Category Archives: General

Nonenal

By Wilma Gonzales Buenaobra For someone born with a highly developed olfactory nerve, it is quite natural to develop a curiosity bordering on a mild fascination about scents and smell.  Have you often wondered why for instance, the perfume you put on in the morning has become imperceptible after a few hours, while others still detect the scent?… Read More »

Guilty feet have got no rhythm

“I’m never gonna dance again/Guilty feet have got no rhythm/…I should’ve known better than to cheat a friend/And waste the chance that I’d been given/…Time can never mend/The careless whispers of a good friend/…There’s no comfort in the truth, pain is all that you find.” – Lyrics from Careless Whisper by George Michael. Political sex scandals titillate our… Read More »

Our Most Valuable Wealth

We normally get fixated in acquiring more and more tangible wealth. Working very hard to accumulate them as part of our desire not only to look good but also to establish that indeed we have arrived. It was a cultural thing such as Europeans are known for being classily well-dressed, put together, or chic, as Parisians call it.… Read More »

MANILA’S TRAFFIC NIGHTMARE

Dateline: Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines When I used to be driven around by my wife’s family driver, before leaving the driveway, I would see him make a sign of the cross and then rub the head of some saint on the car dash while mumbling a prayer. I nearly surrendered my atheism while going through my first… Read More »

The Bench

I’m this wooden bench amidst the snows of winter, If I could only talk, let me tell you a great love story. I had been a silent witness to countless hours of two lovers’undying love and vows for each other. While sitting on my bench, they wouldn’t mind peoplepassing by; always oblivious of life’s going-on,only caring, dreaming, wholeheartedly… Read More »

My Unforgettable Memories as “Batang Quiapo”

In my childhood, I learned the hardship of making a living early in life, seeing people working all their lives to bring food to their table. While watching the popular TV series—Ang Batang Quiapo—by the ABS-CBN one afternoon in Toronto, many things flashed back in my memories, remembering how I spent my youthful days selling newspapers and cigarettes… Read More »

The Old Man

“This is a form of evil, in my book – evil dressed up as a higher morality, as a superior or even supreme morality…In your heads, you’re still right. You remain right and will always be right. It doesn’t matter what happened, you’re forever right.” – David Guterson, The Final Case.  By Rey Moreno He is a big… Read More »

PAALAALA  ni Edwin Esteba

BUHAY NILA YAN Kung ano ang nakikita sa kapaligiran Maaaring bigyan pansin at pagtuunan Pero kung buhay ng iba ang pakikialaman Mas mabuti manahimik ka na lamang Huwag mo silang kakainggitan Dahilan upang sila ay siraan Walang magandang idudulot yan Nakakasira pa ng samahan Kapag sa iba ay may nakikita tayo Agad natin ginagawaan ng kwento Sasabihin na… Read More »

MY OKINAWAN ADVENTURE

MY OKINAWAN ADVENTURE  By: Edwin de Leon, March 1, 2023  The holiday months of December- January is when I get holiday greetings from former students at Christ the King International High School (CKHS) on the southern Japanese Island of Okinawa, the biggest in a chain of islands of the Ryukyus. It’s a lot more than just the annual… Read More »