Page against the machine

MANILA, Philippines - 25 years of the Philippine STAR, one year as the new Young Star — our word is definitely good. 

A section that has in its name the word “young” and that exists in this format presents quite the contradiction. It is widely believed that rather than turning pages, a generation used to scrolling down feeds is used to being spoon-fed information; that kids nowadays don’t read print articles, much less actually read.

It’s okay, guys, you don’t need to explain yourselves. Not in a day and age where you don’t need much to express exactly how you feel about something/anything. Sharing now comes at the click of a button — viral videos reposted, celebrities retweeted, so much to show and less and less to tell, especially when you’re working with a character limit. I mean, can you imagine how people in the ‘90s survived without a “like” button? Don’t you just “like” how we can build our identities today just with a thumbs-ups?

Unfortunately, dear readers of the lost — or supposedly losing — format, our intentions for what we write here at Young Star are stronger than just “like.” We haven’t resorted to brain farts just ‘cause of the web’s free and easy atmosphere. Rather because the Net is free and easy, we have even more to say, enough to persevere on print and stand steadily on hard copy to show the firmness of our word.

Still partying in print: Young Star’s columnists past and present. From left: Regina Belmonte, Kara Ortiga, Monique Buensalido, Paolo Lorenzana, Luis Katigbak, Erwin Romulo, Carlo Velasco, Paolo Belmonte, Samantha King, Christopher de Venecia, and Karen Bolilia.

That we are celebrating our first anniversary as the revivified Young Star on the same month that this newspaper is celebrating a quarter of a century is a great testament to endurance — what fortifies this issue. In the next few pages, we tell you about the lasting significance of an ancient medium (television) and the importance of a possibly extinct message (the letter in the mail). We’ve also gotten a couple industry institutions to sit down and talk a while with today’s young influences, all to show that more than being so easily connected today, making that ol’ connection no matter the age gap is still more rewarding.

As with a broadsheet’s straightforward depiction of the real events of our day-to-day humanity — that times may change but man, man just keeps going and going — we wanted to remind that it isn’t always about what’s new but about what’s natural. It’s in the formula the new Young Star started with: “People plus their passions, buzz minus bull” — a formula we’re sure as hell sticking with. Which is why we’ve decided to present a new list of “producers of fresh.” Here, another group of young, no-bull people who, even with “Internet somebody” as today’s most sought-after profession, don’t just aspire to what everybody else does; who, whether the World Wide Web is watching or not, continue to persevere with their passions.

We here at Young Star can relate to that, of course. No matter that everybody is telling us that this medium doesn’t matter, we’ll still be here week after week, meaning what we say. Ah, idealism and insistence — how much more young can you get?