Murals at the University of Santo Tomas (Article in Progress)

Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature School on Blog 

Part 1: Spanish Colonial Period

Part 2: Contemporary and Recent Period 

Oscar in old age

Dr Abe V Rotor

Oscar in old age, at home QC

Its time has come to die peacefully, 
this pet my children grew up with;
love and attention it did all get,
   save freedom from its own confine;
   between living in the wild uncared; 
  love and freedom compared. ~

Mackie and the Owl

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Mackie before a wall mural by the author at her home in Lagro QC   2015

Mackie used to be afraid of the owl,

       imagined or on the screen.

and would fling into embrace blind

       until it is no longer seen.

The creature would appear in the dark,

       in her favorite cartoon;

by its hooting in the hollow of a tree,

       she would freeze like stone. 

Until I captured the scary creature

       with paint brush on the wall,

where kids could talk to and touch;

      now the owl is a friend to all. ~  

Parbangon Nanem (It's Dawn Again)

Parbangon Nanem (It's Dawn Again)

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Pumarbangonen: Sarzuela ken komedia, 

Mangrugi manen.
(Dawn ushers daily grind
of life's drama and comedy)
dawn photo

2. Ti ukoy-ukoy,
Agur-uray diay abut
Iti agbiddut.
(The antlion waits for prey
that blunders and falls into its pit.)


3. Nakasutsutil -
Bacchus, Ambrosius Venus,
Tulongandak!
(Help me from tempters - Bacchus,
Ambrosius, Venus. From Greek mythology
gods and goddess of ostentatious living.)

4. Igudagudmo,
Agsangit, agkatawa;
Langit ken daga.
(It's the violin being referred to.
It cries and laughs with heaven and earth.)

5. Kapanunutan 
Ken takyag iti mangged,
Puso ti tured.
(Intellect and brawn to earn;
courage is in the heart.)

6. Saan nga ammo,
Nat-natay diay adayo,
Ilagip tayo.
(Reverence to the dead -
even those unknown in distant land.)

7. Kapanunutan, 
Narigat nga abaken,
Malaksid kukuam.
(You really can't win an argument,
except your own.)

8. Umisemkan, 
Tapno maturogen ti
Dakkel a bulan. 
(Your sweet smile
makes the moon sleep. ) 

9. Nakadumog, 
Labaslabasan ti angin,
Agngil-ngilangil.
(Refers to good harvest:
Heavy panicles bow low,
ducking the passing wind.)

10. Naturoganna't 
Panagbaliw ti lubong
Ni Rip Van Winkle.
(From Washington Irving's story,
Rip van Winkle, about a man
who slept for twenty long years
amid changes going on in the world.)

11. Panagkakadua,
Awan iti baetna, 
Mamagsisina.
(Too close for comfort, referring to friendship. )

12. Malinlinay, 
Lumakay, agbabaak,
Ag-gigiddiak.
(Getting old and aging
don't mean the same thing.)

13. Gura ken ayat,
Bumtakman wenno umpes,
Arig ti ulep. 
(Love and hate may be compared to a cloud -
it dissipates or falls as rain.)

14. Diay pag-gugubatan
Ubbing laeng ti matay,
Ilida’t lumakay. 
(As the young die in the battlefield,
the country unprecedentedly grows old.)
 15. Warnak inaldaw, 
Amin nakaragragsak, 
Daksanggasat.
(A daily reminder: Too much
fun may lead to sorrow.)

16. Toy agkabanuag,
Adut’ pakairamanan, 
Pakairanudan.
(The youth have good
and bad things to share.)


17. Kapapategan, 
Dua laeng iti pagpilian - 
Kappia ken Kappia.
(Peace is peace. There is no other choice.
It is the most treasured thing.)

18. Flanders, Bataan,
Agur-uray ti turay, 
Kappia, pakawan. 
(Forgiveness and Peace reign in the WWII
memorials in Flanders Field in Europe,
and Bataan in the Philippines.)

19. Uray laglagip
Tinubuanen iti ru-ot
Didiay Austerlitz.
("I'm the grass, I cover all," says a poet, referring
to the dead in this battlefield in WWII.
It covers also memories)

20. Akasia’t malem,
Ti panagawid ammuem, 
Makaturogen.
(Call it a day when the leaves of the
acacia tree droop.)

Photos credit Internet, Wikimedia  

      

                                    

The Lost Owl

Dr Abe V Rotor

Philippine Owl, circa 1969

It fell from its roost, and that was a long time ago,

and I was then young and eager about the world -

What would I care about an owl suddenly appearing

in broad daylight, and I driving a top-down Ford?

It gave a kind of queer smile, its eyes half-close,

hunched and still, but I'm not the birdman Audubon -

What would I care about this descendant of dinosaurs,

to tell me its lineage, and I, a link to a larger bond?

No. I had pressing task to finish, I had to drive fast;

Wait, my partner said, and took a photo of the fellow;

and down the lane and up we went. Years passed.

I dreamt of a bird on a lonely road, cold as snow.~

Tranquility

Dr Abe V Rotor


                                                     Mayon Volcano, Albay.   

Tranquility reigns on her face,
      rage in her breast,
If beauty exudes best
      from a spring of force,
I do not wonder at the shyness
      of a crest,
And the power of a single rose.

Wouldn’t a temper make up
     for its want?
That white is whiter
     beside an ugly stain?
Beauty, oh beauty, I am thy 
     willing servant,
With mine eyes, thoughts,
     fears, sans sane. ~

Nylon Butterflies

Dr Abe V Rotor

Nylon butterflies, decor of a resort in Pansol, Laguna 

Paper roses, nylon butterflies,

glass bottom gems,

plastic beads, wax figurines,,

lovers and friends.

Nylon butterflies, decor of a resort in Pansol Laguna 

Paper roses, nylon butterflies,

glass bottom gems,

plastic beads, wax figurines,

lovers and friends.

Color of Hydrangea flower indicates acidity or alkalinity of soil

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Hydrangea macrophylla.  The color of the flower indicates the relative acidity of the soil. An acidic soil (pH below 6) produces flower color closer to blue (top photo), whereas an alkaline soil (pH above 6) will produce flowers more pink (middle photo). This is caused by a color change of the flower pigment in the presence of  aluminum ions accumulated in the plants. Lowermost photo indicates slightly alkaline soil, and possibly of another cultivar.  

A Shade of Venice

 Flooded streets in Manila caused by intensified monsoon, 2012 

                                         (Photo Credit: Mariam San Andres)

Venice - classical, ugly, beautiful,

 romantic, home of poet, fool. 

Splash Painting

Splash Painting

Dr Abe V Rotor

Splash Painting

Who needs brush and canvas?

Only colors, if you must.

On the floor, just splash, splash,

to create stained glass! 

10 Superstitious Beliefs - which ones are true?

Food offering (atang) on special occasions is homage to the spirits.
Dr Abe V Rotor   

1. Avoid laughing when planting kamote otherwise the roots will become liplike.

One who has incomplete teeth (bungal) should keep his mouth closed when planting corn otherwise the cobs will not be filled properly, or become empty.

Do you have a third eye?

 What do you see in this painting?

These are purely superstitious beliefs.  But maybe we look at it this way. One who is not serious in his work is likely to commit mistakes. What happens if the planting materials are not well placed in the soil?  Stray chickens may come after the uncovered corn.  If the distancing of the cuttings is irregular, naturally crop stand will be poor.  Too much fun leaves a lot of work poorly done or unfinished.

2. Bathing the cat will bring rain.

Then farmers will be a happy lot. And there is no need of cloud seeding, and procession for the intercession of San Isidro.

3. Bats swoop on unwary people. Old folks warn us not to go out at dusk or at night - and never alone.

Bats, the only true flying mammals are perhaps the most misunderstood creatures because of their ugly looks and enigmatic life embellished with superstitious beliefs and associated with fiction such as the story of Dracula, a bloodthirsty count-vampire in the world of the undead. Movies, cartoons, and children’s stories have projected a bad image of bats, giving us the impression they are enemies of mankind.   

The truth is that bats are harmless, except for three known species called vampire bats that feed on the blood of animals. Seventy percent of the one thousand species of bats live on insects as their daily diet. One bat can devour 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. The bigger species eat on fruits (fruit bats). Insectivorous bats swoop down on flying insects in the dark which they detect by means of echolocation (natural radar) making it appear that they are attacking people when they get too close to them.

Bats are nature’s biological agents in controlling destructive insects.  They pollinate plants that bloom only in the night, and they are very efficient in disseminating seeds of many plants. By carrying out these functions bats are crucial in maintaining the ecological balance of fragile ecosystems like the desert and chaparral.  Their droppings accumulated for years in their cave dwellings make the best and safest organic fertilizer (guano).  Let us protect the bats instead; they are indeed man’s valuable friends.    

4. Bite your finger after you have pointed at somebody or something.

Pointing particularly at people is indeed bad manners. In aristocratic societies, the act of pointing is reserved only to the royalty that goes with its authority over the people.  Old folks tell us never point at holy objects, the unseen and in the dark. And never point at the sun and moon. Your fingers will get hurt. Pointing at the sun is a grave offense among ancient cultures like the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans, because the sun is their god. The act of biting the pointing finger is engrained self discipline from the old folks.

By the way, when you point with one finger, the other fingers are pointing at you - something that reminds us that before we blame somebody let us first examine ourselves.   

5. Black ants in lansones means the fruit is sweet.

Lansones (Lansium domesticum) from Paete has a singular reputation that it is the sweetest lansones. But if you can’t find the Paete variety, you can settle for other sweet varieties.  If there are black ants crawling on the fruit, it must be sweet.

Not really.  The black ants feed on the sugary secretion of mealy bugs and scale insects clinging on the bunch of fruits. Actually they are parasitic, feeding on plant sap. Some unscrupulous fruits vendors sprinkle sugar solution which attracts red ants instead.      

6. Bringing salt under a sour fruit-bearing tree will cause the fruits to fall.

Naturally.  What goes better than a pinch of salt when eating juvenile sampaloc, kamias, kasoy or green mango? 

7. Cat grooming at the doorway tells of visitors coming.

Cats are fastidious clean creatures.  Like birds at rest preening, cats lick their paws and fur clean especially after eating. But what has this to do with their alleged ability to forecast? Well, let’s look at it this way.  It is customary in the province to cook something especially for our guests.  And fond that we are with cats, we let them have their fill while we are cooking.  

                                                         

8. Conceiving mother who gets near a fruiting tree causes its fruits to fall prematurely.

There is no scientific evidence to link a conceiving mother with the premature dropping of fruits, but let us look at it this way.  Craving for certain food, such as those rich in Vitamin C - green mango, young sampaloc, kamias, guava and the like - is generally observed among conceiving mothers. It is not unusual to see them in the orchard, holding a bamboo pole or some pieces of stone. Such craving for special foods is a physiologic function of the body, but it may be psychological, too.  Old folks interpret it as maternal impression (pinaglihi-an), which is of course an unfounded belief.

9. Eating shark influences human character with the animal’s behavior.

For a long time people would just let the sharks live alone.  In fact they were feared and revered creatures until someone discovered that shark fins taste good and its liver has curative power.  The shark since then became the prey, and no longer the predator.

What is mysterious about the shark? The shark does not only live very long, it is a living fossil, which means it has not changed for the last 100 million years or so.  What could be its secret?

The US National Institute of Health discovered a previously unknown molecule in the liver of the dogfish shark.  Called squalamine, the natural steroid fights cancer by cutting off blood flow to tumors. Now we are saying, “Eat shark and be as healthy as the shark.”

10.  Food offering (atang) on special occasions is homage to the spirits.

The explanation is similar to that above.  The practice includes offering a plate of food and drink the host has prepared for the occasion.  It is placed on the family altar, or any place the souls and spirits are deemed to be around. Respect (pag-galang) is true Filipino and Oriental tradition to the living, the dead and the unseen. It strengthens camaraderie, keeps memories of loved ones alive, and adds quaintness to village life.

    

Believe it or not. People with large ears live long.

Believe it or not. 

 People with large ears live long.

It’s lucky to find a four-leaf clover.

Dr. Abe V. Rotor

• It’s customary to first spill a little of your wine in deference to the spirits.
• Kugtong or giant lapulapu – does it really exist?
• Mother who eats twin bananas will bear twin children.
• Mothers place the extracted tooth of their children under the pillow or mat so that the good tooth fairy will come and replace it.
• Nakakapagpagaling ang laway sa nausog (A little saliva relives someone who was chanced upon by the unseen.)
• Old folk’s advice: Don’t forget to spit on the spot where you answered the call of nature. 
• One who is fond of rice crust (tutong) is lazy.
• Papaya planted in front of a house brings bad luck.
• Place the first fruits harvested from a plant in a large container and pretend to carry them as if they were very heavy so that the plant will be heavy with fruits.
• When planting a tree seedling, avoid looking up so that the plant will not grow very tall. Stoop when planting coconut so it bears nuts early. ~

Glass Aquarium - Miniature Pond in the House, and a Peace-of-Mind Sanctuary

Glass Aquarium - Miniature Pond in the House,

and a Peace-of-Mind Sanctuary

Courtesy of Leo Carlo Rotor

Lagro, QC

Dr Abe V Rotor

My youngest son Leo Carlo is a very busy man.  He barely has time for leisure, and very little of rest.  Everyday, yes, except on weekends. This gives him a break, more so, renewal of energy and resolve to keep up with our postmodern living especially in the city.  He brought a fishpond home and made it into a sanctuary where he finds peace-of-mind.  

Touch the fish through glass and they respond to food and company, when everything's so quiet after work, and having gone through heavy traffic, arriving home for late supper and bedtime;

Talk to the fish like any human in his absence, and tell them of your worries and woes, and they will console you in their silence and dainty movement, gliding with joy and cheerful disposition;

Sing to them, sing with them, hum your favorite melodies, recite a verse or two from Walt Whitman's "body electric," or Ella Wilcox's "laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone;"

Wonder with awe at their smallness, realize that being small is beautiful after all, that bigness can be compressed into miniature scale, the sea is like a lake, and pond is but an aquarium you may call your own;  

Study the fish and think of Darwinian evolution, if living things grew large, diverse and complex that now constitute our living world of today, why are there that remain unchanged, that the Guppy still a guppy;  

Rejoice with the fish like all living organisms for being endowed with that singular gift of living, though "we pass this way but once," and luckier we humans are for our longevity that surpasses most creatures; 

Reflect and meditate, in your own way, reach out beyond rationality, into the realm of reverence for life, with the fish you now have under your care, and if this is not offering, then it is thanksgiving.  ~

A Child's Symphony of a Fantasy World

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

 Mackie on her first birthday

A garden of the finest art on stage
of fairy tale and  fragments of a garden lost,
where nature to fantasy land transposed.
How short, how far nature lies!
From here the task begins to know
that roses have thorns. ~  

Quotations my father taught me early in life

Dr Abe V Rotor

 ---------------------------------------------

"Nature never betrayed the Heart that loved her." - William Wordsworth

-----------------------------------------------------

1. "Happiness is one commodity that multiplies by dividing it."  Anon 

2. "A place for everything and everything in its place." Anon

3.  "He begins to die who quits his desires." G Herbert

4. "Just as tall trees are known by their shadows, so are good men known by their enemies." Old Chinese Proverb 

5. "If the official is himself upright, the people will play their roles without orders.  If he is not upright, even under orders the people will be disobedient." Confucius

6. "It's is always darkest just before the day dawneth."  Thomas Fuller

7. "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."  Epictetus

8. "Great men cherish excellence; petty men, their comfort.  Great men cherish

rules, petty men, special favors." Anon

9. "Poor minds talk about people; average minds about events; great minds about ideas." Anon 

10. "Shall I tell you what knowledge is?  It is to know both what one knows and what one does not know." Confucius 

 11. "The eyes believe themselves; the ears believe other people." German Proverb

12. "The life of every river sings its own song, but in most thje song is long marred by the discords of misuse." Aldo Leopold

13. "The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned." Seneca

14. "Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of the fools." Napoleon 

15. The first step to knowledge is to know that we are ignorant." Cecil

16, When the state is most corrupt, then the laws are most multiplied." Tacitus

17.  A little learning is a dangerous thing." Alexander Pope

18. "A picture is a poem without words." Horace

19. "If you need a physician, employ those three - a cheerful mind, rest, and a temperate diet."  Zimmerman

20."To read without reflecting, is like eating without digesting." Burke

Are you an aspiring journalist? Take this advice from Ka Doroy Valencia, Dean of Philippine journalism

 Are you an aspiring journalist? Take this advice from Ka Doroy Valencia, Dean of Philippine journalism

This article is dedicated to the father and pillar of Philippine journalism: Teodoro or "Ka Doroy" Valencia (center). His column Over a Cup of Coffee shaped the thinking of his readers, and influenced the decisions of leaders in his time.

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Teodoro or "Ka Doroy" Valencia (center) father of Philippine journalism. Ka Doroy influenced me in becoming a journalist and a painter. My columns, particularly the current and only continuing one in Bannawag Magazine, basically follow the basic guidelines set by Ka Doroy. As an artist, Ka Doroy commissioned me to paint on-site favorite scenes of his boyhood along Tanauan River in 1972. 

Like "Ka Doroy" an aspiring journalist must -
1.      Be inquisitive
2.      Be constant in his purpose
3.      Be fair and balanced
4.      Be genuinely interested in people
5.      Seek the truth
6.      Be resourceful
7.      Have guts
8.      Master his grammar
9.      Know his medium
10.    Read, read and read.

Above all, he must be God-fearing, compassionate, and true to his country and fellowmen. And uphold journalism as a profession and institution.
(Excerpt from a lecture by Dr Abe V Rotor, journalism professor at the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters.)
  
Teodoro F. Valencia (May 7, 1913 - May 4, 1987)

"Teodoro F. Valencia, better known as "Ka Doroy," was widely regarded as the Dean of Filipino Journalists. His many civic undertakings made him a legend, particularly his knack for raising funds to help the underprivileged and the less fortunate. Known as the "Builder of Rizal Park," Valencia was largely responsible for developing Rizal Park into one of the best parks in Asia.

Ka Doroy was born in Tanauan, Batangas where he finished his elementary and high school education. He earned his degree in Journalism from the University of Sto. Tomas in 1935 and took up Law at the Philippine Law School where he graduated in 1941.

Pursuant to Republic Act 6836 renaming Agrifina Circle to Teodoro F. Valencia Circle and in grateful recognition of his life-long service to the Filipino people, the National Parks Development Committee under the Department of Tourism, dedicates this circle as a living memorial to Teodoro F. Valencia on this 7th day of May 1990. City of Manila" (Internet)