All roads out of Makati were crowded on Wednesday night because of the heavy rains that caused flash floods that left motorists and commuters stewing till late. Hungry and desperate, I changed from defensive to offensive driving just to get to my destination....
Preparing to teach face to face, the first time in the Ateneo since the pandemic lockdown, I look back on the last semester I taught at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I taught an undergraduate history course “Under Two Empires: The Philippines under Spain...
In April 1899, Henri Turot, a French journalist, traveled to the Philippines and published, “The War in the Philippines” for the magazine Le Tour du Monde. Turot’s two-part reportage should be included in the reading list of the college course on Philippine history...
In the mid-1980s, one of many Kabayan mummies in the bodega of the National Museum was displayed to the public in a glass case. I brought my students there, pointing out the tattoos clearly visible on the smoked skin of this anonymous woman’s arms and back. History...
When I returned happy and sun-burned from childhood summers in San Fernando, my mother would wash my mouth out with soap if she heard me drop Kapampangan I learned from my cousins. She discouraged me from speaking my father’s language (it’s not a dialect!), fearful...
A few weeks ago, I received a message asking if I knew of the Spanish toilet paper brand: Rizal. Wasn’t I bothered that Spaniards were wiping their behinds on Rizal? Was this a Spanish insult to our national hero and to all Filipinos? I checked online and found “Papel...
Catty art world gossip has renamed Juan Luna’s painting “Hymen, O Hyménée” for its owner Jaime Ponce de Leon as “Jaimen, Oh Jaiménée.” Two weeks since it was unveiled to the public, the first time since it was awarded a bronze medal in the 1889 Paris Universal...
Catty art world gossip has renamed Juan Luna’s painting “Hymen, O Hyménée” for its owner Jaime Ponce de Leon as “Jaimen, Oh Jaiménée.” Two weeks since it was unveiled to the public, the first time since it was awarded a bronze medal in the 1889 Paris Universal...
Rising early is not one of my virtues. Nine years with the National Historical Commission meant sunrise flag raising and floral offerings at national historical sites and landmarks. Waking up at dawn wasn’t the real penance, it was having to endure a succession of...
From the queries I receive online, almost daily, from students taking the college course on Philippine history from primary sources, it seems that teachers leave them on their own. With no prescribed textbook, students are required to seek the primary sources on their...