Eliza V. Handayani's Blog

A reflection about how we learn and practice religion, featuring God, a demon bird, a pharaoh, punks, and a blue-furred alien.

Eliza pergi berkelana dan bercinta dengan laki-laki tampan dari berbagai penjuru dunia. Hingga ia menyelam ke dasar Palung Mariana dan bertemu dengan orang-orang yang tidak disangka-sangkanya.

Kukesampingkan renda blus sehingga bahuku terungkap. Belum pernah sebelumnya aku keluar di tempat umum dengan bahu terungkap. Aku tak sabar mencicipi seperti apa rasanya. Bukankah kita harus menghadapi rasa takut demi memperoleh pengalaman baru?

A personal essay about how reading and writing in many languages have shaped the person and writer I am today.

This essay is part of a series commissioned by the Australia-Indonesia Centre, with leading writers and commentators from Indonesia and Australia each looking closely at their own society, cultures and political situations. When asked to contribute an essay to the series, Eliza thought of exploring the subject of Indonesian identity through personal and national trauma—specifically the May 1998 tragedy.

An honest look into a hidden Jakarta youth culture: a group of friends go to great lengths to hide their hedonistic lifestyle from their parents and respectable girlfriends.

A story about a group of punks in an Islamic school in Jakarta, who stood up against an abusive teacher. Published in the Griffith Review's New Asia Now edition, featuring 49 authors from Asia Pacific under 45 years of age.

Mia wants to grow up confident and independent, but her mother thinks a good woman is obedient and suffers in silence, and her father takes advantage of women who lead freer lifestyles. This one's for all the girls who’ve had to find their own way, alone.

At MWF Eliza spoke at the panels Muslim Feminism, Protest & Rebellion, and Writers Across Borders. She was also one of the surprise guests at Dumbo Feather's Caravan Conversation.

My confusion and alarm soon turned to fear. I felt with every cell on my skin my disadvantaged situation: I was the woman and he was the man, I was Asian and he was white, I was just another local girl and he was the dashing coveted foreigner, I was younger, less experienced, less beautiful, and I probably liked him much more than he liked me.