By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   “IMITATIO” is not plagiarism, or copying verbatim the work of another artist. It is like innovating on the original recipe of a dish like adobo or pinakbet, in the hands of different chefs, creating their own versions and creating their unique signature tastes. I chanced…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I hardly watch a football game. The last time I watched was at Princeton University, and I do not even remember who played. What I remember was the excitement, as opposing teams compete for the goal, and we shouted from the bleachers to cheer. After…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   HOW many times have you watched a movie and shifted to another in less than thirty minutes? There are others I’ve watched as a series, which are too long, and I quit in the middle, or almost at the end, knowing how predictable the outcome…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   I don’t know why I’m here. I just followed my instincts. In the process, I searched for my stolen credit card in the last establishment where I bought the boxes to store the books I have not read. After that, I bought myself empanada and…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   AFTER a very long day of errands, my sister Emma and I had inihaw na tuna panga (grilled tuna jaw) at Davao Tuna Grill. Here was a simple dish served with soup, pickled cucumber and tomatoes, and a dipping sauce made from the mixture of…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   WHEN I was editing a poetry book sometime in 2015, I came across an entry written by a young man whose work was in no way, written by him. The poems were too mature for his young age, his experience did not bear what he…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   DID you know that frankincense and myrrh both come from the sap of trees? In my whole Catholic life, and that is quite a long period of time before I turned into what I am today, my teachers in religion did not teach me what…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   YESTERDAY, I was supposed to report to Intramuros to finish editing a manuscript. It was a normal day, everything was on schedule, and my sister and I left the house early, at 7:00 a.m. to avoid the traffic. We took the first zipper lane, which…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   WE share secrets depending on the level of trust and comfort with persons, and the sensitivity of the information being shared. Some secrets we share with our partners, some we share with friends, some with total strangers. However, there are also secrets we ourselves are…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   SEPTEMBER is associated with the number seven. I remember September with the blooming of three shades of blue purple flowers: aster, forget-me-not and morning glory. I remember an IVLP General Assembly where Prof. Jose David Lapuz stood up to chastise the credibility of a report,…