https://www.irrawaddy.com/features/the-man-behind-the-irrawaddy.html

Ko Aung Zaw Irrawaddy seldom writes anything personal

but this is very nice--to keep a magazine going for so long is wonderful.

I've known him since I worked in radio on M St. in the late1990s. He brought xeroxes of Chief Justice Myint Thein's poems in English.

I'd see him now and then in D.C. and at Burma conferences in Gottenberg and Helsinki and art exhibitions in Chiangmai.

When there was a print edition, I received a free copy in the mail every month.

Thank you.

Most of the 1988 generation who did not die but came overseas have done well.

Some unfortunately seem to have flipped sides during the so-called transition period.

Even during that time, 2 Reuters journalists including Wa Lone were arrested--Ko Par Gyi was murdered.

There must be many others I have not heard of.

Then there are the legions of Citizen Journalists taking photos and reporting on a daily basis.

I am struck by the high quality artistically of the photos--taken maybe with cell phones and under very difficult conditions.

I feel it's time for the rest of us to appreciate their contribution.

When I worked at that radio station, I asked about life insurance and some language and survival training --no answer from the blasted management--

Incidentally, I'd like you all to read Paul Pringle's book, Bad City about an eye surgeon and dean at USC (Univ of Southern California) who was dealing drugs and raping women, and his corruption spreading to the LA Times--management where Pringle worked and how he and a small team managed to at last oust these criminals.

I found the book on the free shelf in my eye specialist's waiting room.

Sometimes I take books I won't read again and leave them there.

But I keep more books than I give away. It's not about being tidy, it's about feeding your brain.

Above all please read.

It's a horrible thing not to know what is happening around you.

Poet Saya Zawgyi taught me so much--

Kyi May Kaung

12-16-2023