As mentioned in This Week's Calendar article, which we had to relegate from Page 2 to Page 10, this is apparently the busiest week of the year so far following New Year-related activities.

This week brings Ash Wednesday, carnival time in Latin America and other parts of the world, and a number of other festive occasions. Locally, two events are taking the center stage: the bigger BacoLaodiat Festival, which will be held this time for four days, and the Golden Jubilee celebration of St. Scholastica's Academy, one of the prime basic education institutions in the region.

Our two cover stories depict various moods – a strident way of welcoming the Year of the Rat under the Chinese calendar but this time, with various activities also promoting a better understanding of the Tsinoy way of life and further em phasizing the value of unity as a key to the strength of the community and a joyous celebration of graces from God and, giving in return to the community, the blessings the SSA academic community has received through five decades of serving the educationa l needs of the region.

Our U.S.-based columnist, Nelia Dingcong-Bernabe, takes us to American frenzy as she writes on the rising temperature amid the late winter chill as Americans look forward to today's Super Bowl Dayin Phoenix, Arizona . Todays' big game pits the undefeated New England Patriots against underdog New York Giants. The article explains the Super Bowl fever by going back to the basics of the understanding of American football and the underlying commercialism surrounding the sport.

Stage lovers get a treat in Contact, a two one-act play written and directed by Negrenses. The play is presented by Produksyon Tramontina. You can catch the final presentations from Feb. 7-9 at the Gallaga Theatre of St. La Salle.

Images of the sea, the sand and sky have attracted a young photography buff to capture rare moments between the interplay of light and darkness in our back page pictorial feature. The pictures were taken by Aries Cariño, a student writer and photojournalist, who compiled his shots between September 2006 and December 2007. The photos were taken in various parts of Negros, Guimaras and Hawaii , where he spent his summer vacation last year.

Be part of this week's Happy, Golden Days and other important events — and, yes, Kung hei fat choi! Happy Chinese New Year.!