“The words are not good for the secret meaning, everything always becomes a bit different, as soon as it is put into words, gets distorted a bit, a bit silly—yes, and this is also very good, and I like it a lot, I also very much agree with this, that this what is one man’s treasure and wisdom always sounds like foolishness to another person.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Do you Need a WRITER / EDITOR / GHOSTWRITER / CONTENT PROVIDER or WRITING COACH? Are you itching to write but you don’t know how to begin? Do you have 1001 things in your head which you want to share to the world, but don’t know how to go about it, to organize it into… Continue reading Writer / Editor for Hire
Sitti Rahma, my mother My mother was born in Malita, Davao del Sur in 1918 to Sheikh Ismail Yahya, a Mranao Arab and Bai Rosa, a Buayanen / Maguindanaon princess and coconut plantation heiress. And as my mother used to say, she was “born with a silver spoon in her mouth.” By the age of… Continue reading Hadja Sitti Rahma Yahya Abbas
What happened on Sept 21, 1972? Nothing of much importance. Just like any other day in the Philippines. I was in high school then. On that day, I went to school, as usual. What happened on Sept 22, 1972? Nothing of much importance. Just like any other day in the Philippines.… Continue reading Sept 23, 1972: Martial Law, my brother and Me
It's graduation time in the Philippines and my FB newsfeeds are full of photos of young people in their graduation regalia. They remind me of my own graduation more than a dozen years ago (MA in Media Studies) . So, I’m putting up my photo, too with the UP Newsletter’s full-page feature on me! From… Continue reading Studying Communication & Media Studies
April 4 is the birthday of my late mother, Hadja Sitti Rahma Yahya - Abbas. Sometime ago, one of the news talk shows of ANC (ABSCBN News Channel) featured young Moros and labeled them as “Modern Muslims.” For some people, modern means young. Yet the young could be very old-fashioned, dogmatic and narrow-minded. There are… Continue reading My Mother and The First “Modern” Moro Women
Here's an article I wrote more than a decade ago about our great-grandfather Sheikh Yahya ibn Hadi and his descendants in Mindanao and Brunei: "I now know that wars do not end wars," said Henry Ford. For the Moros, wars are simply followed by more wars. Wars usually correspond to turning points in our lives.… Continue reading Sheikh Yahya ibn Hadi and his descendants
Postprandial Musings, 2.0 