Jeepneys:The King of the Road

Group 9 Final Project

STS Group Project Trailer

Ang jeepney ay parte na ng ating pang-araw-araw na buhay. Hindi natin maiiwasan na palagi natin itong nakikita sa ating paglabas. Subalit naisip na ba natin kung ano ang mga epekto nito? Sa ating buhay? Sa ating relasyon sa ibang tao? O kaya naman ay sa ating kapaligiran? Alamin sa papalapit na proyekto ng PATA Team na: King of the Road

King of the Road:Official Trailer

Change Means Growth

Nightfall is a novel written by Isaac Asimov that tells a story of a planet known as Lagash. This planet is surrounded by 6 suns, and therefore, does not experience nighttime. An archaeologist discovers that every 2000 years approximately, the existing civilization of that time collapses. Meanwhile, a group known as the "Cult" believes that the world will be destroyed because of darkness, wherein stars will appear and unleash fire. An astronomer connects the two and concludes that every 2049 years, the sun is eclipsed, thus causing "night". He theorized that the night horrified the people, causing them to panic and look desperately for a light source, so they started fires and this resulted to the destruction of the civilization. Because of this, the scientists prepared the people for the phenomenon. It ends with the occurrence of the night but unexpectedly, it wasn't the night that horrified people. It's when they see the stars and realize how big the universe is, which makes them horrified and thus caused yet another collapse of a civilization.

After contemplating about the novel, I realized that the readers can perceive it in a lot of ways. But I'd like to think that each element of the story represents our normal lives as humans. We live in a big world full of uncertainties. We live without knowing what happens next. No matter how prepared we are, there are times when life happens and we're suddenly in a situation we didn't want to be in or a situation too good to be true that it doesn't feel real at all. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, and we try to predict things to come and prepare for it the best way possible. Like in the novel, they predicted the destruction of their world and tried to prepare for it. Unexpectedly though, things we didn't thought would happen usually happens. It takes us by surprise but we can't do anything about it. Either we live with it or we don't. In the novel, they didn't. They didn't accept the inevitable change. But in reality, there are these changes that come in our lives and we have to accept it, because these changes mean growth. They might be as horrifying as the revelation in the novel, but without these changes, we're stuck in a state where there is no leveling up. So we should learn how to accept change and accept that no matter how hard we try, we can never truly prepare ourselves from what's about to come.

Chrystine L. Cobarrubias
2013 - 59986

The Iron Butterfly

I have always known Imelda Marcos as the “Iron Butterfly”, the wife of the former 20-year president Ferdinand Marcos, the woman who owns a total of shoes more than all my clothes and my shoes combined. I'm not much into History but I know the gist of the story. And from what I heard and what I believe until now, her husband was a smart and great president. He somehow made Philippines better, although he abused his power and forgot why he ran for president in the first place: to serve the country. I believe Imelda Marcos has a huge part in his decisions, especially the declaration of Martial Law. For me, she was the reason for Ferdinand's downfall. And after watching the documentary, I started to get more irritated to her.

Her explanations for different things were illogical, at least for me. First, her reason for her all her shoes and her lavish style of clothing were, according to her, for the Filipinos to have a model and to help them see how to dress well. Yes, I understand her good intentions, but it doesn't make sense. It's like she's boasting about their riches. She said that when she goes to small towns, she has an obligation to dress well to let people see the right way in getting dressed. But really, can those Filipinos afford the clothes she wear? Why can't she just dress in simplicity and show that you don't need expensive clothes in order to look nice?

I also didn't like the way she was so confident about her beauty. Although I like what she said that “It is not expensive to be beautiful. It takes only a little effort to be presentable and beautiful. But it takes some effort.” These words though don't match to her actions and her other words. She is a smart woman but her words contradict. She said the quote above but it doesn't show with her luxurious lifestyle. It's good to be confident about one's self but too much confidence is not good anymore. And her self-confidence is just so apparent. She's so confident about herself that she thinks she'll be in the dictionary someday. I mean, okay she's a famous woman and a lot of people know her, not just from the Philippines but from other countries as well. But why did she have to boast about her beauty and herr legacy? A little humility wouldn't hurt. And I didn't really see that in her.

Lastly, I don't get what she meant when she said that they wanted to preserve democracy when her husband declared Martial Law. Where was the democracy in that? She is good in words and someone might actually believe her explanations because she does speak well. But a lot of what she said didn't really make any sense. It's sad that an intelligent woman like her wasted her beauty and power because of her seemingly narcissistic character.

Chrystine L. Cobarrubias

2013 - 59986

Understanding Them

     One of the scariest thing that could happen to me is to have cancer. Not just because of the pain I could be going through therapies or the incurability of the disease but also because of the sadness and depression that my loved ones and I could feel. Whenever I see cancer patients, I can feel from them the fear of dying and being left alone. I would never want to have cancer.

     I cannot distinctively describe what cancer patients could feel because I wouldn’t know and I believe that non-cancer patients could never relate as much as those who had experienced cancer.

     The podcast, “The Rhetoric of Cancer,” is a very good instrument for people like me to at least know the language of cancer patients. Through listening, the line that strike me was, “If I battle my cancer I’m putting myself in conflict against myself ……… to have embraced it [cancer] like a family member.” It strikes me because in that line I could at least relate to what cancer patients could feel. Isn’t it scary seeing yourself and battling with it. In the case of cancer patients, they are battling with cancer, which is a part of them – inside their bodies, and that means that they are fighting in what inside them. It seems that battling with oneself would be easy since that person would know what would be the weakness of himself but, the problem if he defeats the other means, he also loses. And here comes St. Francis of Assisi saying that cancer could be embraced like a family member. One could think that the statement could mean surrendering but in my opinion, embracing cancer is a good way to battle with it. Befriending your enemy – cancer – is a good way to lessen the depression and sadness of cancer patients could be feeling. What could one do when he knows that there is nothing that could cure his disease? So why not live your life to the fullest when you still have time. So I believe that St. Francis of Assisi is right. But that doesn’t mean doing nothing and letting yourself die, but rather, making use of your time efficiently.

2013-52498

Nikka Marie Sales 

Time Travel

      Even when I was still a kid, I was wondering if I could go back in time or if I could see the future. I was wondering if I could change some of my decisions so that I could have taken all the opportunities that had been offered to me, if I could leap through time so that I could prepare for the challenges I would be encountering. Time travel seems so impossible but I always believe that it could happen.

      The presentation about time travel was very interesting and somehow convincing. Though, it hadn’t pointed out that time travelling is possible at this time, it had revealed the chance of it happening in the future. The scientists presented scientific methods that are nearly incomprehensive to ordinary people wondering about time travel. From the presentation, one could also learn that there is a fourth dimension, which is time and that time is like a foldable cloth. Learning that speed deals so much with time is also interesting. All those facts and possibilities that had been presented seemed to be unbelievable and dream like.

      If time travel is possible today, we all would be like lotto winner, the richest in the whole world, or the happiest people. It seems like everything is possible in time travel. One could win the lotto through seeing the future. One could change the destiny of himself or another through going back in time. Leaping through time could change everything – laws, principles, destiny, etc. Time travel is like cheating. So I believe that it is better for time travel not to be possible, to be just a dream or an ambition to be achieved. At least, there is still a chance for us to dream and imagine what could have happened or what can happen. It is better for time travel to remain a possibility. 

2013-52498

Nikka Marie Sales

Not a Battle

We humans are not invincible, but I'd like to believe that we are strong. I myself, as a person, would like to believe that after all of the obstacles and challenges I faced in life, I was able to overcome them all. Even if I fell, I stood up and showed that I can be strong. But despite this, I know that I'm not as strong as people with cancer. It's something different. Something that I think I can never imagine how to put myself in their shoes. I can feel sorry for them, and say "Everything will be okay." But no. I know that those words are never enough to comfort them. I can feel awed, and say "I know you're strong and you can do it." But no. I know those words aren't enough to encourage them. I can try and think that yes, it's really hard to be in that situation. But I can never feel what they are really feeling.

The "Rhetoric of Cancer" though, made me realize a lot of things. It's a whole new perspective of having cancer. I never even thought about those things before, not until I listened to the documentary. What really tapped me was the message saying that "If I battle my cancer, I’m putting myself in conflict against myself." (Andrew Graystone) I've always heard lines in movies and stories saying "We're gonna fight cancer." But this is the first time someone actually said something against fighting cancer. And thinking about it, it does make sense. Why would you fight something that is part of you? Not that you want the cancer and die. But maybe the point is, before you can survive cancer, you have to learn how to accept it as a part of you. And it's never right to say that someone who died of cancer lost his battle. Because no, they didn't lose. We should learn how to look at cancer in a different way, and not as a "battle" between the cancer and the patient. The body is not a war zone. It is a gift from God. I'd like to believe that there is a reason why things happen to people. And I think that God wouldn't want us to think that He made the body a war zone for other people. It doesn't really help when patients visualize cancer as an "enemy". As a Psychology major, I know that the negative can never heal the negative. It's not always "two negatives equal positive" like multiplication. No. Positivity is something that can help. And who thinks that "war", "enemy", "battle", and other fighting-related terms would be of help to someone who already feels negative feelings? Depression is always a part of having cancer, I guess. But I think that it will only worsen if we approach the sickness as a battle.

Chrystine L. Cobarrubias

2013 - 59986