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Editor’s Corner

A little lesson in journalistic accuracy

In journalism, there are two ways—and these must be achieved simultaneously—to guarantee accuracy. First, go hot on the trail of the facts, thereby securing backdrop, history and context; and second, the proper use of language. By the latter, I mean the right choice of words,...

Jolo on my mind

  The first filtered photographs that did the rounds of social media came to me as a shock. The explosion ripped the old wooden pews like these were matchsticks, leaving long shards of wood and the occasional metal from God-knows-what scattered across the tiled floor. What...

Suffer the little children

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” — Novelist James Baldwin Let’s begin with the fact that child crimes are real. And if we’re not careful, this could explode into a full-blown...

Trigger warning

A long a narrow pavement behind the garage of our old home, on a cold night too distant to recall in detail, I stood to give the stars a sidelong glance, poked a 9mm semiautomatic Llama at my temple, and pulled the trigger. Nothing....

Our run-off to the Graphic’s centennial

This June, the Philippines Graphic magazine turns 92 as a magazine title. On our 100th anniversary, the year 2027 (God willing I live that long), I would have reached my 63rd year on this benighted planet—roughly 20 years of which would have been spent...

5 Things I need to do in 2019

The New Year heralds hope. Well, at least, that’s what we all want to believe. Kinda like kicking off a new beginning after the previous 365 days of nonstop pain in the bleep. Call it our personal reboot, the time for some self-examination, and...

Random Pickings

Deconstructing the myth of free education

Red October: an altogether fictitious story put out in public by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP),...

Indolence as insolence

My recent three-day bout with the flu was anything but normal. Younger, I was of the habit of easily dispensing with the bone and...

Poets never die

And if you see me, behind your leaves Let me rest under your shade And let me sleep. ~ Maya Daniel     Novelist and poet Michael Ondaatje once wrote...

Isolated cases or cases of isolation?

“Fake” news. Stupid commentaries. Irresponsible repartees to intelligent criticism. Reckless speeches. Senseless policies. Silly and laughable propaganda. Ill-advised decisions. Lies, lies and more lies. After...