringing in foreign concepts and technologies, this will be of no use to the ordinary Filipino who does not understand the basic underlying principles of it. Regardless of many attempts at the enlightening and ‘fixing’ of social challenges, without first examining “the main social-historical realities behind the development of present socio-cultural system,”(Ramirez, 1993) the imbalance of institutional dynamics will remain the same. The categorical imposition in the splitting of classes comes in the form of language. Leaders past and present have spoken in Western categories; first Spanish and now English. This brought on the large gap between the educated or the elite (middle to upper class) and the undereducated or the commoner (lower class). Regardless of the indigenous values, the ideological standard of nation building still lies in that of the modern system – in English. The Filipino leaders, when seeking to progress the country, communicate and think in Western categories. Whereas majority of the Filipinos do not understand it, hence, leaving ‘modern efforts’ useless. Those who speak English are in ‘blessed positions’, such as doctors, nurses, and lawyers. This leads to a mind-set where the mother tongue (Filipino) is seen as

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inferior. This leads the majority to be alienated. As expressed by Heidegger, “Language is the house of Being.” Perhaps in an interpretation, it may be said that the identity of the people lies in the mode of communication – their language. “There is nothing that can give our people identity other than our language.” (Ramirez, 1993) The educated assume that speaking a foreign language is superior, this develops an inferior self-image. As language is the identity of the people, if not used, the people will no longer think for themselves; as the cultural identity will have been broken. The rejection of the native tongue is not simply a superficial rejection, but a rejection of cultural identity. The dependency of foreign languages develops the people to think in the context outside of their own cultural heritage. This dependency on the foreign and the rejection of the ‘self’ is a significant factor in the impoverishment of the Filipinos – not only economically, but also spiritually. The dual nature of the socio-cultural dynamics of the country results in the imbalance of familial behavior with the universalistic value assumptions. The indigenous culture is of communal and familial importance, with flexible and customary laws and values, whereas the modern culture is of legal, rigid, strict, individualistic and formal values. In so far as integration goes, within every Filipino is a naturally opposing dual force. The wrongly integrated culture of the Philippines results in a corpus of confused people. The importance of the community and individual merit results in families easily reflected in the practice of political dynasties. A family, even at the risk of another, will do whatever it takes to protect their own kin. Take for example the squatting practice, a family does not stop to think about the effects that the other community (the landowner) will have, only that his family has a roof over their heads. Whereas the landowner does not care about the

condition of the squatters, as long as his property is undamaged and he does not lose profit. The capacity for compassion stops at the capacity of his family. How would one person with nothing, working day and night to provide for the needs of his family, stop to think about the consequences of his actions? As far as he knows, his family, his direct kin is all that matters. As far as the land owner knows, his workers are simply pawns used to cultivate his wealth, and squatters on his property are simply vermin polluting his possession. However it is evident that the mindset of familism is present in both parties. This confusion brought on by the binary opposition of the two values, evidently present within the prominent leaders has led the country to extreme poverty as well as a confused mind-set, or a “damaged culture”. This damage in values lies deep within the assumptions of language. So on, as long as the wall between the upper class and the lower class is unbroken, there will be no significant impact on the development of the country. The readymade solutions of the upper class will have no effect. “The institutions have not responded to the people’s real needs.” (Ramirez, 1993) Hence, what must be done is to listen with damdamin to the hidden dimension of the culture. The way to synthesize and integrate the two binary opposing cultural systems is to listen to the damdamin; resulting to a “perfect blend” of maka-Diyos, maka-tao, and maka-bayan. The dominant (Western) cultured people must give way to the traditional (indigenous) cultured people, ending the alienation of the dominant from the majority. In conclusion, what must be done is to bring out the most profound value within the hidden culture; not to retrogress, but to awaken the hidden culture, bridging the past, present, and future of the country. TC

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REVIEW

THE MAN

OF STEEL: Destiny, Humanity

the Need for Heroes Kristoffer Lambert Cuizon

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REVIEW

The recent box office hit, the reboot of the Superman franchise entitled “Man of Steel” presented various concepts that are still quite relevant to us. Of course, every movie has a way of packaging certain messages that the writers, producers intend to have us see. Besides just having a good time, watching a movie has always been about telling a story, a story that we can relate to, a story that makes us realize that we want more, to feel idealistic or whatever else. However, a student from the social sciences with a Marxist leaning would probably say that movies are tools for a certain nation to extend its influence all over the world and promote capitalism to blind the populace of the existing realities. In the movie, Jor-El, Superman’s father, talks of Krypton. Krypton is a planet of advance humanoids that have evolved to possess advanced power, technology, and feats beyond the current human civilization has attained. Jor-El tells Superman that in Krypton, each person has their own specific task or fixed destiny, such as the soldier, the leader or the worker. Further, a Kryptonian cannot deviate from such a designation, as it is their destiny and duty. On a side note, this “duty bound destiny” explains the motives of General Zod, the antagonist, for leading a rebellion against the politicians in Krypton, as it was his duty to defend Krypton no matter what. Jor-El explained to Superman about the beauty of the human race for having the ability to choose, as opposed to the duty bound Kryptonian race. The commentary of choice can be relevant to our current society. We have slowly become prey to society’s expectations of who we should be, instead of trying to become we they want to be – regardless of the choice that Jor-El talks about. For example, the human race has been accustomed to a certain pattern, we strive hard in school to great high grades, we work hard, we get a good job, we strive for a stable family, and then we die. This is what society expects. This leads people to end up being mediocre robots maintaining a routine every day until our

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death, because that’s what we ‘have’ to do. Society has alienated us from the essence of the very things we are doing. For example, while education is a right, it is seen as an obligation. We often forget that the essence of school is to learn. We end up chasing a predetermined course for us to follow and obey, instead of aspiring for more. However, still, the beauty of humanity is ‘choice’. We can choose to fall into the system and be like everyone else, or we can choose to become great and reach our full potential.. We study to become the worker, not the innovator. We often forget that we are human. As humans we come into this world empty, given the opportunity of rational or irrational choice, unlike the Kryptonians. We have the privilege of choice, of change, if we were born poor then we can strive to become wealthy, if we are uneducated then we can be educated. The beauty in our imperfection is that we still grow, and the beauty about being human is that we can always choose to become someone else. The best thing about humanity is that nothing is ever fixed. Our destinies are ours to command. Going back to the movie, without spoiling anything for those who haven’t seen it, Superman is often defeated by General Zod’s forces. He encounters difficulty in overcoming his foe, being that his weakness ironically is Krypton, since he was raised on Earth. With regards to his weakness, one of the Zod’s soldiers mocks Superman, saying that Superman’s weakness is his humanity, his emotions and his biological weakness compared to evolved Kryptonians. As said earlier, we are only human, yes indeed we truly are, and therefore we are prone to weaknesses. Oftentimes or at all times, it is only when we overcome such weaknesses that we achieve our full potential. We get better with our failures, and just like Superman, we have to be in darkness before we can ever hope to achieve the light of day. It is only when we are beaten down and bloodied on

the ground, when there is no hope, that our resolve is truly needed, that we are truly tested. The moment when we can face those things that bring us down, the moment we overcome that darkness, is when we can save ourselves from our own villains, and ultimately becoming better people in the process. “You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, and they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.” These are the words Jor El said to Superman when he saw that his son could be more than just the typical Kryptonian, since his son was of natural birth, contrary to Kryptonians who are born artificially. Jor El then had his son sent to earth because he wanted his son to have humanity. Reality is brutal. Horrible circumstances have caused us to become cynical. However we should never allow ourselves to become prisoners to that line of thinking. This is the beauty of heroes, they remind us that life is beautiful, that there is more to life than just getting high grades, than just getting laid, or always having fun. Life isn’t only about being happy.It is about allowing those around us to share our happiness. This life is just an empty set of pages that we should not just fill with day to day routine – mediocrity and boredom.. Heroes allow us to see more, and although we can never really be like them, be inhuman, that does not mean we cannot strive and achieve something truly extraordinary. The hero stands for an ideal. An ideal that we have forgotten over time, through the over labeling via society, which we have allowed to constrain us. The hero inspires us, makes us feel like we can do something. Heroes are never meant to be permanent; they exist temporarily to inspire us, which is all they can do. The rest is up to us, to grow, to act, to feel, to aspire, to fail, to succeed and then eventually save ourselves and rise. TC

LITERARY

DOWN AND OUT

Escario Blues

Dylan Briones I.

II.

Headways, living tones the road breathes monochromes

Mournful, beautiful Reflected on your waking eyes

The lights lead deep inside cavernous labyrinthine minds City streets sing solemn hymns of sudden deaths of shameful sins Another drink to joys and woes another elegy another ode Another cry nocturnal rhythms dance into moonglow tides our words electric thus left unsaid to sink into that breathless end faith is gone in shadows of doubt up and over, down and out.

We heard the bells crashing down To the sound of reason’s last breath, Through thoroughfares Across the twisted landscape Tumbling down in the midst Of wailing children They call out into the wilderness And ignited the tree of life With eyes so sacred and loving

Lives offered to the elusive alchemy The secret dance of time’s worldly soul the sin remains still in the veins Within our crippled will broken victims of the bygone forever That treacherous age It started with a savage harmony, And descended into paradise, Mournful, beautiful Reflected on your waking eyes

It started with the screaming of birds overhead And will end heralded by hollow men Bearing the poison I stood and watched beside you then, Your hand on mine, Fearful as you pass the cup Enter the atrocious madness Where I do not stumble It started with a vow of truth And ends with our burning dreams Dignified body and soul in chaos Pure and drawn forth From the river styx Into gardens of flesh It started with a drunken vigil And it will end with a caustic smile We remember hums of voices Profound and willing submission And remain even as music dissolves Into cold restless confusion Blessed upon the gates of dawn,

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OPINION

Lesley Cara Delos Santos Photograph by Phoebe Kate Espejo

Paltik is a Cebuano word that refers to Cebuano made guns. However this article is is not about guns, but about a band. “Rock with a melody. It has that raw sound you could liken to the old rock and roll bands.”

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FEATURE

With a fitting title for their banging melody, Paltik is a Cebuano based rock and roll band composed of three members, Bangbang on vocals and bass, Pyter on back-up vocals and guitars, and Intoy on drums or percussion. Bangbang and Intoy are baccalaureates of the Fine Arts program at the University of the Philippines (UP) – Cebu while Pyter is a graduate of the University of San Carlos’ College of Engineering. All three band members sport long hair which has come to be their signature look. Banbang, Pyter and Intoy can all write songs and compose their own music and melody which is very convenient for when they decide to create a new song. Paltik is definitely a band you should look out for. The Beginning It all started in 2007. At this time, Bangbang had volunteered as UP – Cebu’s Fine Art’s soccer coach where Intoy was a member. They both had the same music interests which prompted them to form a band. Bangbang initially wanted their name to be either Revolver or AK47 but Intoy wanted their name to be in Cebuano so it would retain the distinct Cebuano predilection. After much deliberation on both their preferences, Intoy suggested the word ‘Paltik’ and it was here that they found their compromise. ‘Paltik’ was born. Paltikstarted out small with only a few gigs here and there just like any other band in their first few stages. According to the band, they get their inspiration from almost anything under the sun – movies, life, people, history, art, relationships – you name it! Their music is a slice of life - ranging from love and relationships to being underdogs and pursuing dreams. Paltik Now It has been six years. The band has a number of guitarists who have come and gone. There were times when they couldn’t perform gigs due to the absence

of a guitarist who could commit to them. But even despite such a handicap, their music still stayed the same although a little incomplete. Five years into being a band, they met Isidro and on June 20, 2012, he agreed to be a member of “Paltik” he has played for them ever since – making their sound fuller and more complete. Mr. Bang says that this was where ‘everything moved forward’ for them. With their line – up complete, the band decided to perform at gigs once again but soon had to stop when they decided to hit up the studios to produce an album. The album was produced independently. Their album is entitled “Here Comes the Guns of the South” It was released May 3 of this year. It contains 10 tracks with one of their hit singles: ‘We Will Be Lions” – one of the most highly favored songs of Paltik fans. It is a motivational song about underdogs striving to get on top – “one day, we will be lions,” the chorus rings with conviction. It has an upbeat melody but definitely something that you can bang your head to: truly fitting to their “rock with a melody” musical direction and it truly does bring back memories of the rock and roll that we used to know. Another one of the songs they have produced is “R&R” for “Rock and Roll”. The song is basically about the pursuit of rock and roll, despite the many criticisms that come with it. Overall, the song is about pursuing your dreams and being passionate with what you do without submitting to negativity from those who do not support what you wish to advocate for. Another of their more popular songs is “What Do yYu Stand For?” It calls for initiating change in society through a more solid conviction in the people and awareness of what is going around in the society that we live in. Most of the songs were written by Bangbang . His wife helps him with the composition every now and then.

The rest of the band also help with the composition and would also compose songs and arrange the music. Most of their songs are recorded at the Paolo dela Victoria studios. Outside of the music scene, Bangbang is an art teacher at B.R.I.G.H.T. Academy. Intoy is a 2D/3D artist at PODD studios and a Graphic Arts Teacher at the University of Cebu while Pyter works as a project manager at PODD studios. Paltik’s Future Just recently, the band has decided to sign with BOMBA Press – a local record label right here in Cebu. They’ve also started recording for their second album which will be released May of 2014. Their latest album will contain 12 songs. The band will also release a music video this coming November. Watch for the guns of the south: Paltik! Now that they have finally produced their album, they have started to come back to performing in gigs and having concerts. They have a number of concerts lined up for this year. You may check out their schedule and updates over at their facebook account: facebook.com/ paltiktheband. You can listen to Paltik by searching them on YouTube. You may also listen to them at Killerbee’s Lokal Brew Sunday program from 6:00 – 9:00 PM. The program airs local Cebuano music and songs from Paltik. The band hopes to be able to continue playing music, producing albums, playing in gigs and having more concerts while continuing their own brand of rock and roll. TC

Here’s a few words from the vocalist: Bangbang: “I just want to say ‘Hi’ to my former students from B.R.I.G.H.T. Academy that are now in USC. Have a great time in college, guys!”

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REVIEW

GOOD BOOKS WE S Fruitcake by Eraserheads Written for people of all ages, Fruitcake is a collectors item book that comes with a CD of songs by the Eraserheads. The book is about a girl’s adventure to another a world where people eat nothing but fruitcake. As you read the book, you will realize that their world is very much like ours –running in a flawed system. Kim Tiangco

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess A novella set in a dystopian England about the ultra-violent milk drinking, orgies, rape, theft, and eventual murder of the anti-hero teen Alex. The langue used is an experimental slang called “Nadsat”, used throughout both the narration and dialogue of the teens. Your humble narrator, Alex recounts his ultra-violent youth, government experiment to turn him “good”, failure of this experiment, then his realisation of his meaningless exploits. The novella presents the play of good and evil, posing the question if morals can be forcibly changed. Jenny Shim

Bababa, ba? by José Abeto Zaide Anecdotes of a Foreign Service Officer - Two generations of Filipino diplomats take you around the world and share their experiences, both funny and jaw-dropping, of their under (or in this case, over) takings as Foreign Service Officers. The foreword is done by former Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Albert G. Romulo, who introduces the book with the claim that “Diplomacy is one of the least understood tasks of governance.” It isn’t just traveling, seeing sights, fine dining or fancy clothes- “Filipino time” doesn’t even exist in its world, so you will learn to understand and appreciate diplomacy from a different light because it is not all about appearances or the hard work. Reyna Angeli Pesquira

The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert From the life of Louis XVI, the rise and fall of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror, to the coup and eventual rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, this book presents an exhaustive account of the history of the French Revolution from the Siege of Bastille on 1789 to Napoleon’s Coup on the Brumaire of 1799. This is a good book not only for lovers of history and politics but also to people living in a world where La Terreur is always the business of the day. Perhaps, this book presents a bitter life lesson that we should live: We must not be the tyrants whom we wish to destroy. Louie Villanueva

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REVIEW

SUGGEST YOU READ 2666 by Roberto Bolaño At 900 or so pages long, this novel is nothing less than a master stroke. Life in all its poignant brutality is captured and laid out for all to see as multiple stories and characters converge at the town of Santa Teresa, a ‘vortex of lost souls’ and the setting for the most heinous crimes of the century, the mass murder of 400 women. The book is lengthy, meandering and ambitious, blurring every line and rewriting the boundaries of fiction itself. Seamlessly, it paints a picture of a world devouring itself and the helpless innocents caught in between. Excruciating and exhausting, this book must be experienced in all its wicked glory. Dylan Briones

Freshwater Road by Denise Nicholas A story that thoroughly explores the fault lines of class and race during the summer of ’64, the civil rights movement in Mississippi. A young girl leaves home to volunteer and register African American voters in the infamous town of Pineyville. The story gives out a clear contrast of the situation back home in Detroit where she lived a safe and comfortable middle-class life and the perilous conditions in Mississippi where she sees firsthand the struggles of the local black community. Reacting to the onslaught of the racial prejudice, she does whatever she can to help empower the abused and exploited. The story flawlessly creates a mood of fear that keeps readers going to see how it all ends. Kathleen Belleza

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern The story follows Le Circque des Reves, or The Circus of Dream, as it tours all over Europe. Mind you, this was no ordinary circus--not the kind that house ventriloquists or clowns on a unicycle. Besides, it was not called The Circus of Dream for nothing. The real magic happens when the reader is to find out and experience for himself the magnificence of the set as he is ushered by his imagination when the door of each tents unravel what is within. The book offers just enough detail for the reader to awaken all of his senses as though being in the circus himself. But behind the majesty and grandeur, little do many people know that the Circus is in fact a battlefield of two illusionists, building glorious tents to impress each other. Tinged with the right amount of romance, magic and peculiarity, you’d believe the book was bewitched to prevent the readers from putting it down. Keziah Cyra Papas

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FILM

FILM BUFF SYLLABUS Ki-Jeong “Jenny” Shim Lars and the Real Girl

Marie Antoinette

Dir. Craig Gillespie

Dir. Sophia Coppola

Ryan Gosling is in a relationship with a literal mail-order girlfriend from a crate. The premise may sound off-putting but Ryan Gosling’s face makes the peculiar concept appealing.

Boses Dir. Ellen OnkekoMarfil

Cake.

American Beauty Dir. Sam Mendes

Kids Dir. Larry Clark

A Harmony Korine film before Spring Breakers, the film still ventures into the lives of unfit teenagers and AIDS.

True Romance Dir. Tony Scott

It’s loud, there are guns, a loud chase scene and a pretty girl, it’s romantic.

A heartwarming and endearing piece about a mute boy and a depressed man brought together by violin. As the catchphrase of the advertisement of the film goes, “violins not violence.”

A picturesque American suburban dream.

Se7en

Jawbreaker

Dir. David Fincher

Dir. Darren Stein

It’s a cat-mouse game with 2 detectives and Kevin Spacey as a very convincing psychopath. Although the story may seem gruesome, the film doesn’t actually show any gore or uncomfortable scenes.

Three friends decide to surprise their friend by kidnapping her and she dies.

Rushmore

Mysterious Skin

Love & Pop

Dir. Wes Anderson

Dir. Gregg Araki

Dir. Hideaki Anno

A boy in a prep school likes a teacher. The boy also makes friends with a 50 year old business man, who also likes the teacher.

There is cereal, rape, aliens, a black hole, baseball, and mustache. Also gay, underage prostitution.

About a group of teenagers who go on paid-dates as a side job, which is quite trendy.

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The Suicide Shop Dir. Patrice Leconte

The world is depressing and there is a family that caters to the people’s suicidal needs. It’s just as the title says.

FILM

Yet another cluster of films brought to you by an uncultured teen. Pre midterms, midterms, pre finals, finals, a school semester may never seem like an appropriate time to seemingly waste an hour or two on a film but every hour is an appropriate hour to watch a film.

Reservoir Dogs Dir. Question Tarantino

The Elephant Man Dir. David Lynch

Belle De Jour Dir. Jean LucGodard

There is a group of guys, all named in colors and they’re robbing a bank. And then bad things happen. The soundtrack is a classic Tarantino “mixtape”, it’s amazing.

A deformed man is taken in to an English hospital to be cared for a housed. “I am not an animal, I am a human being!” cries John Merrick.

Bourgeois boredom at its finest, a bored wife takes on a second job to satisfy her ennui – prostitution.

The Godfather

The Dreamers

Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci

Melancholia

Marlon Brando.

Revolutions and Maoism is really cool and it’s the vogue of the time.

A drama film about two sisters, a wedding and the Earth crashing. It is depressing.

Rosemary’s Baby

Fantastic Planet

Midori

Dir. Roman Polanski

Dir. René Laloux

A couple and a strange couple, the couple has a baby, Rosemary’s baby.

A film truly beyond its times, it is a French science fiction animation piece about humanoid aliens and “oms” (they look like humans).

Dir. Hiroshi Harada

The Big Lebowski

The Housemaid

Dir. The Coen Brothers

Dir. Kim Ki-Young

There are 2 Lebowski’s and a Russian trio? I’m not even sure.

A woman falls in love with a married man, people start to die.

Dir. Lars Von Trier

Midori, a film adaptation of an ero guro manga, Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show, is about an orphaned girl who ends up in further worsening conditions. It is gruesome.

“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.” Jean-Luc Godard

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PARTING SHOT

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (Luke 6:20-21)

Photograph by Stephen Suico

TODAYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CAROLINIAN | AUGUST 2013

LIQUIDATION

Today’s CAROLINIAN Statement of Cash Flows For the Academic Year 2013-2014

Cash Balance, Beginning

P 14, 525. 90

Cash Receipts

Cash Received for USC, 1st Semester

P 231, 309.50

Other Cash Received Collections

P 3, 000.00

Total Cash Available for Use

P 248, 835.40

Cash Disbursements Advertising and Screening Fees

IDs, Lanyards and Press Shirts

P 2, 140.00 14, 710.00

Journalism Workshop 1, 350.00 Materials 1, 237.00

Publishing Fee

201, 250.00

Meeting Expenditures 2, 513.25 Transportation 320.00 Total Expenses P 223, 520.25 Cash Balance, September 2013

P 25, 315.15

PREPARED BY KEZIAH CYRA B. PAPAS Finance Officer Today’s Carolinian

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