Calliope is a session in Journalism where we gather to write and share pieces based on the selected topic! This week’s theme is Obstacles! (something highly relevant during CT season… or really any time during our 6 years at NUSH)
Ariel
Frustrated
the only breadths which separate
the union of our blood, are
the thorny crowns i bear.
upon my body frail they grew
from my dry corpse the blood they drew
the amber elixir of my very being.
i fight, but my resistance wrought
by lack of affinity, the electricity within us.
but yet i yielded not to them.
my being broken without your contribution.
the only fault my incomplete configuration.
so do me one last favour.
upon my three malformed limbs i tore.
to sever the linkage. anything, i wished for
to close the gap within us once and for all.
but they budged not. seething, my fury turned
to face the innocent lamb which
ambled by, oblivious to my sorrows.
one strike.
a single cleave.
i feast till the morning on its mangled corpse.
but still, it quells not my pining
in hope, i leave half behind
perhaps, if the stars align
we could be tricyclohexylphosphine tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane,
not just tricyclohexylphosphonium
and tris(pentafluorophenyl)borate1
1. these chemicals form a frustrated lewis pair, they are too bulky to form an adduct so they cleave hydrogen to from ions
Timothy
Do you ever wonder if Sisyphus’s mind were as solid and rock hard as the stone he was pushing in that arduous task he undertook each day and each night for eternity? What if he were but a pea-brained soul who had resigned to his sentence of pushing that boulder up the hill?
Does the difficulty of the task matter? I think not. One should be able to compare the daily commute of a middle class working individual to Sisyphus’s struggles, or that of the school-going child, or even that of the senior citizen’s when exercising in the park. Boredom is the biggest obstacle that plagues each person’s qualia, their own life experiences and the joy they get from such work. Boredom is the ever-creeping fear of the loss of meaning, not in the nature of the work that’s being done, but the absence of meaning to the individual themself. One could be a doctor that saves hundreds of lives, but as long as they don’t find meaning in their work it becomes routine, boring, disgusting, repulsive. Even sisyphus in rolling his boulder up the hill would find the task mundane after a period of time.
Thus, obstacles (and new ones) bring new meaning to our lives. Not to say that times of stability shouldn’t be cherished, but it is exactly as there are challenges/difficulties/suffering in life that the rest of it has meaning. The triumphs in life wouldn’t have as much meaning if there were no trials and tribulations to go with it. If one day Sisyphus woke up and his boulder wasn’t there would he not feel sadness from his loss? Thus, one must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Kyan
sob castle
the world sends us challenges
obstacles to mix up our lives
a close stab to the heart
when the end approaches
it’ll be fine when we blend
the lemons life gives us
turning them into sweeter
melons
(note: think about anagrams)
Elgin
Mind over body. Mind over terrain.
It’s all in your head.
I perch the rifle on a small rock. Barely enough cover for my helmet, and the camouflage doesn’t seem enough. If one of them guesses carefully, my life is over.
This badge is not earned easily. It’s the branding of an elite soldier, forged out of the finest gold, deserving for only those of the highest physical and mental strength, those who endure years of intensive training to go beyond the best version of themselves.
The scenarios all play out in my brain. One of the toughest tests I endured in training was the sniper obstacle course, where one has to use a series of natural and artificial obstacles to defeat a concealed enemy within an hour. This was what they prepared me for.
All about patience. Any moment now. It’s been 2 days since my last meal. I’m 200 kilometers away from home base, deep into unknown territory. Half of my unit is casualties.
It’s all in your head.
I know I cannot tolerate much longer, but I force myself to hold it together. Slowly, I slip out of position, and scan the woods for the glint of a rifle.
And there it goes – aha! The moment I have waited 50 hours for. Quick as a rabbit, my finger slams down on the trigger. A single round is dispatched into the thick forest.
I wait.
Suddenly, a searing pain rips through my foot, sending shockwaves all through the neurons in my body.
It’s over.
“Guess you never looked behind you” a deep voice calls out humorously.
And just like that, I become a prisoner of war.
nushpress 