Archive (Page 12) • Notes on a Nation • Buttondown

high as hope

July 11, 2018

Manila, 11 July—Perhaps our most important watch for this year is Nanette by Australian writer and comedian Hannah Gadsby. Now showing on Netflix, the much-...

happy pride!

July 1, 2018

Manila, 1 July—Today we mark the end of many things: The month of June, the second quarter, the first half of the year. June is also Pride Month, and I had...

incredible

June 24, 2018

Manila, 24 June—There are no words for how much we loved Incredibles 2! I can't believe it's been over a decade since the last one—I distinctly remember...

a remembrance

June 16, 2018

Manila, 16 June—Browsing through Facebook one night, I came across a run-of-the-mill profile photo update from my favorite creative writing professor from...

demons

June 12, 2018

Manila, 12 June—The past week has been brutal. In the end, we're all just fighting off our own demons, no? And in some cases, hard as it may seem to accept,...

storytellers

June 2, 2018

Manila, 2 June—And just like that, we're down to the last month of the first half of the year. The rains have started and yet it's still so hot out, it's...

how to age well

May 27, 2018

Manila, 27 May—Earlier this week, I had a dream. It had Sarah Michelle Gellar on it, and she was supposedly starring in a Netflix reboot of her iconic Buffy...

summer daze

May 22, 2018

Manila, 22 May—First off, I would like to apologize because this week's letter is late. This is because I spent most of the weekend catching up with friends...

mother, mother

May 14, 2018

Manila, 14 May—Well, that was a tiring week, wasn't it? I know. What were we expecting, right? I wasn't surprised, not really, when the Supreme Court ousted...

what if it hurts like hell

May 6, 2018

Manila, 6 May—On this day eleven years ago, my former boss and a handful of workmates started a program that hugely defined my path as a media worker,...

does it also feel this way to you

April 30, 2018

Manila, 30 April—And so we come again to the end of the month. April felt like I was catching my breath throughout, hitting the ground running from Easter to...

sagada

April 22, 2018

Manila, 22 April—When was the last time you took a hike?If you’re an adventurer, it’s probably fairly recent, but for me, the Great Outdoors has been a...

a quiet place

April 15, 2018

Manila, 15 April—People on my feeds have been talking about two movies: Tonet Jadaone's JaDine starrer Never Not Love You and John Krasinski and Emily...

bagets

April 9, 2018

Manila, 9 April—We were at LANY's sold-out second night at the Araneta Coliseum and it was such a good one. It was my first time to attend a concert at the...

easter letter

April 1, 2018

Manila, 1 April—Happy Easter, if you celebrate! Hope your vacation is going well. Mine has been restful so far—thanks greatly to time spent away from my...

long weekend coming

March 25, 2018

Manila, 25 March—There's a pretty long-ish weekend coming up with Maundy Thursday/Good Friday upon us—also known as the holiest of holy days in the newsroom,...

a question of truthmaking

March 17, 2018

Manila, 17 March—Not too long ago, I sat in a room full of youngsters and thought that the best thing our team could contribute to their summer was to teach...

ashes to ashes

March 10, 2018

Manila, 10 March—When news broke that the UP Shopping Center had caught fire, I was filled with equal parts sadness and resignation. When I first laid my...

here comes the sun

March 4, 2018

Manila, 4 March—I have a theory that January takes forever to start—we are all still shrouded with the post-holiday haze, hence it takes a bit longer for...

who were you 32 years ago?

February 25, 2018

Manila, 25 February—Cannot help but comment briefly on the anniversary of the Edsa revolution in 1986, which ended the 20-year reign of strongman Ferdinand...