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Jan 7Author's Note
The initial idea for this story began awhile ago, well before its direct inspiration (namely, a conversation with an acquaintace on a rather apocalyptic Philippine new year's day).
I'd been wanting to write--had that creative itch every artist feels from time to time--and while I had a few story-worthy vignettes in mind, nothing was quite right. And I needed the right narrative form. For me, neither subject matter nor form follows the other; an interplay between the two determines ... readDec 27
Concerning the Pedicab Driver
Does the pedicab driver rub between his fingers the well-worn rosary dangling from the handlebars of his pedicab before every trip? Did the pedicab driver himself paint the word "Amigo" on the rear of the seatback and if so, did he intend it to contain any level of satire?
What is the cost, in U.S. dollars, of the pedicab? What is the relative purchasing power of this amount in America? Could one buy, for instance, a Darth Vader wall clock as might be installed in a doctors' offic ... read
Dec 23
Scholarship for Future Educators
Footage from the December 7, 2011 Commencement and Orientation for scholars in the College of Education, Eastern Visayas State University.
Learn more about the Scholarship for Future Educators ... read
Dec 20
Resolutions 2012
[This image was created using GIMP, a free software. Stop piracy.]
As folks go, I'm not very wise. I've lived 31 years on this green earth and still commit the same shortcomings year after year. Note: this coming from someone who takes New Years' Resolutions a little too seriously.
Every December since 2003, I've sat down and ch ... read
Dec 16
Interview with the Prostitute
On the outskirts of the city at the edge of a subdivision called Bliss, Tacloban City Convention Center pokes into the bay. A big silo of a thing, concrete, stadium seating for a couple three or four thousand, ringed by two levels of commercial units which consist of half a dozen disco-slash-videoke bars, a few pretentious restaurants, a full-function fitness center. They call it the Astrodome. On your jeep ride call out "Astro" for short.
Dec 12
Library Book Program
Footage from the Book Acquisition project at Eastern Visayas State University (November 22, 2011). In the past year, over 700 popular fiction books were donated. ... readDec 9
Cause and Fall
At the bakeshop I go to most mornings, this morning old senile Lolita turned left, shying a bright white bandage on her cheek. What triggered the bandage is unimportant. It is the turn left--the shy--that I care about. The ancient human instinct, when Eve knew her nakedness. We do not act. Something acts upon us.
That morning there was rain, and a drunk grandson yelling above his lungs at a door for the key. Yelling at a door. Grandson: we all have our old lolitas, even after we ... read
Nov 24
Thanksgiving in the Philippines
... read
Psst. Do the right thing. Instead of pirated Microsoft Office, use