It’s been a while I haven’t visited or posted anything here. Besides simply being lazy (somehow it’s my middlename), losing my small but very own company was the only reason that I could blame for being, ahmm, losing myself a little, including my ability to write. I mean I am a writer but somehow, lately, I felt like no longer finding the chemistry between me and the magic of writing.
Somehow a posting of Mbak Dewi Chandraningrum in one mailing list where I am listed as member was kind of hit me. She said. “Kehilangan satu perempuan yg mau berbicara di ruang publik, ibarat kehilangan seribu pemikir laki-laki (Yeahhh, beat that Homer!! Heh heh heh!!!). Saya sedang tidak mempertentangkan lelaki dan perempuan. Realitas menunjukkan teramat sedikit perempuan yang mau berbicara dengan lantang di ruang publik”.
In short she said that losing a contribution of a female opinion in public is like losing a thousand of male thinkers. I agree with her because she was speaking, mostly, about Indonesian society, where a giant patriarchy megamachine lives peacufully for centuries. Its tentacles sometimes hide in the comfort name of taboos and can’t-be-questioned-dogmas. As Indonesian woman I have to struggle the long and tricky road to find my place in this world, it is like, almost all the time that, I have to prove myself to others that I do deserve having anything that I’ve had. So, yeah, it’s such a really long road and I should join the choo choo locomotive of hope, as much as I could. Hopefully….
Well, I choose today, December 22, 2007 as the day I start writing again. Today is the Woman’s Day in Indonesia (which by the capitalist hijacker has been turning into the more commercial Mother’s Day). In 1928, our very brave grandmothers with their kebayas were united for the First Indonesian Woman Conference in Yogyakarta , declared their support for fighting the independence of Indonesia, which later was finally proclaimed in 1945 as a free independent country. So, Indonesian women were very “kicking” and courageous from the very beginning.
Now, 79 years later, I think it is simply rude for me to just lie down in this harpitnas week holidays, I should do something, or start something good for my community or even nation, maybe even the human race. Well, I think the first step to do such big idea is having a simple way of starting myself to go green. So let me introduce you to my big blue bucket outside my small house during this rainy season. It is my “blue” weapon to go green because the bucket turns into a water pond as it is there to embrace the rainfall. I use the rain water to reduce the consumption of tap water for my plant and bike wash. Yes it is only a small step, indeed, but it makes me happy enough to celebrate Indonesian very own Woman’s Day in a politically correct attitude.
Happy Woman’s Day, everybody!
