It was like receiving a letter from the past. Weirdly enough, it came in the form of an email.
Some few weeks ago, I had a brief correspondence with our first editor in chief (EIC) Polo Pantaleon. I asked him to write a special column for this month’s equally special anniversary issue. Too bad he had to beg off because of other commitments; yet, in true campus journalist fashion, he still found a way to contribute.
He sent me photo of him and Roberto San Jose, our first managing editor, who is his friend to this day. He even gave me instructions on the caption and his preferred size of the photo.
Fifty years and he hasn’t lost his touch.
Fifty years ago, would he have thought that he’ll receive an email from me? Highly likely, no. It is not so much about me as it is about email. In 1960 (the year he was EIC), the promise of the Internet was just that, a promise. It was not even called Internet yet. I wonder how he’ll react if I show him our website.
When he was EIC, would he have thought that one day the pages of The LaSallian will be graced with rich colors? He probably hoped it would. I can only admire him and the rest of his editorial board and staff for coming up with regular issues despite the technological setbacks. Hundreds of issues later, we’re still here. We’re still The LaSallian.
There really are no words to describe the 49 years that came after the year the paper first saw print. The men and women who worked for the paper jumped hurdle after hurdle, year in year out. DLSU is turning 100 soon, and The LaSallian saw half of that.
The paper was witness to the rise of student activism against the school administration and even the government; the birth of student leadership; and the changes that happened to De La Salle, both cultural and physical. It was also witness to the men and women, with great talent, who captured its photos, created its art and wrote its stories.
We chronicled stories of success, danger and tragedy. We wrote about Lasallians who held the quiver, shot the arrow and hit the target. We fearlessly wrote about those who missed. In the course of time, we wrote about Lasallians who left us too early. We made accounts of storms that hit us, both literally and figuratively.
The LaSallian was there when it happened: when 800 Lasallites marched to Malacanang to protest against dictator Pres. Marcos; when De La Salle adopted the trimester system; when Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC was appointed secretary of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports, and years after when Br. Armin Luistro FSC took the same path (only now it is just the Department of Education); when in 2003, the Supreme Court confirmed a leakage in the Bar Examinations and this year, when an explosion turned the joyous “Salubong” of “Barristers” into a tragic ending; when Pres. Cory Aquino was named the country’s first female president; when the nation mourned after her death; and when her son Noynoy, another Pres. Aquino, took oath.
There are many others and I only hope that there will be more.
As the years passed, The LaSallian did change and the readers did so too. In the 70s, students were getting the newspapers from the newsbins and actually reading them. Up until 2008, we were still receiving letters to the editor. This time, in the era of emails, status messages and tweets, Lasallians have become victims of “Too Long, Did not Read.” It’s either that or God forbid, we’re not worth reading anymore.
I’ve seen issues of The LaSallian in the trash can, on floors or under brain specimens (In one of my laboratory classes, copies of the paper are used to protect the tables from the dissection pans containing the brain specimens.) If you think about it, we still serve the human mind that way, just in the most literal sense. Kidding aside, I died a little, not only from what I saw, but from uncertainty. Fifty years from now, will people still read us?
I am a little scared of what the next 50 years hold. I fear that 50 years from now (or even less), The LaSallian won’t be released in print anymore. Will there still be newspapers or magazines, or only websites? God knows what will be invented then, and surely, I cannot tell whether it will be good or bad.
Change, in some way, has been both a friend and a foe to The LaSallian. It came with controversy when in 2002, we changed the font of our masthead from Old English to Times New Roman. Same goes in 2008, when for a few months we changed from newspaper to magazine format. Through the years, programs have been invented to improve the layout of the paper. The rise of the Internet forever changed the way we did things. Even more so, it changed our readers.
Editors came and left, each one leaving a mark, be it changing the name of a section of the paper, creating a whole new section or scribbling dedications on our office logbooks. Eras began and eras ended. At some point, we have all been slaves to change but we never forgot and we should never forget—that we are here for the Lasallians, the readers. Frankly, we are nothing without them.
We toil for quality, accuracy and relevance because we want to please, inform and challenge our readers. Yes, we may have been losing the battle on readership (It breaks my heart to admit it but who am I kidding?), but if anything, it only inspires us to work more, top our previous issues and find better ways to reach the readers.
Nothing encompasses this attempt more than this very special issue does. This is proof that what we’re doing here, we’re doing for love.
I hope a copy of this issue survives the next 50 years. To whoever will be EIC of The LaSallian 50 years from now (your parents most probably haven’t even met yet): consider this your letter from the past. Do you know what you’re getting into?
Take it from me; you’re about to experience the best year of your life.
I’d tell you more but I don’t want to spoil it for you. Besides, there really is just one thing you need to know: do it for love. It never fails.
