Kindergarten

I read an article about this before, but I could not remember where I read it. So I wrote my own version of it. This is somehow similar to the original text. I hope I will get hold of that article again. It is a really nice one.

In kindergarten, I learned everything I have to learn about life. I don’t have to graduate elementary nor finish high school nor get a degree in order to to be taught of the lessons in life. Kindergarten is already enough for me to go on living.

In kindergarten, I was taught to say “please” when I need something. And I have to tell it in a polite manner of speaking, giving due respect to the person whom I am asking a favor.

I was taught to say “thank you” when I received a snack, a toy, a gift, words of praise or whatever things others gave me. I have to say it cheerfully, wholeheartedly, with a smile.

I was taught to say “excuse me” when I will pass by two persons speaking, or if I will say something while a conversation is going on. This happens often when my parents were talking to someone and I would be asking for something from them like accompanying me to the comfort room or giving me a drink of water.

I was also taught to say “sorry” when I did something wrong. When I was young, I often hurt my playmates or offend other people or bully my brother. And my mother would always make it  a point that I will apologize to the person whom I have hurt or offended.

I was taught to value rest as part of my everyday life. My mother reminded me to take an afternoon nap. This helps me recharge after a tiresome morning of play and lessons, and prepares me for an afternoon of play.

I was also taught share. Whatever food or toy I have, I have to share it with my playmate or a friend. Selfishness was already discouraged in kindergarten.

I was taught to obey my parents, authorities, and the law. If I do, I will never be put to trouble.

I was also taught to be honest. Do not lie. Tell the truth. Even if it meant being spanked, I must tell the truth. If not, I will suffer greater consequences.

I was taught not to steal or get the belongings of other people. It is bad. I will not have everything, neither do other people. I have to be contented of what I have.

Most importantly, I learned to love people. As a child, all hatred should be gone before tomorrow comes. My friends are my friends. My enemies did not remain as my enemies. There was always rooms for reconciliation. I learned to accept them regardless of their name, their color, the look of their faces, their body size, their social and economic status, their parents, their toys, their houses and their way of dealing with me. As a child, I learned to accept the fact that all of us are different but we can all play together harmoniously.

Life’s lessons are already instilled to a person early on in his/her life. It’s just a matter of applying it continuously. As we age, we tend to be so busy in other things viewed as needed for surviving in lthis life. But we often missed the little lessons our teachers taught us when we were still young and we end up being revengeful, unforgiving, selfish, corrupt, rebellious, ungrateful, complainers, busy, tired, burnt out, and disrespectful.

We may have received ribbons in elementary, graduated with honors in high school, earned a bachelor’s degree, and got a license, but if we forgot to be good boys and girls, these achievements are of no value.

Be good.

It’s kindergarten.

It’s Not About the Trophy

For senior Organizational Communication students of UP Manila, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) Student Conference and Grand Prix Competition is a much-awaited event.

It has a one-day seminar on topics about public relations in general and social media among others. There is also an interschool competition where teams from different schools create a PR plan for a certain case. Entries will be screened and only seven will enter the finals on the second day of the event.

This year, four teams submitted their entries.

Two teams qualified for the finals.

The whole batch of UPM OrCom supported their two bets.

The teams did not make it to the top three.

But there were no tears of failure and regret. Instead, there were beaming smiles from the teams, from the OrCom students, and from the UP professor/ team adviser.

Why?

There are so many benefits already. The OrCom students learned a lot from the presentations of PR plans of other schools. They got to know what PR practitioners and other professionals look for in a PR plan. The comments from the judges were helpful in spotting holes and good points in those presented by the finalists.

What else? They also learned that in Public Relations, winning is not about the trophy. It is about how a person as a practitioner relates effectively and efficiently to his/her publics. As long as he/she does his/her job well, he/she is a winner.

 

This made me proud of how the University of the Philippines Manila trains her students in the field of PR.

“We are trained not to win contests or competitions, but to land on the job that we want.” (Barrientos, 2011)

The Power of WE

I thought that I could do almost everything. I am young, full of youthful vigor, enthusiastic in doing a lot of tasks at the same time.

I am great in multitasking. That’s what I think.

But a group work in a major subject in OrCom shattered this fantasy of mine. I may be an expert “dovetailer” or multitasker but not all work yields a desirable product or outcome.

A groupmate made me realize that I should admit and accept the fact that I cannot do all things on my own no matter how intelligent or talented I am. I know of others who can help me in accomplishing my task. I can delegate parts of the work to people who are skilled or specialized in doing certain things. I should not be overconfident that I would obtain the best results when I do things on my own.

So I changed my work mentality. I started to yield to the force which is better and surer than my own energy. There will be less stress and better time management, fewer resources wasted and more quality achieved.

We can do almost everything. We are young, full of youthful vigor, enthusiastic in doing tasks using each and every one’s specialized skills.

We can yield a better output, a more desirable outcome.

It is not about what I can do. It is about what WE can do.

~to my groupmate, thank you for teaching me the value of WE

Ipagpatawad Mo

“Ipagpatawad mo, minahal kita agad.”

I could not believe it. I just watched a music video of a French guy singing “Ipagpatawad Mo” with some French words included in the song. He is even paired with Miss Universe-Philippines Venus Raj in the video. Youtube views of his MV soared to more than 14,000 within a span of one week.  The music is relaxing, and somehow the style sounds quite familiar. Everything, from the French artist to the musical instruments used, is familiar. I could still picture myself grooving to the beat.

I could still remember him sing that song for the first time. It was during his band’s rehearsals way back in summer. And I could still not believe that it would sell.

Julien Drolon is a proof of how public relations and social media work in someone’s image.

It was March 2011 when Team EAZ (composed of Alyssa Ayes, Alyssa Batu, Jenny Mae Recla, Mark Sanchez and I) started making a PR plan for Julien and his band. They did not have a big name yet in the music industry although they have performed in some places like Hongkong and Shanghai. So our team was tasked to promote his first single, Phil So Good, last summer. This would eventually lead to his launch of the band’s album on June 2011.

We used the social media as supplementary efforts in promoting the band and Phil So Good, and what I can say is that it was quite a success. We were able to have people download the song for free through orangemagazinetv.com and mediafire.com, and reach the goal of having 12,000 fans in their Facebook fanpage. A Tumblr account made for the campaign became a tool for information and also announcements about the mall tours and other performances of the Julien Drolon band. Bloggers began to blog about him and Phil So Good. They were later featured in local songhits or music magazines and radio stations.

People started to get to know the French guy who composes and sings songs of peace and love and happiness for the Philippines.

Thanks to public relations and social media. The Julien Drolon band is now making a big name in the Philippine music industry.

“I’m in the Philippines…and I feel so good, so good, so good.”

Movies that Define Me

Bombs are blasting around me, screams of war and the rattling of M-16’s and machine guns filled the suffocating smoky air. After a wink of an eye, a doctor wearing thick-rimmed glasses and a surgical mask looks at me with piercing eyes examining a psychotic person strapped in a chair. Then, I am a lonely teenager in the midst of a chaotic high school party, silent and helpless and longing to break free. In reality, I am just staring blankly at an empty wall.

Movies play a huge part in my view on life. Like a typical person, I watch almost any kind of movie. In fact, I have watched hundreds of movies already and the only ones which remained fresh in my memory are those which struck my imagination so hard that I sometimes treat reality as a part of a film. I prefer to watch a movie that tackles about the problematic side of life rather than one filled with fantasy and an expected happy ending. Some of my all-time favorites are The Band of Brothers,Saving Private Ryan, Anne Frank, Speak, The Butterfly Effect, Grave of Fireflies, and Fame (2009). My preference does not mean that I am a depressed person, psychologically unsound, sadistic or masochistic.  In fact, I am an optimistic person. These are my favorites because they make me look deeply into life and the world, the different world views of people of different times, and how the people in the stories deal with life’s challenges and uncertainties, whether they succeed or fail.

My imagination runs wild most of the time especially after watching a really good movie. And before I knew it, I am already adopting some of the attitudes or points of view of the cast. When I achieved something great, I tend to sing my heart out with joy just like the students of the New York Performing Arts School in the movie “Fame (2009)”. In times of loneliness, I sometimes felt like a refugee of World War II or a victim of school bullies. Sometimes I have a feeling of regret over things which I should have done but have not and I wish that life would be just like The Butterfly Effectwhere I can have a chance to look at all the results of my options in making a decision. Movie scenes have highly influenced my responses to certain experiences, especially those which have similarities in my life.

My past experiences with my adventure-filled childhood, broken family and high school politics affect my attitude on choosing films. The kind of movie I watch defines me as a person. Though I am a positive thinker, I am interested with the problems encountered by humans in their everyday lives or in times of danger and suspense. I desire to know how to resolve a dilemma although I admit that I am not a superhuman. I find this attitude of mine as a good one because I exercise my imagination most of the time and because I am able to identify possible solutions to certain life problems. On the other hand, my perception of reality has become tainted with imagination that I tend to forget who I really am. I am not the soldier in Normandy. I am neither the psychotic patient nor the high school party rape victim. I am really the person staring blankly at an empty wall.

-i wrote this for my Speech Communication 183 class (Audio Visual Communication) last 2nd semester AY 2010-2011

Most Requested Topic (?)

Okay, sit down, relax. Let us talk about Philippine politics: the national government, the executive, legislative and judicial bodies, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the 1987 Constitution, Cha-Cha, nepotism, clan rules, political dynasties, elections, the national debt and budget, pork barrel, the opposition and the administration.

While I am typing those terms, I feel uneasy. And when you’re reading it, I assume that you don’t feel relaxed. Well, that is what most of us will feel when we encounter those words.

Why should we care about politics, anyway? And, why should a communicologist like me (and maybe you) care about it, too?

Studying Organizational Communication in the University of the Philippines Manila is not just about evaluating companies, managing relationships, and making communication plans. I realized this when I took a subject on Development Studies 126 (DS 126) or Socio-Politico Institutions and Behavior. The description might be unexciting but the lessons are rich in knowledge and stuff about nation-building, governance, and national or local interests.

As I study Philippine politics and government, I begin to understand that communication has been and is still playing a vital role in the making and managing of this nation.

Philippine elections show how symbols and other images affect the behavior of the Filipinos and the supporters of a certain politician running for office. I find the campaign messages of the candidates very amusing. I think it would be nice if I devote a separate blog post for this topic.

The organizational structures of the national and local government show a highly bureaucratic nation. The structure is quite tall, resembling an almost isosceles-type of triangle. No wonder, a message from the masses, if following the protocols of the government, has to travel all the way up the steep bureaucratic ladder for it to reach the topmost position.

I started to see how personal interests over organizational interests led many of our leaders and government employees to engage in graft and corruption. Speeches delivered by politicians contained sugar-coated messages which, in truth, were not altogether beneficial to the Filipino people. Vague promises of fighting corruption and eradicating poverty are content of these speeches, clear messages of deception and/or confusion. The media’s role in being the fourth branch of the government affects the people’s perception and understanding of the current state of the nation, the leaders, and the other issues our country is facing.

I can go on talking about how a communicologist can be useful in the realm of politics and governance. But it would be better if I tackle one topic at a time next time.

So, what do I want to say in this blog post?

Politics is not a boring or taboo topic for people in the field of communications. As a matter of fact, we need leaders and government employees who are good communicators, honest ones, and sensitive people. We are in need of communicators who understand their audiences, and who are sensitive to their nonverbal language, too.

What else can I say? We should not feel uneasy about this area of life. Organizational communicologists can change the nation!

Paint OrCom RED

OrCom students are generally viewed with certain stereotypes, one of which is that we do not support and/or join progressive movements of students.

Orcom people are not activists. They are elitists. They support capitalism. They work in multinational and other private corporations. They do not join in rallies. They are not very much concerned with the budget cuts, the privatization of social services, the national government, and the issues in the University of the Philippines Manila.

But think twice. We, OrCom people, are not numb citizens of the nation. We do care about the issues our University is facing. The dilemmas of the masses and the crises our nation is undergoing are not hidden from our sights, and we do not ignore these things. Instead, we have our own way of showing the people our insights, our concern about what is going on. We use the power of word of mouth communication by sharing information and our concerns with our friends, loved ones, and students from high schools and other colleges or universities. We also use the power of social media by spreading videos in the digital world.

Here are videos which the OrCom batch of 2012 made in support of the budget cut strike of the University of the Philippines Manila and other state colleges and universities (SUC):

I know that there are other things we can do aside from the ones mentioned above.

OrCom also has a say on this matter.