Taal: silence breaking free By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo TAAL has always attracted me for its naked truth, the duality of its existence, its serenity and turbulence, its darkness and light. To experience Taal is to experience a deeper self, a self that connects to our primal existence, a bigger reality…

The US-Iran Conflict: What it means to the Philippines By Virginia J. Pasalo ACCORDING to available data, the armed conflict of Iran and the US started sometime in 1988, when “the United States launched Operation Praying Mantis against Iran, claiming that it was retaliation for the Iranian mining of areas…

2020 By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo ON New Year’s Day, my brother-in-law Jojo and his daughter Jam brought me with them to visit a lot their family purchased eight years ago at Amiya Raya Highland Homes adjacent to Banyan Ridge at Timberland Heights by Filinvest in San Mateo, Rizal. It was…

Christmas 2019 By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IT was the first Christmas that I did not buy much. The credit cards were unhappy. All throughout the year, I bought some things here and there, and found there was enough to distribute to my nephews and nieces. I only wrapped a few,…

Andrea By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo LIKE any overseas Filipino worker (OFW), she had a hard life in Singapore. Being a member of the band is not an easy job, even when the pay is better compared to the Philippines. The pay is better, but not enough, especially if your parents…

Harvest By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo WITH patience and the proper care, all living things grow. On my window hangs yellow orange blooms of my kalabasa (squash), growing on top of the cottonwood tree, hanging on a branch, thirteen feet above ground. I thought that because I cut most of the…

Single Blessedness By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo I am not surprised that people have a certain curiosity about single persons. But I am surprised at some of the questions asked about them in the academe. Here is a list of the questions sent by a student as part of their academic…

The persistence of desire By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo THREE friends give me daily doses of pain. The posts of Marcelo Estrada and William Peters, Sr. remind me that the world has been numbed by the deaths of children in Palestine. The poetry of Nizar Sartawi speaks of the annihilation of…

Favors and Blessings By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo SOME people think that to ask others favors is a humiliating act. The position to ask favors imply that we are inadequate to fulfill our own needs. Others, like me, however, never hesitated, because the universe is a generous sphere. Matthew 7:7-8 states,…

Jam By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo WHEN my parents were alive, all members of the family made regular trips to Pangasinan for special occasions. It was a tradition of bonding, a way to renew relationships, and for my nephews and nieces, an adventure in the farm, as they pitch tents in…