The Listening Post<\/p>\n
* \"Appealing, yet puzzling\" might describe the Indonesian
\npaintings and drawings of Canadian artist, Ken Pattern, our guest
\non this morning's rebroadcast of \"The Listening Post\" (Radio
\nSonora FM 100.9, at 9:15). His precise, clean renderings of the
\nold Jakarta, fast disappearing as it becomes a global capital of
\nbusiness, have been shown widely, here and abroad; local people
\noften ask him, \"Why are you painting slums?\" he remarks.
\n * The fact is that he finds \"kampung\" life visually appealing;
\nnotice that there is a very important semantic difference between
\nthe word \"kampung,\" which usually has a neutral connotation
\n(expect in an expletive like \"kampungan\"), and \"slum\" which by
\ndefinition is a pejorative term. The fact is that while a
\n\"kampung\" may be a slum (those around Tanjung Priok are pretty
\nrough, and might qualify), it is not necessarily so. I live in a
\n\"kampung Betawi,\" in old Condet, and do not at all consider the
\narea to be a slum. Rather, I think of myself as being rather
\nprivileged to be able to live in a green belt of the big city.
\n * Since there's no precise English term for \"kampung,\" we are
\nreally forced to use the Indonesian one. That may be why the
\npersons who ask Ken why he is \"painting pictures of slums\" may
\nsimply be at a loss; they think this is the closest term in
\nEnglish. Well, it's not. You simply have to use the Indonesian
\nterm, and if a Westerner doesn't understand what it means then
\nyou explain it. It's like calling \"gado-gado\" \"Indonesian salad,\"
\nwhich, while not wrong, is certainly inaccurate. English grows
\nrapidly with new terms from foreign languages, especially for
\nthings like foods (\"tofu,\" \"tom yam koong,\" and \"nuc mam\" are
\nrecent additions to the culinary language of American English,
\nfollowing the growth in popularity of Japanese, Thai and
\nVietnamese food there).
\n * Ken Pattern is also the creator of a lovely 1995 calendar,
\ncalled \"Indonesian Impressions\" and featuring scenes from various
\nplaces in the archipelago where he has traveled and painted,
\nincluding Mount Bromo, Parangtritis, Maluku and Irian Jaya. This
\nfull-color calendar has been sponsored jointly by the American
\nWomen's Association and the Canadian Women's Association. You
\nshould consider buying several, to give as gifts: all proceeds
\nfrom sales go to worthwhile Indonesian health-service charities.
\n * Ken came to Jakarta in late 1988 with his wife, an international
\nhuman resources development consultant. They had previously been
\nin Beijing, where he found many difficulties in pursuing an art
\ncareer: \"To use the only lithography studio in the city, I would
\nhave to bicycle for one-and-a-half hours to the University only
\nto find that the professor with the studio key was out. I was
\ngreatly frustrated at the amount of time it took to complete one
\nproject\" is a quote from Vickie White Costello's review of Ken's
\nwork, in \"The Arts\" section of the Sunday, October 9, Jakarta
\nPost. Check it out if you'd like to know more about Ken's art,
\nand see photos of several examples.
\n * Here are some more points of usage and grammar which you might
\nfind helpful; they are taken from recent student compositions and
\nI mention them in the hope that they will help you avoid similar
\nerrors in your own writing.
\n * Avoid the \"due to\" form, which, according to many English
\nexperts, is poor usage. Instead, try \"as a result of.\" Example:
\n\"As a result of the trouble in Cambodia, and the potential danger
\nfor tourists there, Ed and Tootsie decided to spend their annual
\nvacation in Rwanda.
\n * Do not use a semicolon between an independent and a dependent
\nclause. Here is a erroneous example (the asterisk is used in
\nlinguistics to indicate an incorrect form): *\"After the pie-
\nthrowing date is negotiated between counter-parties; the red-hot-
\nchili-pepper-spray event will be discussed.\" Another such common
\nmistake is to do just the opposite, and place a comma (instead of
\na semicolon) between two independent clauses: *\"Payment in dried
\njellyfish is due one to two days prior to prison sentencing, this
\nis a few days prior to nuclear submarine delivery of bogus
\nroller-coaster certificates.\" High-school students in the U.S.
\nfrequently make these kinds of mistakes in their compositions, in
\nspite of being native speakers (it's one more reason why they
\nhate English class.)<\/p>\n
-- Byron Black<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-listening-post-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }