Dimensionally Barrett

The faces of the Indian diaspora in the shadow of Boudhanath I have a dear, dear friend in Kathmandu who is about as smart, sweet, and giving as they come. She is Punjabi and lives in a village with other Punjabis, Biharis, Rajasthanis and others in the Indian diaspora who have come to Kathmandu to get out from under crushing poverty and higher costs of living there. Many come here and work at subsistence jobs, many beg, some find sustainable livings, and the village itself is on the grid, has local Indian run stores and in general is holding up well. Many lost all they had in the earthquake and it's a testimony to the villagers that they really do look after one another. Most are women. The men, sadly, are typically abusers - mostly of alcohol, but of their spouses more. Out of respect for my friend, I am not referring to her by name, nor will I post her or her kids' pictures, but tonight I saw two more examples of why we're friends and why she is, ver...

attribution pending "My attitude to peace is rather based on the Burmese definition of peace - it really means removing all the negative factors that destroy peace in this world. So peace does not mean just putting an end to violence or to war, but to all other factors that threaten peace, such as discrimination, such as inequality, poverty." - Aung San Suu Kyi " Suffering degrades, embitters and enrages. " - Aung San Suu Kyi I recognize that it’s painful for supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi to read and encounter criticism of her lack of response to the Rohingya Crisis. I respect the various posts from Mizza and other sources attempting to provide responses to these criticisms, but they are, I’m afraid, inadequate if not wrongheaded. They are very much missing the point of why this rhetoric toward San Suu Kyi has intensified. The current crisis is the result of systemic and systematic targeting of the Rohingya since 1982 (when they were denied citi...

Hurricane Irma. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/09/05/florida-declares-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-irma-intensifies-to-a-category-5-storm/ If you want to read the whole series, click these links. Floods More Floods As Houston begins to return to some degree of recovery, any local will tell you that there's more weather to come. Usually, you would get one big storm, but during hurricane season, there would still be heavy rains now and again. These are not normal times. As I write this, a category five behometh named Irma is on her way to Carribbean. From the radar captures, she looks to be headed directly to Cuba and the Dominican Republic, to Haiti, to Puerto Rico, to the Virgin Islands, to the Florida Keys, and the Lesser Antilles. Or maybe Miami. Or she may miss everything and just go up the east coast ? Irma has registered on seismometers . These are not normal times. Or is it more accurate to say that this is the new normal? ...

Shwedagon is Yangon's landmark. The largest pagoda and the focal point of the devout, equivalent to Boudhanath in Kathmandu. But we'll hold off on interior shots. What catches my eye in any ancient/modern dichotomy is the play of opposites; the ravages of decay against the pristine maintenance on certain structures, chaos where infrastructure hasn't been modernized against order in street layouts, and in places like Yangon, verdant greenery from which emerge various types, sizes and conditions of architecture. There's not much to add to these photos, except that the common thread is that these are all in proximity to Shwedagon. There are some Shwedagon photos already in the gallery, but I want to provide a separate post for the pagoda since it's such a center of worship and gathering. Let's start with a little black and white, shall we? Now for a little color. In some cases, I've saturated the image to render a less monochromatic photograph....