"When You Group Up You Should Be Just Like You"

Everyone of us has childhood dreams, wishes and ambitions. As we look at others as to what they have, who they are, how they look or what have they become, we find ourselves dreaming or in wishful thinking.

A little girl tells Lucy: "When I grow up, I want to be like you." Lucy replies coming from in front of the dresser's mirror: "When you grow up you should just be like you." That was a scene in the latest movie of Narnia, adapted from C.S. Lewis' literary masterpiece.

I remember that after watching the first Narnia movie, I was so fascinated with C.S. Lewis in his skillful use of symbols that signify his religious belief. Like Lucy, who got tear a page from the book of incantations, I took out a book from the stack books left unread in a store room in a parish. Huh, I am guilty, because I took a book C.S. Lewis wrote and I haven't returned it yet.

The book was not about Narnia, but some short writings of Lewis, his life-story, his beliefs and some words about his works. Now I realized what Aslan told Lucy. That there are thoughts and things in this world that can take us away from how we value ourselves.

When I was kid, I wanted to be a doctor, an architect, an engineer, and artist. But I found myself teaching and enjoying it. Maybe that is me... simply fulfilling my desitiny. Just like how those Kids, Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmond will find their selves in Narnia out of their will, from since the earlier movies. While in this movie, they have to fulfill their choices without losing connection from the past experiences of Narnia.

Narnia is a different world from that of those children. Its environment may be surreal and so are the creatures there, but it is so human. What captivates me the most to this piece of literature in a movie, is that of the creativity in fictionalizing religious and moral constructs without losing their sense.

Narnia, its world, its life, its creatures, its virtues and values exist as figment to a child's imagination of dream-world. A world that have struggles but with aspirations for peace, justice, liberty and integrity for all creations. Such world is what is missing, although possible to happen in our world.

Although I was watching the movie with a voracious appetite for images, I could not hold myself from thinking while I find myself a witness and a participant to the world of Narnia. I was thinking of its representations of our world and the Christian faith. While I was wathcing as mature adult and a critique I could not help myself wanting to be a child again and hoping that that child's dream world would never end or at least realize in my life.

In life and in our Christian growth, when we grow up, we should really be just like us. Just like a child. Wanting and believing. Dreaming and wishing. Creating and enjoying. Imagining and not worrying of anything. Never envious of other's, never anxious of ourselves, and never bound to time. Always believing that there is something to hope for and to look forward to.

I have grown up, and I am just like me. Nobody made me as who I am now, although others and many things must have contributed to who I have become. Yet, I still know that most of who I am happened to be my personal choice. I am still growing to maturity...but I don't want to lose my connection to that wonderful child I was. And, that is for now and for the time thereafter that I will have in my life. That I will have no regret in living the life and everything that goes with it as gift from above.

In the latest Narnia movie, I got a surprise that there were alot of viewers in the movie house on a weekday. Probably it was due to the holiday season, or maybe Narnia is really a good movie to watch. For me, it is a wonderful fantasy movie to see and to learn from, a classical literature of the 20th century.

So You Want to be Doctor

Some naive questions from my smoking buddy: What's the difference if you're a PhD degree holder as compared to a Master's degree holder? Is it difficult to take a PhD?
Those two questions had me think, why in heavens did I take PhD anyway?

Practically, for an academic like me, a PhD is a guarantee for higher pay and promotion. Its the only way to be granted the rank of a full professor, the highest rank that an academic would get. But that was not in my mind when I enrolled for a PhD.

Back in 2008, I took the liberty to finish my M.A. in Communication Management. I was required to take 3 units as penalty course, but I enrolled 9 units, as I saw that I needed to learn more. While I attended the courses, I was teaching part time training part time, and doing my thesis. I thought, I just had to learn, and to do what I have to be in school and in the field.

I had to learn so I can share more to my students and be a better teacher. On the other side of it, earning an M.A. degree guarantees me security in teaching in a college or university, since that is a basic requirement. While I successfully defended my thesis and saw value in my work, I began to think beyond the here and now. PhD is the next step if I would be faithful in my personal vision to contribute to the academe. The same degree will add credibility to my initial contribution to knowledge.

My options were, PhD in Applied Linguistics, PhD in Educational Psychology and the least of it was PhD in Communication. I decided for the latter because it would make me a real expert in the field of communication. It is a vertical advancement as to my field of specialization, since I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and an M.A. in Communication Management.

What for is PhD if I have master's degree already? I can say without it, that I am expert already. But there is a body of knowledge and means of knowing them that are not taught or learned in the M.A. or undergraduate levels of education. The horizon of understanding the world is so different, that it indeed makes one a philosopher.

I am speaking of my experience from studying for a PhD from the Univesity of the Philippines. I can not say that my experience would be the same for those who took their PhD from so called diploma mills, and what one is taking up also matters. To be a Doctor of Philosophy in a specific field does not only add a title to my name, but it entitles me to have my contribution in the existing body of knowledge.

What's the difference? In gradeschool, we learn the terms that identifies the objects in the world and we describe those terms. In high school, we learn the concepts out of those terms and definitions we were supposed to know from grade school. In college, we try to derive concepts from generalizations that we can see applicable in the world, so that we can at least have a life outside school.

In the master's program, we thread the theories with the concepts we learned in college and determine how those theories apply in the social world. In PhD, we make the theories that make sense of the world. In other words, we contribute to the body of knowledge that perplexes the world.

A sophist, who has a passion for knowledge, persistent curiousity, and eagerness to learn, would not really need to attend a PhD courses. Who among the great Philosophers of classical times attended a PhD program? They merely gave theirselves time to learn, reflect and think about how people think. They argue with others and they argue with their thoughts.

But knowledge does not flourish in a vacuum. Learning is a social and cultural endeavor. Learning is assisted. Being in the PhD program have broaden and deepen my understanding of the many realities in communication. Which I will not have learned on my own even if I have those inclinations of a sophist. A PhD does not only teach what those early philosophers taught, they enable us to understand why and how they think they way they do.

In taking PhD, one learns to rediscover, uncover, recover, construct, deconstruct, theorize, synthesize knowledge from the existing and previous. Those who have gone through the path of knowing will have a lot to share to the new learners like me. And I appreciate all their contributions to what I know now.

A PhD holder, becomes a doctor of the field. Similar to a medical doctor, he sees, listens and observes the patient(phenomenon) and can identify the causes, implications and possible prescriptions to treat the pathology. In taking my PhD in Communication, it has enabled me to have the right senses and competence to understand the communication event and its elements in all its aspects.

The way to knowing is similar to taking that narrow road, and that narrow road does not allow for others to accompany the PhD student in his sojourn. My mentors are of great help as they introduced me to their mentors -- their professors in the letters of their published works. They are the beacons of light that guided my knowledge. They are enlightening as well as excruciating with their requirements and fanaticism.

If teachers require a student to read a book in a term in college, in the PhD program, several books have to be read in a few weeks. Reading may be easy, but understanding the complicated knowledge in those required reading materials is a pain in the neck. If to complete a bachelor's degree one needs to write a thesis, the PhD student has to write theses, one for every coursework in every term. Writing not just about what you read, but what you think of what you read is another gruelling task. One has to read so many things and construct meaning to all those things. That is PhD.

I still love it though despite all its odds.Like many other children, I too dreamt of becoming a doctor, but then I realized I got eeks for blood and open wounds. A Doctor of Philosophy does not carry a stethoscope, but the right lenses to provide understanding to the problematic world.

When Photos Speak

There is a new generation of photography, digital photography that innovates itself from the traditional manual photography.More and more photographers are enjoying their DSLR cameras as their shots can immediately come to life, since these cameras are also equipped with multimedia capacity. With the available computer applications and softwares, they can recreate these images into evocative presentations.

Photos remind us of our experiences and the memories of our past. One of my student is joining a photography contest with human rights theme. I remember him, from his creative works with photos and powerpoint presentations. I told him that he should take photography or multimedia arts and not hotel and restaurant management to hone his craft. Now he is the chief photographer of the school's student paper.

He asked me a favor to like his photo entry. I did not immediately heed to his request. Instead, I have to ask him a few questions first. As I saw his entry, I remember an issue from an international news program about the responsibility of photojournalists.

In the news, images of war victims were shown, and photojournalists merely took shots of them. The question is whether they have the responsibility to help those people whom they took pictures of. I could not immediately like my student's photo until I am convinced that his answers would have satisfied me.

He took a shot of a boy playing with a toy gun on the streets, with other kids. He said it was a candid shot and the boy was not a model. What came to my mind was the thought of creating a culture of violence, and that to these kids, they could be desensythize to the idea of violence.

I asked my student what did he do, after he took the shot. He said nothing. He replied, that it was a just a toy gun and that for him, it was photo opportunity. My issue here, is that a photojournalist is not just an eye or a lens. A photojournalist is thinking social individual, who has responsibility for other members of the society, most especially to the subject of his craft.

I argue that objectifying human subjects is dehumanizing them and dehumanizing the photographer. My student passed my gatekeeping by responding well to my second question. I asked how did the image impact him. He answered that the shot was taken two years ago, which influenced him to take photography seriously, and he wanted to tell other people through those kinds of shots that we have situations like that. Further, he explained that taking such images made him more aware and socially proactive, that he joins rallies and advocacies for such cause.

So he got my like on Facebook for that photo. But I would like to go back to an idiom that pictures speak a thousand words. An image will have multfarious meanings. Hence a caption or a story would help to clarify to the viewer what the artist intends to say about the subject.

He got my like because he was true to his words. That when he joined a seminar on photography, he came up with a multimedia presentation of the pictures he got about the aetas. For a novice, he got my approval. This is the link to his work on another human rights blog. In this blog, his photos speak, as he narrates a story on the plight of the Aetas of Zambales. If you like his photo, like the fan page that hosts it and like his photo. Share the photo as well to your friends if you like it.

Lastly, I would have to say that worst toy you could give any child this Christmas is a toy gun, whether it shoots water, foam or pellets. If you do this you participate in the promotion of a culture of violence.

As an update, the photo taken by Mario Espinosa, won both the people's choice award and the grand prize winner for the 2010 Tinamaan ka ng Lente, photo competition.