South East Asia

I just got back from a week-long conference in Kalamazoo on South East Asia.

It was amazing how ignorant I was about that area of the world. It's easy to learn a lot when you're ignorant and receptive to learning.

I learned a great deal on the history of the region and on the current state of its role in global economics. South East Asia really is a dominate force in keeping this world going. It is a region rich with cultural history and immense future potential.(This workshop excluded China, Japan, and India which are each studied individually in other week-long workshops.)

One of the most surprising pieces of information I learned is how much better some of the medical facilities are in SEA than they are here in the US. In fact, Blue Cross Blue Shield is actually sending people overseas for procedures that can be done better and cheaper than they can here in the US. Not surprisingly, the majority of doctors were educated in the US.

For the most part, the US education systems holds great prestige in SEA, and students who come to the US return to their home countries. The only country where this is not as true is the Philippines. Cultural differences between generations has led the youngest generation of that country to leave and not want to return.

I also learned a great deal about Muslims in SEA. This is another area in which I had absolutely no store of knowledge. As one of the workshop teachers told us, SEA is where Muslims are going to learn to work out the rich history of their religion with the modernity of contemporary cultures. The two can co-exist and deeply benefit one another, and SEA is where he said it is already beginning to happen.

I have nearly 50 pages of notes to work through from this workshop, in addition to needing to complete research to develop a module to infuse into one of my classes. I had thought the mythology class would be a no-brainer for this, and it is. I'll be incorporating more myths from SEA as well as information about the contemporary cultures, but for my module I have decided to use my developmental class, ENG090.

I finished reading Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen this summer and didn't think much of it. However, being able to frame that book in the context of SEA studies as well as under the auspices of Delta's Peace Studies Program, I will definitely be using it next year in my classes.

What a great week away. Exhausting, and as always, good to be home, but definitely I've been schooled and will be building on this in my work.

My Neighborhood

New across the street
drug, paternity testing
DUI classes
Lots more vans around
guys on bikes
smokers watching us
Lock the doors
Move

I should know better than to go out and interact with people.
It never works out well for me.

For My Followers

Really? Don't you two have anything better to do?

New Years Day 2009

How the first day of the year begins, so the rest follow.

I woke early and lay in bed for a while, just enjoying the warmth and quiet. The dog nuzzled me to get up, so we were out on the road by 7:30am.

It was cold. Very cold. New snow from days ago did not impede our walk, which after a couple of blocks turned into a jog. As we rounded the park and began to head for the riverwalk, the sky was a deep orange-red. By the time we neared the river, it fanned out into brilliant pink with amber streaks where the sun shone behind the clouds, through the cold.

We met no one as we made our way along the river, though footprints proved other life had passed by there. The snow had drifted off the path, making our progress easy. Chunks of ice flowed through the river, chunks that had only days before been a frozen floor for humans, a ceiling to the fish. No doubt a great lakes ship had come into port and caused the breakup.

I stopped along the rail and watched the ice flow. Anyone who does not believe the continents and landscape were formed by shifting plates of land need only to watch an ice flow. One chunk collides with another, and the seam where their edges meet piles high. What had been edges now become mountains down the middle of the land. And when the ice chunk breaks away and leaves the raised edge, I imagine the coastal ranges, like in Ireland and California and Oregon.

I could have stayed, mesmerized by this flow and formation and reformation, had the dog not whined to remind me we were on our path.

Around the marina, up the hill into the downtown area. Plastic cups began to appear, as if the first signs of civilization. An empty champagne bottle. Coursing through the bar district, other revelers' celebratory activities and their aftermath become evident. Empty cigarette packs, empty beer bottles, broken glass, a slice of uneaten pizza (pepperoni still intact), a woman's broken hair clip, dozens of cigarette butts, splatters of blood, bloody tissues, a splotch of vomit. Yeah, I see what I'm not missing when I stay home on New Years Eve.

Against the wind when we started, it now is at my back (the dog's tail), making the run home easier, faster, warmer. We slow a block early and walk it in. The town is quiet still.

I grab the brush for the dog, taking care of animals is a major part of every morning. Once inside, I will clean cat boxes, make sure cats have food, all animals have water, and feed the dog. Then the water ritual will begin, as I fill the humidifier, the tea pot, wash dishes, take a shower.

The day will move forward slowly, unhurried, peacefully. While all the others that follow will not be exactly like this day, it is an encouraging start - in health, reflection, appreciation, curiosity, observation, consideration, respect, diligence, understanding, ritual, and gratitude. Working both with and against nature, but persevering regardless. And, at the last, coming home, to those I love, and who love in return.

Yes, I would be happy to have even a small percentage of days like these ahead of me in this new year.