Attn: Iodom SUN Chanthol

Minister of Public Works and Transport

Re: STOP the Destruction! Please.

Meeting with Ministry of Culture officials with reps from national, province, district. I like these guys for their efforts; challenging work they have to constantly make sound arguments on deaf ears at the endless intra-governmental meetings they must attend as Cambodia is being destroyed. They came to visit the Sre Ampil archaeological site, a place they already have on their map, a reflection of the significance of this site that we, baby archaeologists, have been digging. 3 April 2019

According to the impressive official of the Culture Ministry from the national department—who studied in Italy for 10 years—the brick (which is pre-Angkor, from the 7th century) is heavy because it wasn’t completely baked, due to the open kiln (vs. the enclosed one of today). He found similar bricks from this same pre-Angkor era in Stung Treng. (There are 3 types of bricks found from Khmer ancient history.) 31 March 2019

The Prince, Lady Delilah, and Baby Archaeologists — racing against time to save this ancient site from destruction. China is funding—via loans that will enslave Cambodia’s young people in their burden to pay China back—the road constructions across Cambodia. No other company save the 32 Chinese companies in road construction can bid for these construction contracts. I’ve met some of these Chinese men on several occasions here at Sre Ampil: very arrogant; speak no Khmer, no English; illegal hiring of them, against Constitution, against Labor Law; illegal entry onto private property, without paperwork or permission. Almost USD 300 million is budgeted for each road; there are a handful of them planned. 31 March 2019

Scroll down to see, read more.

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Double Vision

ទស្សនៈ ផ្សេងគ្នា

ពេលខ្លះ, មានចម្លើយ តែ មួយគត់ ត្រឹមត្រូវ; វា មិនអាច ទាំងពីរ។ ស្ត្រី ក្មេង ឬចាស់? ៣ ឬ៤?

ពេលខ្លះទៀត, ទាំងពីរ គឺ ត្រឹមត្រូវ។ ៦ ឬ៩?

គ្រប់ពេល, បន្ទាបខ្លួន, ទោះបី អ្នក ត្រូវ ក៏ដោយ។

Beauty Mark

A man (still alive as of 2015 when I last saw him in my ancestral village with The Financial Times) pierced my eye with his fingernail when I was 6—if only I hadn’t been so cute!— scar still prominent 42 years later. (Kien Svay, 20 March 2019)

...

A needed reminder for me: "Do not fret because of evil men... Refrain from anger..."

A message in English, with Khmer translation.

17 March 2019

កុំ បារម្ភ រំខានខ្លួន នឹងមនុស្ស អាក្រក់ ឡើយ,

ហើយ ក៏កុំ ច្រណែន នឹងមនុស្ស ដែលប្រព្រឹត្ត អំពើទុច្ចរិត ដែរ;

ដ្បិត ពួកគេ នឹងត្រូវ វិនាស សូន្យទៅ យ៉ាងរហ័ស

ដូចស្មៅ ដែលតែងតែ ក្រៀមស្វិត

និងដូចផ្កា ដែលតែងតែ ស្រពោន នោះដែរ។

ចូរ ផ្ញើជីវិត លើព្រះយ៉ាវេ និងប្រព្រឹត្ត អំពើល្អ;

ចូរ រស់នៅ ក្នុងស្រុកនេះ និងរីករាយ យ៉ាងសុខ ក្សេមក្សាន្ត។

ចូរ រីករាយ ក្នុងព្រះយ៉ាវេ,

នោះ ទ្រង់ នឹងប្រោសប្រទាន នូវអ្វីៗ ដែលអ្នកប្រាថ្នា ចង់បាន។

ចូរ ប្តេជ្ញាវាសនា របស់អ្នក ទៅក្នុង ព្រះហស្ដ របស់ ព្រះអង្គ;

ចូរ ផ្ញើជីវិត លើព្រះអង្គ, នោះ ទ្រង់ នឹងធ្វើដូច្នេះ៖

ទ្រង់ នឹងបង្ហាញ ឱ្យគេ ឃើញ

សេចក្ដីសុចរិត របស់អ្នក ភ្លឺដូចថ្ងៃរះ,

ហើយ យុត្តិធម៌ នៃសកម្មភាព របស់អ្នក ដូចពន្លឺ នៅពេលថ្ងៃត្រង់។

ចូរ ស្ងប់ស្ងៀម នៅចំពោះ ព្រះភក្ត្រ ព្រះយ៉ាវេ,

ហើយ រង់ចាំទ្រង់ ដោយអត់ធ្មត់;

កុំ បារម្ភ រំខានខ្លួន

នៅពេល មនុស្ស ទទួលបាន ជោគជ័យ នៅក្នុងវិធី របស់ ពួកគេ,

នៅពេល ដែលពួកគេ អនុវត្ត ផែនការ អាក្រក់ របស់ ពួកគេ។

ចូរ រំងាប់កំហឹង និងលះបង់ ចិត្តក្ដៅក្រហាយ;

កុំ បារម្ភ រំខានខ្លួន--វា នាំតែ អំពើអាក្រក់ ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។

មនុស្សអាក្រក់ នឹងត្រូវ បំផ្លាញ,

រីឯ អស់អ្នក ដែលសង្ឃឹម លើព្រះយ៉ាវេ នឹងទទួល ទឹកដី ជាមត៌ក។

បន្តិចទៀត នឹងលែងមាន មនុស្សពាល ទៀតហើយ;

ទោះបី អ្នកស្វែងរក ពួកគេ ក៏រក មិនឃើញ ពួកគេដែរ។

រីឯ មនុស្ស ចិត្តស្លូត‌បូត វិញ,

គេ នឹងទទួល ទឹកដី ជាមត៌ក,

ហើយ នឹងរីករាយ សុខក្សេមក្សាន្ត។

មនុស្សពាល ឃុបឃិត ប្រឆាំង នឹងមនុស្ស សុចរិត

ទាំង សង្កៀតធ្មេញ ដាក់មនុស្សសុចរិត ទៀតផង;

ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ ព្រះអង្គ សើច ដាក់មនុស្សពាល

ដ្បិត ទ្រង់ ដឹងថា ថ្ងៃវិនាស ពួកគេ ជិតមកដល់ហើយ។

មនុស្សពាល នាំគ្នា ហូតដាវ និងយឹតធ្នូ

ដើម្បី ប្រហារជីវិត មនុស្ស ក្រីក្រទុគ៌ត,

អារក មនុស្ស ដែលមានចិត្ត ទៀងត្រង់។

ប៉ុន្តែ ដាវ របស់គេ នឹងចាក់ទម្លុះ បេះដូង របស់ ខ្លួនឯង,

ហើយ ធ្នូ របស់គេ នឹងបាក់បែកអស់។

ទ្រព្យ តែ បន្តិចបន្តួច របស់ មនុស្សសុចរិត

ប្រសើរជាង ទ្រព្យសម្បត្តិ ស្ដុកស្ដម្ភ

របស់ មនុស្សពាល ជាច្រើន;

កម្លាំង របស់ មនុស្សពាល នឹងបំបាក់,

តែ ព្រះយ៉ាវេ នឹងជួយគាំទ្រ មនុស្ស សុចរិត។

(ទំនុកតម្កើង ៣៧

ចុងបញ្ចប់ របស់ មនុស្ស អាក្រក់ និងមនុស្ស ល្អ;

ទំនុក របស់ ដាវីឌ)

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Activist Rong Panha

A very, very suspicious traffic accident that immediately killed a 30-year old opposition activist RONG Panha, nephew of the Cambodian Independent Teacher’s Union RONG Chun, a colleague I’ve known and worked with since the 1990s, most recently including him in our Speak Truth To Power program of the Robert F. Kennedy Center. Panha was hit in a head-on collision by a red car; he was on a motorbike. The driver escaped and has yet to be identified.

Here’s an account posted by Comfrel:

នៅថ្ងៃ ទី៩ ខែមិនា ឆ្នាំ២០១៩ វេលា​ម៉ោ​ង ១០ នឹង៤០នាទី មានករណី គ្រោះថ្នាក់ ចរាច​រ​ណ៍ កើតឡើង លើផ្លូវជាតិ លេខ៤ ចន្លោះ គីឡូម៉ែត្រ ៧៧-៧៨ ត្រង់ចំណុច ភូមិត្រពាំងស្តុកគ្រួ ឃុំអូរ ស្រុកភ្នំស្រួច​ ខេត្តកំពង់ស្ពឺ រវាង ម៉ូតូ ០១ គ្រឿង​ ម៉ាក ហុងដា សេ១២៥ ពណ៌ខ្មៅ ផ្លាកលេខ ភ្នំពេ​ញ 1FK 9525។ ​អ្នកបើកបរ ឈ្មោះ រ៉ុង បញ្ញា, ភេទ ប្រុស អាយុ ៣០ ឆ្នាំ រស់នៅ ភូមិចុងកោះតូច ឃុំ តាលន់ ស្រុកស្អាង ខេត្តកណ្ដាល។ បើកបរ ពីទិស ខាងកើត ទៅទិស ខាងលិច; លុះមកដល់ចំណុច ខា​ងលើ បានបុករថយន្ត ០១គ្រឿង ម៉ាក Unlve​rs​e ពណ៌ក្រហម ផ្លាកលេខ ព្រះសីហនុ 3 E .4979។ អ្នកបើកបរ មិនស្គាល់ឈ្មោះ ព្រោះរត់បាត់​, ដែល​បើកបរ បញ្រ្ចាសទិសគ្នា បណ្តាលឲ្យ លោក រ៉ុង បញ្ញា ស្លាប់។ លោក រ៉ុង បញ្ញា គឺ ជាក្មួយបង្កើត របស់លោក រ៉ុង ឈុន ប្រធាន សហជីព។ គាត់ ធ្លាប់បាន អាជ្ញាធរ វាយបែកក្បាល និងឃាត់ខ្លួន ខណៈ គាត់ ជាយុវជន ក្លាហាន បានចូលរួម ការងារ តស៊ូមតិ និងការដាក់ញត្តិ ជាមួយ កម្មករ។ ហើយ ក៏ធ្លាប់ បានចូលរួម ការងារសង្គម ជាច្រើនទៀត ផងដែរ។

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Greedy Destruction

of Family Legacy, of History, of Children's Home

25 March 2019. @16x26x8 cm. Heavy, solid brick. Its size suggests dating from 7th century. Very shallow but very hard surface we had to scrape off before hitting the brick.  Click on image to watch video. This archaeological site needs professional (UNESCO!) attention. A race against time, as the place is marked for destruction to make room for a highway. More photos here.

4 March 2019

21 February 2019

A wing of the dining hall donated by French Prince Alexandre Murat.

Marked for destruction. (One of the girls' bathrooms.)

I first heard the rustling of conversations of a road cutting through this private real estate around December 2017/January 2018 because I remember mentioning it to a friend, Thida Buth (whose daughter is the rock star Laura Mam and both good friends of the Minister of Transport Sun Chanthol) who was visiting the Peaceful Children's Home for the first time around then. Then the conversations picked up before my encounter with these non-Khmer, non-English speaking Chinese men on 2 November 2018 (image below).

Only after the landowner, Lauk Pou Son Soubert, started contacting the local authority in December 2018, inquiring into the situation, did the higher authority (representatives from the Finance Ministry and the Transport Ministry) start to convene meetings with the local authority themselves and then in late January and February 2019, the local authority started convening meetings with the local families to inform them via word of mouth a fait accompli situation of how much compensation each can expect for affected land, nothing in writing. According to an interested party who's following closely the matter, a USD 3 million effort has been lobbying to change the initial plan to have the road cut through this property. A lot of speculation of land price rising and talks of USD40 compensation per meter lost to road, but nothing written. Many shady dealings and suspicious activities running amok, riling up the community of an economic boom due to proximity of new road. Again, all hot air, no documentation.

The authority dismissed their prior unlawful, multiple entries to measure the land and the lack of information and the lack of documentation with a "sorry; from now on, it's legal".

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USC philosopher Dallas Willard at Stanford

NIETZSCHE vs. JESUS CHRIST

Quoting TH Green on Freedom (41:40)

“When we speak of freedom, we should consider carefully what we mean by it. We do not mean merely freedom from restraint or compulsions.” — We do not merely mean freedom that just sets us free FROM other things. — “We do not mean freedom to do as we like, irrespective of what we like. We do not mean freedom that can be enjoyed by one man or one set of men at the cost of the loss of freedom to others. When we speak of freedom as something to be so highly prized, we mean a POSITIVE POWER or CAPACITY OF DOING OR ENJOYING something worth doing or enjoying, and that too, something that we do or enjoy in common with others. We mean by it a power that each man exercises through the help and security given by his fellow men, and which he in turn helps to secure for them.” ...

«នៅពេល យើង និយាយ អំពី សេរីភាព, យើង គួរ ពិចារណា ដោយយក ចិត្តទុកដាក់ នូវអ្វី ដែលយើង ចង់និយាយ។ យើង មិន គ្រាន់តែ មានន័យ ថា សេរីភាព ពីកំហិត ឬការបង្ខិតបង្ខំ នោះទេ។ យើង មិន គ្រាន់តែ មានន័យ ថា សេរីភាព ក្នុងការធ្វើ អ្វី ដែលយើង ចូលចិត្ត, ទោះ​បី អ្វី ដែលយើង ចូលចិត្ត។ យើង មិន មានន័យ ថា សេរីភាព ដែលមនុស្សម្នាក់ ឬមនុស្ស មួយឈុត ទទួលបានរីករាយ ដោយការបាត់បង់ សេរីភាព ដល់អ្នកដទៃ នោះទេ។ នៅពេល ដែលយើង និយាយ អំពី សេរីភាព ជាអ្វី ដែលមានតម្លៃ យ៉ាងខ្ពស់, យើង មានន័យ ថា អំណាច វិជ្ជមាន ឬសមត្ថភាព នៃការធ្វើ ឬការរីករាយ អ្វី ដែលមាន តម្លៃ ធ្វើ ឬរីករាយ, ហើយ នេះ ក៏ជាអ្វី ដែលយើង ធ្វើ ឬរីករាយ ជាមួយ អ្នកដទៃ នោះដែរ។ យើង មានន័យ ថា វា គឺ ជាអំណាច ដែលមនុស្ស ម្នាក់ៗ អនុវត្ត តាមរយៈ ជំនួយ និង ការធានា ពីមិត្តមនុស្ស គ្នាឯង, ហើយ ដែលគាត់ បានជួយធានា ដល់ពួកគេវិញ។»

“Intentionality”... Augustinian teaching about the mind: The Inner Light, the Inner Teacher, is God, and it is interacting with the mind and enables it to reach out to the world which God, not the mind, created. And to find in that world, with others who are there, the proper support of a will that is capable of moving to genuine freedom.

See, if you want to see freedom, you don’t look at a kid jumping around with nothing to do; you see freedom when you see an accomplished artist sit down at a piano and play something so beautiful that you can hardly stay in you seat.

…

Confused Logic

Heading in Khmer: [Gov’t spokesman]

"Sok Eysan says Cambodia would not fare so badly if it had the 200 years to develop like the US"

អេ៎?! Huh?! ហើយ ស្រុកខ្មែរ មានអាយុ ប៉ុន្មាន?! And how old is Cambodia?!

តើ ប្រទេស មួយណា ដែលចាស់ជាង? Which country is older?

តក្ក មនុស្ស ឡប់។ The logic of confused persons. ឡប់ =​ និយាយ ទ្រ​ឡប់ ទ្រលន (យល់ច្រឡំ ដោយចេតនា បញ្ឆោតខ្លួនឯង)

ក្នុងសង្គមយើង, ខ្ញុំ តែងតែ ជួបប្រទះ នូវការភាន់ច្រឡំ ពីរ ប្រភេទ៖ (i) យល់ច្រឡំ ដោយចេតនា បញ្ឆោតខ្លួនឯង; ជាភាសាខ្មែរ, យើង ប្រើពាក្យ «ឡប់»; និង (ii) យល់ច្រឡំ ពីការវង្វេង ខាងរាងកាយ (ឧទាហរណ៍, គាត់ បាត់បង់ផ្លូវ ក្នុងព្រៃ) និងវង្វេង ស្មារតី (ផ្លូវចិត្ត)។

In our society, I often encounter two types of confusion: (i) confused by intentionally deluding onself, in Khmer we term "lop"; and (ii) confused from disorientation (physically, mentally), in Khmer we say "vongveng".

ជារឿយៗ «(i) យល់ច្រឡំ ដោយចេតនា បញ្ឆោតខ្លួនឯង» លំហូរ ដោយធម្មជាតិ ទៅជាអចិន្រ្តៃយ៍ នៃ «(ii) យល់ច្រឡំ ពីការវង្វេង ស្មារតី (ផ្លូវចិត្ត)»។

Often "(i) lop" flows naturally to a permanent state of "(ii) vongveng mentally".

A. ការព្យាបាល ចំពោះ «(i) ឡប់» ត្រូវការ នូវសីលធម៌។

The cure to "(i) lop" requires morality.

B. ការព្យាបាល ចំពោះ «(ii) យល់ច្រឡំ ពីការវង្វេង ខាងរាងកាយ» ត្រូវការ នូវចំនេះដឹង។

The cure to "(ii) vongveng physically" requires education (knowledge).

C. ការព្យាបាល ចំពោះ «(ii) យល់ច្រឡំ ពីការវង្វេង ស្មារតី» ត្រូវការ នូវចិត្តសាស្រ្ត។

The cure to "(ii) vongveng mentally" requires medicine (psychiatry).

ខ្ញុំ ឃើញ គណបក្ស ប្រជាជន កម្ពុជា ជាច្រើនអ្នក (ច្រើនពេក!) ដែលត្រូវការ ជំនួយបន្ទាន់ ពីA និងC។ (B ដែរ, ប៉ុន្តែ មិនសូវបន្ទាន់, បើ ប្រៀបធៀប។)

I find many (too many!) CPP to be in urgent need of A and C. (Also B, but less urgently, in comparison.)

ការចាប់អារម្មណ៍ ពីសីលធម៌៖ ក្នុងភាសាខ្មែរ, យើង មានតែ ពាក្យមួយ «សីលធ័រ» សម្រាប់ ភាសាអង់គ្លេស ថា «morality» និង «ethics»។ ដូច្នេះ, ពាក្យផ្ទុយ «អសីលធម៌» មានន័យ ថា (i) immorality ផង (សម្រាប់ មនុស្ស, ដឹង ពីខុស និងត្រូវ); (ii) amorality ផង (សម្រាប់ សត្វ, ក្រៅប្រព័ន្ធ ដឹង ពីខុស និងត្រូវ; ចម្លែកណាស់ គឺ ជាគំនិតនេះ នៅក្នុងពុទ្ធសាសនា ដែលកម្មវិធី បកប្រែ ហ្គូហ្គល មិនអាច បកប្រែបាន); និង (iii) unethical ផងដែរ (ខុស ក្រមសីលធម៌)។

A note on morality: In Khmer, we only have one word "selathor" សីលធម៌ for morality and ethics. Thus, the negative "ak-selathor" អសីលធម៌ means (i) immorality (humans, knowing right and wrong); (ii) amorality (animals, outside of right and wrong; so foreign is this concept in Buddhism that Google Translate cannot even translate); and (iii) "unethical".

Wonder Kingdoom. Because it’s time we need (as in ”If we had the 200 years like the US, we would be as developed”—because Wonder Kingdoom is only, uh, only 2,000 years old, not yet 200?!?! Closer to home, the logic goes, if only Wonder Kingdoom had the 60 years that Singapore had...?!), not ideas (of educated, ethical, competent leadership).

The only power outlets in this master bedroom (with bathroom). I was trying (really, really trying) to put myself in place of the person who did this and to think his thoughts as he stretched out the cords and fastidiously adhered them to the wall every 6 inches—over 60 times!—and settled on these locations for the power outlets, 2 at the level of my chest, the 3rd at the furthest ceiling corner in a room with very high ceiling.

My most generous thought: child safety.

My less most generous thought: eeehhhhyyyyy!

The logic is almost as good as Our Dear Leader The Wonder Kingdoom’s: "Sok Eysan says Cambodia would not fare so badly if it had the 200 years to develop like the US." Please see above.

Don’t think this logic did not come without instruction from an early age: "No!", "Don’t!" "Shut up!" "Obey!" "Do as I say!" "Repeat!" The baby becomes a toddler becomes a child becomes a teen becomes a man gets a job. If he had not been trained by a naysaying society, he would have gone with basic logic even if illiterate. Basic logic is normally the easiest route, here: lay the cord discreetly along the edge and the power outlet within reach, preferably near a switch. But no, his training has messed up his mental circuit so that he chooses the hardest, nonsensical route, for this layout did not happen without intention or thinking.

...

From Brazil, Maira Delima came to know Jesus later in life, already in her 40s. Quite a dramatic, extraordinary conversion story. Her mom, an Italian-Brazilian poet, was so moved and convinced by Maira’s dramatic, extraordinary conversion that she too converted to being a follower of Jesus, 2 years before she passed away. Maira vowed to serve the poorest of the poor. She went to 5 years of seminary before she could be sent to Cambodia, a place she had never been to before. I first met Maira 10 years ago wading through stinky muddy slush in Phnom Penh’s worst slums. To this day, she still can be found caring for families, particularly children, in these slums. Here with her foster daughter Sothea.

Maira and Sothea—I’m truly blessed to have spent some time with both of you at your house and worship at church with you this morning. - Theary, 17 Feb. 2019

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Brahmaputra Literary Festival

Brahmaputra Literary Festival (Guwahati, India, Feb. 2019)

សៀវភៅ រូបថត នៃមហោស្រព អក្សរសិល្ប៍ ព្រហ្ម​បុត្រា នៅ​ប្រទេស​ ឥណ្ឌា

Photo Diary

អ្នកនិពន្ធ ខ្មែរ បួនរូប និងខ្ញុំ ជាគណៈប្រតិភូ ពីស្រុកខ្មែរ ដែលត្រូវ បានអញ្ជើញ ចូលរួម ក្នុងពិធី មហោស្រព អក្សរសិល្ប៍ នេះ នៅភាគឥសាន ឥណ្ឌា អស់រយៈពេល បីថ្ងៃ។

Friday, 8 February 2019

The superman and artistic director, Rahul Jain, behind the phenomenal Brahmaputra Literary Festival. Here, my first time meeting him, much elation at the miracle that got me there after the last minute visa ordeal. What generosity that India should focus on ASEAN writers, particularly giving Cambodia a substantial platform by inviting 8 of us (3 from the States—even though praCh couldn’t make it, again visa!—and 5 of us from Cambodia).

20-plus countries. 40-plus sessions. 120-plus writers.

Now imagine the logistics: hotel accommodation (the best in town!); air travel arrangement to India (for us foreigners) and within from all over India to Guwahati in the Northeast (for Indian writers); transportation (airport/hotel pick up, plus personal vehicle for each writer during the duration of our stay); visas (I thought my situation was a nightmare, only obtaining it 3.5 hrs. before departure time, but Gwee beat me as he only got it 2.5 hrs. before his flight!)…

My thanks not only to Rahul and his amazing team but to his wife/family as I can’t imagine that they saw him or that he got any sleep the weeks leading up to the 3-day Festival.

The Brahmaputra Literary Festival in Guwahati is organized by the Publication Board of the Assam state. The capital city, Guwahati, was awash with banners lining the main boulevard running through the city center and on overhead crosswalks, with large and small billboards splattered on sides of buildings, near bus stops, at intersections -- in the hundreds. This is one of the large billboards in the city center near our Novotel hotel and a 7-minute drive from the festival massive, spacious venue.

This photo of me was taken 9 years ago by the famous photographer who has worked for Hollywood movies and stars, and a friend -- Roland Neveu. It's a relatively glamorous image that looks nothing like my day-to-day self, especially these years later. So, I can hear the participants wondering where is this glamorous Cambodian woman?!

Thank you, Yeng Chheangly, for these photos.

View of a suburb of Guwahati on the way up the mountain to visit the famous Hindu shrine, Kamakhya Temple, at the top. Catching up with a friend, Prof. Sophal Ear, who had landed one day earlier from California.

Saturday, 9 February 2019: An amazing opening day at this BLF in Guwahati! Here Dr. (Ma) Thida of Myanmar at the podium. The Chief Minister and Education Minister of Assam, a state of 33 million people, welcomed us. High security followed the Chief Minister who is up for state election later this year; he is of the ruling party. The Prime Minister arrived in town a couple of hours after we landed in Guwahati; high security at the airport and lining the road leading to the hospital he's visiting. We--participants from Singapore, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia--congregated in and flew from Kolkata, one of the ports of entry of India, to Guwahati the capital of Assam, the gateway of Northeast India.

Sunday, 10 Feb. 2019: About to head out to explore this capital city of Assam, Guwahati, mainly to walk along the mighty Brahmaputra River (the only river in India named after a male god) and to do a little shopping (mascara, as it's been a while that I wear mascara!) with my delightful, knowledgeable guide, Prateeti (whose name means "knowledge" in Assamese) whom the BLF assigned to me to be my assistant-volunteer for the duration of my stay. Prateeti is in her 2nd year of college, an older sister to another sister. She is raised by a single father whom she adores. They live in another town one-hour drive away. While doing her schooling in Guwahati, she lives in an all-female "hostel" that is more like a privately-run dormitory than a guesthouse/motel. There, she doesn't need to worry about cooking or cleaning as that is part of her hostel rental agreement. These hostels cater to university students without families in the city.

10 February 2019 is Saraswati Puja, the most anticipated Indian celebration to the goddesses of Knowledge and Wisdom. It is also effectively the day of courtship, more important than Valentine's Day, where the women are in their best saris or "maekhala chador" the two-piece Assamese traditional dress--from little girls to young women to mothers and grandmothers--in their splendid array of colors from deep, dark to bright, vibrant hues.

Strolling along the mighty Brahmaputra River during low water level. Those sand bars behind me are completely submerged during the rainy season starting in April-May, oftentimes  the overflow of the river flooding the city.

Sunday, 10 Feb. 2019: My lunch—it was a FEAST! Local restaurant near our Novotel hotel in the city center of Guwahati. Everything you see (pork dishes and spices, pickled olives, various curry and other sauces), plus the best chai for two, plus dessert for two, plus tips (determined by my assistant-volunteer Prateeti)—all under USD16! Potatoes and milk serve as bases for many of these dishes. I ate the whole meal with my fingers as a good proper Indian would (except for the bowl of soup as starter and the bowl of dessert after). This restaurant is part of a chain. This lunch experience is one of the highlights thus far, and this Festival has been already so extraordinary.

Moderating the “Prisoners of Conscience” session with Burmese democratic icons: Dr. (Ma) Thida and Nyi Pu Lay.

Sneaking in a photo as I moderated the Prisoners of Conscience session at the Brahmaputra Literary Festival with Burmese democratic icons Dr. Thida (Ma means the title “Miss” which has inadvertently become the last name of many Burmese women, as normally Burmese go only by one name) and poet who goes by his pen name Nyi Pu Lay (Ngein Chan). We all flew from Bangkok to Kolkata, stayed overnight there together as we waited for the connecting flight to Guwahati the next morning.

With Prof. Arabinda and some of his 70 students who have been attending this 3-day Brahmaputra Literary Festival, and my volunteer-assistant Prateeti. This afternoon after my first session moderating the discussion with Dr. Thida and Nyi Pu Lay (Nyein Chan).

Thank you, Prof. Arabinda, for these scarves. The red and white scarf "Gamosa" is distinguishably Assamese. Now, I own two of them: this one from Prof. Arabinda and the one that the BLF officials garlanded around my neck at the Guwahati airport upon arrival.

Wearing my newly acquired "kurti", a typical Indian every day attire. Each Indian state has its own traditional dress, its own language. Assam has the "maekhala chador" the 2-piece traditional dress, its own music "bihu" and its Assamese language.

Sari that I had bought in Durban, South Africa in 1999. I should have brought to Guwahati to wear as we Cambodians are already experts in appropriating Indian culture! During my one semester spent in South Africa during law school, I rented a room in an apartment owned by this dynamic South African woman of Indian descent, Varsha, who worked in local government in Pietermaritzburg. I learned to drink tea with milk and biscuits and was introduced to Indian culture and cuisine. Varsha was also a great teacher of everything South African, particularly during the fascinating period of 1999 when the country had just emerged from apartheid, have had only 5 years of democratic rule, who became a lifelong friend.

Sunday, 10 Feb. 2019 (Novotel Hotel): I love these (super!) funny, (very!) accomplished, beautiful women I had the privilege of knowing over lunch and a couple of dinners during these past few days. Vietnamese-American Prof. Amy Quan Barry, me, Singaporean attorney/poet Amanda Chong, Singaporean novelist Balli Kaur Jaswal, Prof. Sophal Ear. Balli had me in stitches with her Singaporean stories! And how nice to catch up with fellow Cambodian-American Sophal (although I’m now American-Cambodian) who was also part of our meal conversations.

The Cambodia Delegation: Chheangly, Chin Meas, Sok Chanphal, me, Phina So. មុន នឹងឈាន ដល់វេទិការ អក្សរសិល្ប៍ វេលាព្រឹកនេះ អ្នកនិពន្ធ ខ្មែរយើង ឆ្លៀតជជែក រឿងរ៉ាវ ផ្សេងៗ និងថតរូបជុំគ្នា។ - Yeng Chheangly

Thank you, Dee, for these photos from our ASEAN session.

With Prof. Arabinda Rajkhowa, Jintu Gitarth -- after my ASEAN session, 11 Feb. 2019.

Photos courtesy of Kalikabb. Being interviewed by Niku, as Kalikabb and Prof. Arabinda look on. After the ASEAN session. 11 Feb. 2019.

A gift of Assamese poems translated by English teacher Surajit Borocah. Before the Cambodia session. 11 Feb. 2019. I’m told by this English teacher that I am the first Cambodian he has ever met. That goes for almost everyone here, that I’m their first Cambodian they’ve ever met.

Speaking at the Cambodia session: Past, Present, Future.

Panelist with Prof. Sophal Ear. We missed you, praCh!

One of the highlights of the BLF is meeting this very accomplished Vietnamese-American woman, Prof. Amy Quan Barry.

With Kasturi Chutia

With my delightful assistant-volunteer Prateeti Das and her friend Trishita. My fat handbag is carrying my stilettos as I had to unfashionable wear sandals (which I always have with me when wearing stilettos) for the sake of my toes for this photo.

Novotel Guwahati, 11 Feb. 2019: After my afternoon session this afternoon, I asked my assistant volunteer Prateeti to bring me to a mart or supermarket so I can buy a bottle of wine as I need to unwind. No wine at supermarkets, only at bars. She and a friend, Trishita, thought some more and decided to google wine shop. The driver (each author is given a car, driver and assistant volunteer throughout the BLF), took us to a shop (basically an enclosed room, not unlike a very large ticket booth, at a busy intersection of the city center with bars and I had ask for a particular bottle from behind the bars. Initially I pointed to the only bottles of wine I saw and they happened to be names and prices I know from Cambodia. I asked the price; he quoted prices that were 3 and 4 times the prices in Cambodia. Some inquired whether I would like local wine. Sure. $16. Price reasonable. And the taste is not bad!! (The best in India, I'm told, and I believe it.)

Chai! (The Indian state of Assam is known for its chai (which means "tea" in Assamese). Here we are in Guwahati on our way to Deepor Beel bird sanctuary-- Cambodian poet Chin Meas, writer Sok Chanphal, with my assistant Prateeti--buying chai in bulk to take back to Cambodia. (Photo credit: Sok Chanphal)

Sharing the (Sula) wealth at lunch after Deepor Beel before heading to the airport for home. 12 Feb. 2019.

By the way, in addition to its relatively high price (to Cambodia) and its highly specified location for selling and purchasing of alcohol, we also did not see any advertisement for alcohol (or, cigarettes, for that matter). Now, think Cambodia where even young children as young as 8-9 years old can purchase alcohol, and where images of both men and women, both adults and children unconscious on the ground surrounded by dozens of empty beer cans are regularly splashed on Facebook. And where advertisements of alcohol (and cigarettes) are ubiquitous.

Tandoori chicken! (First, boil the chicken; then fry, then grill.) The Assamese people eat meals really late: normally lunch at 1:30 PM and dinner at 10 PM.

EVERYONE drinks chai (Assamese for tea) with boiled milk and sugar. Masala chai or spiced tea would have a pinch of crushed ginger added. About 15-20 cents per glass. Fresh milk is relatively inexpensive: 70 cents per liter (compared to $2.25/liter here in Cambodia because we import and don’t produce our own milk).

They look like lotus leaves from afar but these ones are durable hard, as strong as a plastic plate, with thorns and bubbles on them.

Admiration deepens for this woman and for them as a couple after the great read. - 25 Feb. 2019

Books are so inexpensive in India! No wonder it has such a deep literary culture—the government walks the talk when it says it believes in reading! All the literary festivals across India—in Guwahati, in Jaipur... And negotiating publishing rights for domestic printing to reduce substantially the prices of books (see the note at bottom of copyright page).

Michelle Obama’s memoir was $15 at the Kolkata bookstore! Hardcover! (It was $45 at Bangkok airport.)

I’ve been wanting to read GGM’s One Hundred Years of Solitude for years, and here it is! (I loved Love in the Time of Cholera.) Again, the price is right!

I’ve been hearing so many references to the Game of Thrones that I decided I should educate myself with the novel (as I don’t watch TV anymore).

My first target was really Gina Apostol’s novel Insurrecto, but to no avail (probably due to the fact that this Kolkata airport mart had such a small book section; will search next time I am in the Philippines).

At the Kolkata airport where I picked up several books, a fellow Cambodian author and traveller who wanted to improve his English through reading was searching for titles he had heard of. I handed him a thick but light paperback with an attractive cover for Animal Farm by George Orwell. Curious as to why it was so thick, more than double its size, I paged through it and read the fine print that it also included 1984. All for about $6! I may have been a bit earnest in advocating for its purchase, less for the price than for its relevant, timely content and its ubiquitous reference in everyday communication. I told him if he wasn’t going to buy it, I will. I did and gave it to him.

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Life Among the Wokescolds

The American Conservative | 23 February 2019

A reader who is a college professor (and whose name I know) writes:

I thought you’d enjoy this signs-of-the-times story. It’s good for a laugh—or perhaps a cry.

In one of my classes yesterday we were talking about current events, and a student mentioned that the soldier in the famous Times Square kissing photo had died. “Yes,” I said. “Too bad. Such a beautiful image, and such a moment of joy.” One of my least favorite students, a smug know-it-all in the back row, piped up. “You actually like that photo?” she said. “Well, yeah,” I replied, a bit taken aback. “That’s an iconic image of a moment of unbridled joy.”

“And do you think she consented to that kiss?” she said icily. “No, no she did not. That is a photo of an assault. That man should have gone to jail.”

Now, this happens with some regularity in classes these days. I don’t use Twitter, but I’m familiar with the term “wokescold,” and it’s incredibly accurate. Most of my students are just pure scolds. They’re deeply puritanical (though they have no idea who the Puritans were, given their virtually nonexistent awareness of history). So I tried to play it off a bit.

“Well, okay…” I said. “I acknowledge that it may not hold up with our contemporary standards of morality—”

“What were we even celebrating?” interjected another student, a gay man who can’t get through a sentence without mentioning that identity.

I couldn’t help it: I laughed. “Uh, winning World War II?” I said. “Pretty big deal, no?”

He scowled. “Yeah, if colonialism’s your thing.”

I admit I was dumbfounded by this, and I figured the best thing to do was escape the situation quickly. But I couldn’t help it. “What was our colonial project in that war?” I asked. “Did we go over there to occupy France? I’m pretty sure it was something more like the opposite.” This got a couple laughs, which helped defuse the tension, and even the student in question chuckled and rolled his eyes. I turned back to the girl. “So,” I said. “You don’t like this photo, I take it.”

“No,” she said. “It should not be shown to people.”

“Hang on,” I said. “Because this feels like an important point. Do you mean this photo should be banned? Kept out of public view?”

“Exactly,” she said. “Why should I be forced to see a woman’s sovereignty violated? That’s a picture of a victim, and nothing else. There’s nothing to celebrate.”

I smiled and nodded, and moved on to the next topic.

Now, I’m not entirely sure what to think of this. Sure, we could laugh it off as the crazy ravings of college freshmen. But here’s the thing: the students I teach are in the university’s elite academic program. There are roughly 800 of them in our 30,000-person student body. Many of them received offers from Ivies but came to this university instead for the full scholarship. They are not cranks—they are the leaders of tomorrow.

You might recall that William Deresiewicz wrote a book a few years ago called Excellent Sheep, about his experience at Yale. I can’t think of a better term for today’s elite students. All of my students are very smart in a technical/regurgitating knowledge kind of way. They do the assignments, they email you outside of class, etc. But they are the most boring people I have ever known. Their whole lives have been curated purely to boost credentials. They do not understand—and I mean literally do not understand, as if you were speaking Latin—the language of morality, goodness, philosophy, justice, and so on. Sometimes we’ll be talking about the news and I’ll ask one of them something like “Hey, is the death penalty wrong?”

They can never reply. They just stammer something about personal opinion and individual choice. I say “Yeah, but is it wrong? Like, on a moral level?” They don’t even understand the question. I’m being totally serious. They don’t understand what it would mean to have a code of beliefs, or to believe in something outside of the individual. They have been brought up to believe in one thing: a vague notion of “success” that mostly involves accumulating credentials, racking up meaningless accolades, and making money. That’s it. They are philistines—smiling, pleasant, well-educated, quasi-totalitarian philistines.

I know you’re working on that book about the new socialism, and I think it will be timely. It seems to me that totalitarianism is not arriving in the U.S. via the stern face of Big Brother staring down from the screen. It’s coming from the college student who says we shouldn’t view a photo of pure, untrammeled joy. And the thing is that they can’t see that joy, not just because they’re puritans, but because they have no historical consciousness. They have no sense of what so many Americans sacrificed in the years leading up to that famous kiss because they never really learned it. I’m not a gung-ho America First guy—I’d be an expat in a second if I could get my wife on board—but the K-12 textbooks have gotten insane. They really do stress the failures of the country, the bad angle of every story, the endless aggressions-in-hindsight that form the modern wokescold.

Look, I get it: this country has done terrible things. We continue to do terrible things. But there are no pure good guys and pure bad guys. We are crazy if we don’t think for one second that the things we consider good and just today will be denounced as oppressive in 30 years. To say that we shouldn’t look at an image that shows the joy of having just defeated the f’ing Nazis is just insanity.

My students are generally pleasant, but they’re never any fun. Where’s the joy in their lives? They live to denounce. It’s like having 25 Robespierres around you three times a week. They’re always on the lookout for something to be outraged about. I’m never surprised when I hear that rates of sexual activity have decreased. It’s hard to imagine them letting their guard down for one second to cherish the company of someone else. What on earth will the romantic comedy films of the future be like? Zooming in on phone screens as two people exchange sexual consent notices on an app?

In the coming weeks I have to make a decision about whether to keep teaching in this elite program, and I doubt I’ll return. The non-elite kids at least have a sense of humor, a sense of joy. I’m not sure at what point we made elite education negative and puritanical, but take it from this professor: it sure isn’t any fun.

This letter, which I publish with the author’s permission, reminds me of a 2016 essay from Notre Dame professor Patrick Deneen, which I mentioned in The Benedict Option. If you want to read it, the whole essay is here. Excerpts:

My students are know-nothings.They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their minds are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge that might be the fruits of an education in an inheritance and a gift of a previous generation.They are the culmination of western civilization, a civilization that has forgotten it origins and aims, and as a result, has achieved near-perfect indifference about itself.

It’s difficult to gain admissions to the schools where I’ve taught – Princeton, Georgetown, and now Notre Dame. Students at these institutions have done what has been demanded of them:they are superb test-takers, they know exactly what is needed to get an A in every class (meaning that they rarely allow themselves to become passionate and invested in any one subject), they build superb resumes. They are respectful and cordial to their elders, though with their peers (as snatches of passing conversation reveal), easygoing if crude. They respect diversity (without having the slightest clue what diversity is) and they are experts in the arts of non-judgmentalism (at least publicly).They are the cream of their generation, the masters of the universe, a generation-in-waiting who will run America and the world.

But ask them some basic questions about the civilization they will be inheriting, and be prepared for averted eyes and somewhat panicked looks. Who fought in the Peloponnesian war? What was at stake at the Battle of Salamis? Who taught Plato, and whom did Plato teach? How did Socrates die? Raise your hand if you have read both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Canterbury Tales? Paradise Lost? The Inferno?

Deneen says this is not the fault of the students, or, in an ordinary sense, the failure of our educational system. They are what we have designed them to be. More:

My students are the fruits of a longstanding project to liberate all humans from the accidents of birth and circumstance, to make a self-making humanity. Understanding liberty to be the absence of constraint, forms of cultural inheritance and concomitant gratitude were attacked as so many arbitrary limits on personal choice, and hence, matters of contingency that required systematic disassembly. Believing that the source of political and social division and war was residual commitment to religion and culture, widespread efforts were undertaken to eliminate such devotions in preference to a universalized embrace of toleration and detached selves. Perceiving that a globalizing economic system required deracinated workers who could live anywhere and perform any task without curiosity about ultimate goals and effects, a main task of education became instillation of certain dispositions rather than grounded knowledge – flexibility, non-judgmentalism, contentless “skills,” detached “ways of knowing,” praise for social justice even as students were girded for a winner-take-all economy, and a fetish for diversity that left unquestioned why it was that everyone was identically educated at indistinguishable institutions. At first this meant the hollowing of local, regional, and religious specificity in the name of national identity. Today it has came to mean the hollowing of national specificity in the name of globalized cosmopolitanism, which above all requires studied oblivion to anything culturally defining.The inability to answer basic questions about America or the West is not a consequence of bad education; it is a marker of a successful education.

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My Camouflage

I'm a chameleon, dressing to blend in with the surrounding furniture, artwork and scenes. To hide from Mr. Hun in case he's upset with my critiques of him, his comrades.

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