I asked God for more

 I asked God for more

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Aftermath: where there was once a forest

Virgin Forest: only 3 percent is left in the Philippines.

Requiem to a forest, Brooke's Point Palawan

I asked God for food, clothing and shelter

     and He showered me

these necessities I can not live without -

     they are the Earth's bounty;

I settled down on fertile hills and valleys

     and multiplied freely.

I asked God for power to boost my strength,

     and He gave me energy;

I leveled the mountains, dammed the rivers

     and conquered the sea;

raped the forests, prairies, lakes and estuaries,

     a world I wanted to be.

I asked God if I can be god, too, all knowing

     with my technology;

broke the sacred code of life and of matter,

     changed the Great Story;

annihilated life unfit in my own design,

     and set my own destiny.  

 

I asked God if He is but a creation of the mind,

     and rose from my knee;

probed space, rounding up the universe,

     aiming at immortality;

bolder than ever, searching for another home,

     and wanting to be free. ~

Nature Laboratory and Workshop: LIVING WITH NATURE

Nature Laboratory and Workshop: LIVING WITH NATURE

Dr Abe V Rotor

A convenient work area for art workshop, demonstration and lecture on biology, ecology and scientific researches.  San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

Cleaning kitchen wares with Isis Ficus fiskei, SANDPAPER LEAF

Cleaning bottles with palmera plant (​Dypsis lutescens​)

Ilang-ilang (Cananga odorata) - natural perfume and deodorant.

 

                                                                       Herbal medicine, orchard, garden and home ornamental plants. 

Table fruit wine from local fruits in season 

               Backyard raising of native breeds, such as ducks, chicken, pigs.. 

Multi-purpose garden pond

LESSON:  Make a list of activities relevant to LIVING WITH NATURE and share them in your school and community.  

Creative Photography: Old Church Wall

 Creative Photography: Old Church Wall 

"Across the azure sky a super jet plane disturbs our peace, its image well ahead of its roar; below the trees bow with the gentle breeze." avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

Old frangipani* against the deep blue sky

with neither clothes nor any shade;

like in our bold moments we don't feel shy,

 with glory we show to make us brave.  

*Calachuchi ‎(Plumeria rubra) the common name of "frangipani" comes from a sixteenth-century marquis of the noble family in Italy who claimed to invent a plumeria-scented perfume, but in reality ‎Plumeria alba Family ‎Apocynaceae. Introduced from Mexico, hence the name in old Aztec - calachuchi.

Old pillar, once a column against invaders

in colonial times, idle you have been

for centuries, save the tough chichirica*

common herbal yet rarely seen.  

*periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) produces potent alkaloids, 

which are used to treat various cancers.

Across the azure sky is a long white tail 

of a super jet plane disturbing our peace, 

its image well ahead of its roar and trail;

 while the trees bow with the gentle breeze. 

Subject: 17th century church of San Vicente, Ilocos Sur.  
The author lives just across the outer wall of the church. ~ 

Creative Photography in Humanities

 Creative Photography in Humanities  

Photography has been relegated to the machine. This is not true.  In fact it has created a new field in humanities - Creative Photography, which is aligned to visual arts and performing arts. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Gulliver the giant, Gulliver the pygmy in Jonathan Swift's novels,
two friends acting, each in either role;
for in life, you are at one time a giant; at another you are a dwarf, 
and seeing others the same, wise or fool.

Years apart through three generations make no difference;  

looking back when the old were once children;

and children wishing  for the future within their grasp;

in between the beauty of life is a moving train. 

Image of Mother and Child - Holy Book's symbol of piety;

Holy Trinity too, with a Father God - the greatest mystery;

Prodigal Son and father - the mother Rembrandt sought.

 And Joseph?  Brave soldiers who died in wars they fought?

Community stage play of a subject and theme by local talents;

move over cinema, mall, computer and television;

we have had enough of  robots and cyberspace pseudo heroes;

life's real, we've each a role with common vision.  

   

Trophies -  imprimatur of achievement - 

you reward yourself unknown,

the one no other else can own.     

your crowning glory and monument. 

Author (left) poses with contemporaries in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, UST. 

Don't cut the trees, don't!

Make a stairway across;

Save the clouds that fill the fount,

We have had enough, the Cross. ~

Janus Wish by the Sea

Janus Wish by the Sea

Painting and Poem by Abe V Rotor

Details of Mural by AVR 2008

Wish the dawn comes early,

the tides kind and low,

the bay calm and creaseless,

and time moves slow.

Wish the wind to build up

to a frightful rage,

the waves lap the shore

to test courage.

Wish the picnic in another time

and let the plans be gone;

too mean, or too naïve, the sea,

it waits for no one.

Wish whichever mood the sea,

lovers are blinded by desire,

ease and danger, in a drama

close to water and fire. ~

Bryophytes: Link of Protists and True Plants*

Bryophytes: Link of Protists and True Plants*

The moss and its kind are the precursors of the Plant Kingdom

Dr Abe V Rotor

Moss (Musci)

Hornwort (Anthoceros), Liverwort (Marchantia)

Bryophytes are the intermediate forms of life between the Algae (Kingdom Protista) and the Tracheophytes (Vascular) or true plants. Bryophytes bridge the evolution of life in the Plant Kingdom.

Anyone who has seen “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," or the second travel of Gulliver in Brodningnag, could easily place himself into imagery where small things are very big.

A blade of grass becomes a perfect slide, an ant becomes a pony for going places, a raindrop can knock one down hard.

Now imagine the lowly moss to be as large as a tree. A liverwort becomes a large green carpet shaped like a liver. A hornwort has pinnacles in Gothic style. When you are microscopic in size, everything you see around you becomes large.

Bryophytes are the link between the two kingdoms of the protists, and the true (or vascular) plants. They are early forms of plants, which botanists believe to have stopped evolving. Thus, they are today what they were millions of years ago. They are, indeed, living fossils.

Observe a piece of rock covered with bryophytes. It appears like a miniature forest under the magnifying glass. It is dense and every space is occupied by structures that look like trunks and leaves. On closer look, however, these structures are not true organs, because they lack vascular tissues, which are found in higher plants. The tissues are needed for water and food to flow to keep the plant alive.

Thick mats of moss and lichen (alga and fungus living together in symbiosis) are commonly found growing on the trunk of old trees.

Alternation of Generations

The moss has a unique two-in-one life cycle. Botanists describe the gametophyte as either male or female plant, while the sporophyte is one containing the total number of chromosomes. The former carries only half the number of chromosomes (haploid). When the sporophyte plant matures, it produces spores, which will germinate and develop into gametophytes. When the gametophytes mature, they form both eggs and sperms that fuse together to form a zygote. The zygote grows into another sporophyte that will carry the next generation. This alternation of generation is the key to the survival of bryophytes even under harsh conditions.

Bryophytes are Nature’s Soil Builder

When the plants are uprooted, one will find soil underneath. This means that bryophytes grow on rock by digesting it first with acid. The softened rock yields to the roots and releases elements needed for growth and development. As the plants die, their organic debris is mixed in with the rock particles and form into soil.

Since bryophytes are short-lived and seasonal, the soil deposit becomes thicker by each generation, with the plant borders extending to form new frontiers. Soon entire walls and rocks become covered like a green carpet. As the bryophyte community expands to reach its peak and climax, more and more organisms become dependent on it. Millipedes find it an ideal place for a home, while providing their nutrition. Insects frequent the place as a hunting ground for their prey. Frogs, however, stay near the bryophytes to stalk the insects.

Bryophytes Create a Microclimate

A carpet of mosses on the wall or rock feels soft to the touch. It is thick and spongy. When it rains, the carpet absorbs and stores the water. At night and early in the morning, dew precipitates and is absorbed by the moss, creating a microclimate in the surrounding area that is favorable to other plants.

With the passage of time, new plants grow out from the middle of the carpet. This is the beginning of the second part of plant invasion, courtesy of the ferns. The plants are large and diverse, the forerunners of vascular plants which once dominated the Carboniferous forest (PHOTO), even before the dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Ferns actually form a canopy above the moss carpet, and as they do, they block the sun, wrest for space and compete for water. Fern roots wedge the open cracks in the rock, sending boulders down together with their tenants. While it is catastrophe to the pioneering plants, it is advantage to others. Nature works its way following a formula aimed at dynamic balance or homeostasis.

Soon the bryophytes do not only lose their dominance to the ferns, they have lost the place. Their job is over because the rock is gone.

“What good is rock when it loses the essence from which life rises?”

So thus the fern continue to change the landscape. When nature writes “finis” to the lowly moss, larger plants, like trees, come around, and soon the place becomes a forest. And life goes on.
--------------------------------------------

Phylogeny of the Bryophytes

Land plants	Liverworts Mosses Hornworts Polysporangiophytes "Protracheophytes", such as Horneophyton or Aglaophyton Tracheophytes or Vascular plants

*Reference: The Living with Nature Handbook by AV Rotor (UST Publishing House, 2004)

Fear! You can conquer it through "Art Therapy"

Fear! You can conquer it through "Art Therapy"

Dr Abe V Rotor

Paintings by Leo Carlo R Rotor 

Fear! You can conquer it through "Art Therapy"

Our children are filled with imaginary fears which their young minds absorb from movies, TV programs, magazines, and now through social media. It could be for lack of guidance, comfort and love, too. These residues of fear must be removed, and the sooner the better, before they develop into phobia and nightmare which may persist in their adult age. 

NOTE: Art therapy can be integrated in Art Workshops for Children of reputable institutions or tutorship.  

  

Don' let fear persist, 

take it out soonest.

Here's one proven way:

art therapy.

An art workshop 

is the best avenue; 

let the children enjoy,

and draw freely.

Guide them draw

anything in mind; 

happy, sad, fearful,

then you know. 

From these drawings

I talked to the child,

confided with his parents - 

beautiful result!

Children have fears,

no exception, 

it's part of growing up

naturally. 

Fear conquers, 

conquer fear instead; 

draw the kapre - 

now he is gone.

Draw the cobra

now he is tame;

draw a shadow,

it is your own.

Draw a road

lonely and far;

now draw houses 

along the way.

A hospital scene 

with friendly doctors, 

draw your patient

with a smile.

Rejected, lonely,

draw a round table

with people around,

you and your family. ~

You can diagnose your child through his subjects, colors, lines, strokes, his persistence on a certain theme, and his reactions while he is in his artwork. Ordinarily experiences like these are normal. But there are certain indications you may seek professional advice,

This is one way to check the suspected behavior of your child - reactions based on the senses. The two drawings show fear of a imaginary serpent, an influence of such movies as Anaconda (biggest snake in the world). There are many similar causes of fear, among them: Jaws (shark), King Kong (giant gorilla). Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (movie), Travels of Gulliver (novel about giants and dwarfs), Frankenstein (man-made monster), Gabi ng Lagim (Filipino favorite of ghosts and spirits), and many, many more. Let us save our children. (Drawings by Leo Carlo R Rotor in the Grades, ca 1990)