Dimensionally Barrett

Graphic based on Abbott photo by Bob Daemmrich from Nexstar and from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Image Library It is ludicrous and tragic what we have come to in my birth state. I resist calling it my home state because I truly do not recognize how far down the ladder leadership has willfully descended and a sizable part of the electorate with it. And I can’t say I feel at home here. That the governor of Texas has taken several unconscionable moves to not just ignore the severity of the pandemic and jeopardize the lives of the citizenry (many of whom actually vote for him), but that he has actively demonized businesses and school districts that want to enforce mask wearing and is somehow attempting to enforce some fiat against those enterprises, defies credibility and calls into question (yet again) what this man is thinking. I use the terms lightly; “thinking” and even “man”. I am tempted to believe that anyone who cannot recognize the how badly people are suf...

In the foreground is one of Sonny’s pieces. From Artists Beyond Boundaries Group Exhibit, 2017 Not that there is anything “usual” about these Myanmar updates, but if anything, this one is more personal. One of Myanmar’s great artists passed from this world from COVID. U Sonny Nyein was a great sculptor and a fine human being. I did not know him well, but I liked him and enjoyed our limited time together.   All of these updates are personal, though. Not that I might not have acknowledged the devastation afflicting Myanmar for less personal reasons, but the simple fact is that if you spend time with people in a country so warm and welcoming, especially artist peers and colleagues, this becomes family. I don’t really want to spend much time on the Tatmadaw. I don’t want to pay them any mind today nor do I particularly want to discuss COVID and how these twin disasters are laying waste to this beautiful country and its people.  I do want to offer support to my friends and the...

Zooming out from the roiling strife in Burma, cause and effect are playing out on a vaster canvas than might seem immediately apparent. As much as despots and dictators would like to hew to the narrative that “our conflict is only internal and doesn’t involve anyone else/is no one else’s business”, this lie has been put to rout repeatedly.   With the Tatmadaw, it is especially egregious given that the military is still receiving support from multinational corporate funding(1), employment of tech from China(2), and purchasing arms from Russia(3). The stage is set for Burma to return to the bad old days for military despotism. Also, it’s important to remember that this is not a civil war. Right now, the various ethnic groups that form Myanmar’s polity are united against this brutal military force. That the unrest in the country is directly tied to support from regional and global players out to make a buck is one side of the story on the international field; the other is the effec...