“Creative Freedom” – UP, Time To Replace Your Symbol Of Academic Freedom!
The bigger image is my photograph (taken 29 July 2016) of the
fiberglass sculptural piece of Maria Pureza
Escaño , which she titles “The Rose Of Marya: Service Through
Excellence” (Maria Pureza Escaño, weebly.com).
Commissioned by the Sigma Delta Sorority,
“Marya” is now a landmark at the UP Los Baños Alumni Plaza. Ms Maria says of
it:
Recently, Maria Pureza
Escaño was handpicked by the University of the Philippines for her concept and
rendition of "The Rose of Marya: Service through Excellence," an
allegorical seven-foot fiber glass sculpture celebrating100 years of excellence
and service to the community of the women of the University of the Philippines.
Commissioned by the Alumni Association of the Sigma Delta Sorority, The Rose of
Marya serves as the landmark of UP Los Baños’ Centennial Promenade and was
unveiled in March 2012.
The
creative sculptor describes “Marya” as a symbol of purity and service and
excellence – I, a different kind of creative, now present “Marya” as a symbol
of open, individual, wholly dedicated inventive person. And I now recommend
that UP change its uncreative male symbol “Oblation” to the creative female
symbol “Marya”!
Time
for UP to change from “Academic Freedom” to “Creative Freedom” – this UP
alumnus is declaring!
I see Oblation’s outstretched hands now as implying, “No,
you got it all wrong!” In actual practice, the Oblation has always served as a symbol
of negativism, no matter what the sculptor said about it, no matter
what the UP President said when it was adopted as the symbol of UP.
Inspired by the “Oblation” symbol, UP officials, faculty and
students have always been handily radical and hardly creative in their
pronouncements, postures and protests. Of course, UP people are inspired –
inspired to disagree and/or denounce and demonstrate against most anything that
the government comes up with!
“Marya”
is telling us: “Creative Freedom” does not negate “Academic Freedom” – but it
makes sure that every idea is worth considering fully: with the body, mind and
heart!
Personally, I don’t know Ms Maria Pureza Escaño but her
“Marya” has just inspired me to “elevate” her to a higher pedestal – that of
being UP’s institutional symbol. Everything is there: elan, energy, forwardness, freshness, imagination, inspiration, passion,
positivity!
Don’t be surprised, Ms Maria. I am an alumnus of UP Los
Baños, and UP’s 2011 “Outstanding Alumnus For Creative Writing” – historically
the first and the one-and-only of UP.
I call the above composition of images “Creative Freedom Vs
Academic Freedom” (Oblation image from Smithsonian, smithsonianmag.com).
“Academic
Freedom” has always been used by UP more to oppose something, and less to
propose something else more productive or more promising – Academic Freedom
encourages negativity and discourages creativity in UP – Enough!@517
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