Ways to Know if Your Student has the Spring Fling for You

By: Jeunesse San Juan
Photo By: Inmagine Stock Photography
UNPUBLISHED SERVICE ARTICLE

Have you ever felt that a particular student of yours gives you more time and attention than he should? Do you think that the love bug has invaded your classroom this season? It may be the spring fling. Before you panic and stop calling him for recitation, consult our list below of things that college boys do to teachers they find attractive. Does he…

• stay after class to strike a conversation

• always stay at a particular spot at a particular time of a particular day where you walk that particular part of the corridor just to say hi

• invite you to go to events that involve him at his best disposition such as a basketball game, a play premiere or a debate

• help you carry that heavy laptop from the University IMS

• make the most random (and usually annoying) comments about you just to get your attention

• recite more often than usual

• ask about the topic even if you know he fully understands it

• behave differently when you praise other male students

• act weirdly when you talk to or about other male professors

• compliment your outfit every now and then

If you said yes to at least 7 of these signs, do not fret. According to American history and gender studies professor Hugo Schwyzer, a truly effective teacher will often be the object of desire, no matter what he or she looks like. This is because of the psychological axiom that people don’t just get crushes on people we want, but they get crushes on people they want to be like. It simply means that you have a quality that your student wants to bring out in him. Next time your student shows signs that he likes you, try channeling this ‘spring fling’ into him getting good or even better grades. After all, that is what teaching is all about.

Of Condoms and of the Church

By: Jeunesse San Juan
Photo By: Office of the President
Editorial Cartoon By: Pat Bagley
UNPUBLISHED OPINION COLUMN

Last February, during the eve of Valentine’s Day, the Department of Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral distributed condoms at the Dangwa flower market to promote the prevention of HIV-AIDS, which has been spreading in the call center community in the past weeks. Catholic Church leaders have reacted upon the secretary’s measure as “vulgar” to the point of influencing the youth to become promiscuous and have been urging her to step down from office up to now.

Though it is true that the distribution of contraceptives might encourage premarital sex, condoms are still the best way of preventing HIV-AIDS from spreading in the Philippines. Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani claims that the more effective way to combat HIV-AIDS would be a campaign for total abstinence, put he offers no supporting details regarding this statement. According to information presented by D.T. Fleming and J.N. Wasserheit in 1999, significant biological evidence exists that links STDs and HIV. According to their research, the presence of STDs increases the likelihood of HIV transmission during sexual contact. In addition, a study in 1992 proved that people with HIV and STD transmit their virus more readily than people infected with HIV alone. This, therefore, proves the need for condoms in being 97% effective as prevention for both STD’s and AIDS through sexual intercourse, putting to mind its efficiency rate from previous studies in the Philippine setup.

Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez also stated that “Secretary Cabral should not continue serving until June because the culture and morality of society will be endangered under her. First, she does not respect the big number of Catholics in the country who oppose the distribution of condoms. Second, is she Catholic? I doubt that she is. Because if you are a Catholic and in the government, you should be living the teachings of the Church. But she is doing the opposite.” The statement is a weak argument, especially when you come to consider how the culture and morality would be endangered by one person alone trying to prevent HIV-AIDS. Bishop Gutierrez fails to set the parameters on what defines “society”. If he intends to define it as the ‘big number of Catholics who oppose the distribution of condoms,’ then maybe he should answer to the big number of Catholics who are for the fast and effective prevention of HIV-AIDS in the country, as well as those who are of other religions. The second statement is also questionable in the sense that he missed out on the fact that Secretary Cabral is the head of the DOH and that her priority, first and foremost, would be the safety of her people and not her own beliefs, whether or not she is a devout Catholic.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, also condemned the DOH for helping “cheapen sex and human love.” On a conservative approach, we can agree on the fact that sex is cheapened when it is not done within the walls of marriage. The waterloo on Fr. Castro’s claim is on how the prevention of HIV-AIDS can cheapen human love, or even premarital sex for that matter. Is marital sexual intercourse the only basis of human love? We would have to ask the millions of married Catholic couples the answer to that.

What the solution should be is not the resignation of Secretary Cabral, but the concentration of all societal sectors to minding their own business. Church officials should have better things to do than ask the health secretary to resign, such as trying to prevent HIV-AIDS from spreading through ways that they deem more effective than the plans of healthcare professionals. Or maybe they should concentrate more on how to make the 80% of the Philippine population good Catholics, so that they will no longer practice premarital sex. Who knows, they might actually prove that their words of wisdom would be better at stopping an erected HIV-infected penis from infecting another person than a condom.

Church officials might have forgotten it, but we are in the year 2010. Gone are the days of thinking that kissing a girl would impregnate her. HIV-AIDS is here in the Philippines, and it does not choose anyone, not even the priests. It does not let time fly smoothly unlike the Church who is probably waiting for Jesus to arrive and cure those who are dying of HIV-AIDS.

Everyday Affair at the Archer's Lair

By: Jeunesse San Juan
Video by: Greenbug
Photo By: Nicorlina
UNPUBLISHED LIFESTYLE FEATURE

Imagine yourself walking into a haven of computers, card games and food from almost every continent with the damage of less than a hundred bucks. Sounds too good to be true? At the Archer’s Lair there is no such thing as “too good”. We’ll even take you to a virtual tour.

The Lair, as Lasallians call it, is strategically located away from the hustle and bustle of Taft Avenue and into Fidel Reyes or Agno Street. Behind the Brother Andrew Gonzalez Building of De La Salle University you will find a demolished empty space with graffiti on the walls marking the Lair’s entrance. Just like any other superhero hideout, the Lair is quite hidden, but don’t let that hinder you from experiencing the everyday Lasallian affair.

Archer’s Lair features several establishments that will suit your every mood. Probably the longest-standing restaurant is the Japanese Nomimono which houses finger food and smoothies for every hungry pack just waiting for time to pass by. The Pinoy installment called Happy Tusuk-tusuk rests at the left corner with their low, low prices and their irresistible crabsticks with rice that is rolled into a crispy layer of bread crumbs for only Php69.00. They also provide a variety of kiosks that are student-friendly such as the famous Master Siomai, Chef Hugo with their cleaner version of the traditional summer treat ice scramble, the famous bagnet kiosk, and new booths still being put up. Aside from these eating areas where you can eat and play a round of poker, there is also a printing station where you can rush those crammed homework, a gaming community at the far back of the Lair and a sari-sari store for your most basic needs.

According to European Studies student Mikee Lagac, she likes staying at the Archer’s Lair because the food is great without her having to spend too much. She also likes the privacy of the place. Mikee is only one of the few regulars at the Archer’s Lair, and Lasallians are more than hospitable to count you in and become one of the regulars they see everyday.

What are you waiting for? Grab a cab, take the train or ride the FX. Do whatever you can to experience something out of the ordinary. Call up your friends and have a taste of this rather private affair at the Archer’s Lair.

Filipino supplies laptops for China

By: Jeunesse San Juan and Francis Beltejar
Photos By: Redfox Computers
UNPUBLISHED NEWS FEATURE

MANILA-- You might think that China provides for almost all of our consumer needs. But that was until a Filipino businessman named Andy Te started exporting laptops to the trade central of the world. For more background information about Andy Te, read the Globe Telecom's feature about him here.

Andy Te is the owner of electronics distributor AsianTech, where RedFox laptops are exported to China and sold in a concept store in the Guangzhou district. The store recently opened and displays selected models from the Wizbook, Razor, and Optima lines of laptops. RedFox is the first Filipino-owned brand to export computer systems to China.

Humble Beginnings
The computer venture had its humble beginnings in its factory located at down south Rosario, Cavite in the year 1998. RedFox first focused on the assembly of mother boards and video cards before AsianTech’s partnership with AMD that provided them with microchip sets geared for the gaming market. With the complete set of computer parts, Andy Te established his own PC brand. RedFox Singapore was established in the year 2004, and just by the beginning of 2010 RedFox China is braced to take the challenge of the China market. Now, the company employs about 300 workers that whip up to 500 computers units a day for local and international sale to countries like Taiwan, Singapore, and just recently, China. “We import most of our components and we assemble them here in the Philippines. We ship them to China and other countries,” says Michael Mondragon, the sales and marketing vice president of RedFox Technologies. He also adds that choosing the Philippines as the manufacuring base gives them the flexibility in running its local operations since they do not have to go out of the country.

The Foreign Demand
The company has a strong marketing analysis team that helps the company debut in the global market. The company also employs research and development (R&D) team to keep up with the competition. The team comprises of exports from all around the world that go in and out of the Philippines, depending on where the brand is available. With this, they have produced their own gaming desktop computer called the Vengeance Evo that contains a controller and the Wizbar, their own innovation in to PC Wii gaming.

“We need to be ready for a surge in foreign demand,” says Mondragon which is why the company is geared up to double the size of the original plant in Cavite. Other Chinese regions have already expressed their interest in the import of RedFox products, but the next target of the company for overseas expansion is Australia.

Filipino Quality
RedFox also emphasizes strong image promotion and aggressive marketing efforts by opening their first Philippine concept store at the SM City North EDSA Cyberzone October last year that is manned by their own computer specialists. It also implements a stable after-sales service that earns the company awards in and out of the country for four year running. Aside from the concept store, RedFox also sponsors gaming tournaments and appears in radio shows to talk about their latest products.

By the beginning of the year 2010, RedFox also launched its new line of products at Crown Plaza Galleria Mall in Ortigas. View the details here. The launch included the latest line of products for laptops and desktop computers like the Deskpod, Ultima, Vengeance Evo, and RDX V7/V8, which are Intel-based models that are targeted for the corporate market. For the list of product prices, click here. According to Marvin Gamalinda, the product manager of RedFox, their computers are equipped with the new Windows 7 operating systems that justify the innovation of the brand. RedFox is also the first to announce the integration of USB 3.0 in their personal computer products. The USB 3.0 could “transfer files ten times faster” than the USB 2.0 Mondragon said.

As Mondragon stressed out in a press interview, “Filipinos have world-class talents. They just need an opportunity to make use of those skills.” And that is precisely what Andy Te and the rest of the RedFox team are doing: providing opportunities for Filipinos to be part of something that is known globally.