MEETING MITCH ALBOM IN MANILA: Niña Terol-Zialcita with best-selling author Mitch Albom & freelance photographer Toni Alvarez

Perhaps my best assignment ever as a writer has been getting to meet and chat with one of the world’s most beloved authors, Mitch Albom. Unknown to many, Albom was a musician and an award-winning sports journalist before he captured hearts and minds all over the world with the #1 New York Times bestseller, Tuesdays with Morrie. After having published his latest novel, The First Phone Call from Heaven, Albom took the opportunity to visit the Philippines not only to promote his book, but also–and more importantly–to help rebuild libraries…Continue Reading “Lessons from a conversation with best-selling author Mitch Albom”

Happy International Women's Day! | Graphic by Niña Terol-Zialcita, created using Canva.com

First of all, let me take this opportunity to greet every woman out here for International Women’s Day 🙂 As some of you may already have gathered from reading some of my previous posts, I’m a fan of spoken word poetry and have dabbled in a bit of spoken word myself. So, to celebrate International Women’s Day 2014, I share here a curated list of eight powerful spoken word performances that I believe every empowered woman must watch in order to remind her of her…Continue Reading “8 Powerful Spoken Word Performances for Women”

"PASSION" | Scribble by Niña Terol-Zialcita (2012)

Over a year ago, I was asking myself some life questions and came up with this doodle. I’d like to invite you to answer these same questions and reflect on what it says about you, your life mission, and your current priorities. I feel like for me, NOW is the perfect time to answer this again and see how things have changed since the time I drew this. I’ll definitely be sharing my answers on this blog. In the meantime, consider this my way of…Continue Reading “Answer these questions and define your own passions”

"Self-Portrait #2" by Niña Terol-Zialcita | Correction ink on board (2012)

First Wednesdays of the month are Poetry Slam nights for my favorite hangout, Sev’s Café (which I affectionately call my “unofficial living and dining room”). The “slam” consists of a competition for amateur spoken word artists and poets, while the open mic portion–as the name suggests–welcomes anyone and everyone who wishes to share a piece (or more!). Here is a piece I’ve done for both the slam and our open mic sessions. I wrote it shortly after supertyphoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) flattened many coastal…Continue Reading “Poetry: “You are not Broken””

Mitch Albom and Me ;)

I was such a huge fan of Tuesdays with Morrie, the New York Times bestseller about professor Morrie Schwartz’s lessons on dying and death, as experienced and written by his student, Mitch Albom. Like many of Albom’s readers, I had always regarded him as an inspirational writer whose works are “must-reads” and “must-shares.” So imagine my surprise (and elation!) when I got a call from my Rappler editor, asking if I would take on an assignment interviewing Albom during his trip to the Philippines. My answer was inelegant,…Continue Reading “A Tuesday with Mitch Albom”

2nd WAVE. HEIGHTS WANTS YOUR WORK. Click on the image to visit the Heights website for details

Calling all Ateneo alumni! Do you have creative pieces that have been locked up in your drawers and hidden hard drive folders, waiting to be dusted off and shared with the world? Heights has an open call for submissions until January 4, 2014–and we can still be part of it! Here are the mechanics, taken from the Heights website: FOR CONTRIBUTIONS YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT You need not be a Heights member to contribute. Heights accepts contributions year-round; however, there are deadlines for special issues (e.g….Continue Reading “Calling all Ateneo alumni! You can still submit creative work to Heights!”

Do you live in (or have you recently been to) any of these cities? Reykjavik, Iceland San Francisco, California Malmö, Sweden Vancouver, Canada Portland, Oregon Curitiba, Brazil Copenhagen, Denmark Stockholm, Sweden Hamburg, Germany Bogotá, Colombia In March 2012, a group called the Mother Nature Network named these cities the 10 greenest cities in the world. The cities were chosen for “encompassing all of the positive qualities that make urban living more healthy, pleasant and sensitive to nearby ecosystems.” They were also chosen “based on their use of…Continue Reading “Have you been to any of the World’s 10 Greenest Cities? Tell me more!”