Food, clothing, shelter, sex: basic needs for most people.
Food, clothing, shelter and. . . newspapers: my basic needs.
I grew up with newspapers. There always had been newspapers in our house. Even when I am away, I always buy or read newspapers, by sheer force of habit.
In the late 80's and into the 90's spent in this city and province (Dipolog City; Zamboanga del Norte), there were only two local newspapers: The Mindanao Observer and another. In terms of what was happening locally, I got my news and facts from The Mindanao Observer (MO). The masthead's color of the MO then was maroon. This color resonated throughout most of my life: I spent my high school at this province's state university (JRMSU) where the color of our school uniform was maroon (I don't know what it is now); and I went to UP Diliman where we were called UP Maroons. At that young age, MO had that subliminal resonance in me, not just as a source of news. The Observer (or more specifically the masthead) now comes out in several colors in addition to the color maroon that I grew up with---which is just fine since it comes out more frequently and the additional colors make it more vibrant.
Food, clothing, shelter and. . . newspapers: my basic needs.
I grew up with newspapers. There always had been newspapers in our house. Even when I am away, I always buy or read newspapers, by sheer force of habit.
In the late 80's and into the 90's spent in this city and province (Dipolog City; Zamboanga del Norte), there were only two local newspapers: The Mindanao Observer and another. In terms of what was happening locally, I got my news and facts from The Mindanao Observer (MO). The masthead's color of the MO then was maroon. This color resonated throughout most of my life: I spent my high school at this province's state university (JRMSU) where the color of our school uniform was maroon (I don't know what it is now); and I went to UP Diliman where we were called UP Maroons. At that young age, MO had that subliminal resonance in me, not just as a source of news. The Observer (or more specifically the masthead) now comes out in several colors in addition to the color maroon that I grew up with---which is just fine since it comes out more frequently and the additional colors make it more vibrant.
In my diaspora years in Manila, I always relied on the MO to know what was going on back home. Most of the Zanortehanons in diaspora also read MO to relive that connection with their home province/city. When you were that far away from home, you lose your identity; and news of home can be your only connection and means of reclaiming that identity.
Time flies and I think I have come full circle in some weird way: I have intermittently written a column for the MO. So my connection with this paper goes like this: I grew up with The Mindanao Observer as one of only two newspapers in the province, I have gone away thirteen, fifteen years or so and got to connect with my home city/province through MO. The cycle thus: I came back, I went away, and whatever else in between. . . and I write for this paper. The resonance is just uncanny.
That resonance may have been more or longer for some readers of this paper since this paper has been in existence for forty-five (45) years now. Let me just pause a little and give this shoutout to The Mindanao Observer: Happy 45th year MO!
Otherwise stated, this paper has been the paper of your father and mother. This could have been the newspaper of you lolo. That's not a bad habit or tradition if you ask me; definitely even better than sex. Go ask your lolo.
So get your copy of The Mindano Observer now. Be an observer, whenever, wherever. Let your lolo's or your father and mother's tradition live on!
[This appeared in my column Justified in The Mindanao Observer, August 05, 2010.]
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[This appeared in my column Justified in The Mindanao Observer, August 05, 2010.]
10 surprising sex statistics
thedaily beast.com/Tantric paintings yield deep satisfaction
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