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Essay

Mothers and son

Weekend was an escape from the compactness in the city to relish the freshness of the rustic surroundings of my hometown in Pulilan, Bulacan. This weekend retreat was stepping into a totally different space—rural, natural and simple. Home was where I find vibrant...

In search of heroes

Numerous researches and academic studies on heroes and heroism have resulted in a range of meanings for the word “hero.” As cited in Attributes and Applications of Heroes: A Brief History of Lay and Academic Perspectives by Elaine L. Kinsella, Timothy D. Ritchie, and...

A year after my daughter’s death

I –Friday, Bloody, Friday — The week she died was ominous. I had a sudden attack of arthritis and I couldn’t move without help. Suddenly I had to use a cane. Something ailed me but I refused to see a doctor. For one,...

12 years later, revisiting Marcel

The years snap back to the past like a terribly stretched rubber band suddenly released to hit the wrist. It’s been 12 years, Marcel. Twelve years since I recounted how they forcibly made you disappear in 1985. It was in 2010 when I first...

From Presidents to common folk: Tales from the piano

Whatever the pianists' individual differences in taste, grooming and temperament, no one can deny that in terms of international exposure, the Philippines has been much luckier with pianos than with musical artists playing other instruments I met the country’s foremost pianist Cecile Licad in...

Susan Roces: 80 years of a life & memories of a movie icon

A few hours before deadline, I am watching FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano where Susan Roces was known as Lola Flora, the barangay captain.  For close to seven years, she was part of this teleserye. Almost always, I was invited in the yearly anniversaries. She would muse...

Random Pickings

When winners lose it

As the first Japanese—and Haitian, too—to win the US Open, one of tennis’ four Grand Slams, Naomi Osaka is something more than a winner: ...

Introducing Mission: PHL, the BusinessMirror’s Envoys & Expats Recognition Awards

Four years ago, in 2013, BusinessMirror—the broadsheet sister publication of the Philippines Graphic—started its Envoys & Expats section. It was designed to serve as...

Practical theory

Are we ladies protesting too much?  The intention was good, but is it fair to damn the Angono police as leading women to somewhere...

Meeting Ninotchka Rosca Again

Meeting Ninotchka Rosca, or Notch, evoked a slice of teenage years. One day, she suddenly popped up among us English Majors, a rather “formidable”...