CLOCKWORK/FEATURES
Vol. 4, Issue 20 Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Yale-NUS College, Singapore www.theoctant.org
FEATURES A Profile of Saga suite #12-101, one of the DF suites
OPINION It’s the Patriarchy’s Fault, a response to Gender Equality Isn’t Just a Female Problem
SAGA #12-101: A VIBRANT COMMUNITY Home is where you’re comfortable being yourself. [From left to right] Aieshah, Chris and Lauren. A tongue-in-cheek look events around school
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April Fools!: For those of you who thought we actually changed our name to The Sextant, it was a joke! In keeping with our yearly tradition, on April 1, we published an April Fool’s issue filled with satirical articles. We hope you enjoyed reading them as much as we enjoyed editing them. A huge thank you to all those who contributed!
Story by Nicholas Lua, Features Editor Picture credit to Serena Quay
ollowing the release of Yale-NUS College’s newly formulated Latin Honors system, over 160 students have signed a petition calling for the reconsideration of the honors system and opening up of decision-making to students. In her spare-room-turned-art-studio, Lauren Seaman shows me her latest art project. Careful black-and-white drawings of somewhat eerie humanoids reflecting her latest interest in cartoons, fill half the canvas. The other half is raw, spontaneous energy: an abstract orange explosion that looks like cakes of lava. She created the effect by using “tons of glue and wood shavings and set[ting] it on fire”. A pop—we turn around. Christopher Mulvey stands in the doorway, toting a Nerf gun. Now Lauren is showing me her Strawberry earmuffs—and shrieks. Out in
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the hallway, Chris and Aieshah Arif both wield Nerf guns, laughing like crazy. More pops and whistles. Lauren and I edge into an open room, taking cover. For the rare few who don’t know them, Aieshah, Chris and Lauren aren’t students. They are Dean’s Fellows (DFs). These three Saga DFs—two Americans and a Singaporean—share a suite designed for six people. Living among the student body is part of their role. Together with the other DFs, the trio serve as mentoradvisors to students and help encourage vibrant community life in Yale-NUS College. A tour of their “Nerd Room”, art studio and personal spaces revealed that their mission to encourage vibrancy extends to the lives they lead and the suite they live in. In the latest installment of The Octant’s suite profiles, we pay a visit to DF
Good-night, sweet prince: We are working on an in-depth review of the production, but we want to quickly give a shoutout to everyone involved in the Hamlet production. We were blown away to say the least! Although you’d hope the man that wrote “brevity is the soul of wit” might have had his plays a bit shorter. To ratify or not to ratify: That is the question. This week the student body gets to ratify the Kingfisher mascot. We hope that we don’t end up with a George Bush-Al Gore situation where this mascot gets fewer votes than the dragon but still becomes official, since the government voted to lower the majority requirement. If this does become official, do you think we can get sponsorship from Kingfisher beer? Suite life: Speaking of beer, now might be a good time to sweeten your potential suitemates for the upcoming academic year… Perhaps with a bit of Kingfisher? *wink, wink* Pick wisely though, because you will be spending the foreseeable future in the company of these students.
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FEATURES Dissatisfied with your suitemates’ toilet habits? Consider this rainbow-and-unicorn solution.
Suite #12-101. The cosmopolitan influences are clear here. Textiles are the name of the game. Sofas, rooms and walls are decorated with cloths of varying origin and personal meaning. Next to Lauren’s bed hangs a vibrant orange cloth with drips of lighter hues in the style of Jackson Pollock. It was a gift from her cousin, who is now a designer. Aieshah’s bed looks like a Persian divan, her patterned carpet to match. I note Chris’ Christmas ornament, hanging on the window at the end of the corridor. “My mother made this,” he says, “it’s a Singapore Sling and a Merlion. She makes a Christmas ornament every year … And she sews whatever I’m doing [that year] on the other side.” Indeed, it reads “Chris / Yale-NUS / Dean’s Fellow”. This suite also has other touches of the whimsical. The three insist I take a look inside their toilet cubicle. Not quite sure what
to expect, I am pleasantly amused to find a page from a unicorn coloring book pasted on the wall. “Unicorns don’t replace the toilet paper roll,” it reads. Aieshah explains it serves as a reminder to everyone to refill the toilet paper when it runs out. A communal initiative, the public service announcement was originally a page from Chris’ tastefully colored unicorn coloring book, a gift to him from Lauren. I notice their nameplates. Rightly, I see Chris’ name on the
EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-chief Spandana Bhattacharya Managing Editor Dave Chappell Co-News Editor Chan Li Ting Co-News Editor Elaine Li Co-Opinion Editor Justin Ong Co-Opinion Editor Annie Wang Ting Fang Co-Features Editor Yip Jie Ying Co-Features Editor Nicholas Lua Co-Arts Editor David Chia Co-Arts Editor Tan Jia Hui Copy Chief Rebecka Lindeberg DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of The Octant. Questions can be directed to yncoctant@gmail.com
Chris: “This is the first time I’ve ever had a bed big enough for me. In my entire life, since I was full-grown.” 2 | APRIL 6, 2016
FEATURES Now that’s a well-stocked pantry.
door of his room. Aieshah’s nameplate, meanwhile, is stuck on the entrance to the shower cubicle. Apparently because she takes really long showers. Lauren’s nameplate is pasted on the front of the toilet door. I make it a point not to ask why. The three DFs have clearly made a home of their suite. In addition to personalizing their rooms and common area, they have converted the spare rooms to other purposes. Aside from Lauren’s art studio, the three have what they affectionately call “The Nerd Room”, where Aieshah and Chris have study tables for doing work. It is also home to their suite dinosaur. “Turn him on, turn him on,” Chris excitedly tells the other two. Dino remains unresponsive. Cries of disappointment from the others, myself included. Dino’s batteries are dead. “Sorry, I’m sorry—I should have prepared,” says Chris. Their last spare room is currently a pantry. I see cups, a full-size fridge and two bookshelves loaded with breakfast cereals, cookies and chips. Suddenly I am aware of how close the time is to dinner. Aieshah offers me a cup of Korean corn tea and something out of her cookie selection. “Do you want the shortbread? I’ve been trying to find an excuse to open [the packet],” she says. They’re delicious. The homeliness of their suite encourages visits from guests. Earlier this semester and the last, the DFs invited students over to their suite for tea parties. Occasionally, they also invite the other DFs for food and drink. The time left for entertaining, though, is growing short. Chris will be heading to Yale University for graduate studies in Anthropology. In their post-DF lives, Lauren and Aieshah hope to continue their work at Yale-NUS in other capacities.
Don’t mess with Dino (or Lauren). APRIL 6, 2016 | 3
OPINION
IT’S THE PATRIARCHY’S FAULT Column by Daryl Yang, Guest Columnist Picture credit to Flickr User Gaelx
n “Gender Equality Isn’t Just A Female Problem”, Justin Ong rightly noted that it is a troubling problem that many men’s issues are still not talked about enough. Many men continue to quietly suffer from mental illness, and young men represent one of the the highest demographic among those who attempt suicide. Yet, it might be inaccurate, or even counterproductive to assume that this is because feminists and others concerned with gender issues are not paying enough attention to the issues facing men today. We need to take a few steps back and consider why these issues are not gaining the same amount of traction and attention that they deserve. This is all the Patriarchy’s fault. Feminist writer bell hooks defines the Patriarchy as “a politicalsocial system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak”. Patriarchy, besides putting other genders at a lower standing, wrongfully divides gender into the binary of male and female, Patriarchy being a masculine endeavor and everything else a feminine struggle. Therein lies the problem — for gender inequality is not a male or female problem; it is a problem that affects everyone, from cisgender heterosexual men, transgender lesbian women to genderqueer asexual persons, agender biromantic individuals and everyone else along, around and beyond the gender spectrum. As the writer argued, we cannot analyze the issues facing any one group in isolation from the rest. That women should stay at home suggests that men shouldn’t, and that is equally damaging to both these genders. Yet, such a binary perception is equally damaging to those who do not identity exclusively as cisgender, heterosexual masculine-presenting men or feminine-presenting women. Ultimately, the Patriarchy not only perpetuates sexism, it also promotes heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia and femmephobia among many others. As such, Ong is right in suggesting that what needs to be done is not to adopt a “masculine” or “feminine” lens in understanding the power relations and dynamics between genders. He suggested that we need a set of “neutral” lens, and I would go further to argue that what this means is we need to dislocate ourselves from the gendered social positions we have come to reside in. To fully appreciate the effects of the Patriarchy,each and every one of us has to situate ourselves within a complex hierarchy of gendered power from the alpha masculine to the subservient feminine. The difficult question lies in how we can liberate ourselves from
Is gender inequality the fault of the Patriarchy?
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the trappings of a system so deeply entrenched and self-perpetuating in practically every aspect of our lives. The oppressed groups have first come to develop a heightened consciousness of the Patriarchy because it was more apparent, more explicitly overpowering, with feminists and queer activists having railed against the Patriarchy for decades. It is no wonder that bell hooks once described the Patriarchy the “single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation”. What, then, needs to be done before men will realise that the Patriarchy is more noxious than good for even men themselves? What will it take for them to finally get on board with the endeavour to dismantle the Patriarchy? This is a difficult question to answer because what the Patriarchy does is to essentially delude men into believing otherwise. I doubt there is a simple panacea we can hope to discover except to encourage critical reflection, sharing and dialogue among men and between the genders so that everyone can come to appreciate that we all are needlessly subjecting ourselves to the cruelties of a system that ultimately benefits no one. We might begin with the question of what it even means to be a man in a world today with its unrealistic ideals characterised by Clark Kent’s carved torso, Bruce Wayne’s emotional remoteness and Steve Rogers’ valiant charisma. In the end, change will come, but it will come slowly, one conversation, a human connection at a time. Only when men are finally cognisant and recognize the role that their gender plays in oppressing not just others but also themselves will we cure the disease of Patriarchy, and achieve true equality among genders. The views expressed here are the author’s own. The Octant welcomes all voices in the community. Email submissions to: yncoctant@gmail.com
LETTER TO THE EDITORS
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