Creative Hall

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Creative Hall Health Lifestyle Self-help

Faith in the Time of COVID-19

“Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.”

–  Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

For 7 weeks now, we have been under the Movement Control Order. Some of us are stuck in residences crowded with housemates whom we barely know and managed to avoid for years before this. Some of us are stuck alone without a single soul to judge us as we waltz around the communal area in only a towel. Some of us are at home, either cooking and baking – having the time of our lives; or hiding away from toxic interactions, praying for escape. Some of us are taking the time to learn new things, while some of us are having trouble finding any meaning to waking up in the morning. The situation for every person is unique in its challenges and pleasures.

There is one thing we all have in common, though. We’re all thinking about how things could’ve been. Whether it’s, “this time last year I was…” or “right now I’m supposed to be at…” or “now I will never get to…”,  the grief of our individual lost plans weighs upon us, on top of the concern we have for the COVID-19 victims and frontliners. After all, we’re only human, and it’s not something to be ashamed of.

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Updated on Creative Hall Educational Lifestyle

Self-expression or Provocation?

It almost seems as though society synonymizes self-expression with ease. The entire construct is that your life may ameliorate as soon as you express yourself and stay true to your own essence. However, society fails to consider those who are unable to do so and are silenced by accusations of provocation.

For many years, women have only been accepted in society provided that they expressed themselves according to the societal expectations of how women should act. And these obligated characteristics have moulded their entire existence; femininity, submissiveness, and vessels that should bend over backwards to satisfy a man’s whims. Rebel against these norms and you are instantaneously accused of provoking others by defying the boundaries that have been set for you.

Your demise is predestined the moment you try and claw out of the cage you were born to perform in.

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Updated on Creative Hall Lifestyle

Choices, do we actually make them?

We make decisions every single day. From small ones like deciding what to order from Foodpanda, to big ones like whether or not it’s worth breaking the Movement Control Order (MCO) and risk arrest in order to buy that llaollao you were craving. Regardless, decision-making isn’t always that straightforward. 

These decisions are final working papers submitted by “lawmakers” that convene assemblies in our minds. Unsure of who these “lawmakers” are? Fret not. We’ll be exposing each and every one of their identities. So, are these “representatives of the mind” guilty of making terrible and uninformed decisions on our behalf?

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Creative Hall Poems

National Poetry Month: Echo Edition (Part 2)

All I Can Do

by Jaclyn Heng

This is for the times I’ve had to keep a count of the number of days that went by without me getting whistled at or getting looked up-and-down while walking from my car to the BRT when travelling to college each day. A mere 7-minute walk and yet the Days I Did Not Get Catcalled count never reached a number where I needed more than my own two hands to count. 

This is for the one time I sent a middle-finger to a man whistling at me from a lorry, on a day that I’d had enough. I told my parents about it and immediately got told off for being vulgar, then spent the next week using a different route to college in fear that that same man would come back for revenge. 

But most of all, this is for all you girls out there who don’t even get to feel safe when walking alone on a street. 

This should not be the way we have to live, yet it is. 

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Creative Hall Lifestyle Movies & TV Self-help

Self-Growth & Reality TV

Reality TV is often referred to as ‘brain dead’ entertainment by society, ridiculed for it’s ridiculous premises, scripted drama and unnecessary close up shots followed by overplayed sound effects. However, certain shows, despite its superficial surface value, actually have deep underlying messages of self-growth. To keep it interesting, this article won’t delve into the obvious self-improvement based reality shows like “The Amazing Race” or “Survivor”, instead it will focus more on the odd reality TV shows that we might have just watched for laughs

So, here are three unconventional reality TV shows with underlying themes of self-growth!

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Creative Hall Educational Lifestyle Self-help

New year, same problems? If you’re looking for a sign, this is it. Balancing Standards and Expectations

Have you ever watched a Tamil movie? I’m talking about the ones in the romantic comedy genre, the ones you watch just for the sake of watching. If you haven’t, let me, as someone who grew up watching them, paint a picture for you. Usually, there will be this gorgeous girl minding her own business, an educated beauty talking to her friends on her way to college. Then out of nowhere, the most average male that’s supposed to be the hero of this story starts stalking her on his cheap motorcycle. He continues to harass her even though she shows signs of disgust towards him until inevitably, just after a mere 3 hours of realising her existence, he confesses his love for her. She is naturally offended by this confession and is confused as to how she could have possibly attracted such bacteria. Soon, however, after a series of events which usually includes him winning in a fight against 300 men twice his size, she “falls in love” with him too. 

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Creative Hall Monthly Musings

Monthly Musings: Self-expression

Prompt: What item do you own that you think best reflects you as a person?

 

 

Blushing shells from ocean caverns in Musandam. 

Inky black pebbles from a remote village in the mountains of Khasab. 

Sediments of sunsets from an ocean of pink rock in Sharjah.

Curlicues of white stone from the shores off Brighton.

Shards of earth to call my own, 

when home is far, 

I hold them close. 

-Zafra Usman

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Creative Hall Echo Eats Educational Food Lifestyle

Misconceptions About Fast Food

From a young age, society has been exposed to the concept of fast food and the culture surrounding it. Often, the two main features of fast food that we hone in on is 1) convenience and, 2) cheapness. After all, who wants to cook after a long day of working? Or who wants to bring the family with energetic children into a restaurant and wait half an hour for food to arrive? Between a full meal of fries, burger and drink; or a single plate of one food at the same price – we’re bound to choose the option that offers variety in the meal. 

Today, however, despite the reputation living on, fast food is far from cheap, and sometimes, not very ‘fast’ either. So in this edition of Echo Eats I present to you: “fast food, and alternatives that are faster”. 

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