Glad that I am majoring in English and Literature

Thanks to a friend who posted this on facebook that I manage to catch a glimpse and realized that I am the one this article is referring to. Glad that I am majoring in this course and what more, I am putting myself in a golden risk to pursue until PhD. Whuaaa...this could be an inspiring article for me to keep myself at the very best momentum.

Taken from: here

Yes, you can be successful with a literary background.

I AM NOT HERE to sell you on the merits of a bachelor’s degree in English. I am merely here to tell you that, contrary to popular belief, there are indeed professions that an English major does prepare a person for. I shall use myself as an example. Here is what I have “done” with my English major:

• Editorial Assistant at a household name magazine in New York City
• Editor at an advertising firm on New York City’s Park Avenue
• Freelance Travel Writer

These are the English major-related things I have done for a paycheck; I don’t include Theater Critic and Aspiring Writer of Literary Fiction (first novel 98% completed — fingers crossed).

The question people usually ask the English major after “What are you going to do with that?” is generally “Does it pay?” It’s an appallingly rude question. My suspicion has long been that the question arises out of the asker’s need to comfort themselves that selling out was, indeed, the right choice. But I digress.

Fine. I myself make a little money. Each year I make more. Not that it’s any of your business. If I gave a crap about being rich I’d have become an investment banker…or a high class call girl.

Do I love what I do? Yes. And I loved being an English major. I love to read. I love to revise a sentence, pick apart copy, and pinpoint tropes and important literary themes; I can’t turn off that part of my brain even when I’m watching Madmen or reading e-mails from ex-boyfriends. And I can’t live without writing. This is my skill set.

Even if I never sell my novel, I’ll always be able to fall back on editing and teaching. And it’s not just me. A good number of my fellow English majors — the ones who were truly serious about it — are creative writing teachers, adjunct literary professors, and published authors today.

If one is not keen to go into Academia, there is also the publishing world and journalism: while living in New York City, I was surrounded by former English majors who made a living — sometimes handsomely — as journalists, magazine editors, publishing assistants, and literary agents. Yes, there’s little money to start. But, as with any career, if you stick around long enough, the money grows.

Photo by aroid

And let’s not forget the actual writing. Many people (like myself) who major in English harbor literary dreams. Do you need to have been an English major to become a writer? No, but knowing the canon of the literary world you one day hope to join certainly doesn’t hurt.

Alas, there are no job ads that read: Wanted! Best-selling American novelist! Work from home. Perks include fame, respect, and statues sculpted in your honor. We’ll take anyone. $100,000k a year to start. Making a healthy living in creative fields is admittedly a long shot, but it’s by no means impossible.

Just visit your local bookstore. Turn on the TV. Crack open a magazine. Someone’s writing all those books, articles, and TV and movie scripts. But they’re not doing it by sitting around and bitching about the impossibility of achieving lofty goals.

Just last year, two of my former co-workers went to the Prime Time Emmys for their work on 30 Rock. Another woman we used to work with just got her big break — a six-figure book deal. I first met these people ten years ago, when we all worked for a start-up in Chinatown. For the record, saying, “That website only pays $15 per article? Screw you guys, I’m going home” does not constitute “trying” to be a writer. My friend who has the new book deal wrote six novels, all of which were rejected, before “making it.”

Every dream worth having requires time, hard work, talent, a thick skin, and dedication.

So what can you do with a BA in English? To sum up:

• English Teacher
• Literacy Teacher
• ESL Teacher
• Creative Writing Teacher
• Professor of Literature
• Professor of Writing
• Literary Scholar
• Magazine Editor
• Literary Journal Editor
• Periodical Writer
• Literary Critic
• Publishing Liaison
• Literary Agent
• Novelist
• Poet
• Ghostwriter
• Screenwriter

Any other questions? Actually, wait…I have a question for you. Those of you, that is, who majored in English and are guilty of spreading the same old slander about our course of study. I’ve seen it dozens of times: pleasant chatter about college days past and then, the inevitable question…What did you study? A shrug of the shoulders, an apologetic grimace, and an eye roll: “I was an English major. But, you know, what do you do with that?”

Photo by Sterlic

My hot question for all of you: if you didn’t want to be a writer, journalist, literary scholar, publishing liaison, literary agent, or literature/English/writing teacher then why the hell did you pick English as a major? It’s not like you didn’t know what people say about us. I mean, you wouldn’t go to medical school if you didn’t want to be a doctor, right?

I understand if you took a real, prolonged stab at a literary-type career and gave up — rejection and hunger suck — but there are other jobs in the literary field to pick from. But if you went straight from your graduation ceremony to working Customer Service at Sears, then what did you expect?

Maybe you were young and intimidated by the world at large. The English major is often viewed as a haven for “confused” college students who simply want a “light” course of study.

Yes, I see how that works. Because reading hundreds of pages a week and churning out dozens of papers based on new and inventive ways to pick apart old texts is totally easy if you don’t already have a passion for that sort of thing.

If that was you — poor, scared teenage you — and you’re still bitching about it, then I have two words for you, my false friend: grow up. If you don’t know what your English major was for, you picked the wrong major and that’s no one’s fault but yours. Or you were too weak to give the literary life a real try. Again, that’s on you.

A college degree does not entitle you to anything but the printed paper. Like anything else in this world, you only get out what you put in.

Patah tumbuh hilang berganti

THE RAINBOW AFTER THE RAIN

Submitted by: maple

Author: Maple

God never promise us a good life on earth;
but He gave the assurance that there will always
be a rainbow after the rain.

Life on earth is not always what we expected
and wanted it to be. But if we can put our
trust in God, He can sail us through definitely.

God never let us bear what is impossible;
and He makes sure what we bear is the
limit that we can take without much difficulty.

After the rain, things will be changed;
everything on earth seems to be new
and clean. With these renew scenario,
we should be:

- a more positive and courageous person
as indicated by the RED of the rainbow;

- a creative, thoughtful and joyful person
as indicated by the ORANGE of the rainbow;

- an intelligent, confident and logical person as
indicated by the YELLOW of the rainbow;

- a renewed, generous and practical person as
indicated by the GREEN of the rainbow;

- a peaceful, sincere and responsible person as
indicated by the BLUE of the rainbow;

- a relaxed, devoted and wise person as
indicated by the INDIGO of the rainbow;

and last but not least, a spiritual and idealistic
person as indicated by the VIOLET of the rainbow.

Kehilangan yang merapatkan

Tok sebelum dikuburkan.
Gambar diambil oleh sepupu.

Benar mungkin pepatah, bila sudah tiada baru ingin dikenang, baru ingin disayang.

Tok akhirnya menghembuskan nafas terakhir malam sabtu lalu. Dan saya, berada tepat di sisinya pada waktu itu. Abah, adik-adik abah, cucu-cucu lain semua tiada. Allah pilih saya, ummi dan ammar (adik lelaki saya) untuk menyaksikan saat terakhir tok di dunia.

Abah keluar sebentar ketika itu untuk menunaikan solat. Pesan abah, jangan ditinggalkan walau seketika sebab bila-bila masa Dr akan panggil untuk bagitau perkembangan tok. Masa itu pun tok sudah kritikal. Kami semua sudah bersedia. Lama sudah bersedia untuk menerima pemergian dia.

Abah : Along...tok baru lepas muntah. Abah nak pergi solat sekejap, kamu pergi masuk teman tok.
Along : Along pergi ke umi?
Abah : Kamu la pergi, nanti umi muntah pulak tengok tok muntah. Tau je la umi tu bukan boleh tengok orang lain muntah, nanti dia muntah sama.

Saya bergegas masuk. Katil tok dilitupi langsir. Ramai Dr. dan nurse dalam tu. Saya menunggu saja di luar. Risau kalau menjenguk akan mengganggu kerja-kerja mereka. Sejurus, seorang nurse keluar...

Nurse : Siapa waris pesakit ni?
Along : Saya..kenapa ya?
Nurse : Mintak waris ajarkan pesakit mengucap ya.

Saya terus meluru keluar memanggil umi. Umi masuk lalu terus membisikkan kalimah syahadah pada tok. Saya nampak dari sisi, umi mengusap2 rambut tok yang putih sambil berulang kali membisikkan kalimah suci itu.

Umi : Along, jom kita baca yasin.

Tanpa membantah, saya mengambil posisi di sebelah umi. Membaca dengan sedikit kuat surah yasin bersama umi. Namun, kondisi tekak dan dada yang masih belum sihat dari batuk yang berpanjangan membantutkan pembacaan. Sambil membaca, saya tidak melepaskan pandangan melihat tok dan mesin di sebelahnya. Mesin yang menentukan kondisi degupan jantungnya setiap saat. Semakin lemah dan semakin perlahan. Saya perhati dalam-dalam sambil mulut terus melaungkan bacaan yasin. Batuk yang berlanjutan mengganggu pembacaan lalu saya keluar meminta ammar menggantikan tempat. Ammar masuk, tak sampai 5 minit dia keluar semula sambil tangannya ligat menelefon pakcik makcik kami.

Ammar : Along, mesin tok dah 0.
Along : Hah? Betul ke? tadi along tengok 63.
Ammar : Tok dah takde.

Saya bergegas masuk. Meluru menatap mesin tersebut. Terus mengkhabarkan pada umi,

Along : Umi, dah kosong.

Umi pandang saya. Umi menangis. Saya terkedu. Sekejap-sekejap saya pandang tok dan mesin. Tok dah terkulai. Dari awal tok memang tidak sedarkan diri, tapi keadaan ketika itu...menandakan dia telah pergi. Abah masuk diiringi Ammar. Kami masing-masing memandang mesin tersebut.

Abah : Tok dah takde.

Tenang abah meluahkan. Saya lihat wajah abah dari sisi. Selepas masing-masing yakin bahawa tok sudah pergi, barulah para Dr dan nurse datang melihat. Setelah diperiksa nadi dan rekod mesin, benar tok sudah pergi. Jam ketika itu, jam di tangan kami tok menghembuskan nafas pada jam 9.15 malam. Rekod mesin dan pendapat Dr, tok pergi pada jam 9.30 malam.

Dr : Maaf encik, pesakit sudah meninggal.
Abah : Ya, kami dah tahu.
Dr : Harap encik sekeluarga tabah.
Abah : Kami dah bersedia.

Sungguh, saya masih ingat detik itu hingga saat ini. Bila dikenang, bila diingat semula, hati saya sebak. Saya sempat menziarahi tok sepanjang sebulan tok terlantar koma di hospital. Menjenguk dan membacakan yasin. Mendoakan agar Allah percepatkan penyembuhannya. Mendoakan juga andai kematian itu lebih baik buat tok, percepatkanlah ia.

Tok dah pergi. Tapi saya masih terdengar suara lantang tok memanggil cucu-cucunya di rumah. Saya masih ingat tok suka solat dan baca surah kuat-kuat. Laungan takbirnya, masih saya ingat.
Tok pergi, dan saya semakin ingin selalu pulang ke rumah. Saya ingin selalu berada dengan umi. Allah pilih kami, saya dan umi berada di sisi tok di saat nafas terakhirnya.

Kehilangan tok membuatkan hati saya semakin dekat dengan rumah. Sebelum ini, saya jarang pulang. Sengaja menyibukkan diri dengan akademik dan kegiatan luar supaya masa untuk pulang terhad. Tapi kehilangan itu buat saya sedar, saya sudah selalu jauh dengan rumah dan keluarga. Kesibukan itu membuatkan saya selalu jauh dengan rumah.

Paksu : Sementara tok masih hidup paksu nak luangkan masa yang ada dengan tok puas-puas. Lepas ni mungkin dah tiada peluang tu.

Allah...