Nostalgia
Since the start of the pandemic, I have developed this love-hate relationship with Facebook Memories. When the notification…
My ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
I was sitting in class, happy with the Wi-Fi in that classroom, when I opened this e-mail: “Congratulations. You have been accepted to the Harvard Medical School Exchange Clerkship Program.”
Limbo
In Dante’s “Inferno,” Limbo was the first circle of hell, its vastness housing those who had been excluded…
Remembering Beng
She was born Benjaline Hernandez. A poet and creative writing student at the Ateneo de Davao University, Beng went into campus journalism and eventually became features editor of Atenews.
Just like Father Obet
The news came in eight words—one brief sentence: “Father Obet passed away yesterday due to COVID.” That news…
Other ways to die in a pandemic
My best friend died just a month before his birthday. It wasn’t of COVID-19. “Na-COVID?” was the initial…
The rains of August
It is August. The rains of August are almost always strong, like they could wash everything away from you, the way my entire life would have been washed away had the stars been aligned ever so differently.
2021 and grief
This year, I lost the drive to connect, and I developed a fear of attachments. Since the lockdown…
The big picture
For most college and high school students, history is a subject one has to slog through. If one is lucky, one studies under a fun, lenient teacher.