Surat untuk dia yang memberikan mawar dan api untuk kujaga

Mawar dan api yang kau titipkan (photo is taken by the author herself)

Pada suatu hari di tahun 2009 ada seorang pria yang menurut semua orang sempurna.

Lihatlah tampangnya yang menawan.

Lihatlah kemurahan hatinya.

Lihatlah kecerdasannya.

Lihatlah ia mampu untuk segera meminang gadis manapun yang ia suka.

Lihatlah sopan santun yang ia miliki.

Ia sempurna.

Bagi wanita mana pun.

Bahkan orang tua pun akan jatuh hati padanya.

Pria itu datang tiba-tiba memasuki jendela kehidupan seorang perempuan.

Katakanlah perempuan itu biasa saja.

Perempuan itu tidaklah menawan.

Perempuan itu tidaklah secerdas dia.

Perempuan itu masih kekanak-kanakan.

Perempuan itu.. jauh dari kata sempurna.

Perempuan itu tahu pria itu sempurna.

Memang. Di matanya pun sempurna.

Tapi. Hatinya tidak berkata yang sama.

Hatinya tidak berkata itu sempurna,

karena..

perempuan itu bukan tempat untuk berlari

bukan tempat untuk mencari kesenangan

bukan orang yang bisa membuat pria itu melupakan orang yang pernah pria itu cintai

Perempuan itu bukan pelarian.

Perempuan itu tahu bahwa kebahagiaan yang digenggam pria itu di tangannya

bukan untuk perempuan itu, tapi untuk perempuan yang benar-benar dicintai pria itu

dan itu… bukan sang perempuan itu..

Pada pria itu pun dia tidak bisa merasakan cinta seperti yang telah kamu tanam

Perempuan itu tidak pernah merasa sesak atau gemetar kala pria itu tak datang

Perempuan itu tak pernah dan tak bisa menangis untuk merindukan pria itu

Tidak.

Perempuan itu tidak bisa.

Perempuan itu tetap mencintaimu

Kau lebih mampu menjadikan perempuan itu sebagai dirinya sendiri

Meski dia pernah membuatmu terpukul

Perempuan itu tahu ternyata yang pernah ia perbuat itu menyakitkan orang yang sebenarnya ia cintai

Dia lebih tahu.

Hatinya ternyata, jauh hari saat kau pertama kali melihat perempuan itu, telah berkata bahwa kaulah yang sempurna.

Kapanpun saat ia akan memejamkan matanya, perempuan itu selalu memutar memori saat ia bertemu denganmu untuk pertama kalinya.

Sangat menyenangkan. Sangat sederhana. Sangat dalam.

Perempuan itu tidak perlu berpikir rumit untuk jatuh cinta padamu.

Setiap bagian memori masa lalu selalu ia kenang,

Untuk mengingatkannya ternyata yang lebih ia cintai itu kau.

Ingatkah perempuan yang selalu berdiri di depan jendela kelasmu?

Aku adalah perempuan itu.

Meski begini tetap mencintaimu.

Kau tidak perlu ragu tentang mawar dan api yang kau titipkan pada perempuan itu.

Dia tetap berjuang menjaga mawar dan api yang kau percayakan padanya.

Hatinya berkata bahwa kaulah sempurna.

Tak perlu menjadi sempurna di mata, cukup di hati pun tak mengapa.

Kau ingin perempuan itu percaya, maka percayalah pada perempuan itu juga.

Surat untukmu,

untuk A.S.

Kuliah Sebentar Lagi Kelar, Lalu?

Semester 7 sudah berakhir dengan sedikit tragis karena ternyata nilainya… oooh tidaaaaaaak… unbelievable..!! >.<

Menginjak semester 8 saya deg-degan sekaliiii…

Meski proposal sudah benar-benar jadi tapi masih ada bagian-bagian yang mengganjal motivasi saya untuk tancap gas.

Satu-satunya pengganjal adalah.. IPK.. saya tahu saya terlalu worried tentang angka-angka karena… siapa sih yang ngga tergiur oleh hebatnya angka 4,0 atau 3,5 untuk angka IPK yang (mungkin) akan disebutkan dengan lantang saat togamu dipasang?

Nah.. bagaimana dengan saya???

Saya bingung mau nyalahin siapa dan ternyata mungkin tidak ada yang harus disalahin yah.

Kita hidup terlalu takut oleh pendapat orang-orang di sekitar. Sadar atau tidak sadar ternyata iya.

Saya jadi teringat konsep Marxism (lagi) tentang postingan sebelumnya yaitu essay yang membahas karyanya Mark Twain, bahwa ternyata UANG DAN KASTA adalah dua hal yang worrying orang-orang di dunia ini.

Ayo, mengaku! Sedikitnya perasaan itu pernah ada, pikiran tentang hal itu pernah terlintas melewati rel pikiran. Iya kan? Iya?

Buktinya sekarang banyak sekali kasus korupsi di Indonesia.

Sederhana saja penyebabnya: Takut disebut orang miskin.

Ada yang salah dengan miskin? miskin apa? miskin uang? miskin ilmu? miskin kebahagiaan? Kayaknya sih miskin uang. Kan kalau miskin uang akan terjadi seperti pada cerita Mark Twain yang Bank Note itu: miskin = ga dihargai orang. Lah kalau begitu apa pentingnya sih kalau udah dihargai orang? Hmm..

Yaaa kira-kira begitu. Jadi saya harus pasrah aja atau gimana yah?

Di satu sisi saya percaya dan termotivasi oleh support orang-orang yang beranggapan bahwa ‘IPK’ tidak menentukan nasib sepenuhnya dan bukan segala-galanya. Di satu sisi saya tetap takut akan mengecewakan orang tua kalau saya ternyata tidak serius menjalani semuanya. Padahal saya ingin membuktikan kalau kuliah di Sastra itu bisa sama hebatnya dengan kuliah di jurusan-jurusan notabene lainnya kok. #jdug jdugin kepala

Hmm benar-benar yah. Saya ingin tahu siapa penyebab semua ini yang memberikan ‘doktrin’ tentang angka sehingga orang-orang punya ‘kepercayaan’ kaku seperti itu (termasuk saya, mudah-mudahan sedikit). Saya juga jadi inget cerita di novel Hard Times karya Charles Dickens. Di dalam ceritanya (oke saya kasih bocoran sedikit) sekelompok orang percaya bahwa perbedaan usia menunjukkan kesuksesan pernikahan dan di dalam cerita tersebut… ditunjukkan dengan data statistik yang (ceritanya sih) mendukung pendapat tersebut. Nah lho lagi-lagi angka.

Jadi sehabis kuliah saya mau kemana dan mau ngapain ????

Pilihannya adalah:

1. Kuliah S1 (lagi) mengambil jurusan yang mendukung skill, Farmasi atau Pariwisata atau Komunikasi?

2. Kerja di redaksi majalah yang saya idam-idamkan

3. Kuliah S2 ambil program sastra (lagi), ini saya suka tapi… ada batasan IPK yaaa… -,-’

4. Latihan menerjemahkan (ini sih bisa dilakukan sekaligus dengan 3 piilihan di atas) agar bisa jadi certified translator (amiin amiin..)

 

Aaaaah pada akhirnya: berdo’a saja mudah-mudahan kedua orang tua tidak begitu concern atau worried dengan angka brutal itu, kemudian para dosen pembimbing serta penguji diberi kemurahan hati mencentang angka brutal itu menjadi lebih baik. Besok saya mau tes toefl. Mudah-mudahan tembus. Oh iya tesnya di ITB lho, dulu kan SPMB di ITB juga, yaaa mudah-mudahan lulus juga. Hehehe. :p

 

Mark Twain’s The ₤ 1,000,000 Bank Note

Through the Marxism Principle

Ever read or heard Twain’s works?

Mark Twain’s short story The ₤ 1,000,000 Bank Note uncover the society’s ideology of respecting people material based presented by the shift of economic situation of Henry Adams. According to Marx, the moving force behind human history is its economic systems, for people’s lives are determined by their economic circumstances. A society is shaped by its force of production, the method it uses to produce the material elements of life. This essay tries to discover the ideology which is delivered in the story relating to Marxism principles, how does Henry Adams’ power is described in the story, what makes the ideology constitutes the way people behave and think, and how does the ideology gives impacts to the way people think in the story.

Mark Twain biases the position of Henry Adams as a poor who turns to a millionaire to shows the society ideology of respecting a person by regarding to the number of material a person has. The more a person has money, the more a person is being respected by others.

The author presents the ‘before and after’ economic and social condition of Henry Adams including how the others behave towards his economic condition. Before Henry turns to be a ‘sudden millionaire’, he appears to be very dreadful tramp and poor. ‘I had only a dollar in the pocket, this money fed and sheltered me twenty-four hours. During the next twenty-four I went without food and shelter’. The narrator shows how people treat him when he is in a very limited economic condition. When Adams, enter the tailor shop for a new clothes, the employee of the shop gives Henry Adams a very unfriendly service. The manner emerges only because Adams appears to be very dreadful physically wearing a rag and looks more miserable than a flunkey.

^{He took me into a back room, and overhauled a pile of rejected suits, and selected the rattiest one for me. The fellow worked up a most sarcastic expression of counterance}

^{‘..I’d only expect gentleman like you to carry large change’}

As the owner of the shop saw the bank note, there is a very contrast shift of the way people act towards the main character.

^{‘Rush these things through, send without any waste of time.  Let the minor customers wait…’ .}

Within the same setting, Henry experiences two contrasts people’s manner towards himself. Interesting and ironic case occurs when the owner said ‘Because he can’t tell a millionaire from a tramp’ and the main character said ‘My friend, you shouldn’t judge a stranger always by the clothes he wears.’. The idea about ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ comprehended by the shop owner is actually comes to be misleading only because the owner encounters the bank note. Suddenly, this idea makes the owner assumes Henry Adam as a person who should be respected for the wealth he own. The idea is not completely wrong but the idea of power gained from material comes to effect to people, who believe on the idea of materialistic, lost their logic. There is difference the way the cashier and the shop owner thought, cashier thinks rationally that it will be impossible for a millionaire appears like a tramp. Orang seperti pemilik toko itu bisa disebut sebagai seorang borgeoise atas pekerjaannya yang memiliki property, yaitu pakaian, yang menjilat seseorang.

The ideology of power based respect influence much the mass media publishing news to the society. Like in the story, the newspaper becomes to strong tools to spread out the ideology which then reconstruct society’s way of thinking.

^{For I had become one of the notorieties of the metropolis of the world, and it turned my head, not just a little but a good deal, you couldn’t take up a newspaper, without finding in it one or more references to the ‘vest-pocket million-pounder’ and his latest doings and sayings. At first, in these mentions, I was at the bottom of the personal-gossip column; next, I was listed above the knights, next above the baronets, next above the barons, and so on, and so on, climbing steadily.}

Thus, it builds a new idea how to put someone and how to give someone a respect including the level of respect to others depending on a particular person’s economic level. The effect of this media occurs in the story when Henry Adams visits American Minister to pay a thing. There, the minister seems to be very shocked of Adams presence in his office. The unusual thing done by the minister is apologizing to Adams of something which he did not really do.

^{He received me with the enthusiasm proper in my case, upbraided me for being so tardy in my duty and said that there was only one way to get his forgiveness and that was to take the seat at his dinner-party that night. ‘I beg your pardon, sir, I though I knew you’ – Mr Lloyd Hastings, apology for he does not invite Henry Adams to a dinner party.}

Even someone who already a day or a second know or being a friend of this millionaire can be suddenly a close friend only because the particular person he met is a popular person. ^{It turned out that he and my father had been schoolmates in boyhood, Yale students together later, and always warms friends to my father’s death.}

In conclusion, the ideology of valuing people in the story is well influenced by the contribution of mass media and the misleading of the concept ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. The main character wants to be in an equal position, wants to be treated the same as the high class people by saying the concept, but the shop owner perceive it differently.

Twain’s effort to use the concept of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ to help people to be in an equal position fails in the story, because the motivation of commodification, an attitude of valuing things for their resale possibilities, has already reconstruct the way people think.

Children Literature: Attracting young readers aged 5 to 7 using illustration of picture book

The Analysis of Illustration on ‘I am as fast as cricket’ rhyme book

(written by Meita Annisa Nurhutami, et al)

The focus of the analysis about this book is the illustration because it is the most interesting topic. There are not too many words provide in the book and they become the outline from what the author try to deliver to the readers. Because the book is intended for children aged 5 to 7, the illustration must be more interest them, rather than the text. The pictures contain four important points that help the readers to get the message from each sentence. Those are the main character, supporting character, setting of place and choice of color appeared in the picture.

First, the picture supports the appearance of the main character. The illustration portrays a boy with his expression related to his mood and personality. For example, in the fourth and fifth page we can see how contrast the expressions are. I’m as sad as a basset (page 4). The boy in the picture is crying, his eyes are closed and tears fell down on his cheek. While the next page, he smiles and his face looks brighter than the previous picture.

There are also supporting character appeared in the picture to be compared with the main character because this poem mostly used metonymy as the figure of speech. Mostly the main character is compared with various animals to reinforce the sentence above. Each animal represents the personality of main character. For example, at the end of the poem, the main character that is a boy face a wall pull of pictures of animals which are given to sum up   the previous pages.  The illustration leads the story of the poem presented by the author. It tells about character of a boy which is supported by the illustrations. The pictures describe how strong, calm, even wild as printed in the book.

Third, the picture of setting of place in the story has a great deal to illustrate the poem.  There are a lot of different and vary setting of place. Those setting are chosen appropriately depends on the mood of the character in every line of the poem. For example, the line ‘I’m as wild as a chimp’. The setting of the picture is in the forest which helps the reader to understand how wild the character is and also reinforce the adjective of ‘wild’ itself. It is because forest refers to something wild and freedom. Also, there is another setting which illustrates to reinforce the poem in the book. In the line, ‘I’m as brave as tiger’, the setting which represents ‘bravery’ is a place which is dark and there the character brings only a flashlight. This kind of setting symbolizes something which is full of danger, mystery or even spooky. The flashlight which is appeared in the picture resists the dark room which identically shows the bravery to resist fear.

The last point is the choice of color. The color which dominates the picture gives a psychological effect to reinforce the illustration on the book. For example, the line ‘I am as sad as basset. The blue color dominates the picture which illustrates this line. In the study of psychology, this color represents feeling of sadness, cold, calm, and loneliness. So, this color is very representing the adjective ‘sad’ and the whole message of the line as being sad. Another example for this point is the line ‘I am as happy as lark’. The color which dominantly in the picture is yellow and lime green. This color represents cheerful, brightness, and happiness.

A well crafted illustration in children’s literature is very useful to stimulate them to love reading literary works. The wonderful illustration, the short rhymes, the choice of color, the packages which is colorful is appropriate for the children readers because it is more attracting for them. Besides, pictures and colors lead the young reader to enrich their imaginations and visual knowledge. Therefore, writers or illustrators should choose a suitable illustration carefully for children’s literature because their reader is not easy interested to ‘ordinary’ works. In other words, works intended for young reader especially aged 5 to 7 has to be attracting in terms of its appearance.

A piece of writing about Photography in general

Photography is no longer ‘particular groups’ hobby

(written by Meita Annisa Nurhutami)

Digital Single Lens-Reflex with a tele lens

Photography is an art of recording object or the moment using a tool, namely camera. As well as playing a piano or playing a guitar, taking photograph also becomes a hobby for people who appreciate art.  Many people said that photography is more like playing golf because this hobby is costly and only particular people enable to occupy it. Costly in photography means people will dare to buy the photo in a high price. The price is not for the photo, but for its aesthetic value. Photography is not always related to expensive budget and exclusive group.

People’s opinion about only person who has finance can try to take a photograph seems like a judgement that people who cannot afford to buy a camera is unable to occupy photography. This thought is no longer 100% true because nowadays the camera’s price is affordable because the development of technology grows fast. Since many electronic enterprises produce various cameras, the price of those cameras is varied starting from an affordable one such as pocket camera to the most costly one, like DSLR (Digital Single-Lens-Reflex).  People are more interested in camera phone because of its affordable price and performance quality. This camera becomes the most important feature in almost all types of cell phone. Even the cheapest phone also completes its feature with a camera and colorful LCD. However, its quality is lower than the more expensive ones. So, people who want to appreciate art are no longer worried about the cost of the equipment they need because the price is now affordable.

Pocket camera supported by 8 MP resolution is available for the beginner and has an affordable price.

I believe that photograph will help people. Photography belongs to everyone because it can help them to fulfill some of their needs.  In Indonesia, children who attend the first grade in a school have to complete the regulation form with their portrait, a photograph of their face.  Then, their parents can take their child’s photo by themselves using a cell phone’s camera.  Students who read a biology textbook will be more interested to read the book if it is featured with colorful pictures especially photographs. Therefore, the biologists or writers who produce textbooks are required to have skill in photography. A fashion designer will also be more popular if they promote their works through photos sent to a fashion magazine.

Camera phone is not only used for fun

Everyone can be a photographer supported by a fast technology development. Creativity will arises if people are shoved by the necessity on photography. People will facilitate each other to give others right to develop their imagination and creativity. They will have their own way to capture a moment or an object according to how their inner eyes view it. If the camera features are limited such as cell phone’s camera, people can edit the photo through digital imaging by using some photo editor software. This software is also available for the beginner users to advanced users. Therefore, people will have a more room to experiment and sharpen their creativity.

Berpuisi Bersama Bunga

Gue ngga bisa bikin puisi.

Iya.

Jadi gue mengutip salah satu puisi favorit gue karya William Blake.

Here it is.

The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm

That flies in the night,

In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy

(gue ngga punya foto hasil sendiri yang bergambar bunga mawar, someday I’ll try, jadi pake bunga itu dulu yaa..)

* William Blake ini adalah seorang poets atau penulis puisi yang menganut Romanticism di abad 18-19an, jadi ada beberapa istilah yang digunakan dalam puisi-puisinya yang   bersifat Archaic atau bahasa tua yang pada zaman sekarang tidak digunakan lagi. Istilah ini juga ada dalam The Sick Rose berikut artinya, yaitu:

thou: you (as object)

thy: your

art: are

Sekalian ah, gue juga mau upload foto bunga karya gue.. hehehe..

Tadi pagi mamah sama bapak ke pasar, judulnya beli sorabi. Eh, pas pulang sorabi memang ada tapi juga beli bunga. Ih waw. Amazing. Gue suka sama bunga walaupun ngga tahu jenis-jenisnya. Gue juga belum bisa motret bunga pake modus makro karena memang media terbatas.

Ini foto-foto bunga gue.

Another Masterpiece

Love of the Couple of Stripes

Everybody, I was interviewed by someone about my life. Okay, before I tell you about the interview, I will introduce myself to all of you. My name is Jean Claude. I live in the most crowded place of the most crowded place in Paris. That’s what people called about my home. You can find me behind the door which labelled: Con de mime (Silly Clown).

Let’s move on. It happened yesterday. In the morning before I go to school, a woman that I never knew interviewed a little boy aged 5. The boy was me. I never knew who the woman might be. She asked me how my parents met through they got married.

He wears a long black and white stripes shirt. A red scarf twisted on his neck. He always wears his red beret. No, he is not an army. I’m not finish yet telling you about my father. Well, his face is coated with things such a white crème. I don’t know what the name of this kind of face coating. If you still can’t imagine it, this coating is always used by clown or geisha. Now, can you imagine it? No, he is not a clown or even a geisha. He is the most handsome person that I’ve ever seen. He is a little bit fat but not flabby. He lived in a smallest flat in Paris.

He always wakes up in the morning as the cock crow. He walked into the dining room (he told me that it is dining room). He opened the window that straight to Eiffel Tower and said “Ah…good morning Paris!” he sniffed the cool atmosphere of Paris which is a little bit polluted. Then, he closed the window and look at glance to the Eiffel Tower poster on the wall; Paris city of love, officially stamped on it. He really loves this city. He took his cat and put it on the table, then he caressed his lovely cat.

He is a rich man, rich of imaginations. He doesn’t need money, he doesn’t need to pay the tax. He will get everything he want without spending money, he use his imagination. He started his car and drove to go around Paris for some city sight seeing. He parked his car and visited one of his favourite cafe. The twin lady look at him, they expressed as they find someone stranger. He sat and took relax; started to read a newspaper. Then he took a glass, then slugged the juice. The twin lady look at him for the second times but he didn’t care. As the waiter come he leaved the café and of course leaved the bill on the desk.

I have to confirm you that he used his imagination for everything he did. Paying without money, but his imaginary money. Driving without his car, but this imaginary car. Drinking without the real drinks, but his imaginary drinks. Reading without newspaper, but his imaginary newspaper. Just simply imagination.

People said he is crazy, strange, and…foolish! People need reality. Reality is everything and imagination is nothing (at least people I knew said so). Well, I don’t think so until I find one fact.  Now, I’ll continue my story. Here it goes.

He (my father) went around the park in front of Eiffel Tower, he admired the atmosphere of the park until his mood was changed. He missed something. There were lots of people, some of them were in couple or in groups. He saw a couple were kissing. He wanted it too, but he missed something. He saw a couple of fat person walking under the Eiffel Tower and hugging their couple. He just can imitate how the flabby fat walked. Can you imagine how the flabby fats walk?? Yeah. Ok. Stop laughing.

He saw the groups were taking some picture of Eiffel Tower. He just smiled and followed them. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow him to follow them. He saw a tall man is using a headset. I called the man as ‘disco man’ or DM. The man listened to a disco music so loud that my father could hear it then the DM is dancing. Hippy hop hop hop. Shaking his body. My father imitated DM’s dancing and followed him. Unfortunately the disco man felt that my father disturbs him. He shouted and chased my father! Fortunately and unfortunately the security came. Why? Fortunately my father was saved from the chase. Unfortunately, my father has to send to jail.

“OOY!!!! Can you take me out of this bastard hell??!!” shouted a prisoner that being prison in the same jail with my father. He screamed louder after he found that ‘two of his friends’ started to interact. The two others prisoner were my father and a woman who has the same style as him. I called the woman as ‘smiling woman’ or SW. They looked at each other and smiled. The crazy prisoner looked scared because of their pantomime. They find something they missed; something missing for a long time. It’s love. Je T’Aime! (I’m in love). He said in his own mind.

Finally, my father and SW were free from the prison. They smiled and my father started to drive his car. They drove around the city of love, through the Eiffel Tower glared in the city lights, through the bridge on the sparkling Seine River on the night. They didn’t need the real car or even the real money. All they need is the real feeling and of course the real part of their life.

So, folks, that’s all what I told to the woman I never knew who she might be. I am the son of the couple of stripes. I never called them as Con de Mime, they are my real pantomime. I see everything what they see; the imaginary cat, imaginary car, even imaginary money. Just the simple imagination. I said so.

 

**The End**

 

(re-written from the Paris Je T’Aime movie)

Jadi pengen teriak Je T’Aime, yang keras ah…

JE T’AIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…!!!!!!!!!!!

hehehe.. cukup