August Month of August

By: Veronica Leighton

 

The last summer month before the start of the BER months is August. This eighth month in the Gregorian calendar honors Augustus Caesar that later gained the definition of ”having great importance and especially of the highest social class.” Thereby, we are happy to say that we are bringing to our readers this “august” issue of Via Times, with all its meaning of respectability and classiness, with esteemed and venerable topics.

August carries with its vast shoulder an unforgettable history of mankind that happened in the 1940’s, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II. Our editorialist, Joe Mauricio (an August son born on August 19), addresses these heartbreaking historical incidents in this issue. Also, in his widely read column, “Objectively Harsh,” he touches on the senseless shootings that are happening lately in this country.

Another August baby, our senior editor, Elsie Sy-Niebar (Notebook, pages 12-13), writes on various topics of importance that are happening from our small community to the larger global communities involving the Philippines and China.

Your favorite VT columnists bring to you their August stories in their august kind of writings: Maria Girlie Pascual (GMail, page 25), regales her followers about her recent visit to the Philippines; Dear Tita Eza (page 12) entertains with her sob story of “Tubig at Langis”; our young Lou Cabalona (News & Personalities, page 35), keeps us updated about the new group of FYLPRO; our healthy persona Melody Rabor Dizon (Health Matters, page 21), brings views on our crowning glory; Elaine Lehman (Water and Fire, page 10), presents SPAM, one of Filipinos’ comfort foods; speaking about a recent book that he read that touches a little bit about August’s history on World War II is Prof. Robert Boyer (Philippines, page 31); our house poet Ma. Victoria Smith (Notes from the Sound, page 20), has an impactful message in her column as she celebrates her 25th anniversary traveling the big cities of Italy with the love of her life; from deadline Venice, she lovingly wrote, “You may be flattered to know that I sacrificed a whole day of my Italy tour to write and send you this attached column. You and VIA Times are really that special to me!”; Of course, the thoughtful column of our “On a Bright Side” (page 29) Pastor Nancy Abiera, for our spiritual upliftment; Doug Nguyen’s latest SS updates on page 31; “What Would Janice Do” on page 30, always has a pragmatic approach to legal queries; “Club Presidents” guru on page 24, young writer Ryan Tejero, always brings to his readers a focus to community leaders that we have to know; we welcome back from a brief hiatus, our financial columnist, JP Ferrer, on page11. If life has not been treating you well, and you want your heart to lighten up, let’s all laugh together at “Let’s LOL” by James DC on page 28.

Via Times Newsmag is also taking you to our August coverages of the Historic Hotels of America at the magnificent Gold Coast Drake Hotel on Michigan Avenue (Veronica’s Vibes on page 5) and the launching of the Hangar 1 Distillery in partnership with the newly opened most-talked-about Offshore Rooftop Bar at an exclusive media event on August 17th to celebrate the its first-ever non-vodka spirit innovation: Bentwing Brandy.

VT/CPRTV headed by Joe Mauricio, Girlie Pascual, Lou Cabalona and Bobby Leighton had so much fun for an afternoon of brunch and BB cocktails and unobstructed view of the world-famous Chicago Air and Water Show featuring The Blue Angels. Photo on this page. Watch the CPRTV interview with Host of Hangar 1 Ms. Caley Shoemaker. More feature stories to follow in our upcoming September issue.

Enjoy our beautiful August cover featuring first cousins Cheenee Miranda, Miss Philippines PIWC, and Charlize Miranda, Miss Little Philippines PIWC 2019.##

VT/CPRTV staff in their coverage fun work at the launching of Hangar 1 Distillery’s launching of Bentwing Brandy at the Rooftop Bar, from left, Girlie, Christy, Bobby, Carly Shoemaker, Joe, Lou, Baron & Reign.