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TRAINXuan Le

The electric train stood before the station, desolate and still.And there it stood and stayed it did, motionless in the chill,

An empty shell, void of passengers, deserted by but one.Alone sat the driver at the head of the beast-awaiting a signal to come.

Now where were the passengers, where was their new fold?Around the signpost they gathered, they did, shivering in the cold.

Replacement buses here it read-there wasn’t one in the least,So some sat, glanced down the road, waiting for another beast.

A car pulled up, a girl stepped out and looked inquiring at the mass.“What’s wrong with the trains?” A commuter replied, “Don’t know, Metro’s frosted glass.”

“No surprise there” another joined in, ‘many times it happens”“And don’t bet on a bus, girl, the whole organisation’s misshapen”

Many held on to grim hope while some others had long given up,Phones in hands, they paced trying to find another pickup

With a look of annoyance the girl sat down and took out a novelHer phone sat at home so she resigned to waiting, but in actual…

While engrossed in the book, three chapters went by before her sister arrived,Three chapters went by before escape was no longer deprived.

Once into the car she turned and looks back as the car drives off in presto-There at the passengers left in the rain waiting, waiting for metro.

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IntroductIon

Welcome one and all, to the second issue of nonDescript! We hope that all readers have had a safe Christmas and New Year.

Many unusual events have occurred in 2010. There has been political disturbance (more than usual), economic turbulance, and many natural diasters that could be attributed to global warming. Futhurmore, 2010 saw the release of the first issue of nonDescript.

This issue contains a wider range of articles - from the ever-present public transport to politics, science and creative writing. This issue is longer than the previous, and will be the last issue for an indefinite time. Despite that, or because if it, please enjoy reading through everything nonDescript has to offer.

TLChief Editor

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Contents

6 The Crew

8 Which should I take today?Xuan Le

11 Operant Conditioning, AppliedJ.W.

12 Wikileaks: An OverviewCyrus A.

16 The Consequences of Coercive PowerJT

20 Thinking about Time TravelTL

24 ‘A connection to a particular place is essen-tial to the ability to fulfil one’s full poten-tial.’

JT

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IDPosition

New Year Resolution

T LDesigner + Chief Editor“To complete personal projects.”

IDPosition

New Year Resolution

J TSenior Writer + Editor“To be happy and smile more.”

IDPosition

New Year Resolution

Cyrus ASenior Writer + Editor“To have a fun and enjoyable year with no regrets! ^.^”

IDPosition

New Year Resolution

XuAn Le

Senior Writer + Editor“To have time to actually edit.”

IDPosition

New Year Resolution

J.W.Writer“To enjoy, as well as make the most of the closing stages of my schooling life.”

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There are a few different types of public transport in the metropolitan of Melbourne : the train, tram, bus and taxi.* We’ve all heard repeatedly that these have many benefits; but which type is the best? Which one has the least impact on the environment, is most accessible, practical and user friendly? Is it the speedy electric trains, the iconic Melbourne trams or the diesel bus found in every city?

Convenience is the major factor in which form of public transport people choose to use. Is there a stop nearby? Will it get me there on time and how long will it take?

Trains cover more distance than trams or buses in any set time. In theory, trains should also be the best type of transport

*For this analysis, the taxi is not included as there is no environmental benefit-a taxi’s emmissions are eqivalent to a cars’, and taxis are usually for more selected occa-sions. The analysis is for regular users of public transport

when it comes to punctuality because it is unaffected by outside traffic; but according to the Department of Transport (April-June 2010) it’s not. Trains are on time just 83.3% of the time while buses have 93.6% punctuality. Though punctual the bus service lacks frequency.

Trains come every 15- 30 mins during off peak times and they usually come at 5 min intervals during peak time. Services tend to be better if there is frequency of 4 per hour which is not often the case for buses which often come every 20-60 mins. Trams meet this criterion with a frequency of 5-15 min during the day. It is a come and go service so customers do not have to wait long even if the tram only has 81.4% punctuality (average) and can occasionally pile up because of red lights.

Xuan Le

Which should I take ?

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Punctuality is all and good but the extent of the network and accessibility is also important. The train network is extensive and includes lengthy suburban routes and an underground city loop while the trams have an excellent network within the city and a large radius of the CBD. As buses are not restricted to rails they fill in gaps left by trains and trams, and take the outer suburban areas.

Buses, trains and trams all readily have ticket vending machines and validators.

Trams do have a few disadvantages over buses. The stations can be annoying to get to with them being in the middle of the road and at smaller stops trams often deposit passengers directly into a lane of traffic. This is not such a major problem because are city drivers used to this and stop accordingly to let tram passengers off. In any case, this disadvantage is

countered by the

simplicity and easy-to-understand tram routes as opposed to buses which have winding routes. Train systems are also easy to comprehend.

Trams had the best customer satisfaction indices in April-June 2010 at 69.3% followed by buses then trains. Customer satisfaction for 2010 trains and buses had declined while trams were steady. Though trams do not cover the outer suburbs, most public transport users are in inner city where traffic is often more congested and public transport is actually avaliable and worthwhile using. Public transport is meant to be good for the environment along with its convenience. There are many factors that contribute to this; one being the fuel type and its efficiency, and its passenger capacity.

There are two ways you could look at this. Burning coal to create electricity to run trams and trains is less energy efficient than burning diesel fuel in an internal combustion engine. But if the electricity was derived from renewable energy, train and tram energy efficiency would shoot right up. Trams and trains have more potential whereas buses would have to be replaced to get the same low emmisions. Another point is that although trams are heavier, the steel on steel traction is more

Xuan Le

Which should I take ?

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efficient than the bus’ rubber on tarmac.

The energy use per vehicle in one kilometre divided by the average passenger number makes the energy consumed per passenger per kilometre. This means the bigger the passenger usage and capacity the

more energy efficient it is. Obviously, a train wins this round. One full train can remove up to 800 cars

off the road. According to Emissions intensity figures from Australian Greenhouse Office, AGO Factors and

Methods Workbook 2006 (http://www.minkvote.no/australia2006.pdf) there is 0.04 MJ and 14g of CO2-e per

passenger per kilometre for and electric train. Electric trams use 0.15 MJ and emit 52g CO2, and a diesel bus

uses 0.28 MJ and 22g of CO2 per passenger. This shows that trams have a higher patronage with the low energy use but as said before the emissions could be lowered

further from the use of more eco-friendly methods of obtaining electricity.

Even though buses can cover a wide area when it comes to convenience, trams triumph with its frequency and simplicity

for shorter distances. Trains share first place because in any public transport system whether it uses buses or trams, it still needs trains for its excellence and speed for long distances travel. In energy efficiency, trains win outright with its high passenger capacity. The tram network should be extended (and use an underground electricity supply system for those who cry at the tangle of overhead wires from trams) and trains made reliable. That would be the ideal public system.

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Written by J.W.

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Recently, the term ‘wikileaks’ has made headlines all throughout the media, spreading from the internet to the newspaper to the television to the everyday conversation. But what exactly is it and why has it caused so much commotion throughout the world? This article will seek to clarify and inform the public in regard to these queries.

Firstly, Wikileaks is not in any way connected to Wikipedia despite the similarities in the name and layout of the webpage. While Wikipedia is simply an online encyclopedia, Wikileaks is a media organization, seeking to publish anonymous sources

with an “ethical, political or historical significance” to the general public. It has won prizes, including the 2008 Economist Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression award and the 2009 Amnesty International human rights reporting award (New Media). The Time has also stated that “if Wikileaks is used with a healthy dose of skepticism, it could become as important as a journalistic tool as the Freedom of Information Act”. Why then, is there so much controversy over this organization? The answer lies in the fact that these materials reveal things that the government prefer no one to know.

Wikileaks: An Overview

Cyrus A

[Right] Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, holds up a

copy of The Guardian newspaper as he speaks to reporters in front of a Don McCullin Vietnam war pho-

tograph on Monday at The Front Line Club in London.

Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

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Wikileaks was founded 4 years ago, and has since exposed the extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumping in Africa, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay Procedures…etc. and yet it took to this day for the media to go raging about its nature and its cofounder, Julian Assange. Why has this happened now but not before? Partly because the world’s remaining superpower has become involved, that is, the United States of America. After the emergence of U.S. embassy diplomatic cables on the 28th November 2010, showing the U.S. spying on its allies and the UN, ignoring the corruption and human rights abuse in ‘client states’ and meddling in other countries affairs in an attempt to advance U.S. corporations, the U.S. has defined this organization on a whole different level.

Identifying Wikileaks as a threat to ‘America’s national security’ and going as far as to label Julian Assange as a “high-tech terrorist” by Joe Biden, the Vice President of America, United States began to actively pursue against Wikileaks. As a result of the political pressure, Mastercard, Visa and Paypal have refused to take in payments relating to Wikileaks, causing a cyberwar, in which a group of Wikileaks’ supporters, declared to be ‘Anonymous’, hacks the formers’ websites, causing services disruptions. Amazon also refuses to host

the whistleblower’s website, causing the website to relocate to France and currently, in Sweden. Though there has been multiple attempts to close the website down, this has proved rather difficult as there are now over 1000 ‘mirrors’ of the website, created by its supporters, making it impossible to fully remove from the internet. On the 18th of December 2010, the Bank of America has also announced of its withdrawal from Wikileaks’ association.

Seeking charges against Julian Assange, the United States has put out the possibility of charging him on the basis of the Espionage Act 1917, an act prescribing a $10 000 fine and 20 years imprisonment for interfering with the recruiting of troops or in this case, the disclosure of information dealing with national defense. The problem with this generally broad act is that if it is applied to publishers, it would undoubtedly infringe the right to freedom of speech stated in the First Amendment, causing a negative effect on investigative journalism and therefore devalue the notion of democracy that most of us are so proud of.

Another problem that occurred as the result of this rising organization is the arrest and imprisonment of Private First Class Bradly Manning, who was stationed at Iraq as an intelligence

Cyrus A

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analyst. Accused by Lamo, a ‘journalist’ and hacker, that Manning has admitted to releasing the video, “Collateral Murder” and 250000 U.S. cable documents, via instant messaging, he was arrested in May 2010 and has since been imprisoned, awaiting trial in 2011. Labeled as a maximum security prisoner with a Prevention of Injury (POI) order, despite being cleared by a military psychologist, he has been held under strict solitary confinement. This includes being in a small cell for 23 hours a day, a 5am wake up call, no exercise in cell and no sleeping from 5am to 8pm. Whether Manning is a hero or a traitor cannot be fully determined yet but if found guilty, Manning faces up to 52 years in jail.

Reaction to Assange in the United States has been most interesting and bizarre; with many in the media accusing him of ‘treason’ despite the fact that he is an Australian citizen. Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, has stated that he was “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands”, calling for Assange to be “pursued with the same urgency we pursue Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders”. Mike Huckabee, a senior Republican stated that “Anything less than execution is

too kindly a penalty”. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has described Wikileaks as “an attack on the international community”. From ‘traitor’ to a “high-tech terrorist”, Assange has truly become a prominent character in world politics.

Reception in Australia has not been too promising as Julia Gillard labeled Assange’s action as “illegal” despite the fact that government authorities all over the world are still determining if he could be charged with a crime related to the leaks. The Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, has also sided with the U.S., stated that “some of these documents [have] … the

Private First ClassBradly Manning

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potential to put an individual’s safety or national security at risk.’’ In an online interview with The Guardian, Assange openly questioned his treatment as an Australian citizen with the question “Are we all to be treated like David Hicks at the first possible opportunity merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties?’’, given the fact that the Australian Government was so eager to assist the U.S. in this case rather than their own citizen. Perhaps Australia’s bias in the last decades has been too obvious.

Julian Assange is currently, conveniently, on bail in Britain with an impending trial in Sweden on misconduct sex allegations in which he denies. Together he also faces the possibility of extradition to the U.S. to be charged with the Espionage Act. In a recent interview, Assange has said that there was a “high chance” that he would be killed in U.S. jail. But there’s one issue to keep in mind; Assange has threatened that if he dies, is imprisoned or that Wikileaks is destroyed, ‘the Poison Pill’ or ‘the Doomsday file’ or simply ‘the Insurance’ containing “damaging files” will be released. The set of 251287 U.S. cables are also yet to be fully released into the public domain.

Wikileaks has revealed ‘classified’

government documents to the public, threatening ‘national security’ but as The Pentagon has stated, there is yet no evidence that any harm has been done as a result of this revelation. Humiliated and embarrassed instead, it is logical to sympathise with the U.S. government but rather than actively digging out the source of the ‘leaks’ and pursuing them, perhaps what they should be focusing on are the security holes in their system, as Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has pointed out. In the case of America, this is an issue because they easily let over 250 000 sensitive documents be placed into Wikileaks’ hand.

Is what Wikileaks doing right or wrong? Are they affirming democracy in their search for freedom of speech and government accountability or are they undermining the needs of secrecy in regards to international intelligence? Is it better to know the truth and everything that the government is doing in your country’s name or is it better to stay in the dark, preferring to be ignorant? Perhaps you have already made up your mind in regards to these questions but there are yet more issues in the near future to be considered. Whether Assange and Manning are heroes or villains are still yet to be fully determined.

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It is commonly associated with certain political regimes however coercive power can be associated with authority figures in schools or employers in workforces. This form of power can be exerted against a sole individual or a wide range of groups comprising of similar minded people. It is essential to distinguish coercive power as the ability to give negative consequences to behaviour and actions that are deemed inappropriate. Any kind or form of power is influential and the same reasoning can be applied to coercive power, where its effects primarily involve negative consequences. Those who rely on coercive power are dependent on instilling fear, suppression of free will

or the use of punishment to maintain their victims’ compliance. This form of power is explicitly employed by characters in the film V for Vendetta and the subsequent obedience and conformity that follows after reveals the tragic outcome for humanity once people are all pigeon-holed through one current of river flow.

The acquisition of coercive power may result in ultimate abuse of rights

and loss of conscience as well as a moral compass. In order for coercive power to be obtained, there must be an existing status difference between the authority figures and their victims. The authority figure may have acquired an elevated status

JTIn our

everyday lives, coercive power simultaneously exists as a threat and a manipulative

tool in order to achieve and acquire obedience and conformity.

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through labour and persistently c l i m b i n g t h e workforce hierarchy or they may have been democratically voted to assume a certain role. Coercive power acts upon the suppression of a certain aspect of individuals so that authority figures can maintain stability and dependability in the person or people they govern. This suppression must be established so that the ulterior goals and motivations

of the person or people in power can be successfully achieved.

For example, the Norsefire Political Party must maintain their people’s faith in them through their strict totalitarian regime which includes full control of the media, restrictions on personal possessions and street curfews. Without the people’s faith and conformity to their laws, anarchy may arise and Norsefire may not be in government for a long period. However, obedience and conformity can deindiviualise a person’s behaviour and to a greater extent their personality can also be affected. If

obedience and conformity cannot be gained immediately through verbal taunts, one can resort to extreme measures which may include physical violence. In the long term, the effects of coercive power can cause and inflict psychological trauma in its victims.

For instance, the notoriously controversial Zimbardo’s Stanford

Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo from Stanford University has demonstrated that those who are given coercive power tend to abuse it once it was implied they are superior (prison guards) to the inferior group (prisoners). The experiment involved twenty-four male university students. Twelve were assigned roles of prison guards while the other twelve were prisoners. For realistic purposes and accuracy in results, the twelve male students who were assigned prisoner roles were arrested at their homes by genuine police officers. After six days of the experiment, it was found that the prison guards with coercive power were exercising their force to a full extent that caused the prisoners to become mentally and psychologically affected. Some had developed

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depression, anxiety, rage and stress related illnesses in the first four days indicating the tragic impact of coercive power. In the film V for Vendetta, this treatment is similar to what V had done to Evey when he forcibly captured and place her in a staged prison. He ordered people to subject her to the same ordeal he had been through in order to overcome her fear of the Fascist Government. Fortunately for Evey, she had become a stronger person after this tormenting experience. However the same cannot be said for the university students who were unluckily assigned roles of prisoners and were subjected to threats, insults and aggressive commands. All in all, those under the influence of abused coercive power are susceptible in developing psychological trauma as a result of the bitter consequences and purgatory situation created by coercive power.

As previously mentioned, conformity and obedience are factors arising

from the reigns of coercive power. Obedience refers to an individual or group following the commands and orders of an authority figure or abiding by the set of laws and rules set by society. The way in which obedience can be sustained is through the psychological construct of fear and observational

learning. Observational learning or modelling refers to the observation of another person’s behaviours and consequences to direct their future thoughts, feelings and behaviour. If the consequences of a person’s behaviour are negative, this can instil a sense of fear in the observant who will be reluctant to perform that particular task or form of action. This mirrors a way of acting in V for Vendetta where Evey remarks that many people knew about the abduction of gays, young black men and Pakistanis by the secret police but silently chose to stay quiet in fear. The subsequent obedience as one of the results of coercive power leads to a consequent outcome where there is a control over an individual who is unable to do things at their own free will. Given obedience is able to be sustained for a relatively long period; conformity may be the bleak outcome. Conformity is defined as the tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings or behaviour in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group. By succumbing to conformity, people are following the common path and consistent direction of the

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majority. Depending on the subject or action people are conforming to, there is an inherent risk that individualism and cognitive development can be inhibited. While this may be the desirable effect that coercive authority figures wish for, conformity can negatively impact on the cultural and technological advancement of future generations. In the totalitarian regime in V for Vendetta, the prohibition of citizens owning jukeboxes and butter as well as the censorship of books may lead to future generations being ignorant about certain inventions and historical events. Coercive power has the ability to evoke obedience and conformity to the extent where there may be a fear of free thinking and behaving differently from others.

The relationship between coercive power, obedience and conformity has always

been closely interrelated and consequential. Authority figures with coercive power can elicit the obedience and conformity in their vulnerable victims. As a result, the victims under the overbearing influence of coercive power can in turn develop intense fear or psychological trauma. However, the long term effects of obedience and conformity can lead to deindividualism and inhibition of cognitive development. The negative consequences

may result in the halt of technological and cultural advancement. Coercive power is employed to assist authority figures in maintaining their control and status as well as sustaining the stability of their reign. Unfortunately, if coercive power is abused and used extensively, the long term effects have the potential to funnel everyone through a constant one-way path where deviation and differences in individuals may no longer exist.

The Consequences of Coercive Power

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Thinking about time travel.

Is time* travel possible? Well, yes. At every moment, we are

travelling towards the future. 24 hours ago, we were yesterday: we then travelled to the future to arrive here today.

However, what often conjures up first when one hears the term ‘time travel’ is travelling instantaneously or almost instantaneously -in your time- into the future or, more often, to the past. Is that kind of time travel possible? Let me just tell you this: the current laws of physics do not dismiss time travel as 100% impossible – just rather impractical in the enormous amount of energy (beyond the current scope of technology) needed to meaningfully time travel.

Before wondering how time travel could be possible, first think about the consequences if it is possible.

Imagine that one day, a rather

*The concept of ‘time’ is actually more than just clocks. However, since this article is about time travel and not time, time travelling would mean going from one date (or time) to another, eg. from Monday to Tuesday.

mysterious but distinguished benefactor visits you, and tells you of this fantastic formula/mathematical equations and relevant materials for you to build a time machine. By using it to ‘predict’ the outcomes of lotteries, stock markets, Melbourne Cup horse racing, you become rich with maybe some fame sprinkled in on top. When you are older, you (now knowing this formula) decide to go back in time to talk to your past self about the formula, before going back to the future (your now-present) and go on living your life.

With this one example, many issues are raised. First of all, where did this formula come from? Your future self told you it (though you didn’t know it was ‘you’ at that time), and in the future, you told your past self. What has been created is a ‘closed time loop’ of sorts – scientifically known as a closed timelike curve, or CTC. Because you were told it (by yourself), in the future, you were able to tell yourself it.

Another issue is of freewill. In the future, the past has already occurred i.e. your future self has already been to the

TL

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past, and that the event has already happened; meaning that what ever you do in the past has already been determined –violating the concept of freewill. In this example, history did not change and the present/future did not changed; as by travelling backwards in time to meet yourself, you were just fulfilling the events of the past.

What happens if you went to the past and inadvertently killed yourself? If you killed your past self, your future self couldn’t have went to the past due to being dead. It may be that it’s impossible to kill yourself – maybe it turns out you killed a long-lost twin, or clone. Another possibility for this is that a new universe is spontaneously created when you went to the past. So in one universe, you exist –before going to the past to another universe, and killing your younger self there.

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But it seems these little tricky details occur for travelling backwards in time – travelling forward in time is much easier. So easy that we do it all the time! That’s why in this article, I’m just going to tell you ‘simple’ ways to travel forward in time.

Gravity affects time. It can be regarded as the result of a mass-energy bending the space-time around it. In fact, it has been experimentally proven that clocks high up in the earth’s atmosphere tick ‘faster’ than clocks closer to the earth (as the effect of gravity decreases with distance). So the more massive the mass-energy you’re close to, the more space-time bending. Therefore, an ‘easy’ way to go to the distant future without aging too much yourself is to go close to a massive object be it a star, or a black hole.

Acceleration –and objects in an accelerated system are physically identical to a system in a gravitational field. As such, the effects of acceleration, namely the dilation of time, is the same as the dilation of time in a gravitational field. As the acceleration increases, time slows down in the same way time ‘slows down’ in a gravitational field. In fact, just by travelling at different velocities, the passage of time will appear different. Thus, if you have a high speed spaceship, you can just go

on a high-speed cruise and come back to earth younger than the people still on earth. In fact, there is a famous thought experiment on time dilation known as the ‘twins paradox’ (which is not really a paradox), and a search in Google would bring up a detailed explanation of it.

This thought experiment asks you to image what would happen if one twin remained on earth, and the second got on a very high-speed spaceship on a trip in space. Twins are, in common sense, the same age –and this is where the apparent ‘paradox’ arises. By moving at a higher speed relative to the first twin, time for the second twin will pass ‘more slowly.’ After the long (say 20 years) trip as calculated on Earth, the second twin has finally returned. But wait! While the twin on Earth has aged 20 years, the second twin has only aged 10! Both twins’ biological clocks, and any

Thinking about Time Travel...

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other clocks, are working fine. Fact is, by travelling at speeds approaching the speed of light, time slows down. So the first twin experienced 20 years, whereas the second experienced only 10 years. For this to happen however, the second twin would have to travel up to around 90% the speed of light.

What this means is that it might become a reality that you could step into some kind of ‘elevator’ that is actually a super-high-speed rocket that goes on an extremely fast trip (maybe to an area of strong gravitational field). On returning home, and stepping out, you would find a lot more time has elapsed in ‘the outside world’, and have essentially travelled through time.

This is really just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. For example, I have not touched the use of black holes themselves as a possible space-time travelling device, nor the possibility of the existence and use of worm holes. In this brief article, I do hope I have provoked an interest in time travel. Much, much more information on time travel can be found by visiting a library, or searching the internet.

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Never had I met a person that was so inspiring in terms of their unyielding enthusiasm and the vivacious spirit encompassed within their lithe, agile moves. He was a dancer, blessed and gifted with an ability to captivate any audiences’ grave hearts and take them on a journey of his remarkable tale. Contemporary dance was his ideal retreat from the mundane and unjust reality he lived in. He once confided in me that he would give anything to perpetuate the moment of euphoria that always comes a few seconds before the end of his performances. Those instances tend to have been the moments where he did most of his impressive and difficult moves. My eyes seem to widen every time I watch him execute his final dance performances at National competitions. He was definitely no ordinary dancer. Each step he choreographed had a purpose. Each step he performed represented something to him. Each step applauded was a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, he could never show awe in his own work.

Close to where I lived, there was a large section of a cliff near a beach in which many people frequented. It provided a wonderful viewing platform overlooking the beach and an overview of the lengthy cliff extensive beyond the distance. I loved going there when I needed time by myself, just me and the rough waves washing up ashore. Today I was on my way up there but never made it all the way as I found myself crouched behind a Spinifex shrub for the

‘A connection to a particular place is essential to the ability to fulfil one’s full potential.’

JT

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majority of early morning. I had caught a brief glimpse of his long legs, flexible enough to perform the splits. He was in the middle of one of his complicated routines which involved a 20 spin pirouette followed by an instant plie. His face was calm and relaxed, as if he was composed in his own world. He never showed a semblance of fault neither the doubt that he wasn’t able to execute a move correctly. His body moved in sync with the rhythm of the whistling wind, uncertain with its pattern but was progressively strengthening. He did a triple turn and I noticed he had trouble maintaining his balance a little. I was surprised he would pick such a place with a rough surface to practise on, completely unaware of what the abrasive rock could do to his soft delicate feet. At that time I looked at my own feet and silently wished they could have been dancer’s feet or at least travelled to a worthy place of admiration.

I looked up again at the cliff platform and was shocked that he wasn’t there anymore. A tap on my left shoulder triggered my attention and I turned around to see him standing there. He appeared to be slightly worried about my presence and asked me if everything was alright. I said things were fine and resumed at pondering about the nature of my feet. He sat right beside me and told me he knew I was watching him. A rush of

heat built up in my loins and it was clear he sensed my embarrassment in the blush that darkened my cheeks. Luckily he said it didn’t matter and that he was glad that I was watching him feel happy. That particular platform possessed significance to him and he described it as a place where he had discovered his full potential. He chuckled at how corny that sounded but he insisted it was true, not that I ever doubted anything he said. The cliff platform was where his late mother claimed her life a few sweltering summers ago. He said it so leisurely without a hint of emotional distress. But most importantly, the statement that followed after was quite inspiring. ‘We all have a niche in life and if we’re particularly good at what we’re doing it becomes a passion. I dance because I have the choice, I’m alive, there’s blood running in my veins and I can gasp for a breath. When I dance a surge of energy overwhelms my senses and I am locked up in my own celestial world with just me and her. Even though she’s physically not here, I can somewhat feel her inside, effortlessly emerging from my soul and encompassing my whole body to move so freely. We are a team and on that cliff platform is where I can feel complete. It’s the place where I can reach my full potential.’

nonDescript | Issue Two

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