Secrets By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IF everything is known, this life would be one boring experience, there is nothing to ponder on, to guess, to contemplate. So many are baffled by the biggest secrets of life. For example, what happens when we die? The dead are silent about it. Some…

The ordinary Jun By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo SO many people have described Jun Velasco in so many ways. Dante, his younger brother, described him as “… a tender-hearted brother and friend, a lyric poet, a journalist with a literary bent, a homespun philosopher, a singer Sinatra style, a combo organizer…

Crossroads and crossovers By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo THE road-widening project at the Manila North Road (a.k.a. MacArthur Highway) has focused its arguments on the projected traffic it was supposed to absorb but did not. This is because the Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union Expressway (TPLEX), naturally redirected all major buses to…

Revisiting MacArthur Highway By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo FOR three weeks now, I made the distance from my urban dwelling to our ancestral house in Palacpalac. The quinine tree has grown taller and wider at the base, and local tales about it grew more fantastic, with a “bantay” (elemental) protecting its…

Ifs and Buts By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo WHEN something is inevitable, and only a miracle can reverse a given situation, we must hold on to every moment. We hold on to a part of us that is about to slip away, as much as possible, without hesitation. We grieve, as…

Old love letters By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo OLD letters bring me back to moments in time when I was most certain of things. Most certain of what I wanted to be, most certain as to how to get there, and willing to pay the price. Those were the times when…

Sharper than the blade By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo IN times of oppressive regimes, the poet, more than any other artist, is exposed to the most hideous of possibilities: imprisonment and death. Those in power, although not fully aware of the meaning and relevance of the poem, are fearful of the…

Crossing the thin line By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo WE always straddle between and among choices, filling gaps in our existence. In between, we are transported to dimensions of reality that live inside us, taking us to a journey replete with symbolisms, deeper realities that we have chosen, consciously or unconsciously,…

“It’s complicated” By VirginiaJasmin Pasalo “IT’S complicated” is a common status, a status in limbo, when you’re “with” someone, but you’re not with him or her in full commitment. It is a period of resolving, a state of purifying, but also, a state of being. A complication I cannot forget is…

Men-in-waiting at Dunkin’  By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo EAGER to enjoy the newly-baked bread I bought from BreadTalk, I proceeded to Dunkin Donuts for quick coffee and gather stories. All the tables were taken, a young man entrenched himself in the corner, reading his books. On two tables joined together were…