By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I DO not exactly know when I was invited to write for Sunday Punch. The first person however who brought up the idea was Gonzalo Duque, who was then writing for the newspaper. “It would be good for your advocacy. I know the publisher very…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I LOVE airplanes. As a young child, I would watch airplanes cruising in the blue sky, some quietly, some with cloud-like white tails. My uncle Opie, who was an Air Force pilot, used to write me letters, which my father read to me, about being…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   EVERYONE needs a preoccupation these days, and not just the ones we normally do, but something new. A new skill for example, or a hobby. A few of my friends have gotten into exercise regularly, and others have taken this at a new level. For…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   SUDDENLY, he stopped sending jokes. I thought it was normal, assuming he must have other things to preoccupy him with. The jokes are mostly about politics, and predictably about women. We joked about ourselves, our imperfections, our pride, our humbling experiences, our most trying times….

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   AS we passed by Lingayen Gulf, when we were fighting against the establishment of the cement plant complex in Bolinao, Mildred Yamzon, then a new member of the Women in Development (WID) Foundation, asked me a question. “Is this all there is in life? No…

By Virginia Pasalo   SO many desperate attempts to have everyone vaccinated without a satisfactory explanation for the concerns raised. Some are outright ridiculous, requiring commercial establishments to offer discounts to those who can present a vaccination card. Some want it as a precondition to avail of certain government health…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IT was good to see them again, the trees, the flowers, the herbal “weeds”. The symphony of smells brings me back to a time when, the garden had seen its best days, with Tatay and Nanay caring for them. It has been years. The garden…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IT was big. The moon in the pale lavender sky. Not as big as the one Sr. Mary John Mananzan and I saw in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That moon was so big it filled the whole window where we both sat watching in awe. It…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo     LATELY, I have difficulty adjusting to the heat. It gets so hot that no matter how many times I change my clothes, my back sweats like a flowing river.  It does not help that the trees along the sidewalks had been cut to allow…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   A friend was going through a difficult period in her life, deciding whether she would end or continue with a 7-year-old relationship. The couple decided to cool it off for a while, focus on their personal concerns and explore experiences outside their current circles. But…