Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Undiscovered Hong Kong Whats on in Hong Kong The Advisory Food for thought
FEATURES
Interview with Chair of UWC Reflections on a meta-GIF Supper self destruction Reflectionson anti-trafficking work
EDITORS
Colin Diersing Tomi Kiviluoma
CREATIVEDIRECTOR
Quentin Yiu John Wang
ARTSSECTION
Overheard Memes
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Mary Hui
This isnt exactly hidden or undiscovered, especially for the block three-ites among us. Ever notice that jagged mountain range just across the harbour from campus, with its eight little bumps spread out evenly across the horizon? The block three roof provides a wonderful view overlooking the whole range, and you can also just about make it out from behind all the shrubbery on your way to the canteen. Thats the Eight Immortals (or Pat Sin Leng), and right below that, Tai Mei Tuk - a wonderful village for roadside dining, biking and barbecues . If youre ever looking for a leisurely but active day trip, Tai Mei Tuks your place to go. Just jump onto a bike and start peddling your way along the Tolo Harbour towards Tai Mei Tuk, a flat 25-kilometer ride away. Alternatively, you can also hop onto the MTR to Tai Mo Market Station, then jump onto a minibus which will whisk you away to Tai Mei Tuk in no time. Now, how to spend time your there? You could continue to peddle your way through the area, then up and along a 2-kilometer dam (which, by the way, holds 230 million m3 of water). Many families also fly their kites on the helipad next to the dam, and youll often find many a kite-flyer showcasing their kite-flying prowess with large kites of all shapes and sizes, vigorously rolling their kite-string up and down their thighs. If kite flying doesnt quite take your fancy, you could rent a row boat and paddle on the water instead. (I, however, dont have much to say on this subject, having once been carried away by the current and left helplessly stranded miles from shore in one of our previous block activities). So if youre not very comfortable with rowing, you could also think about hiking up the Eight Immortals, all along the mountain range, then down to Tai Po Market for some sumptuous sweet bean curd, steamed buns, char-siu, and just about every other delicacy you can name! Mmm...
The Advisory
Apoorva Dear Athena, How do I prioritize? Hello lovers, Prioritizing, Ill let you know now, is something that demands the very unique of skills one possesses. It calls for swiftness of the mind and it orders the ability to make a decision with very little or no regret. But it is a process and, yes it can be learnt. Priority is when you choose to assign this one event or person or action the most attention at the present moment. Comparatively of course. Opportunity Cost would be the most apt way to describe this circumstance; when you choose one awesome thing over another epic thing. Basically youre doing it right if the cost of losing this next best thing is minute. In the case of prioritizing, you should have very little regret about giving
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Features
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Features
second, as he says, has to do with the educational model, and the third has to do with the ethos of UWC. This lead us to a discussion of what that UWCness, as he very much likes to call it, is exactly. We asked him, by his definition, what sets us apart. He responded, This is an interesting one. Its an indefinable...an indefinable something. Its obviously the mixture of nationalities and cultures... the fact that youre chosen by your home country. Thats the unique bit. Theres no other school that selects students through a national committee. That is the one thing that really does set us apart from anyone else. You are coming as an ambassador of your country representing your country, your religion, your culture to the rest... and having to defend those things against the other students. Now I dont think any other school does that in that way. He recognizes that UWCs vary greatly and its difficulty to describe the model, other than the uniqueness of the national committee system. Agreeing with the notion that UWC is not a franchise, he says its something you can just smell... If you go to Singapore its not the same, but the ethos is imbued from when youre 4 years old and onwards. The implications of this mentality for the growth of the movement, as Mr. Sewell sees, is that there is not necessarily a strict direction that must be followed to maintain the UWCness. The approach he supports is schoolby-school. We are, after all, a movement that can still give that kind of attention. He said what we need is that balance between mass and quality. And were terribly conscious of that. No one wants to lose the uniqueness of UWC, but there are more and more people yearning to take part in your education and to take part in this model and to have the ethos
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creation of a new school. Weve never had to disassociate with a school. What values must we insist for any school, and if they dont have those values, do we have to say they cant be a UWC? he mused. Our first responsibility is to the students. He said the organization would make sure students can finish their experience at another college before ever considering this. He said, We would be very reluctant to disassociate with a UWC without going through every possible way of remedying the situation. He mentioned also that the organization has taken measures before that have succeeded in preventing schools from straying too far from the parameters of the movements aims. The pressure to maintain unity has so far succeeded. To end it, we asked him if he was to join UWC as someone our age today, which school he would rank first as his preference. He chuckled at the idea exclaiming, Unfair! Unfair! He expressed an appreciation for each college and apologized for giving the terrible answer of all thirteen. He avoided the question joking further, I would not have been clever enough to go to a UWC in the first place. However he left us saying At the end of the day, its all about the students. He thinks whichever school were at, its the same kind of student that exists at each that makes the experience.
Reflections on a Meta-GIF
By Leila Denniston
This evening, many of us LPC students attended Shelleys meta-GIF in the Assembly Hall, and what a GIF it was. A TOK lecture, on TOK pretty much. For the second years, I can only imagine that this must have been a
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discussion was then led. After Shelley emphasizing on the fundamental fact of agreeing we should not kill anyone ever, we moved on to various subjects: Greeces current economical state, and its situation in Europe, animals: food or creatures with feelings?, inconsistency (If you say youre logically consistent, then youre a liar!), the definition of happiness, why we should all become politicians instead of doctors and lawyers, and the battle of the realistic and the absurd. As the session was brought to a close, Shelley finished off with encouraging us to follow [our] passions, and it wont matter. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed this Thursday evening, and will go to bed more reflective than they got up this morning. So thank you Shelley, we will do our best to always keep growing, change the world through politics (or if failing, just be great doctors and lawyers) and make our carrot cake the most delicious it can possibly be. (Ironically, as I type this, a second year has just walked past in the corridor, complaining, I quote: Urhhhh I have to do my TOK presentation, Im gonna die! )
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poo. This shows a lack of nutrition in the junk food supper I consume. To wrap things up, I have this one and only thing to say: my body is giving me a big NO. Towards the end of the five days, I am troubled by a sore throat and headache. This suggests the potential development of a fever. The best way to avoid these problems will be to refrain from eating junk food supper altogether. But of course, I know its not as easy as it seems. What should you do when supper is simply a desperate need? Go natural, by all means fruit! For instance, banana is a healthy, but nutritious snack that would keep you energized for the rest of the night. What I went through, certainly feels like a huge sacrifice. But at least, as this article hopefully pointed out, it wasnt all for nothing.
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Arts section
some villagers seek comfort through alcohol abuse. For example, one villager stretched out his hands and pointed at the wounds and callous marks on his fingertips, and confessed that he would rather go to jail than be a part of village life. His logic was that he would receive two good meals in jail, versus the dire struggle him and his family face just to not starve. The struggles that these trafficked victims face are neglected far too often by the world. I live in a world where too much is a lifestyle and too little can be a choice. The perspective gained from sleeping in a bed right next to a trafficking victim, yet living a contrasting lifestyle has humbled me. To finish off, I remember at the end of an interview, a girl asked me, Why are you asking all these questions? What will you be willing to do for us? I was caught off guard by that peculiar question. By hearing the question from a girl who I was meant to help, I had realized that this movement was no selfish walk in the park. I had promised her that it was the Hong Kong 24 Hour Races dream to provide a plot of land for her and her EBT friends so that they could finally settle in a true home. In addition, I also hoped that the Running to Stop the Traffik would take the responsibility to go beyond borders to advocate anti-trafficking to other young leaders, as a global responsibility. If we could all pop a pill... Id be okay with that shoot john or Im gonna shoot you
Overheard
we have ACE meeting from 9 to 11, so Ill go out at 10. african All of a sudden they get to stop, and do this other thing with their hands - student on ecstasy in English class Im not sure who Im doing sex with this year...well have to see. - Teacher about Sex COP Day oh yes, but he was the right sort of fifty year old. he had that whole salt and pepper beard thing going on, mmmhmmm *creepy lip licking, hand rubbing - Danish second year How much do you know about sexually transmitted infections? Math teacher to class (English teacher) is making us read this book Did you actually read that? Nooo Second year Special meta GIF edition Who do you want to kill? - Shelley to Vincent And if we have to eat a dog, eat a dog. And I want to live in startrek Shelley, you told me to follow my passion Student yeah, yeah, yeah. Good for you - Shelley I dont believe that euthanasia is me killing them learn about culture? No, get serious about your life.
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Art Section