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My Quest for Employment: Moving Beyond Bipolar Disorder

I usually thought I was late. Back in April 2011, I was a 23-year old Economics fresh graduate from U.P. Diliman wanting to make a mark in the world. But I was also struggling with the thought that many of the young people like me believe we can change the world by finding a job….

One Light’s Out

It’s been more than three months since his light was put out. That one light that lit up one dim moment of my life. When I was in grade school, I barely had true friends. Most of my so-called friends then are just people I had to be with because of same advanced classes and…

Depression: The Window for Helping

Depression is an opportunity for those experiencing it and those witnessing it. To the one experiencing it, this can be a great journey into creating and transforming the bad into wonderful or the pale into colorful by tapping one’s inner warrior. For the witnesses, it is a brave chance to bring hope and show compassion even…

Freedom of a Bipolar Mind

Independence Day. It makes me appreciate the freedom we now have. I am happy we can freely practice religion, freedom of expression, and have choices on what we can watch, buy, or wear. But it also reminds me of some moments when I felt I have lost my freedom. I was once a prisoner of…

Kristel’s Battles

Dear Kristel, I have no right to write about you. Most of us never had a chance to know you. We have no idea what you went through; there is no way we can ever understand why you decided to take your own life. But I remember that day. It was a Friday, March 15th, 2013;…

The Science of Sadness: Overlooked Signs of Clinical Depression

Scene One: Driven to Sadness This was the first time in a long while that it was just the two of us. We would see each other but with our other friends. So there was really no time to talk, no time to catch up. We were driving along the expressway. He confessed to me something…

Ayoko sa Federalism

Personally, ayokong maging Federal Government ang Pilipinas dahil mabubulilyaso ‘yung plano kong #Steno2040. Pero not personally, ayoko sa Federalism dahil lalo lang maghihirap ang mga mahihirap na probinsya sa Pilipinas at lalo namang magiging “imperial” ang Metro Manila. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Sorry, advanced ako mag-isip. Para sa kaalaman ng mga ka-DDS, ang…

Let’s Get The (Kundiman) Party Started

The first play I saw in Dulaang UP was “Atang: Isang Dulang May Musika,” about the life and times of the queen of Philippine Kundiman. It was the second semester of academic year 2008-2009. That Atang musicale sparked my interest in theatre. I never stopped watching Dulaang UP’s productions since. A decade after, they come…

Progress

Can we measure progress by the number of infrastructure mushrooming left and right in our metropolis? They do look good; we’ll give them that, be it business firms, malls, restaurants, and technological hubs. But it may just be a sign of the times: that the rich keeps getting richer, and the poor keeps growing in…

Distance

With each waking moment of your student life, the stressful hardships co-exist with the sublime happiness of spending time with people that matter. Difficult, yes, but you could endure together. And then it suddenly stops. Not that you want it, sometimes it has to. Everything will be a memory: something you can forget or something you…

The UP Shopping Center Fire

While not the most glamorous of UP Diliman icons, the UP Shopping Center has an unquestionable place in the hearts of the community. It was always there to lessen the burden of students when it comes to photocopying readings or binding their thesis outputs. It was a one-stop shop for any imaginable need. Today, many…

‘Huling Habilin’ of ‘Comfort Women’ for Duterte

Saturday, March 3, passed quietly without fanfare. But it is an important day in history. March 3, 1945 marked the end of the Battle of Manila to liberate the Philippines after three years of Japanese aggression. It is widely considered as one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War where 100,000 men, women,…

#DUPDalagita: Reflections and Subversions

The stage is bare, black, and empty. Yet this emptiness is the most telling of Eimear Mcbride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, which has been recently adapted in Filipino and premiered in Dulaang UP (DUP). A single actress is all it took for DUP to stage a story of 15 characters, each of whom…

The Urgency of Moving On

It was a difficult step towards another chapter. The dawn has been breaking on me for years, and I was hoping that one day, a ray of sunshine would lead me to the easiest way out. It had been a battle between my mind and heart, to choose between which is which and to decide…

Home

“Home is not a place, but a feeling.” That’s what they say. In my case, it’s true. For some time now, I have lost the sense of being home. Don’t get me wrong, my family makes me feel loved, but I have lost the meaning of it by being a stranger to myself. The past…

Pressuring Press Freedom

One of the core principles of journalism is to be the watchdog of authority figures, especially the government. It aims to provide transparency and break the walls between power and the people. Shenanigans, propaganda, and all that — trust the media to find that out. Given this, it is not surprising when a government official…

Shooting the Messenger: Is Rappler Foreign-Owned and What Does the Revocation Mean?

Rappler said it themselves: they never thought this day would come. But it has. In a 29-page decision, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) en banc revoked Rappler’s license to operate after it voided a foreign investment by Omidyar Network. Rappler says it is holding the line, and will continue operating as they prepare to take…