The Pillars Opinion rant

Now I know that the word nostalgia is a pocket ready term for aging persons. Last night while I was skimming through the latest copy of the Pillars Opinion, a flood of memories was drowning me, in a good way. (Click here if you want to see online copies of archives)

The usual topics of TFI (tuition fee increase, as always), fraternities (staple article), Sexual Deviation - Chuvaness (no better topic?), Balikatan, SM Effects on Naga's businesses, BS DoTA and Urulay Ulay Atenista brought back images of Bonks wrestling Diablo on the antique PC, Ninoy puffing on his endless supply of malboros holding in his other hand magic cards, Fiel and OJ Bulao playing physical Tabuc style indoor basketball, and heartthrob King intent on finishing his latest crossword challenge. In the background is the voice of Elvie, our managing editor, cussing about the piss filled coke Litro, the trapped cigarette butts in between hardwood floors, the extended deadlines, and the occasional condom neatly wrapped in the doorknob.

As these images came like a flash, I immediately blurted out, "Is this all they could write about now? We certainly were better than this pretentious high falooting journalists wannabee." Insecurities abound, I gave every article a paragraph to catch my attention, only to turn to the last one, Urulay Ulay Atenista, only not to finish it for lack of interest. I wanted my ten minutes back.

Can I no longer relate to college level writing style, or are these new crop of Pillars writers taking themselves too seriously?

To be fair, we can never be impartial judges of ouselves, bias will always creep in when we try to compare our work to a similar rendition. Our parents manifest these all the time, "Kan kapanuhanan mi, lakaw lang kami. Ang balon mi diyes sentimos lang." Of course they could always walk, there were fewer vehicles. The streets were safer. The sun was tolerable then. Even the air was clearer back then. Try walking nowadays, and a 8 to 10 chance exists you'll get fumed with black smoke, a 1 to 10 chance your cellphone might get snatched. And a probability, you'll go home with heat stroke.

On the other hand, I cannot fathom how these young thespians would resort to analyzing the psychological effects of computer games to the young minds, or the effect of SM Naga to business and cultural statuses of the city, or heck, how the Balikatan exercises even matter. Why don't they stay within the ballpark for once? Talk about what youngsters keep up all night most of the time, young love, a bit of booze, cheap snack hangouts, heck talk about why thee are dental and clinic fees when you never use them.

Sounds like a rant right? I admit I am just frustrated to find that something that was once yours could turn into an old lady in a decade. It's like you have to relocate and leave a girlfriend behind. The distance doesn't work so you eventually break up. After ten years you chance upon her profile in facebook, click on a couple of albums only to find a wrinkled stressed shell of her herself in a family photo of her fifth daughter's birthday.

I am just saddened to realize either one of the two things, that I am too old to understand youth jargon, or that a typical parochial institution can suck the fun out of the typical campus journalism shenanigans - the hidden banters, the clues in inside jokes, the low blow articles, and the shocking exposes. For the life of me I want to believe it's the former, but this rather incompetent judge of talent insists the latter.