After coming back from college to Malaysia for the summer holiday, I feel a bittersweet tinge in seeing friends all around, whom I have not seen since high school, pursuing their respective transitional stages in life. It reminded me of how one of my professors in college told us about an interesting word he had…
Here’s a question, dear reader: What comes to mind when you think of the word “graduation”? Do you picture black caps and gowns, packed auditoriums, long speeches, and bouquets? Do you, perhaps, feel a tinge of bitterness as you picture what could’ve been instead of what was? There is a delicate irony that exists in…
We have come full circle with a calendar year’s worth of pandemic trials and tribulations, optimisms and pessimisms, learning (and re-learning) what rolls forward and what does not. We are confronted with our true inclinations and core values. We have offered our lending hands and solidarity to the communities around us so that we can…
There’s an unspoken but universal understanding of what defines ‘extraordinary’, though the definition might differ from person to person. We all harbor a standard measure of what it means to be ordinary, to be un-outstanding, to be ‘just another face in the crowd’; anything above that measure is automatically eligible for ‘extraordinary’. In these fast-paced,…
When you’re born and raised in Penang, Malaysia, food ceases to be merely sustenance; it is a luxury, an experience, a delicate offering to the temple that is your body. Ask just about any Penangite what they are proudest of and chances are, ‘street food’ will be the answer that rolls off their tongues. When…
A Conversation with Andrea Chow and Marscella Ling As the multicultural and multiracial gem tucked away in the Southeast Asian corner, one should have a lot to be proud of being born Malaysian. Ranging from the impeccable hawker history and street food cuisine to annual celebrations that cannot be counted with both hands, there is…
Despite Merdeka Day, July and August have been a tumultuous time for Malaysia’s socio-political landscape. Doctors continue to burn out, human rights unjustly violated, and a prime minister elected forgoing the groundwork of democratic principles established since time immemorial. If we are indeed living in a new normal, then there is always a constant stream…
First, we believe congratulations are in order. A short-lived but spectacular laudation to each and every one of us for surviving six months of 2021, half a year that hasn’t seen much improvement but has at least witnessed the unwavering stance of hope. Give yourself a pat on the back. Take the day off and…
What you see in this attached thumbnail are tree “shoots” growing from one bigger maternal Japanese cedar tree in a process called coppicing, or daisugi in Japanese. Over decades, the shoots are consistently pruned until they can grow upwards and become—in an almost bizarre way—trees themselves. Malaysian political and social justice issues from the past…
If science is what defines us, then let art be what unites us. In this issue of Getting It Strait, join us as we dive into the deep blue waters of fictional and non-fictional universes. Every one of us has held a book before, felt the hardness of its spine, brushed the pricks of the…
Hello again! Thank you for joining our readership. For those who are tuning in outside Malaysia, February is when we celebrate Thaipusam and Chinese New Year concurrently, hence the cheerful tone to make up for the lack of large-scale, in-person festivities. While checking the calendar would show that they run on different dates, I say…
Ah, fresh beginnings. The alluring prospect of a clean slate. The blossoming of new hope. The shedding of previous baggage. Except, these things never really come promised with a new year, do they? We have collectively made it through the first month of a new year (all while crying to Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo),…