Showing posts with label REVIEW (RESENSI). Show all posts
Showing posts with label REVIEW (RESENSI). Show all posts

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Abdullah and Aminah’s Love Story

Bismillah, dengan menyebut nama Allah yang Maha Pengasih kepada semua makhluk di dunia dan Maha Pengasih kepada yang beriman. Alhamdulilah, segala puji bagi Allah, Tuhan seru sekalian alam. Sholaallah ‘alannabiy Muhammad, shalawat serta salam terhatur kepada Sang Nabi Agung. Ust. J Syahban telah mendeskripsikan kisah-kisah kehidupan Aminah, ibunda Nabiyullah Muhammad SAW, dalam bukunya yang berjudul Aminah: The Flower of Mecca. Setelah membaca buku Ust. J Syahban, terbersit keinginan untuk menukil kisah cinta sepasang kekasih yang mulia dan dimuliakan oleh Allah SWT, Abdullah dan Aminah. Maafkan saya yang telah lancang mencuplik beberapa bagian dari buku Anda, wahai Ust. J Syahban. Afwan, afwan jiddan. Cuplikan-cuplikan yang saya ambil merupakan bagian-bagian yang sangat menarik bagi saya dari sekian paragraf tentang perjalanan kisah cinta Abdullah dan Aminah dalam buku Aminah: The Flower of Mecca. Dikisahkan bahwa Abdul Muthalib, kakek Nabi Muhammad saw, akan memenuhi nadzarnya mengurbankan salah satu dari keseuluh putranya. Dengan skenario Allah, yang terpilih adalah Abdullah, ayah Nabi Muhammad SAW. Dengan skenario Allah pula pengurbanan tersebut ditebus dengan penyembelihan 100 ekor unta.

....Meskipun pedang di tangan Abdul Muthalib sudah menempel di leher anaknya dan hanya tinggal sekali tebas, namun bila Sang Maha Penentu Awal dan Akhir kehidupan ternyata belum mengizinkan, maka tak akan ada kekuatan lain yang dapat menandinginya. Peran Abdullah masih dibutuhkan oleh Allah SWT untuk merealisasikan rencana-Nya....
...selain rupawan, figur Abdullah juga memiliki karakter pribadi yang mempesona. Tingkah lakunya terpuji bahkan kebaikannya paling menonjol di antara pemuda Quraisy lainnya.
...Nama Aminah memang dikenal banyak orang. Namun belum tentu mereka mengenali secara detail sosoknya. Kedua orangtuanya memingitnya agar tak hanyut dalam gemerlap keJahiliyahan...
...Aminah sendiri rupanya juga tidak keberatan mendapat protect ketat dari orangtuanya. Ia tidk khawatir akan menjadi perawan tua. Sebab, ia yakin penjagaan kesucian, kehormatan, dan kemuliaan pribadinya tidak akan menyulitkan masa depan dirinya...
...Jika Abdullah menjadi buruan para gadis, maka Aminah juga menjadi incaran oleh banyak pemuda...
...Di sisi lain, sama halnya Aminah yang tak mau terlibat dalam “perlombaan” para gadis untuk diperistri Abdullah, maka demikian juga Abdullah, ia juga tidak ikut menyiapkan diri “berlomba” meminang Aminah...
...Entah dorongan apa yang menyebabkan hati dan pikiran Aminah semakin berantakan begitu mendengar Abdullah yang terpilih. Padahal waktu itu ia sendiri tidak mempunyai hubungan istimewa denganAbdullah...
...Kontan saja perkataan yang meluncur dari mulut orang paling dihormati dan disegani di Mekkah itu membuat Wahhab dan Barrah sedikit bengong. Keduanya seakan tidak percaya. Wakti sepertinya begitu cepat melaju. Rasanya belum reda perbincangan di kalangan penduduk Mekkah mengenai nadzar Abdul Muthalib untuk menyembelih Abdullah, kini meminang Aminah...
...Hari bahagia pun tiba. Pernikahan Abdullah dan Aminah itu berlangsung pada sekitar tahun 569 M...
...”Lalu setelah engkau menikahiku, apakah ada wanita-wanita lain yang kau jadikan istri lagi?” tanya Aminah tetap dengan nada lembut tanpa terlihat emosi di wajahnya. Abdullah segera menyahut “Tidak.”...
...Tetesan air cinta Abdullah yang mengalir dalam diri Aminah ternyata langsung terbuahi. Ia dan istrinya telah berhasil melakoni peran sebagai penghantar sebuah proses agung penciptaan manusia yang dikendalikan langsung oleh Allah SWT...
...Mereka berdua semakin mesra. Apalagi setelah beberapa pekan Abdullah mengetahui ternyata haid pada diri istrinya berhenti...
...Namun kebahagiaan Abdullah hanya sesaat. Ia harus meninggalkan istrinya untuk bergabung dengan karavan perniagaan suku Quraisy yang akan melakukan perjalanan ke Syam...
...Sudah pasti Aminah sangat bersedih mengetahui rencana kepergian suaminya itu. Wajar, sebagai pengantin baru ia masih selalu ingin berdekatan dengan suaminya. Apalagi kini dalam rahimnya sudah tersimpan benih kasih sayang Abdullah. Keinginan untuk selalu bermanja-manja dan mendapat perhaian agak lebih dari sang suami sangat didambakan. Hal semacam itu barangkali semacam pembawaan bayi yang dikandungnya, bila seorang wanita hamil mempunyai obsesi untuk selalu diperhatikan suaminya...
...Tapi, apa oleh buat, profesi Abdullah memang di bidang perniagaan. Mau tak mau Aminah harus rela ditinggal pergi. Namun entah mengapa menjelang perpisahannya dengan suaminya, Aminah merasakan kesedihan yang mendalam. Ada semacam kekahawatiran dan kecemasan yang tiba-tiba menggelayuti dirinya...
...Suatu sore sat kafilah pedagang Quraisy memasuki kota Makkah, betapa cemas dan kecewaya Aminah karena suaminya tak terlihat di tengah-tengah rombongan itu...
...Abdul Muthalib pun berinisiatif mengutus putra sulungnya, Harist, untuk pergi ke Yastrib untuk menjemput Abdullah...
...Dalam perjalan pulang ke Mekkah dari Yastrib, Harist sudah dapat membayangkan betapa hancurnya hati Aminah maupun ayahnya...
...Gigitan luka itu sangat menyakitkan sekujur piiran dan hati Aminah. Lisannya terbungkam oleh beban kesedihan sehingga ia tak mampu berucap sepatah kata pun. Seluruh persendiannya seakan-akan lumpuh. Tubuhnya menjadi lemas karena dihantam rasa kehilangan pria yang sangat dicintainya...
-Aminah: The Flower of Mecca, by Ustadh J Syahban-

Saturday, June 11, 2011

CULTURAL DAY 2011

Cultural day merupakan acara festival budaya oleh anak-anak English Department Unnes angkatan 2009. Acara ini diadakan sebagai tugas akhir mata kuliah Cross Cultural Understanding (CCU) yang jatuh pada semester 4. Cultural Day 2011 ini adalah Cultural Day yang kedua.


Berbagai macam budaya dari lima berbagai negara di dunia ditampilkan disini. Acara ini dimaksudkan untuk mengenalkan budaya-budaya yang ada pada negara lain. Negara-negara tersebut antara lain: Far East (Jepang, China, Korea, Kerajaan Inggris,Middle East (Mesir,Saudi Arabia), Amerika (Indian, Amerika Latin), dan Mediterania. Kebudayaan yang ditampilkan meliputi pakaian adat, makanan khas, ikon-ikon tertentu, dan lain sebagainya.


Berikut ini foto-foto dari acara yang diadakan pada 9 Juni 2011 kemarin.


MC memandu acara yang dimulai dari sekitar pukul 9 pagi sampai 1 siang.



Pengunjung dan owner acara memadati area acara mengunjungi stand-stand yang ada.



Mahasiswa semester 4 pemilik acara ini mengenakan kostum budaya Mesir dan UK.



Pengunjung berpose bersama Spanyol cosplayer.



Pengunjung bermain puzzle di Japan game corner.



Far East stuff- barang-barang khas Timur Jauh



Berkunjung ke stand Timur Tengah yang berbentuk piramid.



Mading yang berisi informasi tentang Mesir.



Cosplayer Mediterania menyambut tamu stand mereka.

Makanan khas Mediterania.


Stand Foodcourt. Stand yang paling banyak diminati. Di sini pengunjung dapat mencicipi maksimal tiga macam makanan khas negara-negara yang terlibat dalam Cultural Day 2011 secara gratis. Namun, banyak yang mengambil lebih dari tiga macam.

Ada beberapa sesi di acara ini, yaitu sambutan-sambutan, performance dari lima stand owner, talkshow, dan game.
(to be continued)
(^^)v

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The Book of Totally Useless Information

h keyboard,
Title           : The Book of Totally Useless Information
Writer       : Don Voorhees
Year           : 1993
Publisher  : MJF Books
Pages         : 189 pages


Have you ever ask why typewriter or keyboard keys are not arranged in alphabetical order? If you want to know the answer, open “The Book of Totally Useless Information”. There you will find the answer. This is the answer based on that useless information book. The first practical typewriter was built in 1867 by Christopher Latham Sholes. These original typewriter models did have their keys in more or less alphabetical order. The one little problem with this arrangement was that the early typists become so proficient that the keys would jam up because they typed too fast. To slow down the typists, the keys were rearranged into a diabotically difficult pattern. Sholes’ first typewriter was designed for use with two fingers. Because of the rearranged key pattern, typists learned to use all ten fingers. Although the key arrangement was difficult, some typists are still capable of typing over 170 words per minute in manual typewriters. In 1936, August Dvorak designed a more efficient keyboard to speed up productivity and reduce typing fatigue and frustation. But the Dvorak’s pattern did not produced because of World War II. Until now the keyboard keys are not rearranged into alphabetical order.
You have known the answer of that question which may never you think to be asked. Many of everything you never wanted to know about everything and did not think to ask are in Don Voorhees’ book. There you will find useless information that you never ask even think before.
The Book of Totally Usaeless Information is the first book of Don Voorhees. Don Voorhees is a composer and conductor. Not only keen on music, but also he keen on reading. He has collected interesting stories and bits of information continually over the years. And finally he wrote some books contained the result of countless hours of his reading and PBS viewing. Other books written by Don are: The Essential Book of Useless Information, The Perfectly Useless Book of Information, Disgusting Things: A Miscellany, and many others.
The title of the book make me wonder and curious. How come a book is tittled “The Book of Totally Useless Information” rather than “The Book of Totally Usefull Information”. It is one of the interesting thing in this book. The tittle of the book make me curious to open and read the content of the book. Is the content truly useless information or not?
The second interesting thing of this useless information book is the content of the book. It contains questions and answers information. The information are not inept information. The content of this book are most of about everything that we never think about them. The content very rarely exist in other books, radios, televisions, magazines, or other media. By read this book, your knowledge will increase. By read this book, you will know something that other people know even think about it.
This book contains various knowledge, starts from culture, science, politics, legends, histories, environments, sports, and many others. Some of the content in this book are delivered in communicative language, but some of them are explained in boring way. Just like as we read explanation in science book. Not all people like and understand this way. But, it must be interesting for whom that keen on science exploration. Not only about science, the weaknesses of this book are seen when the book talk about culture or history of mostly western society. This cannot be understood easily by eastern readers. But, it can be usefull for readers to know more about western countries and societies.
The content of the book are really totally give useless information because we do not search everything we think to ask in this book. This book just delivered everything we did not think to ask. We do not know what will we get from that book until we read it by ourselves.
This book is for all ages. It does not matter for children to read this useless information book, but I think the contain and the language of this book cannot be understood well by children. Have you, your children, your pals, or your neighbor ever think and ask:
·        Why is the sky blue?
·        Who was “Uncle Sam”?
·        Why do we celebrate Halloween?
·        Why are aristrocrats called “blue bloods”?
·        Why do symbols ♂ and ♀ represents male and female?
·        Why is pink for girls and blue for boys?
And, of course
·        What do initials OK stands for?
The answers are in “The Book of Totally Useless Information”

Friday, March 4, 2011

Totto-Chan review


Review Totto-Chan




•         Title         : Totto-chan,
                              The Little Girl at the
                              Window
•         Author     : Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
•         Publisher  : PT Gramedia Pustaka
                         Utama
•         Printed                : I, April 2008
•         Bold Books     : 272 pages



Tetsuko Kuroyanagi  (born August 9, 1933 in Tokyo) is an internationally famous Japanese actress, a talk show host, a best-selling author of children book, a World Wide Fund for Nature advisor, and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. She is well-known for her charitable works, and is considered as one of the first Japanese celebrities who achieved international recognition.

She wrote about the school called Tomoe and Sosaku Kobayashi, the man who founded and ran it because she wants to show to as many people what sort of man Mr. Kobayashi was, his great love for children, and how he set about educating them. So, it is recommended to be read for: adult, parents, and actors involved in education.

This engaging series of childhood recollections tells about an ideal school in Tokyo during World War II that combined learning with fun, freedom, and love. This unusual school had old railway wagon for classrooms, and it was run by an extraordinary man--its founder and headmaster, Sosaku Kobayashi --who was a firm believer in freedom of expression and activity.

In real life, the Totto-chan of the book has become one of Japan's most popular television personalities - Tetsuko Kuroyanagi. She attributes her success in life to this wonderful school and its headmaster. The charm of this account has won the hearts of millions of people of all ages and made this book a runaway best seller in Japan, with sales hitting the 4.5 million mark in its first year.

Tetsuko (which has a small name Totto-chan) starts the story when she was expelled from a school because she called street musicians when teaching and learning activities are in progress. Totto-chan was lucky to have a mother who is very wise so that the mother moved to another school without notifying Totto-chan the real reason.

Totto-chan’s new elementary school named Tomoe was not the same as other primary schools. Class just carried on train were 'transformed' into classes. Not only that, the school was also applying the rule in which each child could choose their own arrangement of their lessons on that day. If children started school with a lesson that they enjoyed, of the teaching-learning activities would be more lively and fun.

Totto-chan found pleasure in this new school. Totto-chan and friends really enjoyed their days in Tomoe. They studied, played, showed their expression, and interacted to each other in their personality. Their teacher taught them with love and high spirit.

Some of the interesting, strange, and valuable things in this school were:
•         Teaching and learning activities were not done in a monotony in the classroom but also done while walking. In the event "the streets", the children also received valuable lessons about science, history, and biology as well;
•         Mr. Kobayashi invited a farmer's field as a 'teacher'. Mr. Kobayashi did not care about whether or not certificated teachers. The farmer taught the students about farming directly;
•          English was learned in Tomoe although America was the enemy outside Tomoe and English was the language of the enemy that no longer taught in schools;
•         The children wore old clothes so as not to get yelled at if they were dirty or torn clothing;
•         The children were asked to bring “something from the ocean and something from the mountains” as a complement to rice; etc.

Although those activities seem strange to people outside Tomoe, those activities are valuable learning process.

Teaching of Euritmik, music education through the rhythms to form a personality that was rhythmic. How, the children must have moved to the rhythm of music played Mr. Kobayashi. Mr. Kobayashi believed that this lesson would work to help children developed their personalities by nature.

When the students had been enjoying their life in Tomoe, the situation became very difficult when the last world war and the bombs began to fall in Japan. On one day Tomoe on fire. Many of bombs hit railway wagon that served as classrooms. Surprisingly, Mr. Kobayashi stayed calm and just said to his children at his side, “Will we rebuild Tomoe someday?"

This book has some special quality, such as:
•         using simple language. There is only a few of idiom. So that, it can be understood easily,
•         very attractive, the style of story telling so live. When we are reading the novel, it feels like we see the events by ourselves,
•         a lot of stories that show so funny, foolish and smooth child’s behavior. These can make us smile even till laugh.

On the other hand, as a novel, this book has the weakness. In some paragraphs this book like as a teaching method book which describes a teaching method. So, when we read these parts, it feels that we are reading a teaching method theory book, not reading a novel.

We know that there is nothing perfect in this world. Not exception for Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window. But, I say salute for Tetsuko Kuroyanagi that wrote this nice novel.