Scientific Essay: Of Mice and Men, The Next Step for Stem Cell Technology

Of Mice and Men: The Next Step for Stem Cell Technology
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Reprogramming Adult Differentiated Skin Cells

By Gershom Chua

Introduction

Way back in 1995, a then relatively unknown molecular biologist James Thomson succeeds in isolating and deriving stem cells, or cells that have the ability to differentiate further into any desired kind of cell to facilitate development, from non-human primates. This success would lead him to apply the same breakthrough to human embryonic stem cells in 1998 which caused a global buzz around the possibilities of stem cell research in curing diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, leukemia, diabetes, cancer, etc., against the ethical and moral dilemmas surrounding the process by which he obtained this breakthrough. Since then, stem cell research has proven controversial because of the implications it presents to reproductive human cloning and the moral value of human life fought for by pro-life movements. Scientists have been pushing for continued research despite these grounds because of what they deem to be far beneficial results that stem cell research may eventually bring to treating diseases, clinical applications, drug development, transplant medicine, and beyond. This debate has been mirrored in American state policies concerning it, shifting from the withdrawal of support via federal or government funds given to further stem cell research. This withdrawal then limited the development of stem cell research this past decade within the confines of support and funding from private institutions and companies.
Recently, developments from four significant teams have at last uncovered a new method into stem cell research that may just prove to be able to pass the ethical and moral debates due to its refined process and push the potentials of this significant breakthrough. Since debates and controversy arise only because of the involvement of extracting stem cells from human embryos regardless of the method by which it was done (as controversy still followed refined processes of obtaining stem cells from excess embryos from in vitro fertilization, embryos from abortions, etc which are relatively more humane than the original procedure of destroying live human embryos), the possibilities that open up through the findings of four significant teams from various universities in the past three years allow this ethical hurdle to be pushed aside to give way to progress. The findings have shown induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from reprogrammed adult differentiated skin cells to share quite similar characteristics with traditional embryonic stem cells, therefore presenting an alternative to the more problematic source of stem cell study.

Background

As early as three years ago, a Japanese team headed by Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi from Kyoto University have found out that by reprogramming adult differentiated mouse skin cells through somatic cell nuclear transfer or SCNT, they could create skin cells that were characteristically undifferentiated and that closely resembled traditional embryonic stem cells. These cells were then dubbed as induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells because of their similarities with the embryonic stem cell. The team used a set of four genes, namely OCT3/4, SOX2, c-MYC, and KLF4, to induce this embryonic stem cell-like behavior in the mouse adult skin cells.
From this study, the same team worked on the possibilities of applying their findings to human skin cells and eventually succeeded by replicating the process with some minor changes.
This lead to other teams from US universities confirming and refining on their process by changing the particular genes they used to induce this stem cell-like behavior in skin cells , the number of genes used, and by changing the type of vector used to deliver these genes into the cell.

Timeline

2006 Shinya Yamanaka, Kazutoshi Takahashi, and their team from Kyoto University successfully reprogrammed mature differentiated mouse cells to create cells similar to embryonic undifferentiated stem cells (or later known as iPS or induced pluripotent stem cells)
2007 Shinya Yamanaka and the same team from Kyoto University successfully adapts the process to human adult differentiated skin cells
James Thomson, Junying Yu, and their team from the University of Wisconsin confirm the Japanese team’s findings and are successful at refining the process, replacing two of the four genes used by the previous team that may prove to be eventually dangerous
Shinya Yamanaka and the same team from Kyoto University refine their process even further by reducing the genes used from four to three, significantly reducing risks of dangers brought by using more genes
2008 Kathrin Plath, William Lowry, and their team from the University of California, Los Angeles confirm the previous processes of Yamanaka’s and Thomson’s findings which the team finished just as Yamanaka’s and Thomson’s papers have been published
Kathrin Plath and the same team from UCLA successfully created cardiac cells from reprogramming differentiated mouse cells, a concrete step towards the possibilities of iPS cells
Matthias Stadtfeld, Konrad Hochedlinger, and colleagues from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston created iPS cells from differentiated mouse skin cells using a non-DNA altering virus or adenovirus over previously used retroviruses

Significant Contributions

Shinya Yamanaka, Kazutoshi Takahashi, and the Kyoto University Team

Their early venture into the study of reprogrammed mouse adult skin cells saw them utilizing retroviruses in delivering the set of four genes together with the nucleus from mammalian oocytes or immature ovum into the adult skin cells. The four genes were used because of their ability to induce this embryonic stem cell-like behavior in the adult skin cells that were then cultured to produce iPS cells.
They later applied this to human adult skin cells. They engineered cultured human skin cells or fibroblasts to enable ease in introducing new genes. The genes that were then used in the process they did in mouse adult skin cells were also delivered into these cultured fibroblasts via a retrovirus vector. After weeks, the team found the reprogrammed adult skin cells to have produced colonies that closely resembled human embryonic stem cells. After much testing, the team concluded that the colonies or iPS cells really were virtually similar to traditional stem cells that would have been otherwise obtained controversially. Further test revealed the ability of these iPS cells to be later induced to differentiating into any of the three major cell types, namely ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm.
The same team later proved the use of four genes could actually be reduced to a mere three. The finding, even though not as spectacular as the prior one, is still significant in that they were able to eliminate c-MYC from the set of genes the used. Eliminating c-MYC from the set of genes in the formula meant eliminating a possible threat of inducing cancer in the cultured iPS cells. This finding thus refines on the process and is continually refined until present.

James Thomson, Junying Yu, and the University of Wisconsin Team

Nearly a decade after pioneering stem cell research, James Thomson once again enters the public terrain by confirming the results of the Japanese team but using a different set of genes to induce the stem cell-like behavior in adult skin cells. Instead of using the genes KLF4 and the potentially cancer-inducing c-MYC, they used NANOG and LIN28, both of which do not seem to present relatively the same degree of danger as the previous two. This study is significant in that it was made after the Japanese team’s initial success with the four original genes and prior to the same team’s discovery of using three genes instead.

Kathrin Plath, William Lowry, and the University of California, Los Angeles Team

Though having published the results of their study much later than the two previous teams’, the team led by Kathrin Plath of UCLA proves significant because they have not only confirmed the two previous teams’ findings but also made concrete progress soon after. Reverting back to the source of this breakthrough after having success with adult skin cells, the team was able to successfully create cardiovascular from iPS cells first derived from mouse adult skin cells. This was achieved through culturing iPS cells on a protein matrix that directs traditional embryonic stem cells into differentiating into cardiovascular progenitor cells or immature heart cells that can later further develop to mature heart cells that will be able to perform various purposes. The created progenitor cells were then isolated using KDR, a growth factor receptor found on the surface of progenitor cells. They were then induced to developing into cardiomyocytes or mature heart cells that manage the heartbeat, endothelial cells or cells that line the walls of blood vessels, etc. The team succeeded to the point of observing the created cardiomyocytes beating inside the Petri dish in which they were cultured in.
Now, the team is studying if their success in creating mouse cardiovascular cells from iPS cells can also be translated to human cardiovascular cells from iPS cells cultured from human adult skin cells.

Matthias Stadtfeld, Konrad Hochedlinger, and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Team

The team led by Matthias Stadtfeld from the Massachusetts General Hospital confirms other team’s previous findings but have gone on to refine the process even further on the level of the vector they used to reprogram the adult skin cell. Working on mouse adult skin cells, they have been able to produce iPS cells with the same set of genes delivered not by retroviruses as were used by previous studies but by adenoviruses. They changed vectors primarily because retroviruses are known to activate cancers and tumors which would render the whole premise of stem cell research useless. By using adenoviruses as vectors, they have observed that these vectors eventually do not leave any trace in the cells produced after a few cycles of cell division in the created iPS cells. This clearing of the vector problem paves the way for truly testing the method to human skill cell application.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The creation of induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells as an alternative for traditional embryonic stem cells present various advantages that drive scientific research on it to progress as fast as it does now. It is advantageous that iPS cells are derived from reprogramming adult skin cells, therefore not having to tamper with human embryos that has been the cause for the controversy after all. “This is the beginning of the end of the controversy”, as James Thomson commented. This would not only end controversy on stem cell research but push forward other breakthroughs because of a change in perception of science that this would bring. This is also advantageous because of the degree of which iPS cells are similar to embryonic stem cells. As ScienceDaily.com reported, “The reprogrammed cells were not just functionally identical to embryonic stem cells. They also had identical biological structure, expressed the same genes and could be coaxed into giving rise to the same cell types as human embryonic stem cells.” With this similarity, iPS cells then promises to cure diseases that are believed to be cured by embryonic stem cells such as leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, cancers, etc. without any ethical or moral issue to prevent it from doing so. Another advantage of iPS cells is that they are obtained from the same patient who will be treated by using reprogramming them and reinserting them, therefore taking out the rejection of the iPS cells as a possible issue. Lastly, by using partially specific cells derived from iPS cells such as the cardiovascular cells cultured from mouse iPS cells, these partially specific cells will lessen the chances of developing tumors and other undesired growths because of the specificity of their nature when they are reinserted into patients.
There are, however, disadvantages that should be weighed in considering iPS cells. First, despite this shift from controversial sources of stem cells such as obtaining them from living human embryos, researchers will still need to have samples of embryonic stem cells to continually assess the progress of iPS cells. This is because stem cells are well considered to be “the golden standard” by which iPS cells are to be compared to, therefore, to fully progress with iPS cells, continuous input of stem cell samples are still needed. Second, in using iPS cells to treat diseases, one encounters the same problems of that in gene therapy where one should fully understand the disease and which genes should be specifically corrected and replaced. Lastly, much progress has been seen in culturing iPS cells in mouse skin cells and iPS cell culture has only just begun in humans, therefore presenting us with the dilemma of how exactly to translate findings in mouse skin cell samples to human skin cell applications. This has been proven possible by the actual creation of iPS cells from human skin cells, but the problem remains that further more complicated findings may prove hard to translate to human cells.


Future

Having established the creation of iPS cells in both mouse skin cells and human skin cell to be possible by having succeeded in producing samples from the four main teams that have done significant work in this area, the future lies ahead with infinite possibilities. Since the vector carriers of the genes to induce the stem cell-like behavior in iPS cells have been established to be able to shift to adenoviruses that are completely safe in delivering genes into skin cells without trace, now what is left to study is which genes would be perfect in further reprogramming. Since only a handful of genes have been tapped into this technology, the possibility of finding the best combination that would yield the least risk of dangers and undesired effects after reprogramming is there but would take some time before it is found. Also, the fact that cardiovascular cells have been cultured from mouse iPS cells show just how much farther we can go with the possibilities that will arise in the future after much development and progress is reached in this area.

Implications

The implications this alternative to using embryonic stem cells proves to have range to a lot of areas. Scientifically, this discovery proves that further development in our understanding of the possibilities found in our bodies need not go against ethics and morals. Ethically, this discovery paves a way for science and breakthroughs and peoples’ ethic and moral standards to come together in a state of harmony, where one does not have to compromise to meet the other’s needs. Human ethics and morals will not have to be compromised to see progress that may eventually benefit us all. Politically, this breakthrough will once again open the governments’ doors to funding scientific research as nothing is compromised. This is seen by the 09 March 2009 signing of US President Barack Obama of a new agreement for federal funds to be put into supporting stem cell research mainly because it proves not to go against ethic and moral concerns, as opposed to prior this breakthrough when the Bush administration vetoed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 for reasons. iPS cell technology then can be seen as paving a new way for science to be recognized and accepted throughout societies as it does not need to go against present values these peoples hold on. Economically, since the technology is surely at its infancy and if in the near future proves to be safe and directly applicable, it will further push existing hegemony of class and wealth because this would surely entail quite a hefty sum because of its novelty. It will take another breakthrough after this one to lower the costs for clinical and medical application on patients.

References

Minkel, JR. 2007. Stem Cells from Skin Cells. Scientific American. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
Baker, Monya. 2007. From Skin Cell to Stem Cell. Nature Reports. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
Smith, Michael. Adult Skin Cells Reprogrammed into Stem Cells for Disease Research. Med Page Today. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
Falco, Miriam. Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed to Act Like Stem Cells. CNN Health.com. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
Baker, Monya. 2007. Adult Cells Reprogrammed to Pluripotency, Without Tumors. Nature Reports. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
--. 2008. Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed into Embryonic Stem Cells. Science Daily. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
--. 2008. Mouse Skin Cells Reprogrammed to Act like Embryonic Stem Cells. MedicineNet.com . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
--. 2008. Stem Cell Researchers Create Heart and Blood Cells from Reprogrammed Skin Cells. Science Daily. . Last accessed 12 March 2009.
Colen, B.D. Advance in Pluripotent Cell Creation. Harvard University Gazette Online. . Last accessed 13 March 2009.
Quill, Elizabeth. 2009. Stem Cell Efforts Take Steps. Science News. Volume 175. Issue 1.Washington: Science for Society and the Public. p.20.

Short Story: The Last Entry in the Emperor's Chronicles

The Last Entry in the Emperor’s Chronicles

The following are from the last pages of the journal of the Last Emperor of China, Emperor Pu Yi, written and translated from the original writing…
“The eunuchs that have stayed loyal to me are now about the palace, hurriedly looking for articles of my life that can still be salvaged and brought away with me on the journey that lay outside these walls. I hear the incessant shouts from [the people of] the communist forces especially at this last hour that I will be staying here. Their noise, though terribly annoying, is essential for the operations I have sent my eunuchs to do to go smoothly and undetected.
“I would never have thought in my wildest imagination my people wanting their emperor out of his palace, stripped of his glory, and uprooted from the place he calls home. My mother the Empress, she had not foreseen this. She promised to be forever with me, taking care of me, but no, she too left just as all my ancestors before me did. I was only a child when my people have bestowed me emperor and kowtowed before me all around the palace. It truly was a magnificent feeling, to be wanted and [to be] worshipped. But how can people change so quickly, and without reason as well! I gave up my childhood to sit in my teachers’ classes and learned calligraphy, history, governance, and the genealogy of my family, while the peasant children ran amok outside the palace walls, playing with kites and firecrackers, shrieking their heads off in pleasure. I was only a child then and am still not even a grown man now, and yet they threaten me with force to leave my home and everything that is truly mine? When they first marched up with the peasants in the villages of the South, my council convinced me to keep calm, for the peasants [of the North] will surely come to my aid when they arrive and lay siege of my palace. I heeded their comfort, believing that my people still loved me, especially the ones around the palace who are humbled at the mere site of my doors. They will fight for me, my council told me, but the people never did. It was too late when I had broken their counsel and ordered [the royal guards to recruit] men in the city to defend the fortress with honor and riches as reward. It was at the end as well when I discovered that [most of] the council members were with the communists in the first place, anticipating the whole treachery. I really thought my people still loved me, still remembered the day they bowed down before me, hailing me their emperor. They have forgotten. I will never understand why my people listened to the likes of those communists, talking of equality when all they want is a bite of my treasure.
“Most of my eunuchs have even been deceived into leaving me and joining their forces as well. The whole thing [has been planned and] has spread across the palace all along, under the attention of my most loyal eunuchs and teachers. The communists had sent messages through couriers that were allowed to come in since they posed as men from the provinces who delivered the best of their harvest. These messages were received by the council men themselves, pretending to inspect the meat and greens that have been brought into the palace. My most loyal eunuch just informed me a few hours ago that these messages were folded paper slit into holes carved into the melons or into the cavities of hens and pigs. This had been going on for the past five months, and today, their accursed plan has come into fruition. [Hereafter, several words seem to have been blotted out]
“Only my teachers and the highest eunuchs in my confidence truly know and understand me. No matter, I have already made discreet arrangements for a company of my most loyal servants to stow the most valuable of the treasures away at the bottom of the pile I am allowed to bring away with me. The smaller things [that can be concealed under our robes] shall be packed in silk and sown underneath the sleeves, hems, and undergarments of my concubines. My wife will do her share and conceal some in her undergarments, and my second wife as well. I have chosen only the most loyal of my concubines, for fear that the others may leak information to those bastards in exchange for better treatment and benefits. I fear only that there may not be enough time for all of the best treasures to be sown in. I am confident that the communists will not try and inspect the women, for even if they are [the] dogs [that they] are, they are still Chinese, and would never dare dishonor my wives. As for me, I shall not be carrying anything; for surely, I will not be shown the courtesy that they will with the women. My eunuchs and servants will not be carrying anything as well, only the bags and wooden chests that I have been allowed under their pretense of humanity. The treasures will be safe; they will be my last hope.
“My eunuchs promise a return of my power, but I doubt it. I know they only say these things to comfort me and give me [false hope] to hold on to, but I know better than that. If all is well, I have arranged for a retreat [under the cover of darkness] to Shanghai where allies will take me to England, as the King, a loyal friend, expects me.
“I swear upon my ancestors that I will do everything to return!”

Essay: The Harvest

“The Harvest”

Allow me to quote a famous verse from the Bible, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”

Many people throughout history have come and gone, devoting their lives to find the meaning of it. Many did not find it, some went astray, and only a real few found what they were looking for. Those who did not find life’s meaning wasted their whole life’s time to come up with a conclusion, a theory, or even an equation to equal what they call life. Those who went astray concluded, by their bitter experiences, distorted and hilarious views of what life is. Concrete examples of these lost are the leaders and the members of secret societies persecuting the Christian faith, the Priory of Sion, Freemasonry and the Knights Templar. All of them sought for explanations, more “logical” and scientific”, for things already explained in the Bible. They distorted truths and presented forged “facts” to millions, causing many to fall with them. The few who found it were rewarded great in heaven eternal. They were the ones who founded the Christian churches, who led many to the truth by the grace of God Almighty.

But with all these people who sought for the truth, have you ever thought of finding it as well?

Through my own search and research for the purpose of living and the meaning of it, I have come up with a conclusion, which I am willing to even stake my life for, and that is fulfilling the task God has given us all.

For us, Christians, we are so blessed to have known and received Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior early on. We have been nurtured in His Word and molded in His Commandments. We are sure where we are to go to after our lives on Earth, Heaven, but what about the other millions? Multitudes are lost in false teachings and poisoned beliefs. They are walking and living in utter darkness, falling and stumbling time and time again.

The task the Master has bestowed upon us is the mission of reaching out, pouring light into the drowning darkness of the world. We were made to do this.

‘Why?’ you ask? The Bible has stated three concrete reasons that rekindle the flame of faith and encourage us to do what we were created to do so…

FIRST: We were made in His own Image, His Purpose, and His Cause. His Will for our lives is to reach out and bring others to Him. He gave us such a blessed life with abundant provisions tom bless others and see them as how He did. He saw them as lost sheep without a shepherd to guide them and care for them. He is more than willing to love them and receive them as the father did to his prodigal son. As for the lost sheep from the hundred the shepherd had, he goes out, looks for it, and brings it back home.

SECOND: Reaching out to the lost is every Christian’s responsibility. We were to help others be redeemed, and we were introduced to God to introduce Him to thers.
THIRD: Reaching out to the lost is every Christian’s calling and desire. Every Christian is called to exert effort to help others know God, may he be a missionary, a missionary-sender, a pastor, or an intercessor, he was made to heed His call. Every Christian has his longing of fulfilling their desire of reaping and bearing fruits. Desire, in its Latin roots, means ‘of the Father’, signifying that godly desires come from God Himself, and who are we to disobey it?

God has called us to a mission of light and of hope. He has made us in fulfilling this call to reap his harvest. We now are faced with a battle, a war with two sides, one of the righteous, and one of the lost. We are now fighting for the redemption of lost souls and justifying the truth. We are the few workers faced with the land of a plentiful harvest. We set out each day with a goal, an objective, reaching out the lost and empowering the few in faith. So, set out! Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Sword of Truth, and the Shield of Faith as we go out of our comfort zones and into live battle. We need not worry for God has promised us victory over persecution and unbelief, so go! Let us walk hand-in-hand as we head on to the fight, for:

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”



-END-

Reactionary Essay: The Closet Genius

The Closet Genius

In Mark Edmundson’s Harper’s article, “On The Uses of A Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students”, he lashed out quite a lot of observations he deemed fit to use as basis for concluding the crisis of liberal arts education today and the reasons behind this crisis. Harsh comments on the students of today, who for the author is immersed too much on the culture of consumerism where everything should cater to or service those who have the power of purchase, on the universities’ response to this change of focus and pace of desired college education, which once again in the author’s opinion is just catering to the whims of their benefactors (the students and their piggy-bank parents), and on generally the prevailing culture today, which for him focuses too much on comfort that it fails to be a sustainable environment for the thirst for genius, adorn the article and give it its distinct sting. However, with its entire tang aside, I find the article with too much loose ends and biased judgments to consider it an authority on the various aspects of culture, education, and college life that it tackles.

The most problematic claim Edmundson expressed in his article is his concept of what the culture has sunken down to. Contrary to Edmundson’s thoughts, our culture is not that of mediocrity and impassiveness but that of passion and a deep desire for excellence so finely wrapped by the foil of humility and cool. This does not connote us being disinterested to step out of the comfort zones we have established with the knowledge we have amassed through these years, but that of calculation, on whether we really need to act like the passionate and on-fire beings that we are, on whether we need to shout it to the world and proclaim it to everybody and anybody. Whenever a professor hits down a hard question, whenever an educator challenges us to action, we do not just sit down in front of them, hunched on our seats, and pretend we did not hear what they were trying to say(as they do often interpret our actions to be), instead we actually think, choose, and contemplate. This is a generation of cautious intelligence, where everything is not taken in and then reacted upon solely based on the emotions felt by the moment, instead, points are considered from every angle by the silent and often misleading look of a blank face. This refined manner of accepting and processing, as I may dare say, is but the epitome of scholarship and academic progress, where students truly think before they act, where they do not see the need to respond based on the heat of the moment (as Edmundson so desires students to do so, especially in his statement when he commended a bellowing argument he witnessed one day between students in the school park). How then can Edmundson regard this as the loss of passion when passion is neither absent nor suppressed in these cases, instead it merely takes a step back and lets a façade of a blank face put it in perspective. Has he not heard of the terror of Don Corleone as shown in Puzo literature or the critically-acclaimed films inspired by the former? Don Corleone, as the head patriarch of the Corleone clan and Godfather to mobsters, casino owners, underground billionaires, and politician cronies, possibly the most influential and the most powerful man behind the scenes of the economy and politics of the America in Puzo mythology, has been the symbol of blank-faced cunning throughout the past decades. He has been feared not because of his outright show of passion and outbursts fired by the moment, but because of his poker face hiding the profound contemplation and vengeful passion he has underneath. In his example, the fear he inspires is not brought about by the seen (his mild-mannered, disinterested façade) but by the unseen (his murderous cunning, silent calculation, controlled passion). In this way, the students of today show the same characteristics of the Don, that by hiding beneath the mask of cool and unmoved beings, they nurture the genius within.

The genius has always rested in each student that enters university. The very fact that these students made the decision to make something of themselves and continue their education marks their acceptance of the limits of their knowledge and their ignorance of those things needed to achieve success, therefore the desire to learn more and to further broaden their horizons, and the thirst for challenge is there; it is merely a matter of how the teacher and his method succeed or fail to tap into this. Students willingly, even openly, accept the challenges teachers offer (whether, in Edmundson’s words, “offensive” or not). The very fact that students still listen to their professors is a sign that students still care for whatever the teacher has to say. The assumption that whatever professors teach in class go in an ear of a student and go out the other ear is simply preposterous. Students are not unthinking and unfeeling as educators consider them to be, instead they are beings who comprehend, who process what they hear, filter those to their judgment are useless and irrelevant and absorb those that are worthwhile, worth taking note of, and worth digesting. The questioning, the challenging of a professor’s ideas (as Edmundson so desires from his students and as other professors presumably do so as well) need not happen verbally, as is the case most often. These processing and questioning, and filtering of ideas happen in silence, when the professor asks his students their thoughts and no one answers; it may as well be in this period of disappointment and disinterest for the teachers that this internal war happens. Now why does this happen, this internal, silent, and personal discussion amongst one and himself? This happens most often because of the fear to disrespect, to openly challenge a teacher in authority over the student. Now Edmundson in his article sees this quality, the desire to be politically correct and pleasant to others, as detestable and not praiseworthy at all. Respecting Edmundson’s opinion, but considering the quality in itself, it is neither detestable nor praiseworthy as it poses difficulties in certain situations and garners admirable respect in most others; therefore to consider it either one or the other is unfair towards the students who possess it. Taking all this into consideration, the desire to acquire the genius has not left this generation or this present culture, instead it has continued to bud in all those students whose professors deemed them to be otherwise. Therefore it would be more fitting to dub the students of the now, belonging to this present generation and culture, as closet geniuses instead of stupid, dense, cold, and passionless gits who are just too immersed in consumerism and themselves according to the almighty Edmundson.

Narrative Essay: Piecing Back Tai-Kong

Note: An investigation ala In The Grove

Piecing Back Tai-kong

Papa
I never really knew your Tai-kong. As I’ve told you, he died days after I was born. I never got the chance to have a grandfather who told me stories and bought me toys; he only smiled down at me from his portraits on the halls of the grand ancestral house. You’ve been there, haven’t you, four years ago? Yes. They’re the ones hanging on the hall before the staircase to the third floor. I’ve seen them too, yes. There’s a new one? Oh, your Granpa had that one commissioned a year before your trip there. It was nice, no?
Anyway, what your Granma told me when I was young was that your Tai-kong died of a broken heart. He had lived a full life with your Tai-ma when she was suddenly gone. I never knew the reasons; your Granma never told me. But what I know is, your Tai-kong followed her quickly a year or so after. It was tragic, which explains why the family always kept it secret.
Sa-koh (Papa’s third elder sister)
Your Tai-kong? I was about what, four, five? Yes, your Papa was just born that year. It was sad, yes, that we didn’t enjoy his coming much when only after a few days’ time your Tai-kong passed away. It was a bad time to be born, moreover, bad luck. It is good that your father was very understanding at a very young age.
From what I have heard, though promise me never to tell this even to your father, the family has kept your Tai-kong’s drinking problem. After your Tai-ma’s great decline in health, he started drinking for fear of losing her. It was true that he loved her so, so much that he chose not to uphold the honor of the family by remarrying in light of your Tai-ma’s gradual decline. Traditionally, one who is honorable had to remarry to have somebody to take care of the household, and living in that time, it was still widely-practiced. Yes, it was out of the norm for your Tai-kong to choose to stay loyal to Tai-ma. Sadly, he drowned himself in the drink that he himself concocted. Yes, it was he who brought the formula of his father from China to the Philippines, known in the provinces as Siok-Tong. It was at the height of its market when all these happened, that’s what stopped the family plan of bringing the Siok-Tong from the provinces to Manila. Your Tai-kong himself ordered the factory closed in Tacloban after he learned of Tai-ma’s illness. He stopped all other efforts from his two grown children, your Granpa and Di-Tsiak-kong, to continue the rise of the business. Honestly, I believe he was too sentimental to have chosen love over honor, which would’ve been both practical and helpful to the family.
Si-koh (Papa’s fourth elder sister)
It was tragic to say the least. You know, your Tai-kong really loved your Tai-ma. After hearing of her illness, he resigned to keep her company and stopped all factory operations and the shipping operations from China. He shut down the business that he single-handedly raised and fell to drinking to stand the grief as your Tai-ma slowly faded from him. The whole family supported his decision to decline his friend’s efforts to find him a new wife to take care of the home; they knew it would be to no avail whether a new wife would be present at home. We all knew Tai-kong would never have loved another; that was how great his love for Tai-ma was. Do I think it was impractical of him? No. I think the decision was his to make and his alone, our family was right to not have pushed him to do the honorable. Honor was one thing, but love supercedes any other thing other people might’ve pushed our family to choose.
Granma
You do not ask things like that. Your Tai-kong died of a broken heart and that’s that. No more questions. Young men should not ask about the past, take care of the present and the future.
Granpa
Oh, your Tai-kong was a sweet and honorable man. He loved Mama, no questions about that. I respected his decision to close all operations both in the importing/exporting business and the local brewery; it was just too much a blow to him to hear Mama was dying. It was bad because everybody thought Mama was going to outlive Papa, what with her spirit and her being there always; it was especially bad to Pa. Pa thought he was about to die when the doctor told him the news. It was a bad night, the doctor had to be driven from a nearby city hospital in the rain and I had to wait for the car as it came in the driveway. It was raining a great deal and the wind just blew so hard the tree by the pool almost broke in half. I had to assist the doctor into the house because all the maids were huddled outside the room, confused by their mistress’ sudden collapse. Pa was inside, holding on to Ma’s hand and comforting her. What happened after that night was the start of our family’s decline. The business eventually died and hard times came. It was after your Tai-kong died that my brother, your Di-Tsiak-kong, and I decided to revive the fallen businesses and managed to salvage the crippled Siok-Tong factories. I never regretted standing by Pa, honor can never compare to his love for Ma and that was that.

Narrative Essay: Shadows on the Lunar New Year

Shadows on the Lunar New Year

Four years ago, when I was thirteen, we gathered in the Chua ancestral house in Malabon to celebrate the Lunar New Year. As we do every year, we gathered as a whole clan, and arrived ready for a special sumptuous dinner. That particular year, we decided to try catering services for a change, to help solve the huge dishwashing pile after everybody’s eaten their full. Even with the food from catering, some elements we still had to prepare for ourselves. My aunts had to prepare the popular Chinese dessert Buchi, with gelatinous rice mashed to a paste with red bean paste in the center and the ball covered with sesame seeds, fried to a golden brown. My grandmother too had to whip up her famous Cha-mi to satisfy everyone’s wishes, a noodle dish with her special blend of spices, seafood, different meats, and sauce. Everyone was required to attend the festivity wearing red clothes, the children consenting because of the eventual Ang-bao (red pocket of good-luck money) they would get from Granma and Granpa later at the end.
That year, we also tried to go even more traditional with the hiring of pyro-techinicans who would be taking care of the fireworks to set off the end of the night. With everything prepared before eight o’clock that night, the sons and daughters and grandchildren started arriving to join the celebration.
The festival started with dinner as everybody got their plates and lined up beside the long buffet table. Almost every corner was decorated with red cloth as I noticed them while waiting in line. When I was done with scooping up the dishes I wanted, which were as I remember them to be Lengua, Sweet and Sour Pork, Lemon Chicken, Beef and Brocoli in Oyster Sauce, Fried Spicy Crab, Fried rice, and Hot and Sour Soup, I made my way to the dining room which was for this occasion extended even to the living room for sheer lack of space. The whole clan was eating together, amidst roars of laughter and the clinking of spoons, forks, and chopsticks against plates and bowls.
When dinner was over, the whole clan gathered in the cramped living room to eat the Buchi my aunts prepared and the Mango Sago soup from the catering together as a sign of unity for the new year ahead. The living room was filled with filled mouths and bursting cheeks as we all partook the desserts.
Fireworks lighted up the sky from the expansive garden-walkway-driveway in front of the house. I can still see my cousin’s faces fill with amazement and joy as the lights came on and off the black night sky.
After the Ang-bao were given, some of us children went up the second floor to watch television and just hang-out on the huge bed in the wide master bedroom of our grandparents facing the garden below as the adults cleared up the mess below and chatted to themselves to check up on businesses. My cousins and my two siblings chose to watch a DVD movie on the wide-screen television in the room that didn’t interest me so I walked to the window to watch the other fireworks from neighboring houses. I was staring into the night, gazing at nothing in particular, when I saw a quick movement by the plants below. I looked at the dark shadows of the plants in the blackness of the night when suddenly a shadow of a man as though running, but now I realize it was more of gliding, past the potted plants and to the factory that stood open at the end of the driveway. I must have looked alarmed because some of my cousins asked me what the matter was but I decided to keep what I saw to myself. I went down as the movie they were watching reach about the middle part of the story and hurried to look for my aunt. She was busy with the cleaning so I decided not to disturb her. I thought that the question could wait.
A week later, I found time to ask my favorite aunt in her store about what happened. I didn’t tell her what I saw at first but asked whether someone was ever killed in our factory. She said there were no deaths in the factory that we have built beside the ancestral home, but there might’ve been some on the lot our house was built on because it was a pineapple plantation before they bought it. We never got around to asking our neighbors about it. She believed my story and promised to keep it a secret. The incident still bothers me until now.

Narrative Essay: A Semester Filled with First's

‘A Semester Break filled with First’s’

This year’s semester break was definitely a big thing for me. It would be the first of the many famous semester breaks college students enjoy every year. These were usually the central points of envy high school students have on their seniorities. At first, I cannot quite imagine a month-long break, an actual one month long legal separation from school! Coming from a school that has a Saturday and a Sunday for its year’s semester break, this time was a joy indeed!
The first question that came into mind was this: What to do with a whole month of freedom? I was afraid that I won’t cope with the long break and might actually fall into boredom, but what I didn’t foresee was my family helping me stack on activities to do this semester break. With their firstborn experiencing his first month-long break, my parents decided to give me three things to accomplish with my spare time. Hearing their suggestions, I took the challenge.
First, I was to organize my sister’s 16th birthday party this year. It was to be en grande this time around, given that we celebrate birthdays every year simply by going out and eating at a fancy restaurant or something of the like. This year, my parents wanted something special for my sister, since she is about to graduate from high school. I joked about me not having an en grande party as she will have this year when I was about to graduate, but they said I should give special consideration to our unica hija. I was given the whole month to prepare, starting from the third week of October till the second week of November. I thought that was fair enough and took the responsibility gladly.
Both Ma and Pa picked the venue—The Old Spaghetti house, and I was left to do the invitations, the give-away’s, and my surprise birthday present for my baby sister (and, not to mention, cheap) which was a handmade scrap book with messages from us and her friends. The party was set and the preparations were ready an ample time before the day itself, and so needless to say it was a success. I, I mean, we actually pulled it off! I just had to sacrifice some time during dinner to video the whole thing and even did some fun filming of messages her friends had for her (we just asked her to go in the restroom for a significant amount of time). I guess everything paid off when, after I said my prayer in front of the whole party before the meal, I saw that my sister had tears in her eyes. I guess she was touched, not only by my words, but by the obvious affection we all had for her…
Second, I was to go to the Fitness First gym my mother and sister go to and be a guest for a day to try and get me started towards working out and losing some weight. At first I was excited, I saw the facilities once and they were amazing, but as the day came nearer and nearer, I actually dreaded it. I realized, I was going to go out of my comfort zone by entering that sweat-inducing, vanity-encouraging place. I planned to back out and tried to move the date, but my sister saw right through me and demanded that I go with her. If it wasn’t only her birthday a few days after it, I wouldn’t have agreed.
Quite unexpectedly, I warmed up to the place the moment I stepped in to change my clothes in the locker room. The people weren’t staring at me just because I was overweight as in my nightmares, but they seemed undisturbed by the sight of me and that seemed to put me at ease. The first session I had was taught by a kick-boxing trainer who neither talked nor announced the next step he was about to do, expecting the group already knew the routine, so I left with my sister and a friend of ours after the first half. I hated those kinds of trainers that neither tried to help the group in his class keep up nor act amiable to the group to try and get them encouraged. I did a set of cardio exercises with the exercise machines in front of the televisions after walking out, and after a while decided to try the next class. This class was different, with the trainer teaching dance and who acted warmly towards us. As he taught us the steps, he would ask us if we were getting it and would start again patiently if we didn’t. I am proud to say I finished his class and was soaked through my shirt and shorts with sweat. I decided to hit the sauna before showering to squeeze out as much sweat as I could possibly lose. Overall, the experience was quite nice and I would love to do it again.
Lastly, my third task for the break was to train my little brother with the Chinese Yoyo in preparation for our Manila Hotel performance. I trained him everyday, diligently teaching him the tricks over and over again, and patiently hearing his complains of sore hands and legs during every practice. Everyday with him coming from tutorial, I would help him do his homework, feed him dinner, and then practice the yoyo tricks with him. After which, I waited until he would be ready for bed and would put him to sleep. Every night, I prayed that our training would not be put in vain and that our performance would be great with the Lord’s guidance.
Our three weeks’ training paid off with the reaction of the crowd at the Manila Hotel. During the performance, we did have times when the yoyo fell of the string, but it was okay since the both of us were doing it for the fun of it. The experience was great since it was my brother’s first major performance in front of a large crowd. I had always wanted him to follow my footsteps with annual public performances, and this time around, at my last performance, he did it with me. I do hope that this would be the start of a whole legacy of him performing on stage and experiencing the thrill I got in the past.
This year’s semester break was definitely monumental, in a sense that I got to try my hand at different things I would never have thought I would. I was challenged to go out my comfort zone and experience some things new. Boredom was surprisingly kept out of bay with the tasks I had to do, thanks to my parents! I actually felt the break was not long enough… I am definitely looking forward to next year’s semester break!