Image Credit: pegipegi.com

Have you ever been to Bosccha? Well, if you haven’t you should visit it sometime before it’s being moved. As we all know, Bosscha is known as the largest astronomical research facility in Indonesia which is located in Lembang Bandung, and has been used since 1920. In addition to a research facility, it’s also used as tourist attractions for people who want to see stars and planets through its binoculars collection. But lately, Bosccha has been advised to be moved because of the surroundings which starting to inhibit its activities.

According to Dr. Johnny Setiawan, an astronomer from Indonesia who works at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Bosscha in Bandung was not possible to be a research facility anymore. The reason is not because of its facility but its surroundings, as he said “Bandung now is already too crowded and a lot of light pollution causing that Bosscha can’t be use as astronomical observation anymore.”

The standard for a decent observation area are; it has to be a spacious area, not much dust, the temperature is not too hot and not much light pollution emanating from the lightsof houses and vehicles. By that, we can see that Bosscha is no longer possible to be used as a decent research facility, and according to Dr. Johnny the regions in Indonesia that can be a decent area is Nusa Tenggara Timur. He said the characteristics in NTT is almost the same as in La Sillia Chile Observatory, which is still desert and not much light pollution.

Bosscha team already observed for a new area in Nusa Tenggara Timur, but according to Suryadi and Mahasena, Bosscha research team, to build a modern observatory a large of fund about 400 billion-500 billion is needed. By that, the governement is expected to provide care, support, and realize in this construction of new observatory, so that furthermore Bosscha can be saved not only for research facility but also education for Indonesian people.

Dr. Johnny said that actually Indonesia has lots of potential to broaden its astronomical field, it’s better to develop Bosscha Observatorium more, so furthermore it can be the the forerunner to the development of astronomy in Indonesia. Let’s hope that the new Bosscha can be build in a more decent area and develop well. So now, before it’s been moved to far away, why don’t you visit Bosscha at least to see the amazing Binoculars collection, i suppose it won’t be regretting to visit a wonderful place like that.

Sources:

www.voaindonesia.com/a/observatorium-bosscha...-/2676270.html

nasional.republika.co.id › News › Nasional

https://m.tempo.co/read/news/2015/03/18/058650981/proyek-properti-ancam-bosscha-ini-reaksi-ridwan-kamil

http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/bandung-raya/2015/03/12/319508/observatorium-bosscha-akan-pindah-ke-ntt

Tomlinson’s short story The Inexperienced Governess depicted the situation of how woman should be on 1850. There were still so many restricted rules of an ideal woman should be, which were made by the civilization themself at that time.

To make it easier, let’s look at these list of how a woman should be,

1. A young woman expected to be timid and reserve, when meeting another people for the first time. A young woman should have ease of manner, and expected to have diffidence. (p.4)

2. They were expected to have interests on some general subject. But, it means that they couldn’t speak their mind freely on some subject. They expected to have broad knowledge and have feminine skills such as sewing.

3. It’s not common for a woman to exaggerates her emotion, women were expected to be calm. For instance, in a conversation, they shouldn’t using sudden exclamation. A woman couldn’t expressed their emotion too much.

4. The speaking tone of a woman, as the point above stated that they couldn’t expressed their emotion freely, so the they musn’t speak loudly or otherwise. If they speak and laugh loudly, it was considered that she has no manner.

5. A woman shouldn’t be too comfortable and relaxed as they speak with everyone, especially with men. A woman should keep her pride.

Meanwhile, those five criterias of ideal woman collided with how a real woman lives,

1. It is depends on a woman to be shy or not, it’s also a matter of social speaking skills.

2. It must be exhausting to just listen to others people opinion, so some real women are clear about what subjects they don’t like and like.

3. To be calm all the time, is not easy. People tend to have differents emotional skills. Some people just couldn’t keep calm all the time.

4. How people speak reflected how are their emotion, so it is depends on the emotion. It’s also depends on each indivduality.

5. It’s a matter of speaking skills, it doesn’t mean that every women are flirting whenever they talk to men, it’s just the judges from the surroundings.

As we can see, an ideal woman is a figure set by the civilization, especially by media nowadays. But, everything is depends on the individual itself, we couldn’t actually labels of how an individual should be.

PENGGUNAAN KATA PANGGILAN YANG DIGUNAKAN PASANGAN KEKASIH DALAM KEHIDUPAN BERMASYARAKAT INDONESIA

Linna Amanda (1405185)

Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris

Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

ABSTRAK

Kata panggilan merupakan sesuatu yang relatif antar individu, khususnya antara pasangan kekasih. Kata panggilan digunakan untuk menunjukan kedekatan dan kasih sayang dalam sebuah hubungan. Banyak jenis kata panggilan yang umum dipakai pasangan kekasih di Indonesia, namun akhir-akhir ini marak terdengar kata panggilan yang terkesan tidak pantas untuk digunakan khususnya oleh kalangan remaja. Masyarakat mempunyai banyak tanggapan tentang macam-macam kata panggilan tersebut yang disuarakan melalui berbagai macam media diskusi termasuk melalui forum internet.

Kata kunci: Kata panggilan, relatif, pasangan kekasih, tanggapan masyarakat.

PENDAHULUAN

Dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat tiap individu mempunyai hubungan yang relatif dalam kedekatan antara satu sama lain. Kedekatan yang dialami antar individu tentunya berbeda untuk setiap orang sehingga bersifat relatif. Hubungan kedekatan yang relatif ini menimbulkan perbedaan kata panggilan atau kata sapaan yang digunakan dalam bersosialisasi. Pengertian Kata panggilan atau kata sapaan menurut Badan Bahasa dan Pembinaan Bahasa Kementrian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan adalah “kata yang digunakan untuk menegur sapa orang yang diajak berbicara (orang kedua) atau menggantikan nama orang ketiga”.

Kata panggilan ini relatif dengan hubungan antara dua orang atau lebih misalnya hubungan antara rekan kerja, sepasang suami istri, sekumpulan sahabat, dan lain-lain. Hubungan tersebutlah faktor utama dalam kata panggilan. Selain itu kata panggilan juga disebabkan faktor kebudayaan seperti suku dan adat istiadat yang sudah diterima dan ditanamkan oleh masyarakat. Faktor kebudayaan ini menghasilkan banyak perbedaan kata panggilan yang biasanya digunakan dilingkup masyarakat yang tidak begitu luas seperti disuatu daerah atau suatu komunitas budaya. Kata panggilan yang digunakan dalam masyarakat dalam bersosialisasi berubah mengikuti tren sesuai perkembangan zaman. Kata panggilan juga disesuaikan dengan umur seseorang dan ruang lingkup sosialnya.

Di era globalisasi ini banyak pengaruh yang masuk ke berbagai aspek kehidupan masyarakat Indoneisa tak terkecuali kata panggilan. Banyak kata panggilan yang terserap dan tercampur dari bahasa asing beredar dikalangan remaja dan masyarakat di kota-kota besar Indonesia. Biasanya kata panggilan yang baru dan unik menyebar cepat dikalangan remaja anak sekolah dan kuliah yang akhirnya menyebar ke kalangan umum. Tak halnya kata panggilan tersebut banyak yang aneh dan terkesan tidak sesuai seperti kata panggilan yang akan penulis bahas di jurnal ini yaitu kata panggilan dalam hubungan pasangan kekasih di Indonesia yang ternyata mulai terkesan nyeleneh di mata masyarakat.

Belakangan ini dampak negatif era modern yang telah menyerang adat istiadat ternyata tak luput dari kata panggilan. Dijaman sekarang ini bisa dilihat bahwa banyak kalangan dibawah umur sehingga banyak anak-anak yang berperilaku seperti orang dewasa. Hal ini dapat dibuktikan dari mulai banyaknya anak dibawah umur yang telah menjadi pasangan kekasih dan melewati norma-norma sosial yang tidak pantas dilakukan untuk anak dibawah umur. Dan lagi anak-anak remaja yang sudah mulai memadu kasih tersebut membuat masyarakat memandang buruk kepada mereka karena kata panggilan yang digunakan terkesan tidak pantas. Selain dipakai anak-anak remaja, biasanya kalangan anak muda dari umur 20-25 juga memakai kata panggilan yang sama dan juga terkesan tidak pantas. Maka dari itu disini penulis akan membahas kata panggilan yang digunakan dalam pasangan kekasih dan pengaruhnya dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat Indonesia.

BAHAN DAN METODE PENELITIAN

Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi kasus. Penulis mengamati dan meneliti sebuah forum sosial budaya yang membahas kasus sosial tentang kata panggilan yang digunakan pasangan kekasih di mata masyarakat Indonesia Forum yang diamati adalah sebuah forum dari sebuah portal internet tabloid berita Indonesia yaitu Detik di bagian forum sosial budaya dan forum dari Kaskus sebuah forum diskusi terbesar di Indonesia.

Forum detik.com dimulai dengan salah satu pertanyaan dan opini yang dijelaskan oleh seorang member beridentitas rosa_rozano seperti berikut Panggilan kesayangan kepada pacar anak ABG jaman sekarang, apa tanggapan kalian? Lalu penulis mengamati dan menganalisa tanggapan dan diskusi yang diberikan oleh member forum yang berjumlah 48 tanggapan. Sedangkan di forum kaskus.co.id dimulai dengan halaman diskusi tentang kata panggilan pasangan kekasih zaman sekarang oleh seorang member beridentitas gwrico dan mendapatkan 2112 tanggapan dari member kaskus.co.id lainnya. Dari diskusi dan tanggapan para member dua forum inilah penulis mengamati dan menganalisa kasus sosial budaya ini.

HASIL

Berdasarkan forum kaskus yang telah diamati dan diteliti tentang panggilan kekasih pada zaman sekarang dapat ditemukan banyak macam kata panggilan pasangan kekasih yang beredar di masyarakat, khususnya remaja. Ada beberapa kata panggilan standar untuk hubungan pasangan kekasih di Indonesia yaitu sayang dan sejenisnya seperti bebeb dari serapan baby, nama masing-masing, nama panggilan sesuai sifat dan karakteristik pasangan itu sendiri seperti kurus-tembem, dan juga diambil dari pasangan yang ada dianimasi seperti micky-minnie dan olive-popeye. Kata panggilan yang standar tersebut dianggap normal dan dapat diterima oleh masyarakat Indonesia. Sedangkan , ternyata ada beberapa kata panggilan yang aneh dan tidak pantas untuk digunakan oleh sepasang kekasih, khususnya remaja yang masih duduk dibangku sekolah seperti papi-mami / ayah-bunda / abi-umi yang seharusnya nama panggilan untuk pasangan suami-istri.

Sedangkan di forum detik tentang panggilan kekasih yang digunakan remaja zaman sekarang, tanggapan masyarakat terhadap kasus tersebut bermacam-macam. Tanggapan yang diberikan untuk kasus pasangan kekasih remaja beberapa ada tanggapan positif namun ditemukan lebih banyaknya tanggapan negatif yang diberikan. Bahkan hampir seluruh dari tanggapan bersifat negatif dan yang bersifat positif hanya karena beranggapan itu adalah hal individu. Tanggapan negatif disebabkan oleh tidak pantasnya subjek yang menggunakan kata panggilan tersebut. Masyarakat berpendapat bahwa pasangan yang masih remaja tidak pantas untuk menggunakan kata panggilan yang seharusnya digunakan oleh pasangan yang sudah menikah seperti ayah-bunda karena terkesan berlebihan dan bahkan menjijikan.

PEMBAHASAN

Penggunaan kata panggilan antara pasangan kekasih merupakan sesuatu yang biasa di masyarakat Indonesia maupun luar negeri. Kata panggilan tersebut juga sebagai penanda kasih sayang kepada satu sama lain dan juga sebagai penanda untuk status hubungan antara dua orang.

Kata panggilan antar kekasih adalah hal yang biasa untuk digunakan dan didengar orang lain, namun ternyata akhir-akhir ini banyak kata panggilan yang aneh dan tidak pantas beredar dikalangan remaja. Belakangan ini banyak kata panggilan yang tidak didengar dari anak yang masih dibawah umur untuk memanggil pasangannya seperti ayah-bunda dan membuat masyarakat kaget dan jijik. Entah dari mana asal mulanya kata panggilan yang seharusnya digunakan pasangan menikah digunakan oleh kalangan remaja sekarang. Ini bukanlah pengaruh dari negara lain karena di negara lain pasangan kekasih tidak seperti ini melainkan hanya menggunakan kata panggilan standar saja seperti sayang, honey, dan kata-kata manis lainnya. Mungkin kata panggilan yang melewati kodrat tersebut juga sebagai doa agar hubungan pasangan kekasih dapat sampai ke jenjang yang diinginkan. Tapi yang dilihat masyarakat adalah tidak pantasnya subjek yang melakukan dan berpendapat anak remaja zaman sekarang sudah mulai bersifat lebih dewasa dari umur aslinya dari tingkah laku dan perkataan.

Sebagian masyarakat juga menilai bahwa perkembangan kata panggilan yang tidak pantas di kalangan remaja itu merupakan hasil lingkungan sosialnya, bahwa remaja tersebut mendapatkan ide dari orang-orang yang lebih tua dan tidak dapat menyerap dengan baik serta tak ada yang membimbing untuk membenarkan kodrat dalam memakai kata panggilan. Selain itu, masyarakat juga berpendapat bahwa hal tersebut terjadi karena memang remaja tersebut berharap agar mereka dapat menjalani hubungan yang serius dan berjalan lama.

Sebenarnya tidak anak remaja saja yang menggunakan kata panggilan seperti itu, banyak juga orang dewasa yang menggunakannya. Namun masyarakat beranggapan bahwa anak remaja seharusnya masih bermain-main saja dalam hal cinta, tidak terlalu serius karena dimasa remaja memang waktunya untuk mencari jati diri dan mengejar cita-cita.

Masyarakat juga beranggapan jika didalam hubungan yang masih tanpa ikatan jelas seperti pacaran sebaiknya jangan melakukan dan beranggapan yang dalam seperti kata panggilan yang ayah-bunda. Itu dapat berefek buruk bila hubungan tidak lagi berjalan dan akan meninggalkan kenangan yang lebih buruk kepada pasangan itu, juga lingkungan sekitar dapat beranggapan bahwa bila suatu pasangan sudah terlalu dalam seperti itu mereka akan lebih berspekulasi yang tidak jelas terhadap mereka.

KESIMPULAN

Kata panggilan pasangan kekasih dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat Indonesia bermacam-macam. Terdapat kata-kata standar yang dapat diterima oleh masyarakat luas seperti sayang, baby, ndut, dan sebagainya. Namun ternyata di zaman sekarang ini banyak pula bermunculan kata panggilan yang banyaknya beredar di kalangan remaja dan tidak pantas seperti ayah-bunda dan mendapat tanggapan negatif dari masyarakat karena terlalu berlebihan untuk hubungan yang masih tanpa ikatan. Masyarakat beranggapan bahwa dalam menjalani hubungan kekasih sebaiknya jangan terlalu serius, berlebihan, dalam, dan dewasa karena terkesan tidak pantas khusunya untuk kalangan remaja.

DAFTAR PUSTAKA

Roselani, Ni Gusti Ayu. (1991). “Bentuk Sapaan Dalam Bahasa Inggris dan Bahasa Indonesia”. Jurnal Humaniora Universitas Gadjah Mada. 3, 152-151.

Muniroh, Siti. (2009). Aspek-Aspek yang Mendasari Bentuk Sapaan Dalam Komunikasi Antar Budaya”. Jurnal Pendidikan Nilai Kajian, Teori, Praktik, dan Pengajarannya. 17, (2), 143-151.

Sutami, Hermina. (1987). “Kata Sapaan Bahasa Indonesia Khususnya di Jakarta”. Jurnal Lingusitik Universitas Indonesia. 50-66.

Fitriani, Ria. (2014). “Gaya Cinta Pada Remaja Akhir”. Jurnal Online Psikologi Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang. 2, (1), 1-14.

Hamzah, Dr. Zaitul Azma bt Zainon. (2010). “Parameter Kesopanan Dalam Kalangan Kanak-Kanak Dan Remaja: Analisis Pragmatik”. Jurnal Bahasa Universiti Putra Malaysia. 1, 1-4.

Judul : The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Sutradara : Stephen Chbosky

Pemain : Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller

Genre : Komedi-Drama, Romansa

Durasi : 103 menit

Tanggal rilis : 21 September, 2012

Diangkat ke layar lebar berdasarkan sebuah novel fiksi karangan Stephen Chbosky, yang juga merupakan sutradara dari film ini. Bercerita tentang seorang remaja lelaki bernama Charlie (Logan Lerman) yang baru memulai hari-harinya di sma. Ia adalah remaja yang pendiam dan pemalu sehingga susah untuk mendapatkan teman. Sampai akhirnya ia bertemu dengan dua orang senior yang merupakan saudara tiri, Sam (Emma Watson) dan Patrick (Ezra Miller), yang menjadi titik balik kehidupannya. Sejak saat itu mereka bertiga menjadi dekat karena Charlie mulai merasa nyaman dan mulai masuk kedalam lingkungan pergaulan Sam dan Patrick. Setelah beberapa lama Charlie mulai terpesona dan menyukai Sam karena kepintaran dan kecantikannya walaupun ia tahu bahwa Sam sudah mempunyai pacar. Tapi karena sebuah kesalahpahaman, seorang gadis bernama Mary Elizabeth (Mae Whitman) jatuh hati kepada Charlie dan merekapun berpacaran. Namun Charlie tetap menyukai Sam tanpa seorangpun mengetahuinya. Sampai suatu saat karena suatu kejadian terkuaklah bahwa Charlie mempunyai trauma masa lalu.

Yang menarik didalam film ini adalah karakternya. Bila dilihat dari genrenya akan membuat orang-orang berspekulasi bahwa film ini adalah kisah romantis klise seperti film remaja kebanyakan. Tapi setelah menonton ataupun membaca novelnya, karakternya digambarkan sebagai remaja-remaja yang merupakan wallflower. Istilah wallflower digunakan untuk menyebut remaja yang disaat acara seperti pesta dansa memilih untuk berdiri di pinggir ruangan, tidak cupu namun tidak juga populer, lebih karena pemalu dan introvert. Bahkan karakter seperti Sam dan Patrick digambarkan sebagai remaja yang keren namun dalam dunia mereka sendiri, tidak mengikuti tren yang berlaku, itulah yang membuat Charlie nyaman diantara mereka. Penonton tidak hanya terpaku pada kehidupan Charlie namun juga dari kehidupan Patrick yang juga cukup intrinsik. Hal menarik lainnya adalah kilasan trauma masa lalu Charlie disepanjang film yang akan membuat penonton berhipotesis oleh apa yang telah terjadi dengannya.

Keseluruhan film ini cukup mengesankan untuk ditonton. Dibalut dengan screenplay, dialog, dan soundtrack yang sangat pas. Penonton dapat ikut hanyut kepada apa yang para karakter rasakan. Sang sutradara dapat menggambarkan rasa kesedihan, kesepian, dan kekalutan dengan baik. Khususnya rasa kegembiraan Charlie saat bersama dengan Sam dan Patrick. Karena sang sutradara merupakan penulis novelnya sendiri, para pembaca novelnya pun tidak kecewa dengan filmnya juga jajaran pemain terkenal di film ini dapat mewujudkan para karakter dengan akting yang meyakinkan dan membuat penonton jatuh hati.

*Both reflective essays below are written for two classes: Themes in Literature and Exploring Fiction

A Pleasure Seekers

(What Makes Me A Reader)

People has many different hobbies to fill their time, but the most basic things are reading, watching, and listening. Everyone read for different purposes, because to be a literate is very important. Not everyone like to read, but many read for pleasures including me. Everyone has their own taste and experience as a reader, so here is mine.

I’m not a bibliophile, but i’m on the stage where i found myself sniffing between books’ pages. I also like to go to the library or a bookstore just to see their collection, and realizing i have spend hours there. As far as I can remember, i started like to read since i was a kid. It actually started with manga or Japanese comic, until i began to curious about what lies inside my father’s bookshelf, and I vaguely remember about my first semi-serious book was about Karl Marx. I’m not a hard reader, but i read a lot, and that’s the reason i wear this eyeglasses since i was in second year of elementary school.

Because i grew up in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and there are only two bookstore which only sell books in Bahasa, i used to read local and translations books. When i was in junior high, i didn’t like fictions at all, back then i would choose personal experience genre. Maybe, it was because as a young girl who grew up in an ordinary town, i had a very strong desire to go out of my town, so i read books about travelers a lot. I also like to read about someone’s job such as; journalist, stewardess, director, etc, and maybe that was because as a teenage who didn’t know what to do in the future, i found it interesting to see how everyone lives differently. In high school, i had this Bahasa teacher who was really strict, so we had to read a book within two weeks and present it in front of the class, even though i was in science class. He persistently told us, that we have to read a lot no matter what we read. That was when i started to came to the city library, and apparently has many collections of great books. So i started reading classic literary type of books such as; Frankenstein, Dracula, etc. Somehow, i got interested in those types of books, and that’s because i’ve heard and read short-stories when i was a child, you know it’s just like people oftenly heard about Peterpan, Frankenstein, etc, but they don’t really know what is that or where is the story come from, and that’s why i interested for knowing the roots of the story.

When I started college life last year, that was when i found it easy to get non-translation book, and it made me really happy. I still interested in classical literary, mostly the famous one such as; Catcher in The Rye, Phantom of The Opera, etc. I read those kinds of famous classic literary books, because i want to know what makes them considered as what most says books you have to read before you died. But if a book is to classic, maybe the languange is too hard or i don’t like the genre, i wouldn’t continue to read and just stop. But still, i would find the summary in the internet to wrap the story.

I don’t really have a favourite type of writing, but i prefer novel than short-story, because in a short-story i often found the story would be hanging in my mind, i would come up with so many possibilities and i don’t like that. I’m the type of the reader who gets stuck on the author, i mean if the author said a character is gone, i wouldn’t mind it again. Because i read for pleasure, to get away from my riot mind for a while, and i would give my mind wholly to where ever the author take me. I always imagine reading as having a new friends or being someone else, i don’t want my life to getting in the way, so i will leave all my life behind and come in a new whole word. That made me realize, my favourite genre is fiction, just fiction without science or historical. I can see that, because beside i want to get away from my mind, i also kind of bored of my life. Not bored in a way i’m tired to live, but i want something unreal, absurd, abstract, something beyond imagination, i love those kinds of things. But, to find those types of book is not easy, so far my favorite author is Haruki Murakami, and he is a Japanese so i couldn’t discuss it in any class so far. His type of writing is so absurd, like suddenly a hundred of mackerel is pouring from the sky and whatsoever, and that bizzareness is somehow captivated me. Maybe that’s why i also really love comic, because it just so weird, a lot of comic is nonsense. So far, my favourite books are Kafka on The Shore by Haruki Murakami and Jukstaposisi by Calvin Michel Sidjaja. Those two books are mindblowingly bizzare about life, religion, and nature. Those books kind of reflecting my inner thought about this life, about my deep curiousity and feelings about everything.

I usually don’t like to read drama or romantical books because it’s not relatable with my life, and also historical books because it’s so boring and i’m not interested. Also, i don’t read saga and popular nowadays novel which made into movies, i just don’t have interest with the popular things.

I’m not pushing myself to set a target to read books, i will read whatever attract me, and whenever i want to read it. I’m not pushing myself to be a fast reader, in fact i like to read at a leisurely pace, to make sure words are alive and vivid as i read them through my mind’s vision, since i’m a very visual type of thinking. When i finished a novel, i wouldn’t read it again for a long time, because i always imagine a book is where another life is going on, and it felt like meeting someone new and as the story ended, i found it hard to finish it.

I don’t have someone who really important to shape me as a reader, maybe my father or friends who gave me some good books, but not really shaped me. I used to follow my curiousity to find a book to read, or through the reader community goodreads.com. But sadly, i have to confess i still judge books from its cover, and somehow that embarrasses me.

So i think that what makes me a reader, through my experience and my taste of reading. I’m hoping to explore many books through literature major, not just in English or Indonesian, but also great literatures all over the world.

#WHYLITERATUREMATTERS

Being exposed to the question, why literature matters, is very challenging for me. For all I know, nor science studies which has the (what they believe) exact answers for everything, neither social studies which give answers with more into open-ended is not matter. It's just like the slogan that is made by African American race in America #blacklivesmatter and followed by the following not-so-sensational hashtag #alllivesmatter. Surely, I know that it's not literally about “matters”, but it's a shame to think that some of the wars and riots that happened in this life is because the lack of respect that some people have. This lack of respect, I believe, could also be overcome with literature and that is why literature is indeed matters according to my own reflection with the help of Gillespie article.

From what I see, Gillespie had this challenged feeling to the question, just the same way as I am. Moreover, he was a teacher and being questioned about why we should believe what he think he believed is quite confusing at first. But, Gillespie explained it directly and simply, that through literature we can get a deeper understanding about our own empathy and imagination. The realization as a teacher to make the students a better individual, not just a smarter individual also stated sharply, which will lead to human experience that is actually related to literature. At the end, Gillespie sure that literature is indeed matters and needed by everyone.

Mostly, I agree to the reasons that Gillespie explained in his article. There are a few lines that I favorably highlighted which will be followed by the reasons of my agreement. First of all,”One of its potential benefits is to enlarge a reader's sense about the many possible ways to live”, is a good start to why literature matters. I can see that by knowing many possible ways to live means that we are hoping for a brighter future, we believe in hope and we're not scared of tomorrow. Surely, in business failure is a major problem, but life without motivation and hope is so boring. This way, we can see a life from someone else's perspective whose maybe more optimistic, and it can make us feel relieved to know that we are not the only one who are faced with problem, and we can learned from them. “Literature offers students diversity that their neighborhood may not”, this is the reason to the problems that I stated in the first paragraph. By knowing how other people living their live differently than our lives is actually very interesting, because none of us lives the same way. But, human scared of what they don't know, or at least what seems vague to them. That's why lack of knowledge and preferably lack of empathy towards other people is just a stupid way to live, moreover in this advanced technology era. The last, “Literature does not teach morals in a didactic way; rather, it gives us a chance to experience moral dilemmas”, this one is very important, because the morals given by literature are not really strict, even though it can be confusing. We can be in someone else's shoes and start figuring out how to live like that, even though we have the main character to solve everything in the end of the story, it feels like the author has given us the capability to think another ways to solve the problems and how to see them critically, and I think it's very good for our brain, moreover to empathize with other people and how to face similar problems in the real life.

The most important reasons, I believe, are my own thought from the perspective of a beginner in literature. I believe there is this one thing that differentiate us and any other living creatures in this earth, since maybe there's more higher form of creatures out there in another galaxy; feeling. For me, feeling is very sacred, because of it's abstract yet sensitive concept. Feeling is what makes us one, yet it can makes us far, in another word it's empathy. Sure, for some people the point in living is being success, but success is relative. Success which is followed by happy is perfect, at least for me. But as long that I'm happy, it's the real perfect. The cliche thing is that we human can not live without socialization with each other, but it's true. What's the point of living without having any feeling? The answer is robot; go to work everyday, nine to five, finding money to support life before death take us. That's why by reading literature, it's important to sharpen our feeling, even though it's for our own sake. Passion comes from feeling, and as long as we do what we love, it's great. But, it's better if we know what impact our passion makes for other people, not just doing what we loves with our biggest ego, and this is where we need to learn to empathize. To share that feeling to other people, trying to empathize what other people think is what makes us 'human'. Restated what Banksy, a famous graffiti artist, wrote “I see human, but no humanity.” This humanity comes from empathy, and we can try it by reading many literature that surely will broaden our ways of understanding our own concept of living and surely living side to side with other people peacefully.

One thing that struck me, why do we need to question everything to what we have believed, but why in the first place we didn't even question it. Gillespie started questioning this since his pragmatic colleague asking, this is the same way with an atheist asking me why do I believe in Allah. Maybe this is very sensitive, but somehow it bothers me, and it is just maybe due to the lack of my understanding about my concept of faith.

Bottom line, it is indeed very challenging to answer why literature matters to me, and a reminder that I have chosen literature as my concentration, also an enlightenment for my future career in the related areas. In the end, we human have to be respectful towards everyone and everything, and also for the sake of our own perspective towards life, so one way to deal with it is by literature. The greatest thing in this life is living with a true sense of humanity, that way we can truly live.

Indonesia has been crowned as country with the most Moslem population in the world, and in this case we can’t ignore hijab as one of remarkable issues in a Moslem society. Hijab is defined as a head covering worn in public by some Muslim women, and has become symbolic due to their obligation to cover their head for spiritual reason. Being religious doesn’t always mean being strict to the rules, because hijab in Indonesia has been accepted as a fashion style, in which has been developing rapidly, specifically in recent years.

By focusing on its function, some people preferred to use an instant headscarf in which popular with the name hijab Bergo. This type of hijab is the most typical way to use a headscarf not only because its effectiveness, but also the fact that in the past Indonesian still lacked in the field of fashion. But in a way, Bergo has always been practical people’s favorite, even though nowadays people tend to think of it as an old-fashioned type of hijab, when as a matter of fact we can still easily found it being used by elderly women.

The next type of hijab which is commonly known as Square hijab is actually a never-ending trend. Its simple square form is the reason why it is favorited among Indonesian Hijabers, moreover it comes in many types of fabrics. Not as simple as Bergo, but this is the type of headscarf which is acceptable to be use in formal occasions such as school. Loved by elders and youngsters, Square hijab used to have only one type of fabric, namely Paris, which is a very thin-transparent fabric, causing female to use an inner addition called Ciput. Affected by the fast growing Indonesia industry, varieties of fabric is now being commercialized, and people start to leave this hijab style since it is not very effective in covering their head completely. In terms of style, Square hijab is mostly being wear with Lempar style, in which the two hanging sides of the scarf is put over the shoulders with a throwing movement.

When the internet became a place where people could make sensations out of themselves, that’s when the revolutionary style of hijab took place, and the term Hijab Tutorial has been phenomenal since then. With one single photo only, one could share how they could wear it with any unthinkable way, not like before, and headscarf such as Square hijab is not only used by Lempar style anymore. Starting from Facebook, and now over popularized by Instagram, we can find lots of Instagram Hijabers took a great role in introducing hijab as not a mere obligations but even a high-end fashion.

The most recent type and the most trendy hijab style is Pashmina, a rectangle shaped cloth. With Instagram Hijabers as their epitome, youngsters tend to be more experimental in styling their headscarf. Likewise, it is also varied in colors, patterns, and fabrics, but it seems that this type of look is more favorited by the younger generations than the elders.

With these new hijab trends, people also becoming more aware of its function in the first place, to cover their Aurat. Then, there is another brand new type of hijab for these people: Syar’i. Its styles strictly followed the rules of Islamic regulation in dressing, therefore it’s simply being wear as a long and wide scarf which covered half of the body. But, this strictness is not ruled over its variety of colors, patterns, and fabrics, and so some people may look at this Syar’i hijab as trendy.

More and more creativities in designing the way to cover one’s head is yet to come, if we look at this overwhelming sensation alone. Overall, with the occurring phenomena such as Instagram Hijabers in the country, Indonesia’s title as country with the most Moslem population in the world is being strengthen and recognizable more than ever.

Image credit: google images, sorry for not being specific (saya langsung comot yang paling atas, dan ini udah lama banget jadinya udah lupa).

By: Linna Amanda

Under that big bright yellow sun, he stood still. Aside from the heat that made his body drenched in sweat, and the fact that he was out of breath, he stood still. Mouth slightly agape, eyes swollen, head facing up. He could thank the soft wind that was coming out of nowhere for being with him at that moment, caressing his buzz-cut hair, while he was searching for something beneath that big bright yellow sun, relentlessly. When suddenly a yelling voice behind him stated, “You have to stay after dark if you want to see the stars, Son”, and somehow those lines broke his heart, because it means that magic only happens at night.

What an innocent boy he was, for waiting the sun to set its golden shadows so that he could finally found another sun, without knowing how it worked. He used to see everything as magic, until hundreds of books were starting to pile up on the corner of a spacy and slightly messy room of his after pouring him with intelligence. One thing that he tried to believe in was that one thing that came out from his father’s mouth, a cliché sentence from a tired father to calm his distressed innocent son. “Because she burns so fast, just as the same as a falling star, it’s scary, but at the same time it’s beautiful.” That was the reason his father’s gave when he asked why, and he wanted to have a faith in it.

Years followed by another, for him to finally understand the whole idea of outer space and beyond, to finally become an erudite, only to hear his work mate told him, “Well, now we have to go far away from the city to observe it.” At that moment, as struck by a lightning, he realized that the universe seemed to tell him to moving on, to stop being a masochist, and whispered quietly, “After all, we can’t do anything but watch.”

*This is an original short story for Themes in Literature class

Reflective Journal

When I read that the given theme is ‘Reaching For the Star’, I instantly think of it as reaching for a dream, a career to be precise, but I instantly think of it as a ‘ugh’, boring kind of interpretation. The fact that I do like outer space-stuffs and inspiration from one of my favorite song from Slowdive, entitled ‘When the Sun Hits’ with the lyrics “Sweet thing, I watch you burn so fast it scares me”, are the reason why I made this short story.

The story is about a boy who lost his mother, and believing that she becomes a star. When she died, his father told him to just look up on the sky and look at the star, because she is one. The boy grew fond of stars and outer space stuffs, so he decided to educate himself, learned it formally and finally work in the related field. As time goes by, he knows that his father’s saying is cliché, but by learning and understanding it deeper, he can always remember his mother, that’s why I use the word masochist at the end, because he remembers her in a way that hurts him, but actually likes the way it hurts so just he can feel alive. After he realized that it’s going to be hard to observe the star, he told himself to just think of it as a hobby and work, not as a way to hurt himself even though that feels good (It’s a personal reason, because I myself favorited angst stories). Finally, at the end he found the reason of his father saying that his mother is like a falling star, we can do anything but letting go the people who have died, just like what we can do for a falling star, thus he has to move on with his life.

The word Star in ‘reaching for the star’ is something that everyone can interpret differently, so here I interpreted it both literally and not literally. As you can see, it’s not quite literally if I say so, because here reaching the ‘Star’ is viewed from the perspective of an astronomer and also one way to remember his mother. I also want to show that the boy is a common people who lack of education, but because of his effort and hard work he could finally reach his dream as an astronomer. Meanwhile, the title ‘As the Sun Hits’ means it hurts his heart whenever he sees the star. Remembering that people tend to forget that stars are suns, I put in some events when the son sees the sun and his father says that you can see it only at night, where it might appeared as ambiguity, and I think people can interpret the first paragraph differently. So, throughout the story, we can see that the boy is becoming smarter to know that the sun is apparently a star, to prove that magic doesn’t only happen at night. There is also one message that I want to show through this short-story which is light pollution, because back in the days and in my hometown, we could still see the stars easily, but here in the middle of light pollution and the bustling city it’s hard to look at the stars without any help of astronomy tools, and it’s such a sad truth for people who likes to stargazing like me.

That is all of the thoughts that I poured into the short-story for this final assignment. I don’t have the nature to be a writer, so I just gathered all of my knowledge from classes and books that I have read. Lastly, I’m sorry if the story or style doesn’t make sense, alongside with grammatical errors, but I’m having a good time in making this short fiction.

*This is a response and reflective essay for Jaring-Jaring Merah by Helvy Tiana Rosa (1998) :

http://cerpene.blogspot.co.id/2009/03/jaring-jaring-merah.html

This text may sounds a little bit like a feminist’s rant, but it is the truth that this world is too men-centric. Aside from GPK as the main issue of Jaring-Jaring Merah, I would rather give my arguments for the perspective of the main character, Inong as a rape victim, because I found it more relatable.

You’d either be dead or get raped if you were a woman who lives in the war era. Why do I state so? Well, according to the history that I know, which is from books and movies, women were in their weakest state. Reading Jaring-Jaring Merah brings back some fragments from the past, even though fortunately in this case not my personal experience. There is this one remarkable dusty book that I found in my hometown’s library, entitled Momoye: Mereka Memanggilku, which is a biography of a Jugun Ianfu (comfort women for Japanese soldiers). The detailed experience written in this non-fiction book made me able to visualize the pain vividly, and I think there is some similar familiar aspect of Jaring-Jaring Merah. If you were pretty, get ready to be a sex slave, but if you were ugly, well you could say that you were blessed for this case, or you might be dead already. Therefore, just like Inong, she wasn’t burned to death like the rest of her family and relatives, instead she was left alive because she was a young pretty woman. By reflecting into the two stories that I mentioned there is this thing, if women want to stay alive you have to sacrifice your morals, and oh you have to be attractive.

Then, is our purpose (women) in this life is just to be all pretty? That is why one of the line in the story really hits me, “Sayang, dulu ia cantik…,” ujar yang lain.” Why is being pretty so important? What if Inong were ugly, but she stills got raped? I wonder what would these people say. Being a woman itself is hard enough, but did the attractiveness level also matters? I assume that, if Inong were ugly, she wouldn’t get raped anyway, because apparently it does matter. This level of attractiveness is not only injustice on the issue of women, but it is also a big transparent issue in societies all around the world. I’m neither pretty or ugly myself to be honest, but the double standards on this atrractiveness level is highkey maddening.

Bottom line, maybe my arguments are quite confusing, but after all these are the things that make me wonder when reading Jaring-Jaring Merah, which is still hard for me to figure out the exact answer. I assume that your attractiveness may save your life, but at the same time you may rather be dead.

Don’t try to guess my background. Things like; you must be born on May, your parents must be Javanese, you must be Moslem, which are really lame, don’t work with my name anyway. The way it works, not being too obvious is just perfect, or it’s just me being a narcissistic.

Advantages? I don’t have to put much effort when I was at school taking examinations with circled answer sheets. Try to write it in cursive, it is neat, simple, and beautiful. First or last, both are great to choose as a nickname. It makes a perfect username; linnamanda, look how it has this two little fences on each side, with ‘a’ as the main gate. It is international; Linn or Amanda, choose whatever you want.

Disadvantages? Nina and Rina, I don’t know them but sometimes they’re with me. That’s why whenever I have to place my name to order in a restaurant, I always quickly say one of my friend’s simplest name, well it doesn’t hurt anyone. I love how my first name comes with double ‘n’, instead Lina which somehow sounds chunky, therefore sometimes it bothers me when someone writes it wrong. Another thing, it makes me sad that in Japanese, language that I fond of, it’s Rina since there is no ‘L’, but still it’s also quite kawaii.

My lovely grandma gave it to me, although it has nothing to do with my family’s history, it’s sheer hope. You may encounter my first name when you read Al-Quran actually, it derives from Arabic for tenderness/delicate. Meanwhile, Amanda means loveable in English, and I am grateful that my name shows that I am loved. L, El, Elin, Lin, Linna are most of my nicknames, since most of my friends state that Amanda doesn’t suit me. But, I bet if they know what Linna comes from, they will also refuse to call me that, and that’s why my close friends just call me El. Sadly, I kind of agree with them, since I’m not the type of lovey-dovey, feminine girl, and I’m more into a tough, rough, reckless type of girl, not a woman yet. I look like a tomboy kind of girl, but hey, this body contains a lot of hidden love, indeed. Everyone shows their affection differently, but ironically I don’t show it tenderly. But, hope is a hope and I’m learning to be a better daughter and grand daughter, a better woman, and surely I want to spread more love, just like how my family raise me.

No need another name, but I will consider an alias if someday I get bitten by an animal and have to save the world. So, I will remain as Linna Amanda as I’m proud of it, and I think a little bit of a surname addition at the end will make it seems more lovable.

*This is a reflective essay for my Themes in Literature class, by responding to the excerpt taken from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros below.

In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.

It was my great-grandmother’s name and now it is mine. She was a horse-woman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse—which is supposed to be bad luck if you’re born female—but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don’t like their women strong.

My great-grandmother. I would’ve liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn’t marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That’s the way he did it.

And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want her place by the window.

At school they say many name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as my sister’s name—Magdalena—which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza.

I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.

Roselani, Ni Gusti Ayu. (1991). “Bentuk Sapaan Dalam Bahasa Inggris dan Bahasa Indonesia”. Jurnal Humaniora Universitas Gadjah Mada. 3, 152-151.

Muniroh, Siti. (2009). Aspek-Aspek yang Mendasari Bentuk Sapaan Dalam Komunikasi Antar Budaya”. Jurnal Pendidikan Nilai Kajian, Teori, Praktik, dan Pengajarannya. 17, (2), 143-151.

Sutami, Hermina. (1987). “Kata Sapaan Bahasa Indonesia Khususnya di Jakarta”. Jurnal Lingusitik Universitas Indonesia. 50-66.

Fitriani, Ria. (2014). “Gaya Cinta Pada Remaja Akhir”. Jurnal Online Psikologi Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang. 2, (1), 1-14.

Hamzah, Dr. Zaitul Azma bt Zainon. (2010). “Parameter Kesopanan Dalam Kalangan Kanak-Kanak Dan Remaja: Analisis Pragmatik”. Jurnal Bahasa Universiti Putra Malaysia. 1, 1-4.

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