Bonny Hicks

Infobox Celebrity
name = Bonny Hicks

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caption =

"Heaven can wait, but I cannot. I cannot take for granted that time is on my side"." - Bonny Hicks

birth_name = Bonny Susan Hicks
birth_date =birth date|1968|1|5|mf=y
birth_place =
death_date =death date and age|1997|12|19|1968|1|5|mf=y
death_place =Victim of SilkAir Flight 185 crash, Sumatra, Indonesia
occupation = Catwalk model, writer
salary =
networth =
spouse =
website =
footnotes =

Bonny Hicks was a Singaporean catwalk model who gained her greatest notoriety for her contributions to Singaporean post-colonial literature and the philosophy conveyed in her works. Her first book, "Excuse Me, are you a Model?", is recognized as a significant milestone in the literary and cultural history of Singapore.cite journal| author=Ismail S. Talib| title=Singapore| journal=Journal of Commonwealth Literature| year=95| volume=3| issue=35| pages=105|url=http://jcl.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/3/95.pdf A subscription is required to view the link.] She followed it with "Discuss Disgust" and many shorter pieces in press outlets. She was killed at age twenty-nine on December 19, 1997, when SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing all 104 on board.Cite web|title=Divers battle muddy water at Indonesian crash site|accessdate = 2006-12-27|publisher=CNN|year=1997|work=World News|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/20/singapore.plane.615pm] After her death special publications, including the book "Heaven Can Wait: Conversations with Bonny Hicks" by Tal Ben-Shahar, eulogized her. Her legacy is understood as important particularly within Singaporean society.

Background and modeling

Hicks was born of mixed parentage to a British father and a Singaporean-Chinese mother. She identified her formative social environment as a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual environment that included Malays, Indians and Chinese of various dialect groups.Cite web|title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life|accessdate = 2006-12-27|publisher=Harvard University|year=1998|author=Tu Wei-Ming|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html] When Bonny was 12, her mother had accepted a job as a caretaker of a bungalow in Sentosa and they relocated to the island away from their HDB flat in Toa Payoh.cite news|last=Maureen|first=Koh|title=Mum spends birthdays at crash site|location=Singapore|publisher=The New Paper|date=2008-08-26] For the seven years of her teenage life, she lived on Singapore's Sentosa Island with her mother on the island.Cite web|url=http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/post/singapore/literature/poetry/chia/mermaid.html|title=Mermaid Princess|accessdate = 2006-12-27|publisher=The Literature, Culture, and Society of Singapore|year=1998|author=Grace Chia|format=HTML] She never met her father, who she described as having rejected her by way of British High Commission.Cite web|url=http://www.limrichard.com/arc1997/arch_c2.htm|title=Cover Girl from first to last|accessdate = 2006-12-29|publisher=The Straits Times (Singapore)|date=28 December 1997|work=Life Section|format=HTML]

After completing her Advanced Levelcite journal|author=Lim Richard|title=Cover Girl from first to last|journal=The Straits Times (Singapore)|date=28 December 1997|url=http://www.limrichard.com/arc1997/arch_c2.htm] she managed against odds to enter the world of modeling at age nineteen. A year later she began writing about her life-experiences and ideas.Cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html|title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life|accessdate = 2006-12-27|publisher=Harvard University|year=1998|author=Tu Wei-Ming|format=HTML] She had modeled for five years when, coinciding with the 1992 release of her second book, "Discuss Disgust", she left the industry to take a job as a copywriter in Jakarta, Indonesia. At that time, Hicks stated she had never wanted to be a model in the first place.Cite web|url=http://www.recyclingpoint.com.sg/Articles/1992may27ModelBonnyoptsforachange.htm|title=Model Bonny opts for a change in scene|accessdate = 2006-12-29|publisher=The Star (Malaysia)|date=May 27 1992|author=Majorie Chiew|format=HTML]

Literary contributions

Hicks's initial work, "Excuse Me, are you a Model?", was published in Singapore in 1990. The 12,000 copy first print-run sold out in three days, prompting its publisher to declare her work "the biggest book sensation in the annals of Singapore publishing".Cite web
url=http://www.flameoftheforest.com/about/about_us.html
title=About Flame of the Forest Publishing
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Flame of the Forest Publishers
year=2006
format=HTML] The book is Hicks's autobiographical exposé of the modeling and fashion world and contains frequent candid musings from Hicks about her sexuality, a subject not traditionally broached in Singaporean society. The book was later described by English literature scholars as an important work in the "confessional mode" of the genre of post-colonial literature,cite book
title=A Historical Companion To Postcolonial Thought In English
last=Poddar, Prem
coauthors=Johnson, David
year=2005
pages=518
publisher=Columbia University Press
id = ISBN 0231135068] and as a significant milestone in Singapore’s literary and cultural history.cite journal
author=Ismail S. Talib
title=Singapore
journal=Journal of Commonwealth Literature
year=95
volume=3
issue=35
url=http://jcl.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/3/95.pdf
pages=105|format=PDF A subscription is required to view the link.]

After Hicks's much publicized entry into Singapore's literary scene, she published her second and last book, "Discuss Disgust," wherein she continued to broach issues not traditionally spoken of openly in Singapore. Deemed by most scholars to be a semi-autobiographical account of Hicks's troubled childhood years, the novella portrays the world as seen through the eyes of a child whose mother is a prostitute.cite book
title=Discuss Disgust
last=Hicks
first=Bonny
year=1992
publisher=Angsana Books
id = ISBN 9810035063] cite book
title=Encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in English
last=Eugene Benson & L.W. Conolly, eds.
coauthors=Wei Li, Ng
year=1994
pages=656-657
publisher=Routledge
location=London
id = ISBN 0415278856]

Hicks was also a frequent contributor to the Singaporean press and other outlets.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML] Her frankly-written bi-monthly column in "The Straits Times", in which she frequently discussed her childhood on Sentosa Island, incited critics over feelings that Hicks was not a proper role model for young, impressionable girls. Yielding to the pressure, the "Times" pulled her column after about a year, although it continued to run other pieces by Hicks on occasion, noting a deepening of thought in them.cite journal
author=Lim Richard
title=Cover Girl from first to last
journal=The Straits Times (Singapore)
date=28 December 1997
url=http://www.limrichard.com/arc1997/arch_c2.htm]

Philosophy

Hicks's anthropical philosophy of life that featured loving, caring and sharing, emerged clearly in her writings, and attracted the attention of Singaporeans and others worldwide, including scholars.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML] Prior her 1997 death, Hicks carried on an approximately year-long correspondence about philosophical and spiritual matters with Tal Ben-Shahar, a positive psychologist and popular Harvard University professor. The correspondence later became basis for a 1998 book by Ben-Shahar.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML]

Hicks had also became a serious student of Confucian humanism prior her death. She was particularly attracted to the thought of another Harvard professor, Tu Wei-Ming, a New Confucian philosopher. Hicks attended Tu's seminars and the two corresponded. Added to the influence of Ben-Shahar, Hicks began to exhibit increased New Confucian influence upon her thinking, and soon expressed dismay in the Singaporean press about "the lack of understanding of Confucianism as it was intended to be and the political version of the ideology to which we are exposed today". Just prior Hicks's death she submitted a piece to Singapore's "The Straits Times", "I think and feel, therefore I am", which was published posthumously on December 28 1997.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML] In it Hicks stated:

Thinking is more than just conceiving ideas and drawing inferences; thinking is also reflection and contemplation. When we take embodied thinking rather than abstract reasoning as a goal for our mind, then we understand that thinking is a transformative act.
The mind will not only deduce, speculate, and comprehend, but it will also awaken, will, enlighten and inspire.
Si, is how I have thought, and always will think.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML ]

Wei-Ming asserts that the piece, Hicks's last, reflected her maturing and deepening engagement in philosophy and spirituality, and that her use of the Chinese character "Si" was readily understood by her Chinese-speaking English readers to convey New Confucian thought.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML ]

Future plans

Shortly before Hicks's death, she had applied to numerous universities in England and the United States, including Harvard University. She reported she had received one acceptance but was awaiting other possible acceptances before deciding where to attend.Cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html
title=Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life
accessdate = 2006-12-27
publisher=Harvard University
year=1998
author=Tu Wei-Ming
format=HTML ] cite journal
author=Lim Richard
title=Cover Girl from first to last
journal=The Straits Times (Singapore)
date=28 December 1997
url=http://www.limrichard.com/arc1997/arch_c2.htm]

At the time of her death, Hicks was engaged to American architect Richard Dalrymple. Both died, along with all others aboard, as a result of the crash of SilkAir Flight 185.cite journal
title=SilkAir
journal=The Los Angeles Times
date=5 September 2001 Dalrymple's architecture in Singapore was featured in: Dalrymple, Richard. "Pavilions for a Forest Setting in Singapore". "Architectural Digest" (4/91), 48 (4).]

Aftermath of death

Hicks's death at age twenty-nine shocked Singaporeans and others worldwide, and prompted a swirl of activity as people sought to interpret the meaning of Hicks's life. Meanwhile, literary scholars both in Singapore and worldwide began examining Hicks's works either anew or for the first time.cite journal | author=Ismail S. Talib | title=Singapore | journal=Journal of Commonwealth Literature | year=95 | volume=3| issue=35| url=http://jcl.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/3/95.pdf | pages=105|format=PDF A subscription is required to view the link.] cite book | title=A Historical Companion To Postcolonial Thought In English | last=Poddar, Prem | coauthors=Johnson, David | year=2005 | pages= 518 | publisher= Columbia University Press | id = ISBN 0231135068] cite book | title=Encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in English | last=Eugene Benson & L.W. Conolly, eds. | coauthors=Wei Li, Ng | year=1994 | pages=656-657 | publisher=Routledge | location=London | id = ISBN 0415278856]

Tu Wei-Ming characterized Hicks's life and philosophy as providing a "sharp contrast to Hobbes' cynic view of human existence", and stated that Hicks was "the paradigmatic example of an autonomous, free-choosing individual who decided early on to construct a lifestyle congenial to her idiosyncratic sense of self-expression." More than anything, Tu said, "She was primarily a seeker of meaningful existence, a learner.

Singaporean post-colonial author Grace Chia eulogized Hicks's life in a poem, "Mermaid Princess", that parodies the traditional Scottish folk song, "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean". An excerpt of the poem characterizes Hicks as one who

spoke too soon
too loud
too much out of turn
too brutally honest
too empowered by your sense/x/uality
too much of I, I, I, I --
I think
I know
I understand
I love
I, I, I, I.cite book | title=Womango| last=Chia| first=Grace| year=1998| publisher=Rank Books| location=Singapore| id = ISBN 9810405839] Cite web|url=http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/post/singapore/literature/poetry/chia/mermaid.html|title=Mermaid Princess|accessdate = 2006-12-27|publisher=The Literature, Culture, and Society of Singapore|year=1998|author=Grace Chia|format=HTML]

"The Straits Times" eulogized Hicks by recalling her life and contributions to the paper, and publishing an excerpt of the essay "Whistling Of Birds" by D. H. Lawrence.cite journal | author=Lim Richard |title=Cover Girl from first to last |journal=The Straits Times (Singapore) |date=28 December 1997 | url=http://www.limrichard.com/arc1997/arch_c2.htm]

On the first anniversary of Hicks's death, in December 1998, Tal Ben-Shahar published "Heaven Can Wait: Conversations with Bonny Hicks", in which he weaved together Hicks's year's-worth of letters to him with his return letters and interspersed them with philosophical musings. The book is described as an extended postmodern "conversation" between two seekers intensely journeying together in a quest for meaning and purpose. The book takes its title from a seemingly prophetic portion of a piece Hicks submitted to "The Straits Times" just days before her death. In it she stated, "The brevity of life on earth cannot be overemphasized. I cannot take for granted that time is on my side—because it is not.... Heaven can wait, but I cannot".cite book |title=Heaven can Wait: Conversations with Bonny Hicks |last=Ben-Shahar |first=Tal |year=1998 |publisher=Times Books International |location=Singapore| |id = ISBN 9812049916] cite journal | author=Geoff Spencer | title=Most passengers still strapped in their seats |journal=Associated Press |date=21 December 1997]

Legacy

Much more than in her role as a model, Hicks is recognized for her contributions to Singaporean post-colonial literature that spoke out on subjects not normally broached, and the philosophy contained in her writings.Cite web | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20051121022527/http://www.zaobao.com/bilingual/pages/bilingual221298.html | title = Celebrating Bonny Hicks' Passion for Life | accessdate = 2006-12-27 | publisher = Harvard University | year = 1998 | author = Tu Wei-Ming | format = HTML] Describing the consensus of Singaporean literary scholars in 1995, two years prior Hicks's death, Ismail S. Talib in "The Journal of Commonwealth Literature" stated of "Excuse me, are you a Model?", "We have come to realize in retrospect that Hicks’s autobiographical account of her life as a model was a significant milestone in Singapore’s literary and cultural history".cite journal | author = Ismail S. Talib | title = Singapore | journal = Journal of Commonwealth Literature | year = 1995 | volume = 3 | issue = 35 | url = http://jcl.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/35/3/95.pdf | pages = 105|format=PDF A subscription is required to view the link.]

Amidst a backdrop of racialism in Singapore, Hicks is also recognized as a person who learned to cross cultural boundaries, found a comfortable niche in the betwixt and between of dominant cultural traditions, and to be race-blind and see people as they really were.

In 2000, The Singapore Council of Women's Organisations opened The Bonny Hicks Education & Training Centre in her honor.Cite web |url = http://www.scwo.org.sg/cms/content/category/4/78/54/ |title=Bonny Hicks Education & Training Centre | accessdate = 2006-12-26 | publisher=Singapore Council of Women's Organizations | format=HTML Photos of the inside of the Centre are viewable at http://www.scwo.org.sg/cms/content/view/19/44] cite journal | author=Janice Wong | title=Hard to follow in these steps | journal=The New Paper | date=May 4, 1997 | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050204065936/http://www.janice-wong.com/col00-05-04.htm]

ee also

*Sarong party girl

References