who saves who

September 26 is Save Sierra Madre Day. Once again the mountain range has saved the Philippines from another major storm - Karding/Noru. Yet this valuable resource is constantly under threat, sorely lacking conservation and protection.

Sierra Madre's forests and watersheds are home to some of the country's richest wildlife communities. More than 291 species of birds and 25 endemic mammals live within the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park alone.

forest cover as of 2010

The Kaliwa dam project is threatening the endangered species living in the sparse remaining forest of Sierra Madre Range and indigenous people's lives in that area. 

a history to be reckoned with

In honor of International Day of Peace 2022 - this year's theme is end racism, build peace - wonder | wonder | world pick of the week is the newly released Ken Burns documentary on PBS - "The U.S. and the Holocaust". 

As proud Americans who honestly believe in this country and its people - this documentary is a brazen eye opener. The Holocaust has many lessons it can yet teach - pray we remain alert and attentive. 

Did you know that Hitler so admired the US government segregation practices among Native Americans and Jim Crow laws for African Americans - he was so inspired he studiously copied a few of them in his grand plan to exterminate the Jews in Europe?

we remember

The UP Institute of Human Rights presents: The Legal Construction of Dictatorship: We Remember.

This will be a week-long Martial Law Series from 12-21 September 2022. The major events that led up to President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law, as well as the events that came after, will be posted on this page everyday until 21 September 2022, the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law.

This series aims to help the post-EDSA generation understand how the one-man rule was sustained from the proclamation of Martial Law in 1972 to the ouster of the dictator in 1986.

It will look at how the law was used to legitimize the dictatorship. It will enable and empower today’s generation to be wary of similar attempts these days, and alert them to seemingly subtle maneuvers that erode our democracy.

Join us in looking back and recalling one of the darkest chapters in the country's history. We will remember and we will #NeverForget.

hail the queen

The palace has just announced that Queen Elizabeth II has died. God save the queen! 

Eternal she is not even if for many they have known no other monarchy in her lifetime. Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over the U.K. for 70 years, dies at 96. 

© Campress/AP

Her sovereignty began in February 1952 after the death of her father, King George VI and ended today at Balmoral Castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands. 

Queen Elizabeth served as a constant and reassuring figure in Britain and on the world stage as she served to lead her family, monarchy, and country through a period of profound shifts in geopolitical power and national identity. 

The Queen holds the newborn King Charles III - with her parents

parody of life

wonder | wander | world is immersed in a deepening all-encompassing cycle of life and death. As our elders live bonus years in their 90s and 80s we celebrate our 66th and 43rd birthdays. Multi generations in life's second, third, and fourth acts. 

In a culture that dreads the inevitability of aging - treats it like a disease to be cured with potions and regimens, anesthetizes it with botox and silence - forgetting that growing old is a tremendous privilege not given to most. 

@wwwomen decades ago

Hardly questioning imposed external ageism obsessions with cosmetics and cosmetic surgery come by what scholar Kathleen Woodward calls “the youthful structure of the look” - a harsh gaze that turns the old into “The Other.”