Wayward and Fanciful by Gail Ilagan

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/27 April) -- Thursday night, 11 pm. The dot on the map stood for a well-lit square in the Divisoria district of Cagayan de Oro City. Six pairs of white plastic chairs faced each other on the pavement. I was on the second chair on the row, my back to McDonald’s. On my left, the late Mayor Borja, first local executive of CDO, was immortalized in white concrete. On the right, the late great Jose Rizal looked down with approval.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 April) -- Ground breaking. In Mindanao, the land of the daring, the adventurous, we witness audacious efforts at evolving cutting edge strategies for social order. And they work.
Take the DDS, for instance.
Or maybe not. Not today, anyway.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 Mar) -- It’s March 26 as I write this. Today I was finally able to read a batch of letters dated March 9. They were written by my students, recently graduated, and their words of gratitude and affirmation gave me a dose of the incomparable joys of teaching. They told me about the things they learned from me that they would carry with them for the rest of their lives.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / February 27) -- Why did the chicken cross the road?

My eleven-year-old daughter loves to quote what Ernest Hemingway would have replied: To die. In the rain.

Papa Hemingway would have to assume that the chicken got to the other side. Safe to say that the chicken wasn’t crossing the Paradise-Embac Road in Paquibato District, this city else it would have died before it got across the road.

Now fifteen, she was going to her prom last night. That was her first socially sanctioned date. She couldn’t help but be nervous.

“And hoping to lay them to rest,” I replied, fingers crossed.

Lately, it just feels like I’m drowning.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/8 Feb) -- My counseling practice is limited to crisis situations, usually immediately in the wake of psychological trauma or sexual violation. I don't do counseling on demand, which some say is a strange way to go about the practice of my profession.

DAVAO CITY -- Job hazard. But when an organization behaves out of character, it puts a social psychologist on the alert. When members of that organization are allowed to behave out of character and with impunity, the social psychologist's alarm bells turn deafening.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) -- Perhaps expecting to find a sympathetic, nonjudgmental ear, some people have been telling me lately how their views of the military have changed radically. Not my doing. It had to do with their encounters in the last few years with the military in the conduct of their development work. Maybe they come to me because it has never been a secret that I view our men with respect. Nor has it been a secret that I hit them hard on this column when I see them not living up to the code of conduct in service.

Who killed Cock Robin?
“I,” said the Sparrow.
“With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin.” 

Who saw him die?
“I,” said the Magpie.
With my little eye, I saw him die.

Who caught his blood?
“I,” said the Fish.
“With my little dish, I caught his blood.”

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 Jan) -- Early last September, I got a confirmation from some warm bodies from the First Scout Ranger Regiment of the Philippine Army that they would come to my book launch scheduled for the 11th. Well, some of them actually did. They got in two hours after the launch. They got delayed, they said, because they had to wait out the outcome of troop engagement in Jolo that day.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/20 January) --  Quite a few figured in my deep, dark past. I don't know too many hard driving men these days though. Truth is, I haven't known one in a long, long time.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / January 19) -- "Ma'am, is there really an increase in the incidence of youth suicide or is it just a perception I'm getting?"

We were about to start class on gender roles in marriage, but Ferdie wanted to clear up some confusion over something he has been seeing with increasing frequency in the papers.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/11 Jan) -- Nope, this is not strictly a reaction to MLQ3's blog. And especially not to his entry posted on November 16 last year. Jeez, I only saw that earlier last night in between meetings when I had the time to clean up my cluttered email. Someone had thoughtfully sent me the link so many weeks ago.