The Newseum

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Newseum is the most powerful tour of the program.  The pictures, the words, and the pictures of history stuck in time.  I saw it here, felt it here, smelt it here, and all the other senses I forgot. I was immersed in the experience.

The passing rain that met us during the walk towards the Newseum did not hamper the experience.  In some ways, it enhanced it.  The negativity of the pictures, powerful pictures, paralleled the gloomy weather outside.  Now I know why a certain co-participant is always negative.  Being immersed in the field of journalism can lead to such pessimism totally inherent within him.

Plunging deeper into the negativity, I was sucked in by the emotions of the dark past.  I really learned a lot in the tour.  I thanks the program for giving such an opportunity.

On the Trails

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

We got lost in the woods. Drew was with us then and a short trip to the hiking trail made us think of the show entitled "lost". The woods looked unwelcoming and I was shaken off a bit. Yet, a short maneuvering with the van led us to the next destination.

Difficulty: Rugged

And so we entered the trail. The very first things I noticed were the difficulty, the length, and the duration of the hike. It did not matter at first. I have the intense desire to prove something way beyond than my capability. Boy, I did prove beyond my capability. The slope was high and I lost my breath every now and then.

Less Dangerous than Taklong

Even if the slope was high, the trail was no match to the trail we had to go a few years back. The slope was so steep that we had to hold on to everything we can hold on. Unfortunately, the only things were sharp rocks or dangerous plants. At the end of the trip, no one came out unscathed.

Leaving the Trails

After two hours of going around the trails, we went home. This is an experience worth remembering since it is rare for me to hike like this back home.




Hiding in Smiles, Leaving in Tears

Sunday, July 11, 2010


We were waving hands and saying our goodbyes to our foster parents (Mrs Linda and Mr. Valentino Bravo) for a day. They were all happy to see us off. Hugs and handshakes were all around. In their faces, they were happy to see us off. Yet, in their eyes, tears were starting to flow. We did not know what will they do after the cookout yesterday but we are happy to have met them. The morning then after, Kiki, my room mate during the foster family experience told me the tears streamed down Mr. Valentino Bravo’s face. I was surprised after hearing that. Then again I know why. My mind was still playing the videos of all the stuff we did with them.

Can Freedom be Copied?

Monday, July 5, 2010


Put the document you wish to copy on the glass and out comes the copy on the selected tray. Whatever you specified before copying, the output will follow suit. You can make as many copies as you want provided you have enough ink to do so.

Zooming out of the scene, you see a lone photocopier and an operator. This photocopier wants to spread his ‘documents’ and makes as much copies as he can. The operator wishes to copy the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.
The operator has a noble job, desire, duty! It is his right to give copies of his formulas for other students waiting in line. He wore a Red, White, and Blue shirt and the other students behind him is getting impatient and irate. His noble aim is not appreciated and he stayed even longer on the machine. He enlarged the paper, zoomed in on the key points, and highlighted his goals. This was not appreciated by his classmates and soon enough, he was pushed off the machine. He recovered quickly from the fall, but refused to budge from the machine.

Zooming out even further and going back in time, history has showed lessons that the operator should have taken note of. Yes, the wars fought back then showed that politics and religion can be spread and copied through conquest. Gone are those times. Centuries of growth and maturity has made people less accepting of change. Cultures have grown differently from each other and this cannot be changed by a simple copy and paste.


Video note: Democracy as an idea maybe old, but its best blueprint and conception is held by USA. Yet, the best 'model' cannot be imposed suddenly on other cultures. Culture finds alterations that may not be compatible to the American mould. The video was taken at the ceremonies at Kaskaskia Island. Clip shall be taken as a metaphor.

America’s desire to copy its winning formula is indeed a noble aim. However, deep-seated preferences on various cultures resist such a change. As lectures about American Democracy continues, there is a unifying thought. Americans prefer the status quo. The democracy is made to be slow so that there is not one power to overtake the entire United States. America is a culture that is resistant to change. Yet, this is my question, why must it impose its own brand of democracy to other peoples? America took more than 220 years to get its modern copy of the word, and yet it is still full of loopholes.

America is a bad student of democracy if it plans to copy its own notes on the topic and give it to other students so quickly. It cannot be impatient for other countries to change so quickly when he himself is resistant to it. More than 220 years of resistance does not fare well an image as a model student. Besides, the culture of its people is radically different compared to other peoples of the world. In my calculation, there must be a merging, at least, of the learning culture with that of America before it can start to spread its version of democracy. Going deeper in the analogy, it needs the student culture to actually go to class to learn about democracy before it can inherit it. Then everyone knows that there are students who simply refuse to go to class. This is the my point. There are cultures who grew up to avoid going to class altogether.

Assuming there are students that get the copy, study it, and go to class, they have varying learning curves. These require time and must it take two centuries for them to learn their lesson? If America’s noble aim stretches that long then export of democracy is possible, but improbable. It is doable but takes so much time and effort that the country might run out of this metaphorical ink. If a country does learn its lesson, the output will be radically different than that intended by the US. It will never be as perfectly as the first paragraph described.


Like a Blade of Grass (poem)

Blades of grass dueling under the sunlight
Not bowing down to the breeze.
Each one stands high, wishing to be higher
Not bowing to another.

Deeply rooted to the ground, unchanging,
Unmoved from where it is.
It's narrow and mean
To every leaf around it.

These blades of grass like mortal men,
Cling to the past and fear change
Yet, the grass seems wider
Than thoughts of mortal men.

Every person desires to belong
And teases a strange one as he pass along.
When will these people finally know?
That we're the same even differently we grow.

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I am a Juan dela Cruz (poem)

I am a Juan dela Cruz
From a country that looks
Like an old man with a broken back
And my day is always in decline.
I spend my day in the trash
And search for food no rat would eat.
Yet, with no pity,
Arrogant eyes look down on me
And blame me, curse me,
belittle the struggle I often face.
They spit on my image- a body
covered in grease and filth.
They could no longer dirty me,
If I have arms I will rebel,
but then, my weapons can
Barely defeat the dinner table.
Then again, they lack the creativity
I posses, if they eat like me,
They'd be dead.

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The Mall (poem)


Countless souls
Streamed through
The modern corridors.
Ethereal legs stomped
Silently on tiles.

Many are mindless,
Happy to float
Where neon directs them
Or what their inside dictates.
The souls, detoured by wants
Seek heaven in such empty space.


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