Finding gold beneath the rubble

Unlike many others who don’t collect bits and pieces of rubbish, we pride ourselves in keeping anything that might come in handy. These could be volumes of newspapers and magazines, long discontinued publications we wrote for or just bought at secondhand bookstores to serve as reference material. They include the Graphic Magazine, Travel Update on travel and tourism, Pinoy Global Access on overseas Filipinos, Pinoy World distributed in the Philippines and the US, Frames published by Canon, Pinoy World, People’s Insider, Agung publication of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Lifestyle Asia, Seventeen, World Food Exchange, Northwestern University’s publication for its alumni and Rod Reyes’ Seniors Monthly magazine.    

Going through some of these have brought us interesting discoveries. From The Philippine STAR’s News section comes this Associated Press report of the first wedding of two men at West Point late last year. The report stated that two graduates of West Point were married at the US Military Academy’s Cadet Chapel. What is interesting is that both didn’t meet each other at West Point; they belonged to different batches. Daniel Lenox graduated in 2007; Larry Choate in 2009.

Both out of the military, they only got to meet later when introduced by a mutual friend. Lenox is now at Harvard University in Massachusetts, getting his master’s degree in Business Administration. Choate works at the business school in Seattle, and is applying at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. All we can say at this point is that they must be truly meant for each other.

Another item along the same vein of love against all odds is The New York Times story of youngsters from a remote mountain province in Afghanistan. Their love story, however, is not that blessed for 18-year-old Zakia and 21-year-old Mohammad Ali. In fact, their future is horrendous! They belong to different sects and have never been alone together, but somehow both are intent on marrying each other no matter what. In Afghanistan today, nearly all marriages are still arranged by parents and children who oppose can be legally killed. Since they have been discovered, Zakia has sought refuge in a women’s shelter, but depending on interpretation by Afghan courts, she and Mohammad could have a gruesome end.

The Last Ship is a musical with songs and story by 61-year-old Sting which he hopes to bring to Broadway. The story carried by The Manila Bulletin returns Sting to his old love for music with a difference. He is no longer writing songs for him to sing or to be used in his own films. This time it will be for “other characters than me, other sensibilities than mine, a different viewpoint,” says Sting. The Last Ship gave him back the reason to once again start writing music. “I’d rather write about other people,” he finishes.

A favorite find is a few promotional pages from a book Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog who Knows a Thousand Words. Chaser is a border collie, used in olden times to take care of sheep so they don’t leave the herd. Today, they are still herders, following instructions of owners without expecting any reward. It is said that a border collie has the intelligence of a two-and-half-year-old human. They can also learn up to 1,200 words.

The story of Chaser is in a book John Pilley, a former professor of psychology, has written. The book is available through Amazon. We have also found reactions from dog lovers who have purchased the book. Jefro has written, “Dogs are some of the best people I know! God bless dogs for their ability to love and to forgive!”

What we miss most to this day, however, is The Seniors Monthly published by Rod Reyes with everyone else a contributor writing about his or her own particular specialization. It was a handsome magazine in full color printed on expensive glossy paper. It had everything one would expect from Rod. As one who started in print, Rod went through the gamut of communication arts from television with Republic Broadcasting System, GMA, National Media, ABS-CBN, to Manila Standard, then becoming former Pres. Fidel Ramos and Pres. Joseph Estrada’s press secretary, then head of FPJ’s Media Bureau for the 2004 elections, until he went into retirement when FPJ was defeated.

 We were able to secure Rod’s number from Ramy Diez, our former boss at TV5 during the Martial Law era. He went to the phone and we chatted a bit until it was time to say goodbye. We both know in our hearts that the era of the best in the print media would never come again. And not only that, we both know that even from the start, a magazine dedicated to a readership of senior citizens like ourselves had a limited life span. It was good while it lasted. 

(E-mail us your reactions at [email protected] or text us at 0917-8991835.)