Essay Archives - PeopleAsia

#EDSA35

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the Philippine STAR's Feb 25, 2021 issue and on Philstarlife.com. If the 1986 EDSA people power revolution — the three-day people power revolt that put an end to a 20-year totalitarian regime — were a human being, he/she, at 35, would have settled…

New Year’s reflections: Let hope, not vaccines and ventilators, be our first and last line of defense

Without hope and the kindness and selflessness that go with it, we might as well ditch the face mask, throw away the face shield and act as if it’s business as usual this coming 2021. Now, that would be the real tragedy. By Alex Y. Vergara The idea of death,…

Fourth of July reflections: My piece of the American Pie

Born and raised in the Philippines and now living in the US, the author has always been proud and cognizant of the fact that America, for him, apart from being a land of opportunity, is generally a color-blind society where hard work and intellectual merit are all you need to…

Snapshots of fatherhood

Like one of the characters in the hit musical Hamilton, the author, a divorced father of two, was once “young, scrappy and hungry.” He wasn’t about to throw away his “shot” by being somewhere else other than where the action was. But he soon relented, ending up eating his own…

A Philadelphia story

Now that the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic is on full display, this US-based Filipino doctor has found new meaning even in his after-work hikes: walking slower, putting more care in taking pictures and savoring the fact that he could still do so. His decision to turn his back…

No strangers in paradise

Having lived in the Bahamas for several years now, this former Manila-based communications practitioner has become WFH-proficient even before the global lockdown began. Instead of writing, a passion she’s cultivated at a young age, she’s found new obsessions while sheltering-in-place: painting and learning to play the ukulele. Even her weekly…

How the “happiest” place on earth deals with a harrowing disease

Since the entire world isn’t out of the woods yet, Filipinos could probably learn a thing or two from the Danes on how they face up to COVID-19—calm, collected and with a sense of purpose. By TESSI CRUZ-LARSEN In early February, I found myself scouring online shops here in Denmark…

Baguio on ECQ, under a new, totally different light

Ever wondered how the "City of Pines" looked and felt like back in the day? This pandemic, despite the disruption and damage it has caused, has invariably turned one of our favorite summer destinations into a pristine oasis of calm and unspoiled beauty. Perhaps, as the author writes in an…

Endless locked-down weekend in New England

For a Filipino mother raised almost singlehandedly by a no-nonsense Nanay in the Philippines, it would have been easy to simply dismiss her two American daughters’ “sassy episodes” by contrasting the family’s relatively comfortable life with countless hard-up folks during this pandemic. But instead of trivializing her children's emotions, she…

The best of times, the worst of times for the arts and those deemed as “non-essential”

Define essential. In the context of this pandemic, someone said that it refers to what's essential to survival—food, water, shelter, medicines. Neanderthals didn’t have toilet paper, alcohol, face masks and dishwashing liquid, but the caves had drawings. There was art in their dwelling places. Even then, art was essential! By…