Flowers From the Rubble

Poor Choices?

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:51:00 +0000

"Oh no! It costs 2.50 per text. Only people with cash will be able to vote."

If there is one thing that adherents both for and against the proposed RH bill have agreed on lately, it's that they both lack the resources to make themselves heard.

Why is there this mad rush to plead poverty? Is it because we believe that any claim to the moral high ground begins with a low savings account balance? How does such a position encourage reasonable discussion on an issue that is already too emotionally charged to begin with?

One does not need to be poor in order to identify with the poor.

I remember an interview that John Malkovich gave for the movie, Places in the Heart, where he played a blind man. The interviewer marveled at how Malkovich was able to portray a blind man so realistically.

"How did you prepare for the role?"
"I looked for places in my life where I was blind, and then...I was blind."

One does not need to be poor to sympathize with the poor.

More importantly, maybe we should stop talking on behalf of the poor and start listening to them.

We should ask them what they think they need more. Would they rather have more access to reproductive health programs? Or would they rather have more opportunities to escape poverty?

People on both sides of the debate have tried to link the two questions together, which is a valid approach towards putting the reproductive health issue in context. But if we are really concerned about what the poor think, maybe we shouldn't begin by linking the questions together. Maybe we should begin by asking what the poor prefer to have.

The reproductive health issue is more than about providing choices. It's about freedom and responsibility. The poor should be free to decide.

Watch Harapan RH Bill.

Road Trip: Naga City, Bicol

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:44:00 +0000

Image by rodrobles™ via Flickr

I thought that my recently concluded road trip to Naga City, Bicol, would be a test of endurance. Instead, it was an affirmation of faith.

I fell in love with Naga even before I got there. Penafrancia Tours has such excellent buses that even the one I ended up taking, which wasn't supposed to be their premiere bus service, conducted me from Manila to Naga comfortably. There are only two seats per row on each side of the bus, and these seats were both well-cushioned and well-proportioned. Moreover, the video player that they installed on the bus was excellent. The movie never skipped or stalled throughout the trip, which was more than can be said for me. Due to the meager offerings onscreen, one of which featured the Queen of Assembly Line Romantic Comedies, Katherine Heigl, I sort of watched two and a half movies. The sleep which normally eludes me in Metro Manila snuck up on me during the 9 hour trek, which was a welcome surprise. And so, I got to Naga refreshed and just a little hungry.

Make that a whole lot hungry. Fortunately, my friend Derek Forbes brought us to Naga's finest hotel, Avenue Plaza Hotel along Magsaysay Avenue. I had one of their signature dishes, Bagnet with Bicol Express, which was succulent, crunchy and spicy.

After finishing some work, I proceeded to Crown Hotel along Francia for even more rest. While the Crown Hotel isn't as luxurious as Avenue Park, it is conveniently located in the heart of the city, and the rooms are clean and well-maintained. I've always maintained that the quality of a hotel can be gleaned from the quality of their bathrooms, and Crown Hotel did not disappoint. While their bathrooms are small, they are clean, well-designed and the faucets dispense hot and cold water almost immediately.

But the true beauty of Naga is revealed only in prayer. I love the fact that there is a church (both Catholic and non-Catholic) within a five minute commute of the city center. I love the fact that the churches I visited subject all visitors to the following experience the closer that they get to the heart of worship: inviting, then solemn, and finally intimate.

Angel in Our Lady of Peñarancia

And because I have ceased to entertain the vanity that my words could do a better job of recreating the wonderful sense of discovery that accompanies encountering a place for the first time, especially through prayer, let me leave you with two of my favorite Naga pics.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Gastroenteritis

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:51:00 +0000

It's that time of the summer once again. One minute, the kids are healthy. The next, they're not.

Lucia was hospitalized for gastroenteritis, a development which gastroenteritis itself came to rue. Our little darling bended the illness to her will, and got a whole day's worth of television in the bargain.

Vengefully, the loathsome inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract migrated to our darling Carmen.

Nonetheless, there is much to be thankful for. Forewarned is forearmed. We know what the enemy is, and how to combat it. We replace vital fluids constantly. We cover ourselves in prayer.

Gastroenteritis won't know what hit it.

Azkals: World-Class Football!

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 03:15:00 +0000

Courtesy of Fritz Gerald Dalida Photography

The Azkals play world-class football.

Does this mean that our players possess the vision and creativity of Lionel Messi?

Or the pace and strength of Didier Drogba?

Or the on-the-ball skills and selflessness of the Spanish World Cup team?

Maybe. Maybe not. But the Azkals play world-class football.

Whenever they play, we forget that a good number of the players hail from foreign shores. Whenever they play, we forget that for the most part, the players communicate largely in English. Whenever they play, we forget that in a country that divides itself all-too-easily along class, social or ideological distinctions, they embody unity in diversity, and the strength that comes only from being, in the end, truly Filipino: a mélange of influences, bound by love and joy.

The Azkals play world-class football. Whenever they play, they bring our world together.

Many thanks to Mikhail de Guzman of Soccer Central Philippines, Andi of The Official Azkals Fan Page on Facebook, Fritz Gerald Dalida and the inimitable Ebong Joson for making the viewing experience truly memorable. Kudos also to Bob Guerrero for educating Filipino fans everywhere on the offside rule.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Binibing Paniqui 2011: Keeping Love Real

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:41:00 +0000

Image by ~MVI~ via FlickrThe city of Paniqui, Tarlac is beautiful in a way that only provincial cities are beautiful. Everything is but a street away. The ice cream parlor where I feasted on a generous meal of thick, sliced crispy fries for only Php 25 is but a street away. The night bazaar where I slaked my thirst on a mango shake fortified with milk for only Php 10 is but a street away. The auditorium where the Binibining Paniqui 2011 pageant will be held is but a street away.

The city of Paniqui, Tarlac is beautiful in a way that only provincial cities are beautiful. You cross the street and you fall in love. There are two schools of thought on preserving the charms of small-town life. You can wrap it in plastic and try to keep things just the way they are. Or you can let the town grow, but carefully, mindful of the pains that growth can bring.

The Binibing Paniqui pageant represents the best of Paniqui. When you meet the candidates, you don't only marvel at the sight of their natural, Filipina beauty. You marvel at the way they see themselves. They want to show that it is important to be beautiful inside and out. The candidates are beautiful in a way that few pageant candidates are beautiful nowadays. They are lovely to look at, but they are even lovelier when they start to talk. You cross their path, and you fall in love.

I came here to give a talk on how strong Filipina women should make the decision to be free, and how that decision also involves being chaste. But, as all fruitful encounters are wont to go, I ended up learning how many Filipinas have already made the decision to take responsibility for their freedom. I ended up learning that many of the candidates already demand that they love and be loved in a manner that respects their vibrant femininity and their desire for a healthy family.

I came here to tell them that it is important to be "safe", but that it is more important to make good decisions in love and life. A condom might safeguard one's burgeoning exploration of intimacy, but that's only so far as sex goes. What about an even more vital organ? What about the heart? There is no condom for the heart.

But the candidates, even though they could not articulate it before our discussion, already knew that. They already see themselves as more than just "beauty and brains". They see themselves as something precious, and undeniably loving. They see themselves as women of worth and character, who love and are loved in return.

You can wrap it up in plastic, or you can take care of it. In Paniqui, Tarlac, they've chosen to take care of it. It's a beautiful place. You cross the street, and you fall in love.

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks to Anna Varona-Rivilla and Mayor Miguel "Dors" C. Rivilla. I can't wait to bring the Sweetness and the Sweetlings over one of these days. Mabuhay!

Bad Writing? Good Parenting!

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Image via WikipediaSometimes, the worst writing conceals the best of intentions. I learned this from Gene Weingarten's heartwarming article on the man behind the popular Hardy Boys series, Leslie McFarlane.

Weingarten first writes of how he felt betrayed by the unbearably bad writing that characterized the adventures of his boyhood heroes, Frank and Joe Hardy:

"The dialogue is as wooden as an Eberhard Faber, the characters as thin as a sneer, the plots as forced as a laugh at the boss's joke, the style as overwrought as this sentence. Adjectives are flogged to within an inch of their lives: 'Frank was electrified with astonishment.' Drama is milked dry, until the teat is sore and bleeding: 'The Hardy boys were tense with a realization of their peril.' Seventeen words seldom suffice when 71 will do:
'Mrs. Hardy viewed their passion for detective work with considerable apprehension, preferring that they plan to go to a university and direct their energies toward entering one of the professions; but the success of the lads had been so marked in the cases on which they had been engaged that she had by now almost resigned herself to seeing them destined for careers as private detectives when they should grow older.'

Physical descriptions are so perfunctory that the characters practically disappear. In 15 volumes we learn little more than this about 16-year-old Frank: He is dark-haired. And this about 15-year-old Joe: He is blond.

These may be the worst books ever written."

But when he goes into the remarkable story of Mr. McFarlane, a largely self-taught, hardworking family man who eschewed writing well (which he could do) in favor of writing to feed his family, his initial feeling of betrayal gives way to admiration.

"I envisioned the young Leslie McFarlane, a fine writer, hunched over his typewriter, babies at his feet, desperate for the money to buy the coal to stoke the furnace to survive another day, haunted by fear, humiliated by his failure, guilty over his gall at subjecting the people he loved to the reckless dream he chased, banging out another idiotic novel for a plutocrat who abused him.

If you are a bad writer, then writing poorly must be no big deal.

But if you are a good writer, writing poorly must be hell. You must die a little with every word."

McFarlane wasn't an angel. He was, like many writers, a passionately flawed man. At his worst, he was a quiet monster, much like Melville's Captain Ahab, a man who couldn't let go of his youthful dreams of erudition and renown. But this didn't stop him from trying to be the best parent he could be:

"For five years after the Depression hit, during the worst years of doubt and shame, Leslie McFarlane hit the bottle. Drink is the bane of the writer at war with himself, and it nearly destroyed this one. His wife, Amy, a woman of uncommon strength, threatened to leave him.

This is not a chapter of his life that McFarlane has chosen to chronicle in his memoirs. His son, Brian, reveals it. His father, he says, was endangering his life and his family.

A writer can be the most selfish person on Earth -- demanding silence, expecting adulation, shamelessly mining the privacy of those around him for literary material. McFarlane did all that. He was no hero. But at his center lay something heroically unselfish. It showed up in the Hardy Boys -- not on the pages themselves, but in the simple fact that he was writing them at all. McFarlane was willing to demean himself and, as he saw it, to betray his craft, in order to put food on the table.

And now he faced the loss of his family. The end was in sight, and he knew it.

So McFarlane took the page out of the typewriter, crumpled it up, and wrote a new end. Good writers know when to do that.

He left home for a few weeks and went to a clinic in Hamilton, Ontario. Got himself straight. And never was drunk again."

His legacy may be seen in his children. He never stopped helping them achieve their dreams. Brian McFarlane was a hockey player who parlayed his love for the sport into a successful career as a broadcaster and sports writer. He is also a member of the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame. His daughter, Norah Perez is an accomplished novelist.

He may not have fulfilled his childhood dream of becoming an accomplished man of letters. But he was, in the end, an accomplished man, husband and father.

Snarky Reviews on a Beautiful Monday

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:35:00 +0000

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Imagine this on your pants. Still cute?

Allow me to start the week on a light note by presenting the most impressively snarky product reviews on Amazon. I would link directly to the source, but some material isn't safe for work.

Here is a review for American Flag Workout Pants:

Even otherwise ordinary products aren't safe from snarky reviewers who seem to have nothing to do but make, uh, snarky reviews. Here's a couple of appropriately tongue-in-cheek reviews for a Bic ballpen:

Who are these people who have all the time in the world to do this? Moreover, is it possible to be paid for this? Ah, the possibilities!

Enjoy the start of the week!

Bannister Academy is Giving Away Scholarships for SY 2011-2012

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:03:00 +0000

At Bannister Academy, we’ve realized that education isn’t just about students learning from teachers. It’s also about teachers learning from students. That’s why we have lofty aspirations for our students. We don’t just want to teach them. We want to be inspired by them.

That's why Bannister Academy is giving out two full financial scholarships for one male and one female child this school year, 2011-2012.

Do you know children who inspire you? Do you know children who make you want to be a better person? Do you know children who you are SURE will make the world a better place someday? If so, let us know about them.

We don’t think that we’re going to change the world. But we’re sure that some kid will. We just want to meet that kid, and hopefully, be part of his or her story.

Who is qualified?
• Anyone who is eligible for transfer to 1st or 2nd year high school*;
• Demonstrates good moral character;
• Has a strong drive to excel
*It is necessary to present supporting documents of eligibility.

How many entries can be nominated?
• You can nominate only one (1) entry.

What should the entry contain?
All entries should include the following:
1. Your name and your relationship to the nominee
2. Basic Information of the student:
- Full Name
- Address
- Date of birth (date-month-year)
3. Contact details: Landline number, cellphone number and e-mail address
4. A 300-word essay by the student, answering the question, “How can I change the world?”

Where should I send my entry?
• All entries should be e-mailed to changetheworld@bannisteracademy.com on or before March 9, 2011.

When will candidates be selected?
• 10 finalists will be selected, 5 girls and 5 boys. The Names of finalists will be announced on March 11, 2011. They will be contacted personally and through their registered guardians.
• All finalists have to take an entrance exam and interview on March 14. Winners will be awarded on March 19, during the Bannister Open House.

Bannister Academy is located in Circulo Verde, Calle Industria, Barangay Bagumbayan, Quezon City. We're offering Grades 1 to 4, and 1st to 4th Year High School.

Alternatives to RH: Keep Love Real

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:10:00 +0000

The proposed RH Bill isn't only a flawed piece of legislation. It is also the single, most divisive proposed bit of legislation in Philippine history. Many intelligent individuals have argued both for and against the Bill. And while they might have their differences, they are concerned with essentially one thing: LOVE.

And so, instead of focusing on the many things which divide us, allow me to remind everyone of the really big thing that unites us. Love binds everything together. And it is this concern for the future of love and loving that has everyone drawing lines in the sand regarding the RH Bill.

Rather than rehash all my arguments against the Bill in this entry, allow me to make a recommendation. Let's explore alternatives to the Bill. One such alternative was proposed recently in Time Magazine. Do you really want to fight poverty? Invest in girls.

But if, given the recent global financial crisis, you are adverse to "investing", then maybe you should consider doing something more concrete. Jason Evert, the character education speaker, is in Manila. You might want to drop by Real Love Revolution 2011. Love shouldn't just be about protecting yourself from your mistakes. There is no condom for the heart.

There are alternatives to legislating love. There are alternatives to pontificating about love. But most of all, there are rational approaches to love. Some of them are even mathematical. Because, as the pundit quipped, love is like mathematics. Joy is added. Sorrow is subtracted. Our friends are multiplied. And our love, undivided.

Movies that Move: Inception

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:11:00 +0000

Image by Profound Whatever via Flickr

Ten years ago, I watched Christopher Nolan's Inception. It was intellectually demanding. It was visually engrossing. It had memorable dialogue that I could imagine myself sharing with friends over a couple of cold ones. "What's the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. Which is why I have to steal it."

It was such a well-crafted cinematic experience that I start a blog and begin the long, lovingly painful process of dissecting the film and what it means.

But that was sometime ago. Things are different now.

Yesterday, I watched Inception with my wife. It was intellectually demanding. It was visually engrossing. And the dialogue? Memorable.

But I couldn't imagine myself sharing the Inception experience with friends, not even over a few cold ones. All I could think of was how important it was to live a life that you created. How important it was to always tell the truth. And how one must always confront their demons and embrace them fully one last time before letting go.

I couldn't wait for Dom Cobb to get home to his kids. And it killed me when he finally saw their faces. I'm not sure if what I felt, watching this cinematic gem with the wife I treasure above all jewels, was what Christopher Nolan intended. But I do know that it is an affirmation of what I have come to learn about love and families.

You have to make a leap of faith.

Outlaws? No, In-Laws!

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:42:00 +0000

This article appears in this month's issue of Baby Magazine, and is lovingly dedicated to all in-laws we may have wished, at one time or another, to outlaw. Enjoy!

During their vacation and while they were visiting Jerusalem, George's mother-in-law died.
With death certificates in hand, George went to the American Consulate Office to make arrangements to send the body back to the states for proper burial.

The Consul, after hearing of the death of the mother-in-law told George that the sending of a body back to the states for burial is very, very expensive. It could cost as much as $5,000.00.
The Consul continues, in most cases the person responsible for the remains normally decides to bury the body here. This would only cost $150.00.

George thinks for some time and answers, "I don't care how much it will cost to send the body back; that's what I want to do."

The Consul, after hearing this, says, "You must have loved your mother-in-law very much considering the difference in price."

"No, it's not that," says George. "You see, I know of a case years ago of a person that was buried here in Jerusalem. On the third day he arose from the dead! I just can't take that chance."

Many married couples believe that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, mostly on the part of their in-laws. There is little in married life that recalls the full weight of the sanctity of holy matrimony than the certainty that you just didn’t marry your spouse. You married an entire family.

Fortunately, families that are united in love can be quite delightful. Even better, loving families are very much like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Like all sweet indulgences, it is important to remember your in-laws are like chocolate fudge brownies. They’re mostly sweet, but can be a bit nutty.

Here are some tips for dealing even with the most difficult in-laws.

First, set boundaries. Remember that for many doting grandparents, their task is to spoil the grandkids. The parents, on the other hand, are tasked to raise them. Forget about railing at the sheer injustice of the situation. Forget about the years of deprivation that your own parents made you go through. Forget about the indestructible Gregg leather shoes you wore throughout grade school, or the fact that your allowance was not subject to fundamental economic forces such as inflation, but to impossibly high academic standards in school.

It’s a whole new ballgame. Even your own parents will tend towards spoiling your kids. Accept the new world order and plan accordingly. If your parents and in-laws turn nutty in the face of prepubescent precociousness, then make allowances for their temporary insanity.

Give them a simple set of rules to regulate their behavior. In this sense, it is best to be guided by the spirit of Chesterton’s observations on the Ten Commandments:

“The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden.”

Of course, if they are not in a philosophical frame of mind, you might have to observe the other Chesterton quotation on the Ten Commandments:

“If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments.”

Explain, gently and with great patience, if not compassion, that these rules will allow them to spend more time with their grandkids. Make the correlation between kind consideration and quality time with the grandkids explicit. In most circumstances, regardless of living arrangements, the parents have direct control of access to the grandkids. Use it.

“No sweets after 4 pm.”

“Toys may be purchased only in the presence of the parents.”

“Meal times should be followed at all times.”

Second, always invite your in-laws to share their own experiences in rearing a child. Ideally, this should be done even before the grandkids are born.

This has two purposes. If your in-laws were hands-on parents, then they would have a lot of practical knowledge to share. You married their child, after all. If your spouse turned out well, and there seems to be no logical reason to enter into a loving union with a psychopath, you might want to find out just how they turned out the miracle that is the love of your life.

If they, on the other hand, weren’t hands-on parents, their dearth of practical knowledge will at least deter them from forcing their opinions upon the rearing of their beloved grandkids. Of course, ignorance has never prevented people from expressing their opinions. Still, as with gifts that cannot be measured in terms of monetary value, it’s the thought that counts. At the very least, your in-laws cannot claim that they were never consulted.

Third, try to waste time with your in-laws. Unfortunately, most parents really do start out by believing that no one is good enough for their little boy or girl. Thus, many young couples find themselves in a Catch-22 situation. If their fledgling efforts at building their nest fail, they reaffirm the mistaken beliefs of their parents. If they seem to succeed, they inadvertently hurt their parents by making it seem that they are no longer needed.

How do we address the fears of your in-laws then? Antoine de Saint Exupery once observed “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” Spend time getting to know them. Try to avoid making overt gestures at bonding with your father-in-law or mother-in-law. Rather, ask if you could join them as they go about their daily activities. Hear mass with them. Help them putter about in the garden. Meet up for a cup of coffee.

Your in-laws need to be reassured that they can still play a vital role in their child’s new family. They need to know that their opinions still matter. They need to feel that they didn’t lose a daughter or a son: they gained a family.

To this end, it is important to remind them of how the quotation from The Little Prince ends:

“Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox. “But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose . . .”

It isn’t just the relationship between husband and wife that’s supposed to last forever. We also need to live happily ever after with our in-laws.

Growing Upright

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:25:00 +0000

Soon, my children will not look up to me. The kids are growing up, and for the vertically challenged members of the Borra family, it's a welcome development.

They're also growing up right, at least in the sense that they feel a keen sense of responsibility for one another and the people around them. Before, whenever we entered a toy store, Tina and I would always remind the kids that "We can play with the toys, but we have to leave them behind so other little boys and girls can play with them," thinking that it would save us from having to buy them toys in the first place. I was delighted with that approach because it was, at least for me, a harmless scam that ought to buy us some time until the kids are old enough to support their recreational activities by taking on part-time jobs.

But the last time that we went to a toy store, Juan and his brother Manuel showed just how much they have grown. To my surprise, it was Juan who reminded his younger brother Manuel that "we can only play and not buy, because other boys and girls will play with them after we're done". Manuel, in turn, proceeded to tell the same thing to his younger sister, Lucia.

I'm not sure just how much they understood what it was they were doing, but it was gratifying nonetheless. Sometimes, we get so caught up in buying things that we forget to enjoy them. And seeing the kids play with, and more importantly, take care of the toys they played with was a reminder of that. It is good to have things, but it is more important to enjoy what we have.

The kids are growing up right. They throw themselves into everything they do with a reckless joy normally reserved for the welcoming of prodigal sons. And when they grow old enough, if they continue to exude the infectious love and laughter that I saw that day in the toy store, their father will happily look up to them.

Of Monkeys, Keyboards and The Introvoys

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:47:00 +0000

The infinite monkey theorem states that "a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare". While many sophisticated thinkers have applied this to such diverse fields of study such as evolution, literary theory, and the statistical mechanics of random number generation, less gifted thinkers such as myself have appropriated this to the study of a single phenomenon: the Introvoys.

This band, which reached its zenith in the early '90s, is responsible for the hit singles "However Which Way" and "Will I Survive". Infuriatingly, both these songs, despite the normally high standards of eclectic excellence that I apply to my music, are firmly ensconced in my iTunes library.

Truly, songs are more than their lyrics. Otherwise, how could an otherwise well-educated, discriminating former Literature teacher put up with gems such as:

Try to close your eyes
And listen to the waves of young
Can you hear my voice I'm calling
Hear the sound

I can't go on forever all alone
I am only human
And my heart's not stone

"Will I Survive"? No. "However Which Way." "But, did I survive?" Barely.

Yet, there is the music itself. I wouldn't characterize it as particularly deep or complex, but it is compelling. The melody is catchy, and there is the judicious use of the guitars and drums to stress different movements throughout the song. You listen to the song and you figure, "Hey, this isn't bad." More importantly, you listen to the song and say, "Hey, I can write something like this!"

It reminds me of some pick-up basketball players that I've known in my youth. These players master a small set of effective moves which allow them to impose their will on the game. But these moves aren't borne of preternatural athleticism, or a studied grace. They are crude, somewhat awkward-looking improvisations of moves they've seen elsewhere. You admire how effective these moves are, but you are also just a little bit annoyed at the injustice of it all. "If I didn't care about aesthetics, I'd develop an ugly leaning set shot like that too!"

There's a part of me that recoils whenever I listen to "However Which Way" and "Will I Survive", but when I set aside my pretensions to musical sophistication, I must admit that these songs are catchy and, ultimately, memorable.

The Introvoys are the ugly leaning set shot of my iTunes library. Enjoy!

A Real Loss: Val Kilmer in Real Genius

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 02:47:00 +0000

Whatever happened to Val Kilmer? Like many people of my generation, I have fond memories of Val Kilmer. I'm not talking about the volleyball playing, chiseled Iceman who shared such uncomfortably good screen chemistry with Maverick in Top Gun. I'm talking about the brilliant, charismatic, endearingly irreverent Chris Knight of Real Genius.

In The New Cult Canon, Scott Tobias revisits the most appealing incarnation of Val Kilmer and the zenith of the lovable nerd comedies of the '80s.

If there ever was a poster boy for the pitfalls of taking yourself too seriously it would be Val Kilmer, a bad boy forever on the run from his God-given ability to capture snarky sunshine on the silver screen and make the antisocial antipathy associated with genius a fiction as opposed to a reality.

Enjoy!

Schools as Institutional Fail?

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:09:00 +0000

Karl Fisch once observed "We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented yet, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet. " Yet, we continue to produce graduates at an alarming rate. As educators, we must ask the question: do we know what we're equipping our graduates to be? By not preparing our graduates for the changing fabric of the world they will inherit, is it possible that we are educating our students into obsolescence?

Reihan Salam, in an article that raises the very real question of an economy transformed by the current economic downturn and an increasing dissatisfaction with conventional education, paints a startling picture of the future:

The hope is that these young people will eventually leave the house when the economy perks up, and doubtless many will. Others, however, will choose to root themselves in their neighborhoods and use social media to create relationships that sustain them as they craft alternatives to the rat race. Somewhere in the suburbs there is an unemployed 23-year-old who is plotting a cultural insurrection, one that will resonate with existing demographic, cultural and economic trends so powerfully that it will knock American society off its axis.

One of the reasons why conventional schooling has failed to prepare our youth for the coming age is that schools are increasingly incapable of sustaining failure. Simply put, schools aren't a place to fail in anymore. Rather, they are places where one should "do well".

It is important to distinguish sincere attempts that fail from failures that are undistinguished save for the modest ambitions of their mediocrity. Spectacular failures have a remarkable ability to provide the impetus for spectacular successes. Mediocre failures are unremarkable in every respect, and should be treated with the disdain that Dante Alighieri showed for the lukewarm or tepid.

Megan McArdle insists as much when she writes about the need to make it easier for people to fail, rather than making it impossible for anyone to try, as a possible solution for the global downturn.

"But after the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that has followed it...[the] freedom to fail probably ranks right around freedom to remove your own appendix.That's a pity, because failure is one of the most economically important tools we have. The goal shouldn't be to eliminate failure; it should be to build a system resilient enough to withstand it."

Students shouldn't go to school to do well. Our youth shouldn't go to school for "validation". We should go to school to learn something useful. Rather than make our educational institutions academic tightropes that our students have to walk in order to be deemed fit for civilized society, why don't we set our sights lower? Why can't schools be like the net that exists solely to catch those crazy, fearless, creative people who set out to conquer tightropes in the first place?

Nothing teaches success like the experience of failure. It's time schools rediscover that.

The End of the Affair: Why I Use a Huawei Ideos s7

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:01:00 +0000

I have very little experience with infidelity. The closest that this Atenean came to cheating on anyone was when I secretly cheered for Mike "The Cool Cat" Cortez when he steered the rival De La Salle University Green Archers to consecutive men's basketball championships from 2000-2002.

Still, I always thought I would remain faithful to Apple. But Apple, with an endless stream of only incrementally innovative products characterized by an uncapitalized "i", kept on treating me as "i" and not an "I". When I look back at how it took several generations of iPhones to provide "text forwarding" or "copy and paste" functions, it became clear to me that Apple's business plan was built on keeping me an "i". I was the mistress on the side, kept at bay with tantalizing promises that never quite pushed through. Enough is enough. I deserve better.

The tablet device of choice for many consumers is the Apple iPad, an engineering marvel that boasts a dazzling combination of form and function. Yet, to quote Robert Frost out of context, "the woods are lovely, dark and deep", but "I have promises to keep". Surely there must be a tablet device that would both meet my professional needs without succumbing to the seductive siren song of the Apple App Store?

Enter the Huawei Ideos Tablet s7. Here's a picture with my workhorse MacBook for comparison.

An awkward meeting?

Many tech reviews spend an inordinate amount of time either gushing over or reviling the aesthetics of the device before hunkering down to a fairly comprehensive analysis of the relevant technological aspects that allow the device to do what it does. (If you want a fairly comprehensive review of the Ideos s7 that doesn't smack of technological pretension, go here.)

I'm afraid I am not too knowledgeable about the technological architecture of the tablet to provide much useful insight into what makes it tick. But I do know what I need.

Let me tell you about what I need. I need a secondary device that would allow me to check email, do some minor word processing, and share files with. Thus, despite the many persistently charming efforts of many manufacturers peddling tablets, this means really one thing. I just need a mobile device that could connect to the Cloud.

Right out of the box, you can use the Ideos s7 to do all these things. And if you've ever been annoyed at the Lord of the Rings "one button to rule them all, and in darkness bind them" approach that Apple has adopted in practically all their gadgets, you'll love the user interface of the Ideos s7. You have a home screen. You can choose "Web", "Entertainment", "Communications" and "Favorites". And just in case you make a mistake, you can always tap the "back" icon.

It stands on its own.

The Ideos s7 is an Android device, which means instead of dealing with the strict proprietary rules and regulations that govern the App Store, you may download applications from the Google Android Market and less "official" sources. You can get Dropbox for file sharing, Evernote for note taking and archiving ideas, and other useful apps that won't cost you an arm and a leg. While Android apps may lack the polish of many Apple App Store apps, many of them are just as useful. Also, many of the most useful apps are free.

It's only been a couple of days since I got out from under Apple's lovely polished heel. There's a whole new world out there, and a whole new experience for me to be alternately charmed and infuriated by. But I'm taking it one step at a time. To once again quote out of context, in this case Tom Cochrane,

"Life is a Huawei, I wanna ride it
All night long
If you're going my way, I wanna drive it
All night long".

Enjoy!

Smartness from the Sweetness

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:46:00 +0000

The Sweetness is also the Smartest. Just the other day, Tina was showing me how she planned to assess the functional English language skills of her sophomores. As she was enumerating, with increasing animation, the many methods she plans to employ in "skinning the cat" I was struck by the utter villainy of one assessment tool. And by utter villainy, I mean it only in the sense used by the great Kevin Sorbo in the underrated The Middleman: it was "sheer elegance in its simplicity". What follows is my poor attempt at trying to follow Tina's glorious brainchild:

INSTRUCTIONS: Rewrite the following excerpt from your readings with the appropriate capitalizations and punctuations. You have

why then did the spaniards conquer the philippines if the instructions given to legazpi by the king of spain are to be made the basis of our answer at least four reasons stand out to introduce the catholic faith to these islands to discover a return route from the philippine islands to mexico spain’s most important colony at that time to bring honor and glory to the king of spain and to bring back to spain some of the wealth found in those places was the king of spain serious about wanting to introduce and spread the catholic faith in the philippines in the 16th century perhaps so for he assigned no less than five agustinian missionaries to accompany legazpi in his expedition some historians suspect though that as the deeds of the friars that followed in the islands bore out the catholic faith or religion was used by the spaniards for a purpose other than helping the natives of the islands attain personal sanctity they claim that the religion was used whether intentionally or accidentally as a tool of subjection thus where goons and guns failed god was made to step in

What skills would you have to use to pass that quiz?

I can't wait to unleash my newest weapon in class. This is why we teach, my friends! And why I love my Sweetness.

In the Mood for Love: Five Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:51:00 +0000

I love running, but I hate running shoes. Running shoes never felt right. I'm not a shoe nazi. I couldn't imagine playing competitive sports without decent athletic shoes. But running should be different. It shouldn't be about encasing my feet in layers of rubber and fiber that have no purpose other than to stitch a logo on. It should be about the freedom to just get up and run. To anywhere. To nowhere. Just run.

When I first got my Vibram Five Fingers, I was struck by how liberating it was not to wear shoes. They were light, and I could wiggle my toes! Then I started running in them. I quickly realized, in the way that nascent democratic states have found out for themselves, that freedom has a price. My feet and legs were unused to the freedom that the Five Fingers afforded them. I had to learn to run again.

I love watching movies, but I hate talking about them with friends sometimes. Whenever people talk about movies, they almost always talk about the dialogue.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning...smells like victory!"
"Show me the money!"
"You can't handle the truth!"

The other day, I asked students in the MA Humanities Program of the University of Asia and the Pacific to watch Wong Kar-Wai's Chinese-language film In the Mood for Love. Without subtitles.

At first, they squirmed. Then they readjusted their seats and squirmed some more. Several students looked like they were on the verge of shutting their minds down entirely.

And then they saw the movie.

When I asked them to provide a summary of what the movie was about so far, their answers were remarkably accurate. Moreover, when I asked them to provide proofs for whatever motivations they ascribed to a character, or for elements of the plot, their answers would be fluid and, for the lack of a better term to describe their budding film sensibilities, cinematic:

"It's the way they stood beside one another."
"It's flirting with poise."
"It's the light. It was very intimate."

Even those nerds, and there always are nerds of some form or the other in such a class, who saw the film before were astonished with what they were able to discover without using the dialogue to decode the narrative for them.

For many of them, a whole new experience opened up for them. Films aren't just about clever banter. They're about moving images.

They saw the movie.

Christmas Cheer!

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:20:00 +0000

It's been awhile since my last post, for which I make no apologies. The grand experiment that is "living independently of live-in helpers" reached a critical point during the holidays. I am pleased to report that my family has not only survived the holidays. We have reinvented it.

Henceforth, Christmas in the Borra household will no longer be about spectacular holiday getaways, or wonderful gifts too big to fit under the Christmas tree.

Christmas is about hiding away over the holidays, with just Tina and the kids to snuggle underneath blankets redolent with Christmas cheer.

Christmas is about the gift of togetherness, which dwarfs any old gift that any old Santa can fit underneath any old tree.

Christmas is about living independently of helpers while remaining lovingly dependent on Jesus. May your season be as merry and bright!

Football: Yes, the Filipino Can!

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 02:50:00 +0000

"Why do Filipinos play basketball?"

For the longest time, my answer to that question was "Because they love basketball. And unfortunately, you cannot choose what you fall in love with."

I should have known better. Love is not just an emotion. Love is not just about making a complicated, twisting layup despite the outstretched arms of taller, stronger opponents. Love is a decision. Sometimes love is about catching a pinpoint pass off a well-executed screen and roll and nailing a three-pointer over the outstretched arms of taller, stronger opponents.

"Why don't Filipinos play football?"

For the longest time, my answer to that question was "Because they love basketball. And unfortunately, you cannot choose what you fall in love with."

Now, I know better. We should play football not just because we would more naturally excel in the sport. We should play football because the level of commitment, desire, and solidarity involved in playing good football is precisely the level of commitment, desire, and solidarity that Filipinos should invest in all things Filipino.

Filipinos have always excelled in sports which celebrate individual skill. This is representative of the many skilled, heroic Filipino workers who labor in relative loneliness worldwide. It's about time that we exert more effort in playing sports which celebrate teamwork and camaraderie. Because when Filipinos direct their individual passions to a cause larger than themselves, they can move mountains. Or win football games.

Congratulations, Azkals! Thank you for introducing a new kind of Filipino heroism to the world. Football? Yes, the Filipino can!

It's the Season to be Like Children

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:45:00 +0000

No one celebrates Christmas like Filipinos. Forget about the fact that our Christmas season begins as early as September. Forget about the fact that our tropical country produces more snowy Christmas displays than Iceland.

We make shopping expeditions to the most outrageously inaccessible portions of Metro Manila. We max out our credit cards.

As we draw closer to Christmas, Filipinos celebrate the season with the reckless abandon of the early Christians. And for the early Christians, those who lived and died so close to the time of Jesus Christ, this recklessness never bordered on mania. It always held true to what we read of in the Gospel:

"At that time, Jesus declared 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.'"

Let's not forget to always keep the spirit of Christmas alive, by celebrating it as would a child.

Read Comics. Become Superhuman.

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:41:00 +0000

“What? You’re not mutants? I thought this was the Xavier School for Gifted Students!”

Judging from the muffled giggling and undisguised irritation that the remark above elicited from the students of Xavier School for Boys in Greenhills at their recently concluded Comics Forum, one is tempted to say that comic books have successfully penetrated Philippine popular culture. At the very least, comic books seem to have been successfully introduced to the students of Xavier School, notwithstanding the lack of mutant powers in its student population.

But other than to point to the eternal struggle between the geeks and the jocks, which has been documented more fully and to greater effect in the movies, what are comic books good for?

Quite a lot, actually. Many progressive educators believe that comic books may be used to inculcate, to borrow from Antoine de Saint Exupery, “what is essential” yet “invisible to the eye”: the desire to learn.

According to one of the leading thinkers in the field of sequential art, Scott McCloud, comics are “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer”. As such, there are at least four good reasons why people should read comics.

First, simply determining whether the images are juxtaposed involves the critical thinking process. The reader learns to distinguish one image from another. Furthermore, the reader learns that while these images might mean something when considered separately, they could mean something else entirely when considered as a whole.

Second, once the images are considered both as individual images and images that convey a slightly different meaning when combined, it becomes important to follow these images in sequence. Why? Because images in sequence tell a story. Human beings are genetically hardwired to respond to stories.

Third, juxtaposed images that appear in sequence demand a response from the reader. This phenomenon may be seen most clearly in the spaces in between the panels: the gutter. In his book Understanding Comics, McCloud explains “…in the limbo of the gutter, human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea. Nothing is seen between the two panels, but experience tells you something must be there!” Human beings connect these fractured moments and mentally construct a continuous, unified reality which allows them to make sense of the sequence they were presented with. This very human need for closure gives new meaning to the old Jerry Maguire catchphrase: “You complete me.”

Fourth and most importantly, since reading comics demands a response, comic book readers cannot be ambivalent about what they read. Either they like it or they don’t. Because comics involve the reader on an intimate level, readers are encouraged to retain what they have read. As Confucius noted, “Teach me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.”

Reading comic books encourages understanding. And wanting to make sense of what we’ve read is what learning is all about.

Photo Credits:

Panels featuring the work of Hernandez and Huizinga come courtesy of Composing Graphic Narratives by Jonathan Bass.

Panel defining closure in comics comes courtesy of nothingelseis.

Look Back for the Future

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:17:00 +0000

Many Filipino families subscribe to the notion that a college education is necessary for success. All over the country, hardworking parents continually admonish their children “The only thing we can bequeath is a good education.” But what if a college education in the wasn’t necessary for success? Even worse, what if a college education didn’t prepare you for success?

If financial stability were the sole measure of success, then certainly the many young Filipinos who are employed as call center agents may be considered successful. Certainly, many well-meaning citizens who express a sincere concern for the welfare of the less fortunate point to the booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry as a boon to many struggling Filipino families. Furthermore, one need not finish college to be employed as a call center agent. One merely needs some facility with spoken English. The undeniable financial success that many Filipinos have achieved in the BPO industry might tempt us into thinking that perhaps our country’s institutions of higher learning, which use the liberal arts as the foundation of their curriculum, should focus on more useful, practical instruction.

However, it seems futile to focus on delivering "useful, practical instruction". Revolutionary educator Karl Fisch once observed “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented yet, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet. ” By the time we’ve prepared a student for a particular task by providing a specific set of skills to meet a definite goal, that student has been educated into obsolescence.

In his book The Idea of a University, Cardinal John Henry Newman suggested that “the intellect, instead of being formed or sacrificed to some particular or accidental purpose, some specific trade or profession, or study of science” should be encouraged to explore life in all its richness, both in part and as a whole, keeping in mind that while everything is connected somehow, it is man’s beautiful burden to nurture the creative chaos that teems just below the surface and produce something worthwhile.

Cardinal Newman might have written these words more than a century ago, but he could easily have been describing this wonderful, vibrant, increasingly connected world that we live in today. Perhaps to prepare for jobs that don’t exist, to use technologies that haven’t been invented, and to solve problems we don’t know will be problems yet, we don’t have to be too forward thinking. Maybe all we have to do is look back.

Credits:

Many thanks to Brian Belen for recommending that I follow Karl Fisch. While I might hog more bandwidth than a person of my modest intellectual resources should, Brian deserves a wider audience. His work is crisp, clear and concise. And yes, I hate him. But please do read him!

Opportunity Cost

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:40:00 +0000

What does an election cost?

For Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, an election begins with a cost of four billion pesos, but ends with opportunity. When Senator Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 60, he said that the proposed bill “seeks to reset the synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections and extend the terms of office of barangay officials to five years in a bid to address the issue of effective governance and implementation of long-term projects nationwide,” but readily admitted that the “basic premise of the postponement is cost and savings to government.” Citing the budget deficit that President Aquino inherited from the previous administration, Senator Zubiri added that “it would be better to use the almost P4 billion to other priorities”.

In the end, one could say that Senator Zubiri wanted to give President Aquino that most priceless of political commodities: an opportunity to do good. At a time when budgetary constraints threaten to prevent the current administration from taking concrete steps to fulfill the promises it made to the Filipino people, Senator Zubiri’s initiative should have been welcome. Yet, it is not.

For President Noynoy Aquino, an election begins with the cost of delay, but ends with the opportunity to reassert that democracy works. President Aquino may have been disappointed with some aspects of the local elections, but he would have been more disappointed had the elections not pushed through at all. It is important to recall that implicit in President Aquino’s campaign slogan “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” is that Aquino will continue the legacy of his mother, the late Corazon C. Aquino. Tita Cory may have drawn mixed reviews for her presidency, but she garnered almost universal praise for having left it.

To this day, I'm not sure why Tita Cory refused to seek another term. But the fact that she didn't run for reelection despite every worldly reason to do so speaks very well of her. As Conrado de Quiros once observed, “Years before, Cory was pressured to accept the nomination to fight Marcos in the snap elections, and she agreed reluctantly. This time she refused adamantly. She had restored democracy, she would not be the one to scuttle it.”

The difference in opinion between Senator Zubiri and President Aquino represents a choice that many Filipino families face daily. What is a more valuable gift: to spend time with, or to provide money for the family? Too many Filipinos already reluctantly work abroad, depriving their children of their physical and spiritual presence, in order to secure a brighter future for a family that bears little resemblance to the one they left behind. A majority of our countrymen stay and labor in quiet desperation, trusting that the intangible gains of their presence can somehow offset the perpetual need for sustenance.

Like his countrymen, President Aquino has to choose. Would he rather have the means to implement the programs that his people need? Or would he rather reassure his people that they will never lack for opportunities to participate in nation-building, one hungry vote at a time? These are not easy decisions to make.

Yet President Aquino has to make them. In the end, our senators can only make suggestions. President Aquino, as father and steward of the hopes and dreams of many Filipinos who make difficult choices on a daily basis, will have to make the most of his opportunities to lead them.

A Window Into P-Noy: "Report Kay Boss"

noreply@blogger.com (John-D Borra) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:30:00 +0000

Sometime ago, I defended President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address (SONA). While some pundits, which included respected economist Winnie Monsod, criticized President Aquino’s SONA for failing to specify solutions for the problems he identified in his speech, I suggested that perhaps these pundits should consider the SONA in the proper context. More importantly, I opined that the well-meaning critics of the nascent Aquino administration should realize that the message implicit in President Aquino’s SONA was radically different from that of previous administrations. President Aquino wasn’t trying to set the agenda for his administration. He was issuing an invitation: let’s work together.

In “Report Kay Boss”, the President again failed to impress many people with either the depth of his solutions for the country’s ills or his ability to communicate competence and reassurance through his rhetoric. However, as in the SONA, it became clearer that the Aquino administration would like to be defined less by what it says, but more by who the President is.

In the open forum that followed his speech, a teacher named Jesusa Antiquera asked a question. As she struggled to lift herself up to the chair set aside for such an occasion, a bemused President Aquino beckoned a soldier to help him seat the teacher. “We can do this,” the President said, eyes sparkling. And together, that was just what they did.

It is easy to romanticize such small spontaneous acts of kindness. And so, I refuse to do so. However, I would like to note that President Aquino seems to be remarkably consistent in making sure that his littlest gestures represent both the promise and the character of his administration.

In the late 1980s, New York City was a horrible place to live in. The streets were unsafe, and the authorities were at a loss as to how they could combat the rampant criminality. Social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling suggested that the key to addressing the widespread problem of crime was by focusing on small, concrete measures such as fixing broken windows. They pointed out that if a broken window were left unrepaired, people in the neighborhood would conclude that no one cares and, more importantly, no one is in charge. Broken windows, these scientists insisted, are invitations for more serious crimes. When then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani embraced this mindset, New York City embarked on a massive campaign to address minor quality-of-life crimes. The result was astonishing: in only two years, rampant criminality was arrested. New York City was a safe place to live in again.

The key to President Aquino’s effectiveness as our chief executive lies in his fidelity to his campaign promise, and his willingness to embody it. “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” A President who achieves some sort of infamy for enjoying a New York City hotdog, or for refusing to use sirens to navigate Metro Manila traffic isn’t some hick who misses the point. He’s just fixing broken windows.

“We can do this!”

Photo Credits:
Picture comes courtesy of The Sun.

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