Edge of seventeen

MANILA, Philippines - We’ve always been big promoters of youth empowerment here at Young STAR  whether it’s boosting the profile of promising young talents who might be slipping through the cracks, or encouraging some discourse with think pieces that you may or may not agree with. It’s all good, really. We’ve received it all  love letters, hate mail, tweets of appreciation, the occasional Instagram selfie. We’re just glad we’re being read. And that 17 years later, a youth section like ours  existing in ye olde print medium, at that  is still reaching and expanding its ADHD-prone target market.

As we throw ourselves a little 17th birthday shindig here in these pages, we can’t forget about the people who got us here in the first place — the writers who came before us, the veteran editors who guide us every week, and of course, the readers who’ve made a weekly habit out of this section.

We toast to that and the future with our issue this week, paying tribute to our beginnings and looking forward to what’s next.

We figured that a tribute to 1996, the section’s birth year, would be the proper way to do it. With a ‘90s revival on full blast—from the grunge revival to the resurrection of our favorite ‘90s bands—it seems like there’s nothing more “now” than 17 years ago. The perfect muse for the celebration is of course a 17-year-old with moxy to spare—model Sam Humphries (more about her next week).

In the Meantime, get your party hat on (in this case, a crown by artist Frances Alvarez), sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Your friendly neighborhood newspaper youth section’s just about grown up.