Culture and Arts Notebook

A Tale of Real Reconciliation that Leads to Real Peace   A while back, a group of dear friends, fellow humanists, got together, inspired to make a video on reconciliation, a theme close to their hearts. The video was set…

The drumming of hands sound like a rain of pure sound, falling.   The strings of the balalaika strike a chord in the hearts of all who are listening.   The drums beat a low drowning growl as the imam…

Sorsogon City, Philippines—In celebration of the National Arts Month, various teachers from Abuyog National High School, together with artists from Kurit-Lagting Art Collective and Concerned Artists of the Philippines Bicol Chapter (CAP Bicol), will be holding a film showing on…

Quezon City, Philippines–  “Hope is everywhere, and if hope has a name…it would be, everything”–this is the main concept of the book, Life After Dark: Messages of Hope, which had its physical book launch at Jess & Pat’s Cafe in…

Patricia Ríos read one of the first essays I ever wrote in English back in 1998. In blue ink, the essay described a conversation I had with a friend. The essay’s title was “From the Other Side of the Street.”…

POEM     After years and years go by You may perhaps If the gods of fortune do please Have A Steady job, an occupation (a daily drip of income to cover the ever-increasing expenses) A Family, kids (to fuss…

Quezon City, National Capitol Region–  Various art organizations together with different writers’ groups from the National Capital Region, Bicol Region, and other parts of the country will be holding a virtual book launching of the collaborative writing project Life After…

When a moment arises that plants seeds of inspiration and snares a sense of renewed feeling and fortuity, it bursts with an explosion of words that tries to capture what it intimates, meanings that add grace, wonder, beauty, and a…

The fallout from Tsai Ing-wen’s massive defeat in the Nov.26 Taiwan Elections. Satire By John V. Walsh In recent local elections in Taiwan, the Party of President Tsai Ing-wen, the US-allied, pro-secessionist candidate lost badly.  We have obtained a recording…

POEM     The wind swirls around and strums the leaves. The monsoon arrives without a warning. A deluge, an outpouring from the heavens, As if in answer to the call of the earth. Parched, dry, drought, famine. Thousands, in…