Commentary

Commentary, Op-Eds, Opinion

Escaping the Maze: Is Learning an Instrument Worth the Trouble?
Reading Time: 9 minutes

By Kunchur Bharat (26A01B) and Lerraine Neo (26A01A) 

Singaporean parents are one of the most kiasu species on the planet, and this competitive nature often manifests in strange ways. Perhaps strangest of all is the obsession with their child’s musical abilities. 

Music is not seen as a career path in Singaporean society. Informing your parents that you aspire to be a musician will likely gain you a look of poorly-disguised horror, a lecture on how you’re wasting your intellectual potential, and a desperate talk about how you do not have to make a career out of your passions.

At this point, you may pause to wonder: Weren’t you the one who put me in music lessons in the first place? 

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Commentary, Op-Eds

The GhostBusters Handbook – A Quick Guide to Busting Ghosting 
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Looi Ee Xin (26S03M)

Have you ever impatiently looked at Blue Ticks (possibly Grey Ticks)? Or anticipated a reply to your email but ended up waiting for months and months? If you have experienced any of these scenarios, I am here to deliver bad news. You have been a target of – ghosting. 

As a professional ghostbuster, I will be covering all there is to know about ghosting and how you can bust those ghosts. Rest assured; these ghosts will not touch you with a 10 foot pole after you’ve employed these tactics. 

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Commentary, Op-Eds, Opinion

Sins of the Father: Exploring Film Culture’s “Literally Me” Phenomenon
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Jaden Lum Zi Jun (26S05A)

How far would you go to impress someone?  

Because in 1981, outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, a man stood amongst the bustling crowd, intent on answering that very question. As officials streamed from the doorway, cheers roared, and cameras flashed. He reached into his coat. It was time.  

Six shots rang out, and the world watched in horror as US President Ronald Reagan narrowly dodged death at the hands of this would-be assassin.  

His motive? After watching the 1976 film Taxi Driver, he became fanatically obsessed—not just with its lonely, violent and insomniac protagonist Travis Bickle, but even more so with the film’s young star, Jodie Foster. And in a valiant attempt to win her love, he would allow fiction to bleed into reality by mirroring the movie’s plot with an attempt on the President’s life. Romantic.

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Commentary, Op-Eds, Opinion

The Art of Matching 
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Georgia Ong (26S03O)

Maybe you’ve noticed the same bracelet on two people’s wrists. Or perhaps you’ve scrolled through your Instagram stories to find a mutual friend’s friend group all decked out in identical Hello Kitty pants. Even more so, you’ve been told to wear a particular house shirt to match with your friends in school. 

Matching HH shirts for Basketball  

Matching. When the term first comes to mind, anything and everything related to lovey-dovey couples who want anything and everything they have to be the same may pop into your head — but truly, matching is much more than that. It is an art, a craft honed over years of socialisation that reflects the beauty of friendship and community. 

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