The Boy Who Stutters

When the Filipino masses were mobilizing towards Malacañang, the Marcoses had to evade. Having jewelry at her reach and diapers of her grandchild in a bag, Imelda swiftly slipped some diamonds into the diapers before finally fleeing through the helicopter. That saved them from the coming persecution. Or at least, that’s what she paid for the lawyers. [READ THE UPDATED VERSION HERE:  Kingmaker (2019) Film Review: Diamonds in Diapers – SineSalita (wordpress.com)  ] The Kingmaker , a 2019 documentary film by the American Filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, presents a fair and safe exposition of the extravagant, the insane, and the Imeldific history of the Marcoses. Aside from new video footage from the Martial Law era, exclusive access to Imelda’s splendor, and compelling testimonials from political figures, the film did not offer anything else but a renewal of rage . What Kingmaker achieves is the reminder to Filipinos about the atrocities, the excesses, and the extreme narrat...

A whole new world - where extremities are found as the spectrum prevails. The Alter world has a different atmosphere, but not so different from the society that objectifies the human body and indulges in superficiality. Love and Lust try to co-exist - hence not in that order or sort but in serendipity and desire. A curious teen, confused ones, a lost student, a young professional, pressured peer, a working lad, contractual urban poor, a government employee, passive ones, a married man, separated husband, a medical student, and a nurse. A call center agent, a father to one, two, and three, a massage therapist and a tripper. A teacher, an artist, a writer, a book designer, and actor. A double degree holder and single ones. A musician and a director. From slender wood to solid trunk, the age of the tree does not dictate no one. For the height of the stem complements its branch. Grow. Grow freely and surprise the eyes. The Alter world is the opposite of the exposed. Faces are blu...

“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.”  In chapter one: The Promise, C. Wright Mills has situated the ‘troubles’ and ‘issues’ that burden man and his world. As he identifies the problem, Mills is able to set an impetus for a better world – even it is yet to be realized. A better world has always been the goal, or is it? History proves that humanity tried and failed; history then teaches the posterity to try again. One has to understand the significance of learning from history and applying certain changes personally for the dream to materialize. It takes a personal evaluation for a collective salvation. Man cannot be isolated from society as a society cannot isolate man from it. And grasping this idea, recognizing the relations between time and people, and being aware of the mechanisms of societal structures and individual dispositions are what drive the sociological imagination. As a premise, the already-...