MURMURINGSbyACS

Don't mess with the turkey.  And I say it with conviction.  If you're fascinated with eating a beautiful turkey and wants to roast one, do not even try unless you have an heirloom family recipe, researched on it or gotten some expert who will do it for you. It is expensive.  Everybody knows, chicken tastes better.  The secret is in the pre-roasting stage: stuffing, soaking, basting, choice of spices or herbs --- either the classic or the novel way will do, meaning you can always refer to the all-American tradition.  But then again, which part? Michigan?  Or is there a Filipino way? I am about to try this Christmas my way, without any reference to tradition.  But in keeping up with the turkey fascination - and to be on the safe side, we will employ the classic apple-and-orange stuffing, rough it up with the ever-dependble rosemary leaves, and smooth it with what else but honey and extra virgin olive oil. It will be an awesome and fabulous kitchen ...

Stories on indigenous peoples (IPs), who comprise 10 to 15 percent of the Philippine population, have always been about their being a marginalized sector or beneficiaries of development programs. More than that, IPs should be portrayed by media as “partners in development,” according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). “We have to graduate from these kinds of stories and start looking for better angles and treatments that put them in a good light,” Lawrence Jeff Johnson, director of the ILO country office in the Philippines, said. “We need to see stories that show them as partners in economic growth.” He said that journalists have an important role in reaching out to IPs to be able to write positive stories about them other than their being the most disadvantaged sector. Johnson challenged writers to move from stories that “shock and awe, and to focus on what is going right rather than what is going wrong”.