Word on the web

Campus bloggers have their say 

Campus Magazine’s blogger program is back with some new blood! We found Visakan and brought back popular blogger Yingzi, who will both be around for the next few issues to share their thoughts on a topic related to our issue’s theme. This time it’s the Issues Issue, so here’s what our bloggers had to say about the question we posed them.

Ying Zi

I love staying up late into the night. How many of you actually take time out of your busy schedule to go stargazing? Many people only watch the sunrise.

I love star-studded night skies, which stretch out endlessly and make you wonder what lies beyond. I feel closely acquainted with Mother Nature and her wonderful night breeze.

Let us enjoy the tranquility, which can only be found at night, when everyone is asleep. Play some soothing music, and the silence of the night magnifies the beauty of the tune, whisking you away into a world of vivid imagination!

I also like making plans at night. This allows me ample time to think through them, contact the right people and perhaps even create a backup plan. I am less productive during the day, feeling restless and fidgety. But when night falls, my attention span is way longer and there is more clarity in my thoughts. I feel as though I can write a book or two!

The only thing I hate about sleeping late is missing out the glorious sunrise, the chirping of the birds and mouth-watering breakfast of bacon, eggs and sausages.

However, I cannot complain much, can I? I’ve just found my new mantra on Wikipedia: Blessed are the owls, for they shall inherit the mystery and magic of the night.

 

Visakan

I love thinking. Contemplation. I think it’s the noblest of human activities. We do it in so many ways – writing, dancing, painting, building, having conversations, and making decisions. Living.

We think with our minds, our hands, and our bones. It is the source of all progress, of art and science, of beauty and elegance. It gives us a sense of learning, and of growth. Of meaning, and of purpose. To know and to understand, to be able to make better decisions – it’s a heady, empowering feeling.

But thought isn’t always pretty. It can hurt. It can be a burden to the self, and to others. It can use itself to justify stagnation, to rationalize lethargy. “I need to think about it more!”

Sometimes, it seems, thought can drive people beyond the imaginable – to death, to despair, and to madness. The juice doesn’t always seem worth the squeeze. Some of us put out our own light. We even suppress it in others, to try and “protect” them. And we are all impoverished for it.

I find that regrettable, and upsetting. But I do not hate it. What I love about what I love is that it allows no room for hatred. True love drives out hate. We either learn to accept things, or we do something about them. We don’t merely see what is – we see what could be. We challenge ourselves, and each other, and in doing so we change the world. And it begins with thought.