I Don't Want to Go Home...

I don't want to go home.
I want to go anywhere...
But please not just home.
Let me go everywhere...

But don't ask me to go home...

There's too much pain in there.
Too much chaos.
Hurting sounds...
Piercing words.

Please don't let me go there...

Nobody hears anymore.
Nobody cares.

© Claudine F. Claudio

Pop Culture in Third World Countries

Pop Culture in Third World Countries
Claudio, Claudine F.
Editorial & Column Writing
Prof. Jeanie Derillo


“What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public.”
~Vilhjalmur Stefansson

I thought advertising agencies is supposed to be run by creative people? By people acquiring extraordinary imagination and creativity? By people with visionary skills to promote something unknown to popularity? I thought Advertising is supposed to be an art? But how could art bring about deception and sense of superficiality to people?

Condoms. Liquors. Women. Passion. Lust. Safe Sex.

Putting the word “safe” before sex is one heinous thing to do. Sex has become something that is “common” to the world. It has become “okay”. The supposedly sacred word had been degraded to a meaning too cheap and dirty. The supposedly gift from God to married couples has now been tainted. It can now be bought from filthy bars and clubs. It's as if it has become some pirated film bought on sidewalks.

Now, almost the whole world is starting to have a bent notion about sex. And what's saddening is that “Thirld World Countries” who are supposed to strive for development, is part of this world. The countries who are supposed to be focusing to their growth are now being pulled back down to immaturity because of pop culture. Just the Philippines for an instance. Filipinos were once the most conservative and religious people in the world. Now that we have been contaminated with popular culture produced mostly by the west, our people's definition was now changed into hospitable beings. Prostitutes.

Popular culture has deceived us through the power of media. Before we are the ones who create the demands. Now advertising does it for us. We no longer have the power to control which and which are not our needs. It's now them who tell us. So tell me, how could the third world countries rise up on their feet if popular culture would bombard us with false needs and require our stupidity to satisfy them?

“Advertisers constantly invent cures to which there is no disease.” ~Author Unknown

Such a mess, these ways of the world. Modern advertisements has turned into the devil who tempted Jesus on the mountain. And we are no Jesus. We are trying so hard to transform the rock into bread and jumped off from the top of the mountain just to find out that we are powerless and the devil who has seen would leave us there bloody and helpless.

The Real Problem in Enrolment

The Real Problem in Enrolment
Editorial & Column Writing



This semester, the registrar’s office established a new procedure for the enrollment. They assigned advisers for every department to guide students of what and what not subjects to take. There are different enrolment schedule assigned for every year level. Adamsonians were required to bring their true copy of grades to be presented to the adviser. Then after listing down your choices of subjects for the semester, you queue up for the adviser’s lane on your department office. Once he/she has approved your enrolment form you can now encode your subjects to the computer laboratory assigned to your college. It may seem quite easy for students belonging in a block section. Because regular students belonging in free sections and irregular students found this new enrolment setup more complicated than before.

If Adamson University registrar thinks this previous enrolment eased the burden of enrollees, most Adamsonians particularly the non-block and irregular students, think otherwise. For the last 4 years, Adamsonians has never experienced a completely hassle-free enrolment. It usually takes up half a day for a student to have his/her subjects encoded. Worse, it could even consume a whole day if some computer laboratory breaks down. Or when the computer said that a subject is not credited yet for course shifters (even when you have already undergone the creditation process), they had to follow up their creditation form to be able to take the requisite subject. It’s hard work to run around the university lining up on queues to do something you have already done before. Worst, is when you are suggested to come back the next day or the next week if some errors occurred on your assessment form or it’s not your schedule yet to enroll. This could be really a pain the butt for students who travel all the way from their provinces just to enroll for the semester.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in implementing new procedures if the intention is to ease a process. It is good to know that the registrar tries hard to come up with a more effective way for enrolment. But the problem is they’re looking at the wrong side of the problem. There is actually no problem with the procedures whether new or not. The problem is in the computer system. It isn’t updated regularly and most of them are old. Speed is also a major problem with the computers. So whatever the procedure may be if the medium used isn’t taken care of properly, change and convenience could be impossible to achieve.


“If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it”.
~Mary Engelbreit

Adamson University: An Amusement Park

Adamson University: An Amusement Park
Editorial & Column Writing




As kids, we have been taught that school is our second home. For Adamsonians, our beloved university is our Amusement Park.

When you enter the Adamson walkway, you will feel your paces gradually and sometimes worse, involuntarily, accelerating due to the pressure brought by your fellow students racing for class. It’s like queuing up for the ticket booth for the holidays. Well, speaking of ticket booths, after the long and not-so winding walkway, here comes the innovated entrance gates of ST (St. Therese) and CS (Cardinal Santos) building. It is funny seeing these gates crowded with unorganized queues of students lining from the gates to the sidewalk outside of the university. Some students would joke about it as the “box-office” line. Now, you’ve entered the park. It’s time to take the rides.

The common rides are of course the numerous leg-fracturing staircases of the university. From the ST, CS, SV (St. Vincent), OZ (Ozanam) and even the JP building. but there’s one ride uncommon to some Adamsonians especially the non-engineering students; The OZ elevator. The sole incubator in campus which stops at any moment you DON'T like. Because of technical problems, it was closed down for maintenance. But some students wished it to start operating soon so as to experience again the ride of their life.

Now let's talk about the hot spots of the campus. The most infamous is no other than, of course, the Falcon Bridge. After many years of the Estero de Balete's desperate modification, it still contains its usual characteristic. It still doesn't fail to give bridge crossers the chance to wince upon smelling its aroma. Though, they have enhanced the boundaries by setting up a garden and colorful lights at night. The workers in charged of the estero had probably lost their hope for the conservation of the watercourse so they had decided to decorate it instead. Another spot is our so-called Pinoy Big Brother house. The freshly-built edifice behind the CS building with a reception area that always seemed ready to cater various celebrations. If that's still not enough to prove Adamson's park-like grounds, we have our own version of Baywalk. The ST quadrangle that seems like a vision from Lito Atienza's mind accompanied with the song, “Mahal kong Maynila...” Adamson University actually has a lot more to offer than just rides and scenic spots. We also have a pawnshop (administration/ registrar's office), a portion of Harry Potter's Hogwart's (the fully varnished corridor alongside the president's office with scary paintings on the wall), a mental ward (the white painted corridors of ST and JP buildings), and of course the white maze of CS building second floor where you could get lost on your first time.

But despite all of these sarcasms, Adamson University provides a different college life that no other school could offer. The rides and spots are not only the places on campus but the lessons we learn. A university is like an amusement park. Here is where we enjoy most of the significant rides of our lives and our professors serves as the operators who guide and give us the time of our lives. The challenges. The thrills. The disappointments. And sometimes the boredom. But that's school life. And we only stay there for a period of time. We can't stay forever. We have to leave as time passes by. We grow old and mature and soon get tired of enjoying the rides. Some give up. Some go on. But still the most fulfilling part of school is the overwhelming feeling of overcoming it all when you've finished all of the rides.

Genetic Engineering: Cloning Deception

Genetic Engineering: Cloning Deception
Editorial & Column Writing


For the Filipinos in the present and future generation, Genetic Engineering is becoming a major threat for their spiritual and physiological survival. Manufacturers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are now attacking not only the Filipinos’ health but also their faith in God’s art; Nature. By bringing in GMOs in the country, that are doubted to be safe, Filipinos are now in danger of crossing the threshold of the artificial and deceptive way of life.

Scientists claim that GMOs are manufactured to help lessen starvation and food shortage especially among the Third World countries. But some believe that there is actually more than enough food in the world and that the problem is food distribution and not production. But how could GMOs help Third World countries if GMOs cost much more than a Third World country constituent could earn? According to Charles M. Benbrook, author of an unpublished paper titled World Food System Challenges and Opportunities: GMOs, Biodiversity, and Lessons From America's Heartland, “It became apparent in 1999 that the public rationale for promoting genetically modified foods -- that such foods would "feed the world" -- was based on wishful thinking, not economics. It is now clear that U.S. genetically modified crops are too expensive to "feed the world."

Now, how could something be truly beneficial when it could only benefit limited well-to-do communities?
“Abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, for example, risk reducing the human person to a mere object: life and death to order, as it were!”

- Pope John Paul II

Sooner or later, due to the rapid liberation of the Filipinos from their old-fashioned ways, reception of Genetic Engineering in the country would soon lead to the most troubling genetic technological application of all; Cloning. GMOs are not at all different from Cloning. It has the same purpose; to reproduce organisms without the natural processes. And for Filipinos, cloning in the country especially of humans would lead to moral and quintessential deterioration.

“Cloning represents a very clear, powerful and immediate example in which we are in danger of turning procreation into manufacture.”
- Leon Kass

Guimaras Oil Spill: The Earth Contamination

Guimaras Oil Spill: The Earth Contamination
Essay & Feature Writing



“Nature is the art of God”
-Dante Alighieri


Seeing the world today, God is probably shaking His head in extreme disappointment for the beings He created on the Sixth day. He granted this world to us as a gift and instructed us to take care of it. But in return, what did we do? We received it selfishly and used it in the most improper ways.
Dante Alighieri, author of Divine Comedy, stated that Nature is the art of God. If you are a painter, what would you feel if some unworthy person ruins your most precious painting? If you are a songwriter, what would you feel if a singer with a hoarse voice sings your composition? If you are a writer, what would you feel if a stupid publisher rejects the manuscript you have worked on for years? Wouldn’t you feel disheartened and disappointed that some ungrateful people do not appreciate your work? How pathetic that we keep on asking why natural disasters like tsunami, earthquakes, typhoons etc. occur.
Last August 11, 2006, news broke that an oil tanker named M/T Solar I sank at the Guimaras strait causing 200,000 liters of oil to spill into the ocean. One of the causes was said to be the ship’s persistence to travel despite the bad weather. The other reason was the incompetence of the ship captain. This one major incident will absolutely cause a great dilemma not only to the residents of Guimaras but also to the inhabitants of the water’s ecosystem. It will cause gradual death to the beauty of its ecosystem and decline of fish sales. Too bad for the fishermen of Guimaras, who mostly consists of impoverished people, because most of them get their living by selling what the sea can give them. Now, because of one major mistake committed by irresponsible people behind the cause of oil spill, what will become of this once beautiful element of nature?
Who do we blame for this national disaster? Petron? The ship’s captain? Before we try to answer this question, let’s first try to take a look in ourselves. The oil spill isn’t the only disaster that has occurred in the world. Imagine the world today and compare it to the world God has described in Creation. It isn’t the same world anymore. It’s as contaminated as the strait of Guimaras. How can it be so easy for us to point our fingers to people we think should be blamed? It’s not enough that we feel bad about what happened. Feeling won’t do anything good. We should start thinking and acting on how we are going to save our natural resources that are now being close to extinction. At least in that way, we could start helping the restoration of the art that God has blessed us in the beginning.

Mass Communication: Changing the World

Mass Communication: Changing the World
Editorial & Column Writing



The world needs change. There is no doubt in saying that. With the rising domination of technology in the world, we are subconsciously putting our lives in the hands of machines. We are risking the essence of humanity by allowing technology to empower mankind. It is inevitable, yes. But Adamson University, a private Catholic institution believes, otherwise, that even with the danger carried by technology, the future generation can still bring about change. In fact, technology can be helpful if only used with proper principle. And the major course responsible for that is Mass Communication.

Mass Communication deals with the science of manipulating the media. Media, especially of today, is considered one of the most powerful elements to bring about change. Yet, in our present time, it is used rather erroneously. Instead of using it for the betterment of mankind, it is being maneuvered to lead us all to sin and deception. But now, it’s time to change all that. For people who believe that there is still hope for a better world, learning the science of communication is the first step. Since media is one essential factor that influences culture, why not start building change in that area? It is undoubtedly an ambitious dream. To penetrate to the media world holding on to the hope that one day you can change its faulty ways. But that’s what distinguishes Mass Communication from other courses, you only need to be an excellent communicator and gradually you will open new avenues for change. Good communication is your primary weapon to lead and motivate people to the right path. Mass Communication in Adamson University not only teaches the mechanics of being a successful media personality one day but also educates and encourages students to trigger moral change in the society.

Now is the best time to change. Though it may take a long time for the change to be done, do not lose hope. Because we believe that no matter how hard and how long it takes, honest and upright media can still be attained if only people learn how to value good and honest communication.

“Whoever controls the media--the images--controls the culture.”
-- Allen Ginsberg

Rise of Pink Films as an Educational Tool for the Philippine Public

Rise of Pink Films as an Educational Tool for the Philippine Public


“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

There are two kinds of education; the good, which allows one’s morality, filter his/her intellectual growth; and the bad education, which only permits one’s intellect to grow and have control over his beliefs and actions.

Pink films can be educational in terms of revealing the lifestyle of the people who belong in the third sex. By introducing pink films in the Philippines, we have, at last, walked out from the stereotypical characterization of homosexuals, particularly gays, as either laughingstocks or victims of abuse. Now, we’re actually seeing films that executes homosexual lifestyle as normal and as the same as heterosexual lifestyle. They are indirectly telling us that homosexuals deserve fair treatments and rights because like straight people, they are also capable of loving and suffering. Yes, they are entitled to their rights. But they must realize that these rights implemented for them have differences as they have differences from heterosexuals. Because of pink films which are presently blooming in the film industry and are actually being encouraged by award-giving bodies for film, more filmmakers are now enticed to create homosexual-themed films. What a tragedy to hit our supposedly Christianity-preserved country!

According to psychological researches, we all experience identity crisis during our adolescent period. Therefore, if pink films continue to inculcate the message (that being a homosexual and engaging in homosexual activities are okay and acceptable) to the minds of adolescents encountering identity crisis, what would become of them? Now where’s the “good” in that kind of education? They would probably give in to the temptation that they could’ve eluded. If pink films on the other hand, would venture against homosexuality, without a doubt, as morally wrong, it could pass on as a good educational tool. Because it educates considering the moral standards of a Christian country.

If we let bad educational tools school us and at the same time liberate us from our moral beliefs, what difference do we have from America?

“It is essential to practice spiritual disciplines along with academic studies.”
- Sathya Sai Baba

A Poem for a Professor

Ma’am Lizelle


Want to know something about a lass?
A prof. who asked us to make planes in class?
A mother, daughter and wife so great?
The best psychologist I’ve ever known to date?



1
T’was an event I could never forget
I felt so down and my heart was wrecked
Always in my room, I can’t stop cryin’
The tears just won’t cease, I felt like dyin’

2
There’s so many I can’t understand
About myself and about what I want
That’s why I tried to search and seek for help
So, I could clear my head and know myself

3
I still can’t believe I wrote her a mail
To ask for something and tell her my tale
I was so silly but I took the risk
Wishing she’ll reply and hope she’s not pissed

4
Then the next day came and I was so shocked
To find her response for me with such luck!
She suggested I talk to her some time
Such a fine offer I couldn’t decline.

5
I felt so worried as the day arrived
Wonderin’ if it’s right to ask her advice
What if she’s busy or what if she’s not?
‘Guess I’m just being a pain in the butt!

6
But all of my doubts and qualms disappeared
All my uneasiness and thoughts that I feared
Though the nervousness in my voice was heard
As I spilled my grief waiting to be cleared

7
She listened as I voiced my confusions
All my worries and explanations
I told her all without hesitation
I was so flattered I have her attention

8
She spoke to me like no one had before
She had treated me like she was so sure
That I am able to achieve everything
And conquer all to reach for that something

9
I never thought that I’m a good writer
Never really believed I am that better
But when she had assured me that, I am
I blushed and said in silence, “Thank you ma’am…”

10
Our conversation was almost over
I was about to stand up and thank her
But then something stopped me from going to
I did something I thought I could never do

11
I confided to her about a past I kept
A past wherein I had usually wept
This affected my thoughts and how I live
The trauma it caused and pain it gives

12
My voice was shaking I thought I would cry.
But I’m revealing it all, I wonder why.
Her words moved me as she told me in the end
“Your secret’s safe with me, I’m here as a friend.”

13
I composed this poem so I could show
My sincere gratitude I pray she’ll know
This may not be perfect, may not be the best
But I hope you’ll appreciate it same as the rest

14
My simple poem is almost over now
‘Hope I had written it nicely somehow
I know my words are shallow and not so deep
‘Hope this is something worthy for you to keep

15
So, before I forgot to end this poem
‘Coz I certainly find this easy to enjoy
Though it was so tough to keep the words in rhyme
And condense only 10 syllables in line

16
I want to introduce to you a great woman
A mother, daughter, wife and friend in one
A woman I truly admire and respect so well
I thank God for having found her in Ma’am Lizelle.

© Claudine F. Claudio