Now/here no/where woman

Forget Mark Solis. (I'm not even putting a link to his story here. Snort!) Here are a few UPians we could be talking about instead. Therese Ingrid Dado, a BS Biology student in the University of the Philippines, Baguio, has just been awarded first prize for her children's story,  Ang Kahon ng Kayamanan. The story is about two boys who help their parents out by collecting recyclable/reusable garbage, which they sell. One day they find a big box into which they both fit. When they play inside the box, the brothers pretend they are gallant prince warriors, fighting evil people in the world. They go on adventures together, inside the box. The wealth that the box contains is really the rich imagination of the two boys. Jason Robert Lobaton's  (BA Communication)  story, Si Marty at ang Sikreto ng Batek, was awarded second prize. Batek refers to the traditional Kalinga tattoo. The story is about Marty's grandmother, whose arms are covered in batek, but it is also very m...

"The human heart harbors two conflicting sentiments. Everyone of course sympathizes with people who suffer misfortunes. Yet when those people manage to overcome their misfortunes, we feel a certain disappointment. We may even feel (to overstate the case somewhat) a desire to plunge them back into those misfortunes. And before we know it, we come (if only passively) to harbor some degree of hostility toward them." From the short story, The Nose, by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Guilty as charged.

Today is Baguio Day. Below are two images of Baguio stone in the same city but in different locations. This is Baguio stone. Below, is Baguio stone after city government beautification of the public market. To be fair, they painted over this Baguio stone pillar because it was charred black after the market fire of March 2009. Still, I can't help but wonder, couldn't there have been some other way to treat it so that it's natural beauty could shine through again? So that people could look directly at a part of our heritage, these being the original pillars of the old stone market that rose and thrived here one year before Baguio became a chartered city? Couldn't the city and market officials have done some research on treating the Baguio stone, instead of simply painting over the problem? Certainly, we who live in Baguio have much to be grateful for; there is still plenty to love about life in this city. But I give you this Baguio stone as a metap...