Valentine's Day (02/14/14)

Romantic messages on air, flowers and chocolates everywhere, hue of red all over, and the spread out sweet lovers are just some of the signs that Valentine’s Day is on the scene. As what they say, love is indeed in the air during February 14. It is a special day among other 364 days to mark in our calendar that are celebrated particularly by couples all over the world.

For this year’s Valentine’s Day, we went to places that are most visited by couples to take some footages on how they celebrate this special day. I, together with my friends made interviews with different people who came from all walks of life. There are students, employees, parents, oldies and bisexuals who shared their sentiments for this day. And to evaluate all the people we met, they all just fall under two categories: those who are in a relationship and those who are single.

Certainly, love surrounds in all the couples that we have interviewed. We’ve witnessed how love binds their relationship as couples. We have interviewed couples who said that trust is the primary ingredient to make the relationship lasts. However, some also said that it’s the effort to show their affection that counts the most. But no matter what their love story is, how they show their love, or how they shared each day of their lives, there’s only one thing that I’m sure about, and that is they are all happy being with someone they love.

We also met people who were single at the moment. And they voiced out, “Who says that Valentine’s Day is only for lovers?” According to them, even they are not committed to someone, they are happy with their friends to celebrate the day. But at some point, we also noticed that some of our interviewees are looking forward for having a partner for the next Valentine’s Day. And they also admit that at times, they feel envious for seeing sweet couples together.

My friend once joked that Valentine’s Day is said to be Friday the 13^th for singles. It is the time when we heard some bitter lines from them. On the contrary, it is a romantic time for lovers for gift giving and dating.

Now, I won’t go too far. After hearing different Valentine story from other people, it’s time to share how my Valentine’s Day this year is. Well, nothing’s special for my February 14, 2014 because proudly, I belong to the category of singles. . It’s my 18^th year of welcoming the day as single so there’s nothing new about this one. I just go out with my friends and like what I said, we just made some interviews for school purposes. I will be pathetic if I say that I am not envy to those happy lovers that we saw. Indeed, at times, I also came to think when I will meet my partner too. But when and where, only God knows.

Valentine’s Day truly plays an important part in our hearts. Most people are so excited for this to come though there are also not. But at the end of the day, we should keep in ourselves that love shouldn't only be expressed during Valentine’s Day, Christmas Day or any holidays in our calendar. It has to be shown every day, every minute, and every second to all people.

Filipino-Chinese community welcomes Lunar New Year

Kimberly Jane L. Manlapaz

01/31/14

 Manila,Philippines---Thousands gathered today in Binondo, Manila to celebrate the Chinese New Year and welcome the Year of the Wooden Horse.
           Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and other local leaders together with the Filipino-Chinese community lead in mounting the event.

As a traditional practice, the Chinatown welcomed the Lunar New Year with the dragon dance parade and a 30-minute fireworks display which is known to take away bad spirits.

Officials also gave out free tikoy to the attendees which is believed to keep the family ties closer.

And on the first day of the New Year, Filipino- Chinese families went together to Chinese Temple to give thanks for the blessings.

They also came to buy lucky charms and house ornaments which are believed to usher in good lucks and fortune. 
(Photo credits:philstar.com)

How do you celebrate Chinese NewYear?

In line with the celebration of Chinese New Year, I conducted an interview for our subject Online Writing. I asked my Chinese-blooded friends about how they celebrate and welcome the New Year. I also asked them about the rites and practices that they do as part of their celebration.

My first respondent is Curbick Tan Camelo who works as a trainer in a call center firm.  Here’s what he shared:

   “My family just prepares a feast and we eat. That's it. We also give out tikoy. The Chinese community would also go to the temple to pray, put ornaments in their houses, and give red envelopes with money”

                  -Curbick

Another friend of mine who shared their way of celebrating Chinese New Year is Clarizza Merz Chu, a student from Polytechnic University of the Philippines.  Here’s what she said:

“Simpleng celebration lang naman ginagawa namin. Naghahanda ng mga foods, tikoy syempre, fruits.. ahmm..nagdadasal saka nagsusuot ng red na damit. We also offered prayer para sa daddy ko na namatay kasi siya naman talaga ang Chinese-blooded, kami                                                          bale ¼ na lang”    

                                                                        -Clarizza

Lastly, I interviewed Eunice Mariel Chua, a student from Lyceum of the Philippines University.

   “Naghahada lang kami foods tapos kumakain kami ng family ko. Wala naman kami gaanung rituals. Nilagyan pala namin ng fruits yung harap ng pics ng namatay naming lola”

                      -Eunice

  

Chua' Family celebrating the Chinese New Year

Kiong Hee Huat Tsai

New Year is one of China's oldest and prominent festivals throughout the world. It marks the beginning of a new year and a new agricultural season, and is considered a time for loved ones to reunite and take part in traditions designed to bring good fortune and prosperity for the next year.

Chinese New Year is held each year between 21 January and 20 February. And this year, the main celebration was held on January 31. The Chinese calendar's origins can be traced back as far as the 14th century BC. This year's celebrations marked the beginning of the year 4712 on the Chinese calendar.

The Chinese calendar is patterned basically from the lunisolar cycle, meaning to say, their calendar is based on exact astronomical observations of the sun's longitude and moon phases.

The celebration largely takes place in China, naturally, but there are also other countries with a large Chinese population that also mark the day and welcomed the Year of the Wooden Horse. The biggest celebrations outside of mainland China are in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Chinese New Year is one of the most anticipated celebrations here in the Philippines. Even we are Filipinos, we thoroughly embraced the Chinese way of welcoming New Year. Well, it’s not a surprise anymore because of the fact that Manila Chinatown is actually the oldest Chinatown in the world. It’s been here since the 1590’s and so Chinese people have lived here for at least five centuries.

It only proves that there has been a significant Chinese presence in the Philippines even before the Spaniards arrived in the 15th century. In fact, Chinese Filipinos currently number four million, making up five percent of the Philippine population.

Hence, there has been harmonious relationship built among Filipinos and Chinese, way back then. More so, there is a great deal of mutual respect between the local Chinese and Filipinos and because of that, Chinese New Year is actually an official non-working holiday here.

During the Chinese Lunar New Year, Filipino-Chinese communities rejoice the event with festive parades of dancing lions and dragons in Binondo and other part of the country with sizable Chinese presence. This practice is said to attract prosperity, health and wisdom. They also clean the house thoroughly to fend off evil spirits.

A prominent feature of the Chinese New Year festivities in the Philippines is the Chinese sticky sweet treat known as tikoy or Chinese New Year pudding. It is sold in the months of January and February especially for the occasion. Made up of glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, salt, sugar and water, it symbolizes the unity and harmony among friends and family members.

Red envelopes known as “ang pao” are prepared with money inside for wealth. And the same with our tradition, they also prepare various fruits and foods are set out on a table which is believed to bring in good fortune, but the difference is they only provide eight fruits unlike us with twelve. This is because number eight signifies good luck in Chinese.

The traditional lucky charms are also bought and displayed in the home in order to usher in abundance and good energy and to sweep away the bad lucks.

Feng shui is one of the famous customs during Chinese New Year. Feng shui experts are very famous in foretelling the year ahead as well as in providing lucky charms and advices on how to keep the good fortune.

These are just some of the famous practices and beliefs that prevail during this season of Chinese New Year. Filipinos actually adapt most of the Chinese belief most specially the concept of luck and fortune. But at the end of the day, no one can predict the future ahead of us, only God. And most importantly, hard work, perseverance and faith will be the best lucky charm in the world to pursue our dreams.

You are a Certified Pinoy if:

Philippines is indeed one of a kind among other countries in the world. Aside from its wealth in cultural diversity, natural resources and beautiful spots, the people themselves are truly remarkable and amazing in terms of their personality, values and even their common quirky actions make them astounding.

Hence, you are a certified Pinoy if:

·         You can eat meals with your bare hands.

·         You look around when you heard “Pssssst…”

·         You can teach direction using your lips.

·         You use dipper in taking a bath.

·         You are into buying sale items even you don’t need it.

·         You love “Buy one, take one items”

·         You dip bread in your coffee or milk.

·         You are ashamed to get the remaining last piece of food.

·         You always sing in the bathroom as if there’s a concert.

·         You ask for a number instead of water when you get choked.

·         You eat “balut”.

10 Famous Clichés in Philippine Television

1. Poor and Rich Love Story

First on the list is the very popular love constraint which is the economic status differences between the lead characters. It’s either the boy is rich and the girl is poor or the girl is rich and the guy is poor. But after all, of course, they will fight against all odds for a happy ending of the story.

2.  Baby Switching

Baby switching, intentional or not is another cliches that exist in Philippine television. Commonly, the reasons are: (a) the first baby is rich and the antagonist wanted to other baby to get the wealth (b) the first baby is dead and to conceal the his/her death, the other one will be replaced (c)nurses and all other person in charge are just too busy with their stuff that they don’t manage to oversee the babies.

3. Where are the Police?

Policemen in telenovelas seem to be late every time their service is needed or sometimes when they will be present on the scene when the commotion is already ended.

4. Missing Link

Commonly, the mother is searching for her long lost child and the child is also looking for her mother. But in fact, the two have already met but not aware that they are family.

5. Battle of Siblings

There’s always a “tournament” between siblings in the family. The reasons? (a) for their parent’s attention(b) for their heirlooms (c) because of one person who was their both love interest.

6. Amnesia: A Common Ailment

Any character who can either be the lead or any important person in the teleserye suffers from amnesia and he/she forgets anything. Then gradually they will remember portions of the past when they feel headaches or when their head hits somewhere.

7. Wedding Ending

Usually, when the bride walks happily down the aisle towards her groom is a sign that the story is about to end. It means to say that all the hardships and challenges that hindered their love story were eliminated.

8.  Serendipity

Lovers in romantic teleserye commonly have a past during their childhood and bid a promise for each other to be forever and ever. But they will be separated by certain circumstances and then meet again by fate after so many years with a cliché line, “Ikaw??”

9. Evil politician and mother-in-law

In most telenovelas, politician are perceived to be the antagonist in the story, A politician who acts like a good Samaritan in front of the public but do illegal actions behind their back. This notion is same with the mother-in-law characters, who also take a role as the foe of her daughter in law.

10. Airport rush

We have always seen a character rushing to the airport to stop someone’s departure. Usually, they’re stopped by the security guards but they insist to go inside the airport and then later, they will think that their loved one has already left but footsteps will come towards, and it is the one he/she’s looking for. Then they will hug and kiss and the people in the airport are cheering for them.

Mass Media and the Early Onset of Sex among Youth

Now that our society is in the momentum of modernity, different innovations has been done to various types of media. As these media are continuously earning the fame most especially from youth, many researchers have also raised the increasingly bad effects of those media to adolescents.

            Media is the easiest, most accessible and the most comfortable ways to answer their questions and will quench their curiosity. As what several studies suggest, media has become the sex educators of the new generation as they portrayed sexually explicit materials and fed the adolescent’s mind with the sexually related information which is not accurate and unhealthy. And as a result, media became the catalyst for early sexual initiations.

“Sexual content in mass media has been around as long as mass media itself,” Arizona State professor Mary-Lou Galician, a researcher, author and media literacy advocate says.

The mass media are an increasingly accessible way for young people to learn about and see sexual behavior. Mass media refers to the channels of communication that is designed to reach the mass of the people. Psychologists suggests that the media provide role models whose behaviors are imitated by members of the audience. Rebecca Collins stated in her study that this imitation is a component of social learning of adolescents: "monkey see, monkey do".

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, teen sex is a “major public health problem”. The physical, emotional, and social consequences of teen sexual activity include higher rate of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS.

Many have argued that mass media are particularly important resources for sexual information because parents provide little information and schools tend to emphasize a biological approach with little attention to romance and interpersonal relationships. Researchers believed that there are many factors that might contribute to a relationship between media content and behavior like parent communication, sexual education and others.

Media consumption and message absorption by the youth will vary and will be modified by the aid of different factors such as the proper guidance provided by parents and the presence of grounds which will supply the right information about sex to the youth.

Taken together, it is strongly recommended for parental guidance and the visibility of sex education in an objective manner to lessen the exposure of the youth to sexually explicit material which drive them to try premarital sex. Parents should allot more time in keeping an eye on their child during accessing various types of media. They should limit the time given to their child in utilizing these media and they should not place the television, computers and the like in their child’s bedroom where they can privately use it.

Apparently, media can be our society’s friend but it can also be our enemy. What will it be? It depends upon us.