The bucket list: Become your own style icon (9th of a series)
“ …As within, so without…” –Hermes Trismegistus WHILE appearances may deceive, more often than not, what you are is reflected on the outside. Becoming your own style icon does not…
Category: Lifestyle Columnists
Read More
No one is above the law — not even Catholic priests
[Editor’s note: The original version of this column, published in the Asian Journal in March 2016, has been updated to reflect 2019 changes.] Pope Francis has declared a Jubilee Year…
Vintage Hollywood’s biggest Oscar shocker and epic mix up
IT was bigger than California, bigger than America. It was Hollywood’s finest moment. Celebrating the Academy Awards (nicknamed Oscar) is as old as a man’s knowledge of entertainment — music, laughter…
Another kind of blindness
“Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” (Luke 6:39). No one wants to be blind. No one wants to be deprived of…
Consuelo Almonte- Shaffer: Defying monumental cessation of her fragmented past
Allowing the bitter-sweet fragments of the past to flow back freely inevitably creates either abysmal or ecstatic reminiscences. Regardless how profound and significant the recollections may be, there’ll constantly be…
Run for your life
A 10-year study showed more than 57,000 pedestrians were hit by vehicles in Metro Manila — including those who lost their lives simply crossing the streets. Notwithstanding the designated crossing…
The bucket list: God has a list, too. (8th of a series)
”Sister, do you speak Italian? Can I talk to you? I am very angry with God.” I turned my head and it was a beautiful lady, elegantly dressed. I thought,…
You can’t please everybody. A cliché or simply the plain truth? (Part I of II)
YUP, you’re right! It is difficult, indeed, to please everyone. Each day comes with challenges. We work with people, we move around people. Interaction with others is so much inevitable….
No one is above the law
“It is more proper that law should govern than any one of its citizens.” – Aristotle On Feb. 21, 2019, The Rachel Maddow Show’s team uncovered a telegram sent by…
Heaven bless the “children of a lesser God”
SANTA CLARITA, CA – It was a unique dance party that intermingled all the facility residents and their caregivers together into one big family…and dancing gaiety. The center’s low building…
Eric Bustamante: candid interpersonal rapport and effectual management skills sustain his banking headship
HAVING been raised, oriented, and constantly exposed to numbers, financial records, auditing, taxation matters, assets, liabilities, and other related accounting terms easily made Eric Bustamante embrace his father’s profession that…
A taxi driver on corruption
Whenever I take a cab in Manila, I find it most interesting to talk to the driver. Some of them are so eloquent, with a remarkable grasp of our national…
The bucket list: The art of “staycation” (8th of a series)
”When you clear your mechanism and tune out the noise that invades your being, you may come to a rare state of grace — that state when you are thoroughly convinced …
Blessed are those who follow Jesus!
AT first glance, we may think that Jesus was speaking to a general audience when he was proclaiming the Beatitudes. But after reading this Gospel scene (Luke 6:17, 20-16) thoroughly,…
Radiofrequency (RF) treatment: V-shaped face without the blade
HAVING a V-shaped visage or oval face — as what most Filipino, Korean and Japanese celebrities have — accentuates a person’s facial features and gives a sculpted youthful appearance. This…
Post-Valentine combustion
“It is a commitment, as each day we each rediscover who we are and how much love our love is capable of giving.” PERHAPS the heart is not just something…
The power of kindness: Four types of people
“Think of a person who faces the world without knowing his capabilities and limitations – someone with misguided notions about himself, who dreams of being powerful, rich, and admired for…
Radharani Martinez: “Failure is just a motivational factor to attain a goal!”
SUCCESS, for those who struggled hard, isn’t about the absence of disappointments, failures, and personal let-downs but the by-product of overcoming incessant challenges while duly equipped with undiminished persistence. For…
Valuable tips
Appetite suppressants, weight loss products, herbal aids for dieters, food supplements for weight watchers, are all potential harmful substances, with side-effects in the long run. Since overweight and obesity are…
The bucket list: Fix the broken (7th of a series)
”Broken hearts? Broken relationships? The solution is always the same. FORGIVE. Forgive as you have been forgiven. And while you’re at it, FORGET.” [Select a handful of those things in your bucket list that…
Destiny and your choices
“After reaping a not so good harvest, it is time to sow again to be able to move on. And this time, sow the right seeds.” THERE are several roads…
On hauling memories of God’s fidelity, providence, and promises
“POUR out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch,” the Lord told Simon while getting into the boat. “Master, we have worked hard all night and have…
The heart has its reasons
THEY spoke of a time, a place, voices in language of love gone wrong. Of frightful things that manifest itself in various ways of secrets, deceptions, obsession and violence, swathed in…
Yam Concepcion as Jade, the ‘mistress’ we all love to hate
ONCE again a new teleserye character playing the “other woman” has Filipino viewers gritting their teeth and clenching their fists as they curse her existence and damn her soul. “Homewrecker,”…
The lies of two minds’
“‘I’ convinced ‘myself.’ The I that did the convincing was the one who needed desperately to justify the entire experience, to make it sane and right and okay and approved….
Norovirus can kill
The Norovirus outbreak that sickened 277 on board the Oasis of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines forced the 7-day Caribbean cruise to return prematurely to Port Canaveral…
The bucket list: The world is your oyster – Go travel (6th of a series)
”The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”— Marcel Proust [Select a handful of those things in your bucket list that have…
Ministry and theology at the margins
AS I write this article, I am in frigid Ashville, North Carolina, attending the 35th Biennial Consultation of the Association of Theological Field Education (ATFE). I thank God for the…
Farewell, Mommy Lucing
THE last image of Mommy Lucing was on distant mid-afternoon when her guiding hand led my wheelchair to a waiting ride. Against the gate of Bahay Kubo, her lips pursed a trifle,…
Kris-Nicko-Gretchen issues show no signs of dying down
THE start of this year has brought a mix of good and bad vibes in the entertainment business. We were off to a good start with our back-to-back wins during…