Largabista

Largabista http://graceroxas.multiply.com/ Is a health journalist and public relations practitioner working out of Batangas and Makati City, Philippines. She is a regular correspondent for Medical Observer, a trade magazine for Filipino medical professionals, and a public relations consultant with global companies in information technology and executive education. Look up her monthly feature articles and health news updates at: www.medobserver.com. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:06:05 -0000 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:02:51 -0000 Largabista http://images.graceroxas.multiply.com/logo http://graceroxas.multiply.com 100 100 Much Ado about Coming Orgasm frustration won't kill or maim anyone. But then in life as in sex, aching for the ultimate is always an interesting proposition. Story by Grace Roxas. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/28/Much_Ado_about_Coming Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:02:51 -0000 Snow Falling on Cedars Herman Melville is as much a presence in this book as Harper Lee is, although the overarching theme of racial divide in a courtroom drama invites easy comparison to "To Kill A Mockingbird." I am willing to bet my next strawberry shake or salmon sushi on the idea that the Author had Moby Dick firmly in mind in sewing up some important threads for this solid yarn. The character of Ishmael Chambers is only part that of the original Ishmael in the literary precedecessor. More crucial for the novel's levering of tensions was his incarnation of Captain Ahab's volcanic presence and even physical flaw (they are both missing a limb). This missing limb not only became a stoke for both characters' animating anger. In Ishmael (Chambers)'s case, its manifestation as a phantom limb became a strong metaphor for his ill-starred love affair. The pain endures long after the the physical thing has ceased to exist. The tyranny of a sea-faring life is also a crucial thread in the n... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/reviews/item/6 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:57:02 -0000 Death, detritus and Angat Anthropomorphic tree stumps, broken bottles on dead grass, tidemarks. Man's eros-thanatos engagement with nature is written all over this tiny tongue of land in the otherwise beautifully preserved Angat watershed. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/album/18/Death_detritus_and_Angat_ Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:02:29 -0000 Overstaying Babies What happens when a baby stays in the womb a little longer than necessary? Grace Roxas has some answers. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/27/Overstaying_Babies Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:12:15 -0000 Contraceptives Back in Manila Manila Once Again an "Open City" to Family Planning After 9-Year Ban Press release from reproductive rights group Likhaan After nine years of contraception ban in Manila, poor women and their families who feel its devastating impact can finally heave a sigh of relief.  Full family planning services are just around the corner.  On July 11, 2008, from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Tondo Sports Complex, Manila, the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN), in partnership with the Manila City Health Department, will hold a Family Planning (FP) Fair where clients can choose the FP method they want. This event coincides with this year’s World Population Day theme, “Family Planning is a Right:  Let’s Make It Real.”  “We see this event as a concrete step in lifting the misery in the City of Manila,” said Dr. Junice Melgar, executive director of Likhaan, chair of RHAN’s Legislative and Policy Committee and the lead organizer of the Fair.  Dr. Melgar was alluding to Imp... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/journal/item/52/Contraceptives_Back_in_Manila Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:29:49 -0000 Designer Vaginas Pinays are caring more about how it looks and feels down inside the bikini line --- and their OB-gynes are catching on. Story by Grace Roxas http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/26/Designer_Vaginas Sun, 6 Jul 2008 11:50:43 -0000 A Superstition to Live By Excerpt from "A Burnt Out Case," a 1961 novel by Graham Greene, one of the most scintillating literary minds of the 20th century, in my humble opinion. An interesting take on evolution and love. <img class="alignright" src="http://images.graceroxas.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SHCpkAoKCBoAAClwtWE1/a%20burned%20out%20case.gif?et=JgfiNLugzhAqfcAhMskKrg&nmid=0" border="0"> (Conversation between Querry, the protagonist, and Doctor Colin) "I want to be on the side of change," the doctor said. "If I had been born an amoeba who could think, I would have dreamed of the day of the primates. I would have wanted anything I did to contribute to that day. Evolution, as far as we can tell, has lodged itself finally in the brains of man. The ant, the fish, even the ape has gone as far as it can go, but in our brain evolution is moving --- my God--- at what a speed! ..... "Is change so good?" "We can't avoid it.....Suppose love were to evolve as rapidly in our brains as technical skill has done. In isolated cases it may have done, in the saints...if the man really existed, in Christ." "You can really comfort yourself with all that?" Querry asked. "It sounds like the old song... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/journal/item/51/A_Superstition_to_Live_By_ Sun, 6 Jul 2008 11:32:39 -0000 Breast Freedom Sen. Pia Cayetano wants breast feeding to be more convenient for Pinays who also have to take home the bacon. Interview and story by Grace Roxas. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/25/Breast_Freedom Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:08:25 -0000 A Dash of Pinoy Pep(tides) Thanks to an acclaimed Filipino chemist, the country is now in the map (and lingo) of cutting-edge neuroscience.    <a href="http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SF5A8woKCBoAAB8xvyg1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.graceroxas.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SF5A8woKCBoAAB8xvyg1/NGC%20Kerry%20Matz.jpg?et=02OAKeKZ78KLqaZ3g51pUg&nmid=0" border="0"></a>Somewhere in the erudite pages of modern neuro-scientific literature, there are two peptides or small proteins that have the personality of our very own Juan Tamad. If the peptide IDs “conantukin” and “contulakin” seem suspiciously derived from two, not very flattering Tagalog adjectives, that’s because they are.      Credit goes to the impish humour of 2007 Harvard Foundation Research Scientist of the Year Dr. Baldomero “Toto” Olivera, the first Filipino to win that august distinction and who --- as the discoverer of these peptides --- obtained the right to name them as he sees apt.      Their epithets (which refers to sleepiness and and sluggishness) belie these peptides’ powerful potentials. Conantukin or the sleepy peptide and contulakin, the sluggish peptide, are now undergoing phase 1 clinical trials as promising dr... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/journal/item/50/A_Dash_of_Pinoy_Peptides Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:10:05 -0000 Off Patrol Photogs doing something else on a Saturday. Landscape /architecture photographer Tim Long talks about his work at the former Army and Navy Club, Manila. Guys from Rangefinder Filipinas provide impromptu live entertainment to the brethren at Fotofabrik, Quezon City. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/album/16/Off_Patrol Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:42:09 -0000 Homemade bread http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/album/13/Homemade_bread Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:50:16 -0000 Four Aces They are not just among the leading healers in their field. They also shape the minds of young practitioners in unique ways. Interviews and stories by Grace http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/24/Four_Aces Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:28:39 -0000 Bolinao shellpickers Three generations of picking up from where the tide left off. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/album/12/Bolinao_shellpickers Sun, 8 Jun 2008 13:03:11 -0000 Nobel Prize Demystified 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry Aaron Ciechanover talks about hailing from a small country and winning a plum of humanity. Story and interview by Grace http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/23/Nobel_Prize_Demystified Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:35:38 -0000 Out of Control <a href="http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SD-QYQoKCBoAABJaa1k1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.graceroxas.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SD-QYQoKCBoAABJaa1k1/crying%20baby%20and%20sister.jpg?et=eIw5H%2BEJ9iRYE36vyTeU4Q&nmid=0" border="0"></a>With pro-lifer Lito Atienza out of Manila, reproductive rights advocates have piled up a seven-year grievance list in the new mayor’s doorstep.    32-year old Lourdes Osil, mother of seven and resident of San Andres, Manila, could have been one of the mothers feted by Manila ex-mayor Lito Atienza with monetary reward and other gifts for raising a large family in the years when an anti-contraception policy held sway over the city.   But a picture of female reproductive pride she was not as she recounted a six-act drama of her futile attempts to access family planning resources since 1997 when she had her second child and the city began putting the pinch on artificial family planning services and supplies.       Cut off from her free supply of contraceptive shots from the city, she had her third child in 1998 despite warnings by a doctor of the risk associated with her hypertension.  By 2000, resorting to herbal remedies and the ... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/journal/item/49/Out_of_Control Fri, 30 May 2008 10:03:21 -0000 Taking Things To Heart As Secretary for Social Welfare and Development, cardiologist Esperanza Cabral has her heart in the right place. Interview and story by Grace http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/22/Taking_Things_To_Heart Tue, 27 May 2008 13:54:16 -0000 Lowlifes in Low Light Do love birds dream and lizards scheme? A high-contrast, low-key look at our furry, feathered and scaly friends while on display by their human pets. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/album/11/Lowlifes_in_Low_Light Sun, 18 May 2008 12:15:07 -0000 The Poisonwood Bible To Africa's graven pagan face was the holy book remade and it was sacrilegiously, spectacularly successful. The book is as primevally (prime evilly in Rachel's broken-down vocabulary) lyrical and robust as most people's instinctive idea of the dark continent. Yet it holds within it the strong moral temper of an Hawthornian novel, as one reviewer puts it, especially spoken through the character of Leah, the author's mouthpiece for certain political sympathies that would have sunk this novel like a rock if she was allowed any more space than the fourth or a fifth of a book that she was given. Her twin sister Adah, the former idiot savant and droll philosopher of the brood, was closer to the real spirit of the novel and perhaps, to the author's own deepest inclinations. She has by far, the most memorable opening salvo in the novel, to my mind, to wit: "Sunrise tantalize, evil eyes hypnotize: that is the morning, Congo pink. Any morning, every morning." That is one of the m... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/reviews/item/5 Sun, 11 May 2008 17:10:21 -0000 My Antonia Antonia comes off not so much a woman as a force of nature. At least that's how I can finally comprehend how a mere human being --- no matter how forceful of presence --- can have a story built around her life with only a series of trivial even sordid situations to show for it. The running subtext here is that we are looking at a life that is, well, larger than life. Her biographer, Jim, who go a long way back with her, vacillated between infatuation and reverence. His bias shaped those of the readers and kept us turning pages in our attempt to find a peg for what made Antonia click. The closest I ever came was a sense of her as both earthy and sublime. If only this translated to a character that we can all understand with our guts instead of a goddess whose motivations is clear only to herself and maybe not even. That is if she can be thought to have any premeditation at all, instead of being such a creature of the moment. There's something of an animal about Antonia whi... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/reviews/item/4 Sun, 4 May 2008 12:36:43 -0000 Congress ratifies cheaper medicines bill - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos Finally, after much huffing and puffing. <a href="http://www.medobserver.com/janfeb2008/onthecover.html">http://www.medobserver.com/janfeb2008/onthecover.html</a> Crossing our fingers that unlike the 1998 Milk Code, a landmark legislation turned lemon, this law will have enough institutional spine not to have people calling for its repeal soon after. Worth watching is how the BFAD (Bureau of Food and Drugs) will bone up. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/20/Congress_ratifies_cheaper_medicines_bill_-_INQUIRER.net_Philippine_News_for_Filipinos Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:59:03 -0000 Hidden Scourge Fear and shame disproportionate to the pain. Grace Roxas tells the stories of five Filipinos battling hepatitis from A to C. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/19/Hidden_Scourge Sat, 26 Apr 2008 08:31:39 -0000 "You cannot live on love" <a href="http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SAsU9woKCBoAABQZdxY1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.graceroxas.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SAsU9woKCBoAABQZdxY1/Aaron%20Ciechanover%20in%20UST2.jpg?et=2VZdVY080e3oPwhI3HDyfg&nmid=" border="0"></a>Conversation with 2004 Nobel Prize winner Aaron Ciechanover, a scientist born and raised in a small country (Israel) and proud of it. Grace: How was your experience as a scientist working in a small country, in terms of the infrastructure available? I'm asking this in the context of our situation(Philippines) where our brains have to go abroad to be able to do important work.  Prof. Ciechanover: I can tell you my story -- why I decided to go back (from the US) -- but it won't help you because I was backed up by a system that was receptive to me. I wouldn't have gone back if my institute didn't have start-up funds for me, laboratory and infrastructure, exactly the same word you used. I got a package deal that made it attractive for me to go back. The love for my country was not sufficient. You cannot live on love,(laughter) especially love of country which is very vague. You need to have conditions to work...and it is the government who has to s... http://graceroxas.multiply.com/journal/item/48/You_cannot_live_on_love Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:48:53 -0000 Horns and hormones My favorite one-, eight-, and eleven-year olds. The horns on him are not incidental. A regular little Tasmanian devil. The somber attitudes on them have a bit of camera fatigue (they've done this once too often) and pre-adolescent angst kicking in. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/photos/album/10/Horns_and_hormones Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:14:19 -0000 Suffer the Little Children All children should be spared from suffering, but when they aren't, what you see could break your heart. Five stories by Grace http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/18/Suffer_the_Little_Children Sun, 6 Apr 2008 00:59:17 -0000 Action On Rudy Rudy Fernandez's battle with periampullary cancer may be his biggest action role yet, reports Grace Roxas. http://graceroxas.multiply.com/links/item/15/Action_On_Rudy Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:41:37 -0000 Ugnayan sa Kalikasan Nature awakening in Mt. Banahaw... Contemplate and learn to quiet your mind. Have fun relating to kindred spirits. Strengthen your core values and self-worth. Tap your potential for natural leadership. Learn how to manifest your life purpose. Challenge yourself to overcome fears. Or just take time off to commune with nature. Contact: Riza Regis - 809 2892 / 0917 http://graceroxas.multiply.com/calendar/item/10001/Ugnayan_sa_Kalikasan Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:46:14 -0000