Out of habit, Angelo and I found ourselves at a bookshop after having lunch at the mall yesterday. And as I was casually browsing through the new magazines that hit the shelves, I remember myself thinking that it’s missing one title; one that’s treasured by most teenagers during my formative years. Only realizing that last month, without warning, Candy announced in their November issue that they would cease publication starting December. Candy, this shining beacon of hope, saying goodbye. Imagine the horror of a magazine devotee like me, who grew up in Rhode Island with six brothers and pretended to go to soccer practice when I really went to sewing class and read Candy under the covers at night with a flashlight. Movie-quoting The Devil Wears Prada aside, it broke (and it continues to break) my heart hearing (and there’s no other way of putting it and I’m sorry) the bad news.
I loved Candy so much I didn't mind starving come recess time in high school to save up for the next issue. There was no greater feeling than getting your hands on the new issue, removing it out of its plastic wrap, sniffing through the freshly printed glossy pages, and reading the magazine from cover to cover.
The editors were my heroes, and dreamt of one day working with them. Writing Ines an email, and getting a response from her the next day, gave me the same chills the way a dying girl stricken with lung cancer felt when her favorite author from Amsterdam responded to her fan mail. I was over the moon.
In college, I dreamt of one day writing my own essay for Reality Bites, and I remember myself thinking that I better wait until I run into that life-changing story that’s worthy of a space in the magazine. And so, stories happened, and just when I thought it time to put pen to paper, Candy folded. I lost my chance.
Be that as it may, somewhere inside big carton boxes in my parents’ place in South Cotabato, a decade’s worth of these magazines are packed, each carefully wrapped in plastic, waiting to be read again. And loved.
Candy forever.