I WAS a precocious child.
I only have five letters to my Christian name, P-E-T-E-R.
I have four in my surname, N-E-R-Y.
My mom was an elementary school teacher, and I’m pretty sure she has taught me my letters before I attended Grade 1.
Since Grade 1, I learned to write my name with my middle initial, S., for my matrilineal name Solis, which in the Philippines we automatically assign as the middle name.
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It is now stuff of legend that I wrote my first published poem in Grade 3.
It was a tiny poem called “The Butterfly,” and it was published in our school wallpaper.
But there’s a bigger story attached to that — untold until now.
And it involves my good mother.
You see, I signed the poem Peter Nery, without the middle initial S.
My mother saw the wallpaper, of course; and either she just cried for my “ingratitude,” or she slapped me hard for neglecting “her lineage, and the genes she contributed to my genius.”
I tend to go for the dramatic, so let’s just agree it’s the physical abuse.
Anyway, the statute of limitation has already expired for child abuse that happened back in 1979.
But the point is, whatever happened then hurt me so much that I never forgot it.
Since then, I always signed all my schoolwork Peter S. Nery. Until about Grade 5.
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Starting Grade 5, I signed everything with my three names: Peter Solis Nery.
But my small town didn’t really accept that.
Until I graduated high school, I was known as Peter Nery even if I’m the most published campus journalist, and I signed all my pieces Peter Solis Nery, or PSN (when I have written almost half of the articles in the school publication).
In college, I started to really throw my middle name Solis around.
So, there are still stupid and ignorant people who call me Peter Solis.
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My first book was published nationally by New Day Publishers in 1993.
Big bold “Peter Solis Nery” was printed on the cover.
During this time, I was just consistent in signing everything Peter Solis Nery. And still, people call me Mr. Nery, or Mr. Solis.
Before 2010, people just didn’t use their matriname often as we see popularly done on Facebook nowadays.
But my triname Peter Solis Nery is getting some traction as a brand name.
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When I was about to be elevated to the Palanca Hall of Fame, I called them to verify that I should be inducted as Peter Solis Nery, not as Peter Nery, not as Peter S. Nery.
It was not a request.
It was a demand. Or a statement. Or whatever you want to call it.
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My good friend, Marlene T. Liao of San Jose, Antique, has started to call me “dapetersolisnery” in 2012.
I think this was right after I established The Peter Solis Nery Foundation for Hiligaynon Literature and the Arts, Inc.
It was her sweet callsign for me, a term of endearment, and it always makes me smile.
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But it was in one of my online workshops in 2018 that Jonell Gregorio from Altavas, Aklan said that I should be called “PSN.” Just three letters.
Like JFK.
Or locally, like the presidents with two or four letters: FM, FVR, PGMA, PRDD.
He explained that in the Philippines, when someone is called by his/her initials, it means that s/he has arrived.
So, for a few days, I was PSN.
But some people didn’t stop, and started calling me “The PSN of Philippine Literature.”
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In October last year, I went viral over my bold essays on Wattpad culture, on DepEd modules, and the call for academic freeze.
In November, I started to do the rounds of the Role Play Writers community and the Role Play world, as occasioned by new online friends and followers who dabbled both in Wattpad and RPW.
I think I went a little crazy and embraced my newfound fame online.
The following hashtags were used: #ThePSN, #TatakPSN, and #PSNLangMalakas, among others.
Of course, I helped propagate these hashtags on social media.
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In December, I announced that I didn’t want to be addressed in stupid epithets like “Sir,” “Kuya,” “Manong,” “Tito.”
Yes, only the really stupid netizens call me by those tags and titles at this time.
And now, if anyone calls me by those names because they don’t know, I just smile because I understand that they are ignoramuses, and big illiterates.
And now, you know.
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So yeah, today is my 52ndbirthday. And you can start calling me simply Peter Solis Nery, or PSN.
Or, if you have some art and some culture in you, you may call me The PSN, with the definite article “The.”
Because there is something in that particularizing determiner that I like.
The netizens’ hashtag has already said it — #ThePSN.
So why even look so 2020, or even Jurassic? It’s 2021 already! Happy New Year!/PN
