My Ink Bloc

Warmth of Her Fur: Memories of My Beloved Cat By: Elyza Micah Fuerzas "Dear Theodosia, what to say to you?" 19th of September 2020, I lost my cat Theodosia. I named her after the daughter of Aaron Burr (an American icon and a character of the musical “Hamilton”). I named her specifically that, as there was the most precious song addressed to a daughter from the said musical, "Dear Theodosia." I sing it to her and that was our form of bond. She was like a child to me, and surely I was beyond devastated when I had to say goodbye, one last time. "You knocked me out, I fall apart." I had her on the 1st of September and lost her just 18 days after. In that short span, I've got to learn love, giving and receiving—and the purest form. I cried harder than how I thought I should be. I never knew that love, even something that lasts shortly, could hurt in its loss, and the wound would seem to last for considerable days. I couldn't go on, I couldn't funct...

Forgotten Vows of the Carabaos By: Gabrielle A. Palma   Stinking smell that lingers in the nose as the tears are dripping rapidly from the eyes. The heart is slowly shattering as the feet unhurriedly walk towards the awful corner. In her arms, there lies an existence—a wonderful one. Yet vanishes and expires as she rests it on the surface. Drifted away and suddenly, “Ay! Tae ng kalabaw.” Stepped on the disgusting thing coated with nasty guilt. Beside, is a child—abandoned and forgotten.  Living in a twisted system ruled by various oppressors, life of the poor in the Philippines, is indeed a deprived one. Leaving every decision and fate with no choice, but to pull everything about them just to survive even if it means scratching a part of their dignity and principle.  This is where the circumstance of child abandonment enters the discourse lay upon the table. As the pressing issues continue to surge such as poverty that leads to a financial problem, broken marriage, and te...

RECIPE OF [SOUP]PORT: How Can You Help Your Anxious Teen? By Aquiel-Siemon De Belen               As parents, we can serve different dishes of lessons to our teens. But as the negative recipe of mental health problems are slowly giving them a hard time, we can cook up the (soup)port that can help them.             During this coronavirus pandemic, mental health problems are becoming more common and worse, affecting people from different age groups including teenagers. Before, the American Psychological Association stated in one of its reports that 91 percent of Generation Z are teenagers that have fallen to the bitterness of physical and emotional symptoms of stress like anxiety and depression.                           As the number of these teens continues to rise nowa...

  Boys' Love: Not An Ordinary Romantic Story By: JM Cabato With the overwhelming popularity of Boys' Love (BL) series in the country. Many are astonished at how these series made an impact on their lives and helps them realize how difficult it is for someone from LGBTQ+ Community to be accepted (at least one of the many). As a longtime BL series fan, I've witnessed how this genre grows and becomes a platform for people to tell someone's story that they couldn't share themselves. It serves not only for entertainment but an eye-opener for everyone to see the characters situation that teaches one to embrace "Boys' love" culture with love, openness, and respect.  At this stage, there is no doubt as to why BL stories are successful. Aside from the "kilig" factor that it gives, one can't deny the fact that in every story there are #relate moments and a bunch of moral lessons too.  Allow me to share some of the things that BL series have taught ...

  In Feminism, Enola is Not Alone By: Tristan Jay Pinca   It was 23rd of September when the film “Enola Holmes” was released on Netflix, directed by Harry Bradbeer. It is based on the novel written by Nancy Springer. "Enola Holmes", portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown, is a revisionist, valorous and free-spirited younger sister of the infamous detective "Sherlock Holmes". Her name "Enola" is spelled "alone" backwards, which is the evidence of her mother's (Eudoria) love on ciphers. However, you do not have to be good on cipher to understand how Enola is not alone in her feminist journey.   1. Fashion Fashion is one of the hints to spot a feminist movement. It is often a stereotype on women's choice of clothes. In movie, Enola's brother Mycroft told her, "My god, look at you. You're in such a mess. Where's your hat and your gloves?" She heard that, wearing a non-corseted dark blue dress and white bloomers. During her time...

  Vienna: A Hymn for the Youthful Dreamers by: Julliane Gayle Tan   Growing old seems like a dreadful endpoint or perhaps an indicator of a stagnant life. One of Billy Joel’s magna opera, “Vienna”, tells us otherwise.   This particular song has helped me survive my darkest hours and has even accompanied me in my most joyful days. Before dwelling into this somewhat emotional and personal take on the song, let me share some facts about it. In a Q&A session found on  The Complete Hits Collection: 1973-1997 , Joel said that his inspiration for the song was his visit to his estranged father, Howard Joel, in Vienna. He recalled seeing an old lady sweeping the streets—an occurrence that he questioned. His father then told him that the woman was doing something rather productive. That was when Billy Joel realized that getting old is not really something to worry about because he can still be useful even when his relatively younger years are over. Thus, “Vienna” is a symb...

  PAIN IS SIGNIFICANT By: Joyzenn W. Manangca     No place is too far if you keep on walking. One day, you’re gonna reach your destination.     September 11, 2020, Friday, me and my friends decided to go on hiking and water fall hunting. We’d been planning this for a couple of weeks already, and it just became a reality that day. The road was difficult, though. It’s like we’re walking from seashore to mountains after mountains. It was past 5 am when we start hiking, and we arrived at our friend’s place past 7 am. To be precise, we were walking by land for more than 2 hours before we arrived.      After eating some native delicacies, we decided to go to my place because my parents were already preparing bukos for our buko salad. Then, tada! We walked again from mountains to rivers for the water fall hunting, which was actually one of our primary goals behind that so-tiring trip.     We ate our lunch beside the first wa...

Path to Life and Success: The Ways of Mark Zuckerberg By: Jade Just as one needs to wait for the fruit to get ripe, success does not come overnight. It involves different challenges and hurdles that cause us to take that leap of faith with perseverance and dreams as our foundation. ` Every one of us most probably knows Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the biggest social media platform with over 2 billion users – Facebook. Equipped with a mighty spirit and a dream, he has founded Facebook together with his friends in his dorm room and evolved it to the massive giant it is now. At the age of 23, he was officially given the title of the youngest self-made billionaire in the world and has consistently appeared under the list of the top 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world of the Time magazine.  Yes, success is a long way ahead. And with that, here are some quotes of Mark Zuckerberg as food for thought as you venture in the path that leads to success.   1....