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.” [...]
Manila vanilla
On June 15, designated as World Wind Day, another history tour on bicycles will pedal around 15 kilometers of slow storytelling around key parts of Manila. One of its stops: Rodel’s Pasalubong Place in Don Quixote St. for refreshments, snacks, and a bit of talk about food, climate, and history. [...]
Cycling through the fabled history of an opera house, now a hotel
ON the corner of Rizal Avenue and Doroteo Jose stands the Manila Grand Opera Hotel, a fabulist if the establishment were a person.This is about the history of a place that has gone through many costume changes, a story bursting with intersectionality, with a past so implausible it should be celebrated annually by poets and climate activists alike. [...]
Heritage bicycle ride visits site of first PH power plant, goes inside Old Bilibid
Fair climate policy advocates joined forces again with history buffs as they pedaled in celebration of largely unheralded landmarks in Manila. Dubbed #SintangLakbay in commemoration of the 120th founding anniversary of the country’s premier Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), [...]
PUP unveils mural hailing Filipino ‘science revolutionaries’
The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) unveiled on Monday a gigantic campus mural, showing Filipino scientists Leonard Co, Maria Y. Orosa, and Eduardo Quisumbing for their contributions in the country's scientific reputation. The mural, titled "Mga Rebolusyonaryo," gave the three figures with their own descriptive, naming Co as "Bayani Ko," Orosa as "Tagapagligtas," and Quisumbing as "Muhon ng Bayan." [...]
A post of remembrance from Alpha Phi Beta
The Constantino Foundation appreciates the post of the Alpha Phi Beta Fraternity of UP, which Renato Constantino was very much part of along with stalwarts such as Abraham Sarmiento and Hermon Lagman. In their post, the fraternity quotes our founder as a reminder to today's youth: "𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴... [...]
