Song (Déjà vu by Olivia Rodrigo)

Introduction
MJ: And welcome to the special episode of 21 st Century Podcast. For today’s episode
Kelly, what are we going to talk about?
Kelly: Yes, MJ so for today we’ll going to hear the story of Dodong and Teang on the
story entitled Footnote to Youth.
Aina: That’s right Kelly and it’s written by none other than Jose Garcia Villa aka
Doveglion. Without much a due, let’s listen to the story because right after listening to it,
we’ll have a short discussion.

BACKGROUND MUSIC STARTED PLAYING

STORY:
MJ: The sun was blazing directly on dudong while he was having a mental crisis with
himself whether he should tell his father about Teang when he arrives home, after
finishing his work, unhitching the carabao from the plow, and led it to its shed then fed it.
His mind was a mess, he wanted to inform his father about his plan in marrying Teang,
he was too afraid of his father’s reaction. the fear of his father opposing his choices but
what he wanted to say is something that will change his whole life, a decision that will
not only affect his youth but also his future together with the person he chose to be with.

Kelly: But after wrecking his brain with the possible outcomes, he decided that he
would tell his father. As he thought about his age, seventeen, he said to himself that he
was not young anymore. Dodong started to walk his way home, still thinking how he
would break his news to his father. He was determined to marry. He was seventeen, he
had pimples on his face, the down on his upper lip already dark--these meant he was no
longer a boy. He was turning into a man. Dodong felt insolent and big at the thought of it
although he was by nature low in statue. Thinking himself a grown man, Dodong felt he
could do anything, he could be anything.

Aina: He walked faster with the thought of finally announcing the news to his father. A
small, angled stone bled his foot. He li fted his leg to look at his hurt toe then ignored it
as if it was nothing. As he continues his journey on his way home, In the cool sundown
his mind was filled of wild dreams of himself and Teang. Teang “his girl.
She had a small brown face and small black eyes and straight glossy hair. “How
desirable she was to him”. She made him fantasize and dream even on a bright light.
Dodong felt his body tensed with desire just by the thought of Teang and he then looked
at the muscles of his arms. Dirty. Dodong stripped himself and laid his clothes on the
grass. The he went into the water and rubbed at it his body vigorously. He was not long
in bathing, then he marched homeward again.

MJ: It was dusk when he reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling already was
lighted and the low unvarnished square table was set for supper. His parents and he sat
down on the floor around the table to eat. They had fried fresh-water fish, rice, bananas,
and caked sugar. Dodong's mother removed the dishes when they were done and went
out to the batalan to wash them. She walked with slow careful steps and Dodong
wanted to help her carry the dishes out, but he was tired and felt lazy. He wished as he
looked at her that he had a sister who could help his mother in the housework.

Kelly: Dodong speak while his mother was gone that he was going to marry Teang.
There it was out, what he had to say, and over which he had done so much thinking. He
had said it without any effort at all and without self-consciousness. Dodong felt relieved
and looked at his father expectantly. A decrescent moon outside shed its feeble light
into the window, graying the still black temples of his father. His father looked old and
wrinkled. Dodong said he’ll going to marry Teang.

Aina: His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking his broken tooth. The
silence became frightening and cruel, and Dodong wished that his father would just
continue to suck that troublous tooth again. Dodong was anxious with the blaring
silence and then became angry because his father kept looking at him without uttering
any word. Dodong repeated breaking the silence that he will marry Teang.

MJ: His father kept gazing at him in inflexible silence and Dodong fidgeted on his seat.
Seating became too uncomfortable. "I asked her last night to marry me and she
said...yes. I want your permission. I... want... it...." There was impatient clamor in his
voice, an exacting protest at this coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his father
bitterly. He cracked his knuckles one by one, and the little sounds it made broke dully
the night stillness. "Must you marry, Dodong?" Dodong hate his father's questions; his
father himself had married. Dodong made a quick impassioned easy in his mind about
selfishness, but later he got confused
"You are very young and naive, Dodong."
"I'm... seventeen."
"That's still an early age to get married at"
"I... I want to marry...Teang's a good girl."
"You will let me marry Teang?"
"Son, if that is your wish... of course..."

Kelly: Dodong was immensely glad he had asserted himself. He lost his resentment for
his father. For a while he even felt sorry for him about the diseased tooth. Then he set
his mind in dreaming of Teang and himself. Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat,
sweating profusely, so that his camiseta was damp. He was still as at the tree and his
thoughts were still a chaos. He had wanted to get out of it without clear reason at all. He
was afraid, he felt. Afraid of the house. It had seemed to cage him, to compares his
thoughts with severe tyranny. Afraid also of Teang. Teang was giving birth in the house;
she gave screams that gave chills to his spine. He did not want her to scream like that,
he seemed to be rebuking him. He began to wonder madly if the process of childbirth
was painful. Some women, when they gave birth, they did not cry.

Aina: In a few moments he would be a father. He was young, he realized now,

contradicting himself of nine months comfortable. Dodong felt tired standing. He sat
down on a sawhorse with his feet close together. He looked at his callused toes.
Suppose he had ten children... What made him think that?He heard his mother's voice
from the house: "Come up, Dodong. It is over. "Suddenly he felt terribly embarrassed as
he looked at her. He dropped his eyes and pretended to dust dirt off his kundiman
shorts."Dodong," his mother called again. He turned to look again, and this time saw his
father beside his mother. "It is a boy," his father said.

MJ: Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move. His parents' eyes seemed to
pierce him through, and he felt limp. He wanted to hide from them, to run away. He
called by his mother again until he come up. Dodong traced tremulous steps on the dry
parched yard. He avoided his parents’ eyes. He walked ahead of them so that they
should not see his face. He felt like crying. He wanted to turn back. He wanted
somebody to punish him.

Kelly: His parents thrust their hand in him and gripped it gently. How kind and soothing
their voices. They flowed into him, making him strong and ready. His father led him into
the small sawali room. Dodong saw Teang, asleep on the papag with her black hair soft
around her face. He did not like her look, pale and tired. Dodong wanted to caress her,
to push away that stray wisp of hair that touched her lips, but again that feeling of
embarrassment came over him. The hilot was wrapping the child, Dodong heard it cry.
The thin voice pierced him queerly. He could not control the swelling of happiness in
him. “You give him to me” Dodong said.

Aina: Blas was not Dodong's only child. Many more offspring came. Dodong got
frustrated with himself sometimes. Teang did not complain though, but the bearing of
children told on her. She was shapeless and thin now, even if she was young. Cooking.
Laundering. The house. The children. She cried sometimes, wishing she had not
married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike her. There has been
another suitor, Lucio, older than Dodong by nine years, and that was why she had
chosen Dodong. Young Dodong. Seventeen. Lucio had married another after her
marriage to Dodong, but he was childless until now. She wondered if she had married
Lucio, would she have borne him children. Maybe not, either. And That was a better, but
she loved Dodong...

MJ: One night he stood in the moonlight, tired and querulous. He wanted to ask
questions and somebody to answer him. He wanted to be wise about many things. One
of them was why life did not fulfill all of Youth's dreams. Dodong would not find the
answer. It must be so to make youth. Youth must be dreamfully sweet. Dodong returned
to the house, and he had wanted to know a little wisdom but was denied by it. When
Blas was eighteen, he came home one night very flustered and happy. Dodong heard
Blas' steps, for he could not sleep well of nights. He watched Blas undress in the dark
and lie down softly. Dodong called him name and asked why he did not sleep. Blas said
he could not sleep. Blas raised himself on his elbow and muttered something in a low
fluttering voice.

Kelly: Blas called Dodong softly and said he’ll going to marry Tona. Dodong lay on the
red pillow unmoving. Dodong lay silent. Blas said he loves Tona. Dodong rose from his
mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to the yard, where everything was
quiet. Dodong said if Blas wanted to marry Tona. He did not want Blas to marry yet.
Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard and sorrowful.
Blas answered yes. Blas' voice stilled with resentment. Dodong kept silent, hurt. Blas
asked Dodong if he have objections.He said non but truly He don't want Blas to marry
yet but he was helpless. He could not do anything.

Aina: But something happened and Dodong thought that it was something didn’t
happen yet, a déjà vu. He can still do something that can correct their mistake.
Something that wouldn’t lead his son’s life to misery. He can save his son’s youth by
simply forbidding him to marry Tona. Blas followed his father and still choose to remain
Tona as his girl and soon to marry her but not now. For a while, they’ll enjoy everything
first with their youth.

DISCUSSION:
MJ:And that’s the Footnote to Youth by Jose Garcia Villa. Based on the story, Dodong
and Teang symbolizes something.
Kelly: I guess they ‘re like strawberries and cigarettes, just like in the song. Teang
symbolizes strawberries while Dodong symbolizes cigarettes.
Aina: But how and why?
MJ: Just like strawberries, Teang blooms with their children. While Dodong on the other
hand, he’s like a cigarette that affected something that is too fresh, and that’s Teang’s
life as a youth. They try to be married at an early age without knowing their
consequences.
Kelly: That’s right and Dodong also resembles a cigarette also in a way that when the
cigarette is lit first, its smoke represents their urgency to be couples while as long the
cigarette is being burnt, realizations immediately come up in their mind that what they
did is not good.
Aina: So, we did a tricky part in the story wherein we changed it’s ending into a déjà vu
scene of Dodong with his son Blas. He was able to correct his mistake by changing the
path that his son wanted to take that’s similar with him.
MJ: That’s correct and it’s also a reminder for every youth nowadays to be responsible
and proactive with their every decision that they we’ll be doing. It’s better to listen at first
than to regret in the end. That’s a wrap! Thank you, guys, for tuning in with us here in
the 21st Century Podcast. We hope that you learned something today. Until our next
episode. Bye!!

OUTRO MUSIC (WALA PA DITO)