as if language were a vessel with holes in the bottom and meaning was leaking all over the floor I sometimes look up words after I write them: does “illegible” still mean too messy to read The day after Donald Trump’s second Inauguration my verbal cognition kept glitching: I got an e-mail from the children’s-clothing company Hanna Andersson and read the name as “Hamas”; on the street I thought “hot yoga” was “hot dogs”; on the subway Even the words that I might use to more precisely describe the sensation of “losing it” elude me There are sometimes only images: foggy white drizzle pink foam insulation bursting between slats of splintered wood I should be writing this on the intake form at a neurologist’s office Maybe the fog never cleared after my third round of COVID Maybe it’s the self-severance of having two young children but pretending for half of the day that I don’t Maybe this is exactly what my mother warned me about twenty years ago when she discovered my passion for marijuana But I get the sense that quite a lot of people are feeling like this all the time now is a horror story that is likely to happen only “in a society that is busily producing horrors.” and to razor out anything that gives off a whiff of D.E.I ordered the government to stop investigating book bans and suggested shutting down FEMA; also day ten when he announced plans to move migrants to Guantánamo and claimed had sent fifty million dollars’ worth of condoms to Gaza But there have been ninety more such days and counting the events of each seeming inconceivable as they materialize in headlines and then are swiftly carried to the purgatorial cognitive landfill of things that have not been fully absorbed or processed or fought against but have been pressed into reality where they will remain as the fading backdrop of each day’s new The Administration is acting like a set of pharmaceutically addled children setting fires and slashing furniture; the members of the Democratic opposition have styled themselves as exasperated parents holding up signs that say “STARTING FIRES IS BAD.” the horrors of which seem impossible every morning and then become seamlessly nauseatingly incorporated into the irreversible past we have been looking at videos on our phones of infants left to die in hospitals bombed by Israel of parents crying over the bodies of their children of starving orphans covering their siblings with rags to keep them warm Our government continues to give Israel billions in military aid with which to carry out these atrocities According to a public count by an activist group out of the five hundred and thirty-five members of Congress only ninety have ever plainly called for this to stop There has been real resistance directed at forcing an end to this unbearable situation: people have marched At some point in my own tame letter writing it occurred to me that I didn’t expect a single word to meaningfully reach a human being My senator’s office finally sent me a form letter this past December telling me that Israel’s goal was to “minimize the loss of innocent Palestinian lives and maximize the amount of humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza.” (Immediately after October 7th Israeli authorities publicly called for a “complete siege” on the “human animals” in Gaza and fuel; Israel has repeatedly damaged infrastructure in Gaza and blocked humanitarian aid.) A chill sets in at some point or like throwing coins into a fountain when I was a child turned their faces to the sky to count and be counted by the N.Y.P.D.’s drones overhead or to put his image on a new two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bill The—how else do we put this—state-sponsored abductions: the disappearance to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana of a green-card-holding grad student for the non-crime of supporting a pro-Palestine encampment at Columbia; the same thing happening to a Turkish Fulbright scholar on a student visa—masked men accosting her on the street taking her phone away—for the non-crime of co-writing an op-ed The plans for the five-million-dollar “gold card” visa The arrest of a Milwaukee judge for allegedly helping an immigrant evade federal agents The million-dollars-a-plate campaign fund-raising dinners for a President who is not legally allowed to run again Many of these news items feel too horrific to be true although they are reported in media outlets that many Americans refuse to believe and appear in news feeds alongside a wide variety of things that are obviously false—or a picture began circulating on Reddit of a golden Mount Rushmore statue with Trump’s head tacked onto one side; it was purportedly on display at Mar-a-Lago I searched for the source and found that Kristi Noem had given Trump a small sculpture of his head on Mount Rushmore five years ago knowing whether this picture of a gold Mount Trumpmore at Mar-a-Lago faithfully captures a slice of reality did not really settle much about anything for me Noem popped up in my feed again: there was a video of her She was warning “illegal aliens” to leave America now or end up inside that cage which looks like a glitch; some people on the internet think it’s been faked But if it were fake what would that even mean A clip of former Governor Andrew Cuomo saying I am a woman seeking to control her health and her choices.” I see Temu ads for uncanny products—an inflatable waterslide of inhuman design pictured alongside digitally rendered children and toys and I get a security question asking me to “please click on the type of fruit that appears most frequently.” There are oranges and a pear and a lemon and a basketball and a baguette placed against a swirly backdrop And then I remember that this question is a purely digital one and that the answers are probably being used to train A.I below which are comments written by bots impersonating people and people who may as well be impersonating bots Many of these images look less artificial than the ones that they are simulating real images of fake people; fake stories about real things Fake words creeping like kudzu into scientific papers and dating profiles and e-mails and text messages and news outlets and social feeds and job listings and job applications Fake entities standing guard over chat boxes when we try to dispute a medical bill waiting sphinxlike for us to crack the code that allows us to talk to a human The words blur and the images blur and a permission structure is erected for us to detach from reality—first for a moment A recent system update made the chatbot so sycophantic that if a user told it he’d stopped taking his medications and abandoned his family because they were broadcasting suspicious radio signals ChatGPT would respond with fawning praise for the person’s journey of courageously pursuing his truth that the average person has only three friends but “has demand” for fifteen ChatGPT will reify the problems that it purports to solve and thus make itself essential: encouraging users to rely less and less on inner resources and personal capacity at a time when most of us are already losing the equipment—our will our sense of purchase—with which we handle the task of being alive I imagine the ludicrous lectures I’ll give them: “Darlings imperfect human nude.” If I were in tenth grade and bored out of my mind at midnight with an unfinished paper Will I be able to convince them that the only worthwhile parts of my mind are those which have resisted or eluded the incentives of the internet My kids are at an age when nothing excites them like the chance to do things unassisted They have just a few years before they learn that adulthood maximizing the distance between Studio Ghibli’s tender dehumanizing viciousness that is Trump’s stock-in-trade The image appeared on my feed in the midst of a bunch of bullshit A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered A limousine driver watches her passengers transform The day Muhammad Ali punched me What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.”  Retirement the Margaritaville way Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.”  Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. is a celebrated author and intellectual in the Portuguese-speaking world who reflects Pope Francis’ deep desire to foster dialogue with contemporary culture Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino on Monday said new documents presented at a Senate inquiry further exposed the alleged links between InfinitUs Marketing Solutions Inc (IMSI) and a troll farm reportedly funded by the Chinese Embassy Tolentino claimed that the denials made by IMSI co-founder Paul Li collapsed under the weight of additional records revealed during the hearing He highlighted a Chinese-language document detailing a “project publicity guidance” agreement with the embassy this matched the amount on a check dated Sept earlier shown to have been issued by the Chinese Embassy to IMSI Li had explained that the check was used to purchase COVID-related medical supplies for a June 2023 embassy event noting that the pandemic had largely subsided by then The senator also expressed disappointment over the absence of IMSI’s Filipino co-founder who could have clarified her signature’s presence in the controversial service contract The same document was also signed by Chinese Embassy media and public relations director Wu Chenqi Asked whether he would summon IMSI incorporator Christine Li Tolentino said he would not do so out of respect for her ongoing cancer treatment Tolentino maintained that IMSI’s troll operations are still active He cited a job notice reportedly photographed at IMSI’s Makati office seeking TikTok influencers The notice required applicants to have at least 200 followers Tolentino also presented travel records showing frequent trips to China by IMSI officials © All Rights Reserved. 2025 | Manila Standard | Developed by Neitiviti Studios Batangas— Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino on Saturday called on InfinitUs Marketing Solutions to face the Senate investigation instead of releasing statements through their lawyer “We’ll be having a hearing on May 5.  Everything will be under oath So kung ‘yong InfinitUs ay deny nang deny ngayon umattend kayo sa hearing,” Tolentino said in a press conference of Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas.  doon niyo sabihin ang gusto niyong sabihin Hindi po ‘yong press release nang press release ‘yong abodago nila Mas maganda po ‘yong ganon,” he added.  Tolentino claimed that InfinitUs was the public relations firm that was allegedly contracted by the Chinese Embassy in Manila to hire "trolls" to advance pro-China narratives in the Philippines in 2023.  Tolentino even revealed a check from Bank of China Manila Branch dated September 2023 which paid P930,000 to InfinitUs for the alleged service agreement with the Chinese Embassy.  Documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained by the Senate committee also showed that two Chinese nationals were named as incorporators of InfinitUs Marketing Solutions However, in a statement on Friday, InfinitUs denied that they were contracted by the Chinese Embassy in Manila but admitted receiving payment from them.  The PR firm also categorically denied engaging in "trolling." that they are trolls and they will never engage in such activities.  adding that they operate on a foundation of transparent “The reckless labeling of our services as ‘troll activity’ is false and endangers our people and clients,” it said {{gallery.imageDetails.images.0.description}} Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application It is with profound sadness we announce that Adolph Minaya Tolentino passed away at the age of 86 on March 27 Surrounded by his loving family and friends in his final moments cherishing every moment spent with his loved ones Zambales in the Philippines and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of the East He began his career as an accountant at the Philippine National Bank and later worked in the United States as a Data Processing Manager at Hancock Bank in Gulfport MS for 20 years Adolph is preceded in death by his parents and Gracia (Kory) Hudson; his five grandchildren and Nicholas and Carter Hudson; his sisters Leticia Elayda and Felicidad Hebron and many beloved nieces and nephews John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Gulfport Family visitation will be from 9-10am and friends may visit from 10-11am is honored to serve the family of Adolph Minaya Tolentino Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors      Judith Marie Tolentino, daughter of her Heavenly Father, age 78, of Egg Harbor, WI, was carried safely to her eternal home on Wednesday morning, October 9, 2024.      Judy was the love of John’s life. They cherished their home in Door County and found great pleasure in exploring its beauty. Together, they enjoyed local restaurants, drives along the lake, and visiting their children and grandchildren.       Judy treasured being John’s wife, a mother to their four children, and grandmother to their eight grandchildren. She prayed for them daily and was a regular spiritual encouragement in their faith lives.       We will always remember Judy as someone who fiercely loved her family and friends, was a talented cook, had a gift for hospitality, and an eye for beauty. But more than all of these, she loved Jesus and was eagerly awaiting her life with him in heaven.      Judy is survived by her loving husband of 48 years, John; children, Tony Lesnick of Waukesha, TJ (Tina) Lesnick of Eagle River, Gina (Matt) Zimplemann of Manitowoc, and Rick (Erica) Tolentino of Wind Lake; grandchildren, Anthony Lesnick, Nathan Lesnick, Michael Zimplemann, Travis Lesnick, Lily Zimplemann, Charline Tolentino, Emma Zimplemann, and Alexandra Tolentino; brother, John (Ann Buth) Dietrich; and nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.      She was preceded in death by her parents, daughter-in-law, Andrea Lesnick, and brother-in-law, Antonio Tolentino. “Do not let your hearts be troubled…if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” We loved her well, but Jesus loves her best.      Judy’s victory in heaven will be celebrated with a funeral service on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at 11:00 am at Zion Ev. Lutheran Church in West Jacksonport. Her Christian burial will take place in the church cemetery, followed by a light lunch in the fellowship hall.      Visitation for family and friends will be held Saturday morning at the church from 9:00 am until 10:45 am.      In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her name to Zion Ev. Lutheran Church in West Jacksonport.      Huehns Funeral Home of Sturgeon Bay is assisting the family. Expressions of sympathy, memories, and photos of Judy may be shared with her family through her tribute page at www.huehnsfuneralhome.com. a doubling—is unrepeatable: one mononymous perfectionist analyzing another in which most glosses of the subject could also apply to the author is an ur-text on contemporary feminine ambition disguised only partially by style—on the will and the discipline which turned Stewart into a paper billionaire Stewart’s empire included a syndicated newspaper column and enough home-and-party décor to carpet the tristate area idolized and mimicked by girls and women nationwide A Web site called Gothic Martha Stewart advised goth teen-agers to learn from Stewart’s D.I.Y Online fan communities luxuriated in minute personal details: Stewart’s Suburban (chauffeured) with her ex-husband and daughter; on the fan sites there are instead the “relative cases of ‘Martha’ and of ‘Andy’ and even of ‘Alexis.’ ” Although Didion had published that packing list in 1979 she was still some years away from her twenty-first-century transformation into “Joan,” a symbolic center of mainstream female identity and aspiration her face appearing in a Celine ad and on the back of a twelve-hundred-dollar leather jacket Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia sold for a fraction of its I.P.O In “everywoman.com,” Didion had noted the “perils of totally identifying a brand with a single living and therefore vulnerable human being.” But what tanked M.S.L.O.’s stock price was not Stewart’s criminal conviction or her stint in prison as much as it was the rise of the Internet which razed large swaths of traditional media and allowed innumerable proto-Marthas to become products themselves Success like Stewart’s—like Didion’s—always provokes outrage: the question of who this woman actually is versus who she’s pretending to be was driven by the “misconception that she has somehow tricked her admirers into not noticing the ambition that brought her to their attention.” In Didion’s eyes Stewart had “branded herself not as Superwoman but as Everywoman.” Stewart’s innovation was the idea that an Everywoman could in fact become Superwoman—and that we developed a name for this type of figure: the girlboss the Internet was overrun with Everywomen attempting to become Superwomen Nearly all of the women who have tried to turn themselves into “Joan” or “Martha” have foregrounded an aura of effortlessness Perhaps the dishonesty inherent in that project is why Stewart and Didion still reign symbolically supreme Beneath the patrician breeze blowing through their self-generated iconography neither Didion nor Stewart ever tried to hide the work the teleological inclination toward the steely pristine Didion ceded the best line in her piece to an anonymous Internet user in a summation that could be applied to both: “She seems perfect She’s a control freak beyond my wildest dreams And that shows me two things: A) no one is perfect and B) there’s a price for everything.” ♦ Photographs By Lawrence De Leon Photographed by Lawrence de Leon for the March 2025 Issue of Vogue Philippines In the Little Golden Books edition of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, illustrations of the evil witch Maleficent are, to a child, immediately horrifying: thick horns protruding from her head, brows frozen in a perpetual arch, cheeks angular and chin sharp, all against a vile green complexion. It certainly was enough to terrify a young Jia Tolentino enthusiastically positioning jazz hands on either side of her neck refers to the villain’s collared cloak as “a lizard-like thing.” Little came between her and what she categorizes as “American little girl classics featuring adventurous white girls,” a genre in her library that included Little House on the Prairie “As long as I can remember being conscious “I’ve spent a lot of the last five years having and taking care of very small children and the only thing I retained an absolute commitment to Vogue Philippines meets Tolentino in her Brooklyn home and although we’re conversing from behind a screen I’m taking you into my kitchen because two of my Peace Corps friends are coming over tomorrow Turning it off right now.” The shade of her cerise Le Creuset casserole matches the red sweater she has on Her jeans jut into frame when she props her leg up on the chair and our chat is the last thing on her agenda At this moment, the New Yorker staff writer and New York Times bestselling author is nearly six years removed from the launch of Trick Mirror her debut essay collection that garnered multiple award nominations Overcome by what she recounts as a tremendous amount of disorder and darkness “And I’m not saying I think a book is really useful ‘I think there could be value in trying to encapsulate this feeling of acceleration that’s happening everywhere.’” Trick Mirror’s nine essays ended up probing into self-commodification from the prisms of female optimization and other destructive realms she is cognizant and wary of participating in And what shines through always is a deep and questioning intelligence the book’s resonance with readers was unexpected She calls its success “incredibly lucky,” but the irony at its core didn’t require much time to realize “So much of the book is about monetized selfhood I could feel myself being further monetizable.” These sentiments still hold and when she looks back at that period now “I love being bad at something and getting better at it.” Writing-wise, she made a pivot, instigated by the birth of her first child in 2020. When she reflects on her relationship with her partner, architect Andrew Daley, there’s a tender earnestness to her tone. Having met at a Halloween party as University of Virginia undergraduates, they’ve been together for 16 years, and are now parents to Paloma Daley Tolentino and Marisol Tolentino Daley, who each carry a parent’s last name. Settling into parenthood, the writer defines it as an existentially important act of surrender, one that has opened her eyes to “a non-egocentric vision of time” that will one day supersede her. “You have kids and you’re forced to remember that time actually extends. The world extends, policy extends, stakes extend past your own life. And I don’t know how much I’m doing with that knowledge, but I feel it intensely.” This profundity strikes her in bursts, and it’s changed the way she lives, and therefore, writes. She writes less about the world because “objectively, I’m less in the world. I’m at playgrounds all the time.” The rhythms of her everyday consist of writing, in great amounts, at home or her budget co-working space, but they also look like reading Filipino children’s books to Paloma and Marisol, or her eldest daughter telling her, “Mom, you don’t have to be so perfect all the time.”  When Jia teaches her girls the rules of the universe from scratch, it somewhat feels like a becoming for her, too. She’s writing a world that’s no longer just hers but also theirs, and it’s transcendent, glistening, endless.  By TICIA ALMAZAN. Photographs by LAWRENCE DE LEON. Photographer’s Assistant: Noel Gerard Bunal. Sign up for our daily newsletter to get the best of The New Yorker in your in-box and Tolentino finds in it a defense of perfectionism and a certain kind of ruthlessness: she suggests that “most of the lines Didion writes about Stewart it’s hard not to hear the echoes of people saying that about her.” Chast chose to focus on cartoons by George Booth who contributed to The New Yorker for at least half of the magazine’s life You can read Roz Chast on George Booth, Jia Tolentino on Joan Didion, and many more essays from the Takes series here New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker and the Church too: Portuguese Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça until now (in Bergoglio’s pontificate) Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for culture and education says and expresses the 60-year-old cardinal in his vision and pastoral praxis will save the Church in its relationship with the world,… The Irish Catholic is Ireland’s biggest and best-selling religious newspaper analysis and informed commentary about the Church and social issues as they affect Ireland and the wider-world This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Naomi Tolentino’s crusade against chronic absenteeism is inspired by the relationships she built as a teacher to immigrant students—some of whose numbers are still saved in her phone in her classroom for newcomers to the country Tolentino witnessed the obstacles her students and their families confronted in getting to school everyday in the Kansas City the less the district’s then-penalizing response to truancy made sense to her Tolentino worked to make her students feel welcome and valued and sought practical solutions to their attendance roadblocks who had just come to Kansas from Guatemala Tolentino connected her to the district’s homeless student liaison who helped her access food pantries and clothing closets and ensured she had a safe way to get to school Now as the Kansas City’s schools’ coordinator of student support Tolentino has taken the approach she honed in that classroom districtwide 21,000-student system intervene in patterns of absenteeism before they throw students off-track She’s put research showing that strong relationships with teachers and peers can improve students’ attendance habits at the heart of her plan of action—and it is yielding measurable results Her core strategy: building systemwide practices that strengthen interpersonal connections and help attendance teams in every building flag early-warning signs before they snowball into problems The district’s strategy relies on three prongs: collecting better data to determine what contributes to poor attendance developing a menu of interventions that help schools confront the problem and providing professional development to get everyone on the same page “We’ve learned that we really had to work on creating that culture of regular attendance and stressing how important it is to be in school every day,” Tolentino a 2025 EdWeek Leaders To Learn From honoree We have to focus on that proactive and positive approach at the beginning Kansas City faced a reckoning over absenteeism early in the COVID-19 pandemic when students’ ties to teachers and classmates were suddenly severed by a rocky shift to remote learning A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10 percent of school days or more whether those absences are excused for reasons like illness or unexcused for reasons like skipping school without permission The district aims to increase daily attendance rates to 95 percent and hit a 15 percent drop in levels of chronic absenteeism after students had finished the school year in remote learning 27.5 percent of Kansas City students were chronically absent a rate that climbed to 47.5 percent in 2021-22 41.23 percent of students were chronically absent but the decline suggests the strategies are starting to turn the Titanic around Research shows that students who are chronically absent tend to underperform academically and are at higher risk of dropping out than their peers But the absent students aren’t the only ones affected: Their teachers often have a poorer perception of them compared with their peers and even students with good attendance habits struggle when their peers are regularly out of the classroom requiring teachers to spend more time repeating concepts chronic absenteeism is a systemic problem that needs a systemic solution The district’s previous approach of referring students to the judicial system after they crossed the legal threshold into truancy would not be enough Tolentino had to move a boulder up a hill one inch at a time She started by creating attendance guides that explain the difference between prevention and the district’s previous punitive approach so that all employees—from front-office staff to classroom teachers—could develop a common understanding of the problem She created a data dashboard that could track attendance patterns by school allowing educators to flag students at risk of falling far behind Attendance teams at every school—made up of attendance coordinators and such support staff as school counselors—monitor that data a national organization that researches and promotes school attendance strategies to provide those teams with professional development Tolentino incorporated attendance factors into the district’s multitiered system of support a strategy that employs increasingly intensive interventions depending on a student’s level of need schools strive to create a welcoming culture through such strategies as greeting every student by name as they enter in the morning and increasing parent communications about attendance through tools like the school calendar or materials at parent-teacher conferences School attendance teams go further for students with higher levels of absences For students with “moderate” levels of absenteeism—those who’ve missed 10-19 percent of school days—attendance teams use strategies like “relationship mapping” to ensure they have a connection with at least one trusted adult Teams plot out students’ relationships and known interests matching them with teachers with whom they may have a natural connection like a shared passion for anime or skateboarding Teams also select another strategy at that level that matches the culture of their schools such as increased communication with parents through newsletters and phone calls “When parents and students feel connected to school they are more likely to come,” Tolentino said “They feel schools care and they learn about the resources we have.” Students with the most severe levels of absenteeism those who’ve missed more than 20 percent of school days meet with their caregivers and attendance teams to flag their risk of violating truancy laws Tolentino holds attendance academies with those families where she invites community organizations to explain options like after-school programs and mentorship groups for students “It’s really taking an approach that is holistic and thinking about the whole child and all of the spheres of influence that affect children’s ability to attend school,” said Octavio Estrella the director of the district’s welcome center and family engagement who works with Tolentino on attendance issues and non-native English speaking families by assisting with the enrollment process and providing orientations to ease students into the school environment there are various kinds of deserts,” he said families with a lack of access to basic things like a laundromat.” So some schools provide students with a change of clean clothes and allow them to do laundry in on-site machines Some direct them to community clinics or help them make a transportation plan to get to school Tolentino maintains relationships with a host of out-of-school groups helping them target their services to stretch the district’s own funding further state child-welfare officials may help families access funding to cover childcare costs for younger sibilings so that older students can focus on school Tolentino never thought she’d be a teacher Raised in Puerto Rico and interested in neuropsychology earned a degree in biology from the University of Puerto Rico I need to work with people!’” she said with a laugh Tolentino worked as a science teacher in Puerto Rico for six years she also worked with a youth ministry organization leading teenagers on service trips during the summers That role brought her to Kansas City in 2010 Tolentino’s previous knowledge of Kansas was limited to stereotypes drawn from the gray landscapes portrayed in the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” she quickly learned of her new community’s racial and linguistic diversity and she built connections with local immigrant and undocumented families a youth-services coordinator at Tolentino’s former workplace who helps unaccompanied youth and students experiencing homelessness Tolentino was able to quickly decipher when her students had unmet needs That includes the girl living on her own from Guatemala who Mersman and Tolentino still grab dinner with occasionally “How she works with students and families has always been central to what she’s doing no matter where she’s working,” Mersman said Tolentino applied for her current job at the urging of a professional mentor who recognized her relational strength and commitment to solving problems Kansas City’s approach to combating absenteeism relies on research-based strategies and it includes plenty of supports that help all educators work together to solve the problem and she really relies on the data,” Chang said of Tolentino The district has received recognition for its work even as it continues to tackle high rates of absenteeism Tolentino was invited to the White House in May for a student-attendance summit where then-President Joe Biden announced new resources on school attendance and directed the U.S Department of Education to target attendance strategies with competitive federal grants Those honors alone don’t satisfy Tolentino who says the district’s rates of absenteeism are still too high But the top line numbers don’t tell the whole story The number of students deemed “severely chronically absent,” those missing 20 percent or more school days from 22.2 percent in 2021-22 to 15 percent in 2023-24 The number of “moderately chronically absent,” those missing 10 to 20 percent of school days moving from 28.4 percent in 2021-22 to 23 percent in 2023-24 “When the student is still coming to school we still have an opportunity to build connections and form relationships with them Student surveys show some of the most persistent absenteeism comes from older students who are responsible for younger siblings after school so the district expanded after-school programs from six to eight of the district’s 28 elementary schools Tolentino is starting to probe another significant stubborn factor: Students feel obligated to work to support their families financially She’s exploring options like credit-bearing apprenticeship programs to help those students stay on track while acknowledging that the barrier will be among the most difficult to move “This work is a privilege I don’t take lightly,” Tolentino said A version of this article appeared in the February 12 2025 edition of Education Week as What a ‘Positive Proactive Approach’ to Chronic Absenteeism Looks Like IL passed away peacefully at home on Friday Rose's full name at birth was Maria Rosario Cecilia Tolentino Vallarta Her friends just called her "Chit" which was her father's pet name for her Her father was a civil engineer who died when Rose was a child Her mother was a Professor of Botany at Philippine Women's University Protecting Rose and her sister from the atrocities of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines became her mother's priority When their house was burned by the Japanese the trio hid out with other homeless Manilenos in a nearby rotunda When the first American troops arrived to rescue them Rose earned her college degree and decided to become a fashion designer she traveled to France and studied at the prestigious School of Design at Fountainebleau specializing in Sportswear in New York's Fashion District After a whirlwind courtship (so fast it required special dispensation from Cardinal Spellman) they were married in a wedding that lasted sixty-five years Rosario is survived by her beloved husband of 65 years and Michael (Juvelyn) Valtos; cherished grandchildren please contact Davenport Family Funeral Home "Art is truly the debut of faith," said the great Catholic poet Paul Claudel—a sentiment that resonates deeply with Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça heading the Vatican’s office for education and culture In this exclusive interview with EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser the Cardinal delves into the significance of culture and art in the Church's mission particularly in regard to the Jubilee for Artists and the World of Culture.  you are at the helm of the Vatican Office for Culture and Education and your Dicastery was instrumental in preparing the Jubilee for the Artists and the World of Culture Why does the Church need to engage with the world of culture?  in the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus artists have a special place because they are able to make the mystery visible or audible artists are collaborators with the Church in the search for truth and in translating the mystery of God into a language of the senses.  Could you give me an example how artists today make this mystery of faith visible?  we listen to Bach's Passion According to St or we listen to the music of Handel’s Messiah and we grasp a profound sense of transcendence An interpretation of the mysteries of Jesus whether figurative or more minimalist or abstract It is capable of depicting the mystery of God Artists are important for our humanity and our search for God because they help us to constantly seek a truth that is ultimately not of this world "Art is a propaedeutic for faith," that is art prepares our soul for the encounter with the Absolute The dialogue between the Church and artists has always been a dialogue very close to each other but also sometimes with tension even if we think of Michealangelo but also with contemporary artists Sometimes there is controversy about it as well How are we managing this today as a Church this dialogue with the world of artists?  Today we are really talking about a friendship that needs to be rebuilt We need the contribution that artists can give to make it more alive One thing is this dialogue of the Church with the world of art in general but at the same time today we see a very positive sign that is within the Church So many people are discovering their artistic vocation We have in our Catholic communities a kind of awakening of the vocation of so many young artists who are trying to unite their faith with their work and this is certainly a sign of hope for us.  SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE Andreas Thonhauser is EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief He earned a Master of Business Administration from the WU Executive Academy in Vienna and a Master’s degree in German Philology/Anglistics and Americanistics from the University of Vienna Thonhauser worked as the Director of External Affairs for a global human rights organization VATICAN CITY — Catholics cannot confine their faith to the liturgy but must fully engage and dialogue with the culture that surrounds them said the cardinal responsible for the church’s engagement with the world of culture “We cannot close the Christian experience in a kind of parenthesis that is only the liturgy,” Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education “Culture cannot be at the margins of faith seeking to build a unity with what we believe.” Ahead of the Jubilee for Artists and the World of Culture the cardinal told CNS that Catholics can often attend Mass on Sunday and then return to consuming secular culture in their ordinary lives “without building a bond between them” or developing “a unity of all aspects of life.” “But the important thing is that Christianity and Catholic culture help to form mature people who are not afraid of life who are capable of creating dialogue,” he said The Jubilee for Artists and the World of Culture was scheduled to take place at the Vatican Feb Pope Francis’ meeting with artists and other figures from the cultural realm at the Vatican and his visit the Cinecittà movie studios in Rome were canceled when he was admitted to the hospital Feb Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça, an artist in his own right who has published more than a dozen collections of poetry, was scheduled to celebrate Mass for the Jubilee in St. Peter’s Basilica Feb. 16. Also included in the Jubilee schedule is a meeting of directors from some of the world’s most prominent museums, including the Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery in Washington, to reflect on the promotion and transmission of religious and artistic heritage. The Jubilee is expected to bring artists, writers, musicians and cultural figures from more than 100 countries to the Vatican. Despite having a close relationship with artists for hundreds of years, for much of the modern period there has been a “reciprocal mistrust” between the world of arts and culture and the Catholic Church, he said. Many artists feared the church wanted to impose rigid standards while the many in the church wanted to distance themselves from artists producing work that could be seen as overly provocative. That changed, he said, when St. Paul VI met with artists in the Sistine Chapel at the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and, as pope, told them: “The church needs you and turns to you.” During the Holy Year 2000 St. John Paul II called for a revival of the “fruitful alliance” between the church and art, and Pope Francis met with artists in the Sistine Chapel in 2023 to mark the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the contemporary art section in the Vatican Museums. The cardinal emphasized that the ongoing relationship could result in new forms of spiritual and religious expression, but he warned against religious art becoming merely a museum relic admired only for its aesthetic value rather than as a living expression of faith. “In modernity, the beauty of Christianity and its expressions are somewhat ‘the beauty of the dead,'” he said. “It is in the museum because it is not in life.” However, “the word of God and the Christian experience must remain alive, must bring forth questions, must challenge people with a concrete experience of conversion and transformation,” he noted. For this reason, the cardinal said, the Jubilee aims to reinforce the living dialogue between the church and artists, ensuring that faith and art continue to inspire and challenge each other in meaningful ways. “Theology, just as philosophy, is fundamental, but it only reaches a certain point, which is silence, because after all of the words God remains a mystery. After all the explanations and all the theology that can be written, God remains as a question,” he said. “What is the human discipline that inhabits questions and silence? Art.” “I see you’ve had your hair cut—just when it was starting to look nice.”Cartoon by Tom ChittyCopy link to cartoonCopy link to cartoonLink copied mostly white—forty-five per cent of them voted for Trump in this election—who are drawn to the archetypal conservative vision of motherhood But the gendered gulf in the youth vote suggests that the fight is changing as women in the middle of the political spectrum begin to vote The possibility of a national abortion ban is looming is closely allied with Trump and recently represented him before the Supreme Court Project 2025 outlines a plan for formal federal surveillance of pregnancy straight men who want women to bear their children between men in favor of reproductive servitude and women who refuse Trump’s return to power—his imminent control over the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary the coming dissolution of the very idea of the government providing any sort of guardrail against corporate power and environmental destruction—is the beginning of a political era that will likely last decades So much of it will be worked out on a level that the ordinary person mostly cannot touch But this particular part—the politics of abortion the struggle of who gets to determine when and why and how a person has a child the question of who and what a woman works for—will also be negotiated at home In her study of marriage “Parallel Lives,” the critic Phyllis Rose argues that “marriage is the primary political experience in which most of us engage as adults.” There is a reason that both campaigns have embraced the framing of their political fights as marital dramas For those of us whom God made heterosexual the intimate realm is politicized now more than ever But it’s from this foundation that we find a way out in the arena of flesh and friction and surprise and transcendence—an arena that may be increasingly foreign to screen-bound and rightfully unappealing to their female counterparts—that we learn not just when to take up arms against another person but when to try harder to see them It’s here that we learn how badly we need one another 2024Photograph by Anthony Behar / Sipa USA / ReutersSave this storySave this storySave this storySave this storyAs you know was murdered on the street in midtown Manhattan He was in town for an investors’ convention and had worked for UnitedHealthcare for more than two decades—a company that is part of UnitedHealth Group a health-insurance conglomerate valued at five hundred and sixty billion dollars UnitedHealthcare had two hundred and eighty-one billion dollars in revenue in 2023 had raised annual profits from twelve billion dollars to sixteen billion dollars during his tenure He received more than ten million dollars in compensation last year remembered Thompson in a video message to employees as a “truly extraordinary person who touched the lives of countless people throughout our organization and far beyond.” Thompson lived in a suburb of Minneapolis and he is survived by his wife and two sons The LedeReporting and commentary on what you need to know today. with the caption “My official response to the UHC CEO’s murder,” an infographic comparing wealth distribution in late eighteenth-century France to wealth distribution in present-day America The whiff of populist anarchy in the air is salty New York Post comment sections are full of critiques of capitalism as well as self-enriching executives and politicians (like “Biden and his crime family”) where users post with their real names and employment histories UnitedHealth Group had to turn off comments on its post about Thompson’s death—thousands of people were liking and hearting it with a few even giving it the “clapping” reaction The company also turned off comments on Facebook a post about Thompson had received more than thirty-six thousand “laugh” reactions she wisecracked that she wasn’t the killer—she can’t even ride a bike UnitedHealth acquired a company called NaviHealth whose software provides algorithmic care recommendations for sick patients and which is now used to help manage its Medicare Advantage program A 2023 class-action lawsuit alleges that the NaviHealth algorithm has a “known error rate” of ninety per cent and cites appalling patient stories: one man in Tennessee broke his back was moved to a nursing home for eleven days and then was informed by UnitedHealth that his care would be cut off in two days (UnitedHealth says the lawsuit is unmerited.) After a couple rounds of appeals and reversals the man left the nursing home and died four days later The company has denied requests to release the analyses behind NaviHealth’s conclusions to patients and doctors stating that the information is proprietary every single jurisdiction in which it operates would have to successfully bring a case against it Thompson’s murder is one symptom of the American appetite for violence; his line of work is another Denied health-insurance claims are not broadly understood this way in part because people in consequential positions at health-insurance companies are likely to have experienced denied claims mainly as a matter of extreme annoyance at worst: hours on the phone maybe; a bunch of extra paperwork; maybe money spent that could’ve gone to next year’s vacation For people who do not have money or social connections at hospitals or the ability to spend weeks at a time on the phone a denied health-insurance claim can instantly bend the trajectory of a life toward bankruptcy and misery and death and structural violence—another term for it is “social injustice”—is simply whether we attach that particular name to it or not blow up an unoccupied private jet in protest of the fact that the wealthiest one per cent of the global population accounts for more carbon emissions than the poorest sixty-six per cent this would be seen by many people—like Thompson’s murder and unlike the tens of thousands of human deaths per year already caused by climate change—as a sign of profoundly alarming social decay It’s just a matter of where you locate the decay—in the killing The only way to end up in a situation where a C.E.O of a health-insurance company is reflexively viewed as a dictatorial purveyor of suffering is through a history of socially sanctioned death A person who posted on Reddit’s r/nurses forum but when you’ve spent so much time and made so much money by increasing the suffering of the humanity around you it’s hard for me to summon empathy that you died I’m sure someone somewhere is sad about this I am following his lead of indifference.” Reading this that health-care workers account for seventy-three per cent of all nonfatal workplace injuries due to violence specialists—they are asked to absorb the rage and panic induced by the American health-care system whose private insurers generate billions of dollars in profit and pay executives eight figures not despite but because of the fact that they routinely deny care to desperate people in need can’t be indifference—not indifference to the death of the C.E.O. But who’s going to drop their indifference first who have a lifetime of evidence that health-insurance C.E.O.s do not care about their well-being class drop its indifference to the suffering and death of ordinary people Is it possible to do so while achieving record quarterly profits for your stakeholders Thompson’s death resurfaced some unsavory details about his industry that Thompson was one of several UnitedHealth executives under investigation by the D.O.J (He had sold more than fifteen million dollars’ worth of company stock in February shortly before it became public that the Department of Justice was investigating the company for antitrust violations which caused the stock price to drop.) A new policy from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield also went viral: the company had announced that it would no longer pay for anesthesia if a surgery passed a pre-allotted time limit The cost of the “extra” anesthesia would be passed from Anthem—whose year-over-year net income was reported to have increased by more than twenty-four per cent the company withdrew the change in response to the public outrage might happen to UnitedHealthcare’s claim-denial rates I was at a show in midtown Manhattan on Thursday night and when the comedians onstage cracked a joke about the shooter the entire place erupted in cheers Tolentino de Mendonça came to Madrid and received Omnes there before giving a lecture at the University of San Damaso on friendship the Portuguese cardinal focuses on topics such as the presence of Catholics in the spheres of thought and Cardinal José Tolentino is one of the most outstanding figures in the field of theology and contemporary culture with a long career in the study and dissemination of Christian thought in dialogue with the modern world His work is characterized by a deep sensitivity to the human dimension of faith mercy and the relationship between religion and culture His ability to combine theological scholarship with a poetic outlook has made him an influential voice in the Church and beyond Since 2022, he has served as Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Vatican a role in which he promotes the encounter between faith and contemporary cultural expressions His work focuses on building bridges between Christian thought and the various philosophical he was Librarian and Archivist of the Holy See It seemed to me a crucial topic for several reasons the university was born of the friendship between teachers and students who sought the truth together The university is a community of friends seeking the truth together -In the university one learns to be a friend The university must broaden our thirst for knowledge and be a laboratory for searching confronting and deepening our understanding of the truth This friendship for truth is what defines a university.  but its first duty is to transmit this passion for the search for truth The university is not only a place to acquire technical skills but a space where a deep relationship with knowledge and with others is cultivated -Ecclesiastical universities play a vital role Although some sciences that are cultivated in them the study of the word and canon law are essential sources for understanding human dignity and civil law ecclesiastical universities offer a very important contribution to society but also help to build an integral vision of the human being and his place in the world -Democratic societies are pluralistic and need all contributions Christianity offers a unique vision of the human person In a world where there is talk of transhumanism and artificial intelligence the fundamental question is: who is the human being Christianity has much to contribute to this debate especially in the defense of an integral vision of the person who is not reduced to a mere consumer or instrument.  reflecting on the sources of their faith and establishing a close dialogue in all media -We need alliancesnot trenches We must seek forms of dialogue and social friendship that will allow us to overcome polarization and build a more just and humane society Christians must be able to listen and speak with humility but of proposing them with clarity and respect it is essential that Christians be present in the spaces where thought and culture are constructed The Church needs artists to translate invisible truths into visible forms.  Pope Francis has reinforced this friendship by summoning artists to the Sistine Chapel and visiting the Venice Biennale Art is not only decorative; it is a radical search for meaning and contemporary artists remind us that true beauty is that which carries within it the memory of suffering and compassion -It's not about creating a club of Catholic artists Catholic artists are a blessing for the Church but our goal is to encourage dialogue among all artists Art is a field of encounter and spiritual search and that is something we should value and promote but there are also non-believing artists who help us to reflect on the great questions of existence The important thing is that art continues to be a space for dialogue and the search for the transcendent -The Church is the main educational provider in the world The Catholic school cannot just be a good school; it must be more offer an experience of integral humanity and form people the formation of teachers and the creation of a school community that lives the faith in a transversal way is fundamental.  Catholic identity must be clear and visible but also in the quality of the human relationships that are established -We cannot accept that schools be closed or that our schools end up in the hands of investment funds whose educational project is unknown to us The Catholic school has an identity and is a good for all Families choose a Catholic school because they know that it teaches hope and transmits an integral experience of humanity that helps to form a synthesis between the human and spiritual dimensions A Catholic school cannot limit itself to being excellent in mathematics or any other discipline; it must have a clear and recognizable Christian identity -Identity is not reduced to the presence of a chapel or religious symbols The Catholic identity is lived in the transversality of all the dimensions of the school: in the welcome in the openness and in the dialogue between faith and reason the role of teachers and the entire educational team is fundamental Their formation and commitment are essential to reinforce the awareness of the mission of the Catholic school and to sustain hope To choose a Catholic school is to make a pact of trust with the Church Families trust that there they will be formed not just a number * This interview was conducted on February 3 Subscribe to Omnes magazine and enjoy exclusive content for subscribers When Kiana V first met her would-be husband Sandro Tolentino at a party in 2013 a casual gesture that turned out to be unforgettable Although their interactions that night were brief They crossed paths again a few times over the years but it wasn’t until 2018 that sparks began to fly On a serene January evening at the Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo Although the venue was not Kiana’s first choice and something about that view always tugs at my heart,” she says The couple was drawn to the peaceful ambiance and the idea of spending uninterrupted time with loved ones in a cozy “Sandro and I had the most peaceful afternoon during our first visit intimate hotel where our family and friends could book out every room and spend a few nights together Seeing the old helipad in the garden was the final touch that sealed the deal for me.” Cultural touches were woven throughout the nuptials which was intentional to reflect the couple’s values “Our couple culture is all about family time “We wanted the celebration to feel as personal as possible.” At the wedding and the entourage donned sunset-colored hues Kiana was resplendent in a beaded strapless gown with a fitted silhouette by Francis Libiran with a soft glam look by Luna Reyes and hair by Patty Cristobal while Sandro complemented her in a classic silk cocoon barong Tagalog mirroring the serene and natural tones of the day Switching into a thrifted wedding gown from the 90s for the afterparty the bride imbibed the celebration with her love for music as they danced under the stars to the lively sets of DJ Abdel and DJ Euric Kiana reveals: “We’ve already been married for a year.” The sunset-clad wedding in Antipolo may not have been the first enunciation of their love it was a marker of the couple’s journey for their loved ones to witness “This celebration reminded me of just how blessed I am to have found my person,” Kiana says Having been married for a year, Kiana V reflects on the experience of married life. “Marriage has been liberating in the best way,” she says. “I can’t wait to explore the world and grow with him.” Previously, the artist has shared that her music comes from a deep place often inspired by her personal journey and emotions With a life already filled with love and joy now even more fulfilled by her music and her marriage she seems to be stepping into a new chapter of creativity: one that reflects the harmony and freedom she has found in romance see exclusive photos from inside the wedding Artificial Intelligence has quickly gone from a trending topic to a critical driver in every major industry At this year’s SECON ISC2 Chapter Conference a recognised specialist in AI governance and compliance offered a standout keynote on how organisations can navigate the growing landscape of AI risk management Tolentino for an in-depth conversation covering everything from international regulatory frameworks to leadership blind spots Enzo Tolentino: Because that’s the honest starting point and insights that would’ve been impossible just a decade ago But here’s the thing—those gains come bundled with serious issues We’re talking about privacy challenges and decisions being made by systems people can’t explain I wanted the audience to realise this isn’t science fiction—it’s the world we live in now If you’re deploying AI without addressing the risks Responsible AI isn’t just about preventing harm; it’s about maintaining trust and credibility NIST doesn’t just give you a checklist to follow Risks in AI aren’t always visible or measurable in the same way as other tech risks like discrimination in automated decisions It’s not about rigid compliance it’s about building a mindset that keeps evolving as your systems and risks evolve That adaptability is what makes NIST especially useful in fast-changing environments NIST defines trust in very operational terms It looks at seven core areas think fairness you’re actively assessing your AI on those qualities It focuses more on how leadership embeds trust principles into culture “Do we have a system that ensures explainability across all models?” NIST is hands-on just at different levels of the organisation Too many leaders think AI governance is something the IT team or data scientists should figure out But ISO 42001 is clear: top executives must take ownership They’re the ones who set ethical direction the whole framework becomes a paper exercise but it won’t guide real-world decisions when things get messy AI systems don’t operate in isolation they function in real-world environments filled with laws What’s considered fair in a banking app might be entirely inappropriate in a healthcare setting ISO 42001 encourages organisations to scan their environment carefully That includes understanding customer expectations Ignoring context is like using the same playbook in every sport it just doesn’t work The EU AI Act isn’t just a set of suggestions it’s the law If your AI system falls into the “high-risk” category you’re required to meet detailed obligations from documentation to audits to human oversight These let developers test high-risk AI under supervision without breaking rules And because the Act has an extraterritorial reach companies outside the EU also have to comply if they touch EU markets It’s all about the organisation’s context and goals NIST is excellent for building internal awareness and early governance efforts ISO 42001 is ideal if you’re scaling globally and need a certifiable standard That’s a must if you’re operating in Europe or serving European users many organisations are using a combination borrowing elements that match their operational maturity Think of profiles like a roadmap designed for your unique journey A hospital deploying diagnostic AI needs different controls compared to a retail company using AI for customer segmentation NIST lets organisations build these “profiles” based on their use case you’re not applying irrelevant controls or missing important ones It’s like choosing workout routines tailored to your health needs—you get better results with less waste deliver high accuracy but are nearly impossible to explain But if you’re using them in critical settings—like credit scoring or healthcare you can’t just say “trust the math.” The EU AI Act enforces a right to explanation If a model can’t justify itself in human terms regulators and stakeholders may challenge its use that means organisations may need to choose simpler more transparent models or at least offer an interpretability layer that provides meaningful insights to non-technical users Many companies already have systems for managing cybersecurity The trick is not to reinvent the wheel but to expand it You can use your ISO 27001 controls as a starting point then build additional layers specific to AI like monitoring model drift This avoids duplication and ensures your governance framework remains coherent Annex SL is the backbone of modern ISO standards It ensures that all ISO management systems whether it’s for quality (9001) That means companies can integrate AI governance into their broader compliance strategy without juggling completely separate systems It simplifies both day-to-day management and long-term strategic planning But none of that matters if people don’t trust the system—or worse You need to train your teams on ethical decision-making Building that culture is just as important as building the code Enzo Tolentino brings a refreshingly grounded approach to AI risk management Whether you’re exploring voluntary frameworks like NIST or preparing for strict laws like the EU AI Act one thing is clear: managing AI responsibly starts long before the system goes live Sign up to get LondonDaily.News delivered to your inbox ARVIN Tolentino sat out Northport’s PBA Philippine Cup game against Rain or Shine due to a right hip flexor Tolentino showed up in street clothes at the Smart Araneta Coliseum for the opener of the Holy Wednesday doubleheader the right hip flexor is a group of muscles on the front of the right thigh and groin primarily responsible for flexing the hip coming off a Best Player of the Conference award in the mid-season Commissioner’s Cup still practiced with the Batang Pier last Monday despite beginning to feel the pain in the area last Sunday the 29-year-old forward already sat out the team’s practice Tolentino had a near triple-double in the Batang Pier’s conference debut last Saturday against Terrafirma and eight rebounds in the 97-75 blowout win No mention was made on the possible return of Northport’s main man veteran guard Jio Jalalon finally suited up for the Batang Pier for the first time in three months Jalalon last played in January during the Commissioner’s Cup was relegated back to the injury list as his sciatica (back injury) acted up once more Rain or Shine also paraded a depleted roster with injuries to big men Beau Belga and Keith Datu while both Datu and Ildefonso are suffering from calf injuries Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph Spin.ph has been granted the NPC Seal of Registration in recognition of the successful registration of its DPO and DPS We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on Spin.ph. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. Find out more here Tarlac—Philippine team mainstays Robyn Brown John Cabang-Tolentino and William Morrison III lived up to the challenges they faced against national champions from Thailand and local rivals on Saturday in the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships at the New Clark City Stadium here Brown started and finished strong against Thai national champion Arisa Weruwanarak with a time 13.85 seconds in the women’s 100-meter hurdles This gave the Fil-Am her third crown after she also ruled the 400m hurdles and helped the national squad claim the 400m mixed relay honors in the event “The 110-meter hurdles is a hard thing to do It’s not an easy event,” said the 30-year-old Brown who came close to the national mark that fellow Fil-Am Lauren Hoffman set last year in the national open at 13.34 seconds who won the Thai national title in the 400-meter hurdles last year while Malaysia’s Lee Yie Teng (14.48) nailed the bronze in this competition supported by the ICTSI Foundation and CEL Logistics snared the gold in the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 13.98 seconds holding off national teammate Clinton Bautista in the final stages Bautista settled for silver in 14.66 seconds while Fil-American Kaleb Luton ended up in third at 14.29 seconds But I saw him in the last hurdles and I sort of almost screamed,” said Cabang-Tolentino Morrison earned his third crown in the shotput event higher than the 17.56-meter feat he did in the Kansas Relays last April Malaysian Open champion Jonah Rigan took runner-up honors at 17.95 meters with another Malaysian Kamai Rahman (15.96) in third It’s just challenging coming from the US and competing with athletes from other countries Reigning Thai national champion Jirayu Pleenaram prevailed over Philippine national team member Frederick Ramirez taking charge in the last 50 meters of the 400-m and timed 47.37 seconds to his foe’s 47.71 who hurt an inner thigh muscle during training two weeks ago said he did not push his luck in running with Pleenaram Far Eastern University’s Ronel Juntilla came out on top in the decathlon with 5356 points ahead of schoolmates Tamaraws Pacifiico Tolentino and Rolly Royo University of the East standout Jeralyn Rodriguez outran national team bet Bernalyn Bejoy for the gold in the women’s 400m with a time of 55.67s and nightmare optimization bros converge in Tony Tulathimutte’s “Rejection.” Discover notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. is able to attract sex and passing attention but the thing she wants—for someone to desire her intensely and specifically—eludes her “Love is mutual: which means Alison’s never been in love,” the story begins She becomes obsessed with a friend whom she sleeps with once spending months and then years with no other topic of interest in her brain mainly owing to cowardice: “The closest she gets to openly criticizing him is to occasionally post a cryptic song lyric ones where if he went and looked up the line right after it he’d see it was about him and hopefully be devastated,” Tulathimutte writes she explodes into a spiral of racist insecurity when the friend brings a new girlfriend to drinks who’s revealed in a later story to be named Craig Alison believes she craves love but mainly seems to want power.) Realizing that the void has grown too large a “flesh-ripping fiend with a knife for a face.” Like the rest of the main characters, Craig and Alison come to disturbing, almost unbelievable, possibly inevitable ends. One of the delights of Tulathimutte’s book is his revival of some unfashionable formal pleasures—the theatrically ironic, O. Henry-style twist ending reveals of the various ways that the characters in the book know one another sneak up like waves of nausea capturing the torturous fact that the people who figure most prominently in our secret shames and desires might well have devoted barely a thought to us at all.) But Craig and Alison are ordinary—bad but redeemable The self-sabotaging characters in “Rejection” usually have at least one friend who attempts intervention (“I do not think it’s unfair to say you have a habit of passively consenting to miserable situations so you can later weaponize your sadness,” Alison’s friend tells her.) But after they eat from the fruit of perceived victimhood (After Alison accidentally unleashes her raven on another friend’s child dragging the girlies for posting normie captions like “Celebrating five years with this dumbass who brings me cold brew sometimes 😺.”) The characters become totally isolated—Alison’s regular dinner becomes a tortilla “rolled up into a hateful dildo”—and then they act out in some shocking “The Feminist” was the most read piece of fiction in n+1’s history and so some readers of “Rejection” will anticipate the way a couple of endings move past cringe into criminal This is a break from the short-fiction tradition in which lonely tired of burdening his family with his big bug body Lovecraft’s “The Outsider” looks at his reflection for the first time and detestable,” and takes up drinking nepenthe for the duration David Foster Wallace’s titular Depressed Person dwindles into existential nothingness a speck of dust in the vacuum of her agonized solipsism Tulathimutte chooses to activate his rejects The “true rejection plot is the one the reject devises in the absence of a plot,” he wrote He’s interested in the way rejection prompts not just inward harm but outward violence His plots are ultimately about the mistake of seeking revenge The characters in the book are sometimes radicalized politically by all the time they spend online the experience deranges their personalities which grow around the scaffolding of social networks like poisonous vines the stories in “Rejection” form a case study in the way that the Internet has both popularized structural language about power and also flattened all sense of proportion Being online can swiftly amplify a personal feeling of rejection into a world view a convincing theory that the universe is conspiring to shit specifically on the micro-demographic of you the way that language built for social justice can be easily repurposed Craig gains a sophisticated way to convince himself that women have tricked men to become “complicit in our own oppression by pretending it’s not happening or it doesn’t matter.” Alison believes that she’s being progressive when she calls out her friend for having an “Asian child bride” fetish just because he shows up to drinks with a cute Korean girl named Cece whose formidable intellect and deviant instincts crackle in nearly every line has recognized the Internet as the extraordinary repository of character study and self-narration that it is The language of self-presentation on screens provides constant comedic fodder in “Rejection”—as in real life the truth about the person who’s typing is often found in the gulf between their life as they see it and the life that others observe which starts with “Waddap!” and is written entirely as a Reddit post a toxic-positivity dork who uses “10x” as a verb and who assures his audience that he’s made it a “top priority over the years to study modern social behaviors and slang every bit as seriously as I studied Marcus Aurelius and JavaScript.” He explains how he took a girl out for omakase and “helped her appreciate it AF Doesn’t mindfulness hit so different?” The book’s constant mimicry of disposable digital expression makes for a tonal high-wire act Sometimes the effort gets too obvious—“Likeeee he’s fine but his pronouns are ho/hum,” one girl writes in a group text as when Tulathimutte characterizes dating-app messages from “handsome men over fifty” as being like “Hi Alison The characters in “Rejection” do not give and receive touch the protagonist of a story titled “Ahegao: Or the Ballad of Sexual Repression,” is a nerdy Thai American guy afflicted with a “sexual constipation that finds its only release in the fantasy of boundless monstrous subjugation.” Aroused only by extreme he suspects that he will never be able to realize his fantasies—that he’s attracted to the “very quality of their nonexistence.” The punch line is that involving images like a penis entering another penis via anal penetration and protruding tip from tip “like a pig-in-a-blanket.” The fantasy that Kant presents in interminable detail in the form of an OnlyFans request written as a three-act movie treatment and extended over e-mail after he maxes out the Web site’s character limit provoked in me the same admiring horror I once felt while watching a thirty-minute YouTube video that imagined the heat death of the universe in time-lapse despite the best efforts of the characters to disown and ignore their physical forms their bodies stubbornly reassert their existence obsessing about getting laid leads to a medical condition that forecloses the possibility forever acne “lobed like cauliflower” spreads across her cheeks Tulathimutte is empathetic toward his characters—he pays closer more sustained attention to them than anyone else ever has or will—and this sensitivity comes across in his intimate almost clinical descriptions of the physical sensations of rejection Alison watches “The Office” while sitting on the toilet; she brings her laptop to bed “dully prodding herself with her vibrator while watching this prechewed slop.” She cries all the time and “pictures a calcifying bitterness taking the place of all the emotional fluid she’s losing like a bean un-soaking.” Tulathimutte writes “It’s hard to believe chastity was ever associated with purity each passing day rendering him more leprously foul.” Three of the characters in “Rejection” know they are huge losers (The other two believe themselves to be world-historical geniuses.) All of them are losers because of their personalities—they have a nuclear inability to simply hang—but they attribute their plight primarily to their identity and appearance is mad that “having narrow shoulders isn’t on the Official Registry of Politicized Traumas.” Alison believes that she’s been rejected because she’s a “fat white bitch.” Kant was tortured in elementary school by white male classmates; though he finds a partner who loves and accepts him he’s haunted by the gay-dating-app refrain of “no fats femmes Asians,” all categories he fits to some degree taxonomic oppression tabulation features heavily in “Private Citizens,” Tulathimutte’s previous book like a cute skinny desi didn’t have it WAY better than a chubby Jew!” (Another character—another insecure porn-obsessed Thai American guy—creates a spreadsheet of all his female friends with their various pluses and minuses and tabulates his own numbers to dismaying results.) Bee the protagonist of the last long story in “Rejection,” has hated the concept of identity since childhood She doesn’t understand what being Thai has to do with anything other than her mom “really liking Royal Dansk and the Carpenters.” Alienated from all forms of femininity refuses any label or pronoun besides “Bee.” accurately observes various mortifying tendencies in smarmy progressive behavior after a girl describes her Vietnamese-American background: “People said Mmm at the phrase ‘refugee family’ like she’d fed them something delicious.” After college Bee tries to be a normal genderfluid Bay Area person: “Bringing deviled eggs to house parties Parenting succulents.” Bee lives in more co-ops the kind where if you “asked someone to turn down the music at night you were entertaining carceral logic.” Finally “I just wanted to exist without ordering the prix fixe be more than an infinitesimal coordinate in a million-dimensional matrix of demographics—identity and its convenient synergy with personal branding the caricature of you it puts in other people’s heads.” Bee takes an interest in“identity terrorism,” spending eighteen hours a day operating a Twitter troll farm in the hopes of convincing others that no one can really A lot of prickly manifesto material about Asian American identity lives in Bee’s portion of the book The racial in-betweenness of the Asian American is fertile ground to critique facile identity politics not just among those who say things like “carceral logic.” Bee’s right: it’s humiliating the way that any given person can be boiled down by an observer to a series of points gained and points lost; it’s so stupid the way that your identity sets you up for a particular kind of prepackaged acceptance or a particular kind of prepackaged rejection But the strongest argument against identity politics in “Rejection” is the way the stories illustrate that the real stuff of individual humanity is always stranger As Gurov suggests in Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog,” people live their “real most interesting life under the cover of secrecy.” We tend to know this about ourselves and forget it about other people as the protagonists of “Rejection” do—reducing every person in their vision to a prize The characters have lost their grasp on what’s arguably the fundamental project of being alive the same project on display on every page of this collection—they’ve forgotten how gratifying and amazing it can be to try to understand someone else On July 10, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça sat down for an hour-long interview with Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent. The cardinal—commonly referred to by one of his baptismal names, Tolentino—was made prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education in 2022. Part I of the interview can be found here Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça met Pope Francis for the first time at a plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Culture he was the vice rector of the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon Francis asked him to preach the Roman Curia’s Lenten retreat about an hour’s drive in the hills outside Rome Cardinal Tolentino said among many other things that a priest should see movies spirituality” in his retreats and saw no reason not to do so with the Curia as well He said he encourages priests to see films because “a priest must be an expert in humanity and all our experiences of humanity are limited… Cinema allows us to create relationships of empathy of listening to figures and to life situations very different from our own.” He said it is “absolutely necessary” for priests “to understand the complexity of the human soul” in order to “serve in the way Pope Francis repeatedly calls us to do.” [The return of the Catholic Movie Club: Why going to the movies is a sacred act] “It is very easy to reduce even ministry to an ideological or theoretical attitude,” he said is a form of knowing reality at levels that help us to think Cardinal Tolentino recalled that while he was in seminary he and his fellow students went to see “Rocco and His Brothers,” Luchino Visconti’s 1960 film that tells the story of a migrant family from southern Italy and its disintegration in the society of the industrial north and from that experience he said he “learned not to separate things these are books on dogmatics.’ I do not believe in these separations A book for travelers can have fundamental insights into spirituality A book of spirituality must be able to inspire even a filmmaker even a man working in a bakery and a craftsman.” “True wisdom must have the ability to speak to everyone,” Cardinal Tolentino said “This has been a concern all along in my ministry that of finding a language that can speak to everyone That’s also why I chose as the motto of my episcopate ‘Look at the lilies of the field,’ because it’s one of those phrases of Jesus that a gardener and it was there that the cardinal had his first real conversation with him the pope called him to work in the Roman Curia Since then he has met Pope Francis many times When I asked his impression of the man from these encounters he said: “I am very impressed by his intelligence he responds with intelligence and with depth and many times in a surprising way takes the issue beyond what you have asked… There is in that man the smell of the Gospel; it is deeply touching I feel I am in front of a man for whom the truth is the truth I think the church right now has an extraordinary pope and we have to support him in every way in what he is doing to help the church to be more missionary Cardinal Tolentino has worked in the Roman Curia for almost six years he said: “The Curia is very surprising for its quality a level of excellence and dedication that is truly admirable I see this in my own staff; they are truly prepared trained people who live this life as a mission it would be impossible with so few resources to do so much.” Noting that the Curia is a necessarily diverse environment he said that “being able to make a body out of all this diversity is not a guarantee One must make an effort to form a body because otherwise the entropy of the different diversities could create a set of islands and not really a body.” He sees in the Curia “the continuation of the broad lines of [Pope Francis’] magisterium and that missionary dimension that is called for in the apostolic constitution ‘Praedicate Evangelium.’ I think today this missionary consciousness is in place and the Curia is serving the Petrine ministry and the local churches I routinely find this idea of service in the members and structures of the Roman Curia.” I asked how compatible the cardinal found the atmosphere in the Vatican to be with his life as an intellectual “I cherish very much my inner freedom,” he said to think about having a presence in the [world of] culture as a creator Being a cardinal is not a reason to hinder this it is all the more reason to continue what is also a vocation.” “Pope Francis helped me a lot when he invited me to always express myself with freedom on this or that aspect,” he said but in his mind I represent that share that poetry must have in life Francis telling his friars that they should have a garden for the subsistence of the community but they should also keep a small part of it to plant flowers and poetry is one of these useless things that give fragrance to life.” “Poetry does not ask for special conditions to survive,” Cardinal Tolentino said “We sometimes find flowers growing next to the road or in the middle of terrain that would be said to be difficult or impossible resistance and even conflicts that exist in the church and the Vatican Cardinal Tolentino said that “Pope Francis brings with him extraordinary poetry with a hope that is a poetic hope for so many women and men of culture who appreciate him very much for his gestures for the surprising elements in his personality.” The cardinal said that in the church and the Vatican “I think poetry makes us preserve hope because poetry is also a machine for turning suffering into meaning I think of poets who have experienced situations of extreme suffering such as Sylvia Plath; poetry was the way the essence of the Gospel for the church.” “I don’t see this time in a pessimistic way,” the cardinal said “And I think the reason why I see it with hope is because I see so many men and women ready to give a second chance to the church and with Pope Francis they are doing just that and [he is] reaching so many artists and different persons with very complex life paths I see how there is a need and a willingness to start again And I think that should animate the church The world is ready to give Christianity a second chance I think Christianity also has to give a second chance to the world and to so many people.” Asked what he sees as the most important challenge facing the church today the cardinal identified it as “the translation of the Christian experience into the languages of our time and the ability to build community where there was none.” That “There is a first proclamation [of the Gospel] that it is necessary to make today, as Pope Francis states clearly in ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ (“The Joy of the Gospel”) because our world is a world that has not already inherited the Christian cultural code,” he said Cardinal Tolentino emphasized that “the Christian experience cannot just remain fixed in a type of language inherited from the past.” “This is the missionary challenge that Pope Francis talks about the missionary dream of reaching everyone,” he said “I think this is the big challenge for the church today.” The challenge of forming missionary disciples is at the heart of the ongoing Synod on Synodality which has its second meeting at the Vatican in October I asked the cardinal how he viewed this process “and I think the question of synodality will mark the church of the future.” “Pope Francis saw ahead very well when he promoted this Synod on Synodality because the church needs to grow,” the cardinal said “But in order to grow it has to activate the participation of the baptized and it is out of this participation that so many other things will be born.” Furthermore “We have to make being together a resource and see the church not in a pyramidal way but really as a body.” He believes “the second session of the synod will help us to see clearly that more than this question or the other one it is precisely the participation and vocation of the baptized that gives the church a synodal face which will have great importance and consequence for the future.” Cardinal Tolentino envisages “a more communal church but also a church that is the starting point for a real commitment of serene and joyful witness in dialogue with the world.” “I think the church will gain ever more by asking for help instead of feeling self-sufficient I can make the structures,’ because that is a way of remaining in a monologue,” Cardinal Tolentino said “The church has to engage in dialogue [with the world] and has to start this dialogue within itself and for that synodality will be fundamental.” Editors' note: for more on Gerard O'Connell's work as America's Vatican correspondent, see this interview Gerard O’Connell is America’s Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History He has been covering the Vatican since 1985 Password reset instructions will be sent to your registered email address As a frequent reader of our website, you know how important America’s voice is in the conversation about the church and the world. 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