Ever wanted to rant about that someone you just can’t stand? Overwhelmed with too many feels? Check out Raffles Press’ new column, Ask Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset, and our resident Aunties and Uncles will be glad to help you with your Rafflesian troubles! Submit your questions to tinyurl.com/rafflesadvicecolumn and we’ll give them our best shot.
These days, students get told that we gripe – a lot. Well, we suppose it is true, if you observe what we love to talk about. Sometimes, it could be on how school sucks or how sian doing homework has become. Other times, it could be crises of a more existential nature – for example, the strange crossroads between adulthood and childhood that we now find themselves at, or how we seem to be too old to indulge in fun, yet simultaneously too young for mature responsibilities.
Still, regardless of what floats your sampan (and helps you vent all your pent-up emotions constructively), it’s no wonder that all of us find something to complain about, considering the multitude of responsibilities we have to shoulder. Family relationships, friendships, finding our independence, fighting off lethargy with cups of coffee, peer pressure – the list goes on. The walls of our school, white-washed as they may be, just cannot keep out feelings of stress, anxiety, family issues, and –– dare we say it? – heartbreak.
While getting As at the A’s might be our end goal for these lightning-quick two years in Raffles, we ought to remember that they also mark a big leap in the transition from adolescence to adulthood. These two years of our lives are, more often than not, occupied by high expectations, a fast pace of living and laundry lists of tasks to get out of the way, so much so that a good night’s sleep may seem too elusive. Why are we concerned though, anyway? Because it seems nobody has the time to ask after the welfare of our friends any more.
This is exactly why Raffles Press has re-established our Aunt Agony column. We have heard your exasperated cries about that one pesky Project Work group mate, your struggles to maintain despite so many incoming problems, and those forlorn days when nothing seems to be going right.
When even ranting to Raffles Confessions isn’t enough, our resident writers will be more than happy to listen to your problems, and provide honest and sincere advice for any problems sent their way. (Rest assured that all submitters will remain anonymous.)
The Fine Print
Q: Where do I make submissions?
All submissions can be made here.
Q: How long will you take to respond?
Your resident aunties and uncles will post once a week on Sundays, before the start of every fresh new school week.
Once a week may seem slow, but when the aunties and uncles have more free time, we’ll post replies to a slightly larger handful of submissions in our weekly post. For the most part, you can expect a reply in at least two to three weeks.
Generally, we will reply to all submissions as long as they follow our guidelines:
- Must not defame any persons or violate their privacy.
- Must not contain hate speech.
- To be realistic (but we can smell trolling from a mile away, anyway).
Disclaimer: Raffles Press reserves the right not to reply to submissions that we deem unsuitable for publication. This includes submissions that are: excessively graphic, not in accordance with school rules, or very similar to those that have previously been published. As well as that, while Aunt Agony will strive to provide genuine and concrete advice, readers are encouraged to use the advice given at their own discretion and not view advice given as gospel truth.
If you have any queries or concerns related to the Aunt Agony/Uncle Upset column or its confessions, please direct them to us at press.raffles@gmail.com, with the title ‘Questions about Aunt Agony’.
