By Herman M. Lagon Some of the boldest truths in history came from the quietest voices. Buried under Babylonian soil, the Cyrus Cylinder declared that people deserved freedom to worship and to live without chains. Centuries later, the Mande Charter in Mali proclaimed that life is sacred, women matter in governance, and children deserve education. …
Impulses
The city when no one else is looking
By Herman M. Lagon There are evenings when a city introduces itself without fanfare — no tourist pitch, no Instagram glow, no curated charm. Last Friday, after Day 1 of our micro-credentials workshop in Bacolod, I walked out of Northwest Inn and let my feet take the lead. It has become a small ritual I …
Beyond gender lines
By Herman M. Lagon The workplace is often just a mirror of society — and the biases outside seep right in. Gender expectations still influence who gets the big tasks, whose opinions matter and whose efforts fade into the background. Gender neutrality gives us a way to change that. It is not denying inequality but …
The unwritten code
By Herman M . Lagon We live in a world quietly guided by invisible rules — those unspoken cues we’re never formally taught, yet somehow instinctively follow. They don’t show up in manuals or school syllabi, but they shape our days just the same. These quiet norms make life a little less awkward, a …
Social IQ: The real game changer
By Herman M. Lagon Years of embarrassing meetings let me realize that intelligence is insufficient for success. Being an introvert, social events drain me; occasionally, even small talks feel demanding. But life does not allow isolation, particularly in cases of leadership that call for cooperation and connection. Assuming administrative and cooperative roles in academia and …
We told them thusly
By Herman M. Lagon The mood always shifts when someone cracks a hard truth with a grin. These days, one line has become shorthand in classrooms, sari-sari stores, FB posts, and jeepney queues: “We told them thusly.” Borrowed from “TBBT” Sheldon Cooper’s smug wit, it is less a taunt than a coping tool. Teachers mutter …
When patience runs thin
By Herman M. Lagon We all have them — those little things that poke at our patience until it wears dangerously thin. Maybe it’s the tita who cuts the line at the grocery. Or the beachgoer who treats the sand like their trash bin. To some, these may seem petty. But for those who value …
Habits that hold the line
By Herman M. Lagon Productivity gets tossed around a lot — sometimes as a buzzword, sometimes as a pressure point. But at its core, as personal development blogger Celestine Chua (2022) and many like her remind us, it is not about doing more — it is about doing what matters. That hits harder when you …
The price of amathia
By Herman M. Lagon A quiet tension hangs over a community when policy meets the dinner table — where parents try to stretch a grocery list the way a rubber band threatens to snap. So when officials suggested last November that P500 could fund Noche Buena for a family of four, the silence felt sharper …
The lessons Queena left us
By Herman M. Lagon There are teachers who fill a schedule, and there are teachers who fill a life. Atenean Professor Queena Lee-Chua was the latter. News of her passing did not arrive like an announcement — it arrived like a pause. Former students sat quietly at their desks, scrolling through old lecture photos. Parents …