Friday, October 31, 2014

Song for the Birds

In loving memory of Rev Msgr Benjamin Advincula, Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Archdiocese of Capiz, and Parish Priest of Santa Monica.

Dr Abe V Rotor
Song for the Birds in acrylic, AVR
                                
Make me an artist to capture this ephemeral sight,
     the colors of the rainbow fading in sunset;
from where you came, to this little stream I imagine,
     this bastion of your kind from what it had been.

Make me a teacher that I may understand your language,
     your cheerful songs from your cries; that I may gauge
the difference of knowledge from school and that of life,
     joy and sorrow, love and care, leisure and strife.

Make me a man, the forgotten child many years ago,
     long lost searching for the truth, from what I know,
that I may be worthy of my role in passing review,
     to come down from Mount Olympus to your rescue. ~

Conference speaker, Archdiocesan Gathering of Priests in honor of Saint John Mary 
Vianney, patron of all priests, Archdiocese of Capiz, Roxas City, August 4, 2011

Beast in the Sky

Dr Abe V Rotor
Skyscape along Fairview Avenue, QC May 10, 2010


It's our eighth sense and keen eye to see,
     In moments we think our mind is free,
When we're caught in doldrums in the sea
     And there's no hope from others but Thee.

The beast comes out of its hiding place,
     Lurking where there is chaos and craze;
Or where the Good Life that we all praise
     Leads us trapped in King Minos' maze.

The sky holds many wonders and secrets,
     In mysterious signs the mind interprets;
Nature's kindness bestows in her breathe
     Our protection from fear and regrets. ~

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Humor - Key to Long and Happy Life

Humor - Key to Long and Happy Life
Researched by Dr Abe V Rotor

1. A fellow in a lunatic asylum sat fishing over a flower bed.  A visiting doctor, wishing to be friendly asked.
"How many have you caught?"
Answered the not-so-dumb fisherman, "You are the ninth."

2. Here's a story about smart kids. "I wonder why people say Amen and not Awomen?" Bobby questioned. His little friend replied, "Because they sing hymns and not hers, silly."


3. Here's a story for the political candidate for the coming election. Voter: "Why, I wouldn't vote for you if you were Saint Peter himself." Candidate: 'if I were Saint Peter, you couldn't vote for me - you wouldn't be in my district."


4. Motorist: "Your honor, I was not drunk.  I was only drinking." 

Judge: "Well, in that case I an not going to send you to jail for one month - only for 30 days." 

5. Neighbors
"Good morning, madam. I'm the piano-tuner."
"But I didn't send for a piano-tuner."
"I know, It was a committee of your neighbors that called up."~ 



Wednesday, October 29, 2014

People and Nature as Teachers (Field Trip in Iloilo and Guimaras)

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
 Home industry products: Jewelry and ornaments (foreground), and native bakery products with biscocho as the flagship (background). There is no English name for it and neither has a translation in the dictionary - biscocho is biscocho. It is crunchy, creamy, and does not stick on the palate. It sends a gentle crumbling sound each bite.

Call it fancy, but these pieces of jewelry may pass as genuine.  Remember Guy de Maupassant story of The Necklace?   And John Steinbeck's The Pearl? There is also a story by Anton Chekhov of a lady who fancied on jewelry, and after her untimely demise, the husband discovered her treasure to be real and  was worth a fortune. 


Entrepreneurship - the bond that keeps a family together (family enterprise), that brings friendship into business (partnership).  It tests business acumen of enterprising people (proprietorship).  It is a leverage to corporate business, checking its excess and filling up its inadequacy. It is informal economy - the talipapa, carinderia, sari-sari store, the small bakeshop, the farmer's wife who sells in the churchyard on Sunday, the peddler, the trader. The fledgling entrepreneur fresh from college. (Photo: PSERE participants patronizing Trappist Monastic Products - fresh and processed food, religious articles, handicraft items - at the Abbott Monastery, Jordan, Guimaras.) 

The common man. Masa - that's how President Ramon Magsaysay addressed the people. The grassroots (sociology term). How we missed them in the academe, in the hall, on the conference table. And yet no pyramid can stand firm without solid foundation.  Societies, organizations, communities cannot exist without them.  Without them, San Isidro and May 1 would have little significance. And the fields and pastures will be empty, so with the plaza and church, fiestas will be dull, so with Christmas. There will be no likes of the Unknown Soldier - unknown farmer, unknown worker, unknown teacher - people who bring every battle to victory, who feed and build the nation, who bring people to a higher consciousness and dignity of life and living. 



Let go. Let's do it.  There is no age barrier to a teacher, otherwise we disconnect that teacher-student relationship, that academe-community tandem, that interdisciplinary concept of holistic education. This is a global trend.  Who retires in teaching? Nobody. When? Never.  Once a teacher always a teacher.  People will sought for your advice. Children will sit in front of you and ask the 4Ws and the 1H.  But it is always the Why that is unending and most difficult to answer.  Ultimately, what is our answer to, "Why are we here." And we sought recourse to the prima causa - the Creator. 

Professors all, academicians, educators. The world is exploding with knowledge, the world is traveling on two feet (communication and transportation).  Tradition is left behind if not being waylaid, generations are losing their connections by culture, exposure, distance. We must keep abreast, we have to be computer literate, we go back to school, attend continuing education training, get ourselves involved in social immersion. This is PSERE's thrust in research, but research that looks not only to discoveries and inventions, but to ascertain the continuity, contiguity, and sustainability of progress, of proven techniques and formulas, of working models, of every research that contributes to the efficiency of  a system.     


Who qualifies as tour guide?  Field instructor? Like in the field of sports, he is a player himself - and somebody who has won medals and trophies.  So in science and technology, in marine biology, in explaining the mangrove, the flying foxes (giant fruit bats), in predicting a coming storm, the spawning of dulong and other species, sudden swarming of jellyfish. Why the deer is no longer around.  Are there still crocodiles in the swamp? Pick a leaf and he will tell you the plant, its scientific name and family, too. Why do starfishes stay on sea grasses, how are they harmful to shellfish like clams and oysters (because they have five arms alternately prying the bivalve which ultimately loses its muscle grip to keep close).  We smile for new knowledge, and at people who bring it to us in their simplicity and sincerity and friendliness.  

Meet Jun a marine technician of SEAFDEC (in blue) an expert by virtue of long, rich experience and domicile by the sea since birth.    Ask about the giant lapulapu (kugtong), mother bangus, mullet (ludong), mayamaya, matangbaka, and the like, and he will recite their natural history at fingertip.  If he were in music he is a musico de oido (by ear), and if there is a blue thumb, counterpart of green thumb in farming, he is surely one in fishing. He is indeed a naturalist. 


Nature posters express concern on the environment by students who spend time in the Eco Park, making it an extension of the classroom and laboratory. Here they forget for the time being the TV, the computer, and other amenities of life.  It is communion with nature.

Field trip - on-site and hands-on learning. Participants to the Philippine Society for Educational Research and Evaluation (PSERE), representing 26 colleges and universities from different parts of the Philippines, visited the JBLFMU Ecological Park, listened to field lecture and demonstration, and experienced social immersion with the members of the community. Cruising by motorboat to reach Guimaras Island from Iloilo, and to the Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) marine station, is adventure - a learning process seldom encounteredby teachers and students in the city.


ABOUT ILOILO PROVINCE
Iloilo Province, Philippines
CAPITAL: ILOILO CITY
LAND AREA: 532,397 ha
TEL. AREA CODE: 33
NO. OF MUNICIPALITIES: 43
ZIP CODE: 5000
BRIEF HISTORY
Irong-Irong appears in the Maragtas legend of the coming of the ten Bornean datus to Panay who bartered gold for the plains and valleys of the island from a local Ati chieftain. One datu, Paiburong by name, was given the territory of Irong-Irong in what is now Iloilo. For 300 years before the coming of the Spaniards, the islanders lived in comparative prosperity and peace under an organized government and such laws as the Code of Kalantiaw.

In 1566, the Spaniards under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came to Panay and established a settlement in Ogtong (now Oton, Iloilo). He appointed Gonzalo Ronquillo as deputy encomiendero, who in 1581 moved the seat of Spanish power to La Villa de Arevalo, named in honor of his hometown of Avila in Spain. By 1700 due to recurrent raids by Moro pirates, Dutch and English privateers, the Spaniards moved to the Village of Irong-Irong, where close to the mouth of the river they built Fort San Pedro. Irong-Irong or Ilong-Ilong which the Spaniards later shortened to Iloilo later became the capital of the province.
Its capital which is of the same name became a chartered city on August 25, 1937.
For more information visit IslandsAccommodations.com.

Monday, October 27, 2014

GMO Gone Wild

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Frankenfish, acrylic painting on glass by AV Rotor.  

A potpourri of incongruous things real and imagined
in the world of genetically modified organisms - GMO,

today's villain in our postmodern world, of humanity,
creation of human genius stray, rising wild from ego.

GMOs are orphans of nature, orphaned by proud men,
cut from the food chain, the web of life, the ecosystem;
their habitat, their kin now strangers to one another,
sang in high praises to disguise the lament of requiem.  

Mice glow with the phosphorescence of the jellyfish,
Rice, pure as cumulus cloud is now in sunset glow,
Corn once a respectable staple, now first for animals;
Human hormone in dairy, burger stem cells of GMO. 

Monsters lurk in the deep, GMO fugitives from the lab,
by design or accident, they pass on their alien genes,
the salmon has lost its homing instinct, whales lose
their bearing, weird creatures dominate the scenes. 

The god in man dictates rules and doctrine, of values,
in the name of science, honor and pride of discovery,
travelling into the unknown, man gropes for serendipity 
with its two faces - the survival or doom of humanity. ~         

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Waterfall Forever II

Painting and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
                         Waterfall Forever painting in acrylic 2ft x 3ft on wood by AV Rotor 2012


Imagery in the inner eye, old yet new,
of boyhood in frolic and abandon;
a waterfall forever flowing 
down the river in summer season.

Youth, be not proud, the old often warned,
for having lost but once your prime,
the sun sets earlier each day and hour, 
and the once sweet bell no longer chime.

And the hammock lulls you not to dream 
but sleep while the world goes round,
and gaining consciousness once again, 
one step getting old you're bound. 

Not when the waterfall is alive and strong,
not when the boy in you calls every day
among your restless kind seeking adventure -
youth the greatest hour is here to stay. ~

Friday, October 24, 2014

FAIRY GARDEN

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
Dead tree covered by mushrooms creates a weird, eerie scene  

If mushrooms were giants, then I’m in Brobdingnag
Where now I’m a pygmy when I was once a giant.
Wishing the goodness I did to come back to me.
In life we are at one time giants, at another dwarfs,
Giving essence to character more than fairy tale,
But even in fairy tale, we gain essence of character. ~

Aligi!

Fat Crabs
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Taste deep or touch not,
this food of the gods
just now;
Aligi is gold to the palate;
don't lose appetite of its sight,
turn a deaf ear at its name,
no, not now;
Don't sit last before the table
when others have seated,
not now;
blood pressure and pulse measure
can wait,
oh, not now;

crabs and cockroaches
belong to one class,
don't say it now,where Epicurus reigns
with the finest cuisine;
it's now.

danger in pleasure
and pleasure in danger
is your game now;
you have to gain to lose,
and lose to gain;
it's now,
or never. ~


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

UST AB: Interpreting Verses through Photography

Kindness, however small, 
is never wasted at all.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Assignment: This is an exercise in Creative Photography. Choose an appropriate photograph for each verse and capture its essence and message. Write the caption for the photograph. Enhance the human interest effect. Apply the elements of art, mainly composition. Can your work pass for a poster? (Choose any five.)
The kindest words are best expressed in poetry and
illustrated in fine art and creative photography. 

Ateneo de Manila University, QC

1. Patience is virtue in disguise
an art of the smart and wise.

2. He who always says, "yes."
is seeker of convenience.

3. The sound of kiss may be deep or shallow,
wait until you hear its echo.

4. On some mountaintop ones echo is clear and loud,
in the marketplace it dies, so in any crowd.

5. How seldom do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors.

6. The heart breaks and heals leaving scars;
it consoles to know the distance to the stars.

7. The good may die first and resurrect at last;
the bad may die last and lie in their dust.

8. If the world is going to end in fire or ice;
altogether we die once and not twice.

9. Old folks say a problem hastily solved
sooner or later returns unresolved.

10. What is worse than envy and indolence,
but the two themselves riding in insolence.

11. We don't have the time, is an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.

12. Purple, the Nazarene's garment
reminds us of power and lament.

13. Not all sand dunes for sure
end up to an empty shore.

14. Change, we face its challenge, comfort in our camp,
if we look back at an old house with a burning lamp.

15. Loud when empty, the gong and hollow log proclaim,
even as deep waters and doldrums stake their claim.

16. Hope - offer it to silence a restless throng;
in motherhood statement no one goes wrong.

17. Napoleon's army was in the deep Russian cold.
"Come out and fight, cowards!" cried the lost bold.

18. Nectar attracts the bees, vinegar the flies;
a pie rides on the breeze to where a hungry lies.

19. Ivy on the wall creeping shy and small
spread out to hide my dark and ugly side.

20. Behold! a rainbow and moth in flight
when viewed against the waning light. ~

UST AB - How good are you in Photography?

Assignment for my students in Photography, UST Faculty of Arts and Letters
 By Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Critique this photo and the three below on their content and technical aspects.
And answer these questions. (Don't copy the questions) 

___1. For best results there is no substitute to having a manual camera with semi-automatic system for photographic art – kahit digital camera pa. 
__ 2 . When taking pictures, the rule is that the source of light must be at the back of the photographer. 
___3. The lens opening of a camera is like the pupil of the human eye. 
___4. Single lens reflex (SLR) means you are looking at the subject through the lens of the camera. 
__ 5. Satellite imaging can detect weather disturbances, pollution; it can predict crop yield levels, and in fact even hideouts of terrorists. 

___6. Satellite imaging is used in cartography, that is, the science of mapping the features of the earth. 
__ 7. Deeper interpretation of contrast is in the subject of the photo, rather than interplay of light and shadow, colors and lines. 
__ 8. The larger the lens opening the better is the depth of field. 
__ 9. If the background is bright and your subjects are posed against it, what you can do to counteract glare is to use flash. 
__10. Filters emphasize outlines, increases contrast of light and shadow, warm and cool and colors. It is also used in silhouette photography. 

__11. The opening of a flower bud step by step is recorded by means of time lapse photography, a technique that compresses time to enable the eye to witness the event in a short time frame. 
__12. Buildings appear in concentric circle converging at the top if you use fisheye lens. 
__13.When using a wide angle lens for a group photo, those on the sides appear to be very thin while those at the center are fat. 
__14. Telezoom lenses extend the view, compressing distance, thus they are used in war zones. 
__15.Allow the pupil of the eye to narrow down by sending a series of faint flashes before the real flash is made. This is to prevent red eye in the photograph. 
_ 16. With the state-of-the-art digital photography, a poorly taken photo can be edited anyway - so, why worry? 

__17. Black and white photos are simpler to process and print than color photographs. 
__18. The computer is equipped with a software to correct blurred, burned, incomplete and misaligned photos to appear normal. 
__ 19. As a rule do not retouch a historical documentary photos; they are more authentic in their original state. 
__ 20. It is easier to photograph emotions rather than features, because they come naturally, while you have to do a lot of script in the latter.

__21. A famous photograph – a naked young girl, her body burned by napalm (Orange Agent) running along a highway with other children, while soldiers simply didn’t mind, was taken during the recent Iraq war. 
__22. A lone man standing in front of a column of tanks was taken during the Vietnam war. The photo freezes the action as if the man succeeded in his suicidal act. 
__23. Today, photography – from shooting to printing - can be done in a home studio, and therefore offers a good business opportunity. In fact documentaries and short movies can be done. 
__24. Composition is the key to telling a story, be it a painting, a poem, a novel – or a photograph. 
__25. The elements of art – are also the elements of photography. 

__26. Foreshortened effect is shown on traffic signs written on the highway. 
__27. 400 ASA/ISO/DIN film is more sensitive than 100 ASA/ISO/DIN film, in the same way as 4 megapixels is more sensitive than say, 2 megapixels. 
__28. As the number increases - 30, 60, 100, 250, 500, 1000 – it means the shutter mechanism proportionately slows down or decreases speed. 
__29. Here are three ways to improve your photo when lighting is poor: use tripod, use flash, increase ASA or DIN – in any combination, or all of them at the same time. 
__30. You can get multiple exposures in a single shot of fireworks even without a tripod. 

__31. Adjust shutter to B and mount camera on tripod when shooting night scenes – a busy street, Christmas lights, stars, constellation, etc. 
__32. Today’s digital camera is more versatile, relatively cheaper, easier to operate – but not necessarily superior in quality - to film camera. 
__33. Some digital cameras can used the lenses of film cameras, particularly SLRs. 
__34. The most advanced digital cameras are made by Kodak. 
__35.When a close up of flower is blurred, the subject is too close. 

__36. Basketball player in air totally blurred – shutter speed is too slow.
__37. Sunny outdoor view is rough, with dot matrix like in “pointillism.” – ASA/ISO value too high. 
__38. Photo is too light all over, no accent, clarity poor – insufficient light, lens opening too small, or both. 
__39. When having your picture taken, relax your shoulder and your face muscles will also relax. 
__40. “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and “Micro Safari” have one in common – micro photography. 

__41. Light microscope reveals the world of microorganisms – countless of them in a single drop of water. 
__42. Electron microscopy produces photographs of extremely small objects up to 5,000 times in a myriad of colors like a rainbow. 
__43. Radio telescope enables the human eye to see very far objects like stars using the same principle of lens telescope. 
__44. One area of photography that enables us to see fast moving objects normally invisible to the eye is through slow motion photography. 
__45. The aura emitted by our body is visible through photography. 

__46. Photography brings to the eyes of the world good things to appreciate, and evil things to correct. 
__47. Photojournalism is a risky profession, like other media men, they risk their lives. In fact the Philippines has the most number of fatalities among media men, second to Iraq. 
__48. War is the arena of photography – war against poverty, graft and corruption, environmental degradation, diseases, ignorance, terrorism, and the like. 
__49. Yet photography offers the newest, most modern, technologically advanced, now popularized to be enjoyed by millions of people everyday.
__50. Photography is the extension of our eyes and other senses, in fact our intellect, our feeling and our soul. ~


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

UST-AB Photography: Critique-analysis of 30 selected covers of Time Magazine

Dr Abe V Rotor
Professor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

For the advanced part of Photography as a course, I am presenting these selected covers of TIME, the leading international weekly news magazine. Time has been consistently on the forefront of major events, and persistently moving on the road, so to speak, be it the fast lane or one that is less trodden. The explosion of knowledge and information brought about by the computer age, blossoming into Social Media makes the "world a stage," which is indeed the golden epoch of global communications.  

Critiquing and analyzing these Time covers provides lessons in the fields of
  • art and photography in multimedia, principally print media
  • news analysis and interpretation
  • interdisciplinary approach  
  • institutional linkages  
  • presentation methodologies 
These specimens will be projected individually on screen. The professor gives an overview of the main features of each.  Recitation and discussion follow. There will be short test before the end of the session.     
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 

Briefly explain (2 pages bond, handwritten)
1. Most controversial issues 2
2. Greatest lessons on leadership 2
3. Most relevant to our times and country 2 
4. Baloney, falsehood  2
5. Ecological concern 2