Happy National Chocolate Milkshake Day!

Written by Ayden Emir, Sophomore Terra, Class of 2016

Source: Lisa Siva's Blog

Do you love chocolate? What about milkshakes? If you do, then chances are you’re sure to love the upcoming National Chocolate Milkshake Day on September 12th. If you’re planning to go on a diet make sure to prepare for this one day so that you and your family will be able to enjoy a delicious chocolate milkshake. This may seem surprising, but the term milkshake was first used in a British newspaper, referring to an alcoholic drink that was similar to eggnog. In 1990, milkshakes were drinks flavored with syrups such as strawberry, vanilla and chocolate syrup. Soon, the milkshake became popular in malt shops - the ice cream parlors of that era.  

Today, milkshakes are now served in restaurants as a Some famous stores around the world which sell chocolate milkshakes are:

Source: Dairy Queen

Double Fudge         Frozen Hot           Chocolate at         DairyQueen

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Source: timecity reviews

Chocolate Madness Shake at Johnny Rockets

         

Source: Poore Amy's Blog

Liquid Nitrogen Chocolate Milkshake at FLIPP Burger

Afraid that this sinfully delicious treats will show on the scale? While the rich and creamy beverage certainly isn't the healthiest dessert choice available, chocolate milkshakes makes up for it by being loaded with calcium and antioxidants. Some scientists even go as far as claiming that the chocolate milkshake is the ideal post-workout recovery drink, as compared to isotonic drinks or good old-fashioned water. Of course, the high sugar intake may be concerning if you're trying to follow a healthy diet, but you can easily solve this by creating your own homemade treat and substituting the ice cream with Greek yoghurt. This healthier version reduces the fat and sugar content of your meal, so you don't have to feel too guilty about your weekly milkshake habit.
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Even if you don’t have milkshakes that often, go and celebrate National Chocolate Milkshake Day by having a delicious, heavenly, mouthwatering chocolate milkshake at almost any ice cream store on September 12th. Enjoy! 

Big Splash Through the Years

Written by Amanda Lee Yue Ping, Junior 2 Cempaka, Class of 2014

Like our seniors have done before, and their seniors' seniors too.
And as our juniors will do in the years to come, and their juniors' juniors too.
The big splash is a long, upstanding tradition in the Cempaka family, just one out of the many that us seniors will hold dear to our hearts. 

Class of 2010

Class of 2010

3!…..

Tomorrow, the pool will overflow. Not just with water, and uniform-clad bodies, but also with memories to last a lifetime. 

Class of 2011

Class of 2011

2!…...

Even though the location has changed, from our beloved Damansara to Cheras.
Even though tomorrow there'll be quite a bit more bodies jumping in than we initially thought.

Class of 2012

Class of 2012

1!…….
Even though there's been more ups and downs and turn arounds, making it one hell of a senior year.

Class of 2013

The essence of what big splash truly is about, will always remain the same. 

Class of 2014 - to come.

UPDATE:

The Class of 2014 has finally made their oh-so-glamorous entrance into both the pool and the Big Splash gallery.

Class of 2014

This beauty is only one of the many bittersweet moments captured for the Class of 2014. 

Proceed here to view more of the bittersweet moments captured.

Will There Be Justice For Ferguson?

Written by Natasha Wong, Class of 2016

Only a small spark is needed to ignite a fire; in this case, an 18-year-old black teenager, shot by a police officer. This little spark has managed to light a fire in the community of Ferguson, Missouri, igniting one of the most controversial disputes between law enforcement and citizens.

Despite its small town roots, this story has spread throughout the country, making its way to international news. It all began when the aforementioned teenager, Michael Brown, was shot by a police officer,causing an outrage within the predominantly black community, adding to the already high tensions between them and the largely white police force. This only served to worsen ties, and cause the massive rioting and protests we now hear on the news.

Since the incident, marches and protests were being held not only in Ferguson but on the streets of Washington, DC. The message they are trying to convey is simple: stop the abuse of authority. Bearing messages such as “Hands up! Don’t Shoot!” and “How many must die?”, they were trying to show the unfairness of the police, all of this relating to the incident in Ferguson.

Ferguson is a predominantly black community as mentioned before, with 64% black citizens, 33% being white and the remaining consisting of other ethnicities. Of the 54 law enforcement officers in the community, only 3 are black. However, blacks account for 86% of traffic stops and 92% of all arrests in the community-according to The New York Times. This serves to prove the immense power balance of the white police against the black community, which when separated like so, causes spite, anger and discrimination.

Since the shooting, the police have had to resist the outraged cries of the citizens. The way they handled it was unprofessional and heavy handed. Their actions have only managed to aggravate the people and exacerbate the situation. These foul tactics included, according to citizen statements, using illegal chokeholds and shouting racial slurs.

One is shocked by all of this: the severe imbalance and abuse of the power given unto the police. The situation has brought doubt and suspicion upon the competency of the police force, and whether it really has been doing its job objectively. It also raises questions of whether the issue of racism in America has really shown such positive improvement as has been claimed.

There are many ways of looking at this situation but there is no reasoning for the blatant racism shown not only by Ferguson's police force but also by members of America's white community. 

Amidst the pain and grief endured after Michael Brown's death, will there be justice?

A Day of Mourning

written by Ayden Emir Harryman, Sophomore Terra, Class of 2016

“Today we mourn the loss of our people. Today, we begin to bring them home. Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. Today we stand with you, united as one,” said Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday, 22nd of August, 2014, to the families as their loved ones, the first 20 out of 43 Malaysians who were killed in the MH17 incident arrived home. 

Friday was the first time Malaysia has declared a national day of mourning for all citizens. It was a day in which people from all over Malaysia mourned and prayed for those who passed away on board flight MH17.

It was clear that people everywhere in the country were participating in this national day of mourning. Flags were flown at half mast, special prayers in mosques were held, schools held special assemblies and events. Cempaka was one of those schools - students from both Damansara and Cheras campuses came together to witness the arrival of the first twenty remains of the 43 Malaysians killed when the plane was shot down. A minute of silence was held throughout Malaysia at 10.55 am. 

It was a day where Malaysians stood together no matter what race, gender or religion to pray and mourn the losses of their beloved family members and fellow Malaysians. People lined the roads and streets as the Hearses drove by, conducting prayers and standing in respect and patriotism at their fallen countrymen.

The MH17 tragedy has opened the eyes of many,especially those with family or friends in the airline industry. While it was undoubtedly one of the most tragic events in our country's history, this disaster has uncannily brought all of us closer together as a nation, and shown the world the united and loving nature of Malaysia. We citizens will never forget the MH17 tragedy, and the spirit of all the unfortunate victims will remain in our hearts for eternity from generation to generation, because simply put, that's what makes us Malaysian.

MTV Video Music Awards 2014

Written by Khandhan Nadarajan, Junior 1 Higgs, Class of 2015

Recently, the MTV Video Music Awards were held to honour the best of the best artists for their music videos presented by MTV. This year’s Video Music Awards was very different but still featured elements and essences of last year’s Video Music Awards. The 31st annual award show was held at The Forum in Inglewood, California. 

The number of nominations were led by Beyonće, with 8 nominations including Video of the Year, Best Female, Best Collaboration, Best cinematography and more. Following Queen Bey were newcomer Iggy Azalea and VMA veteran Eminem with 7 nominations each. Eminem’s nominations included Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Male, Best Collaboration, Best Editing and more. Iggy Azalea made her VMA debut thanks to her #1 hit “Fancy” which will allow her to battle for Video of the Year, Best Female, Best Pop, Best Collaboration and more. Other nominations included Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Lorde, Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Pharrel Williams and many more. They entire list was made available through Snapchat on July 17

Video of the Year Nominees
From Left to Right: Iggy Azalea, Miley Cyrus, Pharrel Williams, Beyonce and Sia

Best Female
From Top to Bottom: Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea, Beyonce and Lorde.

Best Male
From Top to Bottom: Pharrel Williams, Ed Sheeran featuring Pharrel Williams, Eminem, Sam Smith and John Legend.

Now for the most significant awards of the entire show, Video of the Year, Best Female, Best Male, Best Pop, Best Rock, Best Hip-Pop and Best Collaboration. The Moonman for Best Video of the Year went to Miley Cyrus for “Wrecking Ball”, managing to beat out Beyonće and Jay Z’s “Drunk in Love”, Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX’s “Fancy”, Pharrel William’s “Happy” and Sia’s “Chandelier”. On the other hand, Best Male Video went to Ed Sheeran and Pharrel Williams for their single “Sing” and Best Female Video went to Katy Perry and Juicy J for their single “Dark Horse”.

Futhermore, Ariana Grande’s “Problem” took the Moonman home for Best Pop and “Hold on We’re Going Home” by Drake and Majid Jordan won for Best Hip-Pop. Lets all not forget Lorde and her chart-topper “Royals” that won Best Rock. Moreover, the winners for the non-voting category were Sia’s “Chandelier” for Best Choreography, OK Go’s “Writing on the Wall” for Best Visual Effects, Arcade Fire’s “Reflektor” for Best Art Direction and more. 

The show was entertained with a myriad of performances, opened by Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J with “Break Free”, “Anaconda” and “Bang Bang”. “Break Free” was performed by Ariana Grande with an amazingly out of this world set. It was immediately followed by Nicki Minaj’s jungle themed rendition of “Anaconda”. The femme fatale filled performance was finished with “Bang Bang” performed by all three of the esteemed artists. The VMAs continued with performances from Taylor Swift with her new pop anthem “Shake it Off” and Sam Smith with an heart-clutching rendition of “Stay with Me”. The plethora of performances carried on with Usher featuring Nicki Minaj with “She Came to Give it to You”, “Amnesia” performed by 5 Seconds of Summer and “Black Widow” performed by Iggy Azalea with Rita Ora and Maroon 5 performed “Maps” (for the first time on a major award show) and “One More Night”.

The cornucopia of entertainment were then tied together by Beyonće’s larger-than-life 15 minute medley. The stomping performance compiled all of the tracks from Beyonće’s surprise visual album, from an alluring performance of “Drunk in Love” and “Flawless” to a touching rendition of “Blue” and “XO”. The performance was ended with Beyonće receiving the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award (also known as the Lifetime Achievement Award, given to artists that helped shape the MTV culture. The award was presented by Beyonce’s husband, Jay Z and their child Blue Ivy.  

The best part of the show was when Miley Cyrus won Video of the Year with “Wrecking Ball”. Much to our surprise, the “Wrecking Ball” singer didn’t go on stage to receive the award. Contrary to last year, when Miley Cyrus caught our attention for all the wrong reasons, she caught our attention this year for one very right reason. That reason was allowing a formerly homeless youth, Jesse, to accept the award on her behalf accompanied by a heartfelt speech. Unlike last year, Miley Cyrus used her popularity along with the popularity of the VMAs to give homeless youths the attention they need. With the most shocking and beautiful moment of the night, there is no more fitting way to end this article than with the young man's speech itself.

“Thank y’all, my name is Jesse and I am accepting this award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youths in the United States who are starving, lost and scared for their lives right now, I know this because I am one of these people. Though I may have been invisible to you in the streets, I have a lot of the same dreams that brought many of you here tonight.”

September Issue: What's Next?

A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS

It’s our last note, and the fact that we’re always stymied when it comes to writing our notes doesn’t change. Change. Transition. Moving on. We went over word after word and finally, we've settled on something that’s hopefully not too cheesy.

"What’s next?"

It’s a daunting question that rears its ugly head, evil grin and all, staring at us in our final year here. And Im sure it’s not just us seniors who are feeling the pressure of a change about to come. Juniors will be taking up the mantle next year, holding their own fort and claiming the year of 2015 as their own.

Note: This picture is missing many seniors! We'll try to take & upload a better one soon.

In this special issue, your seniors will take the spotlight for the final time, before we move onto other adventures. You’ll find out “what’s next?” for us. Whether we take the path that’s less travelled. Or the path that’s well trodden. Or if we can even see a path at all. Whichever road we choose to stumble on till we get to even ground, I’m sure we’ll survive and find our way. I mean, we’ve survived the Cempakan calendar, furious teachers, and the hectic transition to Cheras? Come at us world. We’re all raring and ready to go. 

- after we finish this episode of Suits that is.  

There’s no doubt that the future’s uncertain and holds many possibilities, but what's equally as important is the past and the present. Like many others, both of us have been in Cempaka since we were adorable kids in white-and-yellow checkered dresses. It’s where our roots were planted, nurtured into shoots, then sprouted and cultivated. (Though Mun’s probably still stuck at the shoot level.) We’ve watched Cempaka grow as we grew alongside it, and we’ve hopefully been a positive part of that growth too. An invaluable experience, both good and the not so good - it’s all just part and parcel of schooling life. However when you really break it down, we’ll miss the Cempakan pond. 

The Lumen has also gotten its growth spurt, becoming a whole new club from when it started up in 2007. We've changed our medium of expression, from paper to blogspot. Even gotten our own twitter account - really the changes are vast and varied. But don’t fret, at the core of it all, the substance still remains the same. Our expressions and our passion through word, art and pictures. 

Hopefully at least one of our articles or posts was able to evoke some sort of feeling in you be it laughter, empathy, discovery or something indescribable altogether. What's more is that we hope you are excited for what's next for the Lumen! Though the future's unpredictable, we can assure you this. There are more bright days ahead :)

- Manda & Mun - 

We are Malaysian!

by Tasha Thomas, Teoh Kai Ning and Aminah Yahya, Junior 1 Berners-Lee, Class of 2015

Saya anak Malaysia.

There are 30 million of us - one in every 24 people. I may be Indian, she may be Chinese and you may be Malay, but at the end of the day, we all live together in this beautiful land. We do not need a cardinal direction - it wasn't our fault that Christopher Columbus lost his way. 

Stop dividing us; The British already did that once. Quit trying to define our identity based on where our fathers and mothers were from - we grew up singing the Negaraku! Just because we all come from different roots doesn't make any one of us less Malaysian than the rest. Afterall, our hearts are one and the same.

 

Wo Shi Ma Lai Xi Ya Ren.

We are thinkers, nourishers of the mind. Great at math, science, spelling - you name it! We mean business - doctors, engineers and techies. Our thinkers constructed the tallest tower in Asia, showing what we can achieve, when we put our minds to it.

We are do-ers, who push our bodies to its absolute limit and somehow, beyond that. We have turned badminton as well as sepak takraw, into multibillion dollar sports - not forgetting the numerous contributions to the world of Squash.

We are feelers, feeders of the soul. We shared with the world the romance of 
P. Ramlee films and the music of Siti Nurhaliza, and of course, the KRU brothers, Fauziah Latiff, Uji Rashid as well as the late Sudirman.

Naan Malaysia irundhu varéan.

We are unique. Malaysia's time zone is unlike any other; it is on a whole different level! Unlike many countries, our 13 states and 4 federal territories run on the same clock - yet amazingly, no one is ever on time! We're all used to it though -Everyone is late, but we are late together. 

Our food is sedap. 
Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai, Mee Goreng, Thosai, Char Kuey Teow, Yong Tau Fu. I'm already drooling just looking at those pictures above! Then again, you can't find people traveling just to get a taste of some extraordinary cuisine at just anywhere.

Our country is panas.
Surely our sweat-drenched shirts are enough evidence for that. Going through weeks of blazing hot days is nothing strange to us, but that doesn't keep us from complaining about it anyway. It's often followed by weeks of pouring rain, keeping us in from sports and making us wish we didn't say anything. And of course, we couldn't possibly forget the much dreaded haze that has come to be an annual visitor, giving students an excuse to 'ponteng sekolah'. (Being Malaysians, we naturally find ways to find something positive out of everything) 

Our men are pedas and our women are Beautiful (yes, with a capital B). 
Don't believe us? Take a look for yourself! 

 

It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from - you can bet on fitting right in! Where we live, there is peace and unity. We are the best of all possible worlds; Malaysia, truly Asia.

Saya anak Malaysia. Wo Shi Ma Lai Xi Ya Ren. Naan Malaysia irundhu varéan. They may all sound different, but they all mean the same thing - that we are Malaysian, and more importantly, we are proud to be one. 

Selamat Hari Merdeka!