LAST year, on the first year of the pandemic, more than ever, I realized my value to most people as a writer online.
Since 2014, when I retired myself from Nursing, I’ve dedicated my life to be the most accessible Filipino writer online.
Just a Filipino writer that students can easily approach for their literature and film and arts projects, and other research work for school.
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I mean, I created my www.petersolisnery.com website in 2008 for that purpose.
But also, I wanted to be actually there for them to answer their follow up questions.
It went full gears only in 2014.
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Being online most of the time allowed me to study the Gen Y and Gen Z cultures.
(I got Twitter and Instagram and YouTube, but Facebook is decidedly my social media platform.)
I also played with hugot lines and tried to write Instaliterature.
I understood the need for ‘likes.’
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I became bolder after I was flooded with ‘likes.’
I became a better and adroit Facebook poster.
I don’t go below 5,000 friends and 7,000 followers because I have thousands of pending friend requests.
I’m not million-followers popular, but I have my fair share of followers and fans.
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And just as I enjoy my literary and newspaper celebrity, I totally take pleasure in my online fame and/or notoriety.
On the first year of the pandemic, I decided I wanted to minister online by accompanying the netizens as a comic relief.
And I think that such will be my Covid-19 pandemic legacy: That in the first years of chaos, I was there online as the Filipino writer who entertained the (mostly) Filipino netizens.
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I engaged my Facebook audience, and beyond.
Admittedly, my Facebook landscape drastically changed in 2020.
I had a few rants with DepEd especially concerning their modular education and with their incompetent modules.
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Then, I was talking about academic freeze after news of student suicides over difficulties in coping with distance education.
My rant with Wattpad came after some stupid DepEd modules started teaching Wattpad as an example of modern Philippine literature.
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With my ThePSN versus Wattpad post, I gained more Wattpader and non-Wattpader friends.
Then, came the Role Play Writers community, who kind of agreed with my attitudes towards Wattpaders.
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Then, some idiots among the RPW community maliciously thought I wanted to ride on their shoulders for popularity. The gall!
ThePSN versus RPW went well in my favor, but I had bigger fish to fry.
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So, I went on with ThePSN versus (Teenage) Smut Writing, which obviously was something I could win even with both my hands tied.
So again, and again, I was winning online battles against teenage keyboard warriors.
These are a terrible lot, and wise adults avoid them like plagues.
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But I’m not just a wise adult; I’m a wiser adult!
I’m ThePSN of Philippine Literature!
These kids think that they can bend the older generations with their online savvy and audacity.
Well, I’m adaptable. I’m online savvy. And I invented ‘audacity’ even before they were born.
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I like engaging the Filipino youth — making them think, reflect, and plan to succeed in real life.
I enjoy engaging the arrogant Filipino youth — bringing them to tears, breaking their kneecaps, bursting their bubbles.
Most of all, I enjoy it because I speak for the many who want them begging and crying, but couldn’t do a thing.
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I remember two teachers trying to fend them off from me online at one time.
Well, those teachers were doused; and they didn’t know how to fight insults with insults.
Acting like the bigger person, they ‘lose’ the game online.
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I, on the other hand, have no qualms fighting fire with my dragon fire.
I am not a government employee.
No one can sack me from a job.
So, I toast everyone on my path!
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Why should I spare them?
If people want to fight online, let them fight me.
I like serving people their just desserts.
Oh, and yeah, that’s how I earned the hashtag #PSNLangMalakas. (To be continued)/PN
