“I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both. (Death)” ―Markus Zusack, THE BOOK THIEF For as many pages as The Book Thief’s narrator, Death, uses to describe the horrors of Nazi Germany, it is equally filled with…
“Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” These lines are from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 The Handmaid’s Tale, recounting a story from the point of view of a woman abducted to be a Handmaid by…
Once upon a time, I was one of those who utterly disliked non-fiction books. I remember back when I was in late primary and high school, I was obsessed with the world of worded fiction. I would read so much during school, mostly because it was a great escape from a boring classroom, to the…
On the evening of 3rd March 2021, Sarah Everard was walking home in South London. Those would be her last steps. On the 9th, Wayne Couzens, a Metropolitan police officer, was arrested on suspicion of Everard’s murder. On the 10th, her remains were found in a woodland near Kent. Couzens was charged with kidnapping and…
You may think that money is not everything. After all, we have been ingrained since young that we can be successful by working hard and making adequate sacrifices. You know the usual: study hard, attend a prestigious university, find a full-time job. Only then are you going to be financially stable and successful. But how…
One of the many pieces of advice I’ve gathered from those older than me has been: “Never hang out with anyone who is deliberately rude to their parents, friends, or waiters.” With the pandemic encapsulating the world and our very livelihood, many hospitality industries have taken a hit, among which are hotels and lodgings, food…
TW: DEATH PENALTY. I am by no means trying to force my opinion regarding capital punishment onto you. This is simply my stance on the issue and if you’re not comfortable with that, feel free to click out. Different year, same injustice—it’s a cruel cosmic joke placed upon us. Well over half a year has…
Looking out the window, the sky is a matte black canvas, odd pools of grey frothing about in indiscernible patterns, waves of dull silver cloth undulating in a pool of boiling darkness. It was only when the sky opened up into a brilliant, empty black that I realised the plane was in a cloud, tearing…
I scrambled across rush hour traffic the other day, nearly scratched by the typical speeding Penang driver, all to get to the convenience store for a lollipop. I am not exactly known for making the best life decisions, but the sugary sphere-on-a-stick was much needed for a video. I retrieved what folded bills I had…
On December 1st, actor Elliot Page, most notable for his appearances in films such as Juno as well as Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, came out as transgender and established his pronouns as he/they (he/him and they/them) via social media. “My joy is real, but it is also fragile. The truth is, despite feeling profoundly…
2020 has given us a lot of canceling and boycotting, like a lot of it. From J.K. Rowling to the late-night host Jimmy Fallon, this year has been nothing short of piping hot tea and cancel parties. It goes without saying that there are valid reasons as to why these celebrities received massive backlash among…
When it comes to the topic of gender, sex, and trans individuals, the world is completely divided. One half says they simply don’t exist, that there are only two genders; and the other half believes that gender is a social construct and a spectrum to which we all follow. Whether or not those two sides…