New year, new you, new (or, rather, revamped) Treehouse!

The world around us—or the world as far as Tembusu goes—is a neat arrangement of concrete buildings reaching out to the skies, kempt grass spreading out over fields, and wooden tables stretching endlessly across dining halls. And yet our world, our experienced world, is in 20:9: highly precise, fluidly responsive, three million pixels worth of gorgeous, gorgeous reality (or non-reality, if you prefer).

In the time that we spend on these chirping mobiles, they glow, flicker, and transmit to us more than an ocean’s worth of information. Content, no longer confined to legacy news outlets or established media organisations, is everyone’s business now—in longform video essays you watch over a meal, or minute-long reels you scroll past during your daily commute.

And so we present to you our mission for this academic year: to facilitate discourse. According to the Cambridge dictionary, discourse is “the use of language to communicate in speech or writing”. Why is being active contributors and communicators, more than passive consumers, important? In this sea of information filled with endless currents of ideologies, there is only one compass that can tide us through, and that is to think!

Together, we’ll navigate the whirlpool that is The Media, where today—more than ever—extremist ideologies and beliefs seep into every corner of the Internet for the impressionable young adult to stumble into. Ideas will be raised, interrogated and refined in closed-wall seminar rooms—and in these conversations, you’ll have a safe space to take that first step, to plant that first seed.

This isn’t to say that we’re neglecting writing, though. Writing is what comes after planting: it is the process of watering, fertilising and letting the sunshine enrich your nascent ideas. It is never a solitary affair, either. Just as ideas are sparked by our engagements with the world and all the people, art and culture it has to offer, fully realising them is oftentimes a communal effort.

Even then, we recognise that writing can still be daunting. Whether you’re new to it or a seasoned writer, there’s so much uncertainty to contend with, so much space to be. But we’re asking the same thing of you, anyway; the same thing generations of Treehouse have asked of generations of Tembusians:

To Write! And by extension, to Think!

This idea has evolved manifold over the years, but at its core it remains thus. Treehouse through all its iterations has been and will always be a space for you, by you. Tell us what you want to. Pitch what you want to. And as we work with you on your piece, write. Of course writing can be hard. What isn’t? Isn’t that all the more reason to try? We’ll be with you, every step of the way—from ideation to publishing—as we walk along the course, that is this:

We’re looking forward to this new Academic Year with you! As they say, tree you around.

Cover photo by Camilo Jimenez (Creative Commons)