Welcome to another issue of Silliman Journal—the multidisciplinary university journal that tells you what academics are doing and studying in their varied fields of expertise. But first, our cover art is by Dumaguete resident visual artist Jana Jumalon-Alano. Jana was born and raised in Zamboanga City where she finished AB Communications. In 2001, she launched her solo music concert at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University and was awarded as one of the Top 10 Finalists for Visayas in the 2011 Philippine Art Awards. Her works have been featured in several international and local exhibitions, the most recent ones being Bae Mindanaw (Italy, 2011), Habagatan (Altromondo Gallery, 2012), All Together Now (Yuchengco Museum, 2012), 50 Ilonggo Artists (Ayala Museum, 2013), and Everything About This Girl (Silliman University Cultural Affairs Committee, 2014), which is her first solo exhibition. With the support of Ateneo de Zamboanga University, she is currently writing the songs for an all-Chavacano musical to
be launched this year. In the first article in this issue, the philosophy professor Elenita de la Rosa Garcia reviews Riverscapes—an exhibit on Southeast Asian Rivers and examines the views articulated by the artists in the context of Western (e.g., Nietsche and Heidegger) and Japanese (e.g., wabi-sabi) philosophy. Leni’s essay is both insightful and thought-provoking, almost as if one is not simply talking about art. The next paper is also about water, though from a totally different perspective. Pecks Nolasco and her colleagues survey the status of water supply in Cebu City. Health protection and access to water are basic human rights, but this study also shows how water has become a serious socio-political and economic issue. Similarly, Dhanicca Domingo and Serlie Jamias conducted a study of our physical environment, but from the perspective of mass communication. In particular, the authors wanted to look at how news reports covered biodiversity changes and whether or not these were connected to climate change. Results were not very promising. The fourth article is an investigation into the diet of piglets by Lito Naldo and colleagues in the field of agriculture. Studying 630 newly-weaned piglets, the authors experimented with an alternative diet—yeast protein—even though soybean meal combined with dried whey and plasma protein have been the usual protein sources in diets for newly-weaned pigs. The successful experiment has cost-saving implications for farmers. In the fifth paper, we shift our attention to the historianphilosopher Jeffry Ocay’s attempts at connecting American colonial domination with present-day Filipino consciousness and work attitudes. Jeff raises many points of argument and makes one wonder if that was part of the motivation—to engage the readers in debate. The final full-length article is by English teachers Alana Narciso and Lady Flor Partosa who evaluate their students’ responses to the work of Filipino Gregorio Brillantes, the short story entitled “Faith, Love, Time, and Dr. Lazaro.” The class assignment was brought about by the concern to “bridge the gap between the reader and the text.” The exercise, known as reflective reading—an intellectual  and personal experience, comes highly recommended.