What to Read this Summer: Filipiniana YA Novels

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What to Read this Summer: YA Novels Centering on POC Characters

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What to Read this Summer: Nonfiction to Aid You in Learning How to Write Better Essays

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Pinoy Travel Log: Balanga, Bataan

Crown Point Hotel in Balanga City is located on Capitol St., where Starbucks is only a three-minute walk from the hotel, and Dunkin’ Donuts is just across the street. The road is lined with decades-old narra trees. And because it was the last week of April when we were there, we saw them shed their blossoms onto the heated pavement of summer. Behind the hotel are shops, stores, and restaurants that serve and sell local food. Nearby is the public market. It is the cleanest public market I have seen in a while. So, on our last day there, we did what any well-meaning tourist would do—mamalengke!

Jars of uraro, taro chips, tinapa, and a tub of Geno’s ice cream filled my pasalubong bag. I was away for almost a week, and the loaded pasalubong bag showed how much I missed home, family, and my school community. I enjoyed the company of friends in PASLI, and I learned something new from the conference, but wherever I go, thoughts of loved ones and friends in Biñan remain close to me.

As for Bataan, it was my first time in Balanga. Needless to say, it made an impression, not only because of the food, but also because of the city’s tourism program for visitors and guests. It seems to offer more than the facts we read in history books; there are stories, folktales, and urban lore waiting to be unearthed and explored.

#PASLICon2026 #BalangaCityBataan

Bangtan Herman Notes: Growing Up with Bangtan Sonyeondan

 

Sneak Peek: Character Studies for New Children's Book

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Cdrama Review: Menstruation and Feminine Coded Origin in Pursuit of Jade

One of the more memorable lines in Pursuit of Jade is spoken publicly by Xie Zheng during the confrontation between Changyu and Song Yan’s mother.

“Menstruation is the foundation of humanity and motherhood. Why can’t it be spoken of?”

I actually paused after reading the subtitle/hearing it. I pressed the replay button and crashed out.

Xie Zheng’s words emerges in the middle of public humiliation, gossip and moral judgment. Song Yan’s mother attempts to shame Changyu before the entire neighborhood, weaponizing influence, gendered expectations and social hierarchy against her. And yet Xie Zheng interrupts that humiliation not only by exposing the debt owed to the Fan family, but by reframing feminine embodiment itself.

Menstruation is often treated with shame or silence instead of honoring it as a source of life. Most importantly, in the drama, this is spoken in a public setting where neighbors bear witness.

That setting matters deeply to me.

The scene is not private comfort whispered behind closed doors. It unfolds before neighbors, gossipers, sympathizers and onlookers. Lin’an witnesses the exchange collectively meaning dignity, morality and legitimacy are being negotiated communally.

As a folklorist, I find this fascinating because village communities often function as moral audiences. People gather not only to observe conflict, but to interpret it, redistribute shame and affirm communal values. In this moment, Xie Zheng shifts the communal narrative itself. He refuses to allow womanhood to be framed through impurity or embarrassment. Instead, he roots it in origin, continuity and human existence.

He was not only defending Changyu or asserting justice. He was honoring the feminine coded origin of our collective narrative.

What this scene shows is compassion and moral clarity interrupting public cruelty in broad daylight. I bring this back in real life as a reminder to constantly discern and to appropriately speak against injustices in big and small ways.

#PursuitofJade #cdrama #ZhangLinghe #TianXiWei

Book Review: Alandal

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Bangtan Hermana Notes: ARMY Keeps the BTS Ecosystem Human

 

Cdrama Review: Intimacy as Care and Sanctuary in Pursuit of Jade

Mother's Day 2026

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Book Review: No Man Manila

 

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Step by Step with Teacher Zee: Close Reading: A Way of Thinking While Reading

Today, I taught my student (she is in 7th grade) the Close Reading Strategy. I am sharing my method because, sharing is caring.

1. Explicitly taught the strategy first
   I framed Close Reading as a tool for comprehension and vocabulary acquisition, which gives my student a clear purpose for learning it. This matters because students engage better when they understand why a strategy is useful.
2. Used oral recall immediately after instruction
   Asking her to repeat what she heard strengthened processing and retention. This checks listening comprehension and helps transfer information from passive hearing to active understanding.
3. Moved into written articulation
   Having her write her own understanding was a good practice because it:
   • reveals misconceptions,
   • shows depth of understanding,
   • strengthens metacognition,
   • and reinforces academic language.
4. Provided corrective feedback without replacing her thinking
   Pointing out what she got right first and then strengthening incomplete ideas is how scaffolding works. Instruction is direct and I see where my student apply revision as another learning strategy.
5. Used the visual after conceptual understanding began forming
   I showed my student the Close Reading visual (AI assisted). The graphic came after discussion and processing, so it functioned as reinforcement and organization, not passive decoration. The visual consolidated the learning.

My student and I were able to work together following this process:

Explain --> Recall --> Rephrase --> Clarify --> Visual Reinforcement

I was also able to incorporate, although indirectly, the following skills:

• retrieval practice,
• formative assessment,
• metacognitive reflection,
• vocabulary development,
• and multimodal learning.

For a Grade 7 student moving into Grade 8, this is the kind of literacy foundation that supports:

• science readings,
• social studies texts,
• IB/MYP criterion work,
• evidence-based responses,
• and later research tasks.

For me, teaching the Close Reading strategy is not answering questions but, it is a way of thinking while reading.

The Lighthouse Diary #86: Learning the Types of Sources with Our Grade 8s

 

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CDrama Review: Identity, Intimacy, and Balance in Pursuit of Jade (3 of 3)

What makes the rendition of identity, intimacy and balance even deeper is its extension to community. After some challenges and intrigue from neighbors, newfound friends and the law, Yan Zheng and Changyu celebrate the lunar new year by writing couplets. This is another episode where I found my folklorist role activated.

The couplet scene is where intimacy becomes public because married life is part of community. And in this particular scene, Yan Zheng teaches Ning, Changyu's little sister, how to read and showing her how to write. The Marquis is not only a military elite. He is also a scholar and a poet. When the neighbors read Yan Zheng's couplet, they asked him to write for them especially at the time when the lone scholar left Lin'an for the capital.

I’m already smitten at Yan Zheng at this point. Seeing him interact with the village elders, men and women who cannot write well or express their beliefs and dreams found a scribe who can help them articulate their desired grace. Changyu is the luckiest girl in the world. Yan Zheng, aka Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an was inscribing himself into her world.

As our one true pair assimilates in community, we see a temporary equilibrium built on asymmetrical truths: she holds social legitimacy. He holds hidden power. And the romantic and moral tension thickens. That’s why when Lin'an was plundered, violated and destroyed it was a necessary rupture. Episode 17 was difficult to watch. Seeing Lin'an fall was tragic because it challenges the intimacy, identity and balance in an enclosure that allowed these themes and elements to grow.

Next post: Act 2 - Revelation in Love and Alignment in War

CDrama Review: Identity, Intimacy, and Balance in Pursuit of Jade (2 of 3)

As the episodes roll along, we get to know that Yan Zheng is a person of power and authority. He has a falcon that brings him letters. He can read and write. His gait, attitude and mannerisms are indicative of nobility. And, he was quiet and observant all along. We also see the exposition of Changyu's character. Spunky. Outspoken. Strong in spirit. She loves Lin'an like her own family despite the gossip, the prejudice and the dangers of war looming closer to home.

From the beginning, it was love at first sight. However, and this is beautiful to note, neither of them knows or recognize it as love. There is affection and it is strong. It is the couple Zhao who names the affection because they see it in the everyday ordinary routines between Changyu and Yan Zheng. This tension is wonderful to behold.

In the scene where Yan Zheng and Changyu assert their couple-hood, they stand at the doorway proclaiming themselves as man and wife sealing it with a kiss on the cheek from him to her and her to him. And then, they stand tall looking at each other. The tenderness leaps out of the screen. Yan Zheng looks at Changyu with wonder and reverence. She looks back holding his gaze unafraid and in all sincerity. The snow is thick in Lin'an but it is warm in their home and in the depths of my heart. This is when I told myself that I will root for this pair until the end of the world.

This screenshot of a scene in Act 1 is for me a formidable depiction of both intimacy and balance. In this episode, they were asserting their arranged marriage. They have not said I love you and are still coy with each other but there are scenes that show closeness, affection and intimacy.

In this moment, Yan Zheng is still limping. He holds a staff. He is weak. And Changyu is his strength. What a foreshadowing. The Marquis who hides derives strength from the village girl.

And isn’t this balance, too? Not just equality of power, but reciprocity. Not sameness, but complementarity. Dependence, too, is a form of balance.

They stand at the doorway. A liminal space between inside and outside, private and public, while holding each other in shared understanding. He leans; she steadies. He conceals, she grounds.

This is how their love begins. Not in declaration, but in the gentle, everyday act of holding each other where the other is lacking.

CDrama Review: Identity, Intimacy, and Balance in Pursuit of Jad (1 of 3)

Pursuit of Jade (PoJ) is not perfect. The storytelling has loopholes and the editing could have been tighter, more cohesive. But it does have big wins. The cast is amazing. The cinematography is breathtaking. The camera work and lighting are impeccable. We know these things already. Lest we forget, the chemistry between ZLH and Tian Xiwei as the main leads is one of the most potent I have seen since Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin. Needless to say, PoJ is worth binging, worth a rewatch and recommendation because of so much more.

PoJ is based on a novel (which I have yet to read). I watched the drama and it is dense. So, I will chunk my review in three acts: 1. Life in Lin'an; 2. Revelation in Love and Alignment in War; and 3. Restoration of the Yin and Yang. All through the three acts, the themes that figure the most for me are: Identity, Intimacy and Balance.

My review will center on the rendition of these themes in key images, dialogues, scenes and settings in all three acts. If you're up for my brain farts, you can stay as I unpack them from Acts 1, 2 and 3. Are you ready? Here we go!

Xie Zheng's introduction to idyllic life in the village of Lin'an. As the Marquis of Wu’an investigating a war crime that happened 17 years ago, he fell injured from a battle, into a river, and was washed ashore near a ferry port where he was discovered in the snow by Changyu, the butcher's daughter. He was nearly dead and was taken care of by Changyu and her neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Zhao, who stood in as her parents. They did not know Yan Zheng is the Marquis. He became a live-in husband because Changyu’s uncle wanted the house her father left her. Without a man in the house, the uncle takes possession. With Yan Zheng recuperating, he was offered marriage by Changyu, and he said yes because he was there for an investigation. Besides, he needed to recuperate and recover.

But they fall in love while the audience or the viewers know Yan Zheng’s true identity. Imagine the tension! Delicious!

5th BTS Global Interdisciplinary Conference: From Role to Responsibility: Intergenerational Mutuality in the Glocal Infrastructure of BTS Fandom

My paper, “From Role to Responsibility: Intergenerational Mutuality in the Glocal Infrastructure of BTS Fandom,” has been accepted for oral presentation at the 5th BTS Global Interdisciplinary Conference in Jeonju, South Korea this July 2026.

This one is personal.

It comes from our lived experiences as ARMY mother and daughter walking the streets of Seoul during Festa 2025, carrying questions, holding hands, learning how love moves across generations and borders.

It asks what it means to grow together inside a fandom that is not just community, but infrastructure. Where participation and responsibility are the core of fandom culture.

Bangtan taught us that we do not stand alone. We arrive because someone held the door open. And so this paper is my way of saying: we see each other, we carry each other, we become better for each other. 

From role to responsibility. From fan to citizen. From here to there, and back again.

We are ARMY, always. 💜