Altered souls

Do you hear the children crying, O my brothers / ‘Ere sorrows come with the years”? The Victorian poet Elizabeth Barret Browning penned that poignant…

“Silver-haired tsunami”

“You are – what ?,” we asked the man who walked into our computer nook.  “I’m your new driver, sir. Your…

KIDS IN THE WINGS

“He who opens a school door, closes a prison,”   French author Victor Hugo wrote. By the end of this decade, two…

“FEATHERED DESAPARECIDOS: 2”

The grey-haired visitor from Brussels was perplexed, “Where,” he asked,.” did your birds disappear to?” In his native Belgium, storks tiptoe…

ENGLISH “AS SHE IS SPEAK”

English today is “the most widely learned second language.” Scientists write in it. Major newspapers and 24-hour stations use it. So do…

WHY IS THE FILIPINO SPECIAL?

(A friend, from our UN past, emailed this feature which he says was written by former Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. You may…

“TRASH FISH” ANYONE?

TALIBON,  Bohol  –  Revisiting  this  calm, quiet  and  clean  city is always a pleasure.  This is the birthplace of President Carlos P.…

THOSE PINOY SIGNBOARDS

(“NEW YOLK” reads the   signboard for a Los Banos egg distributor’s shop, a former UN colleague emailed from Laguna. “Reminded me of your earlier feature on  Pinoy names like…

“WHAT’S IN A NAME”

A  British journalist and a business executive from England have written, a decade apart, witty features on unique Filipino names that we take for granted but stun foreigners. “On…

Millionaire for the asking?

“I hate millionaires,” Mark Twain once cracked   “But it’d be dangerous to offer me the position.” Well, I have news for…

Vanished songbirds

The silver-haired visitor from Brussels was perplexed. “Where did your birds disappear to?” he asked. His disquiet stemmed from a…