My hesitation for
Singapore finally became clear during our last day of orientation when we had a
panel discussion about censorship and met with a police officer to talk about
Singapore laws. I moved from San Francisco, one of the most progressive
cities in the United States. In
Singapore, I feel like I stepped back into time to a place where discrimination
against homosexuality and selected culture groups is the norm. I guess I could go to some parts of the
United States and feel the same way, but the way people are casually upfront
about it is slightly disturbing. Weather
direct discrimination verses indirect discrimination is better could be
debated. Either way, I continue to
remind myself that this is not my country and I am a foreigner. I may not understand Singapore culture, but I
need to respect it, because I chose to live here. I can’t have an intellectual
discourse about anything until I know a lot more about it and my 3 or 4 weeks
here, doesn’t exactly earn me that privilege yet. I can say that there is no way I would have
ever picked Singapore as a place to live on my own and at this point I don’t
see myself staying here after graduation.
Although I can’t say that all Singaporean laws are too strict because it’s
one of the safest and cleanest places to live in the world.
However, while some
Singapore censorship seem to culturally suppress freedom of speech, were
reassured by our faculty and staff that NYU Tisch Asia is a censorship free
zone. During the 2nd day of
orientation, we got to speak to and introduce ourselves to the film department
faculty. Wendy Bednarz, one of the 1st
year faculty members took us through an overview of what our first year would
consist of. There are a number of things
that she said during her talk that really resonated with me.
1. Use your energy for positive
things
2. Figure out what your
resources are.
3. Be brave enough to make
mistake
4. Time management is really important
