Beyond Everest
For my birthday, I wanted to try something different. And Nepal looked different.
August 3, 2014
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For my birthday, I wanted to try something different. And Nepal looked different.
Under the expanse of a limitless sky and rocking in a speedboat on what seemed like an endless sea, I suddenly realized how insignificant our existence is.
Gourmet goddess Beth Romualdez calls Bicol her home region. In her book Cooking Lessons, she recalls cooking “Tinutungang Manok” : It made a world of difference that the native chicken was newly slaughtered and the saba bananas (plantains) and coconuts were freshly picked. This being a traditional dish, the procedure uses a technique—burning the coconut shells—that can be difficult in a modern kitchen. While dry-toasting the grated coconut meat in a wok can be done instead, the aroma and flavors will be different.
Sa ika-pitong araw, nagpasya ang alkemista na magkampo nang mas maagsa kaysa sa dati. Lumipad ang halkon upang humanap ng makakain, at inialok ng alkemista sa binata ang kanyang lalagyan ng tubig.
Wherever he went, Segundo “Jun” Matias Jr. couldn’t help but notice how he could easily find local translations of international bestsellers.
There has never been anything like Nick Joaquin’s voice—literally. Whenever friends recall the late National Artist for Literature’s words, they launch into an impersonation that’s so spot-on it verges on the uncanny. “Darling (pronounced daah-ling),” they would say, breaking into a growl that’s sweet and improbably loud. It sounds like Joaquin is speaking through that person. It’s a voice that thunders through the years. It echoes through distinct points in our history. That voice—explosive, garrulous, unforgettable—made Nick Joaquin immortal.
And it was May again, said the old Anastasia. It was the first day of May and witches were abroad in the night, she said—for it was a night of divination, and night of lovers, and those who cared might peer into a mirror and would there behold the face of whoever it was they were fated to marry, said the old Anastasia as she hobbled about picking up the piled crinolines and folding up shawls and raking slippers in corner while the girls climbing into four great poster-beds that overwhelmed the room began shrieking with terror, scrambling over each other and imploring the old woman not to frighten them…
We wanted to know—in the age of hashtags and instant everything—is there space for a great writer like Nick Joaquin? We asked ten people, all under the age of 26: “Do they know Nick Joaquin? What do they know about him?”
Today’s readers have much to learn from reading National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin. Ateneo Assistant Professor Jonathan Chua, who curates the upcoming exhibit on Joaquin, notes that aside from “the art of writing well,” readers will learn about Philippine history and culture from this literary icon’s works.
A one-time four-month summer break! For some students of the University of the Philippines, the unexpected long vacation was the biggest boon resulting from the sudden change in the school calendar, from June to March of previous years, to this schoolyear’s August to May time frame.
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