There was the music, of course, by Debussy and Berlioz and the art of Monet snd Picasso. But in college it was Albert Camus who incarnated Paris. Not Jean Paul Sartre, although I read his work on existentialism. Not Simone de Beauvoir either. It was Camus and his novels – The Stranger, the Plague – and his essays The Rebel and Art, Sedition and Death. I read about those intellectuals on the Left Bank. I went for the more accessible writings – Francoise Sagan and Antoine de St-Exupery and later on Roland Barthes. Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida were too high above my comprehension. I had a copy of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness but I never went beyond the first chapter. The Little Prince is still my favorite book. I gave my rare copy of Peter Ustinov’s rendition on vinyl to my granddaughter Isabel on her wedding.
Continue reading “Paris: Through the Years”Year: 2024
A(nother) Death in the Family
Just received the news that another friend from college has passed away. Ed Labitag was my classmate and fraternity brother. The list is getting longer. Jut a few months ago, it was Salvador “Buddy” Carlota, former dean of the college of law in the University of the Philippines and authority on administrative law. He was also a talented musician who played the piano and the guitar. Almost immediately afterwards, it was Josue “Sonny” Villa, the Philippine ambassador to China. Earlier another ambassador to China Jose Santiago “Chito” Sta Romana passed in Hainan Island: he was taken by Covid. Years back Frankie Llaguno, writer and colleague in the Banana Club like Buddy, died from a chronic disease.
Continue reading “A(nother) Death in the Family”Shamans, Babaylans and Kuranderas
The different healing modalities – meditation, qigong, nutrition/dietetics, massage, martial arts, feng-shui, astrology, sexology, acupuncture, herbalism, essential oils, alchemy – have their origins in shamanism.
Continue reading “Shamans, Babaylans and Kuranderas”Hiroshima
I am going to attend the commemoration of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the Todabayashi Serenity Garden tonight at 6:30. It starts at the LEPOCO office at 53 E. Lehigh Street for the program and readings and then there’s a walk to the Garden.
Continue reading “Hiroshima”Babaylan Prayer
I would like to share the live presentation I did last year on June 18 at the Marble Summer Arts Festival in NYC. I called it Babaylan Prayer in honor of the shamans and healers who, even today, in different forms, carry on the rituals and traditions of ancient Philippines. I choreographed this short program as a “wordless worship”. It is part of a longer work that I’ve taught in seminars. The background music is from the CD Shakuhachi The Japanese Flute by Kohachiro Miyata. The video was filmed by Carlos Esguerra and edited by Manny Maramara.
Continue reading “Babaylan Prayer”Tai chi Sword and the Cop
The hate crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders and other minorities prompted me to reprint this article I wrote sometime at the millennium. The crimes have been directed not only against the people of Asian and Pacific descent but also against their culture. A few years ago, I was practicing Tai chi chuan sword and staff at a public gym when I was told by the director that I could not do it there. I used to leave my staff/pole at the gym but one day it was gone. I was told by a custodian that he was ordered to get rid of it.
Continue reading “Tai chi Sword and the Cop”Enso
One of the pleasures of being a new author is hearing that one’s book is being read in other places. It is so warming to receive a photo of Master Tek Wah Eng, Tiger Claw teacher and calligrapher, with a copy of the book. Acupuncturist Amy Yam, a student in the Philippines, also sent me her photo (below); so did Myles Dunlop. Shaolin and Tai chi teacher in UK and Aishuan Wang in Taiwan.
Continue reading “Enso”Diary: the Bible
Diary 5/17/24
I’ve been reading a few books, among them “Old Testament Parallels” by Victor Matthews and Don Benjamin, “Studying the Historical Jesus” by Darrell Bock,” “Gospel Fictions” by Randel Helm and “Adam’s Rib” by Robert Graves. Again, they raised the question in my mind, “What is fact and what is not?” These books are only a few of those that shed light on the historicity of the Bible.
Continue reading “Diary: the Bible”Len Roberts: Poet
On the anniversary of Len Roberts’ death, I would like to reprint the tribute I delivered at his funeral service.
Continue reading “Len Roberts: Poet”Photos of the subjects covered in the book “Of Fire and Water: Alchemy and Transformation”.
