Daily Bread

This was illustrated essay was first published for ISSUE #6: Addiction on ISSUE Magazine (http://www.issuemagazine.wordpress.com), a great platform for writers (or aspiring writers!). Some asked, “Is this fiction or for real?” No work is truly fiction, because somewhere, somehow there is an piece of the author’s reality. (This is supposed to be a profound picture […]

Listen! Two and Two Make Five

Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread. I’ve always been highly cautious about what I write despite hiding behind the veil of the web, particularly when it comes to criticism. Perhaps it’s fear – fear of getting into trouble, of offending people, of exhibiting profound stupidity because of my limited knowledge. I wrote […]

Art Women

‘The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.’ –Pablo Picasso This couldn’t be truer. I stayed up late listening to music whilst drawing with my trusty ink pen. Aside from my many law books, my shelves in front of me are lined with literature – Hemingway, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Wilde, […]

Cities²: Kuala Lumpur I

I will be doing a photo series of cities. It’s called Cities² because photographs capture in squares (more accurately, rectangles). So very lame, I know. I went out to the city in between two 3-hour lectures for some business and for necessity (six hours with law of trusts and land law in a day can […]

Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta

Hi. My name is Yi Wen. In a year, I spend 9 months in Kuala Lumpur but I am not from here. I come from a small city up north called Ipoh. Ipoh folks who stay in KL complain about KL; traffic jam, the food not as good, the food too expensive, traffic jam… KL […]

You, Our Unelected Mayor. We, the Uncivic-conscious Citizens.

Here in Malaysia, you’d be a minority if you cared about cleanliness. Because even the city council doesn’t seem to care. Ipoh used to be the cleanest city in the country. Unfortunately, we didn’t drop just a rung below the top Kuching. Over the years, we fell down the ladder to be precise. Early this […]

I Want to Live a Thousand Years More!

After several months of planning and work, the Perak state Boys’ Brigade NCO (Non-Commissioned Officers) Training School is over! Hats off to the team, coaches and Capt. CK Wong (whose birthday is today!). This is my first NTS as an officer, and I am convinced further that being an officer is not a matter of […]

Grid

It’s less than a week till the anticipated release of my first year exam results. I don’t know what to make of it. During this time, we’re all waiting for a piece of news bearing that golden ticket to the UK. There hasn’t been a phone call, an e-mail, a letter. I’m beginning to understand […]

Pettifoggery Over ‘Activism’ and the Dilemma to Stay or Leave

Rainbows Leave Skeletons Stay A somewhat surrealist drawing on the ‘brain drain’. (I was never good at colouring in school!) One doesn’t have to refer to stats to know that the efflux of Malaysia’s young brains to other countries is increasing exponentially. Just ask a youth two questions: Where do you want to stay/work when […]

The Un-Chinese: A Banana Speaks

Dinner will only be a 90 cent bun because today you didn’t study hard enough, Yi Wen. You’re only having dinner when you get back at 11.30 pm because you couldn’t finish even one essay. What a failure. I’m a self-punishing psychotic. Even after the strenous eight months, I painted for four days straight, stopping […]