Commentary

Commentary

Smashing Through: Squash Girls’ Finals 2018
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Caryn Chiah (19A01A) and Shervon Lee (19S06A)
Photographs courtesy of Zheng Huijun (19A13B) of Raffles Photographic Society

On 4 May, the excited chatter of supporters slowly filled the Kallang Squash and Tennis Centre as the competitors were warmed up for their upcoming matches. The Squash Girls’ team of Raffles’ Institution was up against previous champions, Anglo-Chinese Junior College. Having lost the championship the year before, the thirst to win was evident in the players. The crowd soon grew silent as Sneha Sivakumar (19S03J) stepped into the court to serve her first shot. With an effortless stroke, the ball entered a graceful trajectory to the wall. The finals were underway.

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Commentary

Spotlight on the Control Room: Behind the Scenes with AVU
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Joyce Lee (19S06O) and Alyssa Marie Loo (19A13A)

Most of those attending Raffles Jazz’s Birdland concert would have had their eyes trained on the stage, mesmerised by the bright lights and talented performers. Unbeknownst to most, a totally different performance was taking place right behind them, in the shadows of the PAC control room. Four AVU members sat in tense silence, three of them manned the sound board, and one controlled the lights. Midway through a song, one of the AV members said urgently: “The bass, can’t hear the solo enough”. With a flurry of directions, fingers flipping and sliding switches across the soundboard, the lovely baritone of the bass solo began to glide over the sound system.

One might think AVU is simply present to ensure rudimentary technical functioning: making sure sound is working, lights are on, and the projector behaves when videos are played. Yet, as with so many other things, there is much more than meets the eye. Raffles Press had the opportunity to witness everything else that occurs in the control room, shining a spotlight on what really goes on behind-the-scenes, and how AVU plays a far more crucial, albeit almost invisible, role at every performance in RI.

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Behind the Seams: The Models of Raffles Runway
Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Rachel Lee (19A01D), Lynn Hong (18A13A), Soh Gek Shuen (18S03B) and Zhu Xiuhua (18S06A)

Read the second part of this feature on the designers of Raffles Runway here.

We see them strutting, elegant and confident, down runways, red carpets, and maybe even school corridors. Raffles Press brings you the person behind the poise, interviewing Ng Kelly (18S05A) and Alex Foo (18A03A) to share their journey in modelling.

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Chinese Orchestra ‘18: Cascade
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Wong Zi Yang (19A01D) and Nicole Chan (19S05A)
Photos courtesy of Raffles Photographic Society

If you were to mention ‘Chinese’ to anyone, the likely response would be one of disgust, such as ‘ew, no need take Chinese already lah!’

So what would one expect for the turnout at a Chinese Orchestra concert? Surprisingly, quite a large one. Raffles Institution Chinese Orchestra’s ‘Cascade’, performed on 4th May at the Singapore Chinese Orchestra Hall, enriched the night with soulful music.

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Writers’ Guild Anthology ’18: A COMMAntry
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Wong Zi Yang (19A01D)
Photos taken by Aiken Lee (18S06G)

The comma: a simple punctuation mark, used by everyone in their daily lives (especially those who write essays upon essays. When will it end?). We almost never appreciate its existence, beyond its ability to differentiate between ‘let’s eat, grandpa’ and ‘let’s eat grandpa’. But no longer is it overshadowed by the long lines of text that flank it; Writers’ Guild shone a spotlight on the comma, featuring this often-overlooked punctuation mark as its theme in their Writers’ Guild Anthology Launch on 30th April.

This is an ode to the comma. Neither the start nor the end, the comma invites readers to enjoy an oasis on a trade route. This simple pause, in the right context, weaves a world of layers within the space of a sentence.

– Writers’ Guild, foreword

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