*Sorry, but for some reasons I can't insert the movie posters

By SailorPluto

            Movie is the best weapon to cure your boredom, so here are some movies that are worth watching, when you are feeling like your holiday is nothing but a series of nothing (yes, you read it correctly).

Synopsis: After Lana is abandoned at a zoo, a giraffe trainer raises her, until a charming magician arrives and Lana finds her love. She embarks on a long journey, then decides to go back to the place where she was abandoned. (Source: imdb.com/title/tt2073058/)

By: SailorPluto

            It is not true that our job is only writing some articles (with our lack skills of writing), and stick it on the board, but hey we are doing something more than that. If you have been reading, or at least pass by, Rephrase for the last two semesters, you may see that every edition has different theme. Just like Ms. Isti Gandana says, “Everything is value-laden” and that is how Rephrase’s themes were decided for each edition. There are subtle meanings, from the colors of the background, the topic for Shady Issues, and even Artgram. So, in case you had never noticed it, in which I believe no one ever pays attention, let’s take a look at a quick flashback of Rephrase’s themes, and what we are actually trying to tell all of you.

Everything exists for a reason, and so is Rephrase. Open your eyes and mind more, and see wonderful things in life, but also be careful because some things were not meant to be looked at. Thank you for reading until the very end J

By: SailorPluto

The sound of the rain, checked. Warm blanket, checked. Hot chocolate, checked. Fully charged handphone or your favourite book, checked. What else could be wrong? It’s raining outside, which is probably one of your favourite moments, and everything seems perfect, until you realize something’s missing, but what is it? Music, for sometimes the sound from the outside of the window just not enough, here’s a playlist full of soothing songs (mostly Folk) to keep you warm throughout this rainy season.

Tips: Any songs from Bon Iver and Explosions in the Sky

            Earth. Fire. Air. Water. Metal. Avatar may masters four elements and bring balance to the world, but AECS 2016’s committees, so called Elementalists, master all five of it and ready to lead the participants (named Victors) to balance their inner forces and march to victory. Annual English Contests and Seminar is undoubtedly one of ESA (English Students’ Association)’s pride for ages, and this year it’s coming back as stronger than ever starting from this September 24^th until 27^th. Want to know more about it? Check out how Arina Khoirunnisa as the Steering Committee 2 tells us a glimpse about AECS 2016!

So, can you feel the hype of AECS 2016? You should! As for English students, even though you can no longer compete on some fun English contests, I recommend joining the seminar (see details on the poster). Still curious about it? Check us out on aecs.esaupi.org, prepare yourself, and join us next year, whether as a participant or a committeeJ

*So I joined ESA's Publication House for my Department's Students' Association, and I wrote under the name of SailorPluto, so that is basically my pen-name.

AKSARA

          Aksara (n) letter, characters. Basically, an antique way for saying ‘words’ in some traditional Indonesian Languange, and in this modernized-nowaday-world most antique things are considered for having high values. Collectors are fighting to get some of world’s oldest things, but how about any other old aspects like dance, and in this case, our traditional writing system? Collectors couldn’t snatched it away from us, but time could. So, at least know about your own heritage, after all some knowledge will not hurt your brain.

Ensiklopedi Nusantara stated that there are three transformation stages of aksara based on some ethnic’s languanges. There are Aksara Palawa-Kawi, Aksara Hanacaraka, and Aksara Daerah, as a whole we call those Aksara Nusantara. The most original aksara is Pallawa, which is written mostly in the inscriptions. Pallawa was no longer used because it was modified into some ethnicity languanges such as; Balinese, Sundanese, and many others.

Each traditional aksara has their own unique styles, which brings significant difference from each other. According to wikipedia.com, one of the reasons is because of the writing media that they used such as; antique Sundanese aksara typically has this blunt corner shaped, because back then it was written according to the palmyra leaves’ fibers as the media, meanwhile Kerinci aksara is written with sharp corner, because it used to be written on bamboo.

It is such as shame that nowadays we can only find Aksara Nusantara in very few places such as museum, historical places, and street signs. No one seems to care about how it is written, because sadly it is not relevant to our nowadays modernized life. So, the most easiest thing to do is to speak in traditional languange or write it with the romanize version. After all, nothing’s more beautiful than having the confidence of  showing your true identity.

TRAPPED

IN

COLORS

?

Blue is better for boys, pink is absolutely for girls, agree? It’s already 2016, open up your eyes! In this strict society that we lived in, there is this color stereotypes based on one’s gender. We knew that the society prefers dark colors (blue, green, etc) are for boys, while bright color (especially pink) looks better for girls. Just visit the nearest newborn baby from your relatives, and look what colors their parents chose for the infant’s room and stuffs. Even when we grew up, this stereotyping is far from the word ended, like for example this boring question-statement, “Why are you using pink? You’re a boy!” Why is that? Since when colors become such a strict unwritten rule in our society, and is it actually a big deal?

Firstly, from the eyes of science, let’s think about  an article about “The Meaning Color For Gender” by Natalia Khouw who states that, “Guilford and Smith (1959) found men were generally more tolerant toward achromatic colors than women. Thus, Guilford and Smith proposed that women might be more color-concious and their color tastes more flexible and diverse. Likewise, McInnis and Shearer (1964) found that blue green was more favored among women than men, and women preferred tints more than shades. They also found 56% of men and 76% of women preferred cool colors, and 51% men and 45% women chose bright colors. In a similar study, Plater (1967) found men had a tendency to prefer stronger chromas than women..” To sum it up, maybe it is was just a natural choice that the society choose each colors assigned for each gender, but again isn’t the society are shaped by something more complex?

Before we go into a further confusion, let’s take a look from the history itself. Surprisingly, before World War I happened, precisely in 1918, US Trade publication Farnshaw’s Infants’ Department stated in an article that “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl..”  After that, people were giving arguments and discussions about that statement, because before that statement was published there was no such thing about assigned gender. The statement and people’s argumentation gave a big impact later on in 1940, when fashion and product manufacturers decided to advertise the reverse colors for gender, blue is for boys, and pink is for girls.

The effect still exists in parents’ point of view until this exact moment. Why do I say so? To be exact, that is what Aleksandae Makasev, a New York based visual artist and graphic designer says in his article posted on munsell.com, in which I strongly agree. He stated that, “It’s all about the parents. The baby doesn’t care about the color, but it will be raised to care a lot.” We live in a society, with strict written rules and even more strict unwritten rules. Most people are shaped by what people want them to be, their parents, friends, and others. Without realizing it or not, we are finding our way to reach that finish point where we are accepted by our surroundings. In this case, the newborn babies are feed by the society’s rules of what’s good and not good.. Surely, there are some rules that are needed to be doctrinized, but some parents exceed the society’s expectations, and that could go wrong in many ways.

This gender assigned colors’ text purpose is not to conclude what’s correct and what’s wrong, because every problem in this life is different in each individual’s perspective. But, I myself as the writer have been seeing this as a big deal, since at least for me the word ‘stereotyping’ is already not a respectable way of seeing something, especially that we have been facing this stereotyping since we were innocent. Moreover if we think about the fact that nowadays there are people who believe for more than just two genders, how are we going to divide all of this? We can’t put everything in boxes, even though we still have many colors left, and we can’t even force all people in the world to agree on this thing. I want you to have your own argumentation after you finish this text, or if you have a big disapproval on my perspective, just type it on EPH’s official LINE@, and we will finish the confusion.