The daughter I could never have
I COULD only dream of an apple that fell far from the tree: a perfect news professional who is God’s little pencil. I would have taught her to begin each…
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Glorious moments of grandmothering
“If you want to civilize a man, begin with his grandmother.” -Victor Hugo SO, one moment you’re just a mother, and before you can blink and think you can relax…
The sterling world of nurses
YOU see them with a grateful heart as they walk on hands, and do somersaults with a patient’s extreme despair, suffering life-altering trauma, joys, rage and despair. Ordinary people have…
I remember mama
ON this big production called Mother’s Day, a whole nation of sons and daughters paused to remember their mothers. My first knowledge of the world about life came to me…
My life, writing in pandemic times
As one famous author said: “The ability to spin cocoons of language out of nothing.” It redefines news, the way it is reported, published and read. I MEASURE my life…
The flowers of spring
SPRING has sprung. It is upon us in a scent that grows deeper, dizzying, and improbable. It is too heady and too provocative to be diminished. Seeping through open windows,…
On the throes of fear
IN some ways, getting older is an odd blessing because we have already faced some of our biggest fears and discovered that we’re actually bigger than our fears. Looking back,…
Tomorrow is another day. What’s next?
I don’t know the answers to the big questions of life. But everything is relative, everything has a story. Yes, I’ve met amazing souls, and the lights fill me. These…
If I could interview Jesus Christ
LENT is a season of Christ’s teachings, which are presented in a thousand pulpits across the nation — self- righteously, mournfully, nasally, coldly, feebly, flamboyantly, blandly, and violently. If I…
My years with President FVR
I COVERED the presidential term sailing through its choppy waters chronicling Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos’ (FVR) wavy patterns of success and glory, laughter and grief, loss and devastation, troubles…
A widow’s lament
FOR such a monumental thing to be accomplished in seconds defies logic. In fact, it was almost insulting, but there it was. It happened in less time than it took…
Letting go of antique hurts
Letting the tides of forgiveness wash away old pains during the first year of married life was the most reliable approach in all the marriage encounters we’ve listened to. So,…
To be under the spell of love
ASK anyone about love and they’ll give you an opinion, that is beyond reason. Some say God is love, others say love is God. I’d say love is a spiritual…
Heaven, bless the children of a lesser God
SANTA CLARITA – It was a unique dance party that intermingled all the facility residents and their caregivers together into one big family. The center’s low building and the winding…
My favorite story
ALL my life I’ve dealt with words. I live in a world of stories, which are not replicable because our lives are unique and give us value and meaning. Yet,…
One is a lonely number
LAS VEGAS — Come hell or high waters, people flock here to untie the knot. Here, divorce is simply about the villain and the victim. It is who got cheated,…
Sonata for fatherless daughters
THIS week marked the 36th year since their father left us. He left me a houseful of very young and adorable daughters with the world on their side. In the…
Here comes another year
The old year has passed and we commemorate it while invoking the illumination of the year’s days of authentic indulgence, simplicities, celebration and closure. As we welcome the new year,…
December to remember
THE gift of the yuletide comes to us wrapped, not in tissues and ribbon but in cherished events of ceremony, celebration, connections and parties that constellate about the holiday season….
The secret of the best Christmas
I thought I have forgotten what the real Christmases were like, but, I remembered. Christmas comes but once a year, made up of equal parts of love, good cheers, gentleness…
My Christmas box
IN both fiction and reportage, I’ve always made known that the winding down of autumn and ushering of winter puts me in a heavy and philosophical mood. I’m thinking about…
December 7, 1941: The Pearl Harbor moment
HOW could it have happened? Pearl Harbor and its awful treachery and death, is one of the worst defeat ever suffered by the U.S. It is a tragic story of…
PH Commission on Filipinos Overseas Secretary Francisco Acosta meets LA Fil-Am community
PICTURE a man across the hall. He carries his everyday business suit like they were black tie and tails, and his demeanor gave the impression that he had been born…
A day of thanks and giving
THIS great holiday of thanks and giving is not a date on a calendar, but a state of the mind. In a kind of thought about our capacity to realize…
The conquest of Kilimanjaro
ROMEO Balboa’s photos are unrelated to stories that make an antidote to the unhappy news of the day. He sets as an example to the rest of his colleagues just…
Every morning is a day of Joy
CALL it the sickness pompous, the spell that hushed the household with desert-like stillness felt through its innermost chambers; one in a world unto herself — her own theater. A…
A father’s legacy
THIRTY-FIVE years ago, my husband left me. He died, leaving a house full of daughters; young, adorable and innocent, with the world on their side. In the face of adversity,…
Dealing with bad news, gossip and rumors
IT is time for the bad news. I think of the bad news as a huge bird, an albatross with wings of a crow, the face of Hydra, rancid teeth…
Recognizing individuals
THEY met in Las Vegas. From all over the world, they came and gave three days of their lives to be with each other. It was in the Philippines Normal…
Awards galore
LIKE a compass through the storms of art and other noteworthy human endeavors, the awards culture, that human obsession for recognition and accolade; is here to stay — at its…