Dispatches by Adrian Conoza

"...But being the best is not enough" —Reuven Frank,  NBC News President circa 1983 I think in each class there are 2 kinds of students: those who care and those who don't, or rarely care. Those who care can be divided into two: the lucky ones and the not much lucky ones. Who am I to tell you this? It's just an idea from my mind, theoretical, and can be rejected. Just let me share it to you, because I’ve found something here for all of us to take note. The lucky ones successfully reach the finish line before any other else. They are those who get to finish first. They ace the tests and achieve almost each and every seatwork, homework, and project. They're brilliant, of course, unless they're the ones who memorize instead of understanding. There may be some downs, but they are minor. Thus, they're all-time winners, in my own opinion. And what seems incredible to them is that they have the strength to do it all. It thus makes me wonder, how do they do it?  D

2 years ago, I wrote a piece here , where I depicted 2 different Christmases: one that was a joyous celebration, and one that was not that joyous. Days before Christmas that year, Typhoon Washi, or Sendong, struck Mindanao and parts of Visayas and Palawan. As long as I can remember, the pictures and videos showed a very tragic aftermath. One picture that I put there in the post set my mood down. I did wonder: how they'll spend Christmas when there's nothing left? When their love ones were carried away from them? This year, I felt the same again. History repeated itself, but now in a stronger level. Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda, is seen as the greatest storm yet. It brought damage in Visayas and parts of Minanao. It turned Tacloban and nearby places into "ghost towns", like that in The Walking Dead , or Cell . Seeing on the TV screen what was going on there pulled me in awe. I felt compassion. I was saddened suddenly. I wondered what can I do to help. And so I wrote the