It was, perhaps, part-inspiration and part-school pride that led alumnus Migoy Lizada to create Overheard at the Ateneo de Manila University, a Facebook group similar to what other universities abroad have. And while we’ve all had our fair share of mishaps, blunders, and personal catastrophes, two months ago, we didn’t need to worry about it so much.
Now, we’re a little more watchful of our Freudian slips, frequently conscious of our less-than-intellectual moments, or silently editing the possible grammatical lapses. Because we just might be Overheard.
Did you hear about…?
Indeed, no class now is ever complete without someone hinting about the prospect of posting their teacher’s or classmates’ comments that made everyone laugh. “Overheard na yan! Overheard!” is a mantra that Ateneans now live vicariously by.
The nonstop thread of quotable quotes and funny anecdotes mainly capitalizes on a wide array of unintentional, raw, and candid sound bites and antics heard and seen all over campus. Overheard is the unofficial Atenean sounding board, providing a pick-me-up for those days when school just seems so dull.
From notable theology professors lambasting rival universities, to a history teacher’s disclaimer about students getting an automatic A just by taking their shirts off, to even the quintessential Atenean acronym, AMDG (Ang Matulog Di Ga-graduate)—everyone’s talking Overheard.
Migoy says he wasn’t expecting for the group, now over 13,000 members strong, to become this viral. “I wanted a lot of people to join but didn’t expect the membership growth to be that exponentially fast,” he says. “It was pleasantly surprising.”
From our world to yours
Crowd favorites include anecdotes from Fr. Adolfo Dacanay, and Fr. Roque Ferriols, and others that current students may not have even seen in campus, yet have been acquainted with through the online group. Overheard’s wall is a comical splendor, time machine, and inside joke all rolled into one.
“Some Ateneans who graduated years ago even talked about being under the chemist Fr. Schmitt who is known to present-day Ateneans as a building!”says Migoy.
More than just a feed, Overheard is also a two-way vehicle of transcending time. Through these brief narratives, Overheard bridges the gap between the past and the present.
“The group became an online space for alumni homecoming,” says Migoy. “It has a lot to do with the notion of ugnayan (connectivity), of celebrating a common culture and tradition that binds us together.”
Junior Aisa de la Cruz, a consistent contributor to Overheard’s wall, says she finds delight in others relating to her entries. “I get to communicate with many other Ateneans that I don’t know personally,” she says. “[It] increases my network a bit.”
“It’s another effort of the Atenean to create a public sphere. At the same time, it is also a form of social control,” adds sociology professor Emma Porio, Ph.D., pertaining to the teachers being discussed in the group. “I think that’s where the urban legends start.”
Porio, clearly aware of her occasional presence on the feed, says Overheard fosters the chismis (gossip) culture. It only becomes unproductive and healthy when the stories stop being factual and objective.
The varying perspectives of the posts also contribute in making Overheard rise to a league of its own. “The stories need not to be verbalized down the pat—it’s no longer a question of whether it is fact or fiction,” says Ariel Diccion, a Filipino instructor.
The bigger issue here is that Ateneans are opening themselves up to the world—creating an online (and public) demonstration of the daily Ateneo life. The “Outsiders are not allowed” sign doesn’t really restrict anyone who’s not Atenean
from reading the page.
Debunking the myth
This transparency, so to speak, allows for the Atenean community to prove itself—we don’t always fit into the stereotype. “[Overheard narratives] are not the grand, sesquicentennial narratives of how Ateneo should be,” Diccion says.
Instead, he likened Overheard to trickster tales, in a way that it shows the folly of higher authorities, rocking the pedestal by which they are on. At the end of the day, it is narrowing down the hodgepodge, away from all the pomp and circumstance, into something more basic and genuine.
Daily accounts of how students shotgun their way through their algebra and accounting midterms, successfully talk their way out of trouble, experience literally and figuratively ‘fail’ and ‘FML’ moments, and even those downright ‘I can’t believe I just said/did that’ situations—all of them scream of humanity and accessibility.
Associate professor Didith Rodrigo says, “[By posting on Overheard], it shows that we know how to laugh at ourselves and at our situations.”
What lies ahead
Having spun this web of genius across pockets of the good, the bad, the epic, the WTF’s and the FTW’s, Migoy’s brainchild has already proven its influence, Overheard has crawled its way into many Ateneans’ bookmarks, and persists to make one more attentive and perceptive every day—the Ateneo way.
Even with the short run Overheard has had, its future is anything but bleak. Migoy has been playing with the idea of a book, to immortalize and commemorate Overheard’s most epic anecdotes. All of its proceeds will then be for the interests of giving back: funding scholarships or charities affiliated with the university.
“But these are just initial top-off-my-head plans. I will be working on this more,” he says.
Whether or not these plans would push through still remains a question. What is confirmed though, is how this group single-handedly revolutionized the way Ateneans are to be deemed in the self-employed panopticon. We observe as we are being observed, and this makes for new interesting stories to tell.
One thing’s for sure—eavesdropping has never been this irresistible.
