Old Vigan lives! UNESCO World Heritage City

Dr Abe V Rotor

Historic City of Vigan was established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. Its architecture reflects the coming together of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape that have no parallel anywhere in East and South-East Asia.

Plaza Salcedo and St Paul Cathedral

 Dancing fountain Plaza Salcedo Park

Vigan is not only a provincial capital 

but the ganglion of the Ilocos region.  

In fact, it was the Manila of the north, 

as Cebu was in the south in Spanish times.

The galleon ships docked here regularly 

en route Spain via Acapulco in Mexico,

Vigan was a little Madrid, a little Venice,

a little Berlin, Florence, Vienna, Paris

of then Renaissance Europe, 

melanged into its native and Oriental 

culture with Asian neighbors. 

Colonial Spanish culture flourishes

in today's postmodern world; 

its counterparts - Binondo Manila 

and Cebu are now in archives, 

so with those in other countries. 

Vigan is a living history, a living relic of the past

for such a mystery, scholars have yet 

to discover the secrets of Vigan, 

historians to compare it with the old cities -

grandiose  Rome, city states of Greece,

now in ruins, or buried in  oblivion. 

But Vigan lives! ~

 
Ride on the historic calesa - to the Spanish colonial times.

Go to the Heritage, center of Spanish culture for almost 400 years, accredited by UNESCO as a world heritage.

St Paul cathedral and bell tower

Filipino martyr Jose P Burgos monument

The former city Fernandina retires in the night.

 

 Calle Crisologo (early views)

 Former Rosary College

Brown is beautiful - brown egg, brown sugar, brown rice - and brown skin

Dr Abe V Rotor

Preference to natural, and organically grown, food is gaining popularity worldwide. It is because many ailments, from allergy to cancer, are traced to the food we eat. Many kinds of allergies have evolved from genetically engineered food, for which they have gained the bad reputation of Frankenfood, after the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, published in 1818.

A. Brown eggs are preferred over white eggs

Brown eggs come from native fowls that subsist mainly on farm products. They are very resistant to the elements and diseases that they simply grow on the range. White eggs on the other hand, come from commercial poultry farms and are highly dependent on antibiotics and formulated feeds. Residues of antibiotics may cause our immune system idle and predispose us to sudden attack of pathogens.

Another advantage of brown eggs is that they have thicker shells for protection and convenience in handling.  Besides, their yolk is brighter yellow as compared to that of white eggs, which means they have more carotene and xanthophylls which are essential to health.

B. Brown or red sugar is better than white or refined sugar.

Rural folks would rather eat panocha or muscovado, which is likened to whole grain with the bran intact (e.g. pinawa rice and whole wheat flour). When sugar is refined, the very vitamins and minerals needed by our body’s metabolism are removed, going with the molasses which we usually use as feeds for animals.

Sugar consumed in its natural state (like fruits and grains) is first broken down and slowly released into the bloodstream, in a manner our body can program its assimilation. But refined sugar raises the blood sugar rapidly. This rush is followed by an equally rapid crash that often leave us feeling tired, irritable or depressed. As energy falls, our response is to reach for more sugar to perk us up, only to worsen the situation.

The sudden rise and fall of our blood sugar causes emotional instability, confusion, dizziness, and headache. Over-consumption of sugar can trigger a craving similar to the physiological dependence produced by drugs. These symptoms, along with drowsiness, forgetfulness, or general “spaced-out” feeling are typical symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Adrenaline is released during the body’s chemical chain reaction triggered by eating excess refined sugar, creating a stress throughout our body and mind. Sugar also depresses the activity of our white blood cells, lowering our resistance to infection. It may lead to the development of diabetes. For this reason many oriental nutritionists call refined sugar “white poison.”

C. Brown rice contains more vitamins and minerals than well-milled rice which usually appears white.

Generally, it's the bran what gives the brown color in rice, except for certain varieties, like pirurutung or black rice and highland brown rice varieties. Otherwise the brownness or whiteness of rice depends on the degree of milling.

After the husk or ipa is removed through dehulling, the product is whole grain rice or pinawa. The grain has the whole bran intact. Then it passes through a polisher which scrapes of the bran. A single pass produces regular milled rice which is somewhat brown.

A double or triple pass through the polisher removes the bran which is the seat of vitamins and minerals. This is what is called well-milled rice which is usually white, a general preference of buyers. But they are missing the real nutritional value of rice.

During World War II and immediately after, am (segget Ilk) served as substitute to milk. It saved thousands - perhaps millions - of infants and young children from death and starvation in many parts of the world, thanks to a Filipino scientist, Manuel Zamora who popularized it as tiki-tiki. It was later commercialized as United American Tiki-ti by a pharmaceutical company.

 
Brown skin is more resistant to radiation, heat and dirt than white skin. Brown is expectedly the homogenized human race.

Fallow is when the fields take a rest

Dr Abe V Rotor

Harvest time is prelude to fallowing, which coincides
with the peak of summer when the fields take a rest.
Painting in acrylic AVR

When I was a boy I would walk the fields when harvest was over
and watch the maya glean on the leftovers like the old women
in the paintings of Millet and Brueggel which inspired Amorsolo
to paint the ricefields with the richness of Rembrandt's colors.

I would roll up the straw mulch and catch the aestivating frogs,
now brown instead of green for they mimicked their surrounding:
geometic deep cracks where the soil is fertile and rich in humus
surprising them with bare hands, and oh, what a good catch;

and I knew the alug, the depression where the water last receded,
harboring dalag encrust in its muddy deep ready to spring to life
with the crayfish, kuhol and suso', and catfish likewise ensconced,
waiting for the first rain in May or April if monsoon comes early;

I would doze on the back of my pet carabao lazily browsing around,
its body as lean as the cattle and goats and fowls on the range;
the air became cooler each day, the dragonflies hovered in hordes,
thunder came closer, winds hissed, the sky broke into downpour;

The fields would then wake up from slumber and summer is over;
fallow is time Nature sleeps, then wakes up to renew life for us all. ~

Sunshine on Raindrops, AV Rotor, Megabooks 2000

An Arch of Bamboo

An Arch of Bamboo

 Through the arching bamboo grove 

     in almost perfect dome;

at day's end of books and chores,

     walks she alone for home.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Student passing under an arch of bamboo, Sunken Garden, 
UP Diliman QC. Photo by Miss Alyssa Beltran

The Gecko stirs to the dusk,
    and calls its mate across the arch,
the sparrow the grove its lair,
    calls its flock before it's dark.

The skipper its wings with eyes
    darts and scares a passerby,
slithers the skink to its hole,
    and bats take off to the sky.

The firefly lights its torch soon,
     as heaven falls in darkness,
and the breeze dies in doldrums
     or weaves through in soft caress.

The termites hum in their nest,
     and spawn mushrooms around
punso, home of the dwende -
     tale children are spellbound.

The children run for home aglee
     before the kapre is back
in the grove, chanting tabi-tabi,
     to build up courage and tact.

Through the arching bamboo grove
     in almost perfect dome;
at day's end of books and chores,
    walks she alone for home. ~.

The ruin doesn't answer

Dr Abe V Rotor

                   WWII Ruin in Metro Vigan. Photo by the author Febuary 15, 2017

You stand as a reminder of a woeful past -

World War II, the country left in shambles,

rising from the ashes like the mythical 

Phoenix bird.  You stand as sentinel

to remember man's inhumanity to man.

Ruin, speak the truth, you are a monument

to warn that atrocity is like a dagger

behind the cloak of progress.  Beware! 

Enemy thrives best where peace reigns

in trade, commerce, science, technology.

Ruin, speak your piece. Who is friend,

who is enemy today? What kind of war 

grips the world in our postmodern times?

would you rather lose your old face?

The ruin doesn't answer, 

it does not answer. ~  

20 Philosophies in Ageing Gracefully (Lagro Gazette Special Report Jan-Mar 2017))

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Ageing like good wine; it becomes mellow with age. But only good wine becomes mellow with age. And the longer ageing is, the better is the quality of the wine. We can compare it also with wood. “A seasoned timber never gives (up).” A seasoned teacher is wise.

 Philippine literature greats, among them Sedfrey Ordoñez, Ophelia Dimalanta, Larry Francisco, Jose Garcia Villa 

2. Ageing is like knowledge – distilled into wisdom. It’s the ripening of fruits on the tree. Knowledge is not all useful; it leaves a lot of wastes. Which I call infollution (information pollution). Like the so many flowers and developing fruits of a huge mango tree, those that fall are useless knowledge; those that do not ripen are knowledge that can’t stand by themselves. Only those that remain full and ripe at the end are like wisdom. Wisdom is tested by timelessness and universality.

3. Old age is harvesting what you planted in youth. The man is the child of yesterday. Start early in life to plant the seed of success, more so, the seed of service. Monuments are not built for no reason at all. And even without a monument a good deed is monumental in the hearts and minds of those you serve and those who believe in you – especially those you have changed their lives.

4. Ageing physically and physiologically - this is inevitable. But don’t let the mind and the heart age prematurely and uselessly. Like faculty, practice makes them alive and full. Reason, thoughts, imagination, love, compassion should not go to waste by chronological age.

5. The child in you must always live. That Little Prince that rules over the grownup in you that says “a matter of consequence is not only those that are urgent and important,” is also preserving the ideal. Idealism must live together with realism.

6. There are those who are late bloomers; they bloom with age. Catalyze the blossoming of the beautiful things – how late they may come in life. It is better to bloom in old age than to blossom early – and the blossom just fades away. You’ll even regret it because it could mean to you as failure.

7. In old age don’t lose your trophies and medals - because of one false move, worst, if deliberate. Or because of a persistent habit you thought you can get away with even in old age. There is nothing more regretful if you fall into disgrace in old age – you don’t have a second life to amend for it.

8. Hold your horses. Stop, look, listen. Getting older adopts “slow but sure” attitude towards situations and decisions. “Quick to think, but slow to act,” may be appropriate in old age. That is why in traditional societies, decision makers are old people, village elders.

9. Make your assets grow for others, as you prepare to leave the world. Have the philanthropic heart. You can’t take your riches to your tomb. The Egyptians never did. The young pharaoh Tutankhamen left his belongs for the afterlife in his tomb, now in the Egyptian Museum. . Economics does not work well with each one of us holding a treasure chest and locking it up. Imagine if the world is dominated by Madoff, by AIG, by Lehman Brothers - even with their generosity.

10. Older societies are more peaceful than younger societies. Make peace as you grow older. Old men don’t go to war. It is the brave who dies young. “Where have all the flowers gone?” speaks of the youth cut down in their prime. All wars – ancient, religious, political – the young is the sacrificial lamb. People as they grow older can’t simply be made easy tools for power and greed. .

11. Expanded family ties; three generations not in a row, but in a chain. For the first time in the history of man that three generations live under one roof. And soon four generations - as longevity increases. While in the city the family is getting small, agrarian families is expanding because of longer life span.

12. Scientific and technological thrusts are toward ageing, longevity: rejuvenation, on-site cloning of tissues and organs, ergonomics (designing tools and materials that fits well to the comfort of the user) - geriatrics, gerontology (all about the science and caring of the aged.)



13. Extension of retirement, active retirement – this is the trend today for old people. Soldiers become security guards; teachers become professor emeritus, executives as consultants, professions doing odd jobs. Age of retirement is not after all boring. So when does one really retire?
Dr Anselmo S Cabigan and the author, former classmates, co-workers in government and university professors. 

14. Foster, adopt, and help the needy, the homeless, the orphaned, the abandoned as your own children especially if you are childless. Even then, by the time you are very old, your children shall then be on their own. Be like Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie who have adopted children of different nationalities. Sponsor scholarships for the deserving but are unable to pursue their studies.

15. Resurrection and immortality are myths. Humans will always remain mortals. More than a hundred corpses of rich Americans are in cryonic tanks waiting for the time to resurrect them. DNA extracted from cadavers and human fossils will never make a living replica of the departed or deceased.

16. Life cycle biologically - that is a universal given to everything, living or non-living. But with man’s rationality we can plot our life cycle, on so many socio-economic matters. The late Justice Secretary Ordoñez wrote a book, Life Cycle. He said the inevitable is biological, but the way we live our lives, is within much under our control and will. “Men choose to live long which they have no control of, yet refuse to live nobly within their will.” So said the great Roman Philosopher Cicero.

17. Nature is selfish within your lifetime – you care so much for those close to your genes, to the point of dying for them. But nature, after you are gone is altruistic after you are gone; it distributes your genes to where they will most fit in the name of evolution through which a species should be best equipped in order to survive. We can hardly trace our family tree beyond the third generation. Where are the offspring of the pharaohs, of the King of Siam?

18. Kindness is key to fulfillment; it is also the Golden Rule. “Treat an old man as you wish men to treat you when you are old.” Say Chaucer in Pardoner’s Tale. But be kind yourself as an old man or woman. And that kindness must be unconditional. ARK in Evan the Almighty means – Act of Random Kindness. That’s the way to change the world, so said God in that film.

19. Don’t just pass people along the way. Stop, help them, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, visit the imprisoned, clothe the naked, comfort the lonely, and heal the sick. In Matthew 25, Christ said, “What you have done to the least of my brother, you have done it to me.” Indeed this is the most meaningful act of a human to humanity. You deserve a place in heaven.

20. Facing death is a beautiful thing to one who has reached old age. It’s like a candle in its final brightness. Angelus to the old who is dying unifies the family, gathers the broken fragments of relationships. Bonding is strengthened. It’s time for the living to say the kindest things about the departed. Let the occasion be a memorable and lasting one. Dying is leaving to the living a new hope, renewed love, and a new beginning.~

Friendly Waterfalls (Lagro Gazette Jan-Mar 2017)

Dr Abe V Rotor

  Mother and daughter before a wall mural painted

by the author at his residence February 5, 2017

Thunderous falls yet music to the ear,

     in the language of the free;

Stream raging yet peaceful scenery,

     takes away a young child’s fear.

A piece of Eden in virtual reality,

     archive when forever gone;

A mural for art’s sake and for fun,

     shall bear witness to history. ~

Protolife – Greatest Mystery (Lagro Gazette Jan-Mar 2017)

Protolife – Greatest Mystery

Science probed the universe and conquered cyberspace,

Genesis versus science, people all over were asked to choose.

Beginning of Life in acrylic (3’ x 4’) AVR 2016

The origin of life, science loftiest adventure ever,

Probing outer space, the earth’s core and ocean floor;

Welding and splitting atoms, discovering Higg’s Boson,

But the prima causa of life remains at-large ever more.

For eons legends upheld man-nature-spirit relationship,

Until fossil hunters unearthed the secrets of the past, 

Science probed the universe and conquered cyberspace,

Genesis versus science, people all over were asked.

What a chasm in Einstein’s theory of Energy-to-Matter, 

Chemical-to-Cell in Oparin’s theory of protolife model,

Darwin’s Survival-of- the-Fittest without the Missing Link!

Isn’t faith enough, and not challenge the Creator to tell? 

Integrated Art Workshop for Children Session Introducing Children to Modern Painting

Workshop Lesson for February 19, 2017

Sunday 3 pm, Rotor's Residence San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Dr Abe V Rotor [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Organizer and Instructor

Teachers’ or parents’ guidance needed in understanding this article.

Modern or abstract art expresses deeper meaning through impressions, expressions, thoughts, and ideas.  Here is a painting (right) by accident (serendipity) . It is an abandoned palette board with a brush intact with the paint. “Where has the painter gone?” is its given title.  It suggests a story, and a subject of a song, drama, or simply photographic art.

 
Kids like to paint abstract, sometimes out of real subjects. An abstract should not be mistaken for an incomplete work - or one abandoned by the artist. Abstracts are products of fertile imagination. When asked, a young painter simply quipped, “Wala lang.”  But we can’t underestimate the richness of his imagination. 

 

Impressionism paintings, gateway to abstract art. top, fireworks, leaf impression,  waterfall; lower  photos, aquarium, experimental paintings with no specific subject.

Abstracts may be a product of inadequate talent, or poor expression of it; it could be vague like a poor argument, hence it may be meaningless. Kids must be oriented properly; this is a great responsibility of the instructor. Art is not an alibi of lack of genuine and sincere purpose. The artist on the other hand, must be true and faithful to himself and his viewers, to the profession in the various forms of art, notwithstanding.      

Art evolved – and still is – through movements or schools, in this simplified order: primitive or ancient art (drawing in caves), realistic that is true to the subject, classical (perfection and timelessness is the essence), romantic (mainly for the elites), realism for the grassroots, impressionism and expressionism (gateway to modern art), and modern art is usually referred to as abstract, which blossomed into various and virtually free expressions.

Here is an exercise to illustrate abstract art: Views from an Airplane
Leaving our world down below and seeing it as a miniature. How small it is! Rather, how small we are! As the airplane we are riding on soars to the sky we lose our sense of familiarity of the places below us. Then our world which we left behind appears as a miniature. And we are detached from it, and resort to the power of imagery. Such is the order from realism, impressionism, expressionism, and ultimately to abstractionism. Show your work for critique-analysis to your instructor.