My father’s ghosts! By Emmanuelle THIS story is best told in the first person, so Emmanuelle might as well: My father’s ghosts. Plural. Not his own ghost obviously. Though spectacular in his children’s eyes, father is definitely singular. I refer to his ghosts. Or rather more correctly, the ghosts he…

Tongue-tied! By Emmanuelle THERE are these three recipes which call for ox or beef or pork tongues. Tongue with pureed peas instructs the cook to boil it until its white coat can be scraped off easily. Throw out boiled water with the plea to all souls and elements: bari-bari, laki,…

SiSONGS! By Emmanuelle IT is nifty. It is magic. She plucks an idea from out of thin air. She cups it in her palm half-closed. She nurses it for a while, with a prayer and maybe a hum. She whispers a wish, thus puts a life into it, and releases…

So strong yet so fragile; or vice versa By Emmanuelle THIS month salutes the elderly among us. They who were once the new-born child, the pre-school, the elementary pupil and the high school student, the binatilyo and the dalagita, the binata and the dalaga, the proud groom and the blushing…

One night in her life By Emmanuelle THIS was not a gentle one. It came hard and harsh. One moment there was dust and dirt and heat and sweat on sun-sore skin. Next moment, water was everywhere. Thundering angst from the sky fed and bloated the streams that were once…

One day in her life By Emmanuelle Hedges have eyes, and walls have ears. People, too. Or haven’t you noticed? Anyway, this story is not about hedges that have eyes, or walls that have ears, or people who have eyes and ears or haven’t you noticed. Though someday, more than…

Mirrors to ourselves By Emmanuelle PRAISE be on us, but blame be on no other. We were the die from which these children were cast. We were their mirrors; they, mere shadows to our forms. Until they be the die, the mirror, the form themselves. And on passes the cycle…

Beautiful minds! By Emmanuelle Three hundred four (304) graduating pupils of Pozorrubio Central School SY 2007-2008, as all their peers from both public and private schools throughout the country, took the NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TEST last March 6. Subjects tested were English and Filipino, Mathematics, Science and HeKaSi (equivalent to History,…

POST- Feelings By Emmanuelle THROUGH the march of decades, they stood there – a row of six concrete soldiers, ramrod-straight, five oval lamps on each head. Rain and sun and earthquakes they braved through. And watched did they, mutely and never judgmental, the changing of the guards. They had been…

What else? By Emmanuelle He was Cap and she was Tea and they were named after two brews Mom poured in her cup. Not that Mom was dumb, nor that she was too smart. Come to think of it, when she said it was just apt that she named them…