I used to hate receiving criticism. I still hate it. It takes a lot of courage, energy, and patience on my part not to go beyond squirming and trembling while someone speaks their Piece Versus Me. I struggle to let the criticism wash over me, to sort the outright insults from the constructive remarks, to…
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This was written in response to Soriano’s infamous, now-Google-cached-because-Manila-Bulletin-removed-it opinion piece on his perceived expertise of English. I grew up on a diet of English, Mr. Soriano, just like you did. Speaking, reading, writing, and thinking in English were as commonplace in our household as eating dinner. Tagalog was banned. Even my mother’s native Hiligaynon…
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I’ve always wondered why I love football, even when everyone around me fell helpless to the charms of American football, basketball, tennis, even baseball. I finally figured it out: I love football because I love belly dancing. Oh, I can hear your thoughts threatening to storm across the Pacific. What does this have to do…
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The first time someone asked me to write a column for PinoyFootball, all I could think of was, “What? Who? Me?” I’m a big football fan, but I don’t feel as though I have a strong opinion about anything in football, except where the Azkals are concerned. What I do have, however, is an opinion…
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I will be defending my dissertation. Pfendler Hall, Dean’s Auditorium, 245 PM, 4/4/11. I have 20-25 minutes to talk about a project two years in execution, 31 years in the making. I will have to muster all my strength and courage, and still have enough brains and mettle to last the following hour as the…
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Morocco is the godmother of bellydance. She has danced all over the world, taught all over the world, and made friends all over the world. She choreographs and teaches choreography at workshops, and she can teach without losing her breath. She has an amazing memory. She can remember steps, execute them over and over, and…
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People who know me and have worked with me are perhaps aware of my fascination with (and work in) qualitative research. I have nothing against numbers, I swear. I love mathematics, and, to some extent, statistics. But I also believe that not all questions can be answered by numbers; sometimes, we need a story to…
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I like reading news from back home, not only because I get to catch up on everybody else, but because very few publications – if any – cover Filipino affairs. When I first started belly dancing, I could not help searching for news on bellydance groups and troupes, if only to see what everyone was…
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If anyone were to ask me, “What are preliminary exams like?” I would say, “Indescribably exciting and torturous at the same time. You need to experience them to know.” Preliminary exams, at least in my department, tell your committee members whether or not you are ready to carry out independent research. Are you ready to…
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When I first started here at Purdue in August of 2007, I never thought I would be able to survive. I thought sociology would kill me. I thought statistics would torture me (prior to death by sociology). And I thought that I was a scientist through and through, with no mercy for the social sciences.…
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