Whenever somebody finds out that I am a lesbian, it always garners a mixed bag of reactions. Some people would immediately have this expression on their face like things suddenly clicked into place, while others would have such a huge reaction like they weren’t expecting me to be one. It was sort of understandable, given that I never really… look like a lesbian? Maybe it’s the lack of carabiners.

When I was born, I wasn’t a woman, but a blank canvas. But because of my sex, I was already assigned the role of a woman before I could even pronounce my name. The physician who tended to me likely wondered what kind of husband I would have in the future, and my parents probably speculated how many children I would give birth to someday, even when they only held a creature with no sense of self-identity in their arms.

Off to the right of my peripheral vision was this mysterious orange glow just outside our bedroom door where our altar was. My parents rushed to and from the bathroom and the bedroom door with buckets of what I can only assume was water as I sat on the bed, confused and with no idea of what was going on. It was past midnight, and I was half asleep. Everything seemed like a blur to me. I had not known it yet, but a candle that was not properly put out a few hours ago had just grown into something that we almost could not control.

Housework is the single most significant unpaid labor in all of history. Whether it is appreciated or unnoticed, it remains existent in all households. While the gap is prominent in eastern countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, with some men reporting that they do zero hours of domestic work, and not so much in western countries such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, where men on average still do household chores yet still lags an hour less than their female partners, the fact remains the same.

I want people here to be familiar with the term “mamimikpik”, it's our native term for potter. Historically, it was used to refer to the notion of a Supreme Deity among the Visayans, as God Himself was reckoned by the ancients as a potter who spinned the proverbial clay to make man.

The next day, I took several “Are you Aromantic?” tests, and most of the results came back positive. However, it was challenging for me to accept it at first. I kept invalidating myself with various “what ifs” like: What if I’m just avoidant? What if I do have commitment issues? What if I’m just bitter towards romantic love which is why I’m so repulsed?

This time, I would like to have golden tinsel in my hair that sparkles in the blazing sun. It would be nice to see her dance like swirling water in a glass. It would be nice to be a singular wave in the sea of people again.

Apan ang tumong ning lindoga mao ang pagpakigsayod sa espiritohanon nga bahin, labi na sa usa ka alawiton nga magadayeg sa mahal nga Bata: ang gozos nga halangdon kaayo, Batobalani sa Gugma.

It is a tough act to follow the last two years for cinema. 2022 and especially 2023 were extraordinary years for movies and was quite frankly, the final shaking off of the pandemic by the global film industry.

Completing those nine masses does not mean my wish will be fulfilled, as our Filipino culture tends to believe so, but I sure do wish to eat a lot of good meals after the midnight mass of Christmas Eve. I couldn't help but think of those Filipino dishes being paraded on their own runway: the table.

...[I]n the Arabic language there are multiple ways to express the word love. These alternative forms of the word “love” emerged from the plethora of romantic Arabic poetry over time.

Do you know your rights as a human being? Have you ever felt that these rights were violated?

I remember it clearly like it just happened; we didn’t have any of the garb the popular Western depictions of Mary had, so with cloth scraps my mother collected—or found lying around in our house, I’m not too sure on that detail anymore...

...This may be a jarring title to give, especially for the majority of Filipinos who view Bonifacio as the pioneer of revolution—the very essence of what it means to resist oppression. Yet, why did one of our National Artists dubb one of our heroes with such a shameful title?

...The resolution called for the creation of a "Jewish State" and an "Arab State" in Palestine, with Jerusalem designated as a corpus separatum - (a separated body)- under a unique international governance. However, to date, only one of these states has been established, which is Israel.

Each year, World Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20. It was first established in 1954 to promote awareness of children and their welfare. This date holds great significance as it marks the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly in 1959, as well as the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child In 1989. Thus, November 20 has been commemorated as the anniversary of these milestones.

It's easy to say that there is nothing romantic about toilets. Being the main catalyst in disposing of human waste, it's only rational to find them filthy; the butt of low-effort jokes. What is romantic about pungent smells stirring in humid still air? However, toilets being treated as such leads to a further lack of care in comfort rooms. Only then is there really nothing romantic about toilets.

...He who does not look back from where he came will never reach his destination. He who does not know his own history can never move forward to a greater future. As a result, schools do their best to impart history—to commemorate and to memorialize our ancestors and everything that has led up to now. In spite of this, we still fail to include the peoples who have been there since the beginning: our indigenous peoples.

I recall one of my 12th-grade teachers. From the crevices of my memory, she’s a God-fearing middle-aged woman who was strangely enthusiastic and concerned about what she reads on Facebook. According to her findings, the possession and illness of a young boy was allegedly caused by a crippling addiction to Mobile Legends

Contrary to what motivational quotes and posts say, you exist in this universe not for a grand reason. It doesn’t matter if the biggest thing you did today was to wake up or to brush your teeth, or if the most worthwhile thing that you’ve ever done in your life already happened four years ago. You exist because you matter—you exist because the people you love also love you.

You ignore the bolded warning on the packaging that reads “EAT IN MODERATION.” Three minutes pass by. Dinner is served. How does that one taste compared to last night? And the night before that?

...Defending my territory is tough, especially when others are also aware of the necessity to fortify themselves. Perched on a thin branch extending over a body of water, I am keen on watching for intruders.

...With how accustomed our current generation is to the effects of globalization, it may be easy to overlook how often we encounter translated content in our daily lives.

Perhaps to be born to a life that may criticize God, for it may seem He made a mistake, is a disrespect that begets death—to the people that strongly believe all lives are valued by God, the only disrespect that begets death.

In my experience aboard the Masagana, I noticed an invisible division between passengers inside the hotel-like interior of the vessel and those outside on the upper deck.

This is the reality that gay people experience in the Philippines: homosexuality is tolerated more than accepted.

In a world that is moved by collective ticks of clocks, PALABRA endeavored to melt the passage of time almost a week ago in The Poetry Hour: A Spoken Word Showcase.

I was only told moments after the curtains had risen and everything went dark: first, that this was set in 1940’s Bataan, during the Japanese Occupation, and second, that it was a musical. Both were enough to keep me in my seat already.

Such stories depict a world wherein robots perform all the menial tasks that normally would eat a sizable chunk out of a person’s time and energy, and humanity is then left with whatever artistic passions and scientific developments are gained with such newfound time and energy. How depressing it is then that in reality the robots are making poetry while human people are clocking in at the factory lines.

“All tortoises are in fact turtles—that is, they belong to the order Testudines or Chelonia, reptiles having bodies encased in a bony shell—but not all turtles are tortoises.” —Kathleen Kuiper (from Britannica)

The plan was simple. Visit every single one of the 22 museums participating in this year’s Gabii sa Kabilin, an annual one-night event where museums all across Metro Cebu have their doors open until midnight for people to stop by.

I always wondered, after watching and reading a lot about cancer patients, what gave them so much strength to find love amidst the pain and challenges that they undergo everyday. Love can be unconditional and our own way of viewing it can carry a different meaning for many people.

Make sure to ready buckets of krill, fish, and squid because we are celebrating World Penguin’s Day!

True to our motto, we chose our programs in how we wished for our voices to be heard, and to most of us, art is an outlet to further express our thoughts, no matter how inane, or insane it may be.

SOLARES held its first art festival titled ‘Sulyap sa Sining’ at the Ayala Central Bloc Activity Center, featuring DCLL student writers, painters, filmmakers, and photographers alongside other Cebuano artists in a celebration of artistic expression. The event began its first day on Thursday, April 18, 2024 and is set to conclude today Saturday, April 20.

I could go into great detail of its rich history, but I do not want to turn this article into another Wikipedia entry. I am here for something different, and that is to share my personal experience about these delicious balls of flavor.

Theater has been around for thousands of years and its life-changing power has moved and held humans for that long. It’s a special kind of storytelling because it’s never gonna be the same thing twice and it’s inherently communal – the way things are meant to be in this world.

Whether it was through his outspoken commentary on Cebuano Life in DYSS Super Radyo, his witty and fearless writing style in Sunstar Cebu, or his unwavering charisma on top of a voice that commanded respect at the GMA-7 Broadcast, Bobby Nalzaro was an icon that forever stands as an inspiration to all Cebuano journalists.

“She is just a woman.” Not every milestone in history is remembered, as countless stories have faded into obscurity, so too the pain and triumph that defines the life a person has lived. In the case of women, for all their struggles, their pain and hard work, the burden of their own gender often drags them down from the spotlight.

“I told you so” are four words that flutter so easily out of my mouth and anyone who knows me even a little is fully aware that I will take any opportunity to vocalize how I was in fact right.

The School of Arts and Science Council conducted a Film Showing event held at the PE Viewing room last February 13, 2024 Tuesday. It is the second in a set of LoveFest events held in anticipation of Valentine’s Day for our hopeless romantic Carolinians.

In honor of Valentine's week, the SAS Council held the Lovefest Seminar on Wednesday, February 12, 2024, at 1:30–4:30 p.m. at the PE viewing room, themed as “Love to the Point of Creation,” it was inspired by the creation of rubber gloves.

100 years ago today, the tenth anniversary of the start of WW1 was four months away. The Philippines, in the middle of its first and second republic was under American rule in the roaring 20s, the Korean Peninsula had been under Japanese rule for over a decade, and Germany's Weimar Republic will arrest Adolf Hitler in the coming month only to release him by December... It was Valentine's Day and Juan Ponce Enrile was born.

Sure enough, people have conflicting feelings towards celebrating on the 14th of February. Regardless if Valentine’s day lifts your spirits high up in the love-filled air or drags you mercilessly down a chilling pithole, a good romance book will never fail you. RomComs, romantic dramas, tragic romances — you name it! So long as one or more of the fictional characters are the epitome of the pure and unconditional love you desire for yourself, then you’re scheduled for the best book date this Valentine’s.

105 DCLL students eagerly welcomed the activity-packed Second Semester following the first General Assembly titled ‘MAGSTORYA TA, KA-SOLARES!: a discourse unfiltered’ of the second half of A.Y. 2023-2024 by the Societas Lingua Artes (SOLARES) held at the SAS Viewing Room at the Philip Van Engelen Building last Saturday, February 3, 2024.

There is a murder — everyone is a suspect. Do you have a good alibi? The clues. The red herrings. The witnesses. The detective. Who’s up for murder mysteries and detective stories that’ll keep you guessing?

A beloved tradition of Catholic Filipinos during the holidays, Misa de Gallo is a nine-day novena mass held at the crack of dawn from December 16 until the eve of Christmas. However, there is another set of masses held by some churches, called Simbang Gabi, which spans from the 16th to the 23rd of December. The two traditions are often confused with each other, but their differences are best understood through their history.

Last Thursday December 7, 2023, the first-year students of the Literary and Cultural Studies with Creative Writing (LCS) held a literary festival on PE13C, alongside a continuation of PALABRA’s Pages and Threads Book Sale in the basement halls of the PE building.

Societatis Lingua Artes (SOLARES), an official co-curricular organization of the Department of Communications, Linguistics, and Literature (DCLL), conducted its second general assembly to discuss their accomplishments for the first semester of A.Y. 2023-2024 at the Rigney Hall in USC Talamban Campus last Saturday, December 2, 2023.

The order and union with every person we are with through every journey and situation However, not all have experienced these kinds of treatments. Not all experience equality, justice, and peace. And most of them, sadly, are women.

Dearly beloved we are all gathered here today to mourn for a dear companion. A sorrowful demise but to those that knew the departed well, not an unexpected one. Join me as I detail my personal experience witnessing the final days of a friend. This is a eulogy to Litfest.

Sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and in cooperation with the Department of Communications, Linguistics and Literature (DCLL) as well as various other academic organizations, the conference was held with the intention of educating Carolinians on how local food and cuisine influences Visayan Societies.

Picture this, I sit on a crowded 13C jeepney on the way to Colon and I use "sit" very generously because three quarters of my rear end are sat upon nothing but air molecules. The anachronistic hands of my tablet's clock app read 2:00PM, the horizon remained to be tinted blue with orange bronze hues a few hours from engulfing the sky. The museum closes at 4:30PM, forty minutes had passed and the jeep had only just now passed Country Mall, this is bad.

Sa atubangan sa USC, atong makita ang Ferlic Tan's Crispy Chicken, usa ka pungko-pungko nga namaligya ug mga piniritong pagkaon sama sa manok. Naa sad silay baligya piniritong hotdog, ngohiong, ug lumpiya. Lami ug makabusog ang ilang mga paninda, sama kalami pud ang iyang presyo nga barato para sa tanan. Apan gawas nga kini lugar nga sentro sa pagkaon, usa usab kini ka lugar diin ang usa ka istorya nagsugod nga gitipigan.

The Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and History (DASH) hosted a film viewing event as part of the Rudolf Rahmann Lecture Series, titled "Short Films and Its Relevance to Cebuano Culture and Society Featuring Huwebes Huwebes and Sibuyas ni Perfecto."

We all have that one place we come back to for studying and for fun, whether it be with friends our ourselves. Just in time for Midterms week, Here are the best near TC has to offer, arranged by yours truly: Halangdon!

To commemorate this year's World Mental Health Day, let us journey inside the mind labyrinth of Disney-Pixar's most cerebral film, Inside Out. In the year 2015, Inside Out was best known for its creative setting of little voices inside our heads, representing our emotions; joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear.

USC-TC—School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) Council conducted its traditional Pep Rally 2023 to send off SAS Majesties athletes for the USC Days 2023 at the Philip Van Engelen Building – Open Theatre in Talamban Campus around 4-6 p.m., Friday, October 6.

Pulong sa mga Alagad sa Obra (PALABRA) finally held an intimate and cozy assembly for the academic year 2023-2024 on September 30, 2023. Led by Jason Yntig, the PALABRA president, and the event’s host, Joshua Carillo, the treasurer for PALABRA and 2nd year representative. Yntig officially began the program by giving his sincerest warm welcome to all Lit majors present, which was then followed by the introduction of this academic year’s PALABRA officers.

Big Bad Wolf (BBW) howled early access last September 14, 2023, Thursday, at Lower Ground Level, Cube Wing, Seaside SM City Cebu. Pulong sa mga Alagad sa Obra (PALABRA) of Bachelors of Arts in Literary and Cultural Students with Creative Writing from University of San Carlos hunted the wolf at his very own lair! Awo~ 

On September 23, the Department of Communications, Linguistics and Literature (DCLL) hosted an online Press Freedom Week Talk in commemoration of Cebu’s 31st Press Freedom Week, with the title, “Through the Watchdog’s Eyes: Involvement and Challenges.”

Matalinghaga ang mga Pilipino, mahilig sila sa mga mabulaklak na pananalita, sila'y isang mala-tula na tao. Kahit ano man ang pinag uusapan, sa mga karaniwang bagay-bagay hanggang sa mga pinaka matindi't mabigat na usapan, lumalabas talaga ang espiritu ni Balagtas. At ano pa bang makaraniwan ngunit mabigat ang mas nakaka higit pa sa kamatayan.

Last September 1 and 2, in partnership with the Unified Artists of Cebu under the guidance of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Cebuano Studies Center held its Zoom conference to give a platform to various Visayan various theater and dramatic arts groups.

Did you know that blueberries grow naturally in the Philippines too? A new species was even discovered here in Cebu back in 2018 by Sir Val Salares under the University of San Carlos’ Department of Biology, alongside his team of researchers from other universities.

On September 1, Societatis Lingua Artes (SOLARES) President Remoto teased future activities and events for the first semester of the academic year to the Department of Communication Linguistics and Literature (DCLL) student body at this year’s General Assembly.

The movie Oppenheimer, which first aired in Philippine Cinemas on July 19, 2023, depicts the journey that J. Robert Oppenheimer took to design the first ever nuclear bomb. The physicist’s legacy with nuclear fission is a scientific milestone of destructive potential, something the world understood well when the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and ended World War 2.

This National Heroes Day, Halangdon would like to spotlight some of the Filipino women throughout history and the different forms of heroism they have shown throughout their lives.

...“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree.” It was all to welcome an exile who to them was the strongest resistor to an unjust regime that ruled the country for many years. Who, despite the warnings of family and friends, returned to his homeland knowing the dangers that await him. As he stood before the oppressions of the Martial Law Regine before, he would rather die on his feet with honor than live on bended knees in shame.

As the earth rumbles our buildings and homes could only sway in its mercy. They are caused by extensive cracks along the Earth's surface called "faults" or "fault lines", displaced by the constantly moving hot layer underneath called the "Mantle". The result is a massive movement or upheaval of the Earth's surface and unprecedented human casualties. These are earthquakes, and they happen all around the world, in some places more so than the others. The Philippines is one of such places.

To start the new academic year, the Societatis Lingua Artes (SOLARES) held their first-ever Academic Orientation last August 15, 2023, at the School of Arts and Sciences Open Theater. The orientation was attended by the students of the Department of Communication Linguistics and Literature (DCLL) from the freshmen to the seniors, together with the DCLL faculty members.

Woven intricately into Visayan culture—tagay has become a cherished social and recreational activity of the Visayan (Cebuano) people where friends and family come together to enjoy alcoholic beverages at clubs and karaoke sessions. While it did not exist in the same manner in the past, the culture of drinking can be traced back to pre-colonial times, taking on different forms and cultural significance throughout history.