ISANG GABI SA PILING NG MAYNILA

ISANG GABI SA PILING NG MAYNILA
Jayson Alvar Cruz

Sabik na sabik na lumuwas ng Maynila si Boyet. Nais niyang maranasan ang kaniyang mga nababasa sa komiks tungkol sa kaunlaran ng Maynila. Ibig niyang makita ang nagtatayugang mga gusali. Gusto niyang malakaran ang naglalakihang mall. Gabi na nang makarating sa Maynila si Boyet. Sinundo siya sa terminal ng kaniyang tiyuhin. Laking gulat ni Boyet sa larawang tumambad sa kaniya. Nanikip ang kaniyang dibdib matapos makababa ng bus.


BOYET: “Ganito ba karumi ang Maynila Tiyo? Napakausok at lubhang napakarami ng kalat.”


TIYO: “Masanay ka na Boyet. Hindi ba gusto mong maranasan ang buhay
dito sa Maynila? Halika’t ipapasyal muna kita bago tayo umuwi ng bahay.” Sa kanilang paglalakad, narinig ni Boyet ang usapan ng isang  pangkat ng mga kabataan.


BINATILYO 1: “Wow tropa, lakas ng amats ng dubi! Panalo!”


BINATILYO 2: “Nagsolo ka naman brod eh, bwiset! Waisted tuloy ako
kanina. Buti na lang, may karga si Tuklaw na tobats, nakajam ako kait konti”

BINATILYO 3: “Dapat makadiskarte tayo ng tsibog ngayon. Tomguts na ko eh.”


BINATILYO 1: (Bumulong sa binatilyo 2. Nanlilisik ang mga mata.  Inginuso ang naglalakad na estudyante. Maya-maya’y  biglang naglaho ang tatlong binatilyo sa dilim. Narinig niya  ang impit na tili ng dalagitang estudyante.  Tinangkang saklolohan ito ni Boyet subalit pinigilan siya ng  kaniyang tiyuhin.


TIYO: “Huwag kang makialam Boyet. Mapapahamak lang tayo. Hayaan mo na sila.”


BOYET: Bakit tiyo? Nangangailangan ng saklolo ang babae. Kailangan niya tayo.


TIYO: “Huwag na! Masanay ka na sa Maynila.”


Nagpatuloy sila sa paglalakad, may sumalubong sa kanilang mga  babae. Nakapustura at puno ng kolorete ang mga mukha nito.


BABAE 1: “Boss, short time? 500 lang.”


TIYO: (Umiling ang tiyo ni Boyet) “Hindi, ipinapasyal ko lamang ang pamangkin ko.”


BOYET: “Anong sinasabi ng babae tiyo? Bakit ganoon ang ayos ng kanilang  pananamit?”



TIYO: “Malalaman mo rin Boyet pagdating ng panahon kung bakit sila nasadlak sa ganoong buhay. Mauunawaan mo rin ang lahat dito sa Maynila.”
 Labis na naguguluhan si Boyet sa mga nangyayari sa kaniyang paligid. Marami siyang katanungan sa kaniyang isip. Hanggang sa marating na nila ang eskinita patungo sa bahay ng kaniyang tiyuhin. Makipot at tila bituka ng manok ang kanilang binabagtas nang may marinig silang putok. Pinadapa siya ng kaniyang tiyuhin. Kumubli sila sa isang lugar na napaliligiran ng pader. Sunod-sunod na putok. Maya-maya,  narinig niya ang sirena ng pulis. Tumayo na sila. Paroo’t paritong nagtatakbuhan ang mga tao. Sa wakas, narating na nila ang bahay ng kaniyang tiyuhin. Bumungad agad sa kaniya ang lima niyang pamangkin na kasalukuyang himbing na natutulog sa lapag ng bahay. Maliit, masikip at may kung anong nakasusulasok na amoy ang nalanghap ni Boyet.


BOYET: Tiyo, paano ninyo natitiis na tumira sa ganitong lugar? Hindi na ba kayo babalik sa probinsiya? Wala ba kayong balak na doon palakihin ang mga pinsan ko?


TIYO: Matagal ko nang binabalak na umuwi subalit naririto ang trabaho ko, wala akong magawa Boyet, wala.

The Hands of the Blacks by Luis Bernardo Honwana

The Hands of the Blacks by Luis Bernardo Honwana

I don’t remember now how we got on to the subject, but one day, Teacher said that the palms of the Blacks’ hands were much lighter than the rest of their bodies. This is because only a few centuries ago, they walked around with them like wild animals, so their palms weren’t exposed to the sun, which made the rest of their bodies darker. I thought of this when Father Christiano told us after catechism that we were absolutely hopeless, and that even the pygmies were better than us, and he went back to this thing about their hands being lighter, and said it was like that because they always went about with their hands folded together, praying in secret. I thought this was so funny, this thing of the Blacks’ hands being lighter, that you should just see me now. I do not let go of anyone, whoever they are, until they tell me why they think that the palms of the Blacks’ hands are lighter. Doña Dores, for instance, told me that God made Blacks’ hands lighter so they would not dirty the food they made for their masters, or anything else they were ordered to do that had to be kept clean.

           

Señor Antunes, the Coca-Cola man, who only comes to the village now and again when all the Cokes in the cantinas have been sold, said it was a lot of baloney. Of course, I do not know if it was really such, but he assured me, it was. After that I said, “All right, it was baloney,” and then he told me what he knew about this thing of the Blacks’ hands. It was like this: “Long ago, many years ago, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, many other saints, all the angels that were in Heaven, and some of the people who had died and gone to Heaven—they all had a meeting and decided to create the Blacks. Do you know how? They got hold of some clay and pressed it into some second-hand molds and baked the clay of creatures, which they took from the heavenly kilns. Because they were in a hurry and there was no room next to the fire, they hung them in the chimneys. Smoke, smoke, smoke—and there you have them, black as coals. And now, do you want to know why their hands stayed white? Well, didn’t they have to hold on while their clay baked?”

           

When he told me this, Señor Antunes and the other men who were around us were very pleased and they all burst out laughing. That very same day, Señor Frias told me that everything i had heard from them there had been just one big pack of lies. Really and truly, what he knew about the Blacks’ hands was right—that God finished men and told them to bathe in a lake in Heaven. After bathing, the people were nice and white. The Blacks, well. They were made very early in the morning and at this hour, the water in the lake was very cold, so they only wet the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet before dressing and coming to the world.

           

But i read in a book that happened to mention the story, that the Blacks have hands lighter like this because they spent their lives bent over, gathering the white cotton of Virginia and i dont know where else. Of course, Doña Estefania did not agree when i told her this. According to her, it is only because their hands became bleached with all that washing.

           

Well, i do not know what to think about all this but the truth is that however calloused and cracked they may be, Black hands are always lighter than the rest of him. And that’s that!

           

My mother is the only one who must be right about this question of a Black’s hands being lighter than the rest of his body. On the day that we were talking about it, i was telling her what i already knew about the question, and she could not stop laughing. When i was talking, she did not tell me at once what she thought about all this and she only talked when she was sure that i wouldn’t get tired of bothering her about it. And even then,  she was crying and clutching herself around the stomach like someone who had laughed so much that it was quite unbearable. What she said was more or less this:

           

“God made Blacks because they had to be. They had to be, my son. He thought they really had to be. Afterwards, He regretted having made them because other men laughed at them and took away their homes and put them to serve as slaves and not much better. But because He couldn’t make them all white, for those who were used to seeing them black would complain, He made it so that the palms of their hands would be exactly like the palms of the hands of other men. And do you know why that was? Well, listen: it was to show that what men do is only the work of men... that what men do is done by hands that are the same—hands of people. How, if they had any sense, would know that before anything else they are men. He must have been thinking of this when He made the hands of those men who thank God they are not black!”

           

After telling me all this, my mother kissed my hands. As i ran off to the yard to play ball, i thought that i had never seen a person cry so much as my mother did then.

 #Repost

#Credits

Carbon Footprint

CARBON FOOTPRINT

 

A carbon footprint has historically been defined by Championne as "the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person."^[1]

However, the total carbon footprint cannot be calculated because of the large amount of data required and the fact that carbon dioxide can be produced by natural occurrences. It is for this reason that Wright, Kemp, and Williams, writing in the journal Carbon Management, have suggested a more practicable definition:

"A measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) emissions of a defined population, system or activity, considering all relevant sources, sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population, system or activity of interest. Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) using the relevant 100-year global warming potential (GWP100)."^[2]

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) can be emitted through transport, land clearance, and the production and consumption of food, fuels, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, and services.^[3] For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent of other GHGs, emitted.

Most of the carbon footprint emissions for the average U.S. household come from "indirect" sources, i.e. fuel burned to produce goods far away from the final consumer. These are distinguished from emissions which come from burning fuel directly in one's car or stove, commonly referred to as "direct" sources of the consumer's carbon footprint.^[4]

The concept name of the carbon footprint originates from ecological footprint, discussion,^[5] which was developed by Rees and Wackernagel in the 1990s which estimates the number of "earths" that would theoretically be required if everyone on the planet consumed resources at the same level as the person calculating their ecological footprint. However, given that ecological footprints are a measure of failure, Anindita Mitra (CREA, Seattle) chose the more easily calculated "carbon footprint" to easily measure use of carbon, as an indicator of unsustainable energy use. In 2007, carbon footprints were used as a measure of carbon emissions to develop the energy plan for City of Lynnwood, Washington. Carbon footprints are much more specific than ecological footprints since they measure direct emissions of gasses that cause climate change into the atmosphere.

Measuring carbon footprints

An individual's, nations, or organization's carbon footprint can be measured by undertaking a GHG emissions assessment or other calculative activities denoted as carbon accounting. Once the size of a carbon footprint is known, a strategy can be devised to reduce it, e.g. by technological developments, better process and product management, changed Green Public or Private Procurement (GPP), carbon capture, consumption strategies, and others.

Several free online carbon footprint calculators exist, with at least one supported by publicly available peer-reviewed data and calculations from the University of California, Berkeley's CoolClimate Network research consortium. These websites ask you to answer more or less detailed questions about your diet, transportation choices, home size, shopping and recreational activities, usage of electricity, heating, and heavy appliances such as dryers and refrigerators, and so on. The website then estimates your carbon footprint based on your answers to these questions.

The mitigation of carbon footprints through the development of alternative projects, such as solar or wind energy or reforestation, represents one way of reducing a carbon footprint and is often known as carbon offsetting.

The main influences on carbon footprints include population, economic output, and energy and carbon intensity of the economy.^[10] These factors are the main targets of individuals and businesses in order to decrease carbon footprints. Scholars suggest the most effective way to decrease a carbon footprint is to either decrease the amount of energy needed for production or to decrease the dependence on carbon emitting fuels.^[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint

Volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.^[1] It has been a part of the official program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964.

The complete rules are extensive. But simply, play proceeds as follows: a player on one of the teams begins a 'rally' by serving the ball (tossing or releasing it and then hitting it with a hand or arm), from behind the back boundary line of the court, over the net, and into the receiving team's court. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court. The team may touch the ball up to 3 times but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. Typically, the first two touches are used to set up for an attack, an attempt to direct the ball back over the net in such a way that the serving team is unable to prevent it from being grounded in their court.

The rally continues, with each team allowed as many as three consecutive touches, until either (1): a team makes a kill, grounding the ball on the opponent's court and winning the rally; or (2): a team commits a fault and loses the rally. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point, and serves the ball to start the next rally. A few of the most common faults include:

• causing the ball to touch the ground or floor outside the opponents' court or without first passing over the net;
• catching and throwing the ball;
• double hit: two consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same player;
• four consecutive contacts with the ball made by the same team;
• net foul: touching the net during play;
• foot fault: the foot crosses over the boundary line when serving.

The ball is usually played with the hands or arms, but players can legally strike or push (short contact) the ball with any part of the body.

A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking (because these plays are made above the top of the net, the vertical jump is an athletic skill emphasized in the sport) as well as passing, setting, and specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures.