Artists Of The World, Unite! We Have Nothing To Lose But Our Chains!

 

ABS-CBN on Monday, 15 April 2024 shares a post on Facebook titled “World Art Day” and says: “Happy World Art Day, Kapamilya!” (“Co-Family”). It shares the image above that says, “A masterpiece is still a masterpiece even when the lights are OFF and the room is empty.” Chariotte Geier. Below the image it says:

“SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS.
Tribute to those who share their masterpieces for all or even just the elite.”

I writer say: The term “Art” is not confined to masterpieces. Kimberley Kruge says (Picsart, picsart.com):

World Art Day is a UNESCO holiday dedicated to creative work in all of its forms. The day is meant to foster creativity around the world in a diverse way. It’s about opening up a global conversation about artistry.

Nota bene: “To foster creativity around the world in a diverse way.” And what are those diverse ways of creativity? “Creative works,” my list, alphabetical:

Article
Blog
Book
Essay
Exhibit
Film
Piano Piece
Placard
Poem
Song
etcetera.

In each one, your creativity can range from “Very Creative” to “Ordinary Creativity” – World Art Day would/should be celebrating more the ExtraOrdinary!

I quote again ABS-CBN:

“SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS.
Tribute to those who share their masterpieces for all or even just the elite.”

A total of 22 words – that’s all ABS-CBN can say about “World Art Day”!?

What is art?  About “World Art Day,” Wikipedia says (en.wikipedia.org)

World Art Day is an international celebration of the fine arts which was declared by the International Association of Art (IAA) in order to promote awareness of creative activity worldwide.

Establishment

A proposal was put forward at the 17th General Assembly of the International Association of Art in Guadalajara to declare April 15 as World Art Day, with the first celebration held in 2012. This proposal was sponsored by Bedri Baykam of Turkey and co-signed by Rosa Maria Burillo Velasco of Mexico, Anne Pourny of France, Liu Dawei of China, Christos Symeonides of Cyprus, Anders Liden of Sweden, Kan Irie of Japan, Pavel Kral of Slovakia, Dev Chooramun of Mauritius, and Hilde Rognskog of Norway. It was accepted unanimously by the General Assembly.

The date was decided in honor of the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci was chosen as a symbol of world peace, freedom of expression, tolerance, brotherhood and multiculturalism as well as art’s importance to other fields.

Never mind the rest of the world, but why did not the Philippines declare today, Monday, 15 April as “World Art Day” and sponsored a public program at the Philippine International Convention Center?

Filipino artists are Very Important People! VIPs. They are very important to the present and future of our country! It is wrong to ignore them.

The rest of us Filipinos have ignored our own artists by ignoring to celebrate publicly and/or state publicly that, if they pass the strict criteria, our actors, actresses, article writers, bloggers, book authors, essayists, exhibit makers, filmmakers, piano piecemakers, placard makers, poets, singers, songwriters etcetera –

Artists, if constructive, should be declared heroes for their country!@517

Your Life Is Precious – So Are The Lives/Loves Of Others You May Not Know!

This blog of mine, “Communication For The Development Of Vibrant Villages,” has a slogan, which is “Live And Let Live” (blogspot.com), and I want to explain it now – because it is the one that I think of first before I write my essay for this blog.

ANN says the proverb means: “Run your own life the way you want to, and let others do the same; be tolerant of differences” (Author Not Named, undated, BookBrowse, bookbrowse.com).

Noted, that. Personally, an agriculturist (UP Los Baños Ag Ed 1965), I take it to mean much, much more than that, because I am aware that humans are not alone in Mother Nature, that when we do agriculture, we are dealing with a million lives! And these lives are as important in the workings of the world as our lives are – whether we realize it or not, our lives depend on those lives in many ways. Mother Nature exists for us – we must exist for Mother Nature.

The image above, from BookBrowse, bookbrowse.com), says more: “Live, Love, Explore, Travel, Laugh, Infinite, Venture, Everyone.” No exceptions!

People, aside from people, “Live and let live” is how I see the workings of what has been termed as “Regenerative Agriculture” and which is essentially “organic” in nature.

“Chemical Agriculture” (CA), the current worldwide mode, is the exact opposite of organic agriculture. With chemical fertilizer, the farmer kills the microorganisms in the soil – the farmer does NOT live and let live! With chemical pesticides, the farmer kills the organisms, micro and macro, who feed on the crops because they are “delicious” – they contain the unnatural chemicals that the farmer has introduced through his chemical fertilizers. The farmer thus becomes his own farming enemy. RA saves the farmer from his destructive self!

I like to repeat my list of 13 RA:

1, Compost application
2, Cover cropping
3, Crop rotation
4, Farm crops + tree crops
5, Green manuring
6, Intercropping
7, Multiple cropping
8, No-till farming
9, Organic fertilization
10, Ratooning
11, “Three Sisters”
12, Trap cropping
13, Trash mulching.

About the broad subject, Michelle Metech says (Britannica, britannica.com):

Regenerative agriculture, alternative to modern industrial agriculture that prioritizes conserving and rehabilitating the land, tailoring specific practices to local ecosystems and climates. As with sustainable agriculture, regenerative agriculture focuses on reducing the impact of production on the land, but regenerative farming goes further by also actively improving the health of the soil. According to an estimate by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, more than half of farmland around the world is degraded. Regenerative practices help protect farmers’ livelihoods, the global food supply, biodiversity, and the health of the planet.

According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) group, if large-scale regenerative agricultural practices were applied worldwide, greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture could be greatly reduced,

About greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, do you believe the UNCCD or not? My guess: Differently, you believe in Chemical Agriculture, so I say, “You have the right to be wrong!”@517

Ingenious For Catholicism, Pope Francis! Inspiring Me To Ingenuity With Students Catholic Or Not

I see Pope Francis changing the conduct of the Roman Catholic Cathecism class with his idea of a “School of Prayer” (Cindy Wooden, 12 April 2024, “Pope Turns Rome Catechism Class Into 'School Of Prayer',” NCR Online, ncronline.org).

The above image shows Pope Francis listening to a question as he meets with 200 children at the St Joan Vianney parish on the eastern edge of Rome, 11 April 2024, amidst his “School of Prayer” initiative.

Inadvertently, Pope Francis is changing the face of Roman Catholicism. If slowly.

Ms Cindy says Pope Francis “has asked Catholics around the world to observe 2024 as a "Year of Prayer" in preparation for the Holy Year,” 2025:

The pope's lesson for the children focused on the theme of prayers of thanksgiving, the Dicastery for Evangelization said in a statement afterward.

It is important to say thank you for everything. For example, if you go into someone's house and you don't say thank you or may I or hello, is that nice?" he asked. "The first word is 'thank you.'

Pope Francis gave each child a folder containing, among others, a special prayer of thanks composed for the occasion; “the prayer thanked God for the gift of life, the gift of parents, the gift of creation and, especially, ‘the gift of your Son, our brother and savior, friend of the small and the poor’." Gifts!

You taught us to call you 'Father,' and with your word you call us to live as true sons and daughters, to be brothers and sisters who walk together in the grace of the faith we received with our baptism," the text continued. "Thank you, Lord, who loves us.”

Francis asked the children if they pray, and one of the youngsters said his family prays before they eat.

"You said something important," the pope told him. They should all thank the Lord for the food they eat and for giving them families.

Me: On the part of parents, we should all be thanking the Lord for giving each of our children an innate primary intelligence – each parent has one’s own.

Inspired with all that, a Roman Catholic and a teacher myself, I am thinking of changing the face and facts of the whole high school education in the Philippines. Introducing my idea of being INGENIOUS:
Individuals
Neatly in
Groups
Encouraging
Native and/or Natural
Intelligences’
Outputs in
United
Struggles.

Interactively, INGENIOUS will bring out individual intelligences, encouraging participants to contribute her/his innate talent – following the theory of Multiple Intelligences by Harvard Professor Howard Gardner.

I see that it is now the duty of every teacher, from Grade School to Grad School, to help discover and develop each individual’s innate talent.

Individual geniuses: Learning from Pope Francis, high school teachers could be assigning group projects that encourage students (and the teacher to encourage them) to use their “hidden” talents, being “Word Smart. Reasoning Smart. Picture Smart. Body Smart. Music Smart, People Smart. Self-Smart. Nature Smart. Critic Smart.

No coercion, no bullying. Give thanks to God!@517

Wake Up! DENR. You Have Been Slipping On The Job!

Facebook post 01 April 2024, news from The Philippine Star written by Bella Cariaso: “Angat Dam Water Level Drops To 190 Meters,” damn close to its minimum operating level of 180 meters. It’s abnormal – PAGASA says the normal high water level of Angat Dam is 212 meters. (And PAGASA says the water level could further deteriorate to 180 meters in June.)

The above Facebook post dated 01 April 2024 is not an April Fools’ joke – but we are fools if we do not do something about it! Foolish, we have not been doing anything about it, I mean, not stopping the decline of the water level at Angat Dam.

Nota bene: “Angat Dam supplies more than 90 percent of Metro Manila’s potable water needs.” That is to say, if we do not stop the water level of the dam from decreasing, it means we do not care what happens to the residents of Metro Manila when it comes to their water supply!

Ms Bella says Angat Dam also “provides water for irrigating 25,000 ha of farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga.” That means, the lowering of the water level in the dam endangers also the irrigation needs of farmers in Bulacan and Pampanga.

Yes, we can stop the water level from decreasing. But we have been sleeping on the job!

As a communicator for the development of villages since pre-digital days (1975-1980), being for Forest Research Institute (now ERDB) the Founder and The Editor In Chief of the monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitat – I learned much and wrote much about the roles of forests in our lives, one of those roles being for the forest to be the watershed – meaning the source of water of dams downstream.

So, the water level of Angat Dam actually depends on the status of the watershed feeding it. And? And that status depends on how much we have deforested, seen or unseen, the watershed!

So, instead of simply shrugging it off, local government units (LGUs) should be urging and watching the Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) truly enforce PH’s laws on logging – and stop both big illegal logging and small illegal logging (kaingineros). The loggers, as well as the kaingineros, are both guilty of deforesting our mountains – and therefore, guilty of Angat Dam (and any other dam’s) water level going down!

What should we do?

Let us use our heads – and our cellphones! Call the DENR and ask them what they have been doing to prevent irrigation and water dams from lowering their water levels – meaning, their sources of water, the forests, have been deforested and continue to be deforested and/or unreplanted or unrestored.

We cannot simply read the news and let it go at that! So, use your cellphone now and text or call the DENR!

Alternatively, call on those LGUs to wake up and call on the DENR to wake up and impose the law on deforestation!

Cellphones on the ready – call the DENR now. The more cellphone calls, the merrier!@517

“Digitally Sustaining Our Future” Is What ICAST 2024 Says. “What About Conserving The Past?“ This 83-Year Old Asks

Today Tuesday, 26 March 2024, I saw Rea Cruz Reyes’ Facebook post about an international conference on agriculture; intrigued, I asked for a copy of the report, and Ms Rea emailed me a summary in 475 words about the event. At the outset, I must congratulate the organizers of the event.

Via Ms Rea:

The Philippine Association of Agriculturists Region III-Tamarind Chapter, and Pampanga Agricultural State University (PSAU) held [the very] 𝟏𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘 (𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒) with the theme: "Digitally Sustaining Our Future: Exploring The Application of Emerging Technologies For Food Security And Sustainability" on March 13-15, 2024 at the Royce Hotel, Clark, Angeles City, Pampanga.

I especially note: “Food Security and Sustainability.” Very broad – and necessarily so. Not the very limiting “Rice Sufficiency” that certain other PH leaders are pursuing. Sufficiency: No, not only rice.
(Rice image from shutterstock.com)

The 2024 ICAST conference brought together leading experts, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the field of agriculture and technology. The conference aimed to explore innovative solutions and strategies for addressing global challenges related to food security and sustainability in the digital age.

• Emerging Technologies in Agriculture: Various presentations and discussions centered around the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and precision agriculture into agricultural practices. These technologies offer promising opportunities to optimize resource management, enhance productivity, and mitigate environmental impact.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A prevalent theme throughout the conference was the importance of data-driven decision-making in agriculture. The utilization of big data analytics and predictive modeling enables farmers to make informed decisions regarding crop management, pest control, and resource allocation, ultimately improving yields and efficiency.

“Data-driven decision making” – I suppose ICAST 2024 discussed data gathered from practices in modern farming but not from practices in traditional farming that are included in the term “Regenerative Agriculture” (RA).

RA is what the keynote speaker spoke about:

Keynote Address by Dr William D Dar, a renowned expert in agricultural technology,  a senior adviser for the Go Negosyo Kapatid Angat Lahat Agri Program (KALAP) and a former Secretary of Agriculture; delivered [an] inspiring keynote address on the transformative potential of regenerative agriculture in achieving food security and sustainability goals.

Call me old-fashioned, but I note: “The transformative potential of regenerative agriculture in achieving food security and sustainability goals.” Regenerative Agriculture (RA) includes, in my list, the following:
1, Compost application
2, Cover cropping
3, Crop rotation
4, Farm crops + tree crops
5, Green manuring
6, Intercropping
7, Multiple cropping
8, No-till farming
9, Organic fertilization
10, Ratooning
11, “Three Sisters”
12, Trap cropping
13, Trash mulching.

The number “13” is intentional on my part, to warn the reader that s/he is treading on “dangerous” grounds. Those 13 are all old technologies or practices and not mentioned because the conference was on “emerging technologies.”

My challenge is for the ICAST to conduct another conference, this time on exploring the application of old practices in agriculture towards defeating modern climate change!@517

“A Good Education Begins At Home” – Those Teachers Say. “GMRC Begins In Grade School” – This Teacher Says

Allow me to say first that I was educated to be a teacher – BS Ag Edu, UP Los Baños, 1965, weighted average 2.36. I have been engaged in teaching high school students at the Asingan High School in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan, and college students at UPLB and Xavier University College of Agriculture. I passed the Civil Service exam for teachers at its first offering, in 1964: 80.6%. The next year, I was #2 with 90.5% in the qualifying exam for Pangasinan teachers, where #1 was 90.6% (female, from UP Diliman).

The above quote says completely (shared on Facebook Sunday, 24 March 2024, by Virginia Barraquio):

A good Education begins at Home. You cannot blame a school for not nurturing values in your child that you have not instilled.

I teacher disagree!

I say:

Teachers, especially for the elementary grades, go to school to teach children how, among other things, to behave. Parents are not necessarily taught how to teach their children good manners and right conduct (GMRC) because their own parents may not have learned GMRC themselves! (And no, the Catholic priest does not require parental knowledge in GMRC to marry people.) Among other things, it is the duty of the teacher to teach GMRC to the children!

Lei Sison says “'Magic Words Like Please and Thank You' Must Be Learned at Home, Say Education Professionals” (2019, Smart Parenting, smartparenting.com.ph). “It's important to teach kids good values even before they start schooling.”

Yes, the parents must teach their children good manners like saying “Please” and “Thank you” but incidences to do so are few and limited. In contrast, from Grade 1 to Grade 10, there is much interaction among the children and teacher and, therefore, the teacher is the most likely (liable) to teach GMRC!

From Canada, ANN says (Author Not Named, 2019, LegalLine.ca, legalline.ca):

Ontario’s Education Act is the main law that governs how public school education is delivered. Section 0.1(2) of the Act states that “the purpose of education is to provide students with the opportunity to realize their potential and develop into highly skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to their society.”

Read again about the purpose of education – for children “to realize their potential” and “to develop into … caring citizens.”

Don’t tell this citizen of the Philippines that the teachers of Canada know more about the basics of educating the children than teachers in my country!

Instead of the parents, the Grade teachers in any country have more time spent with the children during regular days and, therefore, owe more the young ones to teach them not only reading & writing & arithmetic but GMRC!

Now, here is a 4-year old Philippine law about GMRC (Supreme Court E-Library, elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph): Republic Act 11476, “An Act Institutionalizing Good Manners And Right Conduct And Values Education In The K To 12 Curriculum, Appropriating Funds Therefor, And For Other Purposes,” which was passed 25 June 2020.

Now then, a good education begins in Grade School, not at Home!@517

Media Power Used Unintelligently – What Should And Could Be Done!?

Today, we have the traditional media: newspapers, magazines, books, And we have modern media (image from medium.com) such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (birdie) – and Blogger (B), my favorite media, where you’re reading this now.

What is media as a whole promoting today? The answer shocks me, if not you. The media is functioning – but not performing its most powerful role! Which is? Read on!

In Iloilo City, the DSWD Field Office VI recognizes 33 media partners region-wide during the “Media Pasasalamat” (Thanksgiving) held in Iloilo City 21 March 2024 (22 March 2024, Admin, Boracay Island News Network, boracayislandnews.com, upper image). “These media partners were identified as the Most Supportive Media Outlets and Individuals who extended extraordinary support to social protection and advocacy campaigns of the Department (of Social Welfare & Development).”

Unfortunately, the news does not share what were those “advocacy campaigns” supported by media, so we cannot judge their importance – and that’s important!

Elsewhere, veteran broadcast journalist “Kabayan” Noli De Castro was honored by the Reader’s Digest as the “Most Trusted Radio Presenter” (Facebook post of “Kapamilya United” midnight of Friday, March 21). I, who had learned much from the Reader’s Digest, and an active solo blogger since 2000, am impressed – but not that much. Like: Trusted in what manner and what endeavors?

No Sir, no Ma'am! The news does not mention anything about what I consider the most important role of media: promotion of community development – as reflected in the name of this my blog: “Communication for Development of Vibrant Villages (ComDev2).

I am conservation-minded. Thus, I see & say that one of the major goals of any communication for community development is the promotion of nature-friendly programs, projects and activities that follow a basic law of Mother Nature, as I see it: “Live, and let live!”

“Supportive media outlets and individuals” – yes, but media people should go beyond being mere “Social Protection Champions” into being “Social Promotion Champions” and espouse, for instance, “Regenerative Development” or “Regenerative Capitalism”! (See my article “How Good Is ‘Sustainable Capitalism’ AKA ‘Creative Capitalism’ Vs ‘Regenerative Capitalism’”? 16 Jan 2024, ComDeV2, blogspot.com.)

Media people – Instead of simply accepting “sustainable development,” why not investigate “regenerative development?” There is a huge difference. Media people should be launching their own media campaigns.

Media people, don’t tell me you are not creative enough!

Here is Wikipedia on “social media marketing” (Wikipedia):

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service.

Me, I am happy blogging, via Blogger.com, free, as I can go solo given my own array of digital talents that I began teaching myself some 24 years ago.

Now then, I expect the senior media people to encourage the junior media staff to practice their favorite social media in pursuit of positive social goals of that media.

Just remember to promote Positive positions (not to mention practices), not the Negative ones most media have been fond of disseminating all these years since the modern newspaper was invented in 1605 (Bing).

Too lazy the hero?@517