School Life

Loose Ends

Traditional Chinese culture praise highly on values such as reservation and taciturnity, and it is believed that inside this solemnness and speechlessness is where inspiration came. This accumulated inspiration, once broken, was expected to yield insights of great weight and transformative power. Such expectations, however, imposed restraint before expression and linked speech to a materialistic pursuit of impact. I have never agreed with this notion or its hidden connotations: ideas, thoughts, and perspectives are inherently diverse, and the worth of expression does not depend on its immediacy or magnitude of effect.

That is why I named the magazine I founded Loose Ends. The title carries two ideals. First, I always viewed the magazine as an unfinished project—there will always be new ideas to articulate and fresh events to document within my high school. Second, I hope it becomes a platform where Kang Chiaoers can engage in unrestrained intellectual exchange, a space where they can share their thoughts freely, outside the confines of societal or ideological norms.

Me at the school anniversary to promote the magazine

Our first advertisement

Musics:

Since 7th grade, I have been a member of my school’s orchestra, where I practice bassoon and rehearse regularly with my peers. As the years went by, my passion for music grew, and in high school I began participating in a variety of activities that allowed me to further pursue this interest. In 10th grade, I was appointed principal bassoonist of the orchestra and started assisting the conductor in organizing rehearsals. Later, I joined the music ensemble class, where I began practicing three instruments simultaneously: bassoon, which I have been studying and performing for six years; piano, which I have played since kindergarten; and percussion, especially marimba, an instrument I approached without any prior foundation. This year, I have been focusing on learning the drum set, and I am excited to continue developing my musical skills and sharing more live performances!

This is my trio performance on the piece Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso with my friend (on piano) and my bassoon teacher. Cinema Paradiso is one of our favorite movies and we are thrilled to perform it in the school spring concert.

This cosplay band was one of my best memories at high school. My friends and I decided to do an anime-style performance and thus we chose this cute song. Throughout the video you can see me on piano with a maid dress.

This song was also from an anime, and we used it as a farewell to our art teacher. The piece didn’t go well (someone rushed in too early) and now I still think of it with great regret.