|
|
|
July 2, 2008
Dear Evelyn Aison,
It was Torch Night, our first big event as UP students. We were barely a month in and already we had a gig to make. It was the special night set aside to welcome the freshmen.
The first time I ever heard about it was during our freshmen orientation. Our upperclassmen told us what it was all about. We were to perform a 5-7 minute presentation in front of the whole UP campus.
It was supposed to be a night of friendly competition between us freshmen. It gave us a reason to quickly get to know one another and cooperate. It was also the night when the upperclassmen would pass on the �torch� to the freshmen. In many ways it was to be a night of celebration and camaraderie.
On the other hand, our upperclassmen weren�t ignorant and unkind enough to not tell us about the darker side of Torch night. They told us about a tradition they had. It was a kind of initiation of sorts. There were times, during the past Torch night, when the audience would tend to be unkind to the performers. They could boo and/or taunt. They told us that it was just a part of the night and that we shouldn�t worry about it, and if we would worry about it we should just focus on giving a good performance to that we wouldn�t get booed off stage.
We didn�t want to get booed. We wanted Torch night to be a night we�d remember being as one of the best night to kick off our college life here in UP. We also didn�t want to let our upperclassmen down. This was to be a fight against different courses. We wanted to make our uppclass proud and give them a performance they�d enjoy.
After that, we all agreed to take Torch night seriously. We all wanted to give a good performance. It was a little difficult due to our conflicting schedules. BACA was divided into two blocs and we didn�t have the same schedules. The only time all of us were available to practice was during the end of our day around 5:30 in the evening. We would use at least an hour to practice.
We would practice daily. We sacrificed time to finish our assignments and study to practice dance moves and a skit. Then we would us the rest of the night to work on our academics. There were times I didn�t finish studying until midnight and then I and my other blocmates had to wake up early for our class the next day. There was even one instance when we agreed to attend a film viewing for our MST5. Our attendance wasn�t required but attending would give us a chance to write a movie review that would garner us 1-3 points, and while schooling here we find that every point counts.
On Wednesday night, two nights before the big event, we had critic�s night. A night when we could show our upperclassmen what we were going to present and they�d give us their constructive criticism. It felt a little harsh, but we knew they were only there to help us. They didn�t want us to fail and we didn�t want to fail them in return.
Then the big night came. I was so nervous. I�m sure I wasn�t the only one, but God I was so nervous I nearly cutoff the circulation in my friend�s hand with all the squeezing I did to it. He was kind enough to comfort me and reassure me that everything was going to be alright.
We were still getting ready. We were putting on our costumes and our make-up. The boys looked as ridiculous as possible. The girls look as good as we could. The actors for our skit got into their characters. We were ready.
We went in there and gave our all. The boys were great. They really gave into their characters. The girl�s dance, which I was a part of, could have been better but I knew we did our best. Then the focus of our presentation was our skit.
It was a great and funny skit. Our two stars were some of the most talented people I knew, exactly why I could trust them with it. King and Fred did an amazing job at it. They looked the part. They acted the part and were the part. The problem was that no one could hear us.
From the beginning of the night, the sound system had been a problem. Earlier, Bryan, one of our hosts of the night was reduced to yelling due to the bad microphones. We never thought that the sound system would give us a problem, until it was too late. We were already on stage, in the middle of our skit and no one could hear them.
The audience got restless and annoyed. They started to boo us out. They made comment like �Umalis na nga kayo� or �kailangan niyo ng subtitles�. We could understand their frustrations, but we tried not to let it get to us, especially not to King and Fred. They were already on stage, in the middle of the performance. They couldn�t just up and leave or be affected by them. They had to be strong and stand their ground and they did and I�m so proud of them for doing so.
The only bright side we all could think of was �let�s just finish this.� If they weren�t going to like it, fine, but we wanted to finish this. We wanted to leave the stage with dignity. We didn�t want to get booed out, we wanted to leave on our own.
It was close to the end of the skit. King and Fred were on stage and Theodore had just joined in the scene. Then out of the crowd a woman walked on stage for no apparent reason. She just walked up to king and took her mic away from her. I couldn�t see it from the front but I couldn�t imagine what King or Fred felt when that happened. Then it all went downhill from there. We tried to finish our performance. We did but badly. We really couldn�t pull ourselves together after that.
After we got off stage, that�s when everything unraveled. Some of my blocmates started crying. King had to step out for a little while to compose herself. Then some of the upperclassmen came up to us to try to comfort us and cheer us up. They told us to go to a classroom in the CHSS building.
It was room 104. We all packed ourselves together in that one classroom. Most of the freshmen were sitting. The upperclassmen were on their feet and in front of us. then they preceded to take charge and help us out.
They told us that everything was going to be alright. They told us that what happened was unfortunate and that we shouldn�t let it get to us. They agreed that what that woman did was wrong and rude. It was incredibly low and offensive and we shouldn�t stoop to that level. That�s when we found out that the girl�s name was Rea and that she was taking up Food Tech. The upperclassmen were really good to us. They really did their best to help us out. They didn�t want this to be any reason for us to pull back in the future. They didn�t want us to be scared and traumatized because of what happened. They even encouraged us to move on and do a better job on Freshmen night.
I tried not to cry. I didn�t want my blocmates to see me cry. They were already crying how would my tears help theirs? I kept it all in for as long as I could. I did what I felt I had to do. It walked up to my blocmates. I wiped their tears away and told them that they shouldn�t cry. I did my best to sincerely look them in the eye and with no doubt what so ever and tell them that �everything will be alright�.
After our little get together in the classroom, we dared to walk back outside. We casually walked back to our table, some went to the back and just tried to talk it out amongst themselves.
I tried to act as strong as possible and just continued to watch the other performance. After a minute or so I asked a friend of mine to accompany me to the water fountain. He told me that we should go to Lorenzo hall and so we did. We walked to the water fountain and took a drink. Then I unexpectedly dragged him up the stairs and we sat together privately. Then I burst into tears.
I couldn�t let my blocmates see me cry. I had kept it in for as long as I could and I couldn�t anymore. My eyes hurt, my body was aching and my heart was ready to burst. I felt like failure personified. I felt like a disappointment, not just to myself but to my blocmates and my upperclassmen as the bloc leader. As pathetically human as it sounds, I blamed myself.
Thank God my friend was there to help me out. He was an upperclassmen and a really good friend. I knew I could trust him. I�m sure I surprised him. It was the first time he ever saw me cry and I�m so glad that he didn�t freak out. He just held me close and comforted me until I stopped crying.
The sting of that night has lessened now, but it still hurts a little. It doesn�t just hurt me. It hurts me more because I know I hurts my friends too. I may be new to this school and I may be just a lowly freshmen, but I don�t have to be anything special to know that what happened that night was wrong. We could have lived with the boos and the taunting. We were even expecting it, but what that girl did by taking that microphone away from King was undignified, offensive and rude not just to my friends but to everyone else who could empathize with us. And I know hope that she would be smart enough and polite enough to actually want to apologize for her behavior.
Angeli Mari F. Altizo
208-34631
1st year BACA
 ajco · Wed Jul 02, 2008 @ 05:54am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
