J[our]ney - 4 Short Stories by Joel Tan

Professor Zaida Abdullah hates the smell of the blue chemical gel that now fills the carriage. It smells like petroleum. And she hates the way it feels on her wrinkled skin, more like burning than cooling. But she slaps it on anyway and watches her body temperature dip slightly on her wrist monitor. She leaves a voice note for her faculty secretary to let the students know she’ll be late for lecture.

This story is read by Brendon Fernandez.

Show Notes

Professor Zaida Abdullah hates the smell of the blue chemical gel that now fills the carriage. It smells like petroleum. And she hates the way it feels on her wrinkled skin, more like burning than cooling. But she slaps it on anyway and watches her body temperature dip slightly on her wrist monitor. She leaves a voice note for her faculty secretary to let the students know she’ll be late for lecture.

This story is read by Brendon Fernandez.

What is J[our]ney - 4 Short Stories by Joel Tan?

J[our]ney is an original all-Singaporean digitally presented production exploring an essential component of every Singaporean’s life - the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) commute. We will be presenting 4 newly commissioned short stories by Singaporean writer Joel Tan paired with newly commissioned pieces by 4 Singaporean composers. The music will be performed by K口U and stories told by Brendon Fernandez.

In this collection of four short stories, we follow different rides along the East West line across 1987, 2015, 2025, and 2087. Introspective and ruminating, the stories track the changing urban and social landscape of Singapore, and plot a speculative roadmap for the near and distant future.