Over the past year I have been unable to obtain more than a three-month, single and double visa at any given time, so as a result constantly must be vigilant about the validity of my stay here in China. This has resulted in no small amount of frustration, particularly when other Americans in my position [...]
Hey all- I hope you’ve enjoyed the first week or 2010, which here in Kunming has been sunny, nice, and warm.
Here’s a good article to start the year off- in the Financial Times Gideon Rachman writes that democracies such as Turkey, India, Brazil, and South Africa have increasingly turned their backs against US foreign policy [...]
Between filling out grad school applications, hosting a good friend as part of his round-the-world tour, and preparing to move to a new apartment I haven’t had much time to contribute to this space. 对不起!
Christmas is four days away, and for the second year in a row I’ll be spending it here in China. Although [...]
In honor of Thanksgiving Day I’d like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for reading this blog, particularly those of you who have commented and e-mailed over the past year. It’s been a pleasure conversing with such an intelligent, well-informed audience. I hope you’ll continue sticking around!
When I was in high school, our kindly headmaster used to speak often of our ‘community’; that was, the students, faculty, staff, and others for whom our school was a daily part of life.
My friends and I used to cynically poke fun at him for saying it; at that point in our lives we yearned [...]
Apologies for the hiatus- for this reason or that I’ve neglected this blog, though not for lack of ideas swirling around in the head.
First, though, on a personal note: I will be flying back to the US tomorrow morning to attend a friend’s wedding at Lake Arrowhead, California, thanks to the generosity of my folks [...]
I’ve long been skeptical about the role of Twitter in fomenting political change. Skeptical until this Xinjiang uprising, that is.
Before the Chinese government blocked the service midday Monday, I read two eyewitness reports, saw several photographs, and read several articles about what had happened. Keep in mind that I follow only about 100 people. The [...]
Twenty days is a perfect amount of time to spend on a vacation home from China. The first five are used up fighting jet lag and being spoiled by friends and family who haven’t seen you in ages. The last three are devoted to shopping, packing, and squeezing in last-minute visits with people. That leaves [...]
I spent the weekend attending the Dali Music Festival, an event co-sponsored by a local guesthouse business supposedly interested in purchasing and developing land in the Dali old city. Several of my favorite Kunming bands, as well as a couple of acts I hadn’t seen before, played in front of an old temple on Friday [...]
Apologies for the recent sucky blogging, or rather non-existent blogging. I do have a very good excuse, though. Last Saturday I fell off my bicycle while going downhill on a slippery mountain and injured my right arm and hand to an extent that typing became physically impossible.
After four days the injury hasn’t healed completely, [...]