1940 Clare Booth (later Clare Booth Luce's) articles in Life Magazine about bombing of Mandalay and Maymyo -

http://cbi-theater.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater/mission/life-mission.html

Performance "Tomorrow" in honor of Victms of Northern Massacre

http://www.8888peopletoday.net/ On 12th Feb 1992, in Pajau on Burma-China Border, 15 people were accused of being SLORC spies and tortured and executed by ABSDF (Northern Burma). ABSDF is an armed student group set up in 1988 by university students who fled Burma after the clampdown on 18th Sept. Some alleged perpetrators and several survivors are still alive. This performance was staged by artist Soo Myint Thein (spelled phonetically) at the recent merit sharing ceremony in Rangoon, Burma. *

Ashes from burned paper - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

Nien Cheng, author of Life and Death in Shanghai, died in Nov 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nien_Cheng I met her at a friend's house and interviewed her in 1998. Kyi May Kaung

Chinese diaspora writing - costs and benefits

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,409644,00.html

Multicultural Christmas still life - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

"Burmese waterboarding" Kyi May Kaung's translation of Naing Win Swe's

Moe Makha Plant in http://www.fpif.org/articles/moe_ma_kha_plant This happened in jungle among rebels, I am unsure which. Naing Win Swe died in battle, his comrades having no time to bury him, "just covered him with wild flowers". It was the first poem I introduced and produced/broadcast on my Poems of Those who Love their Country, in 1997. Weekly program went on for 3 years. It has also appeared on another international poetry website (not available now). Kyi May Kaung

Tamarind pods soaking in water - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

funnies - if you prefer to rent rather than buy - and your name is --

http://www.boston.com/realestate/luxuryliving/galleries/luxury_boston_condos_for_rent?pg=2

Kyi May Kaung - Burma - Economists, generals and culture vultures Part 1

http://asiancorrespondent.com/author/kyimaykaung/

Nancy Hudson-Rodd in DVB - Trouble brews as Burma turns to world markets

http://www.dvb.no/analysis/trouble-brews-as-burma-turns-to-world-markets/20116#comment-48580

How to prep coffee beans - in Thai cafe - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

Born a Criminal (in Burma) by Francis Wade

http://asiancorrespondent.com/54660/born-a-criminal-in-burma%E2%80%99s-prison-hospitals/

Memorial Poem for Astronaut Dr Janice Voss

Dear Linda please feel free to use this on the Memorial Cards and to read at the Service. So long as my name is on the bottom in small print it is fine. I don't know why the email is typing like this. I did not change to Plain Text as formatting would be lost. Sincere Condolences Kyi May http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/voss-jan.html A veteran of five space flights, Dr. Voss has logged over 49 days in space, traveling 18.8 million miles in 779 Earth orbits. Dr. Voss first flew on STS-57 (June 21 to July 1, 1993). Mission highlights included retrieval of the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) with the Shuttle’s robotic arm, a spacewalk, and the first flight of the Spacehab module. She next flew on STS-63 (February 3-11, 1995). Mission highlights included the rendezvous with the Russian Space Station, Mir, the deployment and retrieval of Spartan 204, and the third flight of Spacehab. She also flew as payload commander on STS-83 (Apr 4-8, 1997).

Moon Flower and Blood Grass - photo - copyright Kyi May Kaung/ Janice, I wish I had met you/ before the cancer got you./ I only ever met two other/ Astronauts in my life. One man and one woman/ about five feet tall./ You loved science fiction and square dancing./ Look down on us from your last/ Circling of the Earth./ Know, we miss you./ Copyright Kyi May Kaung

Dead whale shark in Karachi

http://videos.geo.tv/VideoGallery.aspx?ID=3438 I wonder what the did with it did they stuff it? Kyi May Kaung

A partial Burmese economic history through its banknotes

http://banknotesofburma.blogspot.com/ Banknotes of Burma Blog by Min Sun Min U Kaung in the early banknotes was my father who was at one time Chairman of the Burma Currency Board. In the early 50s. Kyi May Kaung

Dickens vs lawyers from New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/dickens-v-lawyers.html?_r=1

Military rule mars hopes for democracy in Burma

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/military-backed-rule-blurs-hopes-for-democracy-in-burma-184814-page-2.html

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs scratches his eyebrow frame grab

Kyi May Kaung's article - Burma's Economy: Can World Class Advisors Make a Difference? -- in Asian Correspondent

http://asiancorrespondent.com/75403/burmas-economy-can-world-class-advisors-make-a-difference/

Badly split banana leaf - photo copyright Kyi May kaung

Kay Htwe's translation into Burmese of my poem Mother Rape

http://www.scribd.com/KayHtwe/d/51893056-Mother-Rape

Kolkata Massala slide show - India

http://telsawy.tripod.com/Kolkata_Masala/publish_to_web/index.html

Wislawa Symborska's The Joy of Writing and other poems on her Nobel Prize page

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1996/szymborska-poems-5-e.html

Young bamboo that will become invasive Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.

An Iranian Vote - from an Iranian dissident

MY VOTE! ای دشمن آزادگان، ای جمهوری اسلامی ایران ، ما بی شمارانیم 33 years of Torture, imprisonment, injustice, rape and stoning, taking out eyes from the socket, amputations, over 100.000 executions, oppression, suppression, 8 years of forced Iran-Iraq war with 1/2 millions death, drug addictions, poverty, lack of jobs and security... And more. After all these, is there anyone in favour of the ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN?

Image provided by Iranian Dissident posted with permission. Note: It says in Persian: Islamic Republic of Iran, you are the enemy of freedom fighters but we are so many and in abundance.

Burmese-born poet Ko Ko Thett translates Symborska

Yahoo! Mail true love: a tribute to Szymborska (1923-1212) Saturday, February 4, 2012 4:03 PM Just noticed Szymborska died on 1 Feb! I was oblivious to her passing when I gave her poem 'true love' in translation to kaungkin the other day, for Valentine's. I am just passing through, it’s a five-minute stop. I won’t catch what is distant: what’s too close, I’ll mix up. While trying to plumb what the void's inner sense is, I'm bound to pass by all these poppies and pansies. What a loss when you think how much effort was spent perfecting this petal, this pistil, this scent for the one-time appearance, which is all they're allowed, so aloofly precise and so fragilely proud. from 'Birthday' translated from Polish by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh She has passed through. Her one-time appearance is intransient. -- KKt ko ko thett အခ်စ္စစ္ အခ်စ္စစ္တဲ့၊ ပံုမွန္မွဟုတ္ရဲ့လား အေလးအနက္လား၊ လက္ေတြ႕ေရာက်ရဲ႕လား ႏွစ္ေယာက္တည္းတစ္ကမၻာလုပ္ေနတဲ့ လူႏွစ္ေယာက္က ဒီကမၻာႀကီးကို ဘာေပးႏိုင္မွာတဲ့တုန္း။ အေၾကာင္းျပခ်က္ ေျခေျချမစ္ျမစ္ မရွိဘဲ မ႑ပ္တိုင္ထူလိုက္ၾက သန္းေပါင္းမ်ားစြာထဲက တစ္ေယာတ္ကို စုံလုံးကန္း ေရြးလိုက္ၿပီးမွ ဒါဟာ ဒီလိုပဲျဖစ္ရမယ္လို႕ ယံုၾကည္လိုက္ၾက ဘာအတြက္လဲ - သဲထဲေရသြန္။ ရုတ္တရက္ သက္ဆင္း လာတဲ့ အလင္းတန္း။ ဘာေၾကာင့္ တျခားသူေတြေပၚ မက်ဘဲ ဒင္းတို႕ ႏွစ္ေယာက္ေပၚက် ဒါဟာ တရားမွ်တမႈကို ပါးခ်တာမဟုတ္လား - ဟုတ္ပါ့။ ဒါဟာ က်ားကုတ္က်ားခဲ ထူေထာင္ခဲ့ရတဲ့ စည္းမ်ည္းေတြကို ခ်ိဳးေဖာက္တာ၊ အထြဋ္အထိပ္ ေရာက္ၿပီးသား က်င့္ဝတ္ေတြကို လႊင့္ပစ္တာ - ဒါေတြအားလံုးဟုတ္။ အဲဒီစုံတြဲ သဲေနပံုကိုၾကည့္။ သိုသိုသိပ္သိပ္မေနႏိုင္ၾကဘူးလား သူငယ္ခ်င္းေတြကို စာနာစိတ္နဲ႕ စိတ္ဓာတ္က်ခ်င္ေယာင္ေဆာင္ မေနသင့္ဘူးလား။ နားေထာင္ၾကည့္ ဒင္းတို႕ရယ္သံကိုက- ေစာ္ကားေမာ္ကား။ ဒင္းတို႕ေျပာတဲ့စကားေတြက ရိုးလြန္းလို႕ယံုႏိုင္စရာမရွိ။ ဒင္းတို႕ရဲ႕ အေသးအမႊားေပ်ာ္ပြဲေတြ၊ အပရိက ထံုးတမ္းစဥ္လာေတြ၊ အပိုဆာလား အျပန္အလွန္ နိစၥဓူဝေတြ - ေသခ်ာတာက အခ်စ္စစ္ဆိုတာ လူသားမ်ိဳးႏြယ္ရဲ႕ ေနာက္ေၾကာက ကလိန္ျခဳံမႈ။ လူတုိင္းသာ သူတို႕လို အတုျမင္အတတ္သင္ျဖစ္ကုန္ရင္ ဒုကၡ ေတြးေတာင္မေတြးရဲ။ ဘာသာတရားနဲ႕ ကဗ်ာကို ဘယ္ေပၚသြားထားမလဲ။ ဘာေတြကိုတသ၊ ဘာေတြကိုစြန္႕ပစ္ရမွာလဲ၊ ဘယ္သူေတြကမ်ား အေႏွာင္အဖြဲ႕ေတြၾကား ေနခ်င္ပါေတာ့မလဲ။ အခ်စ္စစ္တဲ့၊ တကယ္ လိုအပ္လို႕လား။ အရွက္ကြဲမႈတစ္ခု ဘဝရဲ႕အျမင့္ဆံုး အသိုင္းအဝိုင္းေတြထဲ လူသူမသိ ေက်ာ္ျဖတ္သြားပံုမ်ိဳး လိမၼာေရးျခားရွိမႈနဲ႕၊ လူပိန္းေတြးေတြးမႈက အခ်စ္စစ္ကို ျဖတ္ေက်ာ္ဖို႕ ငါတို႕ကို ေျပာတယ္။ ေျခာက္ျပစ္ကင္း သားသမီးရတနာေလးေတြေမြးဖို႕ အခ်စ္စစ္မလို။ အခ်စ္စစ္ ဆိုတာ ဒုလႅဘမို႕ သူ႕အားကိုးေနရင္ ေနာင္ႏွစ္တစ္သန္းလည္း ကမၻာ့လူဦးေရ တိုးတက္မွာမဟုတ္။ အခ်စ္စစ္ကို မႀကံဳဖူးတဲ့လူေတြ အခ်စ္စစ္ဆိုတာ ေလာကမွာမရွိဘူးလို႕ ေျပာၾကပါေစ။ အဲဒီလိုယံုေတာ့ သူတို႕ေတြ အေနေျဖာင့္ အေသေျဖာင့္တာေပါ့။ ဗစ္စ္ဝါဘာ ရွင္ေဘာ္စကာ ႏိုဘယ္လ္ဆုရ ပိုလန္ကဗ်ာဆရာမ Wislawa Szymborska (1923-1212) ၏ true love။ Stanislaw Baranczak ႏွင့္ Clare Cavanagh က အဂၤလိပ္လိုျပန္ထားေသာမူကို ကိုကိုသက္ ျမန္မာမႈျပဳသည္။

Outsider artist in Texas with bottle cap art - photo Copyright Kyi May Kaung - with permission of the artist, 2011.

Race, parenting, the South, etc - Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is 50 years old

Harper Lee & Truman Capote were first cousins and both became bestselling novelists. http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/03/showbiz/to-kill-a-mockingbird-50/index.html?hpt=hp_bn4 Kyi May Kaung

Quote of the Day - Dr Zarni in LA Times Oct 2011

"We're basically dealing with the same creature, with slightly more enlightened posturing," said Zarni, founder of the London-based Free Burma Coalition, an activist group, who uses one name. "We shouldn't fool ourselves that the regime is driven by reformers. "

Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei -- frame grab

NPR - interview of Emma Larkin (pseu) Finding George Orwell in Burma

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=4761169&m=4761207 This is a very good book, as is her second "Everything is Broken" Kyi May Kaung

My Amazon.com review of Mo Yan's Red Sorghum

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UGSVAK6M3TYV Red Sorghum: A Novel of China (Mass Market Paperback) I read Red Sorghum by Mo Yan and translated by Howard Goldblatt about five years ago. It is unforgettable and beautifully translated, though not an easy read as Mo Yan writes about a grandmother in the voice of her grandson, so the time shifts are sometimes jarring. Most of the story is in flashback. I have not seen the film. However, many scenes are unforgettable. A great work of international literature. Yes, I don't usually like to read "Chinese" or "Burmese" or whatever fiction written by writers who base it all on research, not on life. Red Poppy by Alai, a Tibetan writer who writes in Mandarin, also translated by Goldblatt, is also excellent. Kyi May Kaung See your review on the site

Michelle Yeoh plays Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/life/Burma-in-the-balance-30174980.html

One person who should also be called in to advise on Burma - Jeffrey Sachs

http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/1770

Mitch McConnell interviewed by PBS about Burma

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/01/changes-in-myanmar.html

Aung San Suu Kyi's address at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

http://www.weforum.org/videos/aung-san-suu-kyi-annual-meeting-2012

Residence of Chang Da Chien - master painter and forger

http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/dai-chien/index.html I don't know how to activate links on this new format but the Memorial is at the National Palace Museum in Tapei, Taiwan. Kyi May Kaung

Voltaire and his room at Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire I've seen Frederick's San Souci palace in Potsdam and the overly decorated room with pink parrots on the walls where Voltaire lived for a while. The whole palace was not more than one room wide throughout its length and the slaves/servants - had to go in the narrow passages between the walls to empty out the commodes the guide said no one ever bathed much and overused perfumes etc. I wrote a short story called My Potsdam - about a guide whose home had been confiscated in E. Germany days. One cottage I saw was held together by a wire mesh. kmk

Wai Hnin Pwint Thon - daughter of a Burmese political prisoner, is skeptical about "reforms"

http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2012/01/my-fathers-release-from-prison-is-good.html

Vietnamese-American artist Huong's Immigration Wall

From: Huong Subject: Thank you for your support on Immigration Mural! To: "immigration mural" Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 8:47 AM My dear ART-Lovers & PEACE-Makers, Thank you for your SUPPORT! Your presence helped to the unveiling a fun and real SUCCESS! Your words of encouragement fuel me to plow to this project faster and faster. We have no time to waste. The immigration tidal wave is coming on the shore! I appreciate your words of wisdom, your emotion respond and your guideline for the future chapter of this mural. I am LISTENING and COUNT ON YOU! Cheers from the Artist, Huong P.S. Here are the press covered on the unveiling which generated a lot of debate and communication. Please throw your thoughts there and educate me more! Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/14/2587815/the-art-of-immigration.html Miami New Times: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist/2011/12/huongs_immigration_mural_turni.php Foreign Policy in Focus: http://www.fpif.org/articles/giving_voice_on_immigration South Miami News : http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/11/v-print/2584899/peace-mural-to-stir-immigration.html#storylink=cpy

Poetry International Website - special issue on Burma and Vietnam

Abstract chairs - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung http://www.poetryinternational.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_name=www

"reforms" in Burma

Yellow rose half light. Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

Mrs. Clinton's announcement on release of Burmese political prisoners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7-fOsJLA5c

Sen. Mitch McConnell and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma meet in person at last --

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-01-16/mcconnell-suu-kyi-meeting/52601680/1?csp=34news You've spoken up for me and my Cause, so you are my Friend. Blog not - Kyi May Kaung

How bestselling author Daniel Silva writes -

Amazon Exclusive: Daniel Silva on Writing Portrait of a Spy with a Pencil While on book tour, I’ve been surprised to find that readers are fascinated by how writers actually write. Most readers hold in their mind an idealized image of the novelist at work—a figure in a trendy urban coffeehouse, a solitary figure walking along an empty beach. The truth, however, is seldom so romantic. Before going any further, let us stipulate that, much like the hero of my novels, the art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon, I am something of a creature of habit. I work seven days a week, from early in the morning until six thirty in the evening, when I stop to watch the evening news. My work clothing never varies: gray sweatpants by Russell Athletic, a long-sleeve T-shirt by L.L. Bean, fleece Acorn moccasins, and discount cotton socks from Marks & Spencer in England. Occasionally, visitors to our house will catch a glimpse of this outfit, but, for the most part, my wife and children tend to shield me from public view. As a rule, I don’t answer the telephone—unless it is a family emergency of some sort—and I don’t read e-mail. I nibble rather than eat. Portrait of a Spy, like all the Gabriel Allon novels, was fueled largely by McVitie’s digestive biscuits. I have a computer, of course, but I really do most of my actual writing in longhand, on yellow legal pads. I prefer to work while lying on the floor rather than at my desk. This annoys my wife because she took a great deal of time and effort to have a desk custom made to fit my office. When I showed her a photograph of Muriel Spark, one of her literary heroes, writing in longhand stretched across a floor, she was only partially mollified. Sometimes we talk about living somewhere other than Georgetown. Secretly, the very idea terrifies me. After writing 14 books in the same room of the same house, I am afraid I have lost the ability to work anywhere else. As for my writing instrument of choice, it is unquestionably the pencil. There is something about the sound it makes scratching across the page that, for me, is the essence of composition. The pencil is the antithesis of all things cyber and e, a means of returning, however briefly, to a world that is unconnected and unwired. A pad and pencil do not freeze or crash. There are no viruses or error messages. If a thunderstorm knocks out the power, the words will still be there when the lights come on again. And then, there is the satisfying natural rhythm of the work itself—the turning of the completed page, the sharpening of the dulled point, the fortnightly disposal of the fluffy wooden shavings. Lately, I have been hoarding pencils. I’m not sure precisely when it began; I suspect it had something to do with the death of the typewriter. An irrational fear gripped me, a fear that pencils were next. If the typewriter could go extinct, how could the lowly, environmentally hostile pencil possibly hope to survive in the brave new world? I now order my favorite brand—the Paper Mate Mirado Black Warrior No. 2—by the case. I am reasonably confident I now have enough pencils on hand to see me through the next several novels—though, if I happen to misplace a pencil, I will search the house thoroughly before removing a new one from its special drawer and sharpening it for the first time. To sharpen a virgin pencil is, in a sense, to commit an act of assisted suicide. It saddens me. I wish it were not so. I wish I could write on a computer while traveling on an airplane or sitting in a strange hotel room, but I cannot. I have become a prisoner of my office. I need my floor, and my Mirado Black Warrior No. 2 pencils, and my McVitie’s digestive biscuits. I hoard them, too. I keep them on a special shelf in the storage room, next to my socks from Marks & Spencer. Copyright © Daniel Silva 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Poetry International Web - Zeyar Lynn

Poetry International Web - Zeyar Lynn

Images of Burma

http://www.myanmar-image.com/mandalay/misc/image19.html

Bhava Chakra - in Burmese - Bawa Setkya - the Wheel of Life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavacakra

see also Wiki - Buddhist Hells
seven layers of hell

hot hells and cold hells.

kmk

Ajanta Caves in India - nearby Ellora Caves

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/india/ajanta-caveshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel's memorial and Aung San Suu Kyi's tribute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ihT3AX1Aww&feature=relmfu

Billionaire George Soros meets Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - will open Rangoon office

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/6354-suu-kyi-meets-soros-the-billionaire.html

Iran accuses American of spying and sentences to death

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/09/world/meast/iran-accused-spy/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

re-posting - Kyi May Kaung's memoir profile from 2005

http://www.wildriverreview.com/4/profile_kaung.php

Wordnik on line dictionary

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/business/wordniks-online-dictionary-no-arbiters-please.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

Kyi May Kaung's poem, In the Garden by the Lake: Mrs. Clinton goes to see Aung San Suu Kyi

Rose in front bed - copyright Kyi May Kaung


in Foreign Policy in Focus

http://www.fpif.org/articles/in_the_garden_by_the_lake

Why some prefer fiction over fact
reform vs. so-called reforms
election vs. sham election
Myanmar vs. Burma
Political prisoners vs. those who have committed crimes
Democracy vs. discipline flourishing democracy

One anonymous commentator says
do Suu Kyi and Hilary have
the same hair stylist what
they don’t realize is Burma is
very hot both climatically and
politically pulled back hair
off the face is best.
In the garden they hold hands like
long lost sisters.
In the background is Monica Lewinsky
and her blue dress Bill’s heart attack
Aung San Suu Kyi’s middle brother who drowned
as an infant
her elder brother who sued her about the house
at the junta’s instigation.

The private dinner is on American soil
Did they cue each other
that they’d both wear cream or off-white
or white? For hope and change. How many years is it
since Suu had a sit down western-style
formal dinner?

In the garden it’s like Carnation Lily Lily Rose
Suu’s mother was born
a Christian and loved white amaryllis with green centers which
she fertilized with the same water hyacinth that may later have helped drown her son.
A junta newspaper once faulted Daw Khin Kyi with having had
both a Christian and a Buddhist funeral service. What’s wrong with that?

The U.S. government plane flies into Naypyidaw (The King’s Royal City)
in the daytime, it’s not a night time airport
sleeps over in Thailand, then
picks up the U.S. delegation
and the press corps again.

In the garden it’s carnation
lily lily rose.

Dec 2, 2011.

Foreign Policy in Focus contributor Kyi May Kaung is a poet and visual artist and an analyst of Burmese and SE Asian politics.

Rare violin recovered on bus - Merry Christmas!

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/us/2011/12/24/green-pa-lost-violin-bus.kyw

N. Korea - Lisa Ling and sister Laura Ling who was held captive in N Korea interviewed by Sanjay Gupta on Anderson Cooper 360-

transcript

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1112/19/acd.01.html

Thai PM Yingluk Shinawatre meets Aung San Suu Kyi

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/east-pacific/Thai-Prime-Minister-Meets-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-in-Burma-135993048.html

Lady Lady - new Aung San Suu Kyi song by Tiffany Wilson

http://internationalcampaignforfreedom.blogspot.com/

N Korea - only a little more totalitarian than Burma -

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c1#/video/bestoftv/2011/12/20/natpkg-vice-inside-north-korea.cnn

Aung San Suu Kyi's Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/aungsansuukyihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

208 new species found in SE Asia

http://www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/208-New-Species-Discovered-in-Southeast-Asia-135596428.html

As early as 2000, a National Geographic scientist/contributor, photographer told me that the most new species were being found in Vietnam, just before they became extinct.

Kyi May Kaung

Latest documentary on Burma - I met a man from Burma

http://www.divfacefilms.com/p/i-met-man-from-burma.html

In Burma - Monywa Powintaung Frescoes

http://www.firstpost.com/http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftopic/place/burma-burma-monywas-ancient-phowin-taung-caves-video-GkKfrNhODZ4-91646-1.html

Dejan Matic - Burma - song - in Serbian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP1IeAG-NUc&feature=relatedhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Burma- Moving art installation by Human Right Watch -at NY's Grand Central Station - 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yioRh6IOABE&feature=relatedhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

The sound is a Buddhist monk reciting the traditional "sending of metta" or loving kindness prayer and the audience responding Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu or Thadu -- "well done"

kmk

Burmese performance artist Moe Satt

http://www.usatoday.com/news/whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giforld/story/2011-12-13/Burma-Myanmar-Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-Clinton-democracy/51888088/1

Burmese and Lao opium production booming -

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/southeast/UN-Burmese-Laotian-Opium-Cultivation-Surging-135657848.html

US Department of State - Where in the world is Mrs. Clinton?

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/2011http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif/12/177900.htm

See interactive map - useful to teach world geography.

kmk

Independent scholar Kyi May Kaung and USCB's Thelma Young interviewed by Michelle Chen of Asia Pacific Forum -

http:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif//www.asiapacificforum.org/show-detail.php?show_id=250#696

Carnation Lily Lily Rose by John Singer Sargeant

http://www.artden.com/products/carnation-lily-lily-rose?gclid=CLS8z9LO_6wCFSVjTAodbjzTSg

One of my father's favorite paintings.

Kyi May Kaung

Kyi May Kaung interviewed on Asia-Pacific Forum about "change in Burma"

Michelle Chen of Asia Pacific Forum interviewed me about change in Burma, is it real. Dec 13th, 2011

http://www.asiapacificforum.org/show-detail.php?show_id=250

October 2011 Kyaw Aung Lwin of VOA interviewed me about poetry reading in front of Burmese embassy DC – 10,000 poets for change.

Karen National Union's Mahn Nyein Maung arrested in Yunnan in July and deported to Burma, where he is now on trial -

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22641

This is a very famous man and great writer whose book I partially translated.

kmk

Burma's junta: Can a tiger change its stripes by Kyi May Kaung

http://epoch-archive.com/a1/en/sg/nnn/2011/11%20November%202011/%20Issue%20385_01_November_2011/385_A7.pdf

Originally in Foreign Policy in Focus.

Here in Epoch Times, I am re-posting as the photograph is so evocative.

Kyi May Kaung.

Hilary and Suu in Burma in pics --

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/dec/01/hillary-clinton-burma-in-pictures?intcmp=239#/?picture=382683546&index=3

Kyi May Kaung's cover feature article - Potemkin politics: Are Burma's reforms for real - fr Himal Southasian

http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/4842-potemkin-politics.html

Chinese water calligraphy

http://www.danwei.com/tricycle-water-calligraphy/

Ai Wei Wei

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ai-wei-wei/

Burma - Lady of the Lake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtYY6GllMNA&feature=related

Crocs and snakes displaced by Thai floods

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22545

Japanese-American artist Yuri Mason

http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Yuri_Mason

The Daily Beast - Why Hilary Clinton is visiting Burma -

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/11/19/hillary-clinton-in-burma-why-she-s-visiting-the-oppressed-state.html

The Diplomat: Slow down with Burma -

http://the-diplomat.com/asean-beat/2011/11/26/slow-down-with-burma/

Cambodia - brother #2

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22517

Karen music of the refugee camps

http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/3609-burmese-songs-of-exile.html

US millionaires ask to be taxed more

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/16/news/economy/tax_millionaires/index.htm?hpt=hp_c1

Musician occupies Apec dinner -

http://www.cnn.com/video/standard.html?hpt=hp_t2#/video/bestoftv/2011/11/14/exp-occupy-musician.cnn

Special school for teen girls from wartorn areas, including Burma -

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/12/us/atlanta-refugee-school/

re-posting - Deusche Welle interview of Dr. Zarni, LSE, Burma political prisoners as bargaining chips

http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_single_mediaplayer/0,,5250650_type_audio_struct_12758_contentId_5250683,00.html

The junta's politics as war.

Note:

To the gutless person, sure it's a man, who keeps writing "hack, again!" whenever I re-post something -

I deleted all your comments.

The correct usage is "Heck. No!"

From "What the heck"

I am not a hack writer, I re-post for a reason, and if you don't even have the guts to post your real name, at least get your usage, grammar and spelling correct. "Go to hack" which is probably where you are already.

Kyi May Kaung

Photograph of Japanese journalist shot to death on streets in Rangoon, Burma during Saffron Revolution wins Pulitzer Prize

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ0P8XuWJg8

The report is in Burmese but the images are in international sign language.

Kyi May Kaung

Imprisoned Burmese monk U Gambira in urgent need of medical care -

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA16/006/2011/en/9e0d7be5-4abe-45f7-8011-6d293017b61a/asa160062011en.pdf

Movie The Lady - LA Times interview of actress Michelle Yeoh -

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/11/the-lady-michelle-yeoh-luc-besson.html

she looks very like Daw Suu but the Burmese voices are all wrong, and "the speech" is incomprehensible to a Burmese speaker -

Besson should have used real Burmese for the voices, even the crowd scenes.

At least Beyond Rangoon had Burmese actors.

kmk

Occupy movement uses Guy Fawkes masks

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/04/world/europe/guy-fawkes-mask/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

National Public Radio - signs of change in Burma -

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/01/141908775/signs-of-change-in-myanmar

Kyi May Kaung's comment on actress Emma Thompson's trip to Burma -

during which she claimed to see "change in Burma".

Left on website - 10-29-2011

"I admire Emma Thompson tremendously as an actor and activist etc.

But in this case she is MISTAKEN -

she has fallen into the trap of speaking for a non-profit which needs to be on the right side of the junta to continue in-country operations.

The so-called change is only a media whitewash so the junta can get western sanctions lifted.

Ms. Thompson needs to look at things deeper than one "fact-finding" trip sponsored by one non-profit organisation.

Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)"

Kenneth Lieberthal on doing business in China -

http://www.brookings.edu/press/Books/2011/managingthechinachallenge.aspx

NASA image of storm over Burma - Oct 21 -

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=38805

How much difference does one poem make? by Kyi May Kaung in PeacexPeace

Dupont Circle Metro - Washington DC with lines by poet Walt Whitman - who went alone during American Civil War to comfort wounded and dying soldiers.

Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung



http://www.peacexpeace.org/2011/10/how-much-difference-does-one-poem-make/

International scholarships, Univ. of Sydney, Australia

http://sydney.edu.au/international/international_students.shtml

Students from Burma should try.

kmk

Prize winning documentary on Khmer Rouge - Brother Number 2

Dried banana leaves - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung


http://enemiesofthepeoplemovie.com/


Chilling documentary which complements work by Nate Thayer, Ben Kiernan etc.

-- to be used in International Criminal Court.

-- he never educated his own children, who deeply resented it.

* This was sent to me by Jane Khin Zaw, daughter of U Khin Zaw or "K" - who is now a Carmelite nun. She is related to the co-director of the film.

Contact #s for interview on film website.

Kyi May Kaung's Zarganar or Pincers, Great Burmese Comic among few released.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/author/kyimaykaung/

Sarah Browning's article on Poetry Walk of Shame and Kyi May Kaung's poem, War on Roaches in Foreign Policy in Focus.

Walt Whitman's poetry carved in stone at Dupont Circle metro. Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung




http://www.fpif.org/articles/poets_stand_up



http://www.fpif.org/articles/war_on_roaches

Burmese junta firm gets exploration bid in South Africa

http://mg.co.za/article/2011-10-07-burmese-firm-gets-sa-exploration-right/

Dog meat in Vietnam

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22185

Weakness in traditional area studies approach and Burma Studies by Kyi May Kaung

I think the elephant must be a flower - two fake topiary men look at a decorated elephant - photo copyright Kyi May Kaung

from Burma Studies Conference, 2008,

paper abstract.

WEAKNESS IN THE TRADITIONAL AREA STUDIES APPROACH AND BURMA.
KYI MAY KAUNG
Burma Studies has been traditionally organized as a subject discipline as Area Studies. In this approach what happens within the national boundaries of a country (only) is implicitly treated as relevant to the study of the problems of that country. At least two decades to four decades of Burma Studies has shown that these parameters are too limited. It has resulted in scholars not talking or collaborating with each other as much as they should, and not paying enough attention to systemic and regional matters, not to mention the international setting in which Burma needs to operate and Burma studies needs to operate.

For instance academic articles and journalistic ones are event driven and have time only to speak about the most micro-economic of matters, whereas it is macro economics that we need to understand. The historians, some of whom hark back to an ultra-nationalistic model, have also failed us, as they are unable to handle the problems of the moment and apparently see nothing wrong with the SPDC's paradigm. Most of the Burma scholarship is focused on subject matter which is limited to Burma only without enough cross-system, cross-national, intra and inter-regional and international analysis. That this approach has failed is widely evident from how the junta has taken advantage of the misguided approach of Friends of Burma and the international community to "depoliticize" Burma strategy during Cyclone Nargis. As a result the aid has disappeared into the junta's pockets, Ban ki-Moon's visit did not succeed, nor did that of Mr. Gambari during the Saffron Revolution last year, nor have any of the UN Rapporteurs since 1988. At the same time Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is still under house arrest, NLD leadership and members and other dissidents have been under arrest or under severe oppression, and the junta is continuing with "business as usual" - in fact even has windfall profits from natural gas etc.

My 1994 dissertation and my article in Asian Survey that summarized this, mentioned that we need to look at systems which were then similar to Burma's such as the then Soviet Union and the PRC and economic and hopefully political reforms there. We also need to look at China and India now and their preferred position as economically strong neighbors of Burma, and China and India; the United States and the western world and China and India as strongly emerging powers in this world as we knew it. The dissident community is now highly conscious of this, but the academic is not.

I would like to propose that the Burma academic community reach out to other approaches, including the dissident community, and the artistic and writerly ones, which are now at the forefront. This would result in much more cogent advice, and much less waste of economic and human resources in the international responses to ongoing and recurrent major crises in Burma. That the crises will continue and also continue to escalate is beyond doubt.

<< back

Americana - funny funny Burma Shave signs --

http://www.stormlakepilottribune.com/story/1769705.html

From Hindustan Times - Mizoram, India to Ruili, China

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Where-China-and-India-merge/Article1-752584.aspx

From Bangkok Post - Winds of Change or Smokescreen -

Crusty old tree - Photo copyright Kyi May Kaung.



http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/259250/winds-of-change-or-just-a-smokescreen

As a poet I give you the answer,

it's a slight breeze, maybe getting a bit stronger, blowing the smoke around.

After all, smoke is not static.

Blog note Copyright Kyi May Kaung.