GLOBALIZATION

The walkway through the course of Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking was interesting enough to keep us all going. It exercised our keen mental discernment and we were able to develop good judgment as we critically learned to formulate our own stances on issues and concerns, provide alternative solutions for both societal and political conflicts, and fully grasp the interconnections between our neural connections and social realities. The course covers a wide variety of lessons and all of them were discussed to comprehensibly. As we skim through our lectures, we were able to academically discern the definition of a trend, characteristic of a trend, review about strategic analysis and intuitive thinking; understand its key components, and most specially the one that I really got interested about, Globalization. Starting from the basics, the term globalization was derived from the word globalize, which refers to the emergence of an international network of economic systems. The rapid growth of Globalization is highly evident not only to a small international scope but as well as to the large and numerous powerhouse countries across the globe. The strength of Globalization expands the exchange of ideas and commodities over vast distances. Another thing that I highly appreciate in our class was the fact that the phenomenon of Globalization may be commonly presented into highly generalized terms but we were able to understand it since it was discussed until its local level. We were also able to unravel some significant cases of globalization which exhibits various manifestation of interrelations and interconnectedness in the world; how it affects real life interaction of several people into different places. As a Humanities and Social Sciences student, the idea of a continuous flow of social interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, etc. excite me. Interestingly enough, the topic of globalization got it all covered. Despite of its broad scope, it possess several effective 21st century skills from its various effects and causes which may be helpful to mold a well-rounded student. Globalization isn’t limited to its driving forces caused by international trade and investment (which is usually aided by information technology). I believe, from what I learned, that the overall prospect of Globalization is vital for economic change. Its process has a long-term effect on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the globe. From the observable increasing interaction between nation-states and individuals, it’s only fair to say that the relevancy of globalization all throughout our daily lives will never become insignificant as time goes by. Globalization became as one of the firm pillars of the growth from international trade, ideas, and culture. Its economic aspect might be dominant compare the process of social and cultural integration however, societal conflicts and diplomacy are also one of the main trajectory of globalization. To sum it all up, there might be a lot of specific topics which are correlated to each other, I think globalization covered majority of the given subject matters to the course.

Pan's Labyrinth a masterpiece by Guillermo del Torro

Plot Summary

The movie revolves around Ofelia. The movie starts at an underworld kind of place. The movie setting is at 1944, 5 years after the Spanish Civil War. It starts when a pregnant mother, Carmen and her daughter, Ofelia travel to a district in the woods of Spain to meet the Captain Vidal, he is a sadist military man who is a strict man that values time. He is also the new husband of Carmen. Ofelia wanders into a labyrinth, and was met with Mercedes, the head helper of Captain Vidal. At night, when they are asleep, a fairy lured Ofelia into the labyrinth. There she met a faun, who told her that her real name is Princess Moana, and she lives in the underworld. In order to go to the underworld, Ofelia must complete three tasks. First is that she should a key from a frog in the woods, the faun gave her three stones and she fed and killed the frog, she then takes the key and goes on to do her second task. Her second task was she would use the key to open a vault to get the dagger. She was warned not to eat the food so that the “Pale Man” would not wake up and eat her. She ate 2 grapes which the “Pale Man” felt and began to eat 2 fairies and ran after her. She barely escapes the “Pale Man” but she got the dagger. Carmen’s health was getting worse. The faun gave Ofelia a mandrake root which Ofelia will put it under her mother’s bed. Captain Vidal executes two farmers who they thought were rebels. Captain Vidal’s main problem was the rebels. Captain Vidal locks Ofelia in a room, but the faun gave her a chalk to help them escape. Carmen dies from childbirth. The third task was to get her baby brother and bring it to the labyrinth. Ofelia then drugged Captain Vidal’s drink and steals her brother. There the faun tells Ofelia to finish her task to go to the underworld, the faun needed the blood of the innocent but Ofelia won’s let her brother get harmed which angered the faun. Captain Vidal finds Ofelia and forcibly took his son and shoots Ofelia, killing her with one shot. When Captain Vidal got out of the labyrinth, he is met with the rebels. He gave his son to Mercedes and says “Please let my son know the time of my death”, Mercedes answered “He will not know your name”. Mercedes’ brother shoots Captain Vidal in the head, killing him. Mercedes and the other rebels found Ofelia with her last dying breath. Ofelia’s blood poured down the center of the labyrinth which her soul transfers to the underworld where she meets her parents and the faun. The faun tells Ofelia that she had finished her tasked and is allowed at the underworld.

The End……. Or is it

 

Symbols and Interpretations

1.       Ofelia did not want the pregnancy in the first place. Her first task was to get a key from the frog. The frog lived in a womb like tree, which I assume represents Carmen’s womb. When she got inside the tree she sees the frog and kills it. I assume that the frog symbolizes the sperm cell or the fetus of the baby. So when she killed the frog, it felt like she had killed the baby inside her mother’s womb.

2.       Her second task was to get the dagger from the Pale man’s lair. She has limited time to get the dagger, because when the hourglass is done, the door closes. The hourglass symbolizes Captain Vidal’s obsession with the importance of time.

 

Personal Reflection

The movie is about the realities of life. It focuses on the evil this world has (wars, murders, dictators). Come to think of it, Ofelia did not witness any violence throughout the film except when she was shot by Captain Vidal. I realized that life will not be the way we want it to be. Life is not perfect in general. We are somehow blinded by the true events in our life, we tend to focus on the things we want. With the presence of war and violence, and the eyes of an innocent girl who discovers a fairytale in the woods. I don’t know if what happened to Ofelia is true or it is just an imagination of Ofelia because of her hobby of reading fairytale books. It is somehow a children’s movie but because of the violence I would give it an R rating. I think that fairytales give children a framework to understand the brutal world of the adults. The fantasies she encountered was the way she could cope up with the real world. The film is all about authority and disobedience. The doctor in the movie is a hero, he always chooses on what is the right thing to do and not always what he is told to do. The movie really is a masterpiece, you need to have a deep meaning in what the movie is really all about.

 

I would rate the movie a solid 4.5/5 it is one of Guillermo Del Torro’s best work.

 

 

Pistang Tomasino

Pistang Tomasino 2018
the Pistang Tomasino was from Febraury 12 to 15, 2018 at the QuadriPark at the University of Santo Tomas. It an event in which local communities from different parts of the Philippines sell the product from their respective provinces or from small communities like from people at jail or from persons with disabilities. This activity aims to sell and highlight the products from small marginalized sectors of our community. This event reached the students of University of Santo Tomas and helps them understand the type of products they offer. They aim to sell in order to make profit to have money for everyday life in exchange the consumers get quality products from the hard work from the people that made the products and to showcase what they can do.
                                                                

                                                                   Champorado
On the first day of the Pistang Tomasino, I saw my classmate eating chaporado, and I tasted it and it was "yummy" because I was hungry at that time. The first thing I bought was a cup of champorado. they sold champorado for 20 philippine pesos per cup. the seller was very nice and polite and said the champorado was made at somewhere in cagayan. the serving for its price was okay not too much and not too little for its price.  a champorado is a sweet chocolate rice porridge in filipino cuisine. it is often served hot during merienda time and sometimes during breakfast. it is beast partner with tuyo(dried fish) or with putomaya. but the philippine champorado was not the first of its kind. the first version of champorado was from mexico. it was mostly influenced by the spanish by the galleon trade. champorado's ingredients are very simple. its ingredients consists of cocoa powder, water, milk, sticky rice("malagkit" is the local term). the health benefit of eating champorado is that its main ingredient is cocoa. Cocoa is good for your heart and reduces the risk of stroke.yiiiiks

Pastillas

the second one i bought from the Pistang Tomasino is a pack of pastillas. it is also called "Pastillas de yeme" or "Pastiyema". It was very delicious you can finish one pack by yourself. Pastillas originated in the city of San Miguel in Bulacan. And it spread in the far provinces like Cagayan and Masbate. i bought 1 pack of pastillas for 20 pesos. it was worth every peso because you get 10 pieces for 20 pesos, which is a great deal for the price. Pastillas are made from cow's or carabao's milk with refined sugar. Pastillas festival is celebrated at San Miguel, Bulacan every May of the year. 

Nylon bracelet 

The third one the I bought was a bracelet made from nylon that the persons with disabilities made from Caloocan city. The bracelet's design was simple yet eye catching. It is very thick knowing the quality of this bracelet you'll get your money's worth with this. I bought it for only 35 pesos which is a great price. I still wear the bracelet because it has style in it and looks good, people would always compliment it.

In my opinion, the Pistang Tomasino event should be a month long event because it is a chance for the students to engage in communicating and hearing stories from people of different cultures. I am disappointed with myself because I didn't buy enough items from the bazaar which could help people who made them. I hope this event would be a regular activity at University of Santo Tomas. This event helped me in being engaged, hearing and learning stories from the people themselves.