Digital Generation

If there’s an appropriate collective label for the 5-10 year olds today, it would be Digital Generation.  Kids of this generation are not only adept at the touch screen technology, their knowledge level about computer utilization and gadgetry is far beyond that of their parents, Aunts, Uncles, and probably anyone past 30.  Take the case of Jegs’ nieces: Danyelle (a.k.a. Nyelle), 9, and Stephanie (a.k.a. Steph), 5, both of whom have demonstrated high level skills in gadgetry.  Steph is just beginning and she still needs assistance, like she insists someone keys in the password as she still needs to learn how to spell.  Once that’s done, she goes on her own with very minimal assistance.  

Nyelle is completely different.  If she doesn’t know the password (like when she’s using her Tita’s account) she insists on getting it, and from there on she goes on her own and in the process either surpassing the highest scorer in a game online or in discovering how to access whatever that may be accessible online.  Of course, that refers to all that she’s interested in, such as opening FB accounts for all people she knows like her Lola or cousins (who don’t do FB, by the way), and managing those accounts herself.  Frequently, these same accounts communicate with one another (which is like normal kid stuff), and if others do connect (like friends of the “account holder” who isn’t even aware that she has such account), she (Nyelle) herself responds.  There’s a certain level of “doing it for fun” for her, although if this is done by unscrupulous individuals it could potentially hurt other people.

Right: Nyelle (with laptop) and Steph (with Smart phone) don't go to bed without even a brief online session.  They're all to themselves.

Point is, today’s very young generation feels so at home with electronic gadgetry, much unlike their old (as in mga lolos and lolas) counterparts.  In just one look, they would usually know how a gadget generally works and would go ahead toying around with it until they completely master how they work without benefit of the gadget’s operating manual.  Well, I used to do such thing with the new gadgets in my time but I’m way behind now.  I simply can’t keep abreast of the changes.  The speed at which technological change occurs is simply dizzying, to say the very least.  The thing also is, I keep to what I know and, worse, I’m no longer interested in learning how the new gadgets today work.  Instead, I just have to ask the kids.  To me, there’s a point of diminishing interest, too, especially if what I know still works for me.  I don't feel the need nor have the interest in having to learn to operate the new gadgets.  Is this some kind of old gadgetry syndrome, or simply part of the spectrum of senior moments?  Some gerontoligists must look into this phenomenon.

By the way, Nyelle knows exactly what gadget she wants and is tough in negotiating for it, too.  For example, she says she’d like to buy an iPhone 4S, which, in the Philippines today, is top-of-the-line and still very expensive at about P35T.  She’d say, “I’ll ask Daddy Jay (that’s what she calls her Tito Jayson who works in the Middle East) to buy me one.  I’ll give him P2,000 and he can take care of the balance.”  

This situation is probably not true to all kids especially to those in the remote barangays of the Philippines where there may even be problems with availability of electricity.  Still, I’d like to hazard a guess that given enough time, as in perhaps a day or two, those kids would easily learn to use computers and other ICT gadgets.  Gadgets are a part of this generation’s ambient environment when they’re born and kids will learn operating such gadgets almost automatically and on their own.  Or so it appears.

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This month (May), Jegs and I transferred to an apartment because King and Vannie (currently on a two-week trip to Europe) need to start off on their own.  To me, newly weds must immediately go on their own.  And since King is heir to the Librero abode (house and lot) in Los Baños, Jegs and I found it necessary to move to an apartment while trying to figure out how we could build our own little place.  

The place we moved to didn’t have cable TV connection or Internet connection, so we had to arrange to be connected.  We now have cable TV and just yesterday we had our Internet connection done.  We went for SMART Bro’s Canopy system because the PLDT is taking too long a time to get us connected (we were informed it would take them from one to two months).  I’m a bit impatient when it comes to things like this, so we went for Canopy connection, which is not bad for our personal purposes for now.  Thing is, we are online.

Right:  This is my new work area in our new apartment.  Very small space compared to what I used to have, but cozy and functional.  As usual, Waku (he's a Shi-Tzu of the princess type) joins me all the time.

Look around in various barangays today, and you would observe those Canopy antennas perched on rooftops, even in high-end villages in the expansion of residential areas, for example, in the CALABARZON region.  You may not have a telephone service, but an Internet connection is certainly a treat today.  In any case, you’d have your cell phone so a landline isn’t that important anymore.  It would be a problem in places where there may not be cell sites, but areas not covered by cell sites today aren’t covered by the PLDT network anyway.

We would have preferred a combination of the cable TV and Internet connection, a service provided by the Cable TV Company in the Los Baños area, but it so happens that in the barangay we transferred to wasn’t receptive to be included in the coverage of the service combination (at least that’s what the Cable TV Company said) so said company couldn’t install Internet connection for us when they came to install our cable TV connection.  In other words, Internet services needs to be provided by another service company, which is normally the PLDT.

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Finest Moment Thus Far

I’d call it my son’s finest moment so far, even if he disagrees.  On May 19^th, under the expansive canopy of a half-century old acacia tree at Panyesanan in Lipa City, Al-Francis Librero (a.k.a. King, my son) and Vanessa Liwanag (a.k.a. Vannie) exchanged vows, with Rev. Ver Bernardino officiating.  It was a very simple ceremony with just immediate family members and very few guests. It was a garden wedding, perhaps one of the simplest and briefest I’ve ever witnessed but solemn and meaningful.  It didn’t include the glitter, pomp and glamour of most wedding ceremonies I’ve seen.  Well, that probably was partly my fault because I told King and Vannie months before not to spend all their financial resources on  a mere public ceremony mainly for the delight of others but to make use of their funds to start a good life together.

King is the only son and child, and her Mom died nine years ago.  If she were alive today I know she would have preferred a more grandiose celebration, but to me meaningful simplicity is so much more powerful. This plan of King and Vannie fitted so well with such an idea and Jegs and I certainly didn’t like to intrude into it.  We just watched from the sidelines making sure we didn’t unnecessarily interfere with their planning process.   It was their wish to make things simple.  We had appreciated that.   Well, it’s the more practical (almost a must) way of doing things these days, anyway.

This occasion was the first time Jegs and I met Vannie’s parents, Mr. Honesto Liwanag (a Pastor, I was informed) and Mrs. Cecilia Liwanag.  It was such a great honor to meet them.  During the brief reception, I was very much honored to announce publicly the formal ties between the Liwanag family and the Librero family through the unity of body and soul between King and Vannie.  It was such a nice occasion to welcome Vannie into the Librero family.  Now, I not only have a son but a daughter as well.

During the “wishes” portion of the reception, some of King’s friends were asked to say something about him.  They said they had noted that he has changed, that he has become more open and outgoing.  I was glad to hear that observation, too, because King has always been sort of a loner, perhaps because he grew up mostly with adults (Filipino graduate students at Indiana University) and not kids of his age during his first three years.  In his growing years, he was with a family that had very strong family values, even with certain amounts of Spartan flavor. 

As a father to King, I didn’t take the role of a verbal and guiding-by-the-hand father, hence King learned to decipher on his own whether or not he was doing things right or wrong.  When he wanted to ask for my opinion, he did and I responded appropriately.  Largely, he learned on his own, however.  But he was a good and independent learner.  The things I wanted him to learn he learned through experience and observations, not directly from my mouth.  Rarely had I been vocal about the things I wanted him to do.  In fact, just about the only thing I’d tell him when I thought he’d needed some guidance from me would be “see if you could make it work.”  Out of such episodes, I knew King learned from the experiences.  It may not have been easy for him to grow up normally. 

Well, King, son, if that’s what happened, I’m really sorry.  But as you know being independent is one important value for us in the family. 

Independence is a powerful value in the Librero family.  If one needs help, one must seek it.  We don’t always volunteer our help because we’re acutely aware that if such volunteered help is not needed it would only interfere with the life and circumstances of the concerned individual, which could even lead to future problems.  This unnecessary interference is one that we always want to avoid.  Of course, we voluntarily offer our help when we see the need for it and any member of the family would normally accept such help if it was needed.

Anyway, to King and Vannie, this is what I’d like to leave with you.  Marriage is a partnership that can work out only if the two of you perform your roles appropriately.  This relationship is not one sided, it’s always give and take and consultative.  Jegs and I know you’ll both try to resolve your own concerns.  Still, should you feel like you need a sounding board, Jegs and I are always ready to be your sounding board.  Of course, we could always get together, even for the flimsiest of reasons.

Congratulations and best wishes.  Enjoy your travel.

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Asthma and Hot Weather: Bad Company

Do you have asthma?  If you do, do you have breathing problems when the weather is hot, like now?  If you do, you’re not alone.  I, too, have it and I don’t like it a bit.

Asthma, by definition is a disorder (sounds very medical, which it is), whereby the  airways of your lungs swell.  As a result, you can hear a wheezing sound when you breathe.  You have shortness of breath and your chest tightens.  Some times the feeling is similar to that feeling when you have chest pains and shortness of breath (for those suffering from heart condition). 

I have a heart condition (I’ve had CBAG about 15 years ago and angioplasty last December 2011), and I also have asthma.  More than three years ago, I thought I didn’t have asthma (in fact, I was diagnosed with it only about three years ago) so I thought that whenever I felt my chest tightening, accompanied by shortness of breath I was coming closer to suffering from angina at the very least.  As it turned out, a very young doctor at the UPLB Health Services diagnosed me with asthma but I didn’t pay attention to it perhaps partly because of the way she told me, e.g., “may asthma kayo” in a manner that, to me, was obviously less than expression of concern directed at a senior.  And that was it.  She didn’t give me any explanation, advise, or medication but simply turned to another patient, student perhaps.  I was greatly disappointed, to say the least (I just completed my term then as Faculty Regent, and obviously she didn’t know me but I didn’t make a fuzz about it).  So I just left.  Following day, I went to see my cardiologist, who immediately referred me to another doctor.  This doctor did a thorough check up and explained to me in detail that, indeed, I had asthma but that it could be easily manageable.

Anyway, I’m straying into another story all together.  So, back to our original story.

Asthma sufferers know that this disorder can be triggered by many things such as the following: pet hair (you might not be able to avoid your cuddly shi-tzu or kittens but their hair could trigger an asthma attack), dust, changes in the weather (as in everybody’s shouting “climate change!”), chemicals in the air or in the food that you eat (careful with those vegetables that appear flawless), molds, pollens (Los Banos is the manufacturing plant for pollens), respiratory infections, tobacco smoke (smokers, please be kind to non-smokers), even exercise (so you’re jogging in pollen country?) and, believe it or not, strong emotions (as in s-t-r-e-s-s, of which I have more than enough of many times).

Sometimes your asthma attack can be serious that it be considered of an emergency nature.  Emergency symptoms of asthma include decreased level of alertness, extreme difficulty breathing, rapid pulse, severe anxiety due to shortness of breath, sweating, and, at times, bluish color of the lips and face.

While there may be no cure for asthma, you can do a number of things to control it.  My suggestion is, if you suspect you are suffering from asthma (listen to your breathing each time and if you hear some wheezing sound as you inhale and exhale deeply, you’re a candidate), see your doctor right away.  Asthma is something you must take seriously especially with the kind of weather conditions we have (too hot during daytime with some sudden showers late in the afternoon or early evenings).  Asthma may not be a killer, but you have to manage it.  See your doctor now.  For the moment, avoid those asthma triggers mentioned earlier.

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As you may have deduced from the preceding paragraphs, I have been suffering from asthma attacks all this summer.  Sometimes, it’s difficult to decipher whether what you feel is asthma attack or first stage of heart attack.  The feeling that your lungs are swelling, making you feel your chest is very tight, coupled with shortness of breath, to me, is scary.  I remember having experienced similar symptoms more than 15 years ago when I suffered from angina attack, which kind of forced me to undergo heart by-pass operation.  I do have this asthma attack frequently, especially because the weather is very hot.  It is compounded by the fact that I also have reduced levels of stamina that leads to chest discomfort and pains when I go brisk walking or exert sudden bursts of energy.

When these things happen to me these days, I can’t avoid thinking that, indeed, time may be running out for me.  Frequently, when I’m forced to simply sit down and take a quick rest from whatever I’m doing I find myself floating into self reflection (read, self pity at times), with my head just bowed.  Each time this happens, I become a little emotional because I know I may go anytime and yet I’m not ready to go, not just yet.  I feel I have lots more to do in this world and, for me, it’s also pay back time. But, then again, that’s hardly mine to decide.

On and off, I’ve done some personal reflection for quite sometime and I can say I’ve started preparing for the time when I should go.  Still, every now and then, one can’t avoid some tinge of depression during such self reflection on matters so close to the end of the line. And sometimes, it's difficult to recover from this.

This very brief personal account is probably grossly exaggerated, and I might be a bit too melodramatic, because the situation upon which this self reflection is anchored is simply asthma attack.  But that’s what an asthma attack gives you, which I’d rather not experience again.

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"Green Tourism", Anyone?

In a recent professorial lecture delivered by Dr. Mon Razal, Dr. Marge Calderon, and Prof. Robie Cereno of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources (CFNR) of UPLB, they focused on “green tourism.”  What’s meant by being green?  Put simply, the team says that a company or agency may be green if it “advocates environment friendliness.”  Now that’s a bit broad, but appropriate point to start from.

I don’t recall all the good points, of which there were lots, that the team presented, but I’m focusing on the concept of green tourism which they introduced rather strongly.  Dr. Razal made some good effort defining what they meant by being green, Dr. Calderon explained how they typologized and tested the “greenness” of UPLB technologies developed and have been “commercialized” through the years, while Prof. Cereno presented the group's collective recommendation, that of developing and offering an undergraduate curriculum on green tourism.

All three issues are very interesting and let me offer my personal views on them singly. 

First, the team said much about UPLB’s “slogan” in 2011, “UPLB Leads Green.”  That, they said, was a significant indicator that UPLB has gone green.  Immediately after UPLB declared its slogan about January, the UPLB-CA launched its slogan “CA Always Green” thereby pinning down what the Team referred to as the UPLB’s niche, the ABE Niche (for agriculture, biotechnology, and environment).  Not everybody will agree, but the idea of establishing UPLB’s niche is a good idea.  Traditionally, when UPLB was still UPCA, its acknowledged niche was agricultural and rural development.  What happened to the Philippines in the last decades?  Well, certainly not the fault of UPCA, rural development efforts have resulted in the conversion of most of our first class agricultural land (used to be planted to rice) to high-end subdivisions.  How about agriculture?  We’re still importing rice (even if the primary reason might be more political and corruption-oriented than lack of the staple itself).

In any case, it looks to me like UPLB’s new focus on “greenness” is a zero-sum game.  Focusing efforts on becoming a green institution requires substantial amount of resources to be poured into such new undertaking.  Those resources are likely not going to be new resources coming into the university as a result of the green program, but resources likely re-channeled from existing programs.  Of course, resources reprogramming is acceptable but it would be more meaningful if certain existing programs that are not likely to result in benefits to the institution be reassessed and perhaps frozen if not discontinued in favor of a new program likely to succeed.

Second, the Team made quite a noise about UPLB-developed technologies.  Having existed more than a century, UPLB certainly should have developed technologies that should have transformed Philippine agrarian society into a modern technology-propelled society.  The Team said much about their research, determining which UPLB technologies were adopted in the CALOBA (Calamba, Los Baños, Bay) landscape.  I would have been more interested to know the impact of UPLB technologies on the entire country and perhaps the ASEAN Region, but the Team obviously didn’t have the time to undertake such huge study.   The team felt disappointed, they said, because not many UPLB technologies were adopted.  Still, they did claim there were lots of UPLB technologies developed over the years. 

Perhaps the most significant technologies, those which had impact on Philippine society, that have been developed at UPLB over the years have not been many.  Some that I could name include the C4-G varieties of rice (which substantially increased the national average of rice production), the development of coconut trees bearing some 85% macapuno nuts (which has largely been “stolen” by another country through its citizens who have come to Los Baños to study macapuno culture), the Farm and Home Development approach which transformed farm management techniques in the Philippine country side, and a few more.  All these, were newspaper front-page fare for brief amounts of time but have largely been relegated to the background now.  What does that mean?  Well, the technologies of such nature as has just been described really don’t last.  They have all been overtaken by new technologies, which is what technological development is all about. 

The only lasting technological collectivity that UPLB has ever developed is its curricular programs.  The curriculum is the end-result of a university’s primordial function of providing education to the citizens of the country.  You will note that practically all state universities in the country, and even including many private higher education institutions, have adopted UPLB curricular programs in agriculture, forestry, environment, biotechnology, development communication, and even in small, less popular programs like agricultural business (agribusiness).  Still, even confronted in the face with this fact, there is little effort now that is focused on improving curricular programs of UPLB.  Instead, it appears that the proliferation of curricular programs is a continuing phenomenon.

I do have basic questions regarding technologies, considered anchor points of substantial efforts of both human and non-human resources at UPLB.  For example, what are the criteria in determining whether or not a technology developed at UPLB has resulted in a permanent imprint that would always flow back to UPLB as an institution?  What should be the nature of impact that we ought to expect from adoption of a UPLB technology?

Third point is the proposal to offer a curricular program on green tourism.  Listening to the Team, I felt that the the idea of offering a curricular program on green tourism may be worth pursuing but not from the point of view that was being emphasized, which was that UPLB should be first to go into this idea of a curricular program in green tourism in order to claim it as a new niche.  That is, let’s beat everybody else on this one.  I like the fighting spirit embodied in this, but is UPLB ready to offer an entire curriculum on green tourism?  Does UPLB have on its faculty people trained and experienced in tourism, more so in green tourism, and does UPLB have the resources necessary in running an efficient and effective tourism curriculum? 

The Team recommended that the proposed green tourism program would be a joint program among the CA, CFNR, CEM, and SESAM.  This looks perfect on paper, but there are a couple of loose ends here.  One, UPLB hasn’t yet mastered the art of collaborative work.  Based on experience, perhaps one of the first points of arguments would be: who shall be the lead college?  A second point of contention would be: how much resources must each college contribute?  From which college shall students graduate?  Of course, these are not content issues, but primordial issues, just the same, for all units concerned no matter the denial. 

Then, of course, the most corrosive of these issues will be the inability of people to work closely together such as in honest-to-goodness implementation of multidisciplinary projects.  Collaborative work isn’t as easy as it sounds.  A simple example would be a multi-disciplinary course at UPLB.  Such course is supposed to be team-taught, for example, but it would end up being taught by more than one individual who divide the course into hours so that there are certain hours for certain topics.  The assigned faculty members to teach will be there during the time scheduled for their topics.  There’ll be as little effort at synthesizing content and inter-relating issues across disciplines.  Hence, the multidisciplinariness is lost.  If a multidisciplinary course is taught by a single individual, such as the experience in the course, Science Technology and Society, the course shall take the general focus according to the field of specialization of the person teaching the course. 

I am, of course, aware that nobody would be interested in my unsolicited advice, but let me say it just the same.  Our traditional strengths are in agriculture, biotechnology, environment, development communication, forestry, veterinary medicine, and human nutrition.  Why can’t we strengthen all these programs and be the best in Asia and possibly one of the best in the world in these fields?  In the long haul, having the strongest programs in these areas will result in more foreign graduate students coming to UPLB.  That’s how UPLB could exert its academic influence not only nationally but internationally as well.  And that’s how UPLB should go because it is a university, not an NGO.

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