Sabong: Blood Sport, Betting Culture, and the Limits of My Frame of Reference
The word cockpit entered the English language from the world of cockfighting and migrated, over several centuries, through naval use
ReadSabong: An Afternoon at the Cockpit
The cockpit arena is where the English language acquired the word cockpit, which is something worth knowing before you arrive,
ReadMakati: The Geometry of Inequality
In one of the spa pools in Manila, a wealthy Filipino man offered me his account of Philippine society. He
ReadMakati: The Island of Wealth in a Sea of Poor
In one of the spa pools in Manila, a wealthy Filipino man offered me his theory of Philippine society. He
ReadManila Nights: Ermita, the Boy with the Cigarettes, and What the City Shows You
A boy of about seven was selling cigarettes outside a bar in the Ermita district of Manila at one in
ReadManila Nights
A boy of about seven was selling cigarettes outside a bar in the Ermita district of Manila at one in
ReadDispatches from the Middle Kingdom
China presents itself to the visitor in the form of scale. Not scale in the sense of impressive buildings or
ReadStill Alive in Beijing
A note from China, brief because the internet connection here functions at the pace of mild geological activity and because
ReadJapan and Hong Kong: A First Reckoning
Three weeks into the trip and I am sitting in Manila with a fan pointed at my face, trying to
ReadJapan and Hong Kong: What the Photographs Don’t Show
Three weeks in Japan and Hong Kong, and I’m now sitting in the Philippines with the humidity at something that
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