Looking Back
Sodom and Gomorrah
By Ambeth R. OcampoSOMEONE told me once that the popular love motel chain Sogo, with its distinctive Japanese logo, is actually formed from two biblical names: SOdom and GOmorrah. I remember these names very clearly because I had devout aunts who took us to watch vintage sword-and-sandal flicks during Lent like “The Ten Commandments,” “Ben Hur,” “The Robe” and “Spartacus,” but they always avoided “Sodom and Gomorrah.” Although it seemed like a religious film, I was told that it was not appropriate for children because it had sex and violence. In high school, one of my classmates explained that Gomorrah was a venereal disease that you picked up from an “unnatural act” called sodomy that was practiced in an ancient place called Sodom.
