"The cure is to forget."

My self-reminder for the past 5 years. It works somehow, but I guess I'm just really good with memories.

Final Paper: Bullying in Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

            Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel about a girl named Hannah Baker who ended her own life after being bullied by her friends at school. She left 7 tape recordings with 13 different stories of why she killed herself. The side A of the first tape was for Justin Folley who apparently made up some nasty stories about their first kiss at the park. The second one was for Alex Standall who caused the snowball effect in this story. Had he not chosen her as the one who got ‘The Best Ass’ at school, the following occurences might have been prevented from happening. The next one was addressed to Jessica Davis who physically harmed her after she was placed in the “who’s not hot” column opposite to Hannah. The fourth one was for Tyler Down who violated Hannah’s personal space by stalking her at her own room at night to take candid pictures of her body. The next tape consists of 2 stories about Courtney Crimsen and Marcus Cooley. Courtney was being kind to her just to get people’s symphaty, whereas Hannah thought they were really friends, but it turned out Courtney was just using her. Meanwhile, Marcus was a douche who gives her hope by asking her number just to let her down. Not to mention that he sexually harrassed Hannah in public place. The next story was about Zach Dempsey who stole her paperbag of encouragement because he thought she didn’t deserve any praises. The opposite side of the tape was addressed to Ryan Shaver who shamelessly claimed Hannah’s poem as his and caused her to lose her interest in writing, whereas that was the only medium for her to express her feelings. The ninth story was about Clay Jensen, the narrator of the story. He was the only one whose story was told but didn’t belong to the “Reasons Why Hannah Killed Herself” category. Clay and Hannah developed some special feelings towards each other but they didn’t have a chance to confess their feelings so Hannah made a recording so Clay would understand her reasons. The last 4 stories were about Justin Folley, who witnessed a girl being raped by Bryce but didn’t do anything about it; Jenny Kurtz, who made her feel guilty after witnessing a car accident before her eyes because Jenny was too stubborn to listen to her; Bryce Walker, who raped her in a bathtub; and Mr. Porter, her counseling teacher, who could actually save her but chose to ignore her.

Final Paper: Culture Clash and Depersonalization of Style in Orhan Pamuk’s My Name Is Red

Abstract

            This essay will cover an analysis about the theory of depersonalization presented in the novel. I’m going to use Eliot’s theory of depersonalization in art to explain the issue regarding culture clash between the West and the East which then lead to the clash of the miniaturists who are currently working on a secret book commissioned by the Sultan using the new style called Frankish style. One side refused to use the new western style for they want to keep the tradition and avoid blasphemy. The other side tempted to selectively absorb some value from western style that is called Frankish or Venetian style. However, Eliot argued that as one cannot escape from the past everytime he creates art in the present, one has to appreciate the tradition and his predecessor whose influence will always appear in his art. Depersonalization means the creator of art understands his tradition and also aware of the past.

Response 3: Cixous' Castration or Decapitation?

            The story of the decapitation of wives of the king for being disobedient to the order of Sun Tse shows that men do have power to shut the women’s mouth. In the story,  the wives were beheaded after refusing to follow Sun Tse’s instruction They kept on laughing instead of doing what they are told to so Sun Tse decided to decapitate them to shut them up. This shows that the decapitation takes women’s ability to speak. Sun Tse cut their heads thus they don’t have any power to speak anymore. Being decapitated means women lose their head, power, and identity, all at once. Decapitation is used for women instead of castration for the lack of phallus in their bodies. Phallus itself is the symbol of men’s masculinity and somehow it gives them power to ‘decapitate’ women. So the question is, can it work the other way? Can women castrate men? Cixous then mention about men’s anxiety of being castrated.

Response 2: Foucault's What is an Author?

First of all, I’d like to express my confusion into a question that is exactly the same as the title of this text I’m going to make a response of, what is an author? Different from Barthes’ The Death of the Author which said that the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of Author (and I wonder why the word Author is always written with capital ‘A’, does it have something to do with God?), Foucault provides a different point of view which I understand as possible relationship between the author and his works. But honestly I am still confused of this idea. Foucault gives an example of the difference between proper name and author’s name. He conveyed the idea of author’s name being more significant than proper name. If author’s name is really that important, does it mean the author defines his works? Or vice versa?

Response 1: Culler's Presupposition and Intertextuality

There are times when you read a book, you feel like you have read the book before. There are also times when you read a book, you find some words or terms you are not familiar with. What do you do? Have you ever tried reading another book with more detailed explanation about such terms? If you haven’t, then you should. Basically, this is what intertextuality is. When you are reading certain book, your mind will direct you to certain texts you have read before, that’s why you might feel like you have read certain sentences in the text you’re currently reading or you are quite familiar with the topic. As for the need for a more detailed explanation of certain terms in a book, reading another book might help you understand the terms better. In fact, a text has infinite intertextuality, meaning that the text can be related to any other texts. However, it is not possible to find the origin of certain text. There is no such thing as originality in intertextuality because as Culler have stated, “The study of intertextuality is not the investigation of sources and influences.”. It rather allows us to decide which texts we should read next

Survey of American Literature Final Essay

This is my essay for Survey of American Literature final task. It's an analysis about 2 poems by Langston Hughes, "I, Too" and "Theme for English B". I know this writing lacks in many ways for my vocabulary is very limited and I'm sometimes lost in tenses, but at least I tried. So, this is my writing. Happy reading. 

Pursuing Equality through Being One True Self

                Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” are two poems published on 1940s (I, Too was published on 1945 and Theme for English B was published on 1949) when the civil rights movement was happening in America. Civil rights movement is a social movement against racial segregation and discrimination towards African Americans.[1] The African Americans struggled to gain the equality in American society. Many African Americans were discriminated from society for their colored skin, they were treated unequally in education, economic, and even before law. They were not able to even give their votes whereas giving a vote means you’re contributing to your country’s development. There was a rule on 1945, stating that only white men could vote in the Democratic primary.[2] For the segregation and discrimination were getting more serious and unbearable, some people started to voice their protest and make a movement. Hughes is one of many African Americans who contributed to civil rights movement. He wrote several books, plays, short stories, essays, and poems as forms of his critics against racism issue.[3] These two poems I’m going to analyze in this essay also contained racism issue where African Americans were seen as the inferior to the whites. They were treated differently in society. In “I, Too”, the writer was sent to the kitchen when the owner of the house had visitors. It shows the different class between the white and the African American. At that time, people only ate at dining table, those who ate in the kitchen were considered lower. This means that the whites didn’t consider the African Americans as equal with them. Meanwhile, in “Theme for English B”, the narrator is a student who was assigned to write a page for English B by his white teacher. It was said that he was the only African American in the class he attended. He wrote a “confession” about how it felt to be the only colored student in class, how he wanted them to see him as a “normal” person, a part of them. However, both narrators of the poems conveyed the same message. They wanted the whites to see them as a part of the society (by society I mean the whites). They didn’t see themselves as the inferiors. They looked on themselves as equal to the white and I found the narrative of the poems quite interesting. Therefore I decided to bring up this topic as the main topic of my essay, that the narrators tried to gain the equality through showing their true selves to the society

Ask in A Box: EXO-K

Well, it's kinda late for me to post this since it's been out for ages in youtube and they have concluded their promotion weeks ago lol but whatever, I have just finished my final exams on last Tuesday and I could have posted this earlier if I had not been so crazy for not having proper sleep for the last 4 days, so yeah I finally got my 15 hours of sleep last night and I feel grand today. That's why I'm writing this post now.
This post will pretty much cover 15 minutes Ask in A Box Interview, but you'll also find some videos here.
First of all, it's really hard to make screencaps of the videos. I don't want to ruin their handsome faces in my screencaps but you know, the pause button sometimes can make you look really.. errr.. ugly weird. The only member who can maintain his good look in every single screencaps I took is Kyungsoo. No, dude, it's not because he is my bias or he is flawlessly gorgeous. It's just because Kyungsoo doesn't blink as much as normal people do. He is always .jpg even in .mp4 because he barely makes any movements. Sehun too, he barely moves, but he blinks anyway. I once watched a video on youtube and checked the comment section. Someone say, "Kyungsoo blinked 8 times from the beginning till the end.". In a 5.43 video, he only blinked 8 times. No wonder his eyes are so big.

Do Kyungsoo, everyone.

Anyway, let's get started.

Chef Soo

I was literally screaming when this scene appeared on EXO's Firstbox. Chef Soo is the most adorable thing on earth I feel like vomitting rainbow all over my boarding house T~T

Squishy Kyungsoo

This is Kyungsoo telling me to cheer up.
But, no, Kyungsoo. You cheer up.

The Kertamandalans

Meet the Kertamandalans!
Yay! Akhirnya ada waktu buat bikin post ini. Agak telat sih ya, but it's okay.
Jadi, liburan kemarin saya tinggal selama sebulan di Desa Kertamandala, Kecamatan Panjalu, Kabupaten Ciamis. Kuliah kerja nyata sih namanya, tapi yaa, anggap aja liburan di desa kayak di FTV FTV gitu kali ya. Tapi disana juga ngga gabut sih. Kerjaan kita dari Senin sampai Jumat itu keliling-keliling ke setiap dusun, ceritanya sih mengamati potensi setiap dusun gitu. 2 minggu pertama kita tinggal di Dusun Kertabraya, letaknya diatas, jauh dari Kantor Desa (oh iya lupa, Desa Kertamandala itu semacam gunung, like, literally gunung), dan karena tempatnya terlalu jauh, 2 minggu terakhir kita pindah ke Dusun Reumalega, tempat Pak Kadesnya tinggal. Setelah bertahan selama 2 minggu di rumah yang kamar mandinya tiap hari bocor di Kertabraya, akhirnya kesabaran kita berbuah manis. Di Dusun Reumalega, kita (yang perempuan sih) dapat tempat tinggal yang.. how should I describe this.. umm.. sangat nyaman untuk ukuran tinggal di desa. With all the springbeds and the bathtub. And it's free. Praise the Lord.
Nah, kali ini saya mau ngenalin teman-teman KKN saya kemarin. Semuanya ada 18 orang. Laki-lakinya 7, perempuannya 11.
Soooo, here they are..

Letter to Juliet

Caution: This post is full of cheesiness I warn you.

My final task for Survey in English Literature: Elizabethan-Victorian Period. I could not think of anything easier than writing a letter to Juliet like in Letters to Juliet movie. I could not bear reading my own writing like wtf did I write. Anyway I just feel like sharing my writing here lol
This is a work of fiction.

Dear Juliet,

          Your love story has been known as one of the most tragic ones all over the world. For you have sacrificed everything for the sake of your love. So I am writing to you now cause I heard that many people sent you letters and they got replied. Well, I guess it is not a bad idea to share my story to you, for you have gone through the same thing and might be the one who understand. Here is my story..

Teh Tsania's Wedding Reception

Yep, Teh Tsania akhirnya sudah resmi jadi istri orang. I'm soooo happy for her. Hari Minggu kemarin kami, kelas B, berangkat ke Majalay(sy)a buat dateng ke resepsinya Teh Tsania. Karena kebetulan pas hari Minggu itu ada yang harus ujian KKN dulu (termasuk saya), jadinya baru berangkat kesana sekitar jam 2an. Sebenernya saya setitik khawatir karena kalau sore itu pasti selalu hujan. Maka dari itu saya bawa cadangan sepatu Converse buat jaga-jaga. Dan ternyata memang hujan. Sangat deras. Dan juga banjir. Dan becek.
Kami pergi pakai 4 mobil. Dan saya sungguh bersyukur karena ngga jadi pakai angkot. Ngga kebayang kalau kesana pakai angkot. Udah cantik-cantik, ganteng-ganteng, sampai sana lepek gara-gara hujan. Hiii...
Kumpul di Alfamart (tetep Alfamart) Bungamas jam 1. Pas kumpul sih ngga hujan, mataharinya masih muncul gitu. Pas saya datang ternyata baru ada Ida, Jyina, Echi, Nday, Cissy, sama Kristo. Terus si Kristo pake batik yang tangannya panjang dan dia setitik mirip bapak-bapak. Maaf ya, To hahaha

Current Crush

Thank God It's Friday! For I have no class on Friday. So I can lay down on my bed aaaaall day long.
Well I just finished watching We Got Married 198. And that was the most hillllllarious episode so far (it's getting better for each episodes actually). I only watch WGM for PocaGuri (It's Jung Joon Young and Jung Yoo Mi). I skipped the other two cause they are kinda boring and show too much lovey dovey story. Like cooking for each other, having a date at a park, painting their house together, and so on. I don't like that kind of relationship. Not that I don't want to be in that kind of relationship, but it's just not fun to watch cause you will always end up feeling envy.
Poca and Guri, on the other hand, are different. They tease each other, they laugh at each other, they prank each other, and that's just so cute. I mean they are (virtually) married but they act like bestfriend. They match each other really well. I wish I have a boyfriend like Jung Joon Young in the future. That kind of guy is just so fun to be with, really.
Here is my favorite scene on We Got Married. Joonyoung and Yoo Mi prepared a Guerilla Concert for Joonyoung debut. No subs but you can see Joonyoung and Yoo Mi singing together in this video

Epic Moments with Blockade

Saya lagi dengerin lagunya Breakbot yang Baby I'm Yours. Terus tiba-tiba keingetan sama temen-temen Blockade. They say every song brings some memories back. So I decided to share my memories here. Saya mau ngepost beberapa foto, which were taken during our "bolang" days. Dan sejujurnya saya sendiri kangen masa-masa itu hehehe..

BUKIT BINTANG

Kalau ngga salah waktu itu lagi ngerjain tugas reading. Terus diajakin main ke Bandung sama Dinan. berangkat dari Nangor sekitar jam 12an. Waktu itu Bombom ngga ikut karena katanya dia lelah habis main futsal. So it was just the 5 of us. Saya, Ellen, Thia, Kristo, dan Dinan. Sampai di Bandung bingung mau kemana. Akhirnya mutusin buat ke Bukit Bintang, itu pun setelah nyasar dulu karena ngga ada yang tau tempatnya dimana. Saya kira Bukit Bintang itu tempatnya kayak Punclut gitu, yang banyak warung-warung, taunya cuma tempat parkir doang. Disini mukanya udah pada kucel banget. Well it was 2 am anyway..

Mie Goreng Belerang

Kencan ke Kebun Binatang

Hari ini hari lalai sedunia. Begitu pun besoknya, dan seterusnya sampai akhir minggu. Karena 2 hari kemarin sedikit agak pusing sama tugas bacaan buat mata kuliah Amhis dan Survey Englit, I would like to reward myself with some free time to stay away from textbooks. Yay!
Jadi hari ini saya mau agak nyampah di blog yang sepertinya, kalau bisa diumpamakan seperti kosan yang ditinggal liburan semester, isinya udah pasti penuh debu dan sarang laba-laba.
Soooo, I'm going to post some pictures here. Kebetulan beberapa bulan yang lalu (lupa tepatnya kapan), saya dan teman-teman chimpiers pergi tamasya ke Taman Safari, Bogor. Setelah sekian lamanya kepengen, baru kesampaian bulan-bulan kemarin (itu pun setelah melewati berbagai kekonflikan terlebih dahulu). Mengenai siapa itu teman-teman chimpiers, mungkin nanti akan saya jelaskan ketika ada waktu luang dan niat yang kuat untuk menulis surat cinta buat mereka. They are too special to be explained in brief explanation :">

Further Studies in Prose Final Exam Essay

Another final task. This is a final task for Further Studies in Prose. In only a month (not fully a month, though), I am obliged to finish a novel, 3 short stories (one of it is actually the longest short story I have ever read. 40 pages, like, seriously? 'short' story?), and several other reading materials, which actually reminded me to my previous totally-horrifying reading lesson. That was one of the hardest semester, and I have feeling another ones will be the most hardest (yes I'm using double superlative here, sorry).
Anyway, this essay is about daydreaming. I wrote this essay in only 2 hours (you know me, fellas). So, yeah, there are many flaws here, and I will really appreciate it if you'd like to give your comment for this essay. I suggest you to read the short story first, this one is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, and this one is Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield. Happy reading ^^

A Moment to Remember

Kemarin, 29 November 2012, photoshoot yang udah direncanain dari kapan tau akhirnya jadi juga. Yaa, gak semuanya datang sih, beberapa gak bisa dateng, tapi lumayan banyak juga yang ikut, jadinya kemarin seru banget.
Janjiannya sih jam 11, di ATM Centre. Tapi tetep aja, jam 11nya ya jam 11 orang Indonesia alias ngaret. Aku sendiri juga agak ngaret sih, tapi cuma 5 menit doang hehehe
Singkatnya, kita pergi ke Bandung naik damri (iya, photoshootnya di Bandung. You know Jatinangor so well kan ya.). 25 orang naik damri, udah kayak mau study tour aja kan. Untungnya waktu itu damrinya kosong jadi semua bisa kebagian duduk nyaman.
Nyampe di jonas sekitar jam 1-an. Masih harus nunggu juga. Ada yang dandan, ada yang foto-foto, ada yang nunggu diluar, ada yang beli album foto. Yang beli album foto itu Novi. Katanya sih buat masang foto-foto doi sama pacarnya. Terus aku dengan jahatnya bilang, "Nanti juga putus." hahaha tapi becanda doang kok, Nov. Semoga langgeng ya sama pacarnya. Kalo nanti mau putus, inget, udah beli album foto itu, kan sayang kalo putus hehehe

The Grown-up Girls

I've got nothing to do this afternoon, so I decided to post some pictures of me and my bestfriends here. You can see the differences in our faces from 2009 until 2012 hahaha Check them out ;)


20th of August 2009. I still remember. We actually planned to go to Cibalong at that day but we didn't know how to get there cause none of us can ride a car hahaha so we decided to go to Asia Plaza. This picture was taken at the toilet. Girls loved to take pictures at the toilet. Yes, loved. Not anymore.