Editor | Heather Lim
Contributing Writers | Andreia Ko, Beatrice Lee, Jasmine Su Photographer | Audrey Lim ‘50% brightness, 40% contrast…” an internal monologue runs through my head as my hands move axiomatically across my phone screen. Done! My carefully curated photo was going to match perfectly to the color scheme of my Instagram newsfeed. I give myself an approving nod as i proceed to upload my natural-looking picture to the 4x4 square frame. But I catch myself. Editor| Nathasha Lee
Contributing Writer | Xiyao Fu Photographer| Audrey Lim Whenever any Singaporean asks me where I live, I usually say ‘Ghim Moh.’ ‘Ghim Moh’ is actually the name of a housing estate a few streets away from where I live. Yet over the ten years I’ve lived in my current neighbourhood, the Ghim Moh hawker center and market have come to dominate my memory of ‘home’. On countless weekend mornings I would join the snaking hour-long queues for char kway teow at the hawker center before shoving through the seething crowds at the wholesale market next door. Family conversations would be peppered with gossip about the ‘vegetable man’ and the fishmonger’s daughter. Occasionally there would be news of the tirades the elderly coconut seller made whenever we bought all the freshest coconuts he had for the day. My sister and I would even boast of the imitation Cath Kidston pouches we could find in the surrounding sundry shops. The hawker center was a seemingly endless source of food, gossip and household goods. Quite simply, Ghim Moh had almost everything we needed. Editor | Ng Xin Photographer | Audrey Lim Contributing Writer | Jan Bronauer, Zac Yeow As my second Valentine’s Day in Yale-NUS approached, I found myself wondering about the different displays of affection I would witness that day – on social media, through gifts of flowers and chocolate. Of course, love is embodied in a multitude of relationships: self-love, friendship, familial bonds… However, every February 14, the one relationship that is singled out above others is always romantic. What makes romance unique? Yes, when you break it down rationally it might be a simple product of capitalist, colonialist narratives. I hope not to privilege romance over other equally beautiful forms of love that have not been equally celebrated. Still, for many people, the romantic love they celebrate on Valentine’s Day is undeniably real and important. I wanted to know what individuals think distinguishes dating and romance from other types of love. Is it that the boundaries and expectations involved in the former are so much more clearly defined? The presents and declarations we see on Valentine’s Day constitute only a very small part of romantic relationships. In the following two responses, Jan and Zac articulate the deep commitment necessary in romantic love.
Editor | Jasmine Su Photographer | Audrey Lim Contributing writer | Loo Zhao Xuan I grew up lying beside my aunt on her bed while she read out stories about Christ, the love of God, and how Jesus saves unconditionally. After she dried my hair, I would run to my grandmother’s room and fall asleep as she repeated stories about how different Buddhist monks achieved self-enlightenment through asceticism.
Editor| Ng Xin Contributing Writer | Tong Xueyin Photographer | Audrey Lim I’ve lived my whole life in the city-state of Singapore. As a child, I thought of nature as something I could only read about in storybooks – the wild moors, plains and rivers of other countries seemed so foreign to Singapore, where the land is mostly flat, and plants are tended to by gardeners and grown in tidy lines. That early impression still lingers with me today, and I always feel that I must travel far from the city in order to access “true” nature.
Editor | Nathasha Lee |