America 1982-Chapter 128 - 38: The Birth of a Scumbag

Dressed in pure black crew-neck T-shirts, durable blue jeans, and a pair of ash-gray sneakers, Tommy, Jason, Holly, Mark, and Susan leaned on the hood of Tommy’s vintage car covered in fancy graffiti, gazing at the camera with a gentle yet firm look.

The photographer from The Stanford Daily adjusted the lens and finally pressed the shutter.

The Stanford Daily is the university newspaper of Stanford University, run by a publishing company operated by Stanford students. It has a modest circulation of about four to five thousand copies, mainly targeting students and faculty of the university, relying on donations and advertising for its main revenue. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

It’s a serious newspaper, not like the kind Tommy saw at Lincoln High School, which only recorded the amusing happenings on campus.

The style of the paper changes with the graduation of its editors-in-chief, for instance, resembling The Washington Post in the past two years, and now, it seems more like USA Today.

Basically, by looking at the paper’s style, one can judge which media group the editor-in-chief will join after graduation. For those aspiring to become editors in journalism, this is simply the best internship.

Although the style varies, one thing remains constant: the deep-seated enmity between The Stanford Daily and Stanford University’s administration. In 1973, the school attempted to take over the newspaper. After being rejected by students and resorting to underhanded tactics, several student editors were taken away by the police.

Since then, The Stanford Daily has adopted an unwritten rule: university scandals are always the top news story of the newspaper.

For example, in 1978, while the whole of California and even the entire United States were focused on Proposition 6 in California, all newspapers put this news on their front pages.

Only The Stanford Daily relegated this news of national concern to the second page. The front-page story of the day was "The XXX with a Whip: Stanford University’s Dean of Geology XXX goes to an ** shop to buy a whip, he will corrupt all students."

It could be said that the administration of Stanford University was kept on tenterhooks by the newspaper, fearing that a slight misstep would turn them into a laughingstock. Like that Professor XXX, who since ’78, received various whips as Christmas gifts from students every year.

Out of the modest circulation of four to five thousand copies of The Stanford Daily, two thousand were contributed by Stanford University’s administration and professors, purely to check whether they had done something wrong to appear on the front page of The Stanford Daily.

At the moment, The Stanford Daily’s interview with Actor Corporation had nothing to do with Tommy or Actor’s popularity. It was mainly because Actor Corporation had donated a sum of five hundred dollars to the newspaper and bought an advertising space, which is why the paper arranged this interview.

...

Jason sat in his seat, facing the reporter who had turned on the recorder and spread out the notepad, and said with a smile,

"When you find your roommate getting busier every day and not taking you out for fun like before, you need to figure out what has attracted him. Roommates should first have similar interests. That’s how Tommy and I are. We like computers, we like change, we like girls. We come from small places, but we’re not lacking in social responsibility, especially me, I have a gentlemanly demeanor..."

"Aside from co-founding Actor with me, Jason White also works part-time as a gigolo. Can you guys put in a call-girl ad for him as well?" Tommy, with his arms crossed, leaned against the wall and suddenly said with a laugh.

The same Jason who had just declared himself a gentleman was, without regard for the reporter’s presence, hurling a string of greetings at Tommy with a high F-word content.

"Tommy is a scoundrel," Jason said to the reporter at the end of the interview.

...

"Well, the social responsibility of Actor Corporation attracted me. You know, when these two big guys stood in front of me and said, ’Holly, we should help those women.’ I was instantly knocked down by the tenderness they showed. I couldn’t find any reason to refuse." Today, Holly had tied her long hair behind her head, looking sharper and more capable, lacking her usual demeanor of blonde hair cascading over her shoulders:

"It was very difficult in the early days, we didn’t even know how far we could go, but now, we have successfully helped nearly a hundred women in Silicon Valley gain jobs and confidence in life, and there are another seventeen hundred students from nearby community colleges interested in our training programs. They could only slowly get scheduled due to the limited number of classrooms and computers. Family and school both taught us to do the right thing, so what could be more right than helping others and bringing joy?"

"Your thoughts on Tommy?" Holly laughed when she heard the question, pondered for a moment, and said, "Tommy Hawk, he’s a bad guy who does good things, yes, he is a troublemaker."

...

"I started working in the flesh trade in San Jose right after graduating from high school, and living to the age of twenty-four without dying there, I always thought I was pretty lucky." Susan Curtis said calmly to the reporter:

"But it wasn’t until I saw the ad for free training in ’Seeking Pleasure’ magazine that I realized my good luck was just beginning. I learned OSS, got an A, interned at Symantec Corporation, and now I give the right advice to those trainees for Actor Corporation. Oh yeah, I also started Hope Human Resources Company with Holly and Mark. It’s unbelievable; I’ve become a company partner. How should I put it? Knowledge changed my sorry fate, but without Tommy, Jason, and Holly, I would never have had the chance to gain that knowledge. I don’t know how to say much, but I do know I’m doing the right thing."

"Your thoughts on Tommy?" Susan turned her head to glance outside at the garage where Tommy was smoking with Jason and Mark, then turned her gaze back to the reporter:

"I’m older than him, but I see him more like a godfather to me, guiding me, teaching me, correcting my own life’s course. Holly and Jason both say he’s a troublemaker? Ha-ha-ha~ Yes, he’s a troublemaker, but I would never say that about him. If he really is one, then it’s society that has corrupted him. To use Tommy’s own words against me, it’s this country that is the troublemaker, not us."

...

"Data engineer, that’s my job at Actor Corporation. I like this title," Mark looked squarely at the reporter. "I enter data of various potential clients into the computer every day, then call them, asking if they want to master a computer skill. I love this job. Actor Corporation’s job cured my anxiety and allowed me to move past my troubled past."

"Jason is a barbaric brute, Holly is a cunning woman with great ability, Susan is Tommy’s devout follower, and me? I’m just a shadow; most of the time you won’t see me. I’m busy collecting data in the darkness. Yes, that’s my impression of us, like the four horsemen of Actor."

"Tommy? Wasn’t my metaphor clear enough? Without a doubt, he’s the king of troublemakers at Actor."

...

Tommy was the last one to sit down in front of the reporter.

As the reporter flipped through his notepad: "All four of your colleagues call you a troublemaker, but it’s clear they like you a lot."

"They don’t like me; they just like our cause." Tommy took out a pack of cigarettes and gestured towards the reporter: "Want one?"

"No, thank you, Tommy, can you talk about why you wanted to make this software?"

Tommy lit up and took a drag, then seemed to fall into his memories, slowed down his pace, and said, "I’m from Warwick, Rhode Island, a rural area. My father ran a small shipbreaking yard, which is physically demanding work dismantling decommissioned ships. But he placed a high value on his children. My ability to come here and study is all thanks to him. In high school, he wanted to buy me a computer because apparently, other wealthy families were buying this stuff for their kids. He went to the computer store and listened to the salesperson talk for a long time but walked out empty-handed. He couldn’t afford it, not to mention a computer; he couldn’t even afford the software. He felt very guilty about it and worked even harder to save up enough money. As a result, one time he got injured by a piece of shipboard due to exhaustion and ended up with a scar on his thigh."

"Back then, I started thinking about how many people like my father felt guilty for not being able to afford a computer. After I studied computer science, I realized that I might not have the money to start a hardware company, but at least I could start with software. I tried making a practical software that was affordable, for those alarmed by the high costs of software. Technology should not be the exclusive experience of the wealthy."

"So I and my partners founded Actor, to help the poor reclaim their right to enjoy the conveniences and quality that technology brings, which is taken away by exorbitant software pricing. Actor Corporation works with Stanford Women’s Equality Advancement Association to train those women. Many people have said to me, Tommy, I’m glad to know you’re a supporter of women’s rights."

"No, that’s far from enough. I tell them that technological equality is my fight."

The reporter’s pen paused on the notepad for a moment and finally came up with the title for the piece: "Actor: The Birth of a Troublemaker."