The year I was born, 1998, Cowboy Bebop was released. It was a highly acclaimed show that won several creative awards, becoming widely hailed as a masterpiece among Japanese animations— and also a subtle, nuanced work that dealt with difficult questions about existentialism and human loneliness. I knew none of that, however, when I first sat down as an unsuspecting girl of eight to watch its first episode with my sister. The result: a simple show about a group of futuristic...

Where else could I find a discipline where I could dabble in environmentalism and human psychology in an entirely legitimate way? Or apply the knowledge of social sciences to understand the malaises of our age, like broken down relationships or socioeconomic polarisation? Even though I’ve never encountered urban studies in its specialised form in my educational experiences, I have gotten a taste of it through urban geography lessons and independent study opportunities at [redacted]. I’ve decided since that...

Dearest Duke, how have you been? A little bird said your Nicholas School has been absolutely revolutionary lately. Your students’ groundbreaking research— advocating for sustainable transport, marine conservation— is ever inspiring. It’s clear they’re driven youths who push the envelope in their studies. And that interdisciplinarity! The comprehensiveness of your Environmental Science classes astounds me - it reflects a mature sensitivity to modern global issues that this international applicant appreciates. Ethics, philosophy, science all in Conservation and Development ...

Upon hearing of Brown’s commitment to fostering acceptance and diversity, I knew I had to apply. With a tradition of open-mindedness and hallmark programmes like Minority Peer Counselling, I can thrive at Brown, free from arbitrary constraints and social discrimination. Under these precedents of institutional and social support, I will grow like I never have before. Brown’s open curriculum also means I can pursue my multifaceted interests without sacrificing any of them, like I often had to in...

Did white men ever have to endure living in a perilous ocean of their own enemies? Did the European masters of the 19th century question their homogenous halls of haughtiness, or realise how conspicuously they must have excluded the women and men of racial minorities outside their realms of privilege? Large unanswerable questions these may be, but that is no matter; I have sought to answer them ever since I began wondering about the world around me. I want to...

Kurt Vonnegut once said, “If you want to really hurt your parents and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, [you should] at least go into the arts.” He was right. I managed to do both, and look at me now: I’m clearly prizewinner of the Disappointment Olympics. Watch out, world! Jokes aside, being a lesbian in [redacted] isn’t easy. 70% of the public deems homosexuality immoral, so coming out remains social suicide (being gossiped about if...

The myriad of problems in cities unsettles me. I've seen how stressed my parents look after work, and noticed the rumbles of animosity between [redacted]’s urban young and forgotten elderly. Although touted as the magic bullet of poverty reduction and human development, cities increasingly create and intersect with intractable crises, like Syria’s migration crisis and social alienation— crises we need to solve, and quickly. My peers and family think Urban Studies will turn me insular, studying only the...

Tell us where you have lived - and for how long - since you were born; whether you've always lived in the same place, or perhaps in a variety of places. Life as the daughter of two immigrants is inevitably emotionally nomadic. In my childhood, I flitted between [redacted], Hangzhou, and even Switzerland. But despite my crosscultural background (or even because of it), I identify with [redacted] wholeheartedly, especially with the people who pump [redacted]’s fundamental lifeblood. From our...

When I come out of the closet, the first thing I’ll do is thank [redacted]’s local community of LGBTQIA artists. Despite being a lesbian in a conservative Chinese immigrant family, in a country that largely deems homosexuality immoral, I accepted myself early on thanks to their presence and influence. Unapologetically visible writers like Jolene Tan and Cyril Wong convinced me not to fear being different, when I was debating closeting myself my entire life. Slowly, these artists are...

Being an optimistic realist puts one in a strange position. Growing up, I’ve seen so much within my city, despite living on a dingy island in the Southeast Asian region, which unsettles me and made me pessimistic about ever changing the world. It seems as though wars and inequality, corruption and poverty pervade urban societies by design and are unchangeable. All the same, I still earnestly believe in this world and its people’s power to change our fates...

What I value most about about working at a hawker centre, or kopitiam, isn’t necessarily tangible things like job titles or earning spare change. Rather, it’s interacting with a different side of [redacted], a side my education unintentionally blinds me to. At work, I strip off my pretensions from school and become simply another staff member at [redacted]. Contrary to perceptions that kopitiam work is degrading, less illustrious than internships at flagship ministries, I find work endlessly meaningful....

When my friend died, I joined in the historical struggle of writers to describe the taste of bereavement. I learned from Elizabeth Browning's grace in crafting elegant elegies, connected with WH. Auden's plaintive vulnerability in "Funeral Blues", and laughed, despite myself, at Sylvia Plath's bleak humour and tragicomic honesty. And after many nights of undignified sobbing, I found my perfect description in Regina Spektor's unpretentious but devastating poetry: "the food that I'm eating / is suddenly tasteless / I know I'm alone...

Even if I've gotten used to living under bureaucratic constraints (hello, [redacted]ean examinations and education system), I savour freedom where I can get it. Its scarcity is precisely what makes me treasure it. So when I discovered Geography, the discipline dedicated to studying every worldly phenomena imaginable, I saw what a goldmine that was, even if there were (justified) murmurs that it was an ill-defined and sprawling course. Geography matters substantially to me, and not just as a 'favourite...

Three words: my cultural schizophrenia. For a while, I thought I misplaced my racial roots! I probably inherited ones resembling a ginseng plant from my Mainland Chinese parents, but I wouldn't know; they might've been denuded by the wave of Westernisation. In the past, I had no clear concept of where my cultural 'homeland' was. Officially, it was my ancestral home in Hangzhou. But in my soul, I know I've imbibed many things that complicate this process of self-discovery for...

Indubitably, Holly Golightly is the role model I wish I'd had when I was young. She would have been the fresh spot of independence I needed, to counter the naivete of giggling Disney princesses. But where I celebrate Holly's pluck and self-possession, I see where Breakfast at Tiffany's has failed in allowing yellowface and feminine conformity into its sublime world. In my lingering moments of fantasy, I dream up my own film remix: where Holly never remains tied to men,...