January 2, 2009 – 3:02 pm
Links: The blog of the British ambassador to Vietnam. Time for action and a new paradigm to deal with Indonesia’s poverty. Funny toilets in Thailand. How skin colors are viewed in Cambodian society. I have a confession. I didn’t read Jean-Paul Sartre in college. I only learned about his philosophical and literary works through other [...]
October 6, 2008 – 12:51 pm
Links: Online map of Vientiane. Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary in Phnom Penh. From street kids to Lao cooks. Vietnam has topped the internet chart in searches for the word ’sex’. Two books borrowed from a nearby library: Voices of a People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Muslims in the Philippines by [...]
New pictures in my photoblog. There are three British novelists I really admire: Iris Murdoch, Jeffrey Archer and Anthony Trollope. I started reading Archer during my high school years (1992-1996). Kane and Abel and Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less are my favourite books of his. I became an avid reader of Murdoch [...]
New pictures in my photoblog. Kamakailan lamang ay naging banner headline ng Inquirer ang krisis sa edukasyon. Sa katunayan ang headline mismo ay ‘Education crisis deepens.’ Mukhang nagkakaisa naman ang lahat, opisyal man ng pamahalaan, guro o mag-aaral, na may problema sa ating edukasyon. Kulang ng klasrum. Bulok na pasilidad. Kapos ang badyet. Pero hindi [...]
September 9, 2006 – 4:30 pm
UP celebrated the centennial anniversary of Philippine independence by publishing more than 100 books. This made the UP Press a reputable publishing house again. I remember skipping lunch in order to save money and buy the books of Teodoro Agoncillo, Cesar Adib Majul, Pacifico Agabin, Epifanio Matute, Remigio Agpalo, Jose Abueva, Kelvin Rodolfo and Ismael [...]
August 27, 2006 – 12:17 am
A college professor once threatened to flunk students who will cite the works of Inquirer columnist Ambeth Ocampo in their research papers. According to the lady professor, (aww, is this a giveaway clue?) Mr. Ocampo is a pseudo-historian and mere gossiper. But the writings of Ocampo were important to me. I became more interested in [...]
I’ve started writing for Global Voices Online. "Manila flip-flops on sex education" is my first post…. It is not enough that books and films contain a relevant material in order to sell well in public. Sometimes, or maybe most of the time, the subject must deal about popular personalities or mysterious episodes in our history. [...]
I remember an interesting conversation I had with Behn Cervantes almost two years ago. He said that right after the 1986 EDSA uprising, the military returned all personal belongings of Sen. Ninoy Aquino to his family. Direk Cervantes confided he has yet to receive any personal things confiscated from him by the military when he was [...]
I recommend Gerald A. Heeger’s Politics of Underdevelopment as a good read during the Holy Week break. It can help explain the nature of underdeveloped political states like ours. It identifies the simplistic analysis of Western scholars regarding the problems besetting traditional societies. It also highlights the role of the military in unstable governments. Heeger [...]
March 15, 2006 – 11:59 pm
Some commentators could not stop describing Gloria Arroyo’s machinations to remain in power as Machiavellian. They even acknowledge Arroyo’s political virtu – or the “exceptional political ability and intellectual power of a leader.” This is true if we subscribe to the common understanding of what constitutes a Machiavellian practice: Rulers that trample on religion, the [...]
