HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng When the COVID-19 pandemic struck last year and the NCR went under ECQ (and subsequently, GCQ), I sympathized with MERALCO and it’s pronouncement to put a moratorium on their disconnecting customers with overdue, unpaid bills....
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng If for Timon and Pumbaa in the Lion King, the Swahili phrase meant “No worries for the rest of your days”; that problem-free philosophy is not something we can deem applicable for these times. A mass vaccination program seems...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng It’s in the nature of media to treat events as worthy of reportage when they’ve just happened, or are of current interest. Media moves on the next day, or after a couple of days, at the best. It’s a fast-paced world we live...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng Happy Mother’s Day! And for you out there who have your moms still alive and healthy, count that as one of your grandest blessings. My mother passed away in 1996, and that’s 25 years ago this year. But as many of you will discover (or have...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng For years, I’d be paying my annual medical insurance premium, and wondering at times, whether it was worth the expenditure. The present plan I’m subscribed to is the Global Health Access of AXA (partnered with Avega and...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng For a number of my friends, talking about their high school and university days is like giving them license to indulge in a rhapsodic reverie; some of them even describing those days past as the best time of their lives. While I...
The four novels today come from all points of the globe. From India to the UK, and from North America to South Korea. What unites these four novels, is the impeccable quality of the writing, no matter how different their genres are. ‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherge A double-locked room...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng Perusing the social media posts of the week, I was struck by how so many were decrying the lack of any National Vaccination Plan or recovery plan for the sorry state in which this recent unabated upsurge in COVID-19 cases has...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng The inescapable fact is that with some form of Community Quarantine still part and parcel of our foreseeable future, the online transitioning of our personal and professional lives won’t be changing anytime soon. Whether on Zoom,...
Heard It Through the Gripe-Vine: Our New Abnormal Philip Cu Unjieng At this juncture, beyond the lingering COVID pandemic, if there’s something I’ll remember 2021 for, it’ll be as the year I was diagnosed with Stage 1 prostate cancer. And I’ve heard all there is to hear about how it’s a...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Philip Cu Unjieng As I’m writing this, I’ve just been admitted at the hospital for my prostate cancer procedure, and I’m doubly frustrated because beyond the standard trepidation over the Brachytherapy procedure which entails me going under...
With these four novels, our intrepid quartet of authors dig into the past or speculate on the future in order to create insightful commentary on what we’re like as members of the human race. The best part is they do this while still entertaining. ‘Hurdy Gurdy’ by Christopher Wilson This...
