Published almost a decade ago, this piece still encapsulates what living in LB is like, less the political wars. Listen to this episode with an LB native and a prospective memoirist and see LB through his eyes. | Linus Van Plata is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities, University of the Philippines Los Baños. He is currently a PhD student in creative writing at the University of the Philippines Diliman. An aspiring author of fiction and creative nonfiction, he has also dabbled in hosting, broadcasting, and acting.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

With us on our Sept. 1st special is Christopher Martillana Nocos. Christopher has been the The Commission Head of Commission on Youth since 2019. Commission on Youth is a church based Organization that handles 21 Barangay Youth Organizations and a Campus Youth Ministry. Their Goal is to empower the Youth Sector, by providing a leadership training which aims to develop and enhance the youth in their Municipality.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

Yesterday, July 31, we launched our event this year: The 2021 Writers' Conference "It's Gotta be Youth". This episode touches on that and also features our event partner, OSYAF and We Make Change Philippines' Founder and President, Mark Jacinto. | Mark Jacinto is currently the Curator of the Online SDG Youth Action Forum. He is also currently studying Masters of Public Administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and is also involved with We Make Change Philippines, P4SSitON, and other organizations. Mark believes in making a mark, together.  Online SDG Youth Action Forum is an online community that aims to solidify commitment and simplify discussions on the SDGs. The community builds capacities, shares skills, bridges opportunities, links collaborations, and forms alliances towards a more sustainable and strengthened self, community, organization, and cause. OSYAF is behind Online Filipino Youth Action Summit, #CampfireChat, #YouthRisePH, and other workshops and opportunities for self, community, organization towards contributing to the SDGs. We Make Change Philippines, on the other hand, is a chapter of We Make Change, a global social enterprise that connects social enterprises and NGOs to passionate and enthusiastic volunteers towards doing positive social change in the community.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

Featured in this episode is Mark Jacinto, who is currently the Curator of the Online SDG Youth Action Forum. He is also currently studying Masters of Public Administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and is also involved with We Make Change Philippines, P4SSitON, and other organizations. Mark believes in making a mark, together. | Online SDG Youth Action Forum is an online community that aims to solidify commitment and simplify discussions on the SDGs. The community builds capacities, shares skills, bridges opportunities, links collaborations, and forms alliances towards a more sustainable and strengthened self, community, organization, and cause. OSYAF is behind Online Filipino Youth Action Summit, #CampfireChat, #YouthRisePH, and other workshops and opportunities for self, community, organization towards contributing to the SDGs. We Make Change Philippines, on the other hand, is a chapter of We Make Change, a global social enterprise that connects social enterprises and NGOs to passionate and enthusiastic volunteers towards doing positive social change in the community.

Whenever people think of architecture, they usually think about buildings, skyscrapers and other infrastructures and almost never about growing up. This week's featured writer narrates why we need to think about our people--especially our youth--when designing our homes, our villages and our cities since they greatly affect our children's growth more than we think. | Louise has a master’s in international urban planning and sustainable development from the University of Westminster. She has a flair for design and gets inspiration from travelling and learning about different places. She aspires to be a licensed Urban Planning, specializing in Urban Design. 

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

"I come from a place where it feels that no one cares about the beauty of the stories that serve as the pillars of our literature and windows into our way of life. The works of foreign writers are more patronized than our own. Watching shows from other countries has become a more enjoyable pursuit for many than reading the literary works of our writers. It has been tough for our own literature to thrive even on social media; around me, I miss in the youth of my generation the appreciation and love for our homegrown books and stories. I want to hear from them the same stories I grew up with." - Christian Dave Loren | Christian Dave C. Loren, 23, is a secondary education teacher at a public high school in Borongan City, Eastern Samar. Education, as he sees it, amplifies the magnitude of influence of Filipino literature towards defining our country, and that celebrating and enriching it should happen in every generation every single day. As a teacher of literature, he values reading the stories of our literary gems as a way of resonating that the story of each of us matters.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

"We shouldn’t be smelling the pungent smell of crowded wards or tightly packed hallways. Everyone should have the chance to smell the crisp air-conditioned air, vanilla-scented air purifiers, and perfectly sanitized environment of properly run hospitals. People should not go through sweaty skin-to-skin battles in dimly lit, poorly ventilated hospital lobbies just to beg for some medicine.

What comes after the faulty service of hospitals? The dead and the debts. The pile of corpses in the morgue, the pile of paperwork for those who cannot even write their names, the pile of receipts and medications, the stacks of coins from a savings jar, and the brimming bag of emotions of loved ones cheated by society." - Leyoneil | Leyoneil Latina, 22, is an alumnus of the BA Communication Arts program of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. He is currently a Junior Project Manager in a marketing agency where he tells stories for brands.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

Did you know that a blackbox is a simple performance space, that varies in size, in theater? This week's featured writer used it in her masterpiece of an essay about womanhood in a pretty unexpected way. Listen to find out how. | About the guest: Angela Maree Encomienda, 20, is a women's rights advocate. She is a sociology and development management student at the Ateneo de Manila University. She is the founding chairperson of The Initiative PH, a youth-led development organization, and founding president of Kalipunang Sosyolohiya at Antropolohiya, her home organization.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

Fellow Filipinos, check your calendars! As of July 2021, we still have four million unregistered voters. Will we wait for democracy to be taken away from us before we start to realize the importance of voting right? It is all about collective effort. “What can my one vote do?” The problem does not lie in the candidates. The problem is with the voters. We get the leaders we deserve, so we must be vigilant. Remember, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Jaiza, our featured writer in this episode writes more about that in her essay "A voter's dream." | Jaiza's WHY statement is 'to enable ideas to action so that we all live a mission-filled life.' She is an active member of the Singles for Christ, a Patriot, Kdrama addict, Earth warrior, and dignity defender. Her top three life heroes are Jonathan Yabut, Simon Sinek, and Brene Brown.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.

What's your biggest worry this 2021? Among others, we're pretty sure that it's catching COVID19. This week, our guest talks about his experience as an asymptomatic COVID19 Patient and Survivor through his essay, "Contracting COVID19." | Ian Salvaña currently teaches politics at Ateneo de Davao University and does research for Collective Plus Consultancy and Youth Peace Mission in the Philippines. He has an MA in Political Science, with concentrations in comparative politics and political theory, at Central European University in Budapest and Vienna. He is currently based in his hometown, Cateel, Davao Oriental.

About our partner, the University of the Philippines' Consulting Group (UPCG): Now in its second year, The Business Building Bootcamp (BBC) of the UP Consulting Group aims to educate small business owners on ways to take their business to the next level. This year's BBB will be held on March 5 and 6, 2022 (Saturday and Sunday) and will cover the following topics: business planning, digital marketing, and brand positioning, finance and accounting, legal matters, and corporate social responsibility. Each segment will consist of a 30-minute talk by prestigious industry experts, followed by an open forum, and a workshop.