By Ng Ziqin (20S03H)

Wondering what to get for your loved ones for Christmas? To us, books certainly make great gifts. And you’re in the right place—Raffles Reads is a new column which aims to promote reading culture among Singaporean students. The books, reviewed by Raffles Press writers, have been provided courtesy of Times Reads.

10 minutes, 38 seconds.

That’s how long Turkish sex worker Tequila Leila remains conscious for after death. She may have stopped breathing, but her mind remains active, her eyes still seeing. We’ve always thought of death as an instantaneous process, but what if the line between ‘Dead’ and ‘Not Dead’ is actually more of a spectrum?

This is the intriguing premise explored in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak, whose first part follows Leila’s stream of consciousness, minute-by-minute, as she recalls her life and the people who shaped it.

“People thought you changed into a corpse the instant you exhaled your last breath. But things were not clear-cut like that. Just as there were countless shades between jet-black and brilliant white, so there were multiple stages of this thing called ‘eternal rest’. If a border existed between the Realm of Life and the Realm of Afterlife, Leila decided, it must be as permeable as sandstone.”

Split into three parts—‘The Mind’, ‘The Body’, and ‘The Soul’—10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World tells the story of a sex worker’s life in 20th-century Istanbul, raising an important question in the process: what does it mean to have lived? 

This story is really two stories: the story of Istanbul, and the story of a girl born in Van, who moved to Istanbul to work in a brothel.

“Istanbul was a dream that existed solely in the minds of hashish eaters. In truth, there was no Istanbul. There were multiple Istanbuls—struggling, competing, clashing, each perceiving that, in the end, only one could survive.”

Shafak’s descriptions of 1960s Istanbul are vivid and colourful. They tell of an unseen Istanbul hidden from foreigners, of a street lined with brothels; they tell of a Turkey on the brink of cultural change. Just as Shafak’s line between life and death is transient, so is the line between cultures here: Turkey, located at the meeting point of two continents—Asia and Europe—is, quite literally, caught between East and West. Other cultural clashes also exist: on one hand are religious conservatives like Leila’s father, a well-to-do Muslim tailor who practises polygamy, on the other, more liberal-minded folk like the Lady Pharmacist, brothel madam Mama Bitter, and communist revolutionary, D/Ali. Through Leila’s eyes, the reader bears witness to this clash of cultures, set against the rich backdrop of Istanbul. Historical events—Turkey’s military involvement in the Korean War, the rise of pro-Communist sentiments in university students, the opening of Bosphorus Bridge—are name-dropped in the narrative, grounding this book firmly in its historical context. 

Yet, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds is also the story of Tequila Leila, born Leyla Afife Kamile, and the struggles she faces as a Turkish woman: born to her father’s concubine but raised by his first wife, sexually groomed from the age of six by a trusted, older male family member, and forced into an arranged marriage when the truth came to light. She escapes to Istanbul, where she is robbed on her first day, and sold to a brothel. Leila is a character who comes alive on the page. Her thoughts are poignant, her actions bold.

“Because she’s impatient, that one. She wants life to run fast. But she’s resilient too; she can guzzle the sour and the bitter, like downing tequila shots. I gave her that name.”

Mama Bitter, on Tequila Leila’s name

10 Minutes 38 Seconds’ supporting cast is no slouch either. The stories of Leila’s five friends—Sabotage Sinan, Nostalgia Nalan, Jameelah, Zaynab122, and Hollywood Humeyra—shine bright, each one a societal misfit in their own right. Sinan is Leila’s quiet childhood friend, who leads a double life; Nalan, a trans woman; Jameelah, an African sex worker; Zaynab122 suffers from dwarfism; Humeyra fled her abusive husband to become a singer. 

Leila and her friends are marginalised for being square pegs, unable to fit into the round holes of their Islamic society. Abandoned by their families and outcast by society, all they have is one another. Though the book is set primarily in the late 20th century, feeling like you don’t belong is still very much prevalent in our times, and modern readers will relate strongly to the characters’ feelings of alienation.

Family is another important theme in 10 Minutes 38 Seconds. Leila is estranged from her family, who disapprove of her job. And when Leila’s body is found in a city waste bin, they refuse to collect it. Instead, it is Leila’s friends who, when denied by state officials, hatch a plan to steal back her corpse from the godforsaken Cemetery of the Companionless. The six friends consider themselves to be ‘water family’, and believe that under unhappy circumstances, the blood of the covenant can be thicker than the water of the womb.

“While it was true that nothing could take the place of a loving, happy blood family, in the absence of one, a good water family could wash away the hurt and pain collected inside like black soot. It was therefore possible for your friends to have a treasured place in your heart, and occupy a bigger space than all your kin combined.” 

Finally, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds asks these philosophical questions: what is it that makes a person—mind, body or soul? At what point can someone be said to be fully dead: when the mind shuts down, when the body decomposes, or when the soul has found peace? 

And what is it that makes life worth living, something worth fighting for?

“Just because you think it’s safe here, it doesn’t mean this is the right place for you. Sometimes where you feel most safe is where you least belong.”

Leila’s life may be one of heartbreak and hardship, but amidst the pain, there are moments of pleasure—her friends, and meeting and marrying the love of her life, D/Ali.

Ultimately, it’s the people we love and who love us that give meaning to our lives.

“Leila did not think one could expect to have more than five friends. Just one was a stroke of luck. If you were blessed, then two or three, and if you were born under a sky filled with the brightest stars, then a quintet—more than enough for a lifetime.”

Written in beautiful prose and filled with similes that make you stop and think, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World is a story of Istanbul, and the story of a woman. It is the story of life, and how life continues on, even after death.

By Truong Dam Linh Giang (20S03G), Chairperson, Eyan Goh (20S03H), Vice-Chairperson, Shanna Ng (20S03I), and Yang Wanshen (20S03Q)

Not many have heard of guitar ensembles in Singapore, much less a Niibori guitar ensemble. At Raffles Institution (Year 5-6) Guitar Ensemble (RJGE), we believe that what sets us apart brings us together. As one of the only full-fledged Niibori guitar ensembles at the JC level in Singapore, we explore many different genres of music to bring out the full myriad of melodies string-plucking can produce. Be it fast and spicy flamenco pieces, or emotion-laden contemporary Japanese pieces, our ensemble aspires to draw out all of the colours hidden beneath the black markings on the white sheet music.

Our ensemble consists of 45 guitarists lead under the baton of our instructor Mr Eugene Lee. In 2017, the ensemble achieved the coveted Certificate of Distinction during the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Arts Presentation, making us one of only 6 ensembles awarded the certificate out of the 16 performing schools. In 2019, we juggled an SYF showcase and an internal school performance (Nami, meaning waves in Japanese) to a crowd of over 200 students. 2020 will see us presenting a bigger and better concert, showcasing the vast potential of the classical guitar, and we would love for you to be there for the ride with us! 

In RJGE, we believe in the spirit of enterprise and self-initiative. Opportunity for leadership is present at virtually every corner you turn. As an ensemble, we’ve planned for various VIA and performance opportunities to give back to our community and showcase our hard work. Through these opportunities, we hope to inculcate a sense of teamwork and cooperation among our members. 

At our very core, we believe in building a tight-knit community that supports one another not only through our music, but also our care and concern for one another. We aspire for RJGE to be a home one can go to after a long and arduous day of academic stress, filled with supportive friends for you to confide in whenever you falter. 

Our practice sessions are held twice a week, on Mondays (from 4.30pm to 6.30pm) and on Wednesdays (from 2.30pm to 4.30pm). However, as we get closer to concerts and showcases, our Wednesday practice sessions will be extended to 5pm. During practices, our time is split between practising in our respective sections and combining as a whole ensemble. Sectional practice helps us to drill our skills and gives us a chance to interact with our fellow sectionmates, while ensemble playing enables us to blend our unique sounds together to create harmonious music. Apart from playing as a whole ensemble, we also perform in small groups, called mini-ensembles! These mini-ensembles allow musicians to obtain even more creative freedom and autonomy to choose what pieces and genres they wish to showcase. Some even go out of their way to arrange their own pieces! 

Now, you may wonder—does this not mean I’ll need prior music (specifically guitar) experience? No! We accept all willing and aspiring musicians regardless of musical background. For that matter, the majority of our members came from little to no music background at all. We believe that as long as you have the will and the right attitude to learn, you can achieve just about anything! 

With only about one and a half years with our CCA, we believe that it is of utmost importance to make full use of the limited time that we have. Our guitarists strive towards excellence—honing our playing skills, forming a tightly-knit community, giving back to society, you name it all. We hope that you, too, can join us on this journey to carry on the legacy of RJGE! 

By Ashley Low, 20S07A (Girls’ Captain), Lew Zhiyi, 20S06P, Foo Wen Xin, 20S03P (Girls’ Vice-Captains), Chong Xin Wei, 20S06P (Boys’ Captain), Jayden Tan, Muhammad Anafiya, 20S03J (Boys’ Vice-Captains)

Nothing is impossible. Here in Raffles Floorball, we are firm believers in this mantra. Once you step on court, you have 45 seconds to challenge your limits and make magic happen. Throw away all your preconceived notions about matches being lengthy and boring—not a second goes by in this game without some form of intense and fast-paced action. In this game, you will be challenged in far more ways than you can imagine. This game will teach you to outwit and outdo your opponents by being determined and creative.

However, far beyond the 45 minutes on court, constant effort has to be put in in the months of training leading up to our season. We train for countless hours to perfect our ball control, increase our speed and master playups. In floorball, maintaining peak physical condition is crucial. We train three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) for the crucial months before our season. After our season ends, our trainings reduce to just twice a week. Training is split into court and physical training. Court training involves intense drills to hone our skills for use during a match, while physical training challenges us to improve our level of fitness. Our training is helmed by legendary coach Jill Quek, former National Women’s player and all-star.

All this may sound daunting and impossible. You’re probably clicking away from this page, thinking, “There’s no way I will be good enough.” Halt in your tracks, for here in floorball, we believe that attitude rather than aptitude makes the player. Maybe you’ve always failed your PE classes. Maybe you’ve only ever run the 2.4km required for NAPFA. Maybe the closest thing to a floorball stick you’ve ever held in your life is a broomstick. Fret not, for so long as you dare to learn, we believe that floorball is the sport for you. Almost half the team comes from a non-sporting background, diverse in our own ways, all united under our passion for floorball. Trainings will be tough. Limits will be tested. You will want to give up. However, your CCA journey will be all the more fulfilling because of your hard work and progress.

Not only will you walk away from this CCA feeling fulfilled, but you will also form invaluable friendships as you go through trials together as a team. In this family, we strive to outdo ourselves both mentally and physically, knowing that we have a team to support us. After all, it’s not about the outcome, but the experience. Even after you’ve graduated from JC and moved on from Floorball, the bonds with your teammates forged in the toughest of trainings will make you reminisce about the times spent in this CCA. At the end of your journey, regardless of the team’s final placing in the National School Games, it’s not the goal count that you will remember, but the memories and experiences shared with the rest of the team that will make you want to turn back the clock and live it all again. 

Ultimately, players may make up the team, but the team is what defines the player. Far more than individual skills and physical fitness, the essence of floorball lies in the team. As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. Without our teammates to encourage and support us on or off-court, we would be nothing. Alone we are merely regular people passionate about the sport, but together, we are a family who will face any challenge head on, never leaving any man behind. Honestly, it is never easy to be part of this family, but nothing worth having ever comes easy. After all, the toughest steel is forged under the hottest fire, and we promise that floorball will make all the blood, sweat, and tears well worth it.

By Brandon Chia (20S07A), Jacob Sze (20S03B), and Celine Wong (20S06S)

Blue Whale Population: 10,000 (Endangered)
Raffles Sailing Population: 8 (Surviving and Thriving)

How?

1. Skip CTs (shh)
2. Win Interschool Championships 
3. Collect Colours Award

Jokes aside, not many students in Raffles know about this low-key CCA called Sailing. The only thing everyone knows: we have been bringing the gilded trophy back year after year for the past decade. But our achievements do not come easily. Under the scorching sun or the pouring rain (apart from when there is lightning) you would see us putting in the hours off the shores of East Coast Park.

The questions we always get from teachers and friends alike are “Wah, going overseas again? Where to this time?” No, we do not take frequent ‘holidays’ to merely skip school or have the time of our lives. Most of us also represent Singapore as part of the National Team in addition to being a part of Raffles Sailing. This requires us to sacrifice even more of our weekends and social lives, but we still do it for both the glory of the school and the nation.

Sailing is an incredible sport that requires physical fitness, sailing technique, tactical knowledge, and racing experience. It encompasses both the physical aspect of most sports and the mental aspect of a game of chess. Not only do we control and manage our own boats out on the water, we are also required to understand the winds, currents and the actions of our competitors to help us gain the extra edge over them. The ability to bounce back from a bad start, mistaking the wind shifts or just being unlucky with wind gusts takes psychological stamina, not to mention the cognitive ability to accurately gauge inconsistent wind shifts. And one mustn’t forget the physical aspects, with sailors hiking with the burn of their legs or mastering roll tacks.

Our team, comprising many National Team sailors, heads down to East Coast Park nearly every day of the week, not to enjoy the sea breeze and take a multitude of sunset selfies, but to consistently battle the tricky conditions of the sea. Apart from our on-water trainings, you can witness us in action every Monday afternoon, at the Cages when we are conducting physical training.

As sailors, we spend a vast majority of our time with our teammates in the open sea, such that we consider it to be our second home. Having the ability to indulge in the views of our sunny island from the sea, and to enjoy the freedom away from the daily grinds of a student, is surely a great appeal to us all. 

“So throw off the Bowlines and leave the safe harbour,  for you cannot find new horizons without losing sight of the shore.” If you are ready for a new adventure or aim for the mastery of skills, look no further than Raffles Sailing, home of the best.

By Claire Tan (20S07A) and Valerie Tan (20A01E)

Wondering what to get for your loved ones for Christmas? To us, books certainly make great gifts. And you’re in the right place—Raffles Reads is a new column which aims to promote reading culture among Singaporean students. The books, reviewed by Raffles Press writers, have been provided courtesy of Times Reads.

Your life, or your beloved’s?

This is the dilemma that the characters of Wicked Fox grapple with—similar to hundreds of other Young Adult books, perhaps, but with a Korean mythological twist.

Written in alternating points of view from its two main characters, together with stories of the first gumiho (a nine-tailed fox from Korean mythology) interspersed between its chapters, Wicked Fox is the first in the Gumiho series by Kat Cho. Against the backdrop of modern-day Seoul, it follows Miyoung, a half-gumiho, half-human who has to devour the energy of people—and thus kill them—to stay alive. One night, she stumbles upon Jihoon, a boy her age, being attacked by a goblin. She risks revealing her true identity just to save him, but ends up losing her fox bead—her gumiho soul—in the process. This sends Miyoung and Jihoon spiralling into an adventure they can’t control, and soon they find themselves surrounded by enemies and a looming ultimatum: Miyoung’s immortality, or Jihoon’s life.

At first glance, Wicked Fox might seem unremarkable and unengaging. Its characters may not be the most enjoyable in the first half of the book, especially Jihoon. He’s introduced as the perfect little boy who gets away with everything just because he’s charming; for instance, he sweet-talks both his teacher and his halmeoni (“grandmother” in Korean) into forgiving his constant tardiness. Even though Jihoon’s total lack of situational awareness can be endearing and comical, it can also be quite frustrating at the start. Take, for instance, his attempt to talk to Miyoung on her first day in school. What better time to do it than during gym class? Definitely the most fitting time to have a conversation. And what does he want to talk about? Nothing other than the subject of Miyoung being a gumiho. That just makes matters even worse; this is clearly something she wants to keep private! And yet, Jihoon presses on valiantly anyway, landing the two of them in trouble.

Miyoung, while more tolerable, is only slightly better than her male love interest; she seems flat, and may be a bit hard to empathise with, but her backstory does arouse some sympathy. Indeed, perhaps the most interesting aspect about Miyoung is her struggle with her need to take lives and her own morality.

Another potential issue readers might find with this book is its plain language. Cho’s writing is direct, without many (or any, really) flowery descriptions and vivid imagery. This alone is not a bad thing. But in Wicked Fox, this is reduced to bland description with excessive short, stilted sentences that fail to add flavour—for example, this sentence: “A shiver ran down his spine and goosebumps rose on his skin”. Such depictions of this world make it even harder for readers to put themselves in the shoes of the characters, much less find the interest to continue reading.

Even the pace of the book falls short in the first half; the story drags without anything of particular importance happening. The plot about trying to return Miyoung’s bead to her body in time is sidelined not only by several purposeless scenes, but also by romance between the two main characters, with a classic enemies-to-lovers trope to top it all off. And this romance, without a meaningful plot, lacks character development, serving only to set up a springboard that the two characters dive off very much later.

But one must admit that this romance is not, in fact, entirely forced; Miyoung and Jihoon’s relationship ends up developing in a way that feels natural and realistic. Miyoung is no self-insertion of the author, and Jihoon is no idealised boy crush as he may have appeared just a few chapters ago. Both these characters are flawed and human, and when they slowly realise their feelings for each other, they do not feed into each others’ insecurity, as most Young Adult (YA) novels tend to do, but instead strive to build each other up.

“I’ll go first,” Jihoon said. “I don’t think you’re pretty.”

A frown planted itself firmly on Miyoung’s face. “I thought you were going to tell me the truth.”

“I am. Your face is beautiful, but you’re empty. You never let anyone see past the surface, because you think that’s all they want to see. You’re fake and that’s not pretty.”

Credit must also be given to the parallels made between Miyoung and Jihoon’s family backgrounds that allow them to have some sort of common experience tying them together: both characters have missing parents, and someone who tries to look after them in ways that they don’t always appreciate until it’s too late.

Therefore, all things considered, the romance is not badly done; it is merely placed inappropriately in the first half of the book, which may have flowed better if more emphasis were placed on Miyoung’s bead instead.

There are, of course, other plus points to Wicked Fox besides its romance—for instance, its diversity. Incorporating Korean culture unapologetically, this book sets itself apart just through the Korean perspective its characters have, in contrast to the typical white characters portrayed in YA fiction. For those amongst us who have watched one too many K-dramas, or follow the K-pop scene religiously, this book is definitely for you. It weaves the concept of age difference and formal/informal speech seamlessly into the relationships of the characters, giving us a better understanding of Korean society and its cultural norms. And of course, the novel’s distinct use of Korean romanised words is a breath of fresh air.

Furthermore, things do start to change for the better when we hit the second half of the book. Perhaps even a bit too fast, some might contend; the conflicts and action do develop in a rather unreasonable fashion. Would you, for instance, suddenly mention the full names of your friends if you’ve been keeping them a secret for ages? That’s what happens with Miyoung’s mention of the shaman Song Nara to her (vehemently anti-shaman) mother. A scene featuring Miyoung and Jihoon also takes the reader on quite the rollercoaster ride, throwing plot twist after plot twist at them for waves of anger, and then happiness, and then anger again. These hiccups in terms of pace may trip the reader up, especially as they’ve just arrived from its considerably more stagnant, slow-moving first half; and yet, these sections are what manage to drive the plot and keep the reader eager to find out what’s coming next. The pace of the book does slow down towards the end as well, giving the reader time to catch a breath.

The conclusion of Wicked Fox, too, is one that will leave the reader wanting more. Every character is given the chance to justify themselves, and at the end of it all, one comes away able to feel and empathise with every single one of them, no matter what evil crimes they have committed or what terrible deeds they have done. There are no villains in this story, only humans (or shamans, or gumihos) who have done their utmost to keep themselves and the ones they love most safe. The strong character motivations put forth by Cho, together with the vivid descriptions that have begun to come through in the writing, are enough to make anybody want to keep reading on. An attention-grabbing cliffhanger in the epilogue also sets up well for the next book, making sure that readers will keep a lookout for its sequel, due to be published in August 2020.

Overall, if you’re a fan of simple, direct language, and are looking for a book with a romance-driven storyline, we recommend Wicked Fox. Even if you’re not charmed by the premise or the plot, the romance is definitely worth the read.

“Miyoung-ah.” Jihoon sat beside her, folding his legs beneath him. “If you die, then I’ll always remember you. That doesn’t mean I won’t live a full life. People leave us and our lives will never be the same, but if we forget them, then what does that say about how we value them?”

By Natasha Ong (20S03R), Chairperson and Shao Yang (20S06J), Academics IC

It has been said that astronomy is a lonely endeavour, a soul-searching in the pitch dark of night of some remote corner of the Earth under the embrace of the starry sky. Well, it is certainly an inimitable pleasure for many of us to marvel at the grandeur at the night sky—to partake in the oldest of all the natural sciences, to look up at the very same stars our hominid ancestors must have wondered at hundreds, thousands, even millions of years ago. It is then frequently asked: What use is this pointless pursuit in one of the most light-polluted, busiest cities on Earth where all we see at night are street lamps, shopping malls, and tutorials? It may seem to many that astronomy is completely disconnected from the hustle and bustle of our fast-paced lives, and you’d be forgiven for thinking as such.

For us, who make a conscious effort to stay back late every week to attend sessions, astronomy is way more than an obligation to fill our time, way more than simply a respite from the burdens of school life. It is not only a solitary communion with the stars, a moment of self-reflection and awestruck amazement at the beauty of the universe, but a session of sharing, of discovering our interests with like-minded peers, of acquiring knowledge—from as esoteric as the mythologies behind the constellations to as fundamental as the origins of the cosmos to as technical as how to collimate a telescope.  

After all, we are astronomers. We are a group of people with a burning passion, rooted in the very starstuff we are made of. We are a niche yet diverse group of people; astrobiologists interested in life beyond us, astrophysicists interested in the intricacies of the universe, practical astronomers and astrophotographers that find beauty within our universe. Yes—you may say that it is an impractical CCA. Yes—you may say that it is exhausting. And yes—you may say that it is pointless.

But for those that look up, we know that it is worth it.  For those who have ever looked at Jupiter’s flowing cloud bands and Great Red Spot, for those that have marvelled at Saturn’s rings and the craters on the moon, we know that it is well worth it.  Those tiring nights spent lifting scopes, the nights mulling over equations on a book, the nights spent with other like-minded people; well that’s just part of the fun, isn’t it? Even in the multitude of competitions, carnivals and community outreach events we organise, we know that sharing this joy brings us the greatest joy of all.

Moon and Jupiter (and galilean moons) seen through a telescope used in our weekly sessions.

On top of weekly sessions, Astronomy Club also has several important events throughout the year that you can look forward to. Competitions like Singapore Astronomy Olympiad (SAO), NYP Astronomy Quiz and NUS-NTU AstroChallenge are great avenues for members to gain experience. Intensive training outside of CCA hours is also provided for SAO, catering to those who are already familiar with astronomy and astrophysics concepts and would like to push themselves to greater heights. In addition, we organise Astrigue with Hwa Chong Institution for secondary school students. Other than competitions, we also plan AstroNite, a family friendly carnival and stargazing session for the general public to broaden their horizons in the field of astronomy and to spark interest in astronomy in our younger audience. We have also started to branch out into Values in Action through organising astronomy-related events for the general public as well, to spread our love and knowledge for this topic. 

To end off, we would like to share with all readers this poignant quote by Carl Sagan, which to us perfectly encapsulates the depth, the pleasure, and the hope that astronomy ultimately brings to all of us. We hope to have the fortune of inviting all who are enthralled by the wonders of the universe to our club in time to come.

RI Astronomy Club welcomes you aboard this journey through the stars, regardless of your background. Join us for an out-of-this world experience!

By Ashley Lee Shi Hui (20S03N) and Gee Qi Hao (20S07B)

The fastest racket sport in the world. There’s nothing like engaging in an intense rally, chasing the shuttlecock from corner to corner… If this sounds like something for you, read on! 

Raffles Badminton is a CCA with a long history and tradition, and has been consistently performing well in the ‘A’ Division National School Games. In 2019, Raffles Badminton retained the ‘A’ Division Girls’ title for the 4th year in a row, while the Boys’ team attained 2nd runners-up despite fighting hard on the court, narrowly missing out on a place in the finals. Although one of our main goals for 2020 would be to get the championship title for both the Girls’ and Boys’ teams, it is our sincere hope that the team will grow and persevere together despite any challenges that may lie in the road ahead. 

Our batch is a tightly-knitted group consisting of 12 players (6 boys and 6 girls), and thus you can expect to see an extremely bonded and supportive team, should you decide to join the Raffles Badminton family. We train on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-8pm at the Indoor Sports Hall (ISH, Y5-6 Campus) and Fridays from 4-7pm at the Albert Hong Hall (AHH, Y1-4 Campus). 

We are trained by 2 extremely qualified and supportive coaches, Coach Ronald and Coach Aman (in charge of singles and doubles respectively) who dedicate their time to patiently guide us and teach us how to improve our skills and maximise our potential. Our trainings, comprising drills, gameplay and physical training, are balanced and train us in different areas to keep us at optimal condition in preparation for competitions. 

Our season usually starts in April and ends in May. With season lasting for close to a month, it is crucial that we have a support system in school to ensure that we are coping. Fortunately, we have extremely understanding tutors and teachers-in-charge, Mr Wong and Ms Chew, who give their all to take care of our welfare and give us the help we need. Additionally, the team provides a supportive and caring environment, with every member willing to contribute their effort and help for the benefit of the team members. 

Most of us have been playing badminton for about a decade, and badminton is something that has become second nature to us. It is no longer simply recreation or a leisure activity. It is our passion and a sport we love. Joining Raffles Badminton no doubt requires you to have a high skill level. If you think you are up for the rigour of this CCA and have the skills, agility and determination to join, do come down for our selection trials. Raffles Badminton looks forward to receiving new players into our family!

By Huang Beihua (20A03A) and Sarah Lok (20A03A) 

Wondering what to get for your loved ones for Christmas? To us, books certainly make great gifts. And you’re in the right place—Raffles Reads is a new column which aims to promote reading culture among Singaporean students. The books, reviewed by Raffles Press writers, have been provided courtesy of Times Reads.

From Ireland to Argentina, the Handmaid has gained rapid popularity in women’s rights protests of recent years. A future dystopian state where women are institutionally enslaved as “two-legged wombs”, the totalitarian misogyny of Gilead evoked by these red-clad figures offers a chilling warning to our world today. Yet, the question remains that, if Margaret Atwood’s prophecy is to be averted, then how would it be? In other words, how would Gilead fall? 

That is the question Atwood sets out to answer in her latest book, The Testaments. And it is certainly an answer in urgent demand—a copy was sold every four seconds in the UK in its opening week, while American buyers ordered more than 125,000 barely a day after its launch. 

In this book, Atwood masterfully plays the dual role of literary genius and political commentator. Within its striking lime green and navy blue covers lies an equally striking tale—one of espionage and sacrifice, one of oppression and resistance, and one of fear and hope. While plot twists are somewhat unpredictable and uncanny coincidences can have eyebrows raised at times, plot elements, as a whole, still interlink together nicely to bring us on a roller coaster ride through everyday Gileadean society that both haunts and captivates. 

The Testaments is, in short, a page-turner standing its ground against any thriller. 

However, a fixation on the plot can easily shadow the pertinence of this book to our world today. From the ramifications of climate change to the horrors of sexual abuse, from the international apathy to a country of suffering women to the unanswered plight of refugees, it is only too clear that Atwood’s inspiration—as she puts it—comes in great part “from the world we live in”. Indeed, you will forget at times that Gilead is but an imaginary country where misogyny is pushed to its limits, instead of our world as it is. 

“Such material enters a writer’s work not because the writer is or is not consciously political, but because a writer is an observer, a witness, and such observations are the air he breathes.”

Margaret Atwood

After all, Atwood’s oeuvre has been critically acclaimed to be incisive and almost prophetic: if soaring sales for The Handmaid Tale can be attributed to the recent resurgence of brazen sexism, The Testaments’ relevance to the present world works its similar magic. She not only effortlessly captures and unabashedly critiques the problems of her time in her work, but also allures the reader with her skillful construction of Gilead—a world that, much like the best of dystopian works, both encapsulates and transcends the zeitgeist of its age. 

In the world of The Testaments, an ode to the bravery and idealism of resistance reverberates. Throughout the book, we see the tireless efforts of Mayday (an underground resistance organisation) agents to free Gilead women despite fears of arrest or assassination; we see young Daisy—one of the three women who narrate this book—ready to infiltrate Gilead with no sure hope of return; and we see the Resistance Inside the Gilead Administration secretly and meticulously plotting its downfall, risking at any moment catastrophic discovery and her consequent destruction. 

In this regard, the book does wonders humanising its characters. The first person narration throughout makes the book almost a conversation between the characters and the reader, skillfully controlled to encapsulate all parts of the human experience. The characters we follow are far from bland figures defined merely by their resistance against oppression: Agnes is more than just another indoctrinated child under the Gilead regime, but also a teenager navigating the complex world of school relationships; Daisy only fights for a higher cause after struggling with loss and guilt as any child in her situation would. Those doubtful among us of our ability to make a difference can therefore look to the book as assurance: the extraordinary feats we witness are all but the work of humans like us. 

The Testaments is also notable in the strength and valiance of its heroines that stand in sharp contrast against characters of earlier Atwood works. There is a typical kind of Atwood heroine, contingent with what she describes in Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature to be a Rapunzel-like archetype. Such a heroine is often intelligent yet frightened; determinedly free yet imprisoned by circumstances beyond her resistance, her hope frequently lies in saviours of little substantiality, who, even then, provide but an ephemeral respite. The dire plight of this despairing construction, so prominent in The Handmaid’s Tale, finds no place here. Where Offred’s acts of resistance in The Handmaid’s Tale are swiftly and irrevocably crushed by overwhelming, oppressive power structures, Lydia of The Testaments stays afloat by working around her oppression to obliterate it from within. Likewise, Daisy quickly takes her espionage mission in her stride after an initially reluctant entrance into Mayday, and Becka goes as far as to sacrifice her life for Gilead’s eventual collapse. The sombre and pervasive helplessness of Handmaid is subverted and countered here by a tale of courage and change.

Put this way, the book shines a bright ray of hope on our world—yet, it can easily seem too hopeful to be convincing if applied to today’s context. Gilead disintegrates in this book following a popular rebellion incited by a torrential exposure of malpractices and corruption by Gilead’s leaders, yet the very world from which Atwood takes inspiration casts this vision into doubt. After all, have not too many of our leaders emerged similarly from such scandals unscathed, even strengthened? And of what significance are the private malfeasances of Gilead Commanders, if the sheer public brutality of their patriarchal regime is already answered by apathy and inaction?

This unrealistic optimism, however, becomes a statement by itself when coming from an author of Atwood’s stature. The horrors of Gilead came first in 1985, in an age of great feminist optimism, preceded by utopian writings of Ursula Le Guin, of Joanna Russ, and more. Its stark contrast with its contemporary landscape could only accentuate its impact. In an age of growing pessimism and despair, Atwood’s pedigree similarly erects The Testaments firmly as a steadfast monument of hope, a defiant declaration against the odds for the certainty of a better tomorrow. This manifests even in its cover: as Atwood mentioned in recent interviews, The Testaments’ spring green—quite the opposite of the alarming Handmaid red—is meant to evoke a sense of hope in the reader. Given the nature of her work, Atwood may well be predicting future success for some acts of resistance we see around the world today, or filling the reader with much hopefulness to tide through even darker times ahead. 

Even if this is the case, we find The Testaments not quite leaving as lasting an impact on its reader as its predecessor. In this regard, the book’s own riveting plot, in a way, becomes its own undoing. For one, the undoubtedly fast-paced plot means that the reader could, at times, find themselves lost in a flurry of activity with no plot points to hinge onto. These events and action also saturate the stasis and inactivity that amplify the voice of Offred’s anxious consciousness in Handmaid, leaving little room for the reader to connect with the characters’ thoughts and minds with the same intimacy as what makes Handmaid so chilling and potent. While a reader of Handmaid lives and breathes with Offred’s every thought, engrossment in spectatorship here entangles the reader too tightly in the minds of their own. The visceral experience of the former urges deep, critical reflection on Gilead and the society we live in, yet the latter prompts only innocuous satisfaction at having witnessed something notable. 

It would therefore be easy to dismiss The Testaments on these grounds as but another mediocre action novel, one that injects a sense of excitement while reading, supplies a vague idea of hope when finished, but leaves little that lingers much longer after. We assure you, however, this is not the case: a further examination of the three interwoven narratives would unveil a far darker and more complex meaning behind this hopeful facade. 

Let us start with Lydia: among the three narratives, hers distinguishes itself from the other two teenage voices even at the very start. While the others’ narratives are transcribed, hers is authentically written—a symbol of agency, especially considering the importance of the written word as a form of resistance in Atwood’s works. While relatability means generic interchangeability for the others, Lydia’s, spared of such concerns, is distinct, deeply affected yet hidden under apparent indifference, with a brand of dry wit that subtly hints at her own growing desperation. 

“How will I end? I wondered. Will I live to a gently neglected old age, ossifying by degrees? Will I become my own honoured statue? Or will the regime and I both topple and my stone replica along with me, to be dragged away and sold off as a curiosity, a lawn ornament, a chunk of gruesome kitsch?”

Lydia

Lydia’s story is one of survival—bravery in itself—but it does not stop there: she does much more than surviving. Originally a family court judge, she was promptly arrested at Gilead’s rise to power. Squalid detention and solitary confinement (her recollections of this history were distinctly descriptive, technical, with little emotion, a tone making it all the more chilling) led her onto a path of relentless opportunism as she does whatever necessary to survive. If it means executing her former best friend, she will do it; if it means propping up a regime she so abhors, so it does. This eventually elevates her as one of the most powerful people—men or women—across all of Gilead, and it is from that position that she eventually executes her plan for Gilead’s downfall. Her questionable endeavours do not stop after her ascent to power—the ruthless pragmatism continues in her willing condemnation of an innocent girl to death by rat poison, and in her abetting the murder of her political enemy about to expose her secret agenda. This relentlessness that has ensured her survival and success has, perhaps, been infused into her blood and being. 

Is the abandonment of scruples, then, the only path to an eventually laudable aim? Atwood’s answer, as we read it, is not a pleasing one; to understand this, we simply need to contrast Lydia to other elements of resistance within the book. 

Daisy’s attendance in protests—a standard in activists’ inventories and a pure expression of idealism—in fulfillment of school requirements nearly contributes to a major loss for the resistance movement against Gilead. Agnes becomes a collaborator of Lydia’s only through the latter’s manipulation of her innocent loyalty towards Gilead; she was, in fact, used for a purpose directly contradictory to what she wished—to make Gilead strong. Most tellingly, Anita—Lydia’s close friend whose life before Gilead matched closely her own—chooses to die with her integrity intact under similar situations to her friend who chose submission; she consequently fades into obscurity, a little footnote in history compared to her counterpart who would rather bend than break. The message, therefore, is clear: in Gilead, a naive idealism—one that refuses to do harm under any circumstance—achieves little compared to brutal opportunism as espoused by Lydia. 

Ultimately, this begs the question: at what price does hope come? To some, too high; to others, not very. And yet some would disagree this is what the book is about, and prefer a different reading of their own. 

What should our personal take be, then? It is not a job of Atwood’s to dictate, but the dual complexities we see at play here—the plot and the potentially divergent readings of the book—are precisely the hallmark of The Testaments’ beauty. Beyond the final page, you face not just the familiarity of the navy blue and lime green, but an intensely acute realisation of how the fictional world of Gilead, coupled with the actual world we inhabit, gives us neither easy answers nor straightforward consensuses. 

The characters of Gilead merely give us their testaments. 

By Tay Jing Xuan (20S03C), Li Fangqing (20S03A), and Audra Chua (20S06S)

“So, what’s the difference between Writers’ Guild and Raffles Press?” We hear this all too often.

To be fair, mixing us up with Press is all too easy—RJ has two writing-centric CCAs, a number so small it might as well be one, and to many, the lines between various written genres seem fine and blurred. So let’s put it this way—Raffles Press deals with journalism and the covering of school events, while we, Writers’ Guild, deal with the more literary and creative end of the spectrum.

To us, there are no restrictions to creative writing; as long as it’s PG13, anyone is free to write whatever they wish, whatever their imaginations brew up. We don’t do this writing during CCA sessions, though. Most, if not all of it, is done at home—because there simply isn’t enough time to write and offer critique at the same time within two hours.

What do we write about, exactly? Most of us are both poets and prose writers, and occasionally dabble in playwriting as well. Our seniors have also pushed the boundaries by writing screenplays and songs! Genre-wise, as mentioned earlier, we write about anything under the sun, so there’s no telling what we can come up with.

Our sessions are currently located at the chilly C61, where we huddle together every Monday afternoon from 4.30pm to 6pm regardless of gender, subject combination or writing skills. Our typical CCA sessions range from presentations on creative writing, competition critique to improve the pieces you submit for various national and international competitions, to bonding sessions so we get to know each other better before we (courteously) grill each other’s writing during competition critique.

Towards the end of each year, however, casual writing gets put aside; it’s time to prepare for Guild’s annual anthology. This time, you don’t just write, you write your best. And that’s not all—since the annual anthology is 100% student-driven, Guildlings are also responsible for bargaining with print firms over prices, and the arduous planning and rehearsing for the anthology launch. Perhaps even more if you’re ambitious.

Of course, the annual anthology isn’t Guild’s only form of outreach. This year, we’re collaborating with the Raffles Photographic Society to create a photofiction exhibition for everyone to enjoy and for Guildlings to explore something different. Throughout Guild’s history, our seniors have also organised other activities such as on-demand typewriter poetry, and performed their original spoken word poetry at past events like Dine In the Dark and Literature Night. 

Here, we believe that there is no set criteria in judging one’s creative writing, so CCA trials don’t exist in our cozy little bubble. You’re welcome to join us even if you claim to have little to no flair in writing—nobody really starts out with the skills of Shakespeare, and within Guild, everyone is here to learn. As a member of Guild, however, we do expect you to have and express a passion for writing, and be willing to critique and receive constructive criticism for your own works. Once again, everyone is here to learn.

Without further ado, let’s formally introduce ourselves. We’re Writers’ Guild, and we write. If writing piques your interest, Guild might just be the best place for you.

By Ng Ziqin (20S03H)

What does a librarian’s job entail? Is it really just about shelving books and collecting fines?

Three months ago, I interviewed RI’s head librarian, Mrs Joanna Chow, but I still have many questions about what goes on in a librarian’s day. Mrs Chow invites me to drop by the Shaw Foundation Library for a full day to get a taste of what she calls “librarian operations training”. 

We arrange a date for 7 November. 

7.30 am: I’m sitting on the floor outside the glass doors, waiting to be let in. 

The lift doors open. Out steps Mrs Parvathi Kumar, right on time, although her official working hours only begin at 7.45 am.  She’s just arrived from having her breakfast at the school canteen.

She opens the staff door and invites me in. But before stepping further into the library, we stop for a while outside Mrs Chow’s office.

“The lights first,” Mrs Kumar says, flipping some switches. Then, we proceed into the library.

Mrs Kumar assigns me a desk and hands me a checklist. “Would you like to learn the opening first?”

I look around the library while I wait. This is the SFL as I’ve never seen it before. While it would be far from the truth to say that the SFL is usually ‘noisy’, this feels like a different sort of quiet—with the lack of students, the rolling of chairs, or even the clicking of pens.

The first thing Mrs Kumar does is to turn on all the staff computers at the counter, before we head back to the staff entrance to collect three sets of keys: the staff workroom key, the photocopier room key, and the Think Tank Room keys.

Mrs Kumar starts off by stapling the day’s newspapers, which she’s already collected before coming up to the library. Then, newspapers still in hand, we proceed inside the staff workroom to turn on the photocopier.

Once that’s done, our next stop is the magazines section, to drop off the newspapers.

We turn on the printers and the printing monitors next to the Quiet Study Areas. We turn on the self-check machine. We unlock the photocopying room and turn on the photocopiers there. We unlock the main door of the Think Tank Room and lock all the individual rooms’ doors, which the librarians usually leave open overnight for ventilation.

The ground floor completed, we head up the stairs to 1M and 2M, where Mrs Kumar checks that all the exits are locked. Along the way, she shows me the dumbwaiter, a tiny ‘lift’ which the librarians use to transport books up from the ground floor for shelving.

She also points out the now-defunct Library Soc’s former club room. 

We fly through the checklist so quickly that I don’t have time to tick off all the boxes. Mrs Kumar doesn’t even need to refer to the checklist once. I figure that her clockwork efficiency is the product of many years of practice, and ask if she’s always in charge of opening the library. She tells me that the librarians take it in turns. But even though she doesn’t open the library every day, Mrs Kumar has been here since 2004. She has had many years to hone her craft.

“I like to come in before eight so that any unexpected issues, like power trips, can be resolved before the students come in. These are all the normal things to do in the morning before the students come in. They must be done!”

When we’re back on the ground floor, Mrs Kumar inspects the ‘New Arrivals’ display for spaces where students have taken books off the display to borrow. We fill the gaps with other books from the ‘New Arrivals’ trolley.

The last thing we do is to unlock the glass doors. 

The time is 8 am. The library is now open.

8.10 am: It’s still early, and the library is fairly empty. After we’ve returned the two books in the bookdrop, Mrs Kumar gives me my first task of the day: arrange all the books on the browsing trolley which have call numbers between 900 and 999. According to the Dewey Decimal System, that’s the History and Geography collection.

She glances at the full trolley, and then at my scrawny physique.

“I think you’ll need to arrange them on a separate trolley. This one is too heavy for you.” 

She fetches me a smaller cart from behind the counter. I get to work, first pulling out the 900s from the main browsing trolley and then arranging them in ascending numerical order on the cart.

8.33 am: I finish arranging the 900s. Mrs Kumar comes over to inspect my work.

“Not bad,” she says. “Now you go and shelve them.”

“Shelve the 900s?”

“Yes. You know where they are, right? Behind the staircase.”

From my blank expression, Mrs Kumar gathers that I have no idea what she is talking about. She walks me over to the shelves where the 900s are, handling the cart with ease. Along the way, she sets fallen books upright and collects those which have been left on the wrong shelves to be reshelved.

“If you see any books like this on the wrong shelf, just help to reshelve them also, okay?”

Shelving the 900s is an arduous task which takes several rounds of singing through the ABC Song to figure out where each book in my cart should go—before or after the one already on the shelf?

9.10 am: Having finally finished shelving all the 900s on my cart, plus a few other books which I found lying on the shelves along the way, I report back to the counter to receive my next instructions from Mrs Kumar.

“You remember the trolley full of books we saw on 1M just now?” 

I don’t.

“It’s the trolley next to the dumbwaiter. Those books are from the Singapore collection. Don’t carry the books to the shelves and walk one by one, it’s too heavy. Push the trolley one round to the other end of the floor where the Singapore collection shelves are, and shelve from there instead.”

Upon arriving at the Singapore collection shelves, I face my first crisis of the day.

The first book on the trolley is a bulky textbook titled A General History of the Chinese In Singapore (call number: 305.89105957 GEN). However, the 305 AAA shelf is already packed to breaking point. Even after several minutes of squeezing and pushing and pulling, all I am able to produce is a tiny gap between The Babas and Chinese which is way too small to slot the book into.

I decide to adopt the strategy I use for questions which leave me stumped during exams: skip first, return later. But the next book, albeit much thinner (This Is What Inequality Looks Like by Teo You Yenn, call number 305.95957 TEO), presents the same problem. While there were helpful gaps here and there on the 900s shelves to slot books into, there is simply not enough space on the crammed shelves of the Singapore collection to squeeze another book in.

Feeling frustrated and helpless, I call Mrs Kumar for help on the library landline using my phone, and minutes later, she turns up like a fairy godmother to assess the situation. Unfortunately, she has some bad news to deliver.

“There’s no more space on the shelf. So you have to make space by moving all the books down one shelf. I think that would be a good place to start,” she says, pointing at a layer on a separate bookshelf, labelled in the 500s range, which is fairly empty. 

Because preserving the numerical order of the books is important so that the books are easy for library users to find, I can’t just simply stick the thick textbook in the empty space. No, in order to make space on the 305 AAA shelf where A General History belongs, I need to shift every book in between the 305 AAA shelf and the shelf which Mrs Kumar has identified, the 595 AAA shelf.

With a mounting sense of horror, I desperately ask Mrs Kumar if there’s any other way around it. 

There isn’t.

And that is how a fairly simple task of putting about twenty books back on shelves turns into a day-long assignment to shift the entire Singapore collection one shelf down.

I have never hated the General History of the Chinese in Singapore more.

How will I get through the rest of the day? Will I quit before the day is up? Find out in Behind the Counter: Student Librarian For A Day (Part 2), coming soon to Word of Mouth.

To be continued…

By Hazel Wong (20S03P), Girls’ Captain, and Muhammad A’qil (20S06T), Boys’ Vice-Captain

The rush of the wind battering their faces is like a slap to the face. The dry-fit jersey that caresses their bodies subtly flutters in the wind. The carbon fiber that embodies the mound of their sticks radiates energy beyond comprehension. Their muscles are tense, their vision is fixed. The voices of everyone around them is drowned out by a tsunami of concentration. Ferocity lives within their veins. 

They could almost hear the satisfying and thunderous thud as the ball crashes into the backboard. They envision the crowd roaring, erupting from the stands. The exhilaration is unparalleled. As their eyes roam the vast expanse of the green astro turf, their opponents seemingly wither out of their focus. As the strength imbued in their arms are released, the ball crackles to life and a resounding crackle echoes throughout the atmosphere. The ball races through the air, ripping the air molecules apart. The vibrations that pulsate through their sticks gives them an adrenaline rush like no other. The water droplets that trail glisten as the sun illuminates the green flatland.

The crowd goes wild.

This is hockey for many of us. It is beyond just a simple and heart-thumping co-curricular activity. It is the love we develop for the sport that drives us to strive for greater heights and grind hard every training session and match. Strength, stamina, and skills may be the bare bones of every hockey player, but it is the teamwork we build and the trust we have in each other that helps us achieve the extra mile.

This year, after months of gruelling training, the Boys’ and Girls’ teams have achieved commendable results. With both teams playing against SAJC in their final matches, the Boys’ team emerged as champions while the girls’ team achieved 4th position in the Inter-Schools ‘A’ Division Championships. 

Trainings are typically held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 5-8pm at locations varying from our school hockey turf to external venues at Sengkang, PSOEB, and Delta hockey pitches. We usually begin our training with warm-up rounds, followed by physical training for an hour or so. Afterwards, we will progress to basic stickwork and drills before ending the session with a mini match amongst ourselves. Not only do we focus on improving ourselves in terms of our individual skills and fitness, we build camaraderie with one another and enjoy the sport together.

If you find that a team sport is something you would like to try, come down for hockey trials and give it a shot! We welcome everyone regardless of prior experience. In fact, most of the players in our Girls’ team are fairly new to the sport. It will not be an easy journey, but it will definitely be fulfilling. Hockey not only offers you an option to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stress relief in the flurry of a hectic JC life, but also an extremely tight-knit circle of friends.

By Ng Ziqin (20S03H)

We left off last time with this heartbreaking tableau: a plucky student journalist, faced with the insurmountable task of shifting an entire collection’s worth of books down one shelf to make space for one unbelievably thick textbook. 

Did she succeed, or throw in the towel?

9.24 am: Resigned to my fate, I get to work transferring all the books one shelf down, starting with a row of nature books about insects in Singapore (call number: 595.789095957).

After shifting about three rows worth of books, I’ve finally finished shifting the last of the dreary nature books and move on to the books starting in the 370s range (the social sciences). It’s at this point that some of the titles in the Singapore Collection start to catch my eye.

Curiosity piqued, I end up pausing for ‘short’ reading breaks as and when I discover interesting titles, and put shelving the books on hold for the time being.

10.30 am: I have no idea how long I read for, but unfortunately, this is how Mrs Chow finds me at 10.30—sitting on the floor, with a book in my lap and my nose in it. I immediately feel guilty about slacking, but Mrs Chow assures me it is okay. She has some good news: I don’t have to finish reshelving the entire Singapore collection anymore, and can go down to look for Mrs Kumar for my next set of instructions. Hoping to at least finish up the task I was originally assigned to do, I tell her to give me 30 minutes to finish slotting whatever books are left in the trolley, then start transferring books as fast as I can.

11.20 am: It turns out I have greatly overestimated my shelving abilities. Reshelving the books on the trolley (plus shifting some more books down) takes me about another 45 minutes.

When I come down from 1M, Mrs Kumar is chatting with the cleaning lady, who is wiping shelves in the Philosophy and Psychology section.

The library has only one cleaner for the entire library. Furthermore, she is not stationed permanently at the library, and has to clean other parts of the school too. This is why the librarians constantly stress the importance of keeping the library clean and not bringing food into the library.

“Why don’t you go and take your lunch break now?” Mrs Kumar suggests. 

Mrs Kumar tells me that the librarians’ lunch break is usually 30 minutes. I say I’ll be back by 11.50 am. Water bottle and wallet in hand, I head to the canteen.

11.30 am: My lunch break ends up coinciding with the end of the Math ‘A’ Level Paper 2. 

The Y5–6 canteen is flooded with Y6s. After spending a whole morning in the quiet of the library, hardly hearing anything apart from the sound of my own breathing, the sudden cacophony of sounds feels discordant and jarring.

At the basin, I wash off the thick layer of dust coating my hands. Then, I sit down to eat as quickly as I can. 

11.40 am: I return to the library at 11.40, ending my break early.

Mrs Kumar goes on her lunch break while Ms Jessie Ho from the Hullett Memorial Library comes to cover for her. The HML closes at 11 am during the school holidays.

Now, I need to replenish the stock of due date slips, which are pasted on the first page of every library book.

Mrs Chow hands me the due date slip template, as well as a sample.

Mrs Chow leaves for lunch while the photocopier is still spitting out sheets of paper. When I’m back at my desk, Ms Jessie shows me how to use the cutter to divide each copy into four due date slips. 

It’s all very strategic; certain sides need to be cut before others to avoid cutting off the markings which will need to be aligned with the edge of the cutter for a straight cut. The cutter also becomes blunt very easily, meaning only about two sheets of paper can be cut at once.

12.40 pm: I finish cutting all the due date slips and start on the next part of the task—sticking double-sided tape on the back along the top of the slips so that they can be attached to books.

1.10 pm: Finally, I am done, and I never want to see another due date slip in my life again. 

I hand the whole stack over to Mrs Kumar, who has returned from lunch by now, and get started with the next task on my list: processing a new package of books for the Hullett Memorial Library which has just arrived from Kinokuniya.

Mrs Kumar also teaches me a neat sticker-peeling lifehack: to make peeling off stickers easier, pour a little Zippo lighter fluid over the sticker. This is especially useful for removing price tags and adjusting poorly-positioned barcodes. 

I try it later on when removing the Kino price tags from the back of the books. The whole price tag peels off under my fingernails in one piece.

And the best part? 

No sticky residue! 

1.36 pm: Mrs Kumar teaches me how to wrap a book in plastic. I prove a poor student, and Mrs Chow ends up having to re-teach me when she returns.

“It’s still loose. But okay, it can pass, for now,” Mrs Chow says when I’ve finally finished wrapping one book… after almost 30 minutes.

Apart from being of lower quality than the average book in the SFL, my wrapping has also taken way too long. Mrs Chow reveals that there’s a member of the library staff who can finish wrapping a book in a jaw-dropping two minutes.

“But that’s because they’ve had a lot of practice!” says Mrs Chow.

2.20 pm: Mrs Chow has a new task for me—’condemning’ old VHS tapes.

VHS tapes are what preceded DVDs in terms of consumer-level video recording. The SFL still has tons of them, back from a time when RI (Y5–6) was still called RJC. The library’s VHS tape collection once spanned a wide range of topics, from geographical landforms to chemical equilibrium; from Singapore’s population to my old enemy from this morning, the Cold War (there were even several parts).

Although very few people still have the tape recorders needed to play these VHS tapes, the library has held on to them, mainly for the teachers’ reference. Now though, the time has finally come to bid farewell to these old tapes.

“Most of the useful ones have been converted to DVD by the teachers themselves already,” says Mrs Chow. 

The process of ‘condemning’ a library item is far from straightforward. First, each item needs to be scanned individually into the Bulk Item Deletion log to remove it from the system forever. Then, the librarians will compile all the titles scanned into a lengthy report, which will go to Mrs Reavley for approval and have to be confirmed again by Mrs Chow, before the items can finally be disposed of.

Scanning the old VHS tapes into Bulk Item Deletion is to be my job for the next few hours until closing. Mrs Kumar shows me a three-tiered trolley filled with VHS tapes, two rows on each tier. 

I check the screen after scanning each item to ensure it appears in the log. If I unwittingly miss out on one, Mrs Kumar warns, it might mean having to scan through the entire trolley’s worth of tapes again to find the missing one.

3.20 pm: After an hour, I report to Mrs Kumar that I’ve scanned all the VHS tapes on the trolley.

“How many?” 

I count the number of tape casings, layer by layer, then add them up. There are three casings which contain two tapes each, so I add three to the final count.

“135.”

“Okay, let me check the report.” Mrs Kumar frowns. “Eh? 134 only.”

I return to the trolley to count the tapes again. Still 135.

The most probable explanation for the discrepancy: I have missed out on scanning one of the tapes. But which one? In a trolley full of tapes, it’s impossible to tell.

I will have to rescan all the tapes, one by one, just to find the missing one.

Taking pity on me, Mrs Kumar helps. Many hands make for light work. Soon we’ve gone through the entire trolley of VHS tapes. Yet, all of them show the same error pop up message and we are unable to find the missing tape.

Mrs Kumar decides to count the tapes again, this time in a more systematic fashion. She places them in piles of ten on the library counter, then counts the number of piles.

The final count reveals that there are exactly 134 tapes in the trolley. 

Meaning there was never any missing tape to begin with.

ASDFGHJKLLLL

3.45 pm: I take the trolley of 134 tapes to the storeroom behind the photocopying room. This is where the tapes will sit until Mrs Reavley gives her approval.

I hurry back to the counter to finish scanning the second round of tapes.

4.00 pm: One and a half hours till closing. Mrs Kumar locks up the Think Tank Rooms, then totals up the fines collected for the day—$2.10. 

4.10 pm: I start on the second batch of VHS tapes. To avoid a repeat of the previous incident, I count as I scan, scanning 10 tapes at a time and arranging them in neat piles on the counter instead of loading them back onto the trolley when I’m finished.

4.30 pm: “118 tapes,” I tell Mrs Kumar.

“118 + 134 is how many… 252?”

Mrs Kumar clicks the button to check the report. It takes a while to load. With bated breath, I keep my eyes glued to the screen, heart pounding furiously in my chest.

I have not been this nervous over a three-digit number since I was a 12-year-old waiting to receive my PSLE results.

Mrs Kumar turns to me, a wide smile on her face. “252.”

YES!

4.40 pm: Mrs Kumar tells me to collect back the newspapers from the display, and put them in the storeroom together with the new batch of VHS tapes. The library stores these back issues of newspapers for up to thirty days, after which they’ll be given to the karang guni or students needing newspapers.

4.45 pm: Mrs Kumar plays an announcement to inform library users that the library will be closing soon, and to remind them to borrow any library materials quickly. 

4.54 pm: Mrs Kumar turns off the photocopier in the staff workroom. I go around the library pushing in chairs, then return to the counter.

I ask if the library is exceptionally quiet today. Apparently, it is; I’ve picked a slow day.

“Today is considered an empty day,” Mrs Kumar informs me. “Yesterday was more crowded. Because of Project Work. You should have come yesterday!”

5.20 pm: Mrs Kumar turns off the lights. Some students take this as their cue to leave.

While we wait, Mrs Kumar and I make small talk. She tells me even though she’s been here for years, she often gets mistaken for one of the lab staff or asked if she’s the sister of Sujatha, the Level 3 staffroom receptionist. She finds this quite hilarious.

“I always tell them: ‘No, I’m not from the lab, I’m from the library!’”

Back at the start of the day, Mrs Kumar told me that she’s retiring soon to take care of her grandchildren and pursue her passion: baking. 31 December 2019 will be her last day at RI. Curious, I ask her more about it. She thinks she’ll miss the library after retirement, but she’s also eager to start living life at 60.

“Now, I want to pursue my passion [for baking] at 60 years old. Not too late, right?” She laughs.

She tells me her favourite part of the job is interacting with the students, and that she loves it when old Library Soc members come back to the library to visit her. 

Sensing an undercurrent of nostalgia, I ask if she misses the Library Soc members. 

“Yes, of course. Actually, one of them is a teacher here now. Gavin. Such a sweet person!”

So Mr Gavin Swee used to be a student librarian. Who knew!

5.25 pm: Mrs Kumar makes the final announcement, then goes around the library to dispatch any remaining stragglers. 

I am put on gate duty, which is fairly simple: herd students who trigger the alarm to one side to wait until Mrs Kumar comes back to deal with them.

5.32 pm: Everything runs in reverse clockwork to the opening routine. We go around the library one last time, to tuck in the chairs in the Quiet Study Areas.

I take some final photos from behind the counter, bid goodbye to Mrs Kumar and Mrs Chow, and thank them for having me for the day.

Spending the day here has definitely given me greater insight into what the SFL librarians do on a daily basis. It’s also made me more appreciative of the work that goes on behind preparing every book (and of the librarians’ physical fitness!).

By Rugby

Most people associate the Raffles Ruggers with their loud presence in the canteen, record high number of conduct slips, excessively taped shoulders and knees and random outbreaks of side stepping while they are walking to class (as prescribed by Coach Mark Lee to improve the “art of breaking one’s ankles”). Well, we are that and a whole lot more. 

We train 3 times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 4:30pm to 7pm at Turf City. However, our coach occasionally decides that we have had too many pratas and makes us run an extra few sets of 40-60-80 suicide runs which extends the time we stay in the field (not excluding the 1 hour leg cramps after training led by our very own Leonticus Kollaartticus).

There are 2 main events in a year for a Raffles Rugger. The first is the Kiwi Cup, the annual clash between old rivals, Raffles Institution and Saint Andrew’s Junior College, where you can play your heart out and watch your friends wonder what is going on and cheer when they hear other people cheer. This year’s Kiwi Cup will be played at Saint Andrew’s pitch. The second event is the National School Games, where we get to proudly represent our school’s colours and fight alongside our brothers.

But at the end of the day, no matter how much banter and fun we have or how tough training is, Rugby is a sport that changes you. It builds character and resilience, as well as fosters a spirit of family and bonding. It is indeed a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.

By Mah Xiao Yu (20A01B) and Megan Soh (20A01B)

Wondering what to get for your loved ones for Christmas? To us, books certainly make great gifts. And you’re in the right place—Raffles Reads is a new column which aims to promote reading culture among Singaporean students. The books, reviewed by Raffles Press writers, have been provided courtesy of Times Reads.

What if Mulan didn’t wield a sword, but a pair of scissors? 

Packaged as a cross between Mulan and Project Runway, Spin the Dawn sets itself up as an exciting mix between Chinese and Western culture. Needless to say, the book’s unique premise—a tailoring competition—and overwhelmingly positive reviews on Goodreads and other review sites piqued our interest.

“My whole life, I’d been told what I couldn’t do because I was a girl. Well, this was my chance to find out.  The only thing I could do was take it.”

Spin the Dawn is divided into three parts. In Part One of the book, The Trial, we are transported to the land of A’landi as young Maia leaves home posed as her brother to compete for the position of imperial tailor. Throughout the cutthroat competition, we watch Maia transform from unknown seamstress to the best tailor in the land.

Her first assignment on the job is to make three dresses: one woven with the laughter of the sun, another embroidered with the tears of the moon, and lastly, one painted with the blood of the stars. Her quest to obtain these materials is chronicled in the second part of the book, The Journey, in which she also falls in love with the Lord Enchanter, Edan.

The final part of the book, The Oath, takes a sharp turn that we certainly weren’t  expecting—in order to protect her loved ones, Maia has to make a difficult decision that will seal her fate. The story ends on a sombre note, with a cliffhanger that kept our anticipation levels high for the next book, Unravel the Dusk, which is expected to be released in July 2020.

The three parts felt like three different books entirely—elements from Mulan (a girl disguised as a boy for the sake of her family) and Project Runway (a fashion designing competition) were concentrated in the first part, while the latter two parts took on whole new lives of their own, turning the focus to the romance between Maia and Edan before all else. The third part in particular, The Oath, though probably intending to achieve an element of surprise, felt rather disjointed from the first two parts. 

The theme of family runs central to The Trial, with the familiar Asian values of filial piety and duty coming through clearly. We see Maia’s despair over the loss of her mother and two older brothers, which strengthens her resolve to protect the remaining family she has left—her father and war-stricken brother, Keton. It was heartwarming to see how determined Maia was to support her family and restore her father’s good name—to the extent of posing as her brother to participate in the trial, an act punishable by death. However, once we transitioned to The Journey, the budding romance between Maia and Edan threatened to overtake Maia’s devotion to her family, and when we reached The Oath, it seemed as though Maia’s familial loyalty had been forgotten. We found this drastic change in Maia rather abrupt and uncalled for, though some might appreciate the sheer sacrifice she’s willing to make in pursuit of love. 

“I knew then that we were like two pieces of cloth, sewn together for life. Our stitches couldn’t be undone. I wouldn’t let them.”

Another aspect we expected to have much significance in the story was Maia’s feminist struggle to break the glass ceiling, a story that many Asian women can relate to. Indeed, it was inspiring to watch Maia overcome the odds, fulfil her dreams and prove herself worthy of becoming the imperial tailor, a position only open to men. However, we were disappointed to see this aspect was also eventually sidelined by Maia’s romance with Edan in the second and third parts of the book, where Maia’s fire to make a name for herself was overpowered by the fiery romance she shared with her newfound lover. Furthermore, the similar struggles of Lady Sarnai and potentially Ammi (the only other female character besides the two) against society’s expectations for women of different positions—a noblewoman and a palace maid respectively—were left unexplored.

“You sew better than anyone in this world. Focus on that, not on whether you’re a girl or boy.”

The development of our two main characters, Maia and Edan, especially their romance, was extensively detailed—unfortunately, at the expense of the other characters. Many side characters (Lady Sarnai, Emperor Khanujin, even the other tailors) felt glossed over and even neglected, which was truly a pity, because they could have added so many more layers of depth and nuance to the story. The callous behaviour of Lady Sarnai towards Maia in The Trial, for example, was left unexplained. We were especially disappointed with Lady Sarnai’s lack of development—if her character were fleshed out in greater depth and detail, it could have presented a very uplifting feminist perspective, or at the very least, the relationship between Maia and Lady Sarnai could have blossomed into one of sisterhood and shared struggle, instead of mere animosity. Hopefully, a more thorough development of the other characters will emerge in the sequel, and we can gain better insights into their motivations and backstories, which would make for a far more enriching plot.

Of course, there were certain aspects of this book that we thoroughly enjoyed.  We agreed that the world building in this story was executed very skilfully; we were deeply immersed in the vibrant setting of A’landi, which seemed to come to life right before our eyes as we delved further and further into the story. We particularly enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Maia’s tailoring process, and the intricate manner in which her dresses were illustrated. The writing was lyrical, the imagery was vivid and the language used was beautifully whimsical. We greatly appreciated the author’s exquisite way with words; every page was a joy to read, in terms of language and description. 

If you’re already familiar with YA fantasy-cum-romance and wish to read something that breaks boundaries, Spin the Dawn may not be the book for you. However, if you’re new to the genre, definitely give this book a try. It has many core elements of the genre that make it entertaining, and a set-up that feels equal parts familiar and refreshing. And let’s not forget the beautiful writing and lyrical language that’s bound to tug at your heartstrings; Spin the Dawn took us back to our thirteen-year-old fantasies, when all we dreamed of were resplendent dresses and charming enchanters, and a little sprinkle of magic could solve all our problems.

“Seize the wind… Don’t become the kite that never flies.”

By Tristan Lim (20S03E), Vice-Chairperson, Jayden Kim (20S03N), Treasurer, and John Wong (20S03E), Special Projects

Success in life doesn’t come without blood, sweat, and tears. Here at the Raffles Society of Biological Sciences (BioSoc), we give you just that! Blood from animal dissections, sweat from exciting field trips, and tears of joy from all the fun and games!

WARNING: A picture of a dissected frog is found at the very bottom of this article. Do NOT scroll to the very bottom of this article if you think you might be disturbed!

BioSoc caters to the diverse interests of budding biologists, ranging from zoology and botany to medical biology. We are an interest-based club looking to uncover more about biology beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Your journey, if you choose to join us, kicks off with a CCA camp to welcome new members into the BioSoc family. You will enjoy the company of a close-knit group of biology enthusiasts, all while being immersed in biology-related bonding activities and nature walks.

Want to take a break from mundane school life and immerse yourself in nature? We conduct field trips to the many green spaces sprawled across our Garden City, such as the Botanic Gardens, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, MacRitchie Reservoir, and even Chek Jawa. If the outdoors are not for you, we also conduct field trips to museums, including the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. Besides getting a chance to relax and bond with your friends after a long day, you can also pick up some fun facts about our native flora and fauna along the way.

Do you miss learning about plant and animal systems? (Yes, these are no longer covered in the A-level Biology syllabus.) We engage in hands-on activities that are sure to revitalise your interest in the natural world. You can look forward to animal dissections, insect catching, fruit tasting, and gardening. For aspiring doctors, we offer you opportunities to learn more about human anatomy at the NUS Anatomy Museum and hone your practical skills through animal dissections.

CCA sessions are not like Bio lectures where you will (most certainly) be bored to sleep. Instead, we promise a fun experience enriched with Kahoot quizzes, team game shows, and even a pub quiz! While biology knowledge and practical skills are the pragmatic benefits you will get out of BioSoc, what indubitably makes BioSoc worthwhile are the deep friendships forged with other like-minded peers!

There may, of course, be some of you who want to take your passion for life sciences beyond JC, but don’t know how to proceed. To help you out, we organise sharing sessions where we invite seniors, doctors, and other biology-related professionals to expose you to potential career paths. Not to mention our beloved teachers-in-charge, who have have unique experiences with nature: Mrs Khoo is a walking plant encyclopaedia, while Mr Prab spent the early years of his career catching stray animals. Their expertise in animals and plants are sure to make for interesting life stories! This will hopefully help to guide any future aspirations in biology you may have.

Always eager to try new things, we are constantly in search of opportunities to make BioSoc more interesting for our members. Recently, we collaborated with Alchemy Club to organise our very own Team Raffles Games, which saw houses going head-to-head in an attempt to outwit their opponents in a bio-chem quiz. Additionally, we organise unique VIA opportunities such as weeding at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for members to give back to the community.

If all these still do not interest you, fret not! As a student-planned and student-run CCA, sessions are tailored to the interests of each batch. You will get the chance to vote on the topics to be covered over the course of the year. In fact, you could even  volunteer to conduct a session and expose other members to your niche areas of interest.

Unlike most other CCAs, sessions are held just once a week on Thursdays from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. This frees you up to pursue other interests whilst delving into the fascinating world of biology. Regardless of subject combination, we welcome everyone with open arms; we even have Physics and Further Maths students in our midst! Being an interest-based club, no prerequisites are required, except for an open mind and a passion for the life sciences.

If our varied programmes and tailored content have piqued your interest, BioSoc is the perfect place for you. We look forward to welcoming you into our BioSoc family!

By Jordan Aw (20S06D), Chairperson, Goh Ling Yi (20S03A), Vice-Chairperson, and Kashfy Ilxilim B Zulkarna’in (20S06T)

Hello there! We are Raffles Rock, RI’s resident rock band. (Not a geology club. Also not a rock climbing CCA.) Since you’re here, you must be wondering a few important questions: What is Raffles Rock? Why Raffles Rock? What does Raffles Rock do? And so on. (And for the eager ones, the question may be: how does one Raffles Rock? Skip to bottom for answers.)

Maybe you’ve passed by that odd little room on the fourth floor with the red sign on top. Maybe you’ve even heard some odd noises coming out of it. Maybe those noises were really quite odd (in that case we’re probably responsible. We apologise in advance for your confusion.). Maybe the sounds were so curious that you even ventured to step in! Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to do that. But we can try to give you a glimpse of the goings-on within that room, and who exactly occupies that room.

That little room is called the Jamming Studio and it is our beloved CCA room. You’ll find us occupying it twice a week on Tuesdays, from 4pm to 7pm, and on Thursdays, from 4pm to 6pm. To be fair, the hours are pretty flexible—we usually use the Studio whenever we’re willing and able to. (On the other days of the week except Mondays, the Studio is occupied by Raffles Jazz, our not-so-distant cousins.)

What is it, you ask, that we do at CCA? Naturally, CCA sessions usually involve playing some of our favourite songs to hone our musical skill, or practising for upcoming concerts. While we generally play (unsurprisingly) rock, each batch forms their own unique band, and they define what the band is and will be. Each individual’s musical tastes and styles can have a tremendous effect on what the band chooses to play. So what we play varies over time, and depends on who plays it.

Being part of this CCA exposes you to a variety of opportunities to perform as a band. Our main events are ROCK-IN, held in school around April (for free), as well as ROCK-OUT, held at the end of Term 2 at *SCAPE, The Ground Theatre. ROCK-OUT is our most anticipated, ticketed event: with fancy costumes and makeup, themed set design, professional lighting and sound crew, there is no reason anyone—least of all you, having read this article—should give it a miss! It’s an exciting night of jumping, head-banging, and singing (but probably actually screaming) to familiar tunes.

Apart from these two, other official and unofficial events usually come our way. You’ll be able to catch us playing on stage during school events (e.g. National Day, Batch Night, Open House), as well as at occasional Youth-for-Causes (YFC) concerts and other external gigs.

No article on Raffles Rock would be complete without a word on the guardians who book the Studio for us, remind us to pack up on time, ensure our well-being, and most importantly, keep our blatant insanity in check. They are none other than Dr Lena Lui (Mrs Teo) and Ms Ng Pei San, our dedicated teachers-in-charge, who always make sure things are in place at the end of the day. Raffles Rock is also mentored by our instructor, Mr Ian Toh (but you should probably address him by Ian). He sports a beautiful, shiny mane, and he’s actually a pretty cool guy. Besides helping us with the technicalities of the music we play, he also imparts valuable life lessons (and occasionally spills some tea about the music scene) to us. Needless to say, we would be lost without these three—their guidance has undoubtedly played a significant role in our development.

So after reading all that, perhaps you’re asking the million-dollar question: How does one Raffles Rock? Unfortunately, we have to tell you we don’t have a million dollars. But we do hold Open Jam! Open Jam is basically a little sneak preview of what Rock is like, and what we do during our typical CCA sessions. You’ll have the opportunity to step into the studio and not only listen to us play, but even try out our instruments and get a feel for what Rock is like before you audition—but most importantly, you’ll get to jam and have fun with your friends! So sign up for Open Jam when you get the chance, because walk-ins are limited to a first-come-first-served basis and depend on slot availability. 

If you’re really into Raffles Rock and want to join us, come for our auditions! We hold auditions during the January Induction Programme (JIP) for RP students, and also during the JAE Induction Programme (JAEIP). Each batch generally has 2 guitarists, 2 drummers, 2 keyboardists (or as they like to call themselves, synthesists), 2 vocalists, and 1 (lonely) bassist, depending on the talent pool for the year. During the auditions, you’ll be required to play a song of your choice, along with a set piece to be released during JIP. No stress, just do your thing and play the music you love—you only need a small degree of skill, but an open attitude to carry you throughout your days in Rock. So what do you know, you just might have what it takes!

For many of us here in Raffles Rock, the thrill of performing onstage as a band is an experience too good to pass up. But much more importantly, CCA is a brief respite from the stresses of school life, and always a good place to have fun and make really great friends. If you’re passionate about music and rock, crave the thrill of performance, and are looking for an experience like no other, there won’t be a moment in Rock you don’t enjoy!

Follow us on Instagram @rafflesrock for updates and cool stuff! 

By Film Exco ‘20 (Flexco)

A picture may speak a 1000 words, but film speaks 24,000 a second. Film brings stories to life in a full sensory experience that heightens reality and augments emotion. There’s nothing quite like a film to make you cry, laugh, and most importantly, believe. In the aftermath of full-on ugly crying or fearfully looking for nonexistent spectres, you may wonder: How? How did they do it?

That’s where filmmaking comes in.

Filmmaking is a delicate art—deceptively simple to the uninitiated, yet fiendishly difficult to those who decide to give it a shot. Here in Film Society, we firmly believe in exposing ourselves to every stage  of filmmaking—from pre-production to editing—all requiring patience, resilience and creativity. 

Film, like any art, requires practice, one thing Film Society never seems to have a shortage of. Aside from our regular sessions with our unflappable teacher-instructors/fairy-godmothers Ms Joanna Ng and Ms Audrey Tan, Film Society also invites external professionals to cover various aspects of filmmaking. We also collaborate with the school and other CCAs on various projects, all viewable at our Youtube channel!

Of course, making films necessitates appreciating them—which is why we also attend many local screenings and film festivals.

Ultimately, every Film member’s journey culminates in the creation of the Thesis Film, allowing the Y6s to put into practice all the skills they’ve gleaned along the way. After six months of blood, sweat and tears, the graduating members offer up their stories for the world to view in our annual showcase held after the June holidays.

It’s not all fun and games, though. The journey is tough and will inevitably take its toll—many of Film Society’s activities occur outside of the allotted CCA session. One must bear the physical burden of transporting equipment back and forth from shoots, the mental burden of the omnipresent deadlines one must meet; go to great lengths to get the perfect shot, only to discard it in the editing room; face that voice in your head that says you are never going to make it. Although challenging and arduous, these shared experiences will inevitably be a memorable one for your batch.

Indeed, as many a budding filmmaker will find, just as it takes a village to raise a child, so does it take a society to make a film. In Film Society, you will find a group of passionate individuals of your ilk waiting to share the filmmaking joy with you. All that we ask is for a genuine desire to learn and share—no prior experience is required to apply! Follow our Instagram at @rafflesfilm and @filmsoc20 to be a part of the family, and we hope to see you at CCA trials this year!

By Emily Ni (20S03C)

Wondering what to get for your loved ones for Christmas? To us, books certainly make great gifts. And you’re in the right place—Raffles Reads is a new column which aims to promote reading culture among Singaporean students. The books, reviewed by Raffles Press writers, have been provided courtesy of Times Reads.

At first glance, Wilder Girls has all the trappings of an apocalyptic novel. A mysterious illness? Check. Quarantined on an island? Check. A rash protagonist? Check.

At the edge of Maine, USA sits the fictional Raxter Island, home to the Raxter Boarding School for Girls. Quarantined against a mysterious illness, the girls only have the wrought iron school gates for defence against the encroaching forest that has twisted in unnatural ways. Adapting to their dire situation, the girls have traded normal academics for firearm training and 24/7 guard shifts. As they use their wits and ingenuity to survive, the girls hold out hope that help is coming—as the line emblazoned on the book cover says, “They told us to wait and stay alive.”

And they have, for one and a half years.

But with the scarcity of information and the creeping urgency of the illness, the girls can no longer afford to wait; when it is revealed that the rest of the world has no idea of their predicament, with help unlikely to come, they have to find a way to leave the island. Taking matters into their own hands, they face independence—and all the horrors that come with it.

“A year and half of empty sky, of not enough medicine. We have to help ourselves.”

When protagonist Hetty Chapin gets promoted to Boat Shift, the heavy burden of ensuring survival falls on her shoulders. With this signifies a coming of age, a transition into a position where she is responsible for the welfare of not just herself, but also of all the girls. Hetty struggles with the weight of responsibility on her shoulders, and her troubles are only compounded when her close friend Byatt disappears. Driven by a strong sense of loyalty and the bond of friendship, Hetty risks her own life and sneaks out of the school compound to discover what happened to Byatt.

As a protagonist, Hetty’s fallibility makes her compelling. Previously a wallflower with two friends (Reese and Byatt), she is woefully unprepared for the unexpected ascension to Boat Shift Girl. Unused to being in a position of leadership, Hetty obsesses over making the right decisions. She agonises over how the airlifted supplies are dealt with and constantly questions the legitimacy of her actions. And when she inevitably makes mistakes, the guilt keeps her up at night.

Hetty’s decision-making is very much ruled by her feelings—evident when she refuses Reese’s pleading and insists on looking for Byatt. There are times when the reader could find her annoying, for her emotional nature could potentially confound the more rational ones amongst us. But her strong desire to please is not uncommon for many people; how many times have each of us agonised over making the best decision?  In that aspect, Wilder Girls teaches an important lesson: it is impossible to please everyone. Sometimes, doing the best you can in that moment is all you can do. 

“I understand what you did. I think you did the right thing. And I’m still angry about it. What is there to say?”

“Nothing, I guess.”

Reese Harker to Hetty Chapin

As Byatt’s disappearance is a catalyst for most events in the book, it was expected that she would be a crucial character, and readers would be curious about her. However, her point of view disappoints by being shallow and difficult to read. The author, Rory Power, could have done better with more insight on Byatt’s point of view. 

After landing in a military hospital,  most of Byatt’s conscious moments are spent in a haze of drugs and incoherent dreams. Understandably, medication has clouded and scrambled her thoughts, and Rory Power attempts to represent this with unpunctuated, oddly-spaced lines. Unfortunately, while this plot point succeeds in being visually disorienting and conveying the confusion and helplessness of Byatt’s inner world, it does detract from Byatt’s deeper emotions; the reader only feels confused deciphering the paragraphs most of the time. In fact, Byatt’s storyline overall seem a little superficial: there are perhaps two definitive happenings throughout her entire stay in the hospital, while the rest is blandly narrated and uninsightful. Most of the revelations regarding Byatt’s personality and relationships come from snatches of Hetty’s memories, and a short flashback in the middle of the book. Nothing noteworthy is revealed about the illness either, and Byatt’s part even features a token male character that seemed to serve no purpose. It is a pity so little is devoted to her and her actions before the end of the book.

Overall, the plot of Wilder Girls is unspectacular but solid. It unfolds rather predictably if you are someone who has read your share of dystopian/apocalyptic novels; the mysterious illness plot device is ubiquitous in the genre, and Wilder Girls delivers it adequately. Despite the somewhat cliché plot, the pacing of the book is balanced, with only Byatt’s section feeling unnecessary. And although the ending may feel a smidge unsatisfying with so many questions left unanswered, in light of the magnitude of the problem Hetty faces, this seems acceptable.

Additionally, a  standout point of Wilder Girls would be its all-female ensemble. In a saturated landscape of action novels with male protagonists (for instance, Maze Runner, Ready Player One, and Lorien Legacies), Wilder Girls surprises by focusing majorly on the complexity of female relationships, and the resilience of girls. With practically no men in the book (it definitely passes the Bechdel Test), much of the character development is centred around the girls’ personalities and decisions. It’s a breath of fresh air when the typical development of a female character is so often based on her romantic entanglements with others.

If you lean more towards romance or slice of life books, this book might not be for you. However, if you’re looking for a book that offers an interesting twist on dystopian books, try Wilder Girls. 

By Celest Teo (20S03J), Captain, Bliss Lee (20S03R), Vice-Captain, Charmain Yap (20S06I), Quarter-Mistress, and Cherie Lim (20S06A), Secretary

Have you ever felt the adrenaline rush from running on a field? Or the excitement from diving into the muddy soil? If you like getting down and dirty, and are looking for something fun and new to try, Touch Rugby is the sport for you!

“Touch Rugby? Isn’t that a really rough sport?” Whenever we mention “Touch Rugby” to outsiders, we are often greeted with baffled looks and shocked expressions. But fear not! Although people often confuse our sport with Rugby, Touch has its own unique gameplay (for starters, it’s one that does not require tackles to the ground!). 

A game of Touch involves 6 players per team, and the aim of the game is to bring the ball to the scoreline at the other end of the field and score a TOUCHDOWN! But here’s the catch—attackers can only pass backwards, and defenders can make touches on attackers. When a touch is made by the defender, the attacker with the ball has to “dump” the ball, while defenders move 5 metres backwards. The game progresses forward until 6 touches are made, or until a team scores, after which there will be a changeover in possession.

As much as fitness is important in a game, teamwork and communication is actually the most crucial part of Touch. Getting the ball to the scoreline requires a great amount of communication among players—not only does each player play an important role in every strategic move, spontaneous play is also common when there is an unexpected touch made or a change of possession.

We typically train on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4.30-6.30pm, under our Coach Marli, whose presence can be known from afar when we hear her shouts (e.g. “YOU GUYS ARE RUNNING AROUND LIKE HEADLESS CHICKENS”). Although Coach may sometimes seem fierce on-field, she is actually very friendly and often jokes with us! Training focuses largely on developing our ball-passing skills and our attack and defence techniques on field (we named our moves after food! Like “popiah” and “ice cream”), with our Coach incorporating fitness drills to help us improve our agility and fitness.

At this point, if you’re a little hesitant about joining our CCA, fret not! Touch Rugby is a developmental sport and many players in our batch were not previously from a sports CCA. All it takes is a mindset that’s willing to learn and determination to train hard—stamina and agility can be trained over time. After all, it is the shared experience of learning a new sport and bleeding/sweating/suffering together as a team that makes training enjoyable and really brings us all closer together. At the end of the day, it’s the close friendships forged that will hold a special place in our hearts in the future, not the number of dropped balls or failed attempts to score a touchdown.

As a team, you will get to go through many fun and exhilarating experiences, including friendly matches such as RI’s Gryphon Recall and tournaments such as the Pan Pacific All Schools Touch Championship. The most important match for us is the Inter-JC League held in April/May, where your teamwork, skills and on-field chemistry will be put to the ultimate test! 

So, if you are interested in throwing an oddly shaped ball or diving in mud towards a scoreline, do consider joining us at our trials! And even if you aren’t the most confident in your ball handling skills or agility, do join us anyway! Because we’re all here to learn the new, exhilarating sport that is Touch, alongside a team that dives, gets bruises, trains in the hot sun, yet laughs, works hard together and loves the sport nonetheless.

By Charles Windle (20S03E), Chairperson and Chang Ting Tzu (20S06A), Vice-Chairperson

Hi, Charles and Ting Tzu here from Flex-Alchemy Club! The super-fun chemistry CCA! That can instantly patch, bond, seal and repair your interest in chemistry! Alchemy Club is no ordinary club; its triple engaging sessions virtually weld themselves to your brain, instantly making you interested! Boring chemistry can cause major damage, but Alchemy Club grips on tight and bonds instantly! Plus, Alchemy’s powerful adhesive is so strong, it even works if you don’t like H2 Chem! Now you can repair leaks in your chemistry knowledge without draining yourself! Alchemy Club is perfect for everyone interested in Chemistry, and once it’s on, it holds on tight! 

If you’re interested in chemistry and want to learn more, then Alchemy Club is the perfect CCA for you. Got a tight schedule? Don’t worry, our sessions are only once a week, on Mondays from 4.30-6.30pm. Chemistry is not just for nerds; we want to make chemistry fun and accessible to everyone!

Alchemy Club sessions are packed with fun-filled activities, including: 

• Lectures that are actually interesting! We conduct interactive and engaging lecture sessions to share more about the many strange quirks of chemistry! Topics we’ve covered include f-block elements (the two rows at the bottom of the periodic table that no one talks about).
• Fun practicals, like ice cream making and titration! We have made award-winning ice cream that was so good, our teacher “encouraged” us to start an ice cream business! Other practicals we’ve conducted include growing crystal gardens and milk plastics.
• Guest speakers coming to Alchemy Club to share on interesting topics such as Science Communication!
• Field trips to real chemical industries or the NUS Department of Chemistry!
• Fun workshops outside school! Every year in June, our members participate in a workshop in NUS! This year, we had an esterification workshop where we got the opportunity to synthesize our own nice-smelling esters.
• Chemistry-themed escape rooms! Club members are grouped into teams and use their wit and Chemical Intuition to escape! 
• Fun and exciting CCA camp! Activities include chemistry-themed war games, jeopardy quizzes, and lots of interesting experiments!
• Kahoot quizzes! Test your newly gained knowledge against other Alchemy members after every session!
• Collaboration with other CCAs! Recently, we collaborated with BioSoc to organize our annual Team Raffles Games, and it was an absolute blast. More to come in the future!

Want to learn more about chemistry beyond the H2 Chem syllabus? We seek to unveil the truth behind unpersuasive lecture notes explanations and reveal the workings of the universe that lecturers pass off as mere “exceptions”!

Are you absolutely dying to share something about Chemistry? Now you can! We welcome you to share your passion and knowledge in chemistry with all our members. Even if you’re not part of the exco, you’re still a big part of the CCA!

Alchemy Club aims to push the frontiers of Chemistry knowledge in school, providing you with a relaxed and pressure-free environment where you can learn more about the world around us! The alchemists of old—who tried to turn lead into gold—may not have succeeded in their enterprise, but we hope that your two years in Alchemy Club will be pure gold.