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Menagerie

The depressing state of depression

“They said I was crazy,” shares 18-year-old Erica, her gaze focused on her lap where her hands have been resting for the past half hour, as if proclaiming an internal apology. She is one of the many who have been slapped with vapid labels—“over dramatic”, “paranoid”, “too emotional”—just a few words among a myriad of…

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Menagerie

Of Barbies and bleaching: Our notions of beauty

Before my older sister went away for college, she left me with her makeshift box of Barbie dolls in a moment that felt rather ceremonious. When she came back that first summer, she found that I had already split the legs apart, displaced the head from the body, and removed the left arm from its…

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Menagerie

The path of many forks

It’s odd whenever someone asks me what my religion is. Quite frankly, I don’t know the answer to that myself. I was born and baptized a Catholic—and once in a while, I attend mass, enjoying the homilies and the lessons that Christ and his Church wish to impart onto their followers.  But due to my…

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Menagerie

Leaving the limelight

“When you feel like you’re on cloud nine, and you think you’re invincible, and all your problems go away. When, out of nowhere, you just feel like smiling, and feel like it’s the perfect day.” This is how Marie Bernadette Tuason (II, MEM-BME), a former member of LSDC-Contemporary, describes the feeling of performing. The shot…

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Menagerie

The finals week routine

One of the downsides to having a trimestral school year is that finals week gets to sneak up on us thrice each year. It’s something that we Lasallians didn’t realize when we decided to study in Taft. But no worries, we at The Menagerie have made a comprehensive cheat sheet for all of you panicking…

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University

DLSU-PUSA: Looking after cats in campus

On February 11, a help desk announcement from the University Health Office was sent to the community regarding cat-related injuries on campus. It was reported that there have been 13 cat-related injuries for the month of January. The announcement also advised the Lasallian community to be wary and careful in dealing with the cats on…

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Menagerie

The K population

You’ve seen the music videos when browsing through the channels. You’ve heard some of the catchy beats playing in your favorite café. Maybe you even have a friend who’s been transformed into a screaming fan, one of hundreds of thousands in the country. One thing’s for sure: K-Pop is no longer just a phase, and…

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Menagerie

Smokey Mountain, Tondo: Poverty porn and slum tourism

Fifty years of Manila trash is what makes up Smokey Mountain, the infamous mountain of stinking and rotting refuse heaps in the slums of Tondo. Called home by thousands of Manila’s poorest of the poor, the Tondo slums remain as the largest slum area in the entire metropolis. For the longest time, Smokey Mountain has…

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University

A look into DLSU’s student exchange programs

Since the early 2000s, the number of student exchange programs between the University and its partner universities abroad has increased, primarily due to the current trend of globalization. DLSU International Center (IC) Global Education Specialist Reodel Masilungan shares that back in 2000, most exchange students would come from Japan, Canada, or South Korea only. “Now,…

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Menagerie

The manifold lives of nuns

Once, while riding the train, I sat next to a nun reading the Bible. She wore a religious habit, with her arms covered up to her wrists, legs pressed close, eyes focused downwards.  Maybe she loved the man in the book. And maybe there was no real difference between her love and my love for…