Pasts Revisited
Henry Cabot Lodge
A reminder on this day, 4 February, the 126th anniversary of the Filipino-American War, a badly taught chapter, if it is brought up at all, in Philippine (and U.S.) history. The U.S. is no longer our enemy. But neither is it our friend. #TheContinuingPast #RememberBetter
Stories
What remains of Carlos Fressel?
What remains of Carlos Fressel? There are several answers to the question. Among them is a reminder to Filipinos about the value of our fascinating past and why history should not be treated as the domain of historians alone. At the base of an elegant pillar in the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Sta. Mesa Manila, a curious churchgoer will find an interesting marking [...]
The Electrician and the Tram
AN Armenian invocation comes to mind, Djamangeen gar oo chagar. Once upon a time, there was and there wasn’t. It’s a fitting notion to chew on when you weigh the story of a large lot along F.R. Hidalgo in Quiapo district, framed on two sides by esteros that are today more sewage than canal, waterways that once witnessed the rise of the country’s first modern power station, La Electricista—The Electrician. [...]
Street names and the persistence of memory
Life reveals far greater pleasures when we use our sense of curiosity more often. This is so for travelers and it’s something any Filipino can enjoy when they start asking about the origins of street names. For instance, Magsaysay Boulevard was named after The Guy, Ramon Magsaysay, one of the country’s more popular presidents. [...]
Our perfumed history
Chandler Burr dwelled on “the mystery of smell” in his intriguing 2004 book, The Emperor of Scent. “We understand the human sense of vision,” Burr wrote, “intimately down to exactly which vibration of a particle of light caught in the vision receptor in the retina will make us see exactly which color… We know hearing in exquisite detail, can predict with absolute accuracy which air vibration in the cochlea will create what tone. But of smell, we do not know, cannot predict.” [...]