Fathers’ Day gift to you. Hearts touched with Fire, by David Gergen. Indisputable on every page. Like a good meal for our hard head and soft heart. Perhaps when it was rushed to print, Putin had not yet invaded Ukraine. Or else, we would have had a chapter on Zelensky. But for now, as far…

Film studies 101 often showed The Birth of a Nation to lay the foundation for what’s to become of Hollywood. First silent feature film. Historical and technological, the later much faster. Visual impact with hoodies KKK’s riding into the sunset to rescue an America on the decline. “If you don’t fight like Hell, you wouldn’t…

Saw Sidney Poitier’s In the Heat of the Night while in the heat of the day. He played a homicide detective from Philadelphia, on his way home with train connection through small town Sparta. That’s where it all happened: from mistakenly jailed for murder to being slapped (and slapping right back) for the color of…

Summer 71 found me quarantined at home to nurse a broken arm. The injury happened right in my first month of practicing Hapkido. A lot of songs to pass the time. Summer breeze was hard to come about, in my small and S-shaped alley. Summer 75? needless to say, I was going nowhere, except to…

When Bonjour Tristesse came out, I was too young to grapple with its significance. But French youth, and by way of colonial extension, made its way to my upper classmen as well (Buon oi! ta xin chao mi). A lot of suicide after the publication of the book, as I was told. “My heart has…

Bid time return. Somewhere in time. Wish we could. More so with our Superman (to avert that fateful horse-riding accident). To make that left at the fork instead of a right. To come in full circle to live once again in centuries/decades past. The older I get, the more I understand my Dad’s unspoken struggles.…

I often wonder how publishers manage those tedious spell checking and painstaking editing tasks before automation. To know who were involved in the process of birthing, you just need to flip to the Acknowledgement page. At times, it’s in the beginning pages. Other times, near the end. What if our lives were books? How long…

Your choice. Make it early. Beyond the binary options, we still have Missing In Action, a designation by the War Department (DoD now) when soldiers, dead or alive, were unaccounted for. Last week, my cousin was laid to rest. Her husband, a Ranger Major, had been a MIA for 47 years. My cousin was accounted…

47 years since the beginning of the Fall of South Vietnam, since at least 155,000 rushed out on a 168 km to the seas from high ground. Herded, frustrated, trampled and shot upon, by friendly or unfriendly fires. well-meaning or not. Major Hy of the fine Rangers was well-meaning. Last sighted standing tall in his…

It was around 1963, since I still remember discussing Kennedy’s assassination with Pierre, my Elementary schoolmate. The alley we moved (up) to saw less flooding and afforded me some playmates, many of whom half-breed (French, not yet American until later years). I could tag around with an Indian kid (Ali) three doors opposite or play…