It is an era that is vividly remembered as a wound that hasn’t completely healed. A memory that refuses to dissolve into faded decades and a turbulent part of Philippine history, the mention of martial law sparks an outcry of different contradictions. It was a grim era smeared with shades of scarlet insurgence—a period of […]
Growing up with the question “How many siblings do you have?” was as much a burden to hear as it was to actually answer. I would always look down shyly and quietly tell whoever was asking that I had no brothers or sisters – I was, and still am, an only child. After hearing quite […]
With October already upon us, more and more people are excited to partake in the month’s festivities. Attendance in Halloween costume parties, trick-or-treating around neighborhoods, binge watching scary movies, and last but not least, exchanging horror stories. Last month, however, Filipinos were unfortunately greeted by a rather early horror story: They had awoken to the […]
There are a lot of things that clamor for your attention. There’s that most recent notification, that friend request, and that red icon on top of your unread messages. There are posts from your friends’ recent hangouts, and then, sandwiched between the selfies and inspiration quotes that line down your newsfeed are ‘news’ that […]
It is often said that to be truly healthy, a person must nurture their “mind, body, and soul.” The concept of a healthy mind and body is not one that is too hard to grasp, but that of a healthy “soul” may elude some people. The religious path is not for everyone, and while the […]
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, […]