Be the Voice that Echoes
It’s Leo season (July 23 – August 22), baby! And we all know what that means, it’s time to channel our inner Beyoncé, wear our brightest red lipstick and stay fierce. This season, it’s all about the fire, fire, fire. It’s the time to hustle hard, manifest all our hopes and dreams, and turn them into reality.
It’s so easy to get lost in the same loop of our thoughts, truly believing that what we think is our own true perception of life. But how certain can we be that these are fundamentally our own thoughts? Are they not merely an amalgamation of other people’s opinions that we subconsciously decided to piece together to make it solely our own? They might even be fragments and echoes of other people that we found ourselves admiring and yearned to be. It leads us to beg the question: how do we truly know if our thoughts are our own?
It gets lonely.
To carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, to battle terrifying monsters that block your paths, to climb mountain after mountain trying to reach the top – only to return home, with medals hanging around your neck and no one to show them to.
For the month of August, our theme is Independence. Hence, we asked our writers two questions: –
What type of independence affects you the most?; and
When did you feel the most independent?
Here’s their take on it:
Imagine a world where unity is preserved. A driving force for a harmonious land of unending peace, where acceptance of our differences overrules tolerance, and the peoples’ love and understanding for one another lends respect to every human being. Will racism always be a one of the barriers and the reality that we face, leaving a place like this to only exist within the realms of the paracosm that is built in our minds?
Dedicated to all the lives lost to injustice. You will not be forgotten.
We are the change we yearn,
With trembling hands we fear,
Our minds will be unable to turn,
From the unchanging ideals we silently discern,
With wavering voices that yield to silence,
As we blindly spectate acts of violence.
“We may have our differences, but nothing’s more important than family.” – Miguel, from Coco
Eliyah let out a frustrated groan as she reached the front of the kitchen sink. She was about to begin the task of washing her lunch tupperware until her eyes caught sight of another similar tupperware, but of a different colour. While her one was a fiery brick red, the one in the sink was that of a steel blue.
‘Why can’t he just listen for once?’ she thought as she heaved a weary sigh, feeling irritation creep into her system.
Of all the whimsical, hilarious and heartwarming lines in Wes Anderson’s ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, the one that kept my attention long after hearing it is this: “You can’t arrest him just because he’s a bloody immigrant, he hasn’t done anything wrong!”. This is said by M. Gustave, the high-class concierge of the hotel defending his son-like figure, Zero, who happens to be an immigrant in the fictional Republic of Zubrowka. Later on, frustrated that Zero hasn’t procured certain items, M. Gustave questions why Zero ever even left his country if he weren’t going to work his hardest to which Zero responds, “The war”. Immediately Gustave’s attitude flips, he softens, we soften with him.
It’s Cancer season! You know what that means? A bunch of sensitive, overly emotional individuals-
Wait, scratch that. What was that all about? It seems like you don’t know them well enough, right? Well, let’s talk about the wonderful people that are Cancers. As of today, this may be your go-to guide to knowing people born between June 21 and July 22.
As July’s theme is Unity, we asked our writers the following prompt:
“What is the biggest sign of unity that you’ve seen in your life?”
Here’s what they had to say:
“I think the biggest sign of unity would be any form of protest in society. Like the Black Lives Matter movement. Or pride walks or any walk for women’s rights/equality. I just think it’s so incredible how people in this movement are together, and that they stand united no matter how violent it gets. Especially with the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve seen how white people use themselves as shields against the police force to protect black protestors.”