NUSSU The Ridge Magazine

🎉 THE RIDGE IS RECRUITING! 🎉

We’re the biggest student-run magazine in NUS — from ideation to publication, we do it all! Join us as a Writer ✍️, Designer 🎨, Marketer 📣, or Website Manager 🖥 to hone your media skills ✨

PS. We’ve also got ExCo openings for TWO Vice-Marketing Heads and ONE Secretary 👀

Sign up now! Applications close 20 Aug 2025 📆

Something's been cooking 👩‍🍳🗞️ ... and we’re finally ready to serve it fresh off the press! 🤭

🚨 OUR MAGAZINE IS OUT NOW ‼️ 📰

Over the past few months, our team at NUSSU The Ridge has been hard at work curating stories, insights, and perspectives that capture the essence of transition and change.

Dive into In Transit, our latest Spring Magazine Issue, available online now! 🥰

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL ❣️ We'll also launching physical copies on campus, so keep a lookout for more details coming soon! 🫵 👀

🔗 Link: https://issuu.com/nussutheridge/docs/ay_24_25_magazine_1_

Thinking about taking a gap year? Perhaps you do not want to go backpacking across Europe or learn a new language, but you just need a break! 💤😴

Taking a gap year can feel scary and uncertain, but there's beauty in slowing down. From staying emotionally attuned to finding your own rhythm, this journey of self-discovery can be rewarding and transformative. 🌤️🏄‍♀️

Read on to discover what you can do during your gap year! ✨

🔗 https://theridge.sg/2025/02/28/theres-a-gap-in-your-resume/

As life pulls us in different directions, what happens to the bonds and memories we leave behind?

Through the imagery of a moonlit garden, rustling leaves, and fragile wings, this poem explores the quiet distance that grows between two siblings — one staying, one drifting. Metaphors of caterpillars and flight reflect change, while lingering echoes of old songs ask: Can we ever return to what once was? 🤍🫂

Read on and reflect on movement, memory, and home. 🪽

🔗 https://theridge.sg/2025/02/26/nettle-song-movements/

You got a friend in me! 🤠🦖 Missing those old pals, sprawling playgrounds, and colorful iced gem biscuits?

Growing up is a journey of longing, change, and letting go — one we all experience, yet never quite outgrow.

Get an early look at In Transit, our upcoming magazine, as Isabel explores childhood, nostalgia, and the inevitable farewell to Neverland through films like Matilda, Toy Story 3, Soul, and Lady Bird. 🤎⏳

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2025/02/21/farewell-neverland-the-yearning-for-childhood-in-media/

"I can't stand the dialogue, she would never be that satisfied, it's a male fantasy."

But what if the fantasy was rewritten? 🤔 From the desirable idealised women of the ‘70s, to the empowered, complex women of today, media representation has evolved over time.

As part of In Transit, our upcoming magazine, unmask the evolution of the gaze in media in Zander’s commentary of male fantasies in media. Discover how the shift from male to female, and ultimately q***r perspectives are redefining female representation. 💗💪

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2025/02/19/male-fantasies-male-fantasies/

What makes someone truly evil? Is it stealing the moon? Rocking a bald head with confidence? Or maybe just having an army of adorable, chaotic Minions? 🤔💛

The Despicable Me franchise takes everything we thought we knew about villains and flips it upside down (literally). Gru may have started as a ‘bad guy,’ but was he ever really bad? Or was he just a guy shaped by his past, trying to find where he belongs?

As part of In Transit, our upcoming magazine, Grace unpacks how this animated classic teaches us that good and evil aren’t so black and white.

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2025/02/14/blurring-the-lines-of-good-and-evil-in-despicable-me/

Tet is a time for family — gathering, sharing traditional meals, and looking forward to a new year. But for an international student far from home, that warmth feels distant. 😕

Wandering through Chinatown and past the murals of Telok Ayer, a Vietnamese student experiences Tet in a different way. Between the familiar and the foreign, he reflects on identity, belonging, and what it means to celebrate away from home. 🫂

A story of culture, connection, and finding home — just one of many in our upcoming magazine, In Transit. Stay tuned ‼️♥️

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2025/02/12/tet-singapore/

Feeling bored during the ongoing holidays? 🥱 Think that there is nothing much to do in Singapore? 🤔

Singapore might seem boring to locals, who often lament the high cost and limited activities, but there’s more to this city than meets the eye! 🧐🏙️

Read more from the perspective of Varushka, a previous exchange student at NUS on whether Singapore is truly boring. ⚡️🥳

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2024/12/11/is-singapore-boring/

The Student Exchange Programme (SEP) offers an exciting pathway for NUS students eager to broaden their horizons and step outside the familiar university environment. ✈️

While adapting to a new culture abroad may be difficult and confusing, it could still become an unforgettable memory during their university lives.

Dive into Clairene's article to find out more about the magic of cross-cultural learning and personal development in her SEP to Canada. 🤩

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2024/12/04/a-winters-tale-my-student-exchange-programme-in-canada/

Ever sprinted across NUS trying to make it from one side of Kent Ridge to the other in 15 minutes, only to get hopelessly lost?

This article takes a deep dive into the quirks, frustrations, and history of our beloved campus design—where every twist and turn has a story (or a reason to make you late!). From linear layouts to prevent gathering (gasp!) to UTown becoming the heartbeat of student life, discover how our campus is more than just buildings—it's a reflection of us. 🏛✨

Let’s celebrate the art of running late and getting lost with Grace!

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2024/11/27/in-defense-of-running-late-and-getting-lost-decoding-the-spatial-logic-of-nus/

In today’s hyper-connected world, why do we feel more alone than ever? 🤕

As technology advances and career ambitions soar, friendships are beginning to take a backseat, ushering what some call a Friendship Recession.

Declining friendships spell trouble for us in many ways, but is all hope truly lost?

Find out more about the Friendship Recession in Charmaine’s article.

🔗 Link: https://theridge.sg/2024/11/20/the-friendship-recession/