Making Ends Meet
Mr. Ye’s (alias) story is incredible because it is so ordinary. He is a spry, rail-thin man of 59 with large, elfish ears and tattoos covering both his arms and chest. And, as is the case with most Burmese, he has had to work all of the angels in order to survive.
Red Hot Cold War
1997. Riots broke loose in the streets. Years of money streaming into the Thai economy had come to a sudden end—the baht had collapsed. The economic jolt would wipe billions out of the economy. The shockwave would rattle the surrounding economies in Southeast Asia. Billionaire investor George Soros would be held as a “Satan” by the local Thai population for what it believed was his role in bringing the crisis to a tipping point. Eventually, the disturbance to the region subsided and the economies began recovery, but the path to the next potential Cold War had begun.
GDP in the Red?
A new article in The Economist reveals a startling discovery: when China’s GDP was recalculated using Purchasing Power Parity, China’s GDP fell by 40%. Is there cause for concern, or is this just more statistic slinging by economists?
Opening Ceremonies
Barring a global cataclysm, 2008, in the minds of Beijingers and Chinese alike, will be synonymous with the word “Olympics.” The next two hundred days are just a formality.
What’s in a Word?
As someone living in Beijing, I am constantly bombarded with propaganda—from red-letter posters telling me that “we are building a harmonious bus station and society,” to ones that proclaim “it is everyone’s job to prevent fires,” and the other innumerable mottos about the Olympics and the importance of social harmony, I’ve seen it all. Because I live in a country in which propaganda is the norm, I’ve become acutely aware of its presence in the United States. While this piece is not meant to be all encompassing, I’d like to make a few points about framing and then discuss two words that have come into vogue in America in recent months: “surge” and “insurgent.”
Wires and Lights
This is the first of many articles about television, a medium often maligned by critics and the public alike for its general pandering and almost-oppressive vapidity. So when writing about television there are two important questions: is television worth writing about; and, if so, how does one write about it? Are the methods and challenges in conceiving, producing, and distributing television significant enough to make it more than a mere subset of cinema? This column will argue that, yes, television is an entirely different animal. The nature of television allows it to easily reflect the fundamental dilemmas of the culture it inhabits and the individuals who make and watch it. When you watch American television, you are watching America.
Life Without Duties
As soon as I crossed the border from Ruili, China into Muse, Myanmar, I was greeted by the General in charge of the border, a film crew, and a group of photographers. The General, who was distinguished from the other Army officials by his slightly lighter green uniform, was a short, squat man whose few remaining teeth had been stained red by betel nut, the chewing of which seems to be a national pastime in Myanmar.
As the cameras rolled and crowds gathered to stare at the fair-haired American with the local governmental leader, the villagers quietly whispered and joked among themselves. I found out later they were discussing how much time the encounter would take up on the local news programs that evening and if my picture would be in the paper the following day. After stumbling through his welcome speech, confirming that I was an American citizen, and lightly chastising me for not bringing any of my friends along, I was allowed to proceed into a car and travel for several hours past jeeps with large machine guns on my way to Lashio, the first city after the border in which foreigners are allowed. This was my introduction to Myanmar, a land of stunning beauty, crushing poverty, friendly people, and a strong, authoritarian military government.
The New Year
Every time I mention starting a blog, I’m met with a cocked eyebrow and an insinuatory, “You’re starting a blog?”
I can understand why blogs are met with such skepticism. It’s the same reason why I used to roll my eyes when someone said they had a LiveJournal or listened to Linkin Park. It’s a bandwagon thing, and unless you were on the bandwagon before it became a bandwagon, you’re a poser. So I quickly make the distinction that it’s an intellectual blog, and that I’m not the only writer. Although, as you’ll see, this is only marginally true.
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