Esmeralda Santiago di Taman Budaya Medan

Taman Budaya Medan yang terletak di Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan, Kecamatan Medan Timur dikunjungi oleh Konsulat Amerika Kathryn Crockart mengundang Esmeralda Santiago.  Ruangan yang berukuran kurang lebih 10x 15 meter menyambut kehadiran dua wanita yang aktif berbahasa Inggris.

Akomodasi dalam diskusi ini sangat sederhana, ada enam kipas angin dilangit-langit ruangan, namun hanya empat saja yang berputar. Saya tidak tahu kapan terakhir kipas angin tersebut dibersihkan. Saya melihat debu pada baling-baling kipas sangat tebal. Baling-baling kipas yang berwarna biru telah berubah warna menjadi warna coklat, begitu juga dengan jeruji bulat tersebut. Warna putih sudah menjelma menjadi warna coklat juga.

Saat pembukaan, disuguhkan juga sastrawan local Raudah Jambak untuk berpuisi. Ritme puisinya sangat terasa, sesekali menggelegar dan sesekali hening. Hening bukanlah hening, saat semua hening, dia diam, peserta juga diam menanti kata berikut yang akan ia sampaikan, namun hanya empat kipas yang tidak diam, suara putaran kipas berabu di ruangan Taman Budaya mengisi hening.

Puluhan lampu sorot mengarah ke Esmeralda Santiago dan perwakilan Konsulat Amerika. Diskusi sastra itu dilaksanakan pada sore hari pada pukul 16.00 WIB, namun saya bukan menyoroti lampunya hidup atau tidak, namun bingkai lampu sorotnya berselimut debu juga. Badan lampu bulat, berwarna merah kini sudah berbercak menjadi warna bata. Kaca beningnya kini menjadi buram. Entah kapan terakhir fasilitas di ruangan ini digunakan.

Konsulat Amerika Kathryn Crockart membuka acara diskusi sastra. Dua dari kanan adalah Esmeralda Santiago 

Namun, untung saja Esmeralda Santiago menikmati jalannya diskusi dan melihat semangat peserta, sehingga ruangan sederhana tak menjadi penghalang memberikan ilmu kepada peserta.

Ibu dua anak ini kelahiran San Juan Puerto Rico adalah anak sulung dari sebelas bersaudara. Wanita yang lulus dari Universitas Harvard dengan predikat magna cum laude tahun 1976 lebih dikenal sebagai penulis dari tiga buku memoar terkemuka, When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman yang telah diadaptasikan dalam sebuah film untuk PBS Masterpiece theatre, dan dianugrahi penghargaan George Foster Peabody Award dan The Turkish Lover.

Di atas meja kayu tanpa taplak, tepat di depan Esmeralda dipajangkan buku anak Las Christmas. Sepengamatan saya saat acara berlangsung tak ada tanda-tanda ataupun spanduk yang menunjukkan acara, hanya keramaian kerumunan orang yang berada di depan pintu mengantri untuk mendapatkan kertas empat lembar kertas yang menerangkan siapa Esmeralda Santiago.

 “Mengawali menjadi penulis dimulai dengan membaca.”

Jumlah peserta diskusi saat itu berkisar seratus orang. Kata demi kata dilontarkan olehnya. Walaupun saya mendengar ucapannya dalam bahasa Inggris lalu diterjemahkan oleh wanita berkaca mata, rambut pendek disebelah kanannya, namun saat itu ucapannya membangkitkan keinginan saya untuk duduk di depan laptop dan menulis. Sepanjang diskusi berjalan, ia memberikan motivasi, menceritakan keadaan masa lalunya dan dirinya yang hibrida, berdiri diatas dua budaya dan dua bahasa.

“Keinginan menulis muncul dari hal-hal yang mucul disekitar kita. Keluarganya selalu kebingungan dengan kegiatan yang saya lakukan. Mereka bingung saat saya mulai mempelajari tari-tari India, tak hanya sampai disitu, mereka juga bingung dengan tindakan saya yang sering duduk di depan computer. Menghabiskan hari-hari di depan computer. Keluarga saya sempat khawatir, mau makan apa jika pekerjaan hanya duduk di depan computer. Namun saya tetap pada semangat dan pendirian saya. Saat itu saya tidak sendirian, ayah saya yang hanya seorang buruh bangunan selalu menghargai ilmu pengetahuan dan mendukung kegiatan yang saya lakukan,” ucap Esmeralda.

Mau makan apa? Pertanyaan itu tak hanya diterima Esmeralda ketika meniti karir menjadi penulis, namun itu adalah pertanyaan yang kerap kali dilontarkan kepada penulis-penulis pemula. Di Medan, Sumatera Utara banyak orang yang menganggap bahwa menjadi seorang penulis, sastrawan dan jurnalis tidak membuat kaya.

Esmeralda menjelaskan untuk menjadi seorang seniman yang dihargai, maka orang tersebut harus menghargai sesuatu yang berada di luar dunia yang ia kenal, maka ia akan mempelajari banyak hal ketika seseorang sudah mulai membuka diri. Disampaikannya, sedari sekarang harus menghargai karya-karya sendiri.

 “Menulis adalah seni. Seni tetap perlu diasah,” ucapnya sembari itu sesekali terdengar juga dengungan mic yang membuat beberapa spontan menutup telinga.

Beberapa peserta antusias bertanya menggunakan bahasa Inggris pada Esmeralda Santiago dan ada juga yang memadukan dengan Bahasa Indonesia. Perwakilan Konsulat Amerika yang bertempat di Medan, Kathryn Crockart menjelaskan alasan mengundang Esmeralda, “Konsulat Amerika ingin membagi ilmu kepada anak muda Sumatera Utara karena penulis seperti Esmeralda sangat unik. Ia dapat berdiri di dua budaya yang berbeda. Saya berharap diskusi ini dapat menambah pengetahuan, karena penulis telah berbagi pengalamannya.”

Esmeralda Santiogo at The Culture Park of Medan

The Culture Park of Medan is located on Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan, Subdistrict East Medan was visited by the American ambassador, Kathryn Crockart who invited Esmeralda Santiago. The room which size is 10x15 meters welcomed the presence of two women who spoke English fluently.

The accommodation in this discussion was very simple, there were six fans in the ceiling, but only four works well. I don’t know when the last time the fans were cleaned. I saw some dust was very thick on the propeller. The blue propellers had changed into grey, so were the circle bars. The white color was also changed into the brown one.

In the opening, Raudah Jambak, the local scholar, were also presented to give his poet. The rhythm was very felt, once loud and once silent. Silent is not just silence, when everybody was silent, he was silent, the audiences were also silent to wait for the next words he was going to conveyed, but just there were four fans which are not silent, the sound of the spin of the dusty fans in the Culture Park filled the silent.

Tens of ray lamps shines Esmeralda Santiago and the deputy of The American Ambassador. The literature discussion was held in the evening at 4 pm , but I didn’t look the lamps were on or off, but the frames of the lamp were  also so dusty. The round and red body lamps had changed into red brick. The transparent glasses were blur now. No idea when the last time the room was used. 

Luckily, Esmeralda Santiago enjoyed the running of the discussion and saw the spirit of the participants, so the simple room didn’t delay to give the knowledge to the participants.

This two-children mother was San Juan Puerto Rico was the eldest children of eleven brothers. The woman who was graduated from Harvard University with predicate magna cum laude in 1976 was known as a writer from the three famous books, When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, which had been adopted into a film for PBS Masterpiece, and had been awarded George Foster Peabody Award and The Turkish Lover.

On the wooden table without table-cloth, exactly in front of Esmeralda was shown a kid book Las Christmas. In my observation when the event was running, there were not any signs or banner which signed the event, just a crowded people who were in front of the door queued to get four papers which explained who Esmeralda Santiago was.

“ Starting be a writer is started by reading.”

The number of the discussion participants were about a hundred people at that time. Words by words explained by her. Though I heard her words in English then translated by the woman in a glass and short hair was on her right side, but her words increased my eager to sit in front of the laptop and write at the time. During the discussion was running, she gave some motivation, told her past and her self be hybrid, lived in two cultures and languages.

“My eager to write was appeared from the appear things around us. Her family always confused with the activities I did. They were confused when I started to learn India dances, not just that, they were also confused with my action which is often to sit in front of the computer. Spending days in front of it. My family ever worried, what will be eaten just by standing in front of the computer. But I was on my spirit and belief. I was not alone at the time, my father who was just a labor always respect knowledge encourage my activities done.”

What will you eat? The question was not only accepted by Esmeralda when running a carrier be a writer, but it just a question which was so often questioned to the young writers. In Medan, North Sumatera many people thought that being a writer, bachelor and journalist didn’t make us rich.

Esmeralda explained to be a respected art, so the person had to respect something which is out of the world she knew, then she would learn many things when someone had began to open themselves. She conveyed, from now we must respect our own works.

“Writing is an art. The art is needed to be sharpened,” she said while also once heard which made some spontaneous to close ears.

Some participants were enthusiastic to ask by using English for Esmeralda Santiago and also some combined with Bahasa. The representative of American Ambassador which was located in Medan, Kathryn Crockart explained the reason to invite Esmeralda. “the American ambassador wanted to share the knowledge to the youth of North Sumatera, because a writer like Esmeralda was very unique. She can live on two different culture. I hope this discussion can increase the knowledge, because a writer has shared their experiences.”