Happy dance time
Couples glide across the dance floor, where intermittent strobe lights flash that perceptual vision. It makes the dancers seem like their hovering magically in the air, through technological novelty. They…
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The timeless art of Balagtasan
The celebration of “Buwan ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Month)” is ongoing for the whole month of August, with the theme, “Wika natin ang tuwid na daan.” (Our language is the…
Love your neighbor as yourself
“Judge not that ye be not judged.” It makes me wonder and question. What to judge can be the result of humility and compassion, but even then we must remain…
The politics of Congressman-Boxer Manny Pacquiao
He wears an uneasy crown, as the darling of the fighting world. The odyssey of foibles and fallability starts from the time they were lightweights, who labored in the anonymity…
Love as you grow old (and older)
I have always thought growing older was a quiet time. My 20’s and 40’s were interesting, fairly serene. But my 60’s are passionate. I grow more intense as I age…
A sultry night for sizzling romantic repartees
It was a presscon like no other. The LA media stopped, watched and stayed — only to start vibrating like tuning forks, stimulated by the night, the music, Bernardo Bernardo’s…
The street sweeper
What a noble trade, being a street sweeper. It’s about sweeping the filth we produce, of making our existence less infected. Mindless and ungrateful are those who use the word…
A sparkling fellowship on wellness and good health
At the heart of every presscon is a message told well, transformed into some meaningful and productive experience. It becomes a story. On a recent Thursday, the spotlight was on…
Christmas in July
Christmas comes only once a year. You cannot exaggerate it. You cannot overstate it. It is a rich festival that belongs to mothers, fathers and children. It is not the…
Nelson Mandela’s virtue of forgiveness
Nelson Mandela forgave unconditionally. His life was a dimension of generosity and magnanimity, in both political defeat and victory. A multitude of adjectives describe him: statesman, magnanimous, dignified, patient and…
Music joins us together
Summer is the time when people from all walks of life gather at the Hollywood Bowl. This iconic spot, nestled in Hollywood Hills under the starry sky of Southern California,…
The Serious Business of Comedy at the Palace
The Ramos Years Covering the Philippine President becomes a great deal of patriotic sacrifice when it means having to ride on an ancient a propeller driven Fokker 26 whose faded turbo-prop must be at least…
Sunday night at the ER
All of LA County’s sufferings come through the doors of the emergency room. Accidents, shootings, heart attacks, beatings, rapes, suicides—just as gory and exciting when I was covering the police…
What makes a perfect beauty pageant?
There is no correct or incorrect answer to that question—only an honest or dishonest one. Yet it is susceptible to a glib answer, just the way Atty. Jojo Reyes handled…
The weekly cycle of a news magazine
IN a world running at digital pace, many newspapers have long been forced into the traditional news magazine model, with larger form writing and more big picture thinking. But we…
A musical reunion of rhythm and variations
Last Sunday, an enchanting outdoor concert with a profusion of unique talents in the musical world of choirs, settled briefly at the Ford Theater. It was an art haven patronized…
The photo is the message
Words are mere grace notes. All my life I have dealt with words. They are adequate for many of our purposes, indispensable for most. They can be immeasurably beautiful and…
An evening of poetry
The quest of every heart — for a measure of happiness and security in the noisy confusion and pressure of today’s world, against the great canvass of economics and politics…
Justice for all
Courts are strange places, with its sterile poetry of setting. With such natural order, the décor scarcely matters, reduced to benches, tables, doors and a wall. In ponderous tones (of…
Beware of summer romance
“Summer time and the living is easy,” says Gershwin. Summer has officially arrived, that season when time stands still. When nothing bad can happen. When mornings, with the sun buttering…
Sonata for a good man and for fatherless daughters
He left me with a houseful of daughters, who are very young and adorable with the world on their side. In the face of adversity, we are not permitted to…
FVR and the Malacañang Press Corps
The president wears a prestigious crown. The protocol, the linguistic circumlocution are intimidating at first, but then become a second language. There is something about the aura of the President…
Once upon a sad time in Las Vegas
The whole city is heaving, like a tired beast. Las Vegas is already hot. Its 115-degree temperature promised long sultry weekend. Bikini-clad ladies were oiled and gleaming in various stages…
The serious side of comedy
THOUGH the few good TV shows back home are applauded, it is dismaying that these small islands of quality are almost lost in the sea of mediocrity and outright vulgarity,…
Santacruzan at the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
BALDWIN PARK—In this placid and sinless community that was misting into early summer evening, the Flores de Mayo (also know as Flores de Maria), a month-long custom and celebration, which is steeped in…
Looking for treasures in growing old
“Few people know how to be old.” – Francois De La Rochedfoucald They say that youth is wasted on the young. This is untrue. Youth is wasted on the old, if…
Postscript: The agony and the splendor of campaign combats
A week ago, a whole nation fidgeted while the next installment of political drama unfolded during the May midterm elections. In any case, what can one really do within the…
A question of choice
It is said that choice is destiny’s soulmate. You have a choice to accept or refuse, to take one turning down the crossroads to the future or another. By not…
A hundred Cinderellas on Mother’s Day at FACLA
We saw what joy looked like on the “Day of Tribute to all Mothers” last weekend. It touched us to the core , bringing back tenderly the true meaning of…
Happiness is someone called Mother
On that big production (called Mother’s Day), we laid gifts of love and honor at the treasured feet of our mothers. They do not crave attention, but they glory in…