I once had a classmate in university who was an angry young man. He was a devout Nietzsche reader and quoted him everywhere he went (although he called him Neatzke). He happened to enroll in the same comparative literature class I was in, although I think he would have fared much better in political science or better yet, community development. He was what you would call a tubao1 toting, tsinelas2 wearing student actibista3. He ripped into our teacher's political sensibilities with the razor sharp teeth of an askal4. He questioned her Weltanschauung (Shahani5 offspring, high schooled in Austria and colleged at Brown) as we read German authors Goethe, Kafka, Hesse, Thomas Mann, and another fellow I can't for the life of me remember. At the end of the day, he would leave her literally exhausted from their discussions, non the closer to an agreement on literary theory (can you guess he preferred doing Marxist readings to everything?). I stuck to my psychoanalytic and post-colonial readings because those I could somewhat understand. I was too dense to grasp the clash of the dominant and the repressed classes and what the proletariat had to do with the bourgeois. I'm sure he was a very nice boy, but really, very seriously angry indeed. I hope he is somewhere wearing a nice pair of affordable comfortable shoes and has simmered down a bit and is enjoying life despite all the injustices of the world. There is always hope. Ask Vin.
1Tubao is an indigeniously woven kerchief that is used as a bandana, headband, or face mask in the event of tear gas attacks in the middle of a student-led rally.
2Tsinelas are slippers, flip-flops - the common footwear of choice among students who was one, wanted to be one or become one of the masses. Also, cheap enough to chance loosing a few pairs while running away from riot police or water cannons.
3Actibista is a word for student activist. A student activist walked around campus upholding the rights of the downtrodden, dressed in the uniform of jeans, t-shirt, tubao, tsinelas, and sometimes the occassional indigeniously woven back pack basket. They led students in rallies and meetings geared to change the oppressive status quo.
4Askal is short for asong kalye, or street dog. These make the most delicious type of dog dishes as opposed to pedigreed dogs who, for some reason don't have that seasoned flavor.
5The Shahani are a local political family. A former senator, sister to a former president, and recent actor-wanna-be-president supporter, the female head of the family is well-off enough to fund a daughter's education abroad.
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