Jandrea...so far

Walking back to where I would spend the night, after dinner in a nearby restaurant, the mist-filled night suddenly seemed to bring on all the memories I have of Tagaytay. I was suddenly overcome with emotion, holding back the tears. This place is a repository of good, happy moments. Where great loves were born. Where children played in abandon. Food relished in the company of people who made me happy.  Of growing up. Of getting smart. Of knowing I can do something great. Of getting old and wise. It also whispers of days and nights of regret, of hopes for what can never be.  Where many good-byes have been said. One, on her way to heaven. Many, with resignation to what cannot be changed.  Always with much, much sadness. This is where solitude is most welcome, where looking inside onself is inevitable. Where my feet were washed by another. Where hurts were and are mended. Where I forgive myself for not being what I hope to be.   Tears have ...

First, it started with a longing to have a place of refuge, away from noise and mess of my city life. Maybe a room in someone's house in Tagaytay I could rent or borrow whenever I needed to be by myself. Just a small one with just enough space for a bed and a table to hold my books and laptop. But that room had to have a breathtaking view! One that would inspire me to think, dream, and write. That's when I thought that space had to be high up on a tree. And then of course, there were the basic necessities for which I would need a kitchen and a bathroom. So the small room had to have siblings of similar size. Yes, that would still fit into my tree house, I thought! Then, it ocurred to me that my 50+ knees and legs would have to negotiate a ladder to get up to the rooms on a tree. Imagining my struggle to get to the top, I started giving up on my treehouse. Until.... ta... rah... I saw this photograph! Yes, yes, yes!  It fitted all the specs of this ever-hopeful, ever-drea...

Photo by Summer Parcon      Wishing everyone God's light in this world we have re-created in our fashion. In our quest to make lives better, we have succeeded in creating mind-boggling technology, new-fangled machines, and jaw-dropping know-how to control nature. We have learned to make use of the earth's resources to such extent that it is now gasping for breath, singing a plaintive woe to its impending demise.       Our hearts go out to the victims of the recent Typhoon Sendong. We scamper around trying to save their Present in hope of giving them a Future. Beyond that, the fury of the storm served to warn us of the devastation waiting to happen in other parts of the world if we don't get our acts together. The darkness slowly enveloping our planet and our country may be dispelled only if remember to bring back our lands, air and waters to their pristine state. It is our moral mandate to bring them back to the state when God first ga...

  Being in Europe transports you into a different world. And inside that world lies still another world... that's what it feels like when you're in Venice!  You step back into another century, when beauty was a requirement for living. Your eyes are filled with amazement at the works of art around you. The water surrounding the city wakes up your imagination, creating stories of romance and adventure that might have transpired and still come alive in this magical place. Oh, to be back here again very soon!

  Once in a while, when I am in the midst of dark emotions, I find release in translating them into images. Here's one that spoke of a desolate, gut-wrenching November when I thought a dream had been lost!

Feb 9, '08 10:04 PM UP Diliman Academic Oval      Most days, after rushing through the preparations for the day ahead, I take a 20-minute ride to an oasis. When I am met by this canopy of trees, it seems like breaking through an invisible barrier and being transported into a different world. It is as if a magic air envelops me and a promise of respite from the polluted jungle I have come from immediately follows.       Yes, these Acacia trees have been all these for me for many years. But they took on a new light about 2 years ago when during one ride with Papa (probably his last to the campus), he proudly proclaimed that he was one of those who planted those trees on that lane. He said that when they first moved to the new Diliman campus from the Manila campus around 1948, that space was devoid of those beautiful trees. They were asked to plant the seedlings then that would be 60 years later, these monuments to the pioneers of Diliman...

Monday, May 08, 2006 I would have preferred not to teach summer classes but since I'm knee- deep in it, I just have to bear it. One perk of braving the summer heat is being greeted by the sunflowers along University avenue in the morning. Here is one bidding me good-bye as I leave the campus, surviving one more day!