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Evelyn Wong: NYT honourable mention

NYT Coming of age Contest

Congratualtions to Evelyn Wong who received an honourable mention from the New York Times for her entry into the 'Coming of Age' contest.

the winning entries from our Coming of Age in 2021 Contest. You can find a list of 25 winners, 25 runners-up and 46 honorable mentions out of the 4000-plus multimedia submissions we received.

I FORGOT SOMETHING IN MY COAT POCKET YOU ASK ME WHAT IT IS AND I SAY HOPE

Covid began early for me. The last time I went out without a mask was near the end of February. I started off hopeful. This virus would be a fleeting thing. A blip in time that I would recount to my granddaughters and grandsons. I changed, adapted, and for a while, celebrated. But then March came. Zoom no longer just described that unbelievably fast runner in our year. Coronavirus was no longer just random scientific jargon being thrown around on the news.

Most of the time, there isn’t this big bomb in someone's life that causes depression to ensue. We assume that something big has to happen for depression to come knocking on our doors. But in reality, It’s a small buildup of little things that you can’t really define which push you over the edge.

Time passed. And as time passed, a small, minute feeling crept into me, building itself up from the bottom of my stomach. I woke up with no real will to get out of bed. I lived my life, but it was as though the connecting string between my processing brain and my body had disconnected. Nothing really felt real, in a sense. I didn’t feel sad, I felt empty. Deprived of any emotion; living with no cause.

There's this book that I hold dear to my heart, No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. The innate way where the main character feels disconnected from society put some words into what it was I’d felt. “Now I have neither happiness nor unhappiness. Everything passes.” Ironically, such a hopeless and dismal book pushed me to seek help.

My art piece is a story of that struggle. How these years have shaped me, challenged me, and brought out my worst. How this pandemic made me feel helpless, blinding me into a spiraling depression that will leave an everlasting imprint on my identity. The words are cutouts from poems, text messages, Google searches, and diary entries that I wrote during the past two years. My chest is covered with notes, letters, and drawings that I’d made during my worst moments. It's also an art piece on life, overcoming, understanding and discovery. Most importantly, it showcases my struggle to understand how, in the middle of so much geopolitical turmoil, to be a little bit happier, okay?

Congratualtions to Evelyn Wong who received an honourable mention from the New York Times for her entry into the 'Coming of Age' contest.

the winning entries from our Coming of Age in 2021 Contest. You can find a list of 25 winners, 25 runners-up and 46 honorable mentions out of the 4000-plus multimedia submissions we received.

I FORGOT SOMETHING IN MY COAT POCKET YOU ASK ME WHAT IT IS AND I SAY HOPE

Covid began early for me. The last time I went out without a mask was near the end of February. I started off hopeful. This virus would be a fleeting thing. A blip in time that I would recount to my granddaughters and grandsons. I changed, adapted, and for a while, celebrated. But then March came. Zoom no longer just described that unbelievably fast runner in our year. Coronavirus was no longer just random scientific jargon being thrown around on the news.

Most of the time, there isn’t this big bomb in someone's life that causes depression to ensue. We assume that something big has to happen for depression to come knocking on our doors. But in reality, It’s a small buildup of little things that you can’t really define which push you over the edge.

Time passed. And as time passed, a small, minute feeling crept into me, building itself up from the bottom of my stomach. I woke up with no real will to get out of bed. I lived my life, but it was as though the connecting string between my processing brain and my body had disconnected. Nothing really felt real, in a sense. I didn’t feel sad, I felt empty. Deprived of any emotion; living with no cause.

There's this book that I hold dear to my heart, No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. The innate way where the main character feels disconnected from society put some words into what it was I’d felt. “Now I have neither happiness nor unhappiness. Everything passes.” Ironically, such a hopeless and dismal book pushed me to seek help.

My art piece is a story of that struggle. How these years have shaped me, challenged me, and brought out my worst. How this pandemic made me feel helpless, blinding me into a spiraling depression that will leave an everlasting imprint on my identity. The words are cutouts from poems, text messages, Google searches, and diary entries that I wrote during the past two years. My chest is covered with notes, letters, and drawings that I’d made during my worst moments. It's also an art piece on life, overcoming, understanding and discovery. Most importantly, it showcases my struggle to understand how, in the middle of so much geopolitical turmoil, to be a little bit happier, okay?

Bubbles - Sea Chen

This piece was made to represent the way restrictions and barriers between people, almost like being trapped in ‘bubbles’, hence the idea of drawing people in bubbles, with their masks on because everyone is isolated.

The background to me represents how uncertain these times are, as we have no clue what will happen next, so I chose to do something more abstract for it with the splashes of bright colours, so that was sort of up for interpretation to the viewer.

Additionally, I had most of the people in the bubbles on their devices, since the pandemic has people on their devices even more. The glitch effect I felt added to that concept or being online 24/7.

As a whole, I really wanted to capture the way lockdown has shaped the way we interact with each other through using literal barriers, as well as the unknown all around us.

Sea Chen: below

I wrote this song in my PSHE lesson at school on the floor outside our classroom with a guitar and a laptop. The reason why I chose to write a song, and not draw or write an essay is because guitar was something I found during the pandemic. It’s one of the most important things in my life.

The song I wrote talks about my life during covid, and it briefly outlines how covid has changed my life in a better way. Staying at home during the pandemic made me realise how important social contact is. I found what I really wanted to do/ what I genuinely liked during the pandemic. I experienced loss of motivation and loss of any social contact, everyday was unproductive and slow. Only until I found a social media app that brought me out of my shell and introduced me to a lot of new people. These people introduced me to myself. The last year and a half was a good and bad experience for myself. Now we’re back at school and things are getting better, I’m starting to think about how covid will affect the future. I hope other teenagers can or will relate in some way to this song.

Nori

i wonder when it all changed

i wonder who i am a great deal,

asking questions upon questions,

am i a girl,

a student,

or a speck in space?

what changes me?

what has changed me?

was it the time that gave me the ever flowing waves in my hair, 

or was it the time alone that gave me the marks on my skin?

i used to think that i couldn’t handle change,

but it seems i ignore it instead,

ignore the growing doubt in my mind, 

the fuzziness in my brain, 

ignore the mask stuck on my face,

glued to the backs of my ears,

ignore the time spent alone,

staring at the computer screen for hours on end,

only speaking for the occasional ‘here.’,

sometimes i wonder when it all changed,

when it went from laughing on the field to death everywhere,

when my tears grew so much heavier than before,

carrying the weight of the ones gone and the fear for the others,

when they slipped past my bittersweet smile for the warmth of the ones still there,

when my tears dried out but my heart still panged with pain,

i wonder when it started and i wonder when it’ll finally 

stop.

Jiana

Ai

What can you show or tell us that might help explain what it’s like to be a teenager at this moment?

Are we perfect? Without a doubt, no. Yet, we’re pressured to do and be so.

My piece conveys how teenagers during this unforgettable period are expected to be perfect. Since we’ve been in school for a couple months now before the lockdown situation. The changes have been hard to get used to, which made learning and expectations of students the same as the last time we’ve been in school, which doesn’t seem fair since it has been hard for the students to adjust to the ‘new’ environment. I created this piece in my PSHE class on an online drawing app on my phone called IbispaintX.

I used a dull blue palette. The dull blue symbolises despair, sadness, but also depth, and faith. I want the audience to know that blue is often known as a colour representing despair or depression but can also resemble faith and depth as well, showing the audience that there is faith even in the darkest of times or times when you don’t feel good enough. The eyes represent how us teenagers feel like we’re being judged for every action we do, which makes us want to be or at least seem like the ideal student or person that lives up to people’s expectations. We expect too much of ourselves. Due to the change of environment and the change of the style of learning, we think too much of ourselves, making us insecure about not just our studies. From my experience, I’ve always thought that I need to be or even look the best for others, and not myself. I always felt like I was judged, and never felt validated for who I was.

However, I came to realise over time that people don’t care about what I look like or what I do to keep my school grades up. The only person who cared was myself so instead of doing things for others, I did things for myself and I began to feel validated. Not by others, but from myself I finally realised I needed to accept myself for who I am. I hope that other students begin to realise this too from my piece.

Ai

What can you show or tell us that might help explain what it’s like to be a teenager at this moment?

There are pros and cons in each generation in life, but I think our generation compared to the others have evolved the most, in good and bad ways. It is tougher than ever to be a teen in a highly competitive fast changing society they live in. Teen behaviour can typically be described as impulsive and unpredictable, but that is not always the case.

The reason why being a teenager is great is because it is the only time of our life when we find a happy medium between childhood and adulthood. We can blame our immaturity for the childish things that we do but still use the ‘I am almost an adult’ card when convenient. Other times, we can somewhat enter adult life without having to take on all of the responsibilities that come with it. If you think about it, teenagers are like the anchors that tie together childhood life and adult life. What is great about being a teenager is that you have more room to make mistakes. Chances are that you won’t be penalized for not knowing better, because you don’t yet fully develop common sense. Therefore, adolescence is a learning experience, which can be viewed as practice before you are launched into a real world on your own.

Another one of the perks of being a teenager is finally having freedom and control over your life. There is more flexibility in taking on a hobby and hanging out with friends because your parents are there to support you. They loosen their grasp on your life and finally let you make the decision on your own.As teenagers, one thing that we talk about year long is summer! We look forward to it the second that it ends and meticulously countdown the days. However, a time will come when summer is not going to differ that much from all of the other seasons, so this is also one of the best things about being a teenager. Going through adolescence can oftentimes be hard and troublesome, but in the end there are too many things that outweigh the disadvantages. Teen years are truly valuable and unforgettable.

Though there are good things about being a teen there are some drawbacks as well. The most difficult part of being a teenager is trying to understand your feelings and who you are as a person. At the same time, you have to deal with the pressures of work, school, family, friends and the bad stereotype of being labeled a teen. Parents and teachers can help teens by offering them advice or talking about feelings when teens mess up, instead of dismissing us with, "Oh, that's just because you're a teenager".

One reason why having a teenager might be so stressful is that some teenagers may engage in a lot of risky behavior—more than children or adults of any other age. Alcohol use and cigarette smoking typically begin during these years, along with lots of other risky behaviors, like unprotected sex and reckless driving. Peer pressure forces teenagers to conform to standards and hobbies which makes teenage life hardest. Lastly, teenagers lack independence and privacy. They are told to act more mature but at the same time, they are treated like kids. ALL TEENS ARE DIFFERENT.

Angi

Coming of Age New York Times contest 2021

What is it like to be a teenager now?

Click the slides for more info 👉

Coming of age in 2021

Global Community

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LGBTQ+ Icons in Popular Culture

CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAPPENING.pdf

Poverty In Hong Kong

Poverty in HK - By Kirsty Y10

Have you ever seen all the figures on the posters stuck all over the windows of each housing agency? Each house costs millions of dollars, and not everyone can afford that. Poverty is a common and big issue in Hong Kong and has been for many years. About 160 000 citizens are waiting for public housing, as well as an average waiting time of 5.7 years. And with the Covid-19 pandemic active, the government has been using public housing facilities for quarantine centers, increasing the number of applicants by 10%. But what are the main causes of poverty?

Firstly, there is not enough land to build more and more housing. This results in the government saving land space by building more cage homes or leaving citizens homeless. In the urban areas of Hong Kong, it is quite common to see thin, but tall buildings built in the spaces between older buildings. These are called ‘toothpick apartments’. There would be brand new apartments amid historical and short buildings; another result of trying to save land space. Moreover, ‘toothpick apartments’ are built to be very luxurious and expensive. Therefore, it results in the same problem: it is not easily afforded.

Secondly, the prices of housing are constantly increasing, and have come to a point where it is not affordable for everyone. This is the reason why Hong Kong is the most expensive city globally to live in, despite some drops in property prices due to the pandemic. There are thousands of families on the waiting list for public housing, even though some may not be able to afford it. Many house owners and real estate companies are competing to earn the most money from their properties. Hence, the prices continue to increase without anyone buying them.

Lastly, a majority of jobs have ‘low-paying’ salaries (judged within the city). Due to the expensive education fees, many citizens are uneducated. Instead, they focus on earning money for a living. However, due to the lack of skills, they have limited options; only being able to work in convenience stores, fast-food restaurants, or as street cleaners, etc. The minimum wage in Hong Kong is HKD$37.5. So if a person earns about $300 a day, they may only have just enough money to buy food and some daily necessities. This is an issue as well because citizens in Hong Kong range from millionaires to those who only earn the minimum wage.

In conclusion, poverty is an issue that we must try to overcome, especially because it helps 14.7% of our city (more than 1 million people). We can support NGOs that mainly focus on helping those living in poverty such as Oxfam. So, I personally think that we need to pay even more attention to those suffering in this industrialized metropolis.