NYTs article on U Win Tin--they also called it What's That? A Human Hell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/world/asia/u-win-tin-writer-jailed-by-myanmar-junta-dies.html?_r=0
His losses, I described in a FPIF article.
Will post link later, bills to pay.
kmk
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Full text Irrawaddy article on U Win Tin
Burmese Democracy Activist Win Tin Dies
By KYAW PHYO THA / THE IRRAWADDY On Monday, April 21, 2014 @ 2:44 pm
RANGOON — After supporters across Burma staged prayer services and a
candlelight vigil for his recovery, Win Tin, one of the country’s most
famous democracy activists, passed away on Monday after suffering from
multiple organ failure. He was 84 years old.
Win Tin, who co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) party with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was a veteran journalist known for his relentless activism against the former military regime. After a new government came to power in 2011, he condemned the military’s continuing role in the reform process and was one of few people who dared to also criticize the tactics of Suu Kyi, whom he described as “too conciliatory” with the military leaders that once imprisoned him and put her under house arrest.
“Some of us would like to push the military into the Bay of Bengal. She only wants to push them into Kandawgyi Lake [a lake in the heart of Rangoon],” he told the Washington Post last year, referring to Suu Kyi’s willingness to compromise with the government over amendments to the military-drafted Constitution, which currently bars her from the presidency.
Win Tin was one of Burma’s longest serving political prisoners. Starting in 1989, he spent almost two decades behind bars for co-founding the NLD and later for attempting to inform the United Nations about human rights violations in the country’s prisons.
“I spent more than 7,000 days—one-fourth of my life—in prison. It’s very heart-wrenching,” he wrote in his prison memoir, “Man-made Hell,” which describes instances of torture, malnutrition and limited access to medical care.
After he was released in 2008 at the age of 78, Win Tin was hospitalized frequently for heart problems and other health concerns. Late last month he was transferred to the intensive care unit of Rangoon General Hospital for respiratory problems and hip pain. His doctor told The Irrawaddy that he passed away on Monday morning due to multiple organ failure.
Win Tin worked as a journalist for nearly three decades before becoming one of nine founding members of the NLD in 1988, but he told The Irrawaddy last year that he preferred to introduce himself as a journalist rather than a politician because he sought to contemplate different views.
“Some people say I’m a hardliner. No, I am a man of principle,” he said.
The winner of the Unesco/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and the World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom of Award was outspoken in defense of free expression. He accused the former regime of “crimes against humanity” while refusing to support President TheinSein’s current government, which he described as a semi-military regime led by the junta’s former generals. He repeatedly called on government leaders to apologize for their wrongdoings.
“It’s not only for me, but for all the political prisoners mistreated by the country’s military dictatorship since 1988,” he told The Irrawaddy last year, while wearing his blue prison-issued shirt to show solidarity with political prisoners who remained behind bars.
The journalist with wavy white hair and prominent glasses was known for his charming manners. He spoke softly and listened carefully while receiving guests—including diplomats, journalists and activists—in the living room of his two-room cabin home, where he spent many late nights watching Champions League football matches on television. After his release from prison, he had no surviving immediate family members, nor did he have any savings, but he received help from a lifelong friend who gave him the cabin as well as free meals to eat.
Win Tin will be remembered not only for his relentless efforts to promote democracy, but also for a foundation that he founded in 2012 to assist current and former political prisoners as well as fellow journalists lacking financial security. As of last year, the U Win Tin Foundation had given more than 90 million kyats (US$90,000) to over 300 people, with donations coming from Win Tin’s supporters at home and abroad.
Of Burma’s contemporary political landscape, Win Tin once said that the Burmese people needed to completely free themselves from the former regime’s grip.
“What we have to do these days is make way for a new politics that can break down the mechanism of the military dictatorship, rather than being corralled into a political arena made by the government,” he said.
Win Tin, who co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD) party with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was a veteran journalist known for his relentless activism against the former military regime. After a new government came to power in 2011, he condemned the military’s continuing role in the reform process and was one of few people who dared to also criticize the tactics of Suu Kyi, whom he described as “too conciliatory” with the military leaders that once imprisoned him and put her under house arrest.
“Some of us would like to push the military into the Bay of Bengal. She only wants to push them into Kandawgyi Lake [a lake in the heart of Rangoon],” he told the Washington Post last year, referring to Suu Kyi’s willingness to compromise with the government over amendments to the military-drafted Constitution, which currently bars her from the presidency.
Win Tin was one of Burma’s longest serving political prisoners. Starting in 1989, he spent almost two decades behind bars for co-founding the NLD and later for attempting to inform the United Nations about human rights violations in the country’s prisons.
“I spent more than 7,000 days—one-fourth of my life—in prison. It’s very heart-wrenching,” he wrote in his prison memoir, “Man-made Hell,” which describes instances of torture, malnutrition and limited access to medical care.
After he was released in 2008 at the age of 78, Win Tin was hospitalized frequently for heart problems and other health concerns. Late last month he was transferred to the intensive care unit of Rangoon General Hospital for respiratory problems and hip pain. His doctor told The Irrawaddy that he passed away on Monday morning due to multiple organ failure.
Win Tin worked as a journalist for nearly three decades before becoming one of nine founding members of the NLD in 1988, but he told The Irrawaddy last year that he preferred to introduce himself as a journalist rather than a politician because he sought to contemplate different views.
“Some people say I’m a hardliner. No, I am a man of principle,” he said.
The winner of the Unesco/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and the World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom of Award was outspoken in defense of free expression. He accused the former regime of “crimes against humanity” while refusing to support President TheinSein’s current government, which he described as a semi-military regime led by the junta’s former generals. He repeatedly called on government leaders to apologize for their wrongdoings.
“It’s not only for me, but for all the political prisoners mistreated by the country’s military dictatorship since 1988,” he told The Irrawaddy last year, while wearing his blue prison-issued shirt to show solidarity with political prisoners who remained behind bars.
The journalist with wavy white hair and prominent glasses was known for his charming manners. He spoke softly and listened carefully while receiving guests—including diplomats, journalists and activists—in the living room of his two-room cabin home, where he spent many late nights watching Champions League football matches on television. After his release from prison, he had no surviving immediate family members, nor did he have any savings, but he received help from a lifelong friend who gave him the cabin as well as free meals to eat.
Win Tin will be remembered not only for his relentless efforts to promote democracy, but also for a foundation that he founded in 2012 to assist current and former political prisoners as well as fellow journalists lacking financial security. As of last year, the U Win Tin Foundation had given more than 90 million kyats (US$90,000) to over 300 people, with donations coming from Win Tin’s supporters at home and abroad.
Of Burma’s contemporary political landscape, Win Tin once said that the Burmese people needed to completely free themselves from the former regime’s grip.
“What we have to do these days is make way for a new politics that can break down the mechanism of the military dictatorship, rather than being corralled into a political arena made by the government,” he said.
Article printed from The Irrawaddy Magazine: http://www.irrawaddy.org
URL to article: http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/burmese-democracy-activist-win-tin-dies.html
Click here to print.
Copyright © 2012 The Irrawaddy Magazine. All rights reserved.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Honoring U Win Tin who passed away Monday 6 AM BST.
Honoring U Win Tin--
Very sad.
I felt this time U Win Tin would not make it, as he has been in a coma? for approximately 3? weeks.
Also when Daw Suu went to see him, immediately after she arrived home from overseas, she was myet hnar ma thar buu--looked sad, and I knew it was not a good sign.
I never knew him nor saw him in person, but I feel I know him as I followed him on line, whatever he said, in interviews and so on.
And I have worked on translating his memoir.
As I have written before, his language in Burmese when he writes is a language that only he could write, poetic and blunt, truthful, short and condensed and full or rhymes and spoonerisms.
I regret that health wise I have had a bad year too, and thus could not give him the satisfaction of showing him more than a few completed translated chapters.
However, I expect I will be able to resume work on What's That? A Human Hell and see it all the way through, as a posthumous Tribute.
After all, he told me only I could do it.
The life or lives of those who stand up for the truth is always fraught with trouble.
I wish both he and Daw Suu and others had been able to have a more calm and restful life.
But that was not to be.
What I was most impressed by when I read What's That? is that in spite of 19 years of incarceration, U Win Tin was able to create for himself, a respected, generous life within and without prison walls.
He described many people who "lost it" including one political prisoner who laughed his way to death, having lost his mind.
With U Win Tin, he was like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in that he must have been writing in his head all those 19 years.
So when he was released, he just had to write it down in 2 weeks or so.
Show me anyone else who can do that.
Also, to the last, he wore his blue prison shirt and he spoke what he thought was the right thing.
And also, a mutual friend sent me the famous essay Ganan or "Crab" in which U Win Tin pointed out the vulnerability of the armored military government.
"Crab", quite a short, metaphorical and poetic essay, may have been the reason he was so hated by the regime and kept behind bars so long.
I don't know what else to say.
A human being like that comes onto the world stage only once in a while, like Haley's Comet.
RIP, but if he could, I am sure he would give an interview.
So the rest of us should not keep our traps shut.
We should say what we think, just like he did.
KMKaung
Washington, D.C.
4-20-2014
Very sad.
I felt this time U Win Tin would not make it, as he has been in a coma? for approximately 3? weeks.
Also when Daw Suu went to see him, immediately after she arrived home from overseas, she was myet hnar ma thar buu--looked sad, and I knew it was not a good sign.
I never knew him nor saw him in person, but I feel I know him as I followed him on line, whatever he said, in interviews and so on.
And I have worked on translating his memoir.
As I have written before, his language in Burmese when he writes is a language that only he could write, poetic and blunt, truthful, short and condensed and full or rhymes and spoonerisms.
I regret that health wise I have had a bad year too, and thus could not give him the satisfaction of showing him more than a few completed translated chapters.
However, I expect I will be able to resume work on What's That? A Human Hell and see it all the way through, as a posthumous Tribute.
After all, he told me only I could do it.
The life or lives of those who stand up for the truth is always fraught with trouble.
I wish both he and Daw Suu and others had been able to have a more calm and restful life.
But that was not to be.
What I was most impressed by when I read What's That? is that in spite of 19 years of incarceration, U Win Tin was able to create for himself, a respected, generous life within and without prison walls.
He described many people who "lost it" including one political prisoner who laughed his way to death, having lost his mind.
With U Win Tin, he was like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in that he must have been writing in his head all those 19 years.
So when he was released, he just had to write it down in 2 weeks or so.
Show me anyone else who can do that.
Also, to the last, he wore his blue prison shirt and he spoke what he thought was the right thing.
And also, a mutual friend sent me the famous essay Ganan or "Crab" in which U Win Tin pointed out the vulnerability of the armored military government.
"Crab", quite a short, metaphorical and poetic essay, may have been the reason he was so hated by the regime and kept behind bars so long.
I don't know what else to say.
A human being like that comes onto the world stage only once in a while, like Haley's Comet.
RIP, but if he could, I am sure he would give an interview.
So the rest of us should not keep our traps shut.
We should say what we think, just like he did.
KMKaung
Washington, D.C.
4-20-2014
Excerpt from my novella Band of Flesh--
From my novella Band of Flesh, about conjoined twins--first published in The Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine in 1997. Editor Avery Rome liked it so much she commissioned a full page illustration for it, and I was paid $700.
"My mother says from the time we were born, Yang was bigger and cried more lustily.
As the Burmese saying goes, the baby who cries gets more milk.
I, Ying, she said, was always fine and delicate.
She always had to make sure I got enough.
When we were younger, the band was shorter.
It had not yet been strained to the limit by fat Yang’s constant pulling away.
Even then, people said, it was a logistical impossibility for my mother to feed both of us simultaneously.
She had, of course, two breasts.
They say her breasts were always overflowing with milk.
We each had a hungry mouth, but we both faced forward--"
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
4-20-2014
www.kmkaung.com
"My mother says from the time we were born, Yang was bigger and cried more lustily.
As the Burmese saying goes, the baby who cries gets more milk.
I, Ying, she said, was always fine and delicate.
She always had to make sure I got enough.
When we were younger, the band was shorter.
It had not yet been strained to the limit by fat Yang’s constant pulling away.
Even then, people said, it was a logistical impossibility for my mother to feed both of us simultaneously.
She had, of course, two breasts.
They say her breasts were always overflowing with milk.
We each had a hungry mouth, but we both faced forward--"
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
4-20-2014
www.kmkaung.com
Friday, April 18, 2014
Excerpt fr my story--A Real Romance--
Excerpt from my story--A Real Romance--
"Now their daughter-in-law’s chemotherapy and the fact that the cancer had not been stopped seemed to weigh on them, but they both looked very young, even though they were several years older than Khine Khine.
She remembered reading how partnered people lived longer.
But single women live longer than single men.
Widowers fall apart fast.
Widows endure and survive."
Copyright KMKaung
4-18-2014
"Now their daughter-in-law’s chemotherapy and the fact that the cancer had not been stopped seemed to weigh on them, but they both looked very young, even though they were several years older than Khine Khine.
She remembered reading how partnered people lived longer.
But single women live longer than single men.
Widowers fall apart fast.
Widows endure and survive."
Copyright KMKaung
4-18-2014
The Rider of Crocodiles is coming to you--
The Rider of Crocodiles is coming to you--
I will give you the Amazon link when it's ready--not ready yet.
Maybe a few more days or weeks. Sometimes there are text issues such as too small font or things like that, or tech issues such as the story starting on the LHS page rather than the RHS.
Some small typos I don't see till my printed proof comes in the mail, and so then I have to repeat the whole process, but be patient, The Rider of Crocs will come to you.
Then he will stay in Burma till he dies in Ava with his King.
Really, I kid you not.
The village is still there.
KMKaung
4-18-2014
I will give you the Amazon link when it's ready--not ready yet.
Maybe a few more days or weeks. Sometimes there are text issues such as too small font or things like that, or tech issues such as the story starting on the LHS page rather than the RHS.
Some small typos I don't see till my printed proof comes in the mail, and so then I have to repeat the whole process, but be patient, The Rider of Crocs will come to you.
Then he will stay in Burma till he dies in Ava with his King.
Really, I kid you not.
The village is still there.
KMKaung
4-18-2014
From my story, No Crib for a Bed--
Also from my story, No Crib for a Bed--
"How do they do a post mortem?
Well, it isn’t very nice and it doesn’t look very nice."
Copyright KMKaung
4-18-2014
"How do they do a post mortem?
Well, it isn’t very nice and it doesn’t look very nice."
Copyright KMKaung
4-18-2014
Ivy League School of Nursing --
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing--some of my friends went there.
I am just looking it up as one of my fictional characters went there too.
http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/academic_programs/
I am just looking it up as one of my fictional characters went there too.
http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/academic_programs/
Excerpt from my novella No Crib for a Bed --
Excerpt from my novella No Crib for a Bed.
These are the exact lines I read at Politics and Prose Bookstore in DC.
This story was first published in Gravity Dancers, DC Women Writers, edited by Richard Peabody.
"You know he had a heart valve problem, from rheumatism as a child during the Japanese Occupation.
His heart was fine later.
I just can’t get over it.
Danny wants to sue the hospital in Houston.
I asked for a post mortem.
What!
Telling me he died of cardiac arrest.
Everybody dies because their heart stops."
Copyright KMKaung
4-18-2014
These are the exact lines I read at Politics and Prose Bookstore in DC.
This story was first published in Gravity Dancers, DC Women Writers, edited by Richard Peabody.
"You know he had a heart valve problem, from rheumatism as a child during the Japanese Occupation.
His heart was fine later.
I just can’t get over it.
Danny wants to sue the hospital in Houston.
I asked for a post mortem.
What!
Telling me he died of cardiac arrest.
Everybody dies because their heart stops."
Copyright KMKaung
4-18-2014
Back text for my novella The Lovers
Back text for my novella The Lovers--
Originally published in Wild River Review on line, The Lovers is the story of a ballet dancer from Chile, who has to leave her native land for political reasons, and emigrate to Phildelphia, in America.
Burmese-born author Kyi May Kaung lived many years in West Philadelphia while pursuing her doctorate in Political Science.
The Lovers has vivid local color while traversing the uneasy life of political asylees.
Originally published in Wild River Review on line, The Lovers is the story of a ballet dancer from Chile, who has to leave her native land for political reasons, and emigrate to Phildelphia, in America.
Burmese-born author Kyi May Kaung lived many years in West Philadelphia while pursuing her doctorate in Political Science.
The Lovers has vivid local color while traversing the uneasy life of political asylees.
New back text for my novella The Rider of Crocodiles
Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.) was traveling in Thailand when a colleague told her his ancestor was not killed because he knew how to ride crocodiles.
From this one factoid, Dr. Kaung reconstructed a story set during the last invasion of Ayuthia in 1767 by the Burmese king, Hsinbyushin or the Possessor of the White Elephant.
Now somewhere near Ava and Mandalay in Burma live the descendants of the Rider of Crocodiles and the Fig Flower King, still awaiting your visit.
KMKaung
4-18-2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Cancer now leading cause of death in world, esp. in India China Burma
Hepatitis C, low protein diet leading to liver cancer, Burma, see below.
Highly recommended-- stop smoking, boil water for protection against liver diseases--
http://www.predictivedomaining.com/2008/12/11/worldwide-cancer-rates-to-become-leading-cause-of-death-by-2010/
http://www.predictivedomaining.com/2008/12/11/worldwide-cancer-rates-to-become-leading-cause-of-death-by-2010/
Worldwide cancer rates to become leading cause of death by 2010
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Excerpt from my novella The Lovers, upcoming soon--
From my novella The Lovers--which will be out soon too--set in Chile and the USA. About a ballet dancer.
'In the end he was crying too.
He leaned over so suddenly to hold my hand, the cobalt blue glass flower vase full of orange zinnias in the middle fell over and broke.
My friend picked up the pieces of glass while all the time I kept fussing, “Be careful. Be careful. Don’t cut your fingers.”'
Copyright K.M.Kaung.
4-15-2014.
'In the end he was crying too.
He leaned over so suddenly to hold my hand, the cobalt blue glass flower vase full of orange zinnias in the middle fell over and broke.
My friend picked up the pieces of glass while all the time I kept fussing, “Be careful. Be careful. Don’t cut your fingers.”'
Copyright K.M.Kaung.
4-15-2014.
Monday, April 07, 2014
Who is white washing the oppression of The Rohingya-- part 1
Who is white washing the oppression of the Rohingya--(You Tube via Dr. Maung Zarni)
Part 1.
Greg Constantine's photos were also shown at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. but I could not make it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lITfdqO49Nc
Man in photo is Jacques Leider, notorious Rakhine/regime apologist, very anti-Rohingya.
I did not watch his presentation, neither did I listen to it when I was sitting right next to him on the Columbia Univ panel in Sept 2012, because I literally got a stomach ache and had to hurry to the loo.
He wasn't among the names that I suggested Columbia U. invite, but they did, apparently for "balance."
500 people signed up for that session, and his speech was applauded, I don't know why; I only came back into the auditorium when his talk was completely over.
If this post uncovers any racists among you 951 (on my FaceBook), you will be immediately blocked as per my oft-stated editorial policy. Don't expect an explanation or prior warning.
KMKaung
4-7-2014
FB post
Part 1.
Greg Constantine's photos were also shown at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. but I could not make it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lITfdqO49Nc
Man in photo is Jacques Leider, notorious Rakhine/regime apologist, very anti-Rohingya.
I did not watch his presentation, neither did I listen to it when I was sitting right next to him on the Columbia Univ panel in Sept 2012, because I literally got a stomach ache and had to hurry to the loo.
He wasn't among the names that I suggested Columbia U. invite, but they did, apparently for "balance."
500 people signed up for that session, and his speech was applauded, I don't know why; I only came back into the auditorium when his talk was completely over.
If this post uncovers any racists among you 951 (on my FaceBook), you will be immediately blocked as per my oft-stated editorial policy. Don't expect an explanation or prior warning.
KMKaung
4-7-2014
FB post
Bizarre Medical Museum in Philadelphia--
This one I've never been to, and will never go to, but my writing group members wanted me to go, because I wrote Band of Flesh, my short story about conjoined twins--but it's enough to read about this medical museum of physical freaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCtter_Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCtter_Museum
Sunday, April 06, 2014
From Dr Maung Zarni's FB page --
"If I were a Muslim in
Myanmar I would be looking for an exit or a place to emigrate with my
family. My birthplace is making a frighteningly Nazi turn. If you
think this is an hyperbole you don't understand fucking shit about my
country, its cultures, and its peoples."
Friday, April 04, 2014
Thursday, April 03, 2014
25th Anniversary Concert Les Miserables --
Repost Les Miz 20th anniv concert with Colm Wilkinson, 17 Jean Valjean's at end --http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAVrm3wjzq8
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Drink the Bitter Rain--by Kyi May Kaung
Moe Kha Ye Thauk (Drink the Bitter Rain)
Last night as I was making red velvet cake from a mix
I took photos at various stages
and I thought
how like a red mud volcano
na ka bwet this looks.
The 1 1/4 cups of water
the 3 egg whites beaten
added
(because I can't eat egg yolks
which are beaten with water
and fed to my sanseveria/mother in law's
tongue and my wandering Jew--
all purple and always
growing
downwards.
Then when I added the 1/4 cup
cooking oil and stirred some more
with my whipping implement
it looked even worse
like a cake dough
made of
blood.
Tonight as I wash out my very successful
muffin pan for cupcakes
bought on sale at Williams Sonoma
and use the rough sponge and the
pot cleaner
to get all the red stuff out of the
rounded corners
I think
What is wrong with me?
It must be that people don't want to hear what I say.
They want to hear the marriage is good
that they are not wife and child beaters.
They want to hear they are saviors of the nation
not land grabbers and hardwood and petroleum
auctioneers and cronies
and cronies of cronies.
They want to hear that they did a good job and are not
rotten self-appointed "leaders"
with a monopoly on
Violence--
as my pol sci texts say.
They want to hear they are great employers
who run a clean shop
a good shop
not a shop where sleeping around
sleeping your way to the top
back and front stabbing each other
slanting the news and
getting away with it
are de rigueur.
As I took a photo of the pebyoke
boiled vattana beans bought
at the Indian grocery in MD
I realize the label says
"ah lwan pye pe boke"
(Home-sickness curing boiled beans)
Did these come all the way from Burma?
No, made in L.A.
The Indian shop owners are such
wonderful merchants
they smile all the time
ah pyone ma pyet buu
They take credit cards.
They have a small statue of Ganesha (Maha Pein Ne Nat)
they tell me they are from Gujarat.
Just like 3 separate friends of mine.
As I crumble up the dried fish
and pour 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil on it
I think
What's wrong with me.
What's wrong with free trade.
Now I don't need to go all the way to Thailand--to buy Burmese food.
What's wrong with me?
Am I the only one saying
The Rain is Bitter?
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
4-2-2014
Last night as I was making red velvet cake from a mix
I took photos at various stages
and I thought
how like a red mud volcano
na ka bwet this looks.
The 1 1/4 cups of water
the 3 egg whites beaten
added
(because I can't eat egg yolks
which are beaten with water
and fed to my sanseveria/mother in law's
tongue and my wandering Jew--
all purple and always
growing
downwards.
Then when I added the 1/4 cup
cooking oil and stirred some more
with my whipping implement
it looked even worse
like a cake dough
made of
blood.
Tonight as I wash out my very successful
muffin pan for cupcakes
bought on sale at Williams Sonoma
and use the rough sponge and the
pot cleaner
to get all the red stuff out of the
rounded corners
I think
What is wrong with me?
It must be that people don't want to hear what I say.
They want to hear the marriage is good
that they are not wife and child beaters.
They want to hear they are saviors of the nation
not land grabbers and hardwood and petroleum
auctioneers and cronies
and cronies of cronies.
They want to hear that they did a good job and are not
rotten self-appointed "leaders"
with a monopoly on
Violence--
as my pol sci texts say.
They want to hear they are great employers
who run a clean shop
a good shop
not a shop where sleeping around
sleeping your way to the top
back and front stabbing each other
slanting the news and
getting away with it
are de rigueur.
As I took a photo of the pebyoke
boiled vattana beans bought
at the Indian grocery in MD
I realize the label says
"ah lwan pye pe boke"
(Home-sickness curing boiled beans)
Did these come all the way from Burma?
No, made in L.A.
The Indian shop owners are such
wonderful merchants
they smile all the time
ah pyone ma pyet buu
They take credit cards.
They have a small statue of Ganesha (Maha Pein Ne Nat)
they tell me they are from Gujarat.
Just like 3 separate friends of mine.
As I crumble up the dried fish
and pour 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil on it
I think
What's wrong with me.
What's wrong with free trade.
Now I don't need to go all the way to Thailand--to buy Burmese food.
What's wrong with me?
Am I the only one saying
The Rain is Bitter?
Copyright Kyi May Kaung
4-2-2014
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
My favorite Blogger mentioned me on her blog--
My favorite Blog/Blogger just mentioned me on her blog--Oh those days in Berlin near the River Spree--
http://anthropologist.wordpress.com/page/2/
http://anthropologist.wordpress.com/page/2/
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