Tag: July 15, 2009

THE GRAY skies are darkening as the mother shifts her gaze from the wall clock to the window and back. Her son is already three hours late and he is not answering his cell phone. It is raining outside and he has forgotten his umbrella. Lines grow visible on the mother’s forehead as she sighs, her hand smoothing out page 29 of her son’s thick black notebook, which she found beside the umbrella.

Where could that journal be? the son asks himself as he passes another block. He is running as fast as he can so he can be home in time for dinner. He ignores the steady downpour engulfing everything in sight. There’s nothing he can do, really—his socks are soggy inside his worn-out rubber shoes, his polo clinging on to his skin, his long hair dripping in a messy ponytail, the hem of his jeans dirty because of the mud lifted by his shoes from the wet asphalt. He hears a mocking laugh and looks over his shoulder. There’s nobody out on the street but him.

FIERY eyes glare deeply into the soul,

chasing it towards an endless void.

Struggling to grasp reality, hope dwindles

into a narrow corridor of pure darkness

Floating into nothingness, to feel the ground

Is but a futile cry for aid

as the body panics.

Flaming horses and grotesque demons

brand searing, white-hot suffering into the empty shell

as it freezes, forced to watch the gore,

the deep pool of blood oozing

from the mouths of a thousand spirits,

eyes drowning with despair and skin

blistered with unbearable pain, screaming

for death in this God-forsaken dimension.

TIME was neither here nor there. It did not even matter.

She was standing there, her back to me, still in her hospital clothes - a figure of such ethereal presence that I wouldn’t dare come near her. The wind was blowing softly, steadily, ruffling the hem of her skirt. I couldn’t tell what she was doing in her peaceful stance. Awkwardly, she spread her arms, ready to fall into abyss. By that time, my curiosity overrode my fear and I made my way toward her.

The fact that I was just there, stealthily watching her from afar made me sick to my stomach. I watched in horror as she stepped up on the building’s narrowest fringe, looking back at me and even mangaing a smile, but nothing was ever more sinister.

SA KASALUKUYAN, umabot na sa 20 ang naitalang kaso ng Influenza A(H1N1) sa Unibersidad mula nang mabalita ang unang kaso noong Hunyo. Ngunit kung tutuusin, maliit pa ito kumpara sa bilang ng mga nabiktima ng Hepatitis A outbreak sa Unibersidad 12 taon na ang nakararaan.

Noong 1997, mahigit 500 estudyante at empleyado ng UST ang nabiktima ng Hepatitis A, isang sakit na nagdudulot ng pamamaga ng atay. Karaniwan itong nakukuha mula sa pagkain at inuming nakuntamina ng isang taong mayroong Hepatitis A.

Sa isinagawang imbestigasyon ng Bureau of Research and Laboratories sa ilalim ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan, natuklasang anim na tanke ng tubig sa loob ng UST ang may mikrobyong coliform bacilli na siyang naging dahilan ng pagkakasakit ng mga estudyante.

GLASS was generally considered as merely “decorative” until Thomasian sculptor Ramon Orlina came, got his hands on some discarded fragments, and turned it into a new artistic medium.

In his exhibit titled Glass and Bronze held last June 18 at the Alliance Francaise de Manille, Orlina celebrated more than three decades of upholding the luster and value of glass.

“Glass is a very strong material. Before, people only used it for decoration, but I was able to evolve it into an art form,” Orlina told the Varsitarian.

A College of Architecture and Fine Arts graduate in 1965, Orlina moved into greater heights during the mid-70s by becoming the only sculptor in the Philippines and in the whole ASEAN region to successfully apply the cold method of glass sculpting, a process which virtually eliminates cracks.

“Studying Architecture in UST gave me a discipline, from finishing my work on time and dedicating myself to my craft,” Orlina said.

THE INTRICATE designs used by the Maranaos in their arts and crafts have been interpreted with the skillful use of acrylic by Thomasian Jane Arrieta-Ebarle in her one-woman exhibit entitled Pinagmulan and running from July 4 to August 1 at the UST Museum.

The exhibit is a follow-up on her previous one last year, which also featured ethnic patterns from the tribes of Kalinga, Tausug, Manobo, Bontoc and Maranao. This time, Pinagmulan showcases solely indigenous designs of the Maranaos.

“I thought it would be nice to highlight the ethnic designs by adapting each as theme of my future exhibits,” Ebarle said.

Aside from the ethnic theme, Ebarle also tried different designs, such as the “woman’s form” (dancers in the middle of a movement and women in repose). But she admitted particular fondness with the indigenous design.

THIS Thomasian wonder is singing for a good cause.

Reymond Sajor draws on the power of songs in his one-night-only charity concert I’ll Be There… A World Vision Concert last June 27 at the Music Museum.

Organized by World Vision, an international organization dedicated to aiding impoverished children, the concert featured songs by Sajor, all meant to uplift the morale of the Filipino out-of-school youth.

“This organization made me realize that I can help these children, so I got on the stage and sang,” Sajor told the Varsitarian.

Sajor opened with his own rendition of the song “Bawat Bata,” which encompassed the objectives of World Vision to alleviate poverty.

Guest performers The Company outshone the main act with their famous a capella performance of various Filipino songs such as “Tong, tong, tong” and “Abuchikik” mixed with their notorious comical antics.

AS THE University prepares for its 400th-year milestone, a group of alumni decided to honor their alma-mater with an invaluable gift: rekindled school spirit.

The UST Atelier Alumni Association, composed of College of Architecture and Fine Arts graduates (CAFA), attempts to rally the Thomasian alumni in time for the 2011 festivities through “Artistang Tomasino Ako!”, a series of quarterly exhibits which started last month.

“This is to make our graduates feel proud,” curator Maryann Venturina-Bulandi said. “People tend to forget where they came from after graduation, we have to unite Thomasians befor the quadricentennial celebration.”

REMEMBER Baler.

In commemoration of the Spanish-Filipino Day, the Instituto Cervantes organized a public viewing last June 27 of the film Los Ultimos de Filipinas (1945), which portrayed the events of the “Siege of Baler.”

Often obscured in the pages of history, the “Siege of Baler” was first immortalized on screen during the reign of General Francisco Franco, Spain’s authoritarian leader from 1936 to 1975.

Directed by Antonio Roman, the film retold the experience of the Spanish soldiers trapped inside the church, until the day they surrendered to the Filipinos. It was a story of courage, confusion, and hope, with a tinge of humor.

ILANG buwan na lamang ang nalalabi at lilisanin ko na ang pamantasang ito ngunit hanggang ngayon, wala pa ring kasiguraduhan ang pagpapatupad ng Magna Carta for Students Rights sa UST.

Napakalinaw nang lahat dalawang taon na ang nakararaan. Ayon kay Reyner Villaseñor, noo’y pangulo ng Central Student Council (CSC), nagbigay ng katiyakan ang noo’y rektor ng Unibersidad na si P. Ernesto Arceo, O.P. na gagawin niya ang lahat upang maaprubahan ang charter sa ikalawang semestre ng taong 2007.

Upang mapaigting ang kampanya, nagpaskil rin ng mga kopya ng mungkahing Magna Carta sa buong Unibersidad upang maging bukas ito sa mga mag-aaral. Sinabi rin ni Villaseñor na magkakaroon ng plebisito bandang Disyembre 2007 upang maaprubahan ng mga estudyante ang charter.