These are random thoughts about my humanity: my passion, my big dreams, my little joys, my values, my frustrations, my reflection, my advocacy, my work, MY LIFE AS I LIVE IT.
Disclaimer: This is not a review (like I’m an expert critic because I’m not), but a subjective expression of my thoughts about two TV series based on my own standards.
After watching Rome, Spartacus and Game of Thrones, my fascination for either historical or fantasy dramas further increased. But so did my standards as caused by these series.
In just two months, I finished watching three: Ben Hur, The Borgias and The Pillars of the Earth. Allow me to share my thoughts on the last two which are similar: cathedrals - one inhabited by Popes, the other envisioned by far less powerful clerics and ordinary people.
For a change, The Borgias’ principal characters are not English kings or Roman emperors but princes of the church. The series, which just completed its Season 1, is loosely based on the notoriety of the Borgia family from the Renaissance, which interestingly inspired Machiavelli’s The Prince and Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. In a grand way, Season 1 highlights the rise to power of the Borgias, from Rodrigo’s bribery to becoming Pope Alexander VI to the family’s schemes to save their political powers from coup threats. In some ways, The Borgias is like The Tudor, Spartacus and Rome, as it is generous in showing off skins, sex and violence. Well, it's just faithful to its tagline: “Sex. Power. Murder. Amen.”
And like the series mentioned, The Borgias can boast of lavish production values – elaborately designed sets and colorful costumes. Aside from these visual elements, the show’s strength comes from actor Jeremy Irons who I think plays Pope very convincingly and some other minor supporting cast who do act really well (again, at least in my own standards).
Other than the production design, costumes and Irons, I think that the series is a bit cluttered. Storylines/subplots do not seem to make a whole. The progression of the story is somewhat vague indecisive as to which character is lead (whether the Pope or his Cardinal-son) and which subplot should be given more attention. Had I not read about what happened before, during and after the Borgia papacy, I would not have understood the historical context of the series.
The first installment of the historical drama also failed to make me feel and understand the motivations and long-term ambitions of lead characters, Pope and Cesare. When I watched Spartacus’ Spartacus and Lentulius Batiatus and even minor characters, and Rome Season 2’s Mark Antony, Octavian and Atia, I sensed their internal movements and motivations for their actions though effective character development.
I also got a bit confused if the series is trying to depict the family as evil or redeem the family. I find the depiction blurred. Consider, however, the following corruption and perversion that describe the Borgia family: The Pope has a wife, and children, and a mistress. He appoints his son Cesare a Cardinal. Cesare has a mistress, kills her husband, and liquidates his father’s enemies by poisoning them. His daughter Lucrezia flirts with his brother Cesare, marries a Duke for politics and keeps a secret love affair. The Pope’s second son, Juan, has fascination for prostitutes and has an affair with his teenage brother’s wife. So I don’t think it’s acceptable for the series to attempt at glorifying the family's successful corruption.
Overall, Season 1 of The Borgias, minus the sex and production design, is boring. I remember sleeping in some parts of the series. Maybe, just maybe, I'll give Season 2 another chance.
Focus and character development: these are where the miniseries Pillars of the Earth succeeded. This series does not exactly have the 'Lord of the Rings feel' or the 'Games of Throne wow factor', but it has the necessary elements effectively combined for me to watch the eight-hour miniseries in one day.
An adaptation of Ken Folett’s bestselling book, The Pillars of the Earth follows the drama behind the construction of a cathedral in a town in England during the historical Anarchy period of the 12th century. With this plot that spans forty years, the story highlights the political, religious and personal conflicts between and among the characters and the classic conflict between good and evil through the factions of kings, church people and ordinary people motivated by sex, love, ambition and power.
I think that the series succeeded in terms of character development and acting. Matthew Macfadyen’s portrayal of Prior Philip effectively pictures him as a principled and wise monk, and Rufus Sewell is believable as Tom Builder providing the vision of a cathedral. The performance of Eddie Redmayne (Jack the stone artist) is noteworthy, which reminded me of the silent yet persuasive kind of acting Ben Whishaw did in Perfume: Story of a Murderer. But though I’m sympathetic to the good casts, I think that the antagonists’ ensemble made their presence pretty strong in the series, especially with Ian McShane’s portrayal of the evil and controlling cleric Waleran Bigod, and Alison Pill creepy depiction of Maud (like Helena Bonham Charter as Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter movie).
I read that many fans of Folett’s books actually liked the TV adaptation so they are hoping that there'll be a TV series for World Without End with a plot set two centuries after the cathedral had been completed.
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to watching more costume dramas this Christmas vacation.
As pronounced by this year's theme: “Heroes bleed love,” the Dugong Atenista program celebrates five years of 'ordinary' heroism this 2011. For five years now, the program has inspired the University community to make 1,570 blood donations. It has benefitted hundreds of unknown recipients of these collected blood units, and made more than a hundred referrals for Ateneans, immediate families and friends. It has facilitated the formation of donors, especially students, to develop a strong sense of volunteerism and new perspective on heroism through blood donation.
Brief History
Dugong Atenista was launched in July 2007 by the Office of Student Affairs, in cooperation with other partner offices like the Personnel Services Office, as an outreach program which aimed at providing ready and safe blood to the University community in times of medical emergencies. The first two bloodletting activities were done during the outreach days of the Feasts of St. Ignatius de Loyola and St. Francis Xavier. The frequency and scheduling of the drives have been carried out up to now.
In February 2008, the intention of ADNU to sustain the program was formalized in a Memorandum of Agreement signing with Bicol Medical Center, with the BMC Medical Chief and the University President as signatories.
In June of the same year, with the restructuring of OSA as a formation office, Dugong Atenista was redefined as a formation program and incorporated into the Ateneo Student Awareness and Action Program (ASAP!). Since the redefinition of Dugong Atenista as a formation program, donors gathered after each bloodletting activity in a processing session, where their motivations for donating blood were revisited, and their experiences were recounted and deepened using the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm processing tool.It is in this venue where the program strives to motivate the donors to continue donating blood as an important, healthy and heroic act.
Over the years, the program has tried to popularize easy-to-memorize themes highlighting ideas of love and heroism, and inviting Ateneans, especially the students, to participate in the bloodletting activities and develop the formation that they can gain from the program:
·Donate blood and save lives! (2007)
·You Can Be Ignatian Heroes: Donate blood and save lives! (2008)
·Give the Gift of Life (2009)
·I am loved. I give blood. (2010)
·Love. Bleed. Let live. (2010)
·July 31 is Ateneo Heroes Day: Heroes bleed love. (2011)
The Blood Drives and the On-Call Donation Program
Since 2007, the OSA and BMC have conducted nine bloodletting drives. The first bloodletting activity of the program already drew 86 donors, which according to BMC is impressive for a start. This figure grew year by year, now reaching a total of 1,570 donations in eight bloodletting activities.
Dugong Atenista recorded the highest number of recruited donors in one setting by a private organization in Bicol four times: in July 2008 (200), in July 2010 (200), in November 2010 (227) and in the latest drive (263).
Bloodletting Activities
Number of Donors
Rank
Growth Rate
July 2011
263
1
15.86%
November 2010
227
2
13.50%
July 2010
200
3
9.29%
December 2009
183
6
0.54%
July 2009
182
5
-3.19%
December 2008
188
4
24.50%
July 2008
151
7
67.78%
December 2007
90
8
4.66%
July 2007
86
9
Total number of donations in nine (9) bloodletting activities
1, 570
Table No. 1. Total number of donors per bloodletting activity, School Years 2007-2011
To date, the Dugong Atenista program has made referrals benefitting more than a hundred members of the ADNU community, relatives and friends out of the collections in the bloodletting activities.
Classification of
Referral-Beneficiaries
Year
Total
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Student
No classification done
7
0
1
0
8
Relative of Student
18
9
11
6
44
Faculty/ Staff
5
1
5
0
11
Relative of Faculty/ Staff
10
12
29
4
55
Others
0
0
2
0
2
TOTAL of beneficiaries through referrals
15
40
22
48
10
120
Table No. 2 and Graph No. 1. Summary and Classification of Referral-Beneficiaries, Years 2007-2011.
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
No. of Bags of Blood Released by BMC
82
172
71
160
17
No. of bags of blood collected during the bloodletting activities
176
339
365
427
263
No. of bags of blood ADNU can still avail of
94
167
294
267
246
Table No. 3. Units of Blood released to referral-beneficiaries, Years 2007-2011.
Note: The units of blood collected are all used by BMC, but ADNU is still entitled to dispense the same number of units of blood collected during the Dugong Atenista bloodletting activities, for its referral-beneficiaries for the members of the ADNU community and their immediate families.
Blood Transfusion due to low count of hemoglobin and internal bleeding
2
-
13
19
34
Birth Labor
-
-
1
1
2
Dengue
1
-
2
-
3
Cancer
-
-
1
1
2
Table No. 4. Reasons of referral-beneficiaries for their requests, Years 2010-2011 only.
The on-call donation component of the program has also become more effective now in responding to special cases (dengue, etc.).
These achievements have been recognized both by the Department of Health-Bicol and the BMC for its efforts in concretizing the National Blood Services Act of 1994 in the campus.
The Formation of Donors and Volunteers
“I am loved. I give blood.” This Ignatian Spirituality-inspired theme in 2010 can summarize the experiences of the blood donors who have attended the thanksgiving and experience-processing sessions conducted by OSA every after bloodletting activity since 2008.
To appreciate the motivations and impact of the program on the donors, the inputs of the 2010 volunteers during a processing session can be reviewed. They positively claimed that they donated blood to help save lives, among other noble and personal reasons.
To save a life by giving a part of oneself was the most common motivation for the donors. This was also articulated by Dugong Atenista regular donor Manuel Sambo, Media Studies Laboratory custodian. “I am a blood donor; I save lives,” he said, echoing the popular tagline of BMC’s blood services program.
Similarly, University Treasurer Ramon Nonito Ayo, shared that his awareness of the importance of blood donation motivated him to donate blood. He recounted the first time he donated blood to his inaanak who had dengue fever, an experience which inspired him to make regular blood donation a personal pledge. He described how good it feels knowing that he forms part of the recipients through his blood which now flow into their veins.
Political Science senior student John Eduard Alejo explained that he donated out of unconditional love for others. He said that he does not expect even for a “Thank you” from those who may benefit from the blood extracted from him.
Aside from charity, Alex Pilapil, DACA Laboratory custodian, pointed out the benefit of regularly donating blood for him. He said that he has been encouraged to adopt a healthy lifestyle so that he could be qualified the next time he donates blood.
Katherine Tormes of BMC affirmed this statement as one of the advantages of blood donation. For a donor to be qualified, she explained that one must have stable blood pressure, in the right weight, and free from illnesses and sexually transmitted diseases.
Many student-donors shared that the first challenge for them was to overcome the fear of needle or the pain that it would take during the blood extraction.
For instance, Gil Andru O. Abrazado, a Nursing student, had to put off his plan to donate blood in December 2007 because his fear of needle. However, his desire to participate in Dugong Atenista outgrew his phobia the next semester when he successfully donated blood for the first time. Now a four-time donor, he wrote in his reflection paper that he would not mind experiencing the pain again and again because he believes that “there is always someone in need, so there is always a reason to bleed.”
On a similar note, Mary Ann I. Santos, a Nursing student, wrote that the little “pain that one would feel with the prick of a needle is nothing compared to the fulfillment the donation will give.”
One of the important successes of the Dugong Atenista program is the strong presence of students in all drives. The student sector comprised about 75 to 90 percent of the total number of donors in each drive. The program also clicked among student organizations as at least 60 percent of the donors represented at least 30 student organizations since 2008. Aside from being the largest donor-sector, students and student organizations have also helped both in the campaign and in the conduct of bloodletting of Dugong Atenista. The Donor Care, composed of trained Nursing students, have assisted the BMC phlebotomists in extracting blood from and taking care of the donors. Hence, the program has become a hands-on training of selected Nursing students on a course-related field.
Donor-sector
July 31, 2007
December 3, 2007uly 31, 2007
July 31, 2008
December 2, 2008
July 31, 2009
December 1, 2009
July 31, 2010
November 30, 2010
July 30, 2012
Total
Students
77
73
129
169
143
160
155
180
212
1298
Office Staff
2
9
6
11
19
10
17
16
13
103
Administrators
4
3
4
1
2
1
4
2
2
23
Faculty
3
5
8
2
2
6
9
7
8
50
Alumni
0
0
3
5
16
6
15
20
13
78
Others (Relatives, Friends, Etc.)
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
2
15
18
Total
86
90
151
188
182
183
200
227
263
1570
Table No. 4. Profile of blood donors (By Sector), School Years 2007 - 2011
The OSA has also tapped student organizations like Ateneo Red Cross Youth and Ateneo Dance Club as volunteers during pre-registration of potential donors and actual blood drives.
It is also interesting to note the figures of regular and first time donors. In the most recent drive, for example, 50.19 percent of the total figure donated at least once in previous years, while 49.81 percent bled for the first time. These figures suggest a parallel rise in the number of frequent and first time donors.
In 2010, OSA released and awarded the donors who have bled four to nine times. One faculty was able to donate in all nine drives. The OSA interprets the first figure as an affirmation that the program has already developed a pool of regular donors. In fact, in the exit registration, most of the donors expressed willingness to donate blood in next scheduled bloodletting activity. Many of these donors are coming from the student sector, but also from the employees and the alumni who had participated in the drives during their college years. On the other hand, the rise in the number of first time donors (6.74 percent growth rate), OSA explains, is a success indicator of the program campaign’s effectiveness in developing positive public knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards blood donation, stressing on its importance and safety. Together, the parallel growths of regular and first time donors are important in ensuring the sustainability of the Dugong Atenista in the coming years.
And after five years of overwhelming support from the University community, the OSA and BMC understand a clear message: the community needs Dugong Atenista. In response to this, the organizers of the program is poised to continue serving the community by providing the community safe and ready supply of blood through the bloodletting drives and recruitment of on-call donors. It is poised to intensify its efforts to challenge and form Ateneans to bleed as a selfless act of volunteerism, an expression of unconditional love for others and as a way of thanking God for His blessing.
