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EDITOR IN CHIEF Emily Cheng CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kenji Tang EDITORS Eugenia Wan Jai Rane Jessica Sinclair Julia Xu Meagan Peoples Pooja Antony Priscilla Ng Sakina Abidi Sun Young Cho Victoria Cherrington FINANCIAL MANAGER Ernest Cheng COVER Samantha Li CONTRIBUTORS Aayushi Sharma Brandon Mok Carolyn Ching Gowoon Kim Hazel Chan Kimberly Tsui Kuhu Singh Sabine Kwan Sonali Gidwani SUPERVISOR Ms. Sara Ellison
WWW.ETHOSZINE.WIX.COM/ETHOSMAGAZINE ETHOSZINE@GMAIL.COM WEST ISLAND SCHOOL’S LITERARY AND ARTS MAGAZINE
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CONTENTS 14 URBANSCAPES
37 EAST MEETS WEST
22 NATURE VS NURTURE
POETRY 03
Letter from the Editor Emily Cheng
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Inspirational Spaces A LOOK INTO THE LIBRARY Eugenia Wan
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Sonic Youth hong kong’s empowered generation Emily Cheng
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Perspectives with mr. reed Eugenia Wan & Pooja Antony
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21 28 30 33 34
An Eye For An Eye Brandon Mok
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Faults Gowoon Kim
MONSOON Priscilla Ng HE BUILT ME A HOUSE Anonymous ACQUIESCENT Sakina Abidi The lamb must learn to run with the tigers Emily Cheng
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the reflection issue
FEATURES
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WHERE THE FEAR RESIDES Kuhu Singh
PROSE Untitled Pooja Antony MEETING Victoria Cherrington
letter from the editor T
he past several months have been a time of reflection, particularly for the graduating class of 2014. As we prepare to embark on the journey of our lives (also known as college), we have been inundated with essays and personal statements that pose deep existential questions such as “Who am I?” and “What makes me unique?” Surely enough, I was afflicted with writer’s block just when I needed my witty rhetoric the most. It turns out that writing about myself is exponentially more difficult than any other topic: I found myself toeing the line between thinly veiled self-promotion and outright obnoxiousness more often than not. So I did the only thing a self-respecting editor would do - turn to my fellow writers for inspiration. In this issue of Ethos, we conducted a multimedia competition with the theme of self-reflection. We wanted to understand how West Island School students, as holistic and globalminded individuals, thought of themselves and the world around them. Of all the entries we received, Kuhu Singh’s poem ‘Where The Fear Resides’ really struck a chord with me. With a candid yet eloquent poetic voice, her writing illuminated the disparity between the truth and emotions that are hidden inside. Of course, reflection is not just about improving ourselves but also improving the society we live in. The youth of today are becoming increasingly active as reformers and influencers in international society. A prime example of this is Scholarism, a local youth activist group whose recent campaign against National Education sparked social action in Hong Kong. In my article ‘Sonic Youth’, I explored how the group has transcended the limitations of age to become a formidable force in this city’s political arena. Having interviewed a member of Scholarism, I can attest that Hong Kong’s young people have the capability to reflect upon their situations and speak their mind. In all honesty, every piece of art we create, every sentence we write is an extension of our world and ourselves. In this issue, we have concentrated on photography as a medium of expression, and curated a selection that we feel illustrates the world that the West Island community experiences. From urban architecture in the cities of America, to desolate landscapes of Alaska, we traverse the world vicariously through the lenses of our students, revealing the international spirit of the West Island School community. And who better to offer a worldly perspective to us than Mr. Reed, a recent arrival from cosmopolitan New York City? In the feature ‘Perspectives’, he impresses upon us the cultural differences between the East and West, and highlights idiosyncrasies of our home city that can only be seen by fresh eyes. With the school having undergone extensive renovations during the summer vacation, it seems that the spirit of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ has permeated West Island School. However, in her feature ‘Inspirational Spaces’, Eugenia Wan contends that the school library has successfully merged the traditional with the modern. Its popularity with students proves that we are still nostalgics at heart; despite the technology available to us, we still occasionally yearn for the reassuring touch of book pages under our fingertips. In the spirit of rumination and introspection, I must look back on this term and thank my diligent editorial team who endured long afternoons of editing and even longer Facebook discussions on the magazine. I believe that this spirit of tenacity will carry us forward and allow Ethos to persevere in the future. Sincerely,
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INSPIRATIONAL SPACES
With the evolution of technology and the gradual replacement of books by eBooks, it’s a wonder libraries are still in use. However, West Island School has managed to incorporate both traditional and modern technological concepts into its newest inspirational space. After undergoing four months of intense renovation, the new Library is a rejuvenated studying hub, furnished with cosy beanbags, books, and - you guessed it! – even more books. The tranquil atmosphere that greets you when you step through the glass doors makes it a popular place amongst our conscientious (and occasionally comatose) students. The Library comes equipped with two ‘café booths’, each with a monitor for you to connect to your computer and share your screen with others - very handy group projects. These monitors can also be found in each of the three ‘pods’, situated to the left of the library. These soundproof glass-paneled pods seat up to five people, and definitely enchance the futuristic look of this already tech-savvy environment. Going with the sleek and minimal theme, a teaching area - completely encased in glass – is located near the front of the library. The large glass windows allows for light to filter through effortlessly and flood the room with natural light – thus conserving energy too. Again, the sliding glass panels of this area are soundproof, creating optimal studying conditions for all students who frequent the library. Nonetheless, amidst all the technological advancements of the Library, its resources remain the same – an exponentially growing collection of books organised neatly in rows according to category and author’s name; non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels – you name it, we’ve got it. Also dispersed around the facility are brightly coloured and comfortable chairs, with round white tables bringing stylish vibes to the learning space. Along with these, beanbags provide a warm and friendly environment for those in search of a quiet reading spot. As they say, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. The new Library embodies this with its simple yet brilliantly coloured chairs, contrasted with the neutral colours of the shelves; its glass panels complementing the technology our students have become so accustomed to. Modern, simplistic and resourceful, this Library is the best renovation West Island School has had yet. EUGENIA WAN
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NATURA
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L LIGHT
THE
L I B R A RY F E A T U R I N G E M I L Y C H E N G P R I S C I L L A N G E U G E N I A WA N K E N J I T A N G VICTORIA CHERRINGTON POOJA ANTONY JESSICA SINCLAIR SUN YOUNG CHO S A M A N T H A L I
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Land of OppOrtunity Kenji Tang
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WHERE THE FEAR RESIDES WINNER OF THE SELF REFLECTION COMPETITION
hidden behind every single word and all those thoughts spoken but unheard she drapes it with fragmented lights and hopes it’s away from everyone’s sight because truth can be moulded, and polished to shine; melt away the unneeded so it appears just fine she lurks in the midst of the sunshine’s blur so that no one can see her, and then no one can hate her but now words don’t come back, and memories don’t die she tries to stand strong after everyone’s good bye there are days when it comes to her, the dilemma only hers then the passion and nonchalance flow deep into tears and all the time she sits and tells herself, what she does is simply right but it’s bound to get tiring isn’t it? she lets herself feel the fright and she shouldn’t run away because it’s not a curse at all it must rush through her veins. it keeps her alive. KUHU SINGH
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SONIC YOUTH
In the past several years, the world has been fraught with increasing dissent and calls for democracy and bureaucratic transparency. Burma had the Saffron Revolution, Middle East the Arab Spring. It seems only appropriate that Hong Kong join in the revolution as well – only here it is the young people who are taking the lead. Emily Cheng interviews the student activist group Scholarism and comments on the power of youth. For too long, young people have been stereotyped as disenchanted, vapid and indifferent to the world. Growing up to movies including the likes of ‘Clueless’ and ‘Mean Girls’, even as one of the teens I thought that we were all destined to become superficial Plastics. Yet it seems progressively that we have more than shopping on the brain. Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism has certainly bucked the trend, aptly demonstrating that the post-90s generation not only have opinions about current issues and reforms, but also are also not afraid to advocate publicly for them. In 2011, the Hong Kong Government proposed a highly controversial ‘Moral and National Education’ for all high school pupils in Hong Kong. It was censured by the public and legislators alike for being politically biased - with a focus on instilling students with patriotic emotions and nationalistic pride, glorifying the rise of the People’s Republic whilst blatantly ignoring sensitive issues in the country - but the Education Bureau decided to ignore all appeals and persist with their plans to implement the course in Fall 2012. Thus Scholarism was conceived from those to be most affected: high school students, who decided to take the matter into their own hands. The congregation of student activists organized an efficient campaign consisting of protests, marches, press conferences and street stations that drew the eyes of Hong Kong society to their cause. They reached the pinnacle of notoriety when the group staged a protest outside the Government Offices in Admiralty, with three students voicing their dissatisfaction by means of a hunger strike. On 29 September 2012, along with other concern groups, they amassed more than 90,000 people to march in opposition to National Education. With a burgeoning public interest, there was immense pressure for the Hong Kong government to repudiate the biased and purportedly ‘brainwashing’ National Education curriculum. Needless to say, Scholarism’s fervent tactics worked. The Hong Kong Government delayed National Education, offering local schools the choice to postpone commencing the course until 2015. The situation is far from resolved, but it’s definitely a solid victory for the fledgling group that was only established in 2011. I contend that Scholarism’s distinctive style of initiating reform is what elicited such mass appeal from the Hong Kong public. Throughout their campaign against National Education, the organization
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mandated total transparency in their dealings with the Hong Kong government, citing the importance of keeping discourse in the public domain. They famously rejected an invitation to a private dinner with CY Leung to discuss political reform, stating that they did not want to carry out “closed-door talks” with officials. In a city that has been the source of underhanded politics and several corruption scandals in the past few years, their honesty comes off as extremely refreshing. What is remarkable about the group is that, unlike many parties currently involved in Hong Kong issues, they do not have a hidden political agenda. I recently sat down with Scholarism representative Ivan Tan to discuss the group’s philosophy, and he stressed the importance of political neutrality in their undertakings. He argued that the actions of political parties are often swayed by the potential benefits and detriments to their public standing, whereas Scholarism is not concerned about such matters, enabling them to think impartially “as Hong Kong’s general population”. Perhaps it is this altruistic mindset that has endeared them to the Hong Kong public. Yet not everyone in Hong Kong is keen on the abruptly elevated position of the post-90s generation in society. Many critics have taken a stance of ‘parental concern’, expressing doubt at the teenagers’ abilities to balance activism and school. More often than not, their ‘concern’ is expressed with overbearing condescension. On 1 September 2013, Scholarism representative Agnes Chow-Ting was invited onto the local TV program Newsline to speak about the group and their ethos. As a viewer, I thought that the host Michael Chugani treated her less like the mature 16 year-old she is, and more like a naïve child. Rather than use the show to discuss the Scholarism’s unconventional and intriguing activities, he spent almost half of the airtime questioning whether Chow-Ting was old enough to participate in the political arena and whether her parents approved of her activism, ultimately insinuating that she should get back to her studies. Chow-Ting exhibited great maturity as she patiently answered Chugani’s questions and tolerated his patronization, showing that it is he, not she, who is naive. Truth be told, Chugani’s parental condescension is completely anachronistic to this day and age. Since the 1950s, teenagers have emerged as a distinctive group that plays a powerful role in the economy as well as social change. This effect is even more prominent in the 21st century, with many teens adopting adult roles in society long before they come of age. Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai brought the plight of girls’ education back under the international radar with her blog about life under Taliban rule. Teen fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson drew a daily readership of 30,000 to her blog The Style Rookie with her distinctive commentary on fashion trends, and famously sat next to the greatest of fashion influencers, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, in New York Fashion Week at the tender of thirteen. Perhaps the adults of today need to consider that young people are capable of thinking beyond the confines of the school walls. Ivan Tan admits that managing schoolwork as well as his active role in Scholarism can be a difficult balancing act: his schedule is tightly packed and often he doesn’t have time to complete schoolwork despite his best efforts. However, he asserts that participating in activism does not mean completely sacrificing his education. “I’ve never denied that academic excellence is important” he said, “The problem is that beyond that there is more in society that we need to fight for.” Despite the strain of balancing academics and activism faced
by Scholarism, age does not seem to be so much of a hindrance to them as it is an advantage. The post-90s generation are notoriously adept at using the Internet and social media, and it seems that such technology can be utilized not only for leisure purposes but also for promoting worthy causes. Tan claims that Scholarism would not enjoy the popularity it has today were it not for the way they harnessed the power of social media. He told me that Facebook and Youtube was what first brought Scholarism to his attention, and it was “the power of the share button” that took its campaign against National Education to such heights. Indeed, the younger generation’s novel methods of social media promotion seem to thrust their causes into the public eye – just recall how Twitter was used to document and broadcast Turkey’s protests in Taksim Square. Furthermore, their passion and fervor can make them even more vigorous advocates than their older counterparts. “Young people think more about the future than adults do”, said Tan, as the outcome is to affect our lives more profoundly than theirs. Whilst he concurred that all generations feel the “need for democracy and the need for a better future”, he postulated that the “sensation for democracy and the sensation for betterment has risen in this generation, due to the return to Mainland China in 1997.” As children of the handover, we have witnessed at first hand the slow but sure assimilation of Hong Kong into mainland China, with declining freedom of the press and the administration’s recalcitrance towards sanctioning universal suffrage. There is is a pervading sense of desperation to halt and reverse this detrimental process. Tan predicts a bleak future for Hong Kong if it continues down this route, being “synchronized with China” and no different to any other mainland city fraught with censorship, corruption and lacking democracy. It’s a rather pessimistic view, but perhaps Hong Kong needs a healthy dose of reality to alert it to its own deterioration. As Tan cautions, “the reality is we have to find a way out of this destiny, and I don’t see hope yet.” So it is with this sense of apprehension that Scholarism takes on the biggest challenge that Hong Kong has faced yet: achieving universal suffrage in 2017. “Political reform is more complicated … everyone has different views, even if they all support universal suffrage,” said Scholarism representative Agnes Chow Ting. Many activists see the government’s unreceptiveness towards conventional protest tactics as a sign that something more drastic needs to be done. Even though Scholarism has not aligned themselves with the Occupy Central movement - which aims at amassing thousands to block the streets of Hong Kong in an act of civilian dissent next June - they do agree with resorting to “civil disobedience to fight for democracy”. I can only hope that, like Martin Luther King and Gandhi before them, they will triumph in their struggle for change. In the past, many of my peers and I have expressed dissatisfaction at Hong Kong’s current state and our desire to pack up and desert this city which seems to be assimilating more and more into Communist China. I feel rather humbled by the courageous teens of Scholarism that are not only willing to stand by Hong Kong, but fight to make it a better place. “Democracy, freedom, equality, individualism and knowledge are what we strive for”, said Ivan Tang, offering a dim beacon of hope in Hong Kong’s bleak horizon. If these young people are to be the future of Hong Kong, I’m really quite tempted to stay and join them. EMILY CHENG ARTWORK BY JESSICA SINCLAIR
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The day you moved to Ontario, I drove you to the airport with promises of forever staining your lips. We parted on the hope of meeting each other, of distance strengthening our relationship, of the thrill we’d get when we’d see each other after weeks or months of being apart. The apartment now is empty, the walls stripped bare of the posters you loved, the ramen noodles you used to love sitting untouched, expired on the top shelf of my kitchen cabinet. The sheets have lost your scent, that musky Old Spice smell I related to your presence. They’re crisp, and freshly laundered, and smell of my mother’s detergent instead. Gus, our dog, doesn’t even respond to your name anymore, and quite frankly, neither do I. My friends tell me it was for the best, that if what we had were true, you’d still be here. Fridays are no longer “take out” nights. I no longer wake up at odd times in the morning to catch you on Skype before you leave for work, and I don’t remember the small details either: the way you used to sing in the shower, what you liked for breakfast. I’ve forgotten the little things, and maybe that’s what frightens me so much. But sometimes, I can’t help but wonder how you’re doing. Whether you’ve gotten used to the chilly temperatures, whether you’ve got a pet at home, whether your proposal at work came through. and whether there’s someone there who knows you as well as I used to. POOJA ANTONY
PHOTO BY ERNEST CHENG
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BOSTON Emily Cheng
Urbans
ARCHITECTURE IN AMER
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scapes
RICA’S GREATEST CITIES
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NEW YORK Hazel Chan
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BOSTON Ernest Cheng
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NEW YORK Hazel Chan
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Lumos Ernest Cheng
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AN EYE FOR AN EYE Stars have died so that you may live. Not from mud or clay were you born; not by the hand of some artificer or some drunken fool or some bang were you crafted – You were stolen from the ember-heart of a dying sun. The lightness of hydrogen in the lightness of your laugh. The fire of oxygen in the blaze of your fury. The coal of carbon from which came the diamond of your wit. Space shaped into your Form: Your eyes are suns diminished and their brows dark comets paused forever before they kiss. The Perseids immortalized as the freckles sprinkled on your cheek. Your breath the windless wind of the void. The arc of Halley’s rewrites the line of your jaw. And fiery nebulae wrestled into a ponytail. When you supernova- for you will not crumble like mud-made mortals – the heavens will become a carnival of burn and shine as they welcome the return of their own. You were never mine. Perhaps, when you die, a star will be born. An eye for an eye, a star for a star. BRANDON MOK
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Nature.
ALASKA Sonali Gidwani
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Nurture.
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FRIENDS AWAKE AT SUNSET Kenji Tang
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PHOTOS BY Carolyn Ching
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MONSOON Mother, one day there was a monsoon that Instead of tearing me apart, swept me by my feet And concealed my feeble body in its forceful gale And, regardless of, my vulnerability devoured the tempest, until my insides ignited with agony. Mother, I don’t know love And I can’t tell good from bad storms or the ones I can swim and soar and be emasculated within. Tell me, mother: What will become of me if I had one day vanished into the reach of a tender gale? Mother, it left the remaining sanity of me in pieces And smiled bitterly at the fragments of my arms, my legs, my fingers, my eyes as if it was pitying the remnants of me and admiring its cruelty. Mother, I am stripped of myself And weary of the impossibilities of this world. Fatigue had ridden me; my eyes withered and broken, my legs won’t walk, my fingers won’t clasp, while my arms don’t embrace anymore. PRISCILLA NG
PHOTO BY KIMBERLY TSUI
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he built me a house. i know, because i saw him slave over it; night and day, day and night. i’ve never seen him work so hard, with so much drive, as he strived for perfection. (i tell him perfection is overrated and he tells me to be quiet, to open my eyes and stop dreaming.) he builds rooms with mattresses, double-beds, single-beds, carpeted floors, wooden doors and chairs too small to sleep in. i wonder if he knows which bed is which? which one is his? (they sit me down at eight, and tell me the reason they sleep in separate beds is because he gets late calls and he doesn’t want to disturb her sleep. she nods and i can’t hold it over their heads because as soon as the client’s stop calling, they go back to sharing a bed.) he built this bed. it’s wide and long and there’s enough place to lie stretched out without touching the person on the other side. (it’s not a sudden loss of love, it’s a case of never having anything there in the first place, nothing to miss. i do not doubt they’ll stay like this till the end of their lives.) ‘stop being selfish’ she tells me at six, at seven, at eight, at fifteen and i tell her ‘thank you’ and leave the kitchen.
HE BUILT ME A HOUSE Anonymous PHOTO BY Emily Cheng
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i do not speak for weeks. (and when i open my mouth, it’s to grasp for air and she holds onto me and does not make a sound when she weeps) he built a room with a sky but he does not enter it. (she sits there clasping beads telling the sky to take her, and she tells me that to kill oneself is to be ungrateful. but telling god to kill her himself is to leave her a martyr, so we’ll think kind things of her) he built me a room that’s occupied by him and her and the other little girl and i finally point at the door and hide the keys and lock myself in the room within this one because three layers of wood should be thick enough, but they’re still not thick enough to block them out. (he sits me down and shakes his head because he refuses to find fault in his workmanship and doesn’t know what to say and she doesn’t know what to do. so i say it for them. because i have opened my eyes and i have stopped dreaming and i must not be selfish.) when she says “how do i leave?” i tell her i do not know and her eyes widen and she looks at me as if for the first time and she says “i shouldn’t have put this on you.” she couldn’t have put it on him, i tell her. the house would have collapsed. “but you,” she’s saying, “you’re just a child”.
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once upon a time we forgot the story of the angry youth who screamed till her throat ran raw words overflowing from skin and bleeding and breathing and breaking her bones have not felt so good broken because her aching limbs carried her tall and this was her triumph. she sits behind the beat up closet on fourth with a cardboard box resigned she has forgotten how to be upset. SAKINA ABIDI
PHOTO BY SONALI GIDWANI
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She knelt like a lamb for slaughter To be torn apart by the tigers that were Taunting little girls in plaid skirts Neither plea nor objection left her lips She thought that silence would save her - she thought wrong With time she grew used to the torture Deep gashes in her soul no longer stung For she learnt to lose her heart to save the bleeding She learnt of indifference and cynicism Retreated away from the claws and the venom But from her wounds, blood was still seeping By this she is made stronger, not better Killing her kindness was the price of a hard exterior And a diseased mind that sees the glass as half empty In this rite of growing up, we celebrate but also mourn For the little girl who believed in the goodness of the soul Has been lost to the darkness of the world And so innocent prey becomes heartless predator And the circle of life repeats on a helpless other EMILY CHENG
ARTWORK BY SABINE KWAN
the lamb must learn to run with the tigers
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The higher I go The steeper the hill The more I get The more to lose The happier I am The more tears I hide The brighter the light The darker the night
faults.
The hotter the candle The quicker it melts The redder the rose The sharper the thorns GOWOON KIM
PHOTO BY SONALI GIDWANI
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meeting There was something magical about that sunset --- a kind of magic that only this sweet orangey glow could bring, setting the sky ablaze with colour as it lazily dragged on the cosy blanket of the night. The air was sticky and humid, with only a slight whisper of a breeze wafting through it, gently lapping against my skin as I sat on a marble step and watched. It was one of those nights where you could feel the energy pulsating from the distant town, that energy of people who are finally, finally awake after a long week of corporate meetings and deals. The incessant splashing sound of water from a smooth white marble fountain a few meters away filled my ears. It seemed to drown out all the worries I had accumulated in the past week, forming a barrier between me and the rest of the world, entrapping me forever in this marble garden cell to watch the show of the sun and to listen to the music of the water. I don’t ever want to be rescued. The fountain is a large pearl-white circular marble structure, with a tall cylindrical beam in the middle, shooting up towards the sky. Cupid sits atop it, imperiously overlooking the whole garden with bow and arrow readily strung as he searches for his next victims. This, is our meeting place. Closing my eyes I can almost imagine it’s the first time we ever came here. It still smells of freshly cut grass and the rich scent of blooming summer flowers. The stifling heat and the reassuring splashing of the fountain still provide cover for us as we hide from the rest of the world. Behind my eyelids I can almost see the numbers and symbols in our deck of playing cards we used to pass the hours and the exact colour of the tiny lilac flowers that grew in between the cracks of the marble steps that we sat on. I can almost hear our hysterical laughter from under the sounds of the fountain, and the crunching of the grass as we trudged through the garden looking for flowers. That a day that remains impossible to forget, a day that stays vivid in my mind despite the years that have passed. Upon opening my eyes, I realize I have not imagined the crunching of the grass. He’s here. VICTORIA CHERRINGTON PHOTO BY KIMBERLY TSUI
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EAST MEETS
WEST
JAIPUR Aayushi Sharma
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BEIJING Kenji Tang
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LONDON Kenji Tang
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london Kenji Tang
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HONG KONG Kenji Tang
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HONG KONG Kenji Tang
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boston Emily Cheng
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perspectives
with mr. reed
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t’s rare that the West Island School faculty is graced with anyone from the lovely (if loud) land of America, let alone the bustling Big Apple. The Ethos Team chats with the newly arrived Mr. Reed on books, being a teenager, moving to Hong Kong and the secret to being a New Yorker. As a former resident of the Big Apple, how is Hong Kong different from New York? Hong Kong is different in the sense that you have to go to little shops, unlike Target or Walmart in the US. Finding simple things like cue cards is a little hard, whereas in the US you can just stop by Staples and find everything there. Everything is also a lot more expensive here. On the other hand, Hong Kong Island reminds me of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Lantau is a lot like Long Island, and Lamma Island is like Staten Island. Quite a few things are similar between Hong Kong and New York City. Are you planning to learn Cantonese while you’re here? Yes. I’ve already learned to say ‘zho saan’ (good morning), ‘lee doh’ (here), and also the street I live on (which will not be released for public consumption!)
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If only one book series existed, which would you like it to be? The Foundation Trilogy by my favourite writer of all time, Isaac Asimov. When you look at greatness, it’s often imitated, not duplicated. So many writers and screenplays copy and remake each other’s works – take Star Wars and Star Trek for example. Isaac Asimov is godfather of sci-fi. But he’s written a wide variety of works – over 500 books in his lifetime. If you could have dinner with anyone dead, alive or fictional, who would it be And why? My dad – he passed away when I was fifteen and I didn’t get a chance to grow up around him. Who is your fictional alter ego? Mr. Tony Stark – although I am much more laid back and less egotistical.
If books were people, who would be your mentor? ‘Common Sense’ by Cornel West If you weren’t a teacher, what would you BE? My dream would be to play right field for the New York Yankees. But realistically speaking, I would be either a college advisor or admissions officer. Favourite hobby? I’m an avid reader. In NYC, I was part of a book club with some people from my high school (it was a very cool book club). I’m a also huge huge huge movie buff! When I was in college, I created an independent film club with two of my friends. We used to invite producers and actors to make films for us and we would critique them. I was a geek (to say the least). I’m also an avid biker, but I haven’t had a chance to do this lately! What were you like as a teenager? NERDY - definitely a bit of a geek. I wore a 2-3 piece suit to school almost everyday. Walked around with a large briefcase - sometimes even had on a trench coat and a hat. My school had a uniform but I never wore it, because the administrators said my form of dress exceeded the
standard of school uniform. As a student I was involved with everything under the sun – so I understands some issues students here have. I was president of the National Honors Society at my school, and I played trombone in the orchestra. I was also a second tenor in the choir. I played varsity baseball. I was awarded the Public School Athletic League Scholar Athlete of The Year, which was a great honour. I even got a scholarship to university. I also volunteered multiple days a week for the college advisory office at school. My best friend in the world was my college advisor and we’re still in touch today - he’s not just my friend, he’s my BFF! I was also editor-in-chief of my school newspaper “The Jeffersonian” (for Thomas Jefferson High School), so I have a profound respect for student writers and editors - it’s not easy. What defines a New Yorker? Attitude. Being a New Yorker is about having ‘New York swag’. EUGENIA WAN AND POOJA ANTONY
PHOTOS BY KENJI TANG
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