As the plane descended into Rangoon's international airport, I noticed a slight change in my heartbeat. I felt calm, but also excited, knowing that I was about to return to Burma for the first time in 24 years. Former student dissident and exiled journalist Aung Zaw spends
Five Days in Burma.
[more inside]
posted by seemoreglass
on Jun 10, 2013 -
4 comments
78 78s - In Search Of Lost Time - is a streaming mix of beautiful 78s from around the world, collected and curated by Ian Nagoski. "I started sifting through boxes of junky old 78s that no one else wanted about 15 years ago, and almost right away, I made a rule: Anything that wasn't in English, buy it."
[more inside]
posted by carter
on Jan 29, 2012 -
15 comments
"
Voice of San Diego reporter Adrian Florido set out to find a family,
he writes, "whose experience could illustrate
the day-to-day challenge for Burmese refugees" in San Diego, since "more than 200 Burmese families have arrived [in that city] since 2006." In the process, Florido met a 24-year-old man named Har Sin" who was unable to hear, speak, read, write or use sign language, and wound up writing a two-part story about him:
In a New Land, Hoping to Hear and
Breaking Free of a Life Without Language.
The story is available as a downloadable pdf: A Silent Journey Series. / Via The Kicker, the daily blog of the Columbia Journalism Review [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Oct 13, 2010 -
5 comments
The fight to
free Burma has been making noise lately.
Protests are picking up in
Burma, international activists are putting
pressure on the UN to step in, and
Jim Carrey has joined as
yet another celebrity to try to bring public attention to the effort. Burma is an amazing place and the Burmese people are some of the warmest, most hospitable, beautiful, and silliest people I have ever encountered. The people of Burma deserve a better world. Is the tide shifting? Will this be a turning point for Burma? I hope so.
posted by crawfishpopsicle
on Aug 29, 2007 -
29 comments
The Problem of the Rupee. Starting off as a silver-based unit of currency by the 15th century ruler,
Sher Shah Suri, the Rupee (
wiki) has had a long and chequered history encompassing most of Asian and East-African colonial history. Issued by the
British, the
French, the
Dutch, the
Japanese, the
Portuguese, the
Germans and even the
Danish, the rupee as a brand-name existed far beyond
India,
Pakistan,
Nepal,
Maldives,
Sri Lanka Seychelles or the
Mauritius.
(more inside)
posted by the cydonian
on Mar 27, 2007 -
15 comments
3000 feet up in the mountains of Eastern Myanmar (Burma) lies Inle Lake
^, a giant freshwater lake that is
populated by 70,000 people
living in four separate cities
on top of the lake. They
dwell,
fish,
farm,
worship and
celebrate upon the surface of Lake Inle, living a unique lifestyle that seems wholly unto itself, untouched by the world outside.
All pictures found using the amazing FlickrStorm tool.
posted by jonson
on Aug 13, 2006 -
25 comments
60s/70s psych, crossover, beat, and a go-go from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam with band/music scene histories, streaming audio, cover art, etc. Part of a
large site devoted to 60s/70s progressive music around the world.
posted by carter
on Dec 8, 2005 -
15 comments
Canto do Brasil [Flash, sound, MiguelCardosoFilter] is a street-level view of Brazil made by photographer Geoffrey Hiller, more precisely a view of Salvador Bahia, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo.
Another amazing project of his is
Burma, Grace Under Pressure [Flash, sound], exposing Burma's beauty and sadness.
Also check
Eastern Europe: Visions & Icons [Flash] ,where Hiller's post-Berlin Wall photographs are accompanied by Lev Liberman's moving text,
New York City: After The Fall [Flash, sound], an elegy to New Yorkers affected by 9/11, and his
journal from Vietnam.
posted by Masi
on Sep 1, 2004 -
3 comments
The great firewall of Burma. "Burma's military regime has reluctantly dipped a toe in the cyber sea, but for most of the country's population owning a modem without permission means 15 years in jail." I guess I should stop complaining about my dial-up connection.
posted by homunculus
on Aug 3, 2003 -
5 comments
Aung San Suu Kyi released. "My release should not be looked at as a major breakthrough for democracy. For all people in Burma to enjoy basic freedom - that would be the major breakthrough," she said. I know, but it's a start.
posted by feelinglistless
on May 6, 2002 -
3 comments