Trajectories
Today, if we ask ourselves where the Philippines is headed, we may reach entirely different conclusions depending on our points of view, our lived experiences, and the granularity…
Gideon Lasco
Defence of the mongrel
As a recent Inquirer editorial pointed out (3/26/24), ""aspin"" and non-aspin alike are vulnerable to cruelty and abuse, not to mention living miserably especially in cities,…
Carlos Yulo and the height of sports
"The notion that Filipinos are handicapped because of our height continues to dominate the discourse today, but the very idea that “Filipinos are short” is not rooted in…
Southeast Asia’s urban heat islands
Beyond global warming, the heat in the region’s cities is exacerbated by what scientists have called “urban heat island effect,” or the additional heat from urban surfaces…
Neighbouring countries, different trajectories
The same observation is just as relevant for the Philippines, the writer says. Once part of the same batch of newly independent nations in the aftermath of World War II—if not…
Rethinking class suspensions
One class cancellation doesn’t hurt the whole lesson plan, but given that multiple classes are canceled in each semester, they can add up in ways that exacerbate our educational…
America as a third world country
From time to time, when something goes wrong in America, its politicians and media commentators would sometimes say the following lines or a variation thereof: “This is…
Photoshop and the princess
The release of Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales’ photo with her children, and the subsequent revelation that it was altered, make for an intriguing case study of how…
Social media, politics, activism
Every technology brings about its existential fears. In many ways, radio and television changed politics too, but they didn’t fundamentally alter the landscape.
Our bondage to rice
"The fact that many Filipinos eat rice thrice a day is something that we take for granted, and the best doctors can hope for is that they might change to healthier (and lower…