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Opinion

The words of a president matter

“It’s insurrection”—two words we never thought we’d hear when it comes to the United States of America. The United States (US) has always glorified itself as the poster child for democracy—the land of the free and a place of opportunity. As a global superpower, the nation had served as a model for countries that sought…

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Opinion

Rape is rape

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article recounts an experience of a traumatizing form of sexual assault. Readers are advised to proceed with caution. I consider myself as someone who is sex-positive—seeing sex and sexuality as concepts that are open and progressive. Exploring my sexuality right after high school shaped how I understood people as their own realized…

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Opinion

Settling priorities

“Becoming a teacher is a difficult task. You’ll be underfunded, underappreciated,” these were the words hammered in my mind ever since I was a child, having admitted that I wished to take up teaching as a profession, all the way to my major courses in college. Everyone says that education is a vocation, a sacrifice…

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Editorial Opinion

In shambles

The Philippines was never ready for a pandemic, and yet here we are. From the lack of hospital beds to the scarcity of ventilators, the country’s weak healthcare infrastructure has become prone to collapse, as those in the highest offices of the government continue to blunder in their response. This lack of decisive leadership and…

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Opinion

The long road to ‘Tayo naman’

“Tayo naman!” so exclaimed many after the news of Joe Biden’s projected election into the United States presidency, expressing hope that with the end of Donald Trump’s damaging populist tenure, the Philippines would see the same result in 2022. But while we have reason to believe that better leadership is within our grasp, this is…

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Opinion

The benefit of the doubt

Up to what extent can we give someone the benefit of the doubt? Where do we draw the line in order to ease the pain, anger, and heartbreak? A couple of years ago, a man told me he loved me. Although I was sure that the word “love” meant almost nothing to him, I made…

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Opinion

Loose threads

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article mentions suicide. Readers are advised to proceed with caution. Whenever you look at an entangled ball of yarn, your mind tries to find a workaround to fix the knots. Possible approaches might be to throw the entire mess away, remove each strand—handling each one properly—or cover the yarn and place it…

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Opinion

Personal Letters

In 1999, I was a freshman at 17 years old, a perfect lifetime ago. In those days, TLS was housed on the 3rd floor of the SPS Building, in one long room together with the Malate Literary Folio and Ang Pahayagang Plaridel. One or two bulky desktops littered the space on the long table and…

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Opinion

Under Review

Martial law was declared on Saturday, September 23, 1972. On September 21 and 22, we went about our usual activities. The dictator Marcos already started his revisionism as early as then, by setting the date of the declaration to Thursday, September 21. When I entered DLSC in June 1974, the entire Philippine society had pretty…

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Opinion

Butterfly Tornado

2004-2005 was a definitive time in movies. Among now film greats like Troy, V for Vendetta and Kill Bill 2, that period saw the release of Pixar’s The Incredibles, Howl’s Moving Castle by Studio Ghibli, Christopher Nolan’s opening salvo Batman Begins, the controversial and ambitious Butterfly Effect and still my favorite installment in the HP…