I wanted to make this tribute very visual - with photos of people I am going to be forever thankful for. But as I surfed online to grab photos, one thing struck me - YOUNG BLOOD is BIG . At least for those who seriously take their writing seriously.
My YB piece came out March 17, 1998. That's 8 years ago - a time when e-mail was just starting to catch up, text messaging was being advertised for the speech and hearing impaired, a time when "blog" was still a sound made by dropping an encyclopedia to the floor.
There was no online YB then yet. There was no e-mailing your stuff. I recall I typed mine using our Brothers manual typewriter, where you had to wait for the "ting!" and then you push back that long rolling pin-like thing where the paper is inserted so you can get to the next line. I typed it neatly - double spaced, one inch left and right margins and to stress words, I had to type over the letters thrice (this is equivalent to hitting 'Ctrl+B' now).
Then I carefully business-folded my paper (you know, the kind of fold where you leave a "tongue" at the top so the recipient can hold onto it and then flip the letter open?), stuck it inside a long white envelope, wrote down Inquirer's address, wrote my return address on the upper left, licked a stamp and stuck it on the upper right side.
The only thing I probably missed doing was taking the trip to the post office to drop off my letter. Instead, I slipped my stamped envelope between all the other business letters that our office was mailing out.
My piece was published about three months after (talk about slow mail!) and I would have missed it, if not for one colleague who asked me if I was the Kathie featured on the YB column two days ago. I had to beg a friend to find the paper from their school's library and make me a copy. I then went all out and (slow) mailed copies to every relative and friend listed on my little address book. My tongue was all sore from all that stamp-licking!
And in keeping up with tradition, I almost totally missed it when the same piece was reproduced and included in YB's book compilation! Another colleague texted me to ask if I was the Kathie included in the book. (Yes, I learned about it during the time when text messaging was getting big.)
So I rushed to the bookstore and bought copies.
I am planning to give out a copy (autographed by me har har) to my high school english teacher as she really is the one who first believed that I actually could write an interesting read.
And I will get that chance two weeks from now - 16 years after I graduated - when I go back to my high school for our grand reunion.
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