By Herman M. Lagon A student once told me, half-laughing and half-serious, that prom now feels like “Met Gala meets anime convention meets class reunion with soft launch potential.” That was a joke, but only partly. Anyone who has seen recent prom photos online knows what she meant. There are entrances staged like celebrity arrivals, …
Impulses
Will Willie draw the line?
By Herman M. Lagon Sometimes the best way to notice change in a society is to watch how people react to a joke. Not the joke itself, but the pause that follows. Laughter comes quickly in television studios, yet viewers at home often feel something more complicated. That seemed to be the case when a …
A UN seat worth taking
By Herman M. Lagon Fans of the “John Wick” films will remember a recurring phrase: “a seat at the table.” In that fictional underworld, the High Table is where power sits. Those who have a seat help shape the rules. Those who do not are forced to live with them. It is a dramatic way …
Mindsets, not miniskirts
By Herman M. Lagon Some debates fade away with time. Others keep coming back, like a stain that refuses to leave a white shirt. The debate about how women dress belongs to the latter. Every few years it returns — after a celebrity remark, a viral post or a lecture that sounds more like a …
The war that reaches our pockets
By Herman M. Lagon You do not need to live in Tehran, Tel Aviv, Caracas, or Washington to feel a war. Sometimes it reaches you while you are standing at a gasoline station in Jaro, watching the numbers jump faster than your patience. Sometimes it arrives in the market, where a vendor apologizes for the …
Bastos by any name
By Herman M. Lagon March had barely begun, purple ribbons had barely been pinned, and the country had barely warmed up to Women’s Month when Congress handed us one of those scenes that make you put down your coffee and stare at the screen in secondhand shame. Forgive this piece, too, if it runs a …
Idioms with impact
By Herman M. Lagon Language may shape thought, but the way we joke, hint or sidestep often says more. In our classrooms, where teachers balance modules and quiet pushback, idioms are not just flair — they are lifelines. Whether softening a correction or nudging a colleague to speak up, these phrases are less textbook and …
Reduplicatives in real life
By Herman M. Lagon They slip into our speech like old jokes or fresh tsismis. You hear them everywhere — kids on swings, sari-sari store chika, even in a politician’s punchline. These word pairs like wishy-washy, flip-flop or hocus-pocus turn stiff talk into everyday kwentuhan. For Pinoys, they are more than playful sounds — they …
The audit of learning
By Herman M. Lagon The first time you hear “P1.015 trillion,” your brain does what brains do when numbers get too big: it turns the figure into a mood. It sounds like rescue. It sounds like a national apology with commas. It sounds like a future finally being taken seriously. Yet my most honest “budget …
Bring justice home
By Herman M. Lagon Justice does not travel well when it is wrapped only in slogans. This reflection feels especially apt as we mark the 40th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution on February 25. Four decades ago, Filipinos filled a highway not merely to chant, but to insist that institutions must answer to …