19.5 C
Los Angeles
Monday, December 4, 2023

two halves of a school 

All Poststwo halves of a school 

Poem by | Chloe Lim, she/her, Guest Writer

Illustration by | Kimberly Wee

feels like soup and old wine served 

together—an acceptable palate 

but an unconventional choice.

A child with parents that keep toggling 

between play and pause; labels of

ill-matched ethical standards, a 

misalliance, diminished values, 

“Yale’s Not-US”. The people offer 

new discourse, talks of plans and 

prospects; yet the shadow of 

bickering forefathers with 

turned backs lingers. Are we no 

more than a caricature of a school? 

To have imbibed ourselves as “Fake yale” 

that “even got the real colors wrong,” it

does seem like two halves that

do not fit. 

two halves of a school 

can also be collectively 

commiserating with your Tower mates 

because the Elm lift broke down again, 

going overtime with genuine conversations 

during office hours before adjourning to 

UTown for 4pm kopi break, taking 33 

to Supper Stretch at 1am after your 

4 hour project meeting at Classroom 8. Wanting

to change your major and then changing it back, 

movie screenings at LT1 and dancing in 

the Foyer. Realising you did 8 class presentations 

each semester and now, you can ask

pretty good questions. Grinding it out in the Library 

to make yet another 2359 and then falling asleep, 

going on sem-abroad and missing all your friends.

End-of-Sem Dinners and the endless photoshoots, 

suite karaoke and midnight Indomee from the butteries. 

Quiet conversations outside the practice rooms, brushing

your teeth with your friends, and knowing a game of

Mahjong will make it all okay. 

amidst the many misconceptions, 

failures, pockets of fatigue, a cultural chaos, 

it is our blend that makes us spin, like a constant, 

stable peace—an eye in the storm. And 

like a diamond formed with pressure from 

watchful eyes and wagging tongues, ’wrong’ 

is not the way to describe someone’s home. 

Chloe Lim, Graduating Senior

Check out our other content

Check out other tags:

Most Popular Articles

Skip to content