The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God’s Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine has a new mission: to go into the business of training practitioners in age-old healing therapies in order to accommodate the growing popularity of alternative and traditional cures. Starting this September, SMIC-ITCM will start offering certificate courses in […]
Have you ever wondered how some people who are in their 50s look like they’re just 40? And how some who are only 35 look like they’re 50 already?Of course, genetics plays a big role in how we age – whether our parents lived to a ripe old age of 80 or more (that’s a […]
Situated at the instep of the Italian boot, Matera lies on one side of a valley’s slope, descending to a deep rocky river ravine known locally as La Gravina. This southern Italian city was founded by the Romans in the third century B.C., and its prehistoric cave dwellings are believed to be one of the […]
Saving an old house or a building is not easy. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile endeavor as many of them are reminders of our country’s history and culture. Many are in dire need of repairs or face demolition if this is not done. The sad reality is that the individuals or families who own these […]
My little shobe, who is daring and gungho about pretty much everything, had a major drama breakdown late last school year. I had to put her head on my chest so she would not see me smiling at her hacking sobs and giant tears. The problem – typical 6-year-old issues of her BFF (best friend […]
Dec. 15, 2015 marked the start of my six-month teaching/research grant in the Philippines. It is also my longest continuous stay since I left home in 1996 to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. In the 20 years since I graduated, I had taught at the University of […]
Alzheimer’s disease affects 5 percent of the population aged 65 to 74 years, and 30 percent of people above 85 years. Half of the people in nursing homes in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia is a term used to describe the loss of intellectual and social skills serious enough to interfere with daily […]
Volunteering is not an uncommon undertaking in the Chinese-Filipino community. Volunteer fire brigades and charitable organizations are almost always the first to respond to emergency calls and offer sustainable help in disaster situations. One such organization is Care Caravan (華福關懷列車), a social outreach organization of Chinese Christians that targets marginalized groups in Philippine society. In […]
My mother, like a lot of second-generation Tsinoys, was raised in a very conservative Chinese household, where one of the basic tenets of Neo-Confucian philosophy is absolute obedience to one’s parents. My mother, a dutiful daughter, followed this tradition, though it is one that was observed willingly. It is tradition after all, and to her […]
The past few months, parents have been bombarded with the Close-Up tragedy news, where five people died of suspected drug overdose. In the university where I teach, we have another conundrum, a community problem: we are discussing the issue of Close-Up traged. Because our university does not have classes on Fridays, Thursday night is the […]