MEDIUM RARE How about starting a new religion? Christianity is 2,000 years old. Buddhism – not a religion but way of life – is older. Agnostics and atheists abound, then as now, or else nobody bothered to ask anybody what or who they believed in, or if they considered superstitions as a...
MEDIUM RARE A young man was playing his cello with such verve and emotion, as if he’s been doing it for ages, so I told him, “It’s like you’ve survived a whole lot of heartaches and heartbreaks. But you’re only 17.” He replied, “Yes, ma’m, but that was in the past.” Ah, so!...
MEDIUM RARE Just when you’re about to declare the start of a fruitarian diet, comes news that when you eat a sweet, ripe mango now, it will be like biting into gold. In the palengke – not supermarket, where prices are a few pesos higher – mangoes have goldened from P270 a kilo to P350,...
MEDIUM RARE It’s the night of the harvest moon, also known as the mid-autumn festival with its mooncakes, family gatherings, and poets and lovers having their share of moon-gazing – unless the rain spoils all such plans, as it seems to be in the habit of doing every year right around this week...
MEDIUM RARE Forget your K-drama. Forget the poverty porn of the last century. (I still remember how Lino Brocka said he had to “smuggle” a copy of his “Insiang” out of the country, for fear that then first lady Imelda Marcos would stop it from reaching the Cannes Film Festival for...
MEDIUM RARE As we have a nickname for everything from pets to typhoons, so have we nicknamed the last four months of the year, not as the last quarter, but as the “ber” months. Dear folks and gentle people, if “ber” is here, can Christmas be far behind? September hath 30 days, it’s...
MEDIUM RARE What did the two most wanted personalities of the month have in common when the long arm of the law finally caught up with them? Alice Guo and Pastor Apollo Quiboloy were both smiling. Police escorts and others who witnessed the proceedings said it was probably a relief for them that...
MEDIUM RARE “I’m 96 and I don’t have wrinkles. Kasi, hindi ako nagagalit” – because she doesn’t get mad. Sitting across her at an event dubbed “Merienda with Mama Meldy” last Tuesday, I wanted to kick myself for forgetting to bring with me an IRM souvenir notebook filled with blank...
MEDIUM RARE Of all the activities known to man, eating carries with it the most idiosyncratic practices. I may be wrong, but practically everyone I know has some belief or other about food that keeps them from consuming certain dishes or types of food. My friends and relatives aren’t all...
MEDIUM RARE According to the lunar calendar, today, Sept. 3, is the first day of the eighth month. (August in the Chinese calendar is September in the Gregorian.) Exactly half a month or 14 days later, Sept. 17 (Gregorian) will be the day to celebrate the mid-autumn festival. As understated...
MEDIUM RARE Going by government data – in this case Philippine Statistics Authority – a three-meal consumption of ₱64 per person per day “does not classify” that person as “food-poor.” By the skin of their teeth, PDL’s, persons deprived of liberty, are way above the threshold:...
MEDIUM RARE “Such a beautiful country,” sighed the retired soldier. With such beautiful people, I added. The civilian lawyer chimed in, “And nothing has changed or moved forward in the last 40 years.” True or not? No one in our lunching group of five was bold enough to loudly agree or...
