MANILA, Philippines—There was a time when there were no online surveys or “memes”—random questions you can post in your blogs or Friendster Bulletin Boards.
Way back before the Internet, when computers were but complicated instruments used for calculating the ever elusive X, young people made (or bought) those things called “slambooks.” These existed well into early 1990s, until the online craze killed it and it thus became a lost art.
Slambooks are essentially notebooks with questions, like a glorified resumé. The difference is that the questions are real personal and juicy. How did you think the phrase “Define Love” became popular?
A slambook is usually passed from one friend to another. It starts innocently like the basic name, birthday, address and phone number. It then proceeds to the more second-date type of questions—favorite color, actor, actress, movie, etc.
Usually, the third part is where you bet all your money. For 16-year-olds, being asked to define love is equivalent to asking a philosopher what is the meaning of life. They throw all their wisdom and experience (or what they have so far) into answering that one question.
The most explosive question however, would be, “Who is your crush?” Of course it would be totally mortifying if it was admitted right there for all to see, so they use codes like numbers and pet names that the Armed Forces Intelligence Unit would never break in a million years.
Of course, the Dedication page would never go missing, because this is where the readers thank the owner of the slambook for letting them write in it. Here they go wild with the prose and poetry, as much as the space will allow.
Then these 16-year-old slambook users grow up, have families and get caught up in living the adult life of responsibilities and bills; and generally forget how they defined love when they were young and carefree.
Some of them, though, kept their slambooks intact through the years.
I found such one in my sister’s apartment, dating back to 1959. It was owned by a young lady who probably wanted something to remember her classmates by. It was amazingly well-kept—no tattered pages, no termite bites. It was a hardbound book with so many memories inside.
As I leafed through the pages, I discovered that 16-year-olds are basically the same, no matter the generations; they just like different music and different movies, things that are mostly dependent on their generation.
They had crushes, thought they have fallen in love for real, and probably sulked in their sack dresses crying out, “You just don’t understand!” to their mothers.
Their favorite actors were Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Sandra Dee, Bob Wagner and Liz Taylor, among others. They liked “Student Canteen,” Renato Ibanez the Singing Cowboy, Romeo Vasquez and Amalia Fuentes.
And yes, they defined love.
They had pictures, but unlike today when the camera is something that’s easily available, theirs were mostly shot in a studio. In the shots, they were elegantly dressed and posed, and even in some pictures that were taken candidly, the girls were beautifully dressed and coifed. I guess during those times you just never leave the house looking less than polished, and the phrase “bad hair day” wasn’t invented yet.
To the 16-year-olds today, who think that their parents are a complete and utter bore (and to compensate for that boredom you just answer online surveys from friends), you are no different from your parents and grandparents when they were 16. They were fun people before they had you. Give them a break and try to be friends with them, and remember that whatever you’re going through now, they had it first.
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