Matryoshka dolls, subzero beers–and charity all around
A BLESSED Christmas to all! May you have the merriest time with your loved ones all through the New Year!
December 24, 2011
A BLESSED Christmas to all! May you have the merriest time with your loved ones all through the New Year!
WHERE DID the time go? Over dinner last month, Dr. Randy Francisco asked what everybody—after the song— must be asking. You have hardly stored away the clutter of your life last year, when the year is nearly done again, and you can hardly catch up, not only with the stuff you must do, but also with what you must give and take. You feel you can hardly do enough—for your work, for the people you care for, for society.
I am abroad working as an instructor in the Middle East. I have been here for the last 13 years. Life has become better because I was able to provide for the needs of my parents and send my brothers and sisters to university. I’ve also built a house and bought a farm for my parents.
1. A reprieve from natural disasters in 2012. This year has been particularly devastating, owing to the natural disasters and extreme weather conditions that claimed thousands of lives and property all over the world. For the majority, surviving day-to-day in the Philippines is already a challenge as it is; a deluge of disasters breaks the human spirit even more. May we be spared from more of these in the coming year.
TWO DAYS after “Sendong” struck, I was driving to a dinner at Greenbelt. At the corner of Ayala and Edsa, a sampaguita vendor, who was around my son’s age, knocked on my window. Rather than buy the flowers, I gave him two packs of popcorn that I always have in my car during the holiday season.
Arts council president Petite Garcia and trustee Marissa Fernan hosted the Dec. 16 board of trustees meeting. It was an elaborate luncheon cum lauriat held at the Tin Gow of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, with optimum attendance.
Mater Intemerata
The bird is calling in the midnight air,
The maiden cannot sleep, she listens long,
And starts— What noise of nail and hammer there,
When all are sleeping, interrupts the song?
Then one brute force sucks hard her swooning breath,
A great flame grows deep in her womb and blood—
Is this the kiss, the fertile seed, or death?
Is this the time, my lover and my God?
Yet no one hears, the house is like a tomb,
For no one knows this godlike, swift, and wild
Descent—like metal clashing in her womb;
She lies down, weary, still, and feels defiled.
And in that noise, how can the maiden sleep?
Exhausted, raped, what can she do but weep?
IT’S CHRISTMAS Day! There is a mountain of wrapping paper and ribbon in the living room this morning. What a mess! Suddenly, the tree looks desolate. It is still all lit and decorated, but there isn’t a single package left underneath.
HERE’S THE BEST news I’ve heard this season: If at age 70 one hasn’t yet had a major surgery or—now, here’s something that should be widely resonant—is not yet a diabetic, chances are one could live to 90.
ANGELS ARE spiritual beings who are said to be messengers of God. They generally have wings. They say you can tell if an apparition is a ghost if it walks on two feet, because angels have none. They just sort of float.
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