Bila terbaca laporan dalam majalah The Economist semasa menaiki pesawat dari Kuala Lumpur ke Kota Bharu semalam teringat akan kisah-kisah kehidupan semasa tinggal selama lima tahun di 1230 Amsterdam Avenue (120th Street), Manhattan pada tahun 1979-2004. Saban hari kami ke 125th Street dari simpang Amsterdam Avenue menuju ke Harlem Post Office dan kadangkala merentasi Apollo Theatre. Di 125th street itulah juga kami sering membeli ayam hidup dan menyembelihnya di dalam kedai mereka, malah kami menjadi pelanggan tetap yang membeli dan sekali gus menyembelih ayam.
City planning
Harlem reborn
Mar 13th 2008 NEW YORKFrom The Economist print edition
A dream is no longer deferred
WALK along 125th Street in Harlem, and it is hard not to get swept up in the history of the place. Many buildings still stand from the 1920s, when Harlem was the centre of a thriving black culture. Its side streets are lined with beautiful brownstone houses. On 125th Street itself are legendary buildings: the Apollo Theatre, where Ella Fitzgerald first sang, and Theresa Towers, where Fidel Castro met Nikita Khrushchev in 1960.
Yet it is also easy to see where Harlem has failed. Average incomes trail the rest of New York's. Although a few national chain stores have moved into the area over the past decade, closed-up shops still abound.
Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, hopes to change this with the most sweeping rezoning of 125th Street since Kennedy was president. After working on the proposal for four years, the city's planning commission voted on March 10th to rezone some 24 blocks in and around 125th Street. The rezoning will allow at least one high-rise and more than 2,000 apartments as well as hotels, nightclubs and galleries. For the first time, it will set height limits and establish a plan for future development. It is hoped that the plan will create a cultural renaissance in Harlem as well as 8,000 badly needed jobs.
Not everyone is happy. Some 70 small businesses could be forced to close and some historic buildings could be demolished. Critics fear long-term residents will be priced out of their homes. Gentrification over the past decade has certainly contributed to the increased cost of housing in Harlem. Others fear the neighbourhood's character will be irreparably changed because of luxury housing. The city's planning commission thinks the fears are unfounded, as 90% of the housing is rent-protected.
Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute thinks the proposal doesn't go far enough. The first big office building to be built in Harlem in 40 years, which will be the headquarters of Major League Baseball, could be taller. But she understands critics' concerns: the proposal comes on the heels of last year's approval of Columbia University's plans for a new $7 billion campus in West Harlem. The city council will vote on the 125th Street proposal by April 30th
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sajak Pertemuan Mahasiswa
Matahari terbit pagi ini
mencium bau kencing orok di kaki langit
melihat kali coklat menjalar ke lautan
dan mendengar dengung di dalam hutan
lalu kini ia dua penggalah tingginya
dan ia menjadi saksi kita berkumpul disini
memeriksa keadaan
kita bertanya :
kenapa maksud baik tidak selalu berguna
kenapa maksud baik dan maksud baik bisa berlaga
orang berkata : “kami ada maksud baik”
dan kita bertanya : “maksud baik untuk siapa ?”
ya !
ada yang jaya, ada yang terhina
ada yang bersenjata, ada yang terluka
ada yang duduk, ada yang diduduki
ada yang berlimpah, ada yang terkuras
dan kita disini bertanya :“maksud baik saudara untuk siapa ?
saudara berdiri di pihak yang mana ?”
kenapa maksud baik dilakukan
tetapi makin banyak petani kehilangan tanahnya
tanah - tanah di gunung telah dimiliki orang - orang kota
perkebunan yang luas
hanya menguntungkan segolongan kecil saja
alat - alat kemajuan yang diimpor
tidak cocok untuk petani yang sempit tanahnya
tentu, kita bertanya :
“lantas maksud baik saudara untuk siapa ?”
sekarang matahari semakin tinggi
lalu akan bertahta juga di atas puncak kepala
dan di dalam udara yang panas kita juga bertanya :
kita ini dididik untuk memihak yang mana ?
ilmu - ilmu diajarkan disini
akan menjadi alat pembebasan
ataukah alat penindasan ?
sebentar lagi matahari akan tenggelam
malam akan tiba
cicak - cicak berbunyi di tembok
dan rembulan berlayar
tetapi pertanyaan kita tidak akan mereda
akan hidup di dalam mimpi
akan tumbuh di kebon belakang
dan esok hari
matahari akan terbit kembali
sementara hari baru menjelma
pertanyaan - pertanyaan kita menjadi hutan
atau masuk ke sungai
menjadi ombak di samodra
di bawah matahari ini kita bertanya :
ada yang menangis, ada yang mendera
ada yang habis, ada yang mengikis
dan maksud baik kita
berdiri di pihak yang mana !
RENDRA
jakarta, 1 desember 1977
mencium bau kencing orok di kaki langit
melihat kali coklat menjalar ke lautan
dan mendengar dengung di dalam hutan
lalu kini ia dua penggalah tingginya
dan ia menjadi saksi kita berkumpul disini
memeriksa keadaan
kita bertanya :
kenapa maksud baik tidak selalu berguna
kenapa maksud baik dan maksud baik bisa berlaga
orang berkata : “kami ada maksud baik”
dan kita bertanya : “maksud baik untuk siapa ?”
ya !
ada yang jaya, ada yang terhina
ada yang bersenjata, ada yang terluka
ada yang duduk, ada yang diduduki
ada yang berlimpah, ada yang terkuras
dan kita disini bertanya :“maksud baik saudara untuk siapa ?
saudara berdiri di pihak yang mana ?”
kenapa maksud baik dilakukan
tetapi makin banyak petani kehilangan tanahnya
tanah - tanah di gunung telah dimiliki orang - orang kota
perkebunan yang luas
hanya menguntungkan segolongan kecil saja
alat - alat kemajuan yang diimpor
tidak cocok untuk petani yang sempit tanahnya
tentu, kita bertanya :
“lantas maksud baik saudara untuk siapa ?”
sekarang matahari semakin tinggi
lalu akan bertahta juga di atas puncak kepala
dan di dalam udara yang panas kita juga bertanya :
kita ini dididik untuk memihak yang mana ?
ilmu - ilmu diajarkan disini
akan menjadi alat pembebasan
ataukah alat penindasan ?
sebentar lagi matahari akan tenggelam
malam akan tiba
cicak - cicak berbunyi di tembok
dan rembulan berlayar
tetapi pertanyaan kita tidak akan mereda
akan hidup di dalam mimpi
akan tumbuh di kebon belakang
dan esok hari
matahari akan terbit kembali
sementara hari baru menjelma
pertanyaan - pertanyaan kita menjadi hutan
atau masuk ke sungai
menjadi ombak di samodra
di bawah matahari ini kita bertanya :
ada yang menangis, ada yang mendera
ada yang habis, ada yang mengikis
dan maksud baik kita
berdiri di pihak yang mana !
RENDRA
jakarta, 1 desember 1977
Apolitical Intellectuals
One day
the apolitical
intellectuals
of my country
will be interrogated
by the simplest
of our people.
They will be asked
what they did
when their nation died out
slowly,
like a sweet fire
small and alone.
No one will ask them
about their dress,
their long siestas
after lunch,
no one will want to know
about their sterile combats
with "the idea
of the nothing"
no one will care about
their higher financial learning.
They won't be questioned
on Greek mythology,
or regarding their self-disgust
when someone within them
begins to die
the coward's death.
They'll be asked nothing
about their absurd
justifications,
born in the shadow
of the total life.
On that day
the simple men will come.
Those who had no place
in the books and poems
of the apolitical intellectuals,
but daily delivered
their bread and milk,
their tortillas and eggs,
those who drove their cars,
who cared for their dogs and gardens
and worked for them,
and they'll ask:
"What did you do when the poor
suffered, when tenderness
and life
burned out of them?"
Apolitical intellectuals
of my sweet country,
you will not be able to answer.
A vulture of silence
will eat your gut.
Your own misery
will pick at your soul.
And you will be mute in your shame.
Otto Rene Castillo
the apolitical
intellectuals
of my country
will be interrogated
by the simplest
of our people.
They will be asked
what they did
when their nation died out
slowly,
like a sweet fire
small and alone.
No one will ask them
about their dress,
their long siestas
after lunch,
no one will want to know
about their sterile combats
with "the idea
of the nothing"
no one will care about
their higher financial learning.
They won't be questioned
on Greek mythology,
or regarding their self-disgust
when someone within them
begins to die
the coward's death.
They'll be asked nothing
about their absurd
justifications,
born in the shadow
of the total life.
On that day
the simple men will come.
Those who had no place
in the books and poems
of the apolitical intellectuals,
but daily delivered
their bread and milk,
their tortillas and eggs,
those who drove their cars,
who cared for their dogs and gardens
and worked for them,
and they'll ask:
"What did you do when the poor
suffered, when tenderness
and life
burned out of them?"
Apolitical intellectuals
of my sweet country,
you will not be able to answer.
A vulture of silence
will eat your gut.
Your own misery
will pick at your soul.
And you will be mute in your shame.
Otto Rene Castillo
Friday, March 14, 2008
DEMOCRACY
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.
I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.
Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.
Langston Hughes
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.
I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.
Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.
Langston Hughes
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