Ever wanted to rant about that someone you just can’t stand? Overwhelmed with too many feelings? 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 confessions to tinyurl.com/rafflesadvicecolumn and we’ll give them our best shot.
Continue reading “Aunt Agony and Uncle Upset: Relationships in Promos”
By Louisa Li (16A13A) and Md Khairillah (16A01B)
Interview by Adelyn Tan (16A01E) and Choo Shuen Ming (16A01E)
Around campus, two sights are familiar to all: that of the Rafflesian studying, and that of the Rafflesian trying to study. Raffles Press speaks to counsellors Kah Hwee and Mei Hui for tips on how to navigate a school life constantly marred by abject and inevitable stress, as well as the support available when we feel overwhelmed by it.
Stress is the common denominator among all teenagers: Kah Hwee stressed that “the teenage years are a developmental stage, and it can result in high emotional intensity.” Most teenagers go through similar issues, if communal moaning about problems in general teenager linguo is anything to go by. What does differ however, is the intensity of the issues we undergo, coming down to our individual capacities to adjust and manage the changes. Someone who lacks stable and effective stress management mechanisms may be better off with external help, which is of course no indictment on one’s personality or disposition. Requiring more support and help to build the skills needed to stay mentally healthy is wholly understandable, and encouragingly, something which our counsellors have plenty to say on.
First and foremost, mental wellness is a skill, not just a state of being. Mental wellness, as an extension, provides a support structure for dealing with stressors when they come. As Mei Hui puts it, “You’ll be able to handle them better; you’ll be more adaptable; you have more resources on hand and they’re less likely to cause a mental illness.”
Such support structures include having a good social network to manage the stress in your life, and leading a healthy and balanced lifestyle. To that end, you should ensure that there are constant positives in your life; the smallest pleasures and interests can often reap enormous benefits and leave you with a feeling of ease and comfort. Basic physiological needs for instance are unexpectedly important: our sedentary lifestyles mean that we don’t get enough sleep, eat well enough or exercise enough. Our bodies are created to work, and movement is a way of countering and managing the stress built up in the body over a period of time. A lot of things can slip in the long run if we don’t pay attention to these things.
Apart from building support structures to ensure that you remain healthy, helping your friends by listening to them is important too. Rather than needing people to outright ‘solve their problems from the get-go,’ people often ‘just need to vent and feel like they’re being cared for.’ As friends, our focus needs to shift from solving people’s problems to understanding these problems from their own perspective; Kah Hwee mentions that just being there “can actually go a long way in helping people feel better and they might realize they don’t need anything beyond that.”
However, Kah Hwee cautions against being the only supporter and carrying the burden yourself. Expanding the support network by bringing another good friend in would ensure that your friend doesn’t become over-dependent on you – you should think about taking care of yourself as well. “If not,” Kah Hwee jokes, what ensues are “phone calls at midnight and texting till 3am.”
The last people that teenagers would ever think of turning to would ironically be their parents, as “the relationship between a lot of teens and their parents can be very complicated”. Growing up is the process of finding your own identity, and many teenagers tend to drift apart from their parents. Nevertheless, your parents are still the ones who brought you up all these years; they do care about you. Mei Hui qualifies that the “majority of the parents we speak to genuinely love and care for their children. It may be hard for teenagers to see that now, but whatever happens, they’re still your family. If one parent is unsupportive, try talking to the other!”
Other than your friends and family, support is also readily available in school. Kah Hwee recommends coming down to speak to the counsellors, or talking to your teachers if you’re comfortable with it. If the situation worsens and you suspect that you might have a mental illness, the counsellors can also administer screeners, and talk to you to get a sense of whether or not you display enough symptoms to warrant a diagnosis. “We can take you through the whole process. For students who are afraid to speak to their parents about it, we could also invite their parents to come down and have a chat.”
This Keep Calm week, try your hand at some of the fun activities in the canteen, while learning about how to deal with a bevy of life crises. Don’t wait for one to happen before you start worrying about stress management!
By Chew Cheng Yu (16S06L), Choo Shuen Ming (16A01E), Louisa Li (16A13A) and Md Khairillah (16A01B)
Stressed? Depressed? Stressed and depressed? Hear ye, hear ye! The counsellors at Raffles Guidance Center are collaborating with the Community Advocates group Lifeline to bring you “Keep Calm Week” from tomorrow until the end of the week!
By Celine Ng (16A01A)
Photos from 7letters.sg
7 Letters is a collection of 7 short films by Singaporean directors Boo Junfeng, Eric Khoo, K. Rajagopal, Jack Neo, Tan Pin Pin, Royston Tan and Kelvin Tong. Fundamentally a celebration of home, the short films orbit this theme with fascinating coherence and touching individuality, offering one of those rare collections of stories which build off rather than compete against each other.
In all honesty I attended the screening with some ambivalence. ‘Singaporean’ works of art have on occasion struck me as somewhat heavy-handed in their treatment of our national identity and I wondered if the films would come across the way I interpreted some of the publicity: aesthetically pleasing but somewhat pretentious, framed in the token-nostalgic but largely mystifying location with a bright SG50 to boot.
Watching 7 Letters turned out to be an immensely humbling experience for me, for which I am grateful. Each film treated its subject matter with genuine affection and ‘local’ issues were woven into the stories with varying degrees of subtlety but an enduring sense of purpose.
(Note: The audience was asked by two directors who had attended the screening to approach the films with fresh eyes regardless of what we’d read about them before. I was fortunate in that, never having read any reviews, this was easy for me to do. To avoid giving spoilers, the following paragraphs are deliberately conceptual in description, and do not appear in the same sequence which the films do.)
Parting by Boo Junfeng was a deeply nostalgic piece to do with memory and loss. The film is notable for the skill with which it wove personal drama with reflections on what some viewers interpreted as a reference to Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965. Conceptually, the non-linear progression was effective in creating the persistent sense of loss that undergirded the piece as well as lending sympathy to the drama -from demolished landmarks to changed faces, images conveying this sense of loss emphasised the difficulty of the Protagonist’s search for memory in a world that had utterly changed.
Sinema by Eric Khoo was possibly one of the most cleverly conceptualised in my opinion and an affectionate take on “the golden era of Singapore filmmaking”. The strength of this piece lies in its ability to reference familiar tropes -as evidenced by the immediately recognisable low-budget film-in-a-film, complete with word-art-like opening title, jerky cinematography and tacky Pontianak -and re-work them with affection and humor. Keenly aware of the narrative tropes it played off as well, the film as a whole was able to create strong parallels between its plot and construction, conveying across multiple levels the idea that what lends value to stories is a freshness defined not by utter separation from what is past but rather a meaningful engagement with history.
The Flame by K. Rajagopal was a compelling tale of family drama catalyzed by historical currents and the most narratively compact of all seven films. The film precipitated a collision of its four main characters with efficiency and vigour, allowing the key tensions of their struggle to be played out with sustained intensity. This efficiency was also apparent in the dialogue, which was tightly tethered to these tensions throughout, conveying through silences and stilted exchanges the unspoken concerns of each character.
That Girl by Jack Neo opened with a sequence that had me turning to my friend with a whisper of ‘confirm Jack Neo’ which was met with a suppressed laugh and a nod. Plot and thematic concerns aside, the film in itself is capable of evoking nostalgia for those of us who might see in it echoes of films such as I Not Stupid and Homerun. Crucially, however, the ‘local’ elements in this film were able to seem less like gimmicks and more like parts to a comprehensively -if a bit too deliberately -constructed whole, lending heart to a sweet if somewhat predictable story.
Pineapple Town by Tan Pin Pin was another film which audiences saw political undertones in, with some reviewers outright labelling it political allegory. Personally, I admired it for a very clean, down-to-earth style which I felt granted the most autonomy to the plot. The strengths of this piece lie in a complete independence of the story from narrative ‘enhancers’ and subtly balanced depictions of different character types (the middle-class lady and literal coffee-shop aunty, for instance).
Bunga Sayang by Royston Tan was a sweet and heartfelt story of friendship, one of my favourites for its balance of sentiment and humour. Reviewers seem to have mixed reactions to the film’s blend of the naturalistic with the whimsical and at times outright surreal, which was fun if somewhat confusing. I personally felt that the defining aspect of this piece and its greatest strength was a deeply feeling but understated quality to the storytelling. The friendship which emerges between both protagonists is made all the more compelling by the fact that their loneliness elsewhere and genuine fondness for each other is largely implied and at most articulated on occasion by timing and facial expressions.
Grandma Positioning System by Kelvin Tong was remarkable for how well it worked, with my friend and I agreeing that it was “by far definitely the tackiest but possibly the best”. This film managed even to outstrip That Girl in its use of stereotypes and Sinema in its use of tropes, but was nonetheless deeply enjoyable, again for its blending of heart and humor. Most remarkable to me was the skilful construction of the family dynamic which was deeply compelling in the way it lent depth and dignity to a series of tropes that were often simultaneously touching and comical. Perhaps the best way to encapsulate the spirit of this piece would be the reactions my friend and I had to its ending, which we both agreed should have made us cringe but actually had us crying.
On the whole, 7 Letters was a truly admirable show and one that I would recommend. I believe there is something in it for everybody, and as someone who views any art specifically marketed as “Singaporean” art with immense skepticism, I am grateful for this humbling reminder that there is art out there which explores local themes with intelligence and insight.
7 Letters will be having a short run at Golden Village and tickets are available online at their website.
By Vanessa Chia (16A13A) and Sean Lim (16A13A)
Photographs by Hoong Li-Ann (16A03A)
Closing a vibrant week of exciting workshops, dazzling performances and impromptu original poetry by Writers’ Guild, Literature Night 2015 was the manifestation of the school’s long-standing and dynamic Literature scene. Literature Night took the discipline out of the classroom and dreary lecture theatres, where seemingly incomprehensible extracts are tirelessly analyzed. Instead, the audience at the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) last Thursday night was treated to a delightful amalgamation of plays, quizzes and even a fashion show (of sorts, under the moniker of a Character Dress-Up), all composed and created by our very own students. This served to showcase just how far the Literature scene has grown and blossomed in Raffles Institution, as well as how the subject is so much more than what we are exposed to or our preconceived notions of it, from nightmarish recollections of memory work to possible hair-pulling from red-marked exam scripts.
The initial chatter of the audience, comprising largely of the school’s Literature students, immediately died down to a hush as emcees Myko Philip (15A01B) and Lee Chin Wee (14A01B) took to the stage. Livening the evening with light humour and tropes pointed out with panache and good-natured humour (e.g. the cliche-ridden nature of morning announcements and the tendency of Raffles Players’ works to perpetually surround melancholic, dispiriting themes), the audience knew they were going to be in for a treat.
“Chin Wee: But seriously. This ticks every single trope that was featured in RI Dramafeste.
Myko: Like what, dysfunctional family?
Chin Wee: Check.
Myko: Purportedly minimalist set which only looks pretentious and well thought out because it needs to hide the fact that they had no budget?
Chin Wee: Yep.”
As the curtains parted open to a stage swept up in utter darkness, the quiet energy of the audience was palpable for the first play of the night, All Good Things Discarded, directed by Isaiah Lee (16A01A). All Good Things Discarded was a raw, introspective look at how times of adversity can change the family unit, either for better or worse. The context of the play is as such; Bernard, an elderly grandfather has a mental illness which is putting a toll on the family (comprising the father Drake, the mother Grace, and the little daughter Melody), both in terms of medical costs and in terms of their cohesiveness as a family. Arguments emerge between the parents; The mother, Grace flares up at how much of a burden Bernard is to the family and she is worried that as Melody spends more time with Bernard, speaking in a language unbeknownst to anyone besides both of them, the more she will be isolated from the rest of humanity.
As the play progresses, both Drake and Grace explore what Bernard and his late wife Sylvia (mother to Drake) have left them as emblems of a passed down heritage. Once Bernard escapes from the mental institute to seek refuge from the plight of loneliness, the play explores what it means for a family to live together and go through tough times as a single entity. Bernard’s wife Sylvia, though not physically seen, has a presence that resonates in each one of the characters as they recollect memories of their past with her. In the end, Melody reveals her innermost secrets; her emotions and thoughts are a physical expression of the true meaning of what it means to love and be loved unconditionally.
The piece, which was the brainchild of Isaiah who had written and conceptualised the production since Secondary 2, had gone through a deluge of modifications prior to its showing. “The play has undergone multiple changes and variations to reach the standard and stage it is presented as tonight,” quipped Isaiah, whose hard work and intense pursuit of perfection was clearly evident in his production. It was a touching, heartwarming yet thoroughly thought-provoking look at, as Isaiah put it, at ‘what it means to be a part of a family’ and ‘what we should count as the most important part of that family unit’. It was a stellar opening act, a play which resonated with the heartstrings of many amongst the audience, and that was made all the more poignant by the impressive chemistry between the actors who had put in ‘months of hard work’. Perhaps Isaiah put it best: it was simply a piece that was ‘uncomfortably vulnerable, painfully honest and beautifully worth it.’
What followed next was the ‘Poetry Slam’ segment, where Gabriel Ng (15A01B), Wahid Al Mamun (15A01A) and William Hoo (15A01E) each recited some of their original poems, with subject matters ranging from playful themes to sentimental pieces and even some abstract works— a wide variety that kept the audience entertained and captivated throughout. With each poem, the audience seemed to be brought into a different realm, thoroughly invested within the minds of the poetry slammers as they brought their personal, unadulterated experiences to life.
The second play of the night, It’s A Different Model, directed by Celine Ng (16A01A) followed next. The play followed a father-daughter relationship between Mark and Lauren, and their interactions in the face of Lauren’s decision to move out. With commentary on the idea of primarily defining human relationships based on love, it exemplified how even though the nature of love may change over time, it is ever-present.
The piece conveyed how love ultimately overcomes all obstacles in a relationship, such as ‘bitterness, resentment, diffidence and pettiness’ in Celine’s words. She added on that ‘what makes Mark Lauren’s father is not in fact what he does for her because even the final act of pouring breakfast for her is only made possible because Lauren allows it, not because she requires it. What makes Mark Lauren’s father is the love for her that has always undergirded these genuine – if somewhat laughably bumbling – expressions of care. [Similarly], what makes Lauren Mark’s daughter is not the fact that she is nurtured by him, but simply the fact that she loves him, cares for him, and is in some ways emotionally dependent on him. They belong to each other emotionally!’
Literature Quiz 2015 was an exciting affair, with three shortlisted teams from 15A01B, 15A01E and 16S03B out of all Literature classes in Y5-6 competing to clinch the honour of being, unofficially, recognised as the most esteemed literary connoisseurs of the school. Questions ranged from authors to book covers to famous quotes, and the teams on stage fought hard with their scores almost neck-and-neck for the entirety of the competition. Each question drew both excited laughter as well as hushed, infrequent murmurs reflecting the audience’s confusion towards many of the literary excerpts and book covers displayed on the screen which were unfamiliar to them. For the second year running, commendably, 15A01B clinched the champion title.
The quiz was followed on by Nice Things, a play directed and produced by Caitlin O’Hara (16S03A), which played on the unexpected impact two complete strangers can have on each other simply through conversation (humorous at times thanks to the occasional interjections from the resident Kopi-O Beng auntie, and the consistent awkwardness in their exchange). On a deeper level, it showed the irony in how we are often unable to empathise with our family members, despite them being the people we ought to be closest to, but instead are able to make significant emotional and human connections with people we have never met before. As for what Caitlin wanted the audience to take home, “I wanted to play up the struggle we all face in trying to love the people around us as we should, as well as how we are all inherently good people going through difficulties of our own in conveying our sincerity and this was really the message I hoped for the audience to take home.” Truly, the play communicated a warm and heartfelt message about the nature of human connection and relationships to us all.
The next segment, Character Dress-Up, was arguably the most light-hearted and interactive segment of the night. Each Literature class had been tasked beforehand to send up a classmate who would dress up as a famous literary figure and recite a few lines famously said by their characters, in hopes that those in the audience would be able to guess who they were portraying. Some classes came very well-prepared for their performances, such as 15A01A’s portrayal of Forrest Gump which ended in an unexpected fashion as Stefanus Phan (15A01A), accompanied by Marcus Tan (15A01A), broke out into a rap along with their classmates in the audience. Other memorable performances included a re-enactment of Hakuna Matata, which was ultimately crowned the winner of the dress-up tournament and even one of Christian Grey, the protagonist of the renowned Fifty Shades series.
After the light-hearted and humourous parade of characters, the night concluded with a lovely award presentation for the best character dress-up and the proud champions of the Literature Quiz, which nicely summed up the entertaining events of the evening.
Alas, after the curtains closed on Literature Night 2015, we were left behind to pick ourselves off the seats, after witnessing the Literature’s other living side. Nevertheless, we are certain everyone left the PAC with jubilant spirits — if not thoroughly entertained, then at least exposed to a captivating line up of performances that showed just how dynamic, multi-faceted and fundamentally fun, literature can be.
