Instead, I met some friends over dinner and talked about what's happening back home.
I always have a sense of ambivalence when I sit with a group of social scientists. On the one hand, I admire and appreciate their grasp of the concepts and theories surrounding the issues at hand. It is also refreshing to go beyond the commonsensical discussions and delve into the disentangling of complex thoughts. On the other hand, there's always that voice at the back of my head, of how to translate all these concepts in theories into a digestible manner, into something that people who dont have an interest in academic discussions will appreciate. Because in the end, scholarship is meant to educate, isnt it? This is always a challenge.
Anyway, after the discussion, two things became more prominent. One, maybe it's time to dive into that PhD path. Second, it's time to finally read this.
Remembering/Rethinking EDSA
Edited by JPaul Manzanilla and Caroline Hau
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On a side note, I sometimes, no most of the time, tend to discount the fact that NUS has provided me with a lot of opportunities to meet people who are excellent in their fields. Inspiring people who are dedicated to their scholarship. Last week, I just did an overseas tutorial to a prominent Australian demographer on Endnote. I shared my Endnote library with him and we encountered sharing issues that needed to be elevated to the Endnote team themselves. In the end, the issue was resolved and I ended up teaching him about in-text citation. A trivial thing actually but it was a big thing for the lowly me especially since he is one of those respected scholars who do not seem to have an ounce of self-entitlement. It's always inspiring to work with those people. It makes you think that one day, when I make it big, this is how I want to be.
This came into mind upon reading a friend's article on the Inquirer about meeting Dave Ulrich. It was a personal account of how he became Ulrich's sort of assistant when he went to the Philippines for a PMAP conference. It was personal in a way that one could feel what he was feeling when he met him and how it was to work with him very closely for a couple of days. It was also full of insights on HR and the general concepts behind human resource management. In the end, his point was "brilliance and humility are not mutually exclusive, and that regardless of stature, being thoughtful and kind is really what matters"
Read about Meeting Dave Ulrich
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