The recent passing of Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz, popularly known as O.D., saddens thousands of colleagues, scholars, and former students he had worked with in his long and productive career as one of the best minds the Philippine academia has produced.
Before I retired from government service, I was a regular taxi rider. And when you ride a cab to and from work (as I used to), you get to meet all kinds of drivers. There are those who give unsolicited advice. One cabbie “suggested” that I buy a car because my office is far from my home. My aversion to unsolicited advice tempted me to lash out at the guy for his effrontery, but prudence dictated that I just bite my tongue.
We should be wary of talking about North Borneo or Sabah as if it were just a piece of real estate without inhabitants. There are people there who regard themselves as natives to the place, and identify themselves as Sabahans. They are descended from the various ethnic groups and races that over the centuries had settled and developed the place.
I had been a bit skeptical about most colleges’ immersion activities, or sending out their students to live with “less privileged” people. I didn’t understand the point of it from an academic perspective, until I had the opportunity to take part in it.
It’s unusual enough for an ambassador to host a showing of a movie in his home. But American Ambassador Harry Thomas was hosting a private viewing of not just any movie. It was “Lincoln,” a film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the account (told in the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin) of the last four months of Lincoln’s life and the struggle to pass the 13th amendment abolishing slavery.
You say you fell asleep after a long frigid day at work. You guys threw a birthday surprise for your friend, and you wished I were there with you. You don’t know how much I wish the same thing. Your eyes probably closed after telling me you love me just a few minutes later. An [...]
Today’s column is dedicated as an Appreciation for Francisca Limchayseng Ong (1921-2013), Auntie Paquing to many, who taught her children, and her children’s friends, the meaning of sacrifice.
James Reuter SJ, the eminent Jesuit communicator, teacher and theater director, died just as the curtains were coming down on the past year.
It is not often that I come out with my choice for the outstanding individual of the year. But these are unusual times marked by difficult and far-reaching accomplishments, and we need to recognize the leadership that made them possible.
My recollection of Dec. 8, 1941, was going to Mass at the Baguio Cathedral, accompanied by an aunt, a deeply religious woman with a special devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Just as we were leaving the church, I saw a low-flying, single engine airplane with a large red dot on its wings and fuselage. The plane flew so low and at relatively slow speed such that I could make out the image of the pilot in his open cockpit. It was the first time I had actually seen a plane in flight and for a 7-year-old boy, the experience would remain etched in memory for many years to come.
To write qualifies as a purpose in life. I love to write. The first book I poignantly remember reading was “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” I was 11 then. Beginnings bore me, so I skipped the first of the series. A week later, I finished the book, amazed and enthralled by [...]
There were a couple of unrelated news items in the newspapers last weekend that, taken together, make an interesting proposition about life.
