Letter from the Editor

When memories are not collective...

by Ruby Wu

How collective should "collective memories" be? How many things had we, the seven million people in Hong Kong, in common in our memory?

The Queen's Pier – sounds like we all went through it. But some may question: how many of the younger generation have actually been brought up under the Pier? When the memories are not shared by most of the people, "collective memories" sometimes may end up as a cliche, a trend or even a political tool.

The younger generation is sometimes criticized for being too young to talk about collective memories. But memories are not confined to the adults. For most of us who are just 20 something or will soon become 20, do we possess our own collective memories?

The 101th issue of Varsity will bring us back to the era we grew up – the colorful and wonderful 90's. Those were the times when we grew up with 'Flash Fax' instead of 'After School ICU'. Those were the times when we spent our childhood together.

Perhaps after 10 years, memories may become personal instead of collective, as our next generation grows up with their own personal computers. When memories are no longer collective, what will our society look like?