“Aku nampak kepala-otak terbaik generasiku dijahanamkan oleh kegilaan histeria bogel kelaparan, mengheret diri mereka ke lorong-lorong negro di waktu subuh, mencari cara melepaskan amuk gian…”

Di atas adalah terjemahan (bukan yang paling bagus) pembuka bagi sajak ‘HOWL’ oleh Pak Ginsberg. Antara petikan beliau yang aku suka. Kenapa? Mungkin sebab Ginsberg nampak sesuatu yang ada pada generasinya.

I first got involved in the arts as an actor for my high school English drama team back when I was 14 – but the experience was dampened with long hours of practice. I know, I shouldn’t complain and this is how it is for everyone else. but I was 14 and I had better things to do than to be stuck in school until late in the evening. Also, I couldn’t really get my British pronunciation right.

The first time I got involved in arts was also the first time I stayed away from it.

“Art ni tak perlu difaham. Art ni untuk dirasa,” said Noorul Aida, a student of Bachelor in Creative Technology.

“I think art is personal. It’s like finding an emotion or sentiment that you yourself couldn’t express. It would be great to understand what it means by understanding the meaning of why it was created but it would mean nothing and still feel empty if the person who understood it didn’t feel anything to connect with it on a personal level,” explained Constance Chi, who’s currently pursuing her teaching course.

A year ago, I was chosen to participate in an important conference for a travel writer; who passed away precisely eight months before I was born. He died before finishing his magnum opus, a book about nomadic behaviors. I was one of about a thousand other people who had been selected to present to an audience of more than seven billion people who were drawn on a journey to find themselves through the streets and the ruins in all parts of the world. It was an invitation that I valued greatly, and I considered it an honour to be chosen.

That is what I imagine every day when I wake up.