HOW IT WAS.

Compiled from my previous Facebook posts. 

“Sailing” toy boats, mostly made of paper or cardboard, by the ditch was a favorite child’s play in my time. Since rains are a perennial nature’s way back home, there’s always a steady stream of mild water on the ditch by the street after a downpour. So while waiting for rain to subside or stop, I’d craft my little “boats” and then hollered at playmate friends for a boat race. We usually wagered toy comic cards or “teks” or rare soda lids. Fun! ⛵️🛶⛵️

Traditional irrigation. Basin, check basin, furrow and strip irrigation. Each of these methods is suited for particular crops and land-types. The Qanats, developed in ancient Persia about 800 BCE, are among the oldest known irrigation methods still in use today. They are now found in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. When I was a boy, rice fields in the mountain terraces were irrigated via natural waters from the land. I was endlessly perplexed. 🌬💨💦

Long time ago, calculators were banned in school. We were even taught how to use the abacus. Fractions, decimal points, geometric configurations. We had to figure these all out via our innate thinking ability. Poetry, creative writing, journalism. Handwritten words. Fast forward to 21st century as computer technology subverts life. Mathematics, music, literature etc are now handed to AI or aided by “artificial intelligence.” All I see is Matrix-like doom. 🤖🧮🤖

Summer fiestas in the Philippines. “Endless” community parties where everyone is invited to join. Every barrio, town, province, and city have their own fiesta to celebrate. Good times or bad, it's unstoppable. Free foods! Shows, carnivals, sports, games. Fiestas or “pyesta” start right after Lent and end by July or start of rain. Fiestas also strengthen bonds between people and villages, which are tested during natural calamity seasons when rains evolve into typhoons. 🎪🇵🇭🎪

On election season in the Philippines when I was child, it was all fiesta-fun for me. Of course, I was oblivious or unknowing of the “bad stuff” in politics then (I was a child!) I’d collect colorful election paraphernalia: Pamphlets, posters, handbills, buttons, hats, flaglets, shirts etc etcetera. In fact, I read all those campaign literature without really “understanding” what was going on. But then what I read or evolved in time, primed me to pursue journalism. 🧒🇵🇭👧

Street games. Patintero. Luksong tinik. Taguan. Step no. Holen. Teks. Etcetera. Fun! Playtime was after school at 4 to a few minutes before Angelus at 6, when dusk began to fall. On weekends, we had longer play time, after we accomplished our house chores. During summer, in a mining town where we lived, we’d trekked up the hills and gathered guavas. Imagine how we climbed up trees, walked by monkey bridges, and hunted wild spiders! 🧒🇵🇭👧

The Carabao. Water buffalo in English. Called “kalabaw” in the Philippines, the super strong animal represents hard work. Before machines took over ricefield toil or agricultural labor, the carabao plowed the land. Watching them work with human hands was main reason why I spent summers in the barrio when I was young. Human/animal synergy was alive. On rest time, the carabao would take a nap on a puddle and I would sleep on top of him/her. 🐃🇵🇭🐃

Asheville’s Friday drum circle in downtown’s Pritchard Park is a leading community attraction in my home city. For many years, at least since I got here. I haven’t been much in downtown for years now though, apart from passing by it when we do quarterly errands. Not sure if the circle is still active as it was. In fact, the drum circle was a major motivation for our “Bonfires for Peace” concert events that we also held in the same park for years. Till hate took over. 🪘🎼🪘

In those days we (mostly) only called people on the telephone when it was necessary. Not all houses had telephones. In the Philippines, payphones were in stores for 1 peso for 3 minutes use. Or in booths for a quarter or two. These days cellphones are used not simply for communication. Which is a cool improvement. Until we placed “all our life” in this tiny gadget. How am I supposed to take photos of Arrow, Ching and Fizz without my cellphone? ☎️📞☎️

Public transport. Bus, trains, jeepneys etcetera. There are about 1.474 billion vehicles worldwide per 2023 count. In 2015, around 947 million. About 19 percent of those vehicles are in the United States. While we mouth advocacy of “climate change,” transportation continues to contribute to global pollution. Electric vehicles help but what’d help the most is lesser dependence on private vehicles to instead focus on public transport, the way it was. The way I grew up. 🚌🚐🚌