Like most, I do have interesting expectations this year, 2012. But before I share these personal expectations for myself, I wish to point out that, like many, I, too, had trying moments in 2011. As I have more or less indicated in an earlier post (December 27th), however, I chose to be thankful for whatever little things I was blessed with. While I did say that I look at my new year’s resolutions as highly personal matters that I’d rather not share with others but simply keep them for myself and just do them if I could, I’m happy to share my expectations. Of course, it’s entirely possible that these may remain expectations. Still, I believe they’re something I really love looking forward to and I’m happy to share them with you.
As I’m writing this entry, I’m hearing again the horm of the Bicol Express train shout as it passes by Los Baños this early dawn, bringing back memories of the early sixties when this train served as alarm for us greenhorns at the then UP College of Agriculture (now UPLB). But that’s another story I’d started sometime back, which I hope to go back to at a later date. For now, let me go back to what I expect for myself during this year of the dragon.
One, I’ve just been told that the book put together and edited by Professor Srinivas Melkote of Bowling Green State University in the US, in which I prepared a chapter, has been submitted to the Asian Mass Communication Research Center (AMIC) in Singapore, the publisher of the book.. It’s safe to assume that said book is in press and, hopefully, would be released sometime during the first quarter of this year. The title of the book is: Development Communication in Directed Social Change: A Reappraisal of Theory and Practice. The chapter I wrote is titled “Development Communication Education in Los Baños: Contribution From Graduate Research.” A former colleague and a close friend and fellow retiree, Dr. Cris Maslog, wrote another chapter in this book. Watch out for this book.
Two, I’ve just been told (again) that my book titled Writing Your Thesis is now with the Reader or Evaluator. It shall be published and marketed by the U.P. Open University. Hopefully, it shall be released during the first quarter of this year. The book is designed for students who are about to begin work on their theses (both undergraduate and graduate levels). When this book comes off the press, I shall be glad to visit HEIs throughout the country and conduct seminars on writing theses. The great proportion of college students need to write their theses, and many are not prepared to admit the fact that they don’t know how to proceed. In the seminars that I intend to undertake as part of the promotion of this book, I shall be glad to share with students experiences and advise on how to actually do a thesis and write it not only as a standard thesis manuscript but even as a publishable journal article. Well, I’ll do that but first I have to be invited (heh heh heh).
Three, Dr. Gino Ables and I shall continue our work on our project to prepare a brief historical note on devcom as it was, is, and shall be practiced in Los Baños. When we started this project, I thought it would not take too much time to prepare, but as it has turned out we’re needing more time to do the research part of the project because the references we’d like to get our hands on are not easy to find. Documents that deal with issues and events that Gino and I personally know transpired (although we’re not sure about the specific dates) are either extremely difficult to find or do not exist anymore. For this kind of project, writing completely out of memory can be spotty and we’re not willing to do that. Friends who might have notes, clippings, collection of written experiences might want to help us by sending us copies of their collections. Or email Gino (sosogon@yahoo.com) or myself (librero.lex@gmail.com). We’ll be forever indebted to you.
Four, I intend to become active again in science journalism. I’ve not been able to do this the past couple of years, but I should really be doing more science feature writing again. There are a lot of things to write about, and those of us in the field of science communication need to do more science communication. Hopefully, we’d be able to focus some of our efforts in this area.
Five, I’ve promised to help Jegs in the field work part of her PhD dissertation in environmental science (focus on ecotourism). She has decided to do her field work in Itbayat, Batanes (the Northern-most town in the Philippine Archipelago – an island that Philippine media has referred to as the “edge of the world” – pictures will be posted later) because of the uniqueness of the place. In many ways, it’s the ideal setting for her dissertation because of the following conditions: there’s no tourism yet to speak of in Itbayat, the island is virgin in terms of development efforts with external push, the geophysical conditions of the place (the island is one of a few in the world that was the result of upward movement of corrals millions of years ago) is perfect locale for an ecotourism experiment on an island ecosystem, and the provincial government of Batanes and the local government of Itbayat are both eager to collaborate in this research. Part of my personal interest in Jegs’ dissertation research on Itbayat Island is a small piggy-back subproject that is some kind of a mini-scientific expedition to the island. Scientist-friends at UPLB have expressed interest in it.
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