THE MV DAY WE WERE

THE MV DAY WE WERE



The image at the top is the digital copy of the latest issue of Mindanao Varsitarian.

By BERTENI "TOTO" CATALUÑA CAUSING
Former Associate Editor
Mindanao Varsitarian
The Official Student Publication of the Mindanao State University-Marawi





Confronted by one new edition of the present generation Mindanao Varsitarian that I scanned, I am tripping down the memory lane when I was one of the two associate editors of the official student publication of MSU-Marawi. 

During our time there was no computer, no laptop, no cellular phone, no internet, no Google, no Facebook, etc. We used to write our manuscripts in handwriting on yellow pad pages. We lacked research materials, compelling us to generate from our imaginations and stock knowledge.

The design today is a hundred-fold better than the design of our pages in the mid '80s. That was the literal era of cut and paste.  When we went to Cagayan de Oro City to print our copies, we would watch as the printing press men type the articles and the cameramen take photos from our photos. Then the paste-up man would cut them into pieces to be pasted on a final dummy page.  Thereafter, it would be shot with their big camera and the resulting negative films would be pieced together in batches of four pages. What would come next would be transferring the negative images to what they called "planza" that would be fitted  onto the rollers.  We would wait for at least three days to get the clean copies of MV and we would be very happy to go home to MSU Marawi.

My column was entitled "SOUNDS OF SILENCE" and it was (in my impression) the hottest and most-read in the campus because of the punches delivered in a manner that solicited smiles from the readers.  One of those I hit was the President of the MSU himself, Dr. Tamano. Whew!

I was one of the two engineering students who hurdled the battery of tests given to those who applied for membership to the editorial staff of MV.  I was so proud, of course, to think I was so good in both numbers and letters.

By the way, regards to the present generation of the exclusive MV family.

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