Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Renaissance of Young Journalist in the Age of Today

As Shakespeare, Castiglione and Alighieri’s Gold turns Diamond

              He lives and he knows how to kick his own self-concept. He craft a written plenary to defend traditional media. He proves mathematics will not kill writers. He makes love letter to his beloved U.  And, he made articles beyond his own low-class standard.
            Young journalist in this age proves to revive the golden period of the Renaissance era by crafting written legacy to its people even though he is climbing invisibly to the matters of his works – known to be objective.
            But, this is the moment to share a glimpse of the rebirth of the newest William Shakespeare, Baldassare Castiglione and Dante Alighieri’s golden legacy of poems, playwright and novels to turn this to the significant journalistic articles that can move people into action firmly.

His Writing History Starts not like Pinpin

            Almost 15 years ago, people always ask me the most cliché question of all to children aside from name, age and location: Anong gusto mong maging? (What is your ambition in life?). But as a child, I always say “I want to be a teacher, because I want to teach children.”
            Well my dream can be achievable by the profession I got today – to be a journalist – but I guess, that dream will be just to be set aside from now on.
             It is not very common to see to someone like me that I wanted to be a journalist when I was just a simple child with simple dream and simple knowledge about the world. I always wanted to play around, to socialize and to live in an easy way I can which is not considerable factor to the profession I am going to be, but now I’m going into it.
            As time passed by, as a child, I tried to believe in my own capability but each of my stepping stone to writing was slowly crashing in front of me. People downgraded me in my way of how I write in a piece of paper because of my ugly way of handwriting. Even in printed way or in cursive way, people can’t find any understanding pattern of words in my papers.
            When I was in second grade, my teacher always ask us to write a friendly letter to someone, then as I passed my paper, my teacher didn't bother to finish reading it but my seatmate, now a student of Mechanical Engineering, always received appraisal from Ma’am (insert name here). Everyday of my life in writing letters as a seatwork for us, I am slowly disappointed to the comments I am receiving.
            Despite of that, I still pursue my life in the ink of dirty handwriting until the day when my grade four teacher asked me to write legibly in the Writing Notebook for the Writing Subject in which every day we are writing letters from A to Z in an hour with different words which starts from the given letter for that day consecutively.
            I started to learn how to put my own style in my own font style cursively which made my teacher proud of me. In the same year, we are doing some communication essays which make me bolder to write it all proudly because I am rest assured that my articles have been read due to the appreciation of my teachers in what I am writing.
            Long journey comes in my way, when I started to join the school publication of our elementary school, “Ang Parola”. I am one of the students gratified to be the staffer and to put my name inside the news organ circulated in the whole school.
            But sometimes, as I imagine myself receiving awards to the District School Press Conference, it turned worse as imagination created conflict against the reality of life. The conference turned me to be the most loser among all my classmates who joined the said contest because I only got an award which is the lowest, the Tenth Place for Pagsulat ng Balitang Isports.
            Again, despite of the reality of a very pen-breaking moment of my life, I started to dream that I wanted to be the Editor-in-chief of the school I’ll be studying in for my Secondary years.
              That time, when I started to put my feet on the floor of the school, the presence released by the newspaper is go beyond the radar of my ink as it is very hard to be a staffer of the Rizal’s Division Leader school. 
            I went to thrice rejection in the try-out provided by the organization which make me sad, especially when my classmate who didn't even knew how to write creatively before came to be the first staffer against me.
            But still, I continue my dream to be the EIC and I’ve got to be the staffer when I was in Third Year high school.
            It made my heart to beat faster in the profession I’m going to be. In this time, I am now achieving something worth it which can change my dream and my knowledge about the world to be an extra-ordinary vision about my one’s self.

When Achievement Touches my Skin

                This is the time when I focused myself to something worth studying for. The time when I know what should be my priority for my extra-curricular activity and a priority to be involved within the core of myself.
            I remembered, when I was in third year, journalism profession for Philippine campuses taught me one of my very special talents – to draw an editorial cartoon. That year, I am surprised that I can drew something more than I can without any coloring materials to make my work fancy at the same time with only just having few numbers of characters to cap it all.
            I commit to memory the session given to us by Rene Aranda (The Philippine Star Chief Cartoonist ata?) he said “Editorial Cartooning is the hardest category of all, because in Editorial Writing you are using 250 words but in cartoon only three characters to explain the whole topic.”
            It made me inspired to draw better for the Division School Press Conference and proved myself that I can achieve something more than anyone else. That year, I achieved 7th place despite of the talent of cartooning I had in my hands.
            That year, I am only the Filipino Writer in Junior’s Batch who qualified for the Regional Schools Press Conference in Lucena City. Also, I knew that this is also my passenger’s ticket to be the Editor-in-chief of “Ang Maglalatik” for the next school year.
            As my torch of life started to spark for Fourth Year High School (Senior Year), I achieved the title as the EIC of the aforementioned news organ, and that year I achieved my primary dream since the beginning of my High School life in which I told myself, “It’s a dream come true. LOL!”
            But despite of achieving that, I lose in the DSPC without winning anything for myself as an individual campus journalist. That cause me of a thousand of sadness brought into my life, I thought my moment in journalism and my built stardom is being breaking and wrecking through the loses I've made in that competition.
            That happening made me disappointed that for the last time and the last year as a campus journalist that I’m not qualified to join in the RSPC, but of course as EIC of the school publication, I needed to do my work to show them that I am capable enough to still do a work as my own priority.
            But still, God is very good and put me in the special category offered in RSPC. I joined the team for Collaborative Publishing which the goal is to create a four-page publication.
            I stood as the leader or the EIC of the “Ang CALABARZON” the official publication of our Division for the category given. We trained ourselves conductively and properly without forgetting the leisure time and getting-to-know-each-other moments to bond our ties better as a team for competition.
            In the awarding moment, we were surprised that we won first place and achieve the infamous gold medal that can give us the chances to go in Ormoc City for the 2013 National Schools Press Conference.
            I told myself, “Hindi ko sasayangin ang pagkakataong ito, kailangan naming manalo.”
            As I follow the pattern of trying harder than expected, we got the seventh place around the Philippines and made myself stay in the place for telling myself: Ayos na, nanalo na kami.
            At that moment, I considered it as a once in a lifetime achievement that I can never achieve again as I go up in College degree. Winning in the campus journalism made me realize that somehow as a simple person, I have a potential in journalism profession.
            As I graduated from my high school days, I am glad to be recognized as Journalist of the Year of our school that brought me to the Cloud 9 of inspiration to still write and write and another write. I guess this is quite redundant, but I believe that as a journalist, we need to write more than our aptitude’s expectation.

Journey for the Lifetime

            My family, relatives and friends did not expect that I’ll get a course such as this journalism courses that was known for being a low-salary work for the future. But as time passed by, they are slowly accepting the fact that I got this course because this is my passion in life.
            I don’t even know how my feet turned towards journalism when the time that all I know is I’ll forgot and I will leave this profession of being a journalist in my high school as a memory to be remembered only. But, I guess, even that principle whispered in my soul to get this course like this.
            As I am now in this University which I am celebrating my demands for knowledge about this kind of profession, I am smoothly learning the process but as the same time I am receiving the demands of time and effort in creating reportage especially if the worth is very valuable to fuel my capability in creating such write-ups that will be my foundation for the real world.
            It is very nice to see know that my professor for Communication subjects and for Journalism subjects sustains and keeps us to see the fundamentals of all the knowledge we will receive in the future.
            I can’t forget the time when my professor for Introduction to Journalism told us to have an interview to some college dean, department chairperson or to some faculty members of a specific program offered by PUP. Then as me and my partner in that activity are doing the interview, I felt the real essence and happiness in doing such activity as a journalist who have been given a period to beat a deadline.
            But as time turns by, sometimes we felt that in the road of success and happiness, we are intend to take detours because of the roadblocks that may put us in too much problem to what we are doing especially in times of celebrating another peak of achievement we’ve got in life.
            I can’t forget the Facebook status of my friend saying, “parang lahat ng pinangarap ko nawala. naguguluhan na ako sa course ko, parang di na ako masaya. sumusulat nalang ako kasi required, hindi kasi gusto at mahal ko talaga ang pagsusulat.” This is because of the thousand tons of paperworks we needed to write and to pass without assurance that there is someone who are willing to read it even once.
            That line really strikes my loyalty to the course I’m studying in. Sometimes, things enter in my mind keeping their voices loud to let me hear the prejudice way of forgetting a year as journalist and try to shift to other course which is better track for me than this. Also, it turns me to the way just like my friend is also stating, that my passion for journalism slowly descending in my soul, in a sense that I should be objective enough to do such requirements and do not put feelings and passion to all my writings: JUST WRITE WHAT ARE REALLY NEEDED TO WRITE is the memo pad of all things in the bottom line.
            Somehow, those things made me feel disappointed in my life, that the love for writing does not even the highlight why I am studying in, but because of the goal to finish my study with a higher grade I can achieve.
            But regardless of all the academic requirements, the endpoint of my own way of avoiding redemption for love and passion is my own way of writing. As a person with too much standard in looking to an article as pretty one, these criteria doesn't even fulfilled by my own articles created. In simple term, I am not satisfied to the best as I can.
            Leaving in an environment where all the people have their own style of writing and own journey to walk on makes me curious about the question, “Magaling ba talaga ako?” and the answer I am receiving, “Magaling naman ako, sadyang mas magaling lang sila.”
            As I look forward to that reality, I am not been motivated to write better but I’m only just being envious that’s why I am writing for my own enhancement.
            But as I soul-searched myself, do I really have the guts to write?
            I think being a journalist is not only just a profession, an occupation nor even a passion for something but it is a vocation for the betterment of one’s self and of the others. People with a higher fame of stardom today in literary or journalism profession also tend to have time to revise their works for the better, to crumple their papers for the greater, and to be disappointed to what they are doing.
            In the end, to breakdown in a journey for the lifetime is just a normal experience that anyone could have. Maybe, it is only just a part of the renaissance of a greater young journalist in the future who can make the gold age into diamond one.

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