Entre’acte
Pistay Inatey
By Rex Catubig WHEN I see Nanang, our old-maid aunt, in the kitchen, stirring black gooey Deremen in a deep kawali perched on the wood-fired clay dalikan, I know it’s Pistay Inatey—All Saint’s Day, the highlight of Ani or harvest month—when religion and folk custom meld into one celebration. Following the belief that the spirits of…
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Enigma of suicide
By Rex Catubig NOTE: I’m reprising this previous column in support of the National Mental Health Awareness Month and to give a face to the menace of suicide that afflicts even the seemingly normal person, robbing the young of their power to dream and cutting short the future that…
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Bonfire of banalities: The fire of October
By Rex Catubig “ I Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” ― T.S. Eliot YOU’D think that fifty years of friendship would be arduous for ebbing memory to process and recall. But for twelve unending hours one Saturday past, memories…
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The rise of Cesar
By Rex Catubig HIS name is Cesar. Yet there is nothing remotely noble about his birth nor upbringing. Born into poverty, his family was forced out of their home because they didn't have money for the rent. With no other place to go, they squatted on a vacant lot…
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The travails of talahib
By Rex Catubig CONVALESCING September through expectant October is when the tall, slender and majestic talahib bursts into silky white feathery flowers. And as the gentle Amihan blows from the northeast, the talahib sways and dances rhythmically with the refreshing breeze--waving its plumy gossamer quill bloom at the colorful…
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