Police knock, suspect pleads, and then a gunshot or two is fired—a sequence of events that has become all too familiar. In this day and age, the police seem to be painted in a negative light on news headlines—both internationally and locally—far more often than they previously were. Extra-judicial killings and racist acts have served…

At night, when people slip into their pajamas, lights from windows flicker out one by one, and the mundane world stays still, the red light districts come alive. They look the same as they do every night: bold and beaming, lurid with fluorescent signs, and piercing with loud music. Matching the scenery are fire truck…

Life’s paintbrush paint our canvas with beauty in every stroke, at times a little too fast, in order for us to see the grandeur in every aspect of ourselves,  albeit somewhat trivial and nonsensical. Hardly ever noticed, but never out of relevance, the things we take for granted are far for the most part, the…

In a school cafeteria in Dhaka, a girl sat alone at a table next to a window. Everybody else sat with their respective groups, and the girl–who was nervous and hungry, and not in the least bit immune to the kind of inevitable isolation that usually afflicts new students in their first few days of…

Many of us ask this question every day. Whether it be in the morning when your first class is free cut or in the afternoon when all your classes have consistently given homework. Regardless of where you come from, it will be a perennially overwhelming decision—where to eat? In the local streets of Taft however,…

This is what we think we know; we’ve heard enough sides to know the truth. It is a primetime narrative summarized as incidents fueled by entwined destinies of noble intention and bloody execution. But the headlines and three-minute reports rarely ever tell us much. Besides somber faces caught on camera and the families whose lives…

A sudden flash of bright-colored wigs here, an assortment of oversized props over there; these are the telltale signs that yes, you’ve found yourself in the midst of a geek gathering. Pop culture enthusiast or not, one cannot help but be drawn to the flurry of excitement. Be it the intricate costumes, themed merchandise, or…

There is surface, and then there is depth. It was the 1950s when gay-themed films that so often saw portrayal from the King of Comedy Dolphy permeated every television of every household. Back then, the Filipino gay man only bifurcated into one-dimensional roles: the loud and flamboyant parloristang bakla who works in cheap salons, and…

When the sun’s on the cusp of petering out from the sky and the breeze is finally cool on the cheek, people switch their porch lights on, anticipating the darkness in the offing. In Daly City, sundown is at 8:27 pm. For Beth*, this means rest. Her room is small and she has no door,…

Men are defined not by their accomplishments, but by the journey they undertook to achieve triumph. In totality, the feat alone does not justify their worth, it comes auxiliary to the herculean effort and eventual victory. When the end of the road seems all too imminent than than it already is, that’s when the beckoning…