Spring Day Remembering the Tet Newspaper Workers

Tet newspaper is a specialty of the year that the press village invites people, invites the community to read, listen, watch and enjoy during Tet... Just like sticky rice, fragrant rice, carefully saved and nurtured all year by the farming villagers, carefully prepared to offer to ancestors, gods and Buddhas. It is equally sacred and respected. That is why the leaders of the newspapers pay great attention.

First is to order articles, announce in the newspaper, on other media, invitations, phone calls, etc. With experienced editors and editors, there are a thousand and one ways to make the Spring newspaper more quality.

The above is the work of editors and editors-in-chief, but journalists write Tet articles in their own way. Unlike journalists in the Current Affairs section, writers write for the Spring newspaper very early. Usually a few months before Tet, when winter has just begun and the rain and wind are still pouring, our families have already begun to... celebrate Tet. Writing in nostalgia, writing in a state of ecstasy to offer.

Alone, one Tet, one Spring. Clouds still drift in the small room, drizzle hangs in the hot sun, shirtless but still writing about scarves, about wool coats and cotton coats. Stomach aching, dieting but still writing about pickled onions and fatty meat. Readers never know what is real and what is fake on the Tet writing pages. Just like those who make votive offerings, flowers, Spring and Tet come early to each profession, each village. Seeing Tet before others see it, loving the colors of flowers before they have buds, before they sprout. The Tet and Spring newspaper pages are really a lot of effort. The Tet newspaper profession is also very laborious... (!).

Journalist Van Chi, sketch by Hoang Nguyen Ai.

With spoken and visual newspapers (Radio, Television), journalists also have many interesting stories to remember. Unlike print newspapers, television must have pictures. When talking about peach blossoms, there must be peach blossoms. And not the peach blossoms of last year that still smile in the winter wind, but this year's peach blossoms, the Current Affairs peach blossoms. Writing Tet articles at a certain enterprise also had to wait until near Tet, it could not come early like the poet. So people rushed to write reports when Tet was near, when sometimes there were peach blossoms and kumquats.

The screen is only truly Tet when it has the yellow and red colors of Spring. Then pray that it only drizzles and not pours heavily. Machines worth hundreds of millions of dong cannot be soaked in the rain. After the rain is covered and the images are recorded, there are still many steps. Writing the lyrics, submitting them for approval for the announcer to read. Then sending them to the Center for editing, sending them to the technicians. Everyone needs them, every song is important, especially everyone is in a hurry to finish it quickly. To go home, Tet is already in sight.

In the Radio and Television press, only Radio Literature and Arts is still similar to printed newspapers. It takes time, cunning, and persuasion to have good works. Veteran editors in the profession in Nghe - Tinh, such as the late journalist Van Chi, have many memorable things to have radio literature and arts works during Tet. I want to mention him so that listeners of Nghe radio will remember how a radio journalist lived and died for Tet newspapers.

Every year around September and October of the lunar calendar, when the cold monsoon winds were blowing at night, he would often ask me to stay: "Why come back, it's so cold. I have something interesting, I'll read it to you tonight." There was nothing more fun than having guests, and guests who shared meals and stayed the night with him. A few years ago, my youngest son stayed with me, and now he has passed the journalism university entrance exam in Hanoi. Many nights when he was alone, he missed his son and had trouble sleeping.

When there are guests, he rushes to the market, pays for everything. Then he cooks, stir-fries, and everyone slurps. When finished, he pulls a chair out onto the porch to drink water and listen to the radio. After listening to the provincial program, he listens to the Central program. He doesn't watch TV. Absolutely not. How strange! He's a Radio and Television person but doesn't watch TV. Gradually I learned that he doesn't want to watch TV because he's afraid of distraction. He wants to focus all his energy on radio.

The interesting things he asked me to stay for those winter nights were the Tang Dynasty poems, the Tet antithetical couplets... That this year is the year of the Monkey, so we should use this rhyme... that this ending is unique and profound. I listened attentively to him read and recognized that Van Chi's poems were indeed witty and profound.

Every year, I often heard Van Chi's Tang poetry before he called out for a response to celebrate Tet. It was also a way for him to publish early to solicit his friends' opinions. In the year when he had a good poem, in addition to the fee for feeding the guest with the Tet poem, he also invited his fellow poets in the group to Nghen to drink wine and listen to poetry. He was happiest when he had a quality Tet cultural program.

Looking at the stack of Tet tapes carefully arranged, with the broadcast schedule divided for each session, until the last day of the Tet week, he was very satisfied. His face was radiant. When handing them over to the radio room, he was as careful as a ceremonial person. His face could not hide his pride when looking at the Newsmen who were frowning because of the rain, and were miserable waiting for the article.

His art program was done, through the specialized departments, if there was nothing to do, he would jump in to join in the conversation. At times like that, Director Nguyen Cong Tien and Deputy Director Thai Ngu all looked at Van Chi with respect and admiration. The Radio Art Program had been completed in a very glorious way. He was proud of that, not caring about the bonuses, envelopes, and red envelopes that someone or some department was gossiping about. The finished product on the air was his Tet gift, a way to repay the kindness of the writers and listeners. He was happiest at this moment!

There have been many articles written about journalist Van Chi.

It was worth it, many cold and rainy nights, he still cycled to each employee's house, giving instructions on what to do when recording the Tet program. The employees sat in the warm room, gathered with their families, looking at their old boss, wearing a short, shabby raincoat, standing under the porch, not going inside, afraid of getting dirty. After giving instructions, they turned around and cycled back home.

Van Chi's personality is like that, gentle, easy-going, but he is extremely dedicated to his work. He only cares about his studies all his life. That's why the program Tu Tran tells stories (Tu Tran is his pen name), one program every week, he collects, edits and reads it himself in front of the camera. No program is repeated. He has maintained it on the air for nearly 15 years. The Editorial Board of Ha Tinh Radio and Television Station has funded the publication of 2 thick volumes of "Tu Tran tells stories". He considers it the highest reward for a professional, not easy for everyone to get.

His house, facing the south, was quite cozy, but when he slept, he often wore a Russian fur hat with two straps tied tightly under his chin. At night, he often left the door open. I was surprised and asked him why. He said he had a habit of screaming loudly in his sleep, as if he were being paralyzed. At times like that, if someone came in and woke him up, he would wake up without feeling tired.

If he were left alone to cry for a long time, he would be as tired as a seriously ill person the next morning. I asked the people living next door to Van Chi, and they all said it was true. Some even reminded him to leave the door open, in case he cried, so he could come in. Everyone said the same thing, that when they woke Van Chi up like that, they felt so sorry for him.

Later I learned that Van Chi had a mental illness because when he was at Nghe Tinh Radio Station, during Tet, he struggled to write several radio plays. Before that, every year, he wrote a play every week, both directing and acting. He worked so hard that Tet he got sick. He was hospitalized at night and still shouted the lines in his plays. After the province was divided, he recovered and brought back to Ha Tinh Radio Station a whole archive of documents. Radio plays, folk songs. That was enough for nearly 10 years. And he also brought back the habit of screaming loudly at night.

Van Chi's love for his job as a radio artist not only reached listeners in the vast Nghe Tinh region, but also collaborators from distant provinces such as Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Vung Tau who also contributed articles to the program he was in charge of. That love seemed to add creative energy and encourage us, so that out of the three employees of the Art Department he was in charge of, two of them later became members of the Vietnam Writers Association (Nhu Binh, Phan Quoc Binh).

For me, the most memorable is the last Tet before Van Chi retired. He read me two pairs of Tet couplets. The self-proclaimed verses: "Why celebrate, why wish, sixty years old, sixty foolish things/ Rich is the same, poor is the same, thirty thousand days, thirty thousand worries".

I asked: "Everyone knows the foolish things in your life, you are only good at your job, what are you worried about?" Worrying about your studies! He laughed and said, it still haunts him until now. Then he continued reading. His eulogy:

Welcome back to Hell

Hello everyone in the world.

I was startled: "What a mistake, sir, why did you bring this up during Tet?". Van Chi said: "I think I have fulfilled my duty in life, so going is a happy thing. What a mistake?". Van Chi laughed calmly, but I still couldn't hide my vague fear. Then the mistake really haunted him.

A year after Tet, on the day he attended the provincial Literature and Arts Congress, as soon as he got off his motorbike, a poor motorbike taxi driver, rushing to get a passenger, knocked Van Chi down onto the street. And so he was gone, gone forever... My friends and I were shocked, walking under the two lines of his autobiography, painfully remembering a gentle senior journalist who had been with us for so many years.

Tet holiday, Spring day again feel so nostalgic!

According to CAND