Carry On

A Story of the Perseverance of the Ordinary

To the average member of society, every success story sounds so simple and straightforward. Yes, these people face obstacles, but it seems inevitable that they will reach the top. And it is that unstoppable obstinacy that makes their lifestyle appear so impossible. They seem to possess an insane amount of determination and are willing to exert effort to reach their goals. When students and adult employees rarely want to get out of their beds in the morning, how can they ever reach that level of productivity and resolve? The sheer magnitude of the obstacles modern heroes face look too difficult to overcome for the people living at the lower echelons of life.

Maybe the world of fame and the “normal” is just divided by pure destiny; either one is born with a mission and the opportunities to climb to the top or one is just fated for a mundane life.

But life is more unpredictable than that.

Danny Raven Tan and Christina Lau Lay Lian are two examples that giving up, despite how hard a situation seems, is not an option. Both of artists began their life as ordinary humans, indistinguishable individuals within the crowd, just trying to fight their way up the rungs of the social status ladder.

Like most young adults nowadays, Tan first started his path to the future studying a subject that would grant him a stable income but not a subject to his enthusiasm; in his case, he studied property development despite his interest in art. But he decided to take the initiative and push forward to make a future where his passion in art could thrive, overcoming the seemingly necessary need for a steady yet mundane occupation that society demands from its civilians.

During his journey to become a full-time artist, he faced numerous obstacles. He wrangled with cancer, mourned his father’s death, and discovered his mother’s dementia. Despite all the curveballs Life threw at him, Tan persevered. He could’ve just gave up on his dream and stayed down with the rest of the crowd, drifting from ordinary day to ordinary day, with no spark to light up his future. But he didn’t.

Through his determination, he has reached the life he wanted to create. He paints and sells his work in his flat in Ang Mo Kio; his subjects range from superheroes to a despairing comment on society’s lack of empathy to others. He even uses his own painful experiences as an opportunity to grow as both a human being and an artist, such as when he shot a photoshoot positioned around showing off the scar he received from his cancer treatment, announcing a statement that all scars tell a story; in this respect, of victory.

“In life, we will face many challenges,” Tan says, “Just take the lessons and become stronger.”

Christina Lau originally started out as a prison officer. Her only ambitions then were about climbing to the top, like most others do. However, her entire life flipped around when she and her husband experienced a car accident in April 2005 that left Lau paralyzed; she suffers from a C-6 spinal injury, basically meaning movement below her chest is difficult. Once she heard that she may be unable to move properly or walk again, she fell into deep depression.

Similarly to Tan, she could’ve gave up at this distressing point in her life. And like Tan, she didn’t. She realised, with the help of the support and love given to her by family and friends, that she can’t let this accident force her down forever.

“Even if I fall down over and over again, I have to get up for the sake of my family,” Lau says.

In 2009, she joined a tetra activity in which she met others with similar disabilities as her. It was there that she learned mouth-painting. From there, she honed her skills and became a recognised student member of the MFPA (Mouth, Foot Painting Artists) in 2012. She eventually started to become as active like her previous self, albeit in a different method. She plays table tennis to exercise and keep herself healthy, and also for enjoyment.

“If you never try, you’ll never know how far you may go,” Lau says. “Life can be easy; Life can be difficult, but it all depends on how you look at it.”

Tan and Lau started ordinary enough, ambitious but not famous or immensely successful. Yet they managed to get to a place in their life where they are content and positive for what the future may bring, a small sweet taste of success. If they could rise despite the obstacles presented, then why can’t the rest of us? What most people seem to forget is that all celebrities, all the stars originally began somewhere with the rest of the public.

And no one knows what will happen, a fact Tan and Lau figure out from their experiences with cancer and physical disability, respectively. Today you may be safe, but tomorrow may bring something completely unexpected. Everyone has the power to reach their goals and dreams, and now is the time.

“If you don’t pursue your dream now,” Tan says, “then when? What do we leave when we die?”

 

Bibliography:

“CHRISTINA LAU LAY LIAN.” ActiveSG, Team Singapore, www.myactivesg.com/team-singapore/athletes/l/christina-lau-lay-lian.

“Christina Lau Lay Lian.” MFPA, MFPA, mfpa.com.sg/artists/christina-lau-lay-lian/.

“Danny Raven Tan.” The Artling, The Artling, theartling.com/en/artists/danny-raven-tan/.

Fang, Joy. “S’pore Artist Danny Raven Tan Showcases His Works in Flat.” TODAYonline, TODAYonline, 10 Feb. 2016, www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/spore-artist-danny-raven-tan-showcases-his-works-flat.

Miyano, Sakura. “Why Christina Lau Paints.” Site Title, 8 Feb. 2017, priorities.school.blog/2017/02/08/why-christina-lau-paints/.

When I walked into the conference room for the talk, I was expecting the focus to be more on how Lau gets inspiration and how her art process goes. Instead, she talks more about her accident and how it changed her and her perspective on life; not that this isn’t a bad thing, it was really interesting and mind-opening to hear her talk about the stigma and attitudes society has towards the disabled and the kind of mindset she keeps.

Most of the speakers that we’ve heard from for the past couple weeks have repeated a single piece of advice: to try before giving up, regardless of how others think or what you think. Lau also states this mindset almost throughout the entire presentation. I think it’s because the idea of trying things out before telling yourself that you can’t do it is the most important attitude for writers and artists (in fact, anyone) has to keep in order to reach their goals.

Another common aspect I noticed was that none of the speakers wanted to change their past, including Lau. Despite all the ruts they’ve tripped over and all the despair-inducing experiences they’ve gone through, they still wanted to keep everything the same. And I can understand because memories are what makes people who they are. If you erased a large chunk of your memories, you won’t be the same person you are now. You are not the same person you were three years ago, or any number of years ago. That’s amazing, isn’t it?

You are who you are because of everything you went through to get to the present.

Even if this has been a repeated advice, I still think that what I’ll remember from Lau’s talk is that I should never give up before trying, and attempting at something shows me how far I’ll make it and whether or not I can do it. Another might be the fact that we shouldn’t treat disabled people like they are incompetent and incapable children. They may not be able to do activities the same way as abled people, but they can still get along with their life without external help. If a disabled person needs assistance, they’ll ask for it.

Five Inquiries:

Lau mentioned that she searched for a job. Did she find one or is she still looking?

Before the accident, she used to be a prison officer. After her accident, did she get fired or did she decide to resign on her own free will? What happened?

Does she have children? If so, how did they react to her accident? How did they help? If not, does she ever want to have children?

Does her accident, in any way, influence what she paints in her art pieces? Does it influence any part of her art process?

How does her family help in her paint? Do they leave her alone, or do they help her set things up or point out things that she may feel inspired by?

To be honest, I didn’t do that much research on Deva. From the site provided on the Writers’ Fortnight Programme schedule, the “About Mukul” page talked more about his status and achievements as a businessman rather than as an author, so I thought that he would focus more on his life as an entrepreneur. So, I was surprised when he went through his writing process instead of his methods as a businessman. Though, since this is an English class, I should’ve realised that the presentation would be about storytelling rather than enterprise.

I’m not sure if this will relate to the physical process of writing, but if I ever choose to become an author as an official career, I should take Deva’s perspective on things and not care what other people think of my writing and how other people interpret it and care about the money. Something that does help with the actual process is his walkthrough of his own writing process. I think this helps a lot on organization and premeditation of a story, and it helps the writer not get flustered while writing. From my own experience when writing a story, if I hit stumble in the middle of writing, I tend to scrap the entire story and restart. I think if I took Deva’s advice and planned everything out and researched first, I wouldn’t hit so many roadblocks.

Something that deepened my understanding of writing was his inspiration. He said that he would take a real life incident and then put a spin on it to make his stories. It reminded me of Marc Nair’s presentation; he also told us that real life is weirder than anything we can make up. When I was younger, maybe around kindergarten or first grade, my teacher would often praise “creative thinking” during writing time. “Creative thinking” and “imagination” basically boiled down to what was the most unrealistic story. Flying unicorns and frog princes and all that. So, I thought that making a great story meant that you couldn’t use the real world as a basis. Of course, I later learned about realistic fiction but even then, the people around me like fantasy more than that genre. So I took this thinking with me as I grew older. Deva’s presentation told me that I didn’t have to go create up a new world with new rules to get the audience hooked. Sometimes, blurring the line between reality and fiction can be just as unnerving and exciting.

Even if I do forget most of his talk, I think I’ll remember one important thing. Near the end, he answered a question. I forgot what the question asked, but I do remember his answer, which is more important. He said that 1) he liked writing, 2) it pays rent, and 3) he gets a kick out of creating something out of nothing. Why is this so significant? Because I want to be a writer, and his words kind of validate the future that I want. The message I got out of this was that I can pursue what I like to do and still get money out of it; I won’t starve to death on the streets because I wanted to pursue storytelling as a job.

Five Inquiries that I Still Have:

Deva said that he made sure he didn’t copy other author’s writing styles or ideas by not reading the same genres that he was writing. Which is great; good for him. But what if others don’t do that? What should they do? Should they just stop reading? Is there any other method for them to check without having to cut off an entire genre out of their reading plans/options?

Has he ever done the Yoga Murder Writing Exercise himself? What kind of stories did he make? Did he find it helpful?

Deva also said that there shouldn’t be more than three, a maximum of four, POV characters in a story. Is it still alright if there is more than four POV characters? If I remember correctly, Rick Riordan managed to do this for a series in his book. Should people only try to attempt more than four POV characters when they are more skilled?

Does he use beta readers? If so, how does he choose them?

What happens when he doesn’t agree with his editor? Does he still make the changes, or does he ignore it? What about for beta readers (if he has any)?

I thought Tan’s journey as an artist was a straightforward and short road. Like, I thought that he dropped Building Estate Management when his father died and his mother got dementia, and then suddenly decided in a moment of epiphany that he should go pursue his dream and passions. But no, he actually went through multiple jobs and tasks and faced pancreatic cancer before he faced his father’s death and mother’s dementia.

To be an writer means to go pursue whatever idea you have because there might be someone else in the world who has the same idea and then it’s just a race of who polishes and establishes that idea into reality the fastest and the best. Also, artists of any type must be a “social whore”. Basically meaning that they must establish a connection with their consumers, fans, or sponsors because they are the source of money and work for the artist.

I did know about Tan’s cancer and his parents’ situation, but I didn’t realise how much of an impact it had on him and how he views the world, I guess. I think that because he faced cancer and has to deal with his mother’s dementia, he views life as fleeting and that people should do the things they want because chances are that the opportunity to do so may not arise again in the future.

Tan said, “Don’t care what other people think; just do it.” I think that is something important especially for young people who want to pursue an art but have no confidence. And I have no confidence. Like, at all. Thank you for these words, Mr Tan.

I think that not caring about what other people think can help in all situations. In class, if you stop worrying about what people might say about your work, you can go far, really show your true opinions, and be more free in your work.

Tan’s presentation was inspiring in the way that he tells us that every challenge we face, we will come out stronger than before. So, if we never try something, we’ll never fail or succeed. If we succeed, then great. If we fail, then we’ll learn something from the experience. So there’s no reason why we shouldn’t try our hand for something at least once.

I think that his presentation was detailed so I don’t have many questions to ask. And he told his life sort of like a novel, so it was very engaging and interesting. I feel that he answered everything during his presentation, and everyone else’s questions answered everything else. But there’s one question that I have because I didn’t hear this part correctly, or maybe I did and I refuse to believe: is the dog still alive?

Obviously imagination cannot be taught, but imagination comes differently to every individual. It usually comes in the form of inspiration. I think that Nair finds his inspiration in topics he finds worth addressing, like environmental issues or representation, or in just small yet prominent moments from day-to-day life.

I think his method of finding inspiration comes out in his poems somewhat. When he read his poems out loud during the presentation, it was similar to how a prose and sort of conversation-like. You can still tell that it’s too awkward to be used in a normal conversation (and not in a bad way), but it’s hard to tell when one line ends and another begins. But his message is still clear despite the blending style.

I think a lesson I learned from his presentation that would help me as either a writer or poet is what he said about exploring one’s identity rather than following trends. Even though it’s easier to follow trends, but it’s ultimately better for yourself to find your own identity. I also think that what he said about poetry being malleable and that it can be used in relation to other forms of art is something interesting to keep in mind. He seems to support collaborative work between other artists of different fields, and I think that working with other people would open a lot of different perspectives and a variety of sources of inspiration.

I found it surprising that he converted his poetry to songs. Although it was catchy and sounded nice, it still had it’s own message within, which I think was about how cliches are still useful. I’m not really sure; my memory’s kind of hazy and I usually can’t follow a song’s lyrics during the first play through. But I found that really creative because making a song is hard because trying to find a rhythm and beat and a catchy chorus is challenging, but also trying to implement a meaning or story into it just adds onto the hardship of the task.

I think his advice on travel will stick with me because I feel like most of his inspiration, at least for a few of his books, comes from seeing other places and getting out of his country’s own cultural bubble and understanding different perspectives.

Five Questions I Had, I Guess:

1. Does Nair find himself driven mostly by inspiration, or does he also address some issues in the world, like environmental ones shown in Plasticpelago? From the presentation, he said that he tries not to put his own agenda onto other people, but with Plasticpelago didn’t he just do so? Does he address problems with his own opinion in other pieces, and does he do this often? Or does he just do this occasionally because his inspiration just matched up with this issue?
2. Do current events influence what his poems are about?
3. How hard was it to find a publishing company willing to publish his work when he first started out?
4. Now that he has more experience, what qualities does he look for in a publishing company? What is his process for choosing where to go for publishing?
5. Does he have themes he tends to write about more than others? Or does he try to cover a wide range of topics as equally as he can?

In my old school, we already learned about how to do a good interview, and Steve Dawson went over most of the points that I learned during that unit.

His five maxims were:

1. Ask open-ended questions
2. Set the answer free
3. Don’t interrupt
4. Be a single shooter
5. Listen to the answer

From my old school’s Communications class, the most focused points was maxims 1, 3, and 5. We skimmed over 2, but still noted it down. The interview is focused on the interviewee, so the interviewer’s job should not be to steal the spotlight nor to choose which direction the interview will go down; but to ask questions and let the interviewee talk and then decide what subject the interviewee is personally more interested and dedicated to. However, something new I learned during Dawson’s presentation was maxim 4: Be a single shooter.

I didn’t really learn this one, or if I did, I either didn’t listen or the lesson wasn’t drilled into the class as something important to remember. So I found this point interesting, and the logic behind the reasoning also makes sense. It seems kind of obvious once I think about it, but if I didn’t have it pointed out, then I would’ve never noticed nor would I have tried implementing this into future, if I have any, interviews.

An advice he mainly focused on was to act professional. I guess, how you show yourself is important and influences how other people will react and respond to you.