tweethearts

The Philippines is so connected now, it's easy to forget the time when most people didn't have cellphones or email accounts. I myself got my first email account at the National Computer Center near the UP Sundial only in college: the software didn't produce any graphics, messages had a white angular font on a black background.

Back then, it was exotic news when a Collegian editor found a girlfriend or husband on-line. The romantic narrative, I thought, went something like this: two people meet face-to-face, they decide to have a long-distance relationship, they email each other and live happily ever after. Technology, however, has turned this narrative on its head: see this story of a marriage proposal on Twitter.

What's my Twitter love story?

Not much, LOL. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading the tweets of randomly chosen people. It's amazing how you can find out a lot about people from messages of 140 characters or less: the food they like, their interests, whether they're serious or witty. As news of the credit crunch spread like a wave each day, I slowly felt drawn to someone who lived in the other city by the bay. One tweet at a time, I remembered my friends and loved ones in the US and around the world: it's my hope that you will survive and rise above the challenges of these times. The end.

Here's a picture I took of street signs in San Francisco with the names of Filipino heroes Lapu-Lapu and Rizal.

Subscribe Free
Add to my Page

Thanks to Tony Bennett and Lee-Hom Wang for "If I Ruled the World," a song that expresses a vision of simplicity and joy that, I believe, is shared by many Filipinos.