This past year, I became particularly conscious of my age. I never really gave it much thought before (then again, I was younger), but when you realize you are the dinosaur at The LaSallian’s acquaintance party, you are bound to give your age some attention.
The LaSallian, in all its glorious 50 years, has seen quite a number of people walk through its doors. Heck, I remember when this school publication was practically the center of my life. This was the org where you found your friends, your loves, your enemies – it was the org where you found yourself. In no other period of my life was I ever so sure of my moves; and in no other time of my life was I cockier and more bull-headed than when I was in this student publication. Ah, youth coupled with power!
“Without any fear, there is no danger,” a saying goes. Being in The LaSallian gave me innate confidence – and a lack of fear. Maybe that’s really what your late teens/early twenties should be all about. Only at The LaSallian did I experience any real danger in my life. I had three frat boys threaten me in the student publication office. I ran towards the direction of bullet sounds during a bank robbery. I was in the middle of a stampede after the court handed down its verdict on the case of Levi Vinculado. These are all experiences I will remember for as long as I live.
While I’m no longer with The LaSallian, it will always be a part of who I am. My husband Louie was my co-editor in chief. My best friend, Mirzi, was an Associate editor at The LaSallian. When we talk, we always remember the good old days. It’s during these moments that we are who we were back then.
Now that I’m in my thirties, I don’t quite lack fear anymore. It’s quite the opposite actually. Age, coupled with parenthood, really does something to you. It mellows you… a lot. It’s quite difficult really, because inside I’m exactly the same person I was back then, but when you got a piece of your heart walking around the world (that is, your kids), you are forever fearful and less confident that the world is as good as you think it is. Man, if I knew my college kid would be standing in the middle of a street waiting for a frat war to start based on someone’s anonymous tip just to scoop a story for their school paper, I’d never let him/her out of my sight.
What would The LaSallian say about turning fifty, if she could speak? Would she still be stuck in the past? Or would she be in the now, hip and cool? While I’m certainly not fifty, I can relate to the struggle to define yourself as you grow older. I think The LaSallian would say, “Age ain’t nothing but a number.” We are defined not by the calendar, but by the experiences we have and the people we love. I am who I am today because I was part of this great organization.
Even if I have mellowed quite a bit, there will always be moments when my fierce, old The LaSallian self comes out – like when I want to confront my second grader’s teacher to argue out the supposed “correct” answer on a test paper; or when I want to beat the crap out of some PTA mom at my daughter’s school for being an elitist; or when I simply need to juggle a million things at once and just get through the day. On the tamer side, sometimes Louie and I will start editing someone’s wedding invitation or laugh at bad grammar on a billboard.
After all, old The LaSallian habits die hard – no matter how old you are.
Angelica Fortich Laparan wrote for the University section in 1993-1995. She became Menagerie editor in 1995 and Editor in chief (EIC) in 1996. She is happily married to her then co-EIC Luis Laparan. They have two children. Angelica previously worked for advertising/direct marketing firms Ogilvy & Mather and Lowe. She now runs an international recruitment agency.
