Young hearts run free

Exiting the West Service Road to-wards the South Super High-way, you see these kids about eight years old, perched on the ledges of jeepneys. They carry makeshift bongos on their laps, thumping aimlessly, following a rhythm in their head. After a few minutes, one of them jumps off. And then you see another street urchin trailing behind, much younger, with a wad of envelopes in his hand. This, you realize, is the latest gimmickry on the streets: Manila’s new set of buskers. And, unless it’s a syndicate thing — and we hope it isn’t — then it’s one more point tallied for the young, for ingenuity. Another point for effort.

It’s an equation that works for the youth these days: resourcefulness combined with a focused energy. (We did a lot of math in this issue.) Add to it sheer guts. Multiplied by a desire to rub limbs with the famous, and hopefully be famous themselves, and you get a generation that has learned how to market itself through any means. And is actually prolific while at it.

If you look at the output of the youth now, age, it seems, is not an issue. It’s definitely not a hindrance. There are more under-20s now clocking in hours and earning money — serious green for some — for their efforts. Sixteen-year olds no longer ponder life while sitting on Holden Caulfield’s bench. All the teenage angst is now directed to an end product. Our “Fresh Produce” list proves it: we have a teenager who works with oil to come up with bulbous portraiture (artist Nicole Coson) and another who found a job by continuously making a phone call (radio deejay Miguel Sarne).

Not even the labor code is an issue. Not for Austin Visschedyk, the 17-year-old who, for three years now, has been ignoring curfew to flash bulbs at Hollywood’s most hounded. After meeting Paris Hilton at some LA spa (she was mercifully kind to him), the teenager had an epiphany: paparazzo or bust. Soon he began trailing stars at restaurants, in Beverly Hills haunts and, later on, taking up prime space in front of clubs with more veteran paparazzi waiting for Lindsay and posse to make a drunken exit. Using his size, quickness and the non-threat presented by a boy with an endearingly emo haircut, Austin started producing photos that were, in turn, snapped up by TMZ, x17online and people.com. Pretty soon, he was driving around in a luxury SUV, bought from his earnings. He even has a sidekick: another flashbulb specialist, Blaine Hewinson — who’s a year older than he is. (Blaine is chauffeured around by his father, who drives a Porsche.)

So serious is Blaine about his job that he even got arrested for it. Cops picked him up while he was chasing after La Lohan close to sunrise. After being bailed — by his father — Austin went back to slinking after the redheaded child star turned bag-eyed platinum blonde.

Austin’s street runs had become so renowned that Adrian Grenier, the Entourage star-turned-producer chose him as the topic of his documentary film, Teenage Paparazzi, which aired at Sundance earlier this year.

Another teen achiever hobnobbing with Paris Hilton is Kira Plastinina, an 18-year-old fashion lover who, at one point, was dubbed “the world’s youngest fashion designer.” She’s 18 now, three years after her catwalk debut, and probably still holds the distinction. In the Russian teen’s first fashion show, Paris held court at front row (she was reportedly paid P2 million for her sitting pains) and the two have been close since then.

Okay, she’s the daughter of some Moscow gazillionaire but the fact that Kira chose to make clothes to sell at 15 rather than sulk at some boarding school should earn us some applause. Though her line bombed in the States, she’s selling well elsewhere, particularly in Europe. She’s even selling in Manila. A Kira Plastinina boutique opened in SM Megamall last year with billboards displaying the designer’s own image. We did say marketing savvy was one of the youth’s strong points, right?

And then there’s that 12-year-old food critic David Fishman who made the NY Times when he walked into a just-opened New York restaurant when his parents left him at home with money for takeout. Despite the waiting list, the restaurant gave him a table and the aspiring foodie whipped out notebook and pen and proceeded to take down notes about dinner. He even got to meet the chef and was given hazelnut spread to take home to his mother.

David’s adolescent confidence earned him more than just a meal. Apparently, a production house had already bought the rights to his story.

The youth are more prolific than they’ve ever been: blogging on the Internet, joining reality shows, casting themselves in their own productions. Mary Kate and Ashley are old news and Pinoy Big Brother is not the only open highway to success. Kids, they’re paving their own paths, becoming their own public relations agents. Making their age work for them, one palm thump at a time.