Wandering the Lines – a Column by Sherry Toh

From my perspective, the typical path to becoming a journalist looks like this: First, you enter the formal education system and learn what you can from kindergarten till high school. Then, you try to figure out what you’re going to do with your life for the next several decades. You…

A single lyric keeps ringing in my head from Fletcher’s latest single, “Her Body Is Bible.” It goes, “Hold on tight, when the world gets hard, this s**t’s like paradise.” The song appears pretty straightforward at first blush. The lyrics and the imagery are simple, attempting to reclaim religious…

When my little brother and I were barely out of our toddler years, there was one question I’d constantly hear other parents ask my mum: “Did your children get all their vaccination shots?” To which my mum would reply: “Yes. After their father refused to let Sherry receive the vaccination…

This Pride Month, I recalled an old friend from England telling me, “If anyone thinks being gay or bi is a choice or a lifestyle, they’re probably not straight.” It’s a broad statement, one I believed then, but not anymore. In the years since I’ve heard it, I’ve known people…

For the past several months, I’ve been obsessed with stories about financial fraud by perpetrators of elaborate schemes. Hence, I fell down the rabbit hole of the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced CEO and founder of Theranos, a startup company Holmes promised would change the face of healthcare…

As you get older, proper rest tends to become an appointment you have to schedule. It’s something you have an abundance of when you’re an infant, but its presence steadily decreases in your life once school, work, and social engagements take up increasing space. I’ve witnessed this phenomenon among my…

I had different plans for this week’s column. As I write this, I have a spreadsheet open with my column schedule. Next to the deadline date I’ve typed “TFIOS column,” which stands for “The Fault in Our Stars,” a young adult romance novel by John Green that explores how…

Editor’s note: This column discusses suicide. Please find resources for help at the end of the column. I wish the call had been an April Fools’ prank. As readers of my column will know, I’ve been very vocal about the need for SMA patients here in Singapore to access…