By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IT rains again, and I am calm. I have accepted you are gone. A thing I remember when it rains. I remember your eyes, your soft eyes against the backdrop of pine needles in whose tips tiny round balls of rain gather before they drop…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   THE sun was in a hurry evaporating the moisture from the pots I just watered, so I made another round to keep the plants from wilting. I carried the pails to the front, instead of using a hose, to strengthen my muscles from lifting the…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   IN the middle of transporting pails of water to the front garden, a dear friend Fe Mangahas called on the phone. She wanted us to pay our respect to a mutual friend, Dick Malay who passed on last 05 February 2022. I told her I…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   MY two good friends, Vicky Nano-Dalope and Esther M. Pacheco, entered the Gate of the Eternal during the sign of Aquarius. Vicky passed on January 28, Esther on February 1. Vicky is this irrepressible energy that tickles, tickled all the time at the experience of…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   SARDINES used to be fully-packed without much room for liquid in a can. That was how the train was packed with people, before COVID protocols redefined distances. As a result of the decline in economic activities, the sardines in cans are no longer packed as…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   SHE was thinking, “Is this all?” I know because she told me that on our way to Bolinao to attend a rally we helped organize. This she asked, as we passed through yellow green fields and the soft rising sun on our skin. There were…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   REVIEWING the rankings for the educational institutions in the Philippines, it is evident that Pangasinan universities need to take measures to improve their overall standing among educational institutions in the country. The ranking was sourced from the “2021 Philippine University Ranking of 232 Philippine higher-education institutions” published by…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   PHYSICIST Michio Kaku presented three mind-blowing predictions for the future: We will become a space-faring species. We will expand the brain’s capabilities. We will defeat cancer. In his predictions, he had incorporated the initiatives of three persons: Entrepreneurs Elon Musk who is exploring commercial space…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   A GOOD photograph almost always tells its own story, almost, but not quite. There will always be the true story that can only be told partially, by the one who took the photograph and its subject, together or separately. The realities of one photograph can…

By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo   AS the year ends, I find that I have not changed. I am still a mess. I am still the same person who can find order in my own mess. I know this for eternity as I try to clean up the “mess” around me,…