Reminiscing about the V

I was planning to write something that can make people weepy and proud of their stay at the Varsitarian. But seeing that other Amihans or former V writers have already done that, I am taking a different tack. (For those who want the tears and pride inducing articles though, those two are the best ones I’ve read.)

"There was a flurry of blog updates last Sunday as former and current staffers of the Varsitarian, the official student organ of the University of Santo Tomas, waxed nostalgic after attending the publication's 80^th anniversary last Saturday at Sofitel in Manila."

My former editors at the V would probably greet that lead with this line: Shorten it. Or even worse, they may decide that the article does not warrant space in the paper.

It's probably safe to say that of all the memories that Amihans have of the Varsitarian, it's the editors they've had that are hardest to forget.

Those memories may not always be pleasant though. Young writers are not the most receptive lot to editing, which results to a lot clashes with editors or at least silent grumblings.

Fortunately for me the editors I worked with were the competent kind. So if there were complaints about our professional relationship, it would not be coming from me.

As a V sports reporter back in 2006, my immediate editor was Karla Magno. Karla was my classmate during freshman year but I never took her for a sports buff. I occasionally went with her with some other friends to watch games of the school's basketball games, but I thought she just came to ogle and shriek at the "cute" players like the other girls. Boy was I wrong.

I was not a regular reader of the V in my earlier years in college so while I knew that she was a writer for the paper's sports section, I did not know that she was THE writer of the sports page then. It was quite an achievement considering that the Sports section was stocked with some of the V's better writers.

Coming into the V, I thought that my writing skills were already refined. As soon as my first article got edited, I had to throw that idea out the window. I probably learned more about writing under Karla's tutelage than in my four years in J-school. So if I am any good a writer today, a large part of the credit should go to her.

Under Karla's supervision, Sports became one of the V's best performing sections. The Science section's almost mechanical efficiency was the only reason we did not top the biannual assessment. During her tenure as sports editor, the section did not just become a repository of the usual sports stories. Our group churned out investigative reports on UST's sports program to the chagrin of the IPEA.

Further up the hierarchy was TL Fernandez, our managing editor.

During our time, TL was the V's most sought after person. He was a likable fellow but I don't think that's the reason the V's staffers were always looking for him. The real reason was that he was Keeper of the Keys of the V's vault or rather cash box. As a result, a monthly inquiry on TL's whereabouts can be heard in the V as staffers try to collect payment for their contributions to the past month's issue.

Aside from his money managing abilities, another TL trademark was loquaciousness-not to mention his shorts and rubber shoes combo. The man can talk for hours on end. It would usually start with some harmless chitchat and before you know it 20 minutes has already passed and he's you realize he is just getting warmed up. And just when you think that your conversation is winding down, he’ll open up another topic that will keep you planted on your seat for a few more minutes. If you don't play your cards right, he'll occupy you for a few more.

It was not senseless chatter though. Many V staffers probably learned a lot about law just by listening to TL, who has a penchant for sharing his lessons about the arcane ways of the courts.

When it comes to editing he transforms to a completely different person, though. For one thing, TL is intolerant of wordiness, believing that clarity can be achieved through brevity. For another, he can dish out some pretty sharp comments on a bad copy that would make one think twice if he was the same congenial person you just talked with. If he feels that a writer is not delivering what he is looking for, he would usually rewrite the entire article himself. A stern reminder that he expects better next time follows afterwards. Although disheartening at times, this helped a lot of us improve.

Eldric Peredo, another law student, was the Varsitarian’s editor in chief during my stay.

Eldric was a scary figure for a number of staffers. No, he did not have horns protruding out of his forehead but many probably thought that whenever he would ask them to redo an article with the deadline just a few days away.

His high standards was one of the reason he was an intimidating figure. Sometimes, people get exasperated at this because they knew that they've given their best, but Eldric would insist that there's still something left, something better. I was at the receiving end of this once and it was not a fun experience.

He would not approve my article for publication because he was not satisfied with a few sentences in my story. It took a while before I finally got what he wanted but the article was an improvement from how the original.

Another reason for Eldric’s intimidating presence was his intelligence.

During one of V's post-mortem sessions for example, the atmosphere was again sombre as he rattled off the problems with the past issue. But the mood changed when he turned his attention to the increasing use of “platitudinous” statements in the stories. With that, the once silent room was abuzz. The staff, which was mostly composed of journalism students, some of whom were the best in their batches, and a sprinkling of equally talented writers and intelligent people from other colleges, was puzzled at what he just said. No one of among us could define platitudinous. Heck! Even TL couldn't immediately define the word if I remember correctly. On that moment I felt some relief. It seems that I am not the only one who feels stupid when talking to the guy. By the way, I checked a dictionary platitudinous means cliche. (One word that a couple of pretty good writers were not familiar with right? Well check UST's 2003 academic records and you'll see that the guy packs some serious brainpower.)

Naturally, Eldric's style rubbed some of the staffers the wrong way. At one time, I also considered quitting because I felt that some of his demands bordered on unreasonable.

But for all the complaints against his tough policies, the protest about his uncompromising stand on work, I felt that the staff knew deep inside that he was right. If anything, there was a grudging respect for Eldric because we knew that while he may be a tough boss to work for, he was not doing those things just to spite people but to improve the paper.

His tough demeanor was not without its benefits. He was the unofficial kuya to all the staffers, one of the first people they take to the dark room whenever they have a problem V-related or otherwise.

During the Valik-Varsi, former writers flocked to their former bosses for pictures. The smiles they presented in front of the cameras assured me the hard feelings are no longer there. The memories that linger are only the good ones.