Confidence was never really my strong suit. In seventh grade, the final year before everyone would transition to high school, I transferred to a new school. With the move, I knew no one. On my first day, I kept to myself while pre-established cliques and friend groups flashed by me. During this time, one of […]
I’m on my fifth year of college; I’m still here. To be frank, it was my own decision. I applied to the LIA-COM program, where two degrees—one under the College of Liberal Arts and the other under the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business—will be completed in a span of five years. I am […]
I found it funny how, as a child, I would often struggle with simple multiplication. Granted, I was four years old, and the concept was just taught to me in kindergarten. But the other kids were quick to understand it, and I could feel the mounting pressure of being the only one who could not […]
Growing up in a family geared toward the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field, the performing arts wasn’t something they took seriously. The idea of one of us siblings going into the performing arts worried my parents. “Walang pera doon” is the usual argument I would hear, and it was something I agreed with […]
On my way to covering an event, I overheard a report on the radio that said overthinking can shorten one’s life. This struck me as I was just thinking about all the things I had to do for the day and the days to come. In my youth, I was often disappointed in myself when […]
If you were to ask me what I would wear on a nice Sunday morning stroll, I would insist on a plain navy blue polo shirt and a pair of white chino pants. I occasionally get compliments for the choice of outfit. But in choosing what to wear, I would pick the one that I […]
Something definitely felt off that morning. The day before the DLSU College Admissions Test, I woke up sensing an ominous weight fill the air. A high school teacher had posted something that implied the passing of someone close. A few hours later, I received word from my classmates that the one who died was our […]
I found it strange that my pastor never mentioned the Amazon fires. A month-long blaze is ripping into the lungs of our Earth—and he never said a thing. For nearly as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve attended a Protestant church, listening to the Gospel preached by a Protestant pulpit. Global warming was as constant […]
Dancing might be one of the most dangerous things one could do in the shower. I was ten when I decided to tap dance in the bathtub. The water from the shower gradually made the floor slippery. I already knew the possible consequences of my actions, but the music was hard to ignore. The next […]
“Nasa isip mo lang yan.” (It’s all in your mind.) This is a typical remark given to people experiencing stress, worry, or fear. Often times, the impression one gets is that the person saying that is discounting their negative feelings to nothing more than a passing thought. People often discount mental illnesses to be a […]