Tag: January 17, 2003

PRESIDENT Macapagal-Arroyo commended the University for its consistency in upholding Christian values amid global conflicts and crises. She called UST, Asia’s oldest university, as “hallowed ground.”

In an interview with the Varsitarian, President Macapagal-Arroyo said UST has always cultivated moral and Christian values in its students. She even called the University “an oasis of Christian values and devotion.”

THE 2002 Metro Manila Film Festival claimed it had a better batch of entries than in the recent years. The genres ranged from fantasy to comedy, action and drama.

SINCE the release last year of the Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings, much speculation has risen as to whether Two Towers will be anywhere as good as the first. These speculations can now be put to rest because Two Towers is undoubtedly as great as the first, and in some cases, even better.

BARRING hyperbole, it was easily the grandest and most anticipated event in Philippine campus journalism. It couldn’t have been otherwise since many formidable names in media and other influential sectors gathered to toast the place and paper where it all started – The Varsitarian, the country’s oldest and most respected Catholic campus paper. The event, Valik-Varsi of the Diamond alumni Homecoming. The reason: Varsitarian’s 75th founding anniversary.

I always have trouble with my eyesight (but I still refuse to wear my glasses). I had deductions in a test for not following instructions written on the board, I have a hard time commuting, and I am dismissed as a snob because I can’t easily recognize people. Then a friend told me, “Be thankful, at least, somehow you can still see!”

But I realized, what if I was really blind? Does that mean life has to be so miserable for me?

I HAVE always hated my mother. She scolds me every time I do something which may not always be bad per se, tonly not in keeping with her principles in life. She is a righteous woman, who always conforms with the norm, as opposed to me, who stumbles into trouble every now and then. Do this, don’t do that. I feel suppressed like a dove who scrambles to break free after getting caught.

I USUALLY tell friends on their birthdays not to think about growing old. I got a quote from somewhere—I could not recall if it was a movie or a book, but it goes somewhat like “Do not be concerned about your age, because today you are one year younger than you will be on the same day next year.”

It has a nice ring to it. And it tells us not to worry about years past because they never return. Rather it tells us to look ahead, or at least look at what we are at present. We could stumble on the next step with our heads turned the other way.

The rain that fell last December 14 was perhaps the hardest in the Varsitarian’s history. For it threatened to rain out the Varsitarian’s general alumni homecoming. But the alumni did not allow the rain to spoil the diamond anniversary of the publication. Benavides park had been magnificiently prepared for the homecoming, but tears of heaven poured upon the festivity. But something was stronger than the rain. The alumni spirit was undaunted. It poured its own rain of emotions to celebrate a momentous event.

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“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” -Sir Winston Churchill

THESE inspiring words from the great Sir Winston Churchill speaks of how a person should take his destiny at one hand and the challenges that come his way in the other.

EXACTLY 75 years ago today, in its very first editorial, “Confession of Faith,” the Varsitarian said it would be “an independent organ of opinion of students wherein they can express their ideas regarding vital questions in this university.”