HI-TECH
www
Ba't andami mong tanong
Sa problema ng bayan
Isa lang ang solusyon
.com
www
Ba't andami mong tanong
Sa problema ng bayan
Isa lang ang solusyon
.com
Once, during those innocent undergrad days when Sarah's was a question and the answer was Tara!, I had the privilege of being the sounding board of a friend who vented his frustration over his perceived epidemic of apathy spreading around UP. He felt that fewer and fewer join the rallies and the organizers are having a hard time convincing them to come because the students don't give a damn anymore.
Later that night, as I traced a random walk down Krus na Ligas, I paused by the new internet cafes that sprouted like mushrooms in every corner. Each was jampacked. And most of the customers were students. It hit me: Is UP's militant tradition dying in these hi-tech times? Is makibaka out and apathy in? Have I already seen the last rally?
That was around the year 2000. Of course, we all knew what the answer was early the next year and how the hi-tech played its part.
But I would have sooner known the answer had I merely browsed through that year's Collegian and read Karl Sebastian's Hi-tech. This short poem encapsulates the militant gene's promise to never die out. Its double meanings show the militant tradition's ability to adopt new technology and adapt to new times. Its few words demonstrate the absence of excess baggage as the makibaka spirit stakes the future.
Hi-tech was a part of TRIP, the Collegian's literary portfolio for AY 1999-2000. The timing of the poem's publication was apt. As if declaring the militant tradition's intention to straddle the millenias. As if assuring doubters like me that we haven't seen the last rally yet.
Later that night, as I traced a random walk down Krus na Ligas, I paused by the new internet cafes that sprouted like mushrooms in every corner. Each was jampacked. And most of the customers were students. It hit me: Is UP's militant tradition dying in these hi-tech times? Is makibaka out and apathy in? Have I already seen the last rally?
That was around the year 2000. Of course, we all knew what the answer was early the next year and how the hi-tech played its part.
But I would have sooner known the answer had I merely browsed through that year's Collegian and read Karl Sebastian's Hi-tech. This short poem encapsulates the militant gene's promise to never die out. Its double meanings show the militant tradition's ability to adopt new technology and adapt to new times. Its few words demonstrate the absence of excess baggage as the makibaka spirit stakes the future.
Hi-tech was a part of TRIP, the Collegian's literary portfolio for AY 1999-2000. The timing of the poem's publication was apt. As if declaring the militant tradition's intention to straddle the millenias. As if assuring doubters like me that we haven't seen the last rally yet.
(2nd entry)
No comments:
Post a Comment