Roots

Posted on December 26, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Leave a Comment

Sweet dreams are made of these  By Marifi Jara  IN creative writing class back in college, my teacher, the late Doreen Fernandez, would choose one of the best essays submitted the previous week and read it out loud for a group critique. The writer’s identity would not be revealed until the end of the discussion [...]

Roots

Posted on September 26, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

PHL, my friend? (continuation of PHL is no chicken)  By Marifi Jara  THE concept of direct selling is not new in the Philippines. I remember tagging along as a little girl more than three decades ago to a “party” where there were a lot more mothers than children and more plastic containers than food. I [...]

Roots

Posted on September 12, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Phl is no chicken By Marifi Jara  “CHICKEN!” That is Filipino slang for ‘easy’, typically spoken with a tone of confidence or arrogance or both. It sends the message that something is achievable without needing much effort. “Chicken yan, pare!”  would be a sample response if for instance someone asks you to do something that [...]

Roots

Posted on May 9, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Celebrations By Marifi Jara THE NETHERLANDS–There has been a sweet festive air here following the Easter weekend. And after that, just as Pangasinan was celebrating the Pista’y Dayat and the Bangus Festival in Dagupan, there was the annual Queen’s Day (April 30) when most parts of this small country gets into the orange groove (the [...]

Roots

Posted on April 18, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Open skies, but what about the airports? By Marifi Jara IN the middle of March this year, PNoy signed Executive Orders 28 and 29. Number 28 reorganizes the Philippine Air Negotiating and Philippine Consultation Panels, which would be handling talks for new Air Service Agreements (ASAs) for the country.

Roots

Posted on April 4, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Kwentong beauty parlor By Marifi Jara AMIDST the frenzy of coming home, one of the first things I always do is get a badly needed haircut. Not that there aren’t any beauty salons in Mozambique. In fact there are many. Hair parlors are quite aplenty in African countries as getting a ‘do’ is one of [...]

Roots

Posted on March 21, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Beyond an hour of darkness By Marifi Jara QUELIMANE, Mozambique–“Why is the night so dark?” asks a young boy. “So that we can see the stars,” replies a wise old man. Those are lines I will always remember from Dreams, the last masterpiece of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (he was also the film writer [...]

Roots

Posted on March 7, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Slavery By Marifi Jara QUELIMANE, Mozambique–On a trip to the northern part of this country over the last Christmas and New Year holidays, one of the places we visited was Ilha de Mozambique, an island off Mozambique’s northeastern coast declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993. It’s a small island, just 3.5 [...]

Roots

Posted on February 13, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Death and life By Marifi Jara QUELIMANE, Mozambique–It so happened that the book I was reading last week was A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (multi-awarded comic writer of, among other books, About a Boy which was made into a film with gorgeous Hugh Grant in the lead). It’s a funny book about a [...]

Roots

Posted on January 31, 2011 - Filed Under Opinion, Roots | Comments Off

Kingdoms, Filipino-style By Marifi Jara NAMPULA, Mozambique– Over dinner with a Filipina from Mindanao (living here for many years now, first as a volunteer worker then for a private company) and a couple of friends from Europe (well-travelled though never been to the Philippines but they do have friends who have done work in the [...]

keep looking »
WEB MIRRORING