Tag: April 30, 2008

BY UNCOVERING one of a cell’s basic mechanisms, humanity is saved from the perils of cancer.

This was how a Nobel laureate described his unique way to attain world peace in a speech during the second installment of the International Peace Foundation’s (IPF) Bridges: Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace last April 7 at the UST Continuing Medical Education Auditorium.

Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, a 2004 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, stressed the significance of doing something constructive for the good of the people like having the initiative to discover treatments to society’s ailments rather than creating obstacles to hinder peace and progress.

KUMALAT ang pula, dilaw, asul at berde na mga kislap ng fireworks display sa itim na kalangitan kasabay ng malalakas na putok. Namangha naman ang masasayang kasama kong nagsipagtapos sa makulay na palabas na ito sa himpapawid.

Mayroon ding kakaibang pagsabog na nagaganap sa aking damdamin. Sa bawat pagputok at panandaliang pag-ilaw ng langit, hindi mapigilan ang aking pagluha. Subalit hindi iyon mga luha ng kaligayahan na dulot ng pagtatapos sa kolehiyo, iyon ay mga patak ng pag-aalala kay Giselle. Sapagkat kung may bagay man na lubos na nakapagpapasaya sa kaniya, iyon ay ang makapanood ng mga paputok.

BILANG tagapagtaguyod ng kaunlaran at pagbabago, bahagi ng kultura at kasaysayan ng Unibersidad ang paglahok sa mga usapin hinggil sa makabagong teknolohiya. Isang magandang halimbawa nito ay ang pagsali ng pamantasan sa dalawang pambansang pagpupulong tungkol sa nuclear science.

Ginanap noong Pebrero 22-23, 1957 ang kauna-unahang Philippine Nuclear Science Conference sa Albertus Magnus Building. Pinangunahan ito ng Philippine Nuclear Research Conference and Training Committee, Philippine Physics Society at Civil Defense Administration (CDA). Tinalakay sa pagpupulong kung paano isusulong ng mga siyentista ang mapayapa at epektibong paggamit ng lakas-nukleyar sa Pilipinas.

LITERATURE and how it intersects with culture and other disciplines such as the sciences was the focus of “Inter/Sections: Crossroads and Crosscurrents in Literatures and Cultures,” a three-day national conference on literature organized by the UST Graduate School recently at the UST Thomas Aquinas Research Complex auditorium.

Quoting the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, UST Acting Rector, Fr. Rolando De la Rosa, O.P. said in his opening speech, “a turning wheel that causes no motion in other places is not part of a machine.”

He called on literary practitioners “to give literature its moral anchor,” to counteract the escapist and fantastic works that abound today.

Making those present aware of the power of the written word, the Rector urged writers to create an audience that “seeks meaning in the triviality of the present,” and to “convince everyone that there are absolutes.”

THE SOCIO-cultural disarray of Filipinos living abroad and their attempts to recompose their tattered lives as a means of survival are the focus of Ménage Filipinescas: A Play in Three Acts (UST Publishing House, 2008).

In the hands of Paulino Lim, Jr., an acclaimed fictionist and writer, the migrant Filipino phenomenon is presented not so much as a breaking down of old ways as the emergence of new relationships.

“SO, GRADUATION’S coming soon,” Matt said.

“Yeah, it is,” was Carlo’s only reply as they lay there on the rooftop of his house that night. He wasn’t used to seeing Matt so serious.

“What did you want to be when you grow up?” Matt asked.

“What kind of question is that?”

“I’m just curious.”

“About what?”

A heavy sigh escaped Matt’s mouth. “Dreams. I remember dreaming once. I wanted to become a doctor,” Matt said. “Well, that was until I discovered the ten and a half years of medical school that my parents could never afford. And I couldn’t stand the sight of blood.”

“Oh.” Carlo didn’t know how to respond.

“So what’s yours? What’s your dream?”

“I wanted to become an astronaut.”

TIME is a body that is nobody’s.

For instance, no matter how transitory

Escapes the slither of its hands

Peeling through the pith of moments,

Made malleable by its slender fingers.

Its eyes are sharp, it severs but never

Stalls for a second’s overhaul

With its familiar cold, all-knowing stare—

That gazes as moon gazes at men before day,

And gnaws as predator dismembers its prey.

Its skin is of the subtlest shades of light,

A spectrum from ivory tusks to the dark of the night

That pulls you nearer to be always in sight—

But the closer you come, the farther it gets,

And if closest, could cost the last of your breath,

SAVING lives inside the emergency room was Felicitas Laron-Cacanindin’s initial dream.

But frequent spells of nausea after chemistry classes forced her to embark on another career that would have her deal with lives in another venue: the court room.

Instead of using scalpels and stitches, Cacanindin performs her own dose of heroism by thudding a wooden mallet as presiding judge of Branch 19 of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila.

Cacanindin’s daily schedule as a judge includes hearing and deciding cases and acquitting or convicting accused persons in criminal cases.

IN THE face of the political turmoils of the mid-1980's, amid pounding the beat, writing reportage, editing copies, and doing late-night press work, the Varsitarian staff of that decade formed a durable bond that even their own classmates and best friends got jealous of. They became a tight knit of writers, editors, artists, and photographers who would stick together through thick and thin while making their respective mark on the world.

Because of their political awakening that came with the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983, their Varsitarian stint became a journalistic adventure and strengthened the bonds of friendship.

BRINGING the life back to the dying Philippine film industry plagued by mediocre and very commercial movies was the dream of the second CineVita Campus Film Festival, which ran March 5 to 7 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex.

Sponsored by the Varsitarian, the three-day festival showcased 22 local and international films with themes relating to life and death, strengthening the family, and urban sociology.

The festival also provided a venue for discussions on the state and the future of Philippine cinema.