I have always been fascinated with Islam, this richly colorful and grossly misunderstood religion and culture that has formed a large part of our history and identity as a nation. Growing up, I often found myself wondering about the veiled women that I would see on TV and in the streets, and our yayas’ and neighbors’ derogatory remarks about “the Muslims”, wondering what was so bad about this group of people that they (and “the Bombays”) were often used to scare us into obedience. When I…Continue Reading “Islam on My Mind (ProPinoy.net)”
And on to your left we have the coffin of King Ferdinand V of Bohemia…” Our tour guide’s voice drowned in my head as I fumbled with the controls of my borrowed camera. The room that kept King Ferdinand’s coffin was dark, and I wanted to get a good-enough photograph using the camera that I had started using only the day before that. A click here, a snap there—I turned around to ask my classmate, Eva, a question about using the camera in low light……Continue Reading “Lost (and Found) in Prague (ProPinoy.net)”
By Niña Terol (originally posted in the blog Out of the Universe) And now we face yet another hundred-million-peso scandal, unfolding in real-time in the august chambers of the Philippine Senate, involving yet another fall guy who is now the country’s hottest topic (and butt of jokes) but who will later on be forgotten. The moment I heard his name—a few years ago, when my mom casually mentioned the name of the Rotary’s then-District Governor—I immediately felt that there was something fishy about a man named…Continue Reading “Within the Joker’s Grasp (Out of the Universe)”
(Originally posted in the blog, Out of the Universe) I know we’ve all encountered this at one time or another: being made to wait so g**dam* long for a meeting that turns out to last for only a very short while, with people whom you realize you don’t want to deal with at all–even if they paid you a million bucks to show up next time. This is actually my first work-rant post in any blog, but I’m doing it here and now because an…Continue Reading “Stop Wasting My Time (Out of the Universe)”