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Digital signatures are secure and are designed to stop any tampering. When using a digital signature to sign documents it is a process to create an "hash." The program will inform you when the document that has been signed has been altered or altered after the signature was used. If there are credibility issues, the authenticity of the document could be in danger.
What time will I need digital signatures?
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The act of signing a PDF helps protect the integrity of the document by showing who authorised and signed the PDF's information and the date this signing of the PDF occurred. Signatures in PDF can be transparent and not visible. Signed PDF certificates are a way to protect PDF documents. Advanced Signatures in PDF (also called PAdES Signatures) with embedded trustworthy timestamps and the certificate's status are essential to ensure long-term PDF document security.


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HomeWorld NewsIvory Coast losing opposition leader arrested for creating rival government
Ivory Coast losing opposition leader arrested for creating rival government
November 7, 2020 Staff Reporter World News 0
Pascal Affi N'Guessan
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast opposition leader and former prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan was under arrest on Saturday for creating a rival government after President Alassane Ouattara's election victory, his wife and a spokeswoman said.
Ivorian prosecutors are pursuing terrorism charges against more than a dozen opposition leaders who boycotted the Oct. 31 vote in which Ouattara won a third term in office and announced they were creating a transitional council.
The standoff has raised fears of protracted instability in the world's top cocoa producer, whose disputed 2010 presidential election led to a brief civil war. More than 40 people have died in clashes before and since the latest vote.
Affi was arrested overnight after the public prosecutor confirmed on Friday that he was being sought by the police, his wife, Angeline Kili, told Reuters.
"I confirm that my husband was arrested during the night but I don't know where he is right now," she said.
Genevieve Goetzinger, a spokeswoman for Affi, said on Twitter he was arrested in the southeastern town of Akoupe while en route to his hometown of Bongouanou.
The police were not immediately available for comment.
Affi served as prime minister from 2000-2003 under President Laurent Gbagbo, whose refusal to concede defeat to Ouattara after the 2010 election sparked a civil war which killed 3,000 people.
The opposition claims Ouattara has violated the constitution by seeking a third term. Ouattara says approval of a new constitution in 2016 restarted his mandate and allowed him to run again.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The community is invited to have a say on the proposed upgrade of the intersection of Empire Bay Drive, The Scenic Road and Cochrone Street at Kincumber, which will ease congestion and improve traffic flow for motorists.
Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch today said the review of environmental factors (REF) for the design proposal will be on display from today (Monday 19 March) until Friday 13 April, giving the community a final opportunity to provide feedback and input on the intersection's upgrade.
"Currently Empire Bay Drive is only one lane in each direction, and the existing single lane roundabout is having an ongoing impact on traffic flow, particularly during morning and afternoon peak times and also on Saturday morning," Mr Crouch said.
Mr Crouch said that previous community input had a positive effect on design work.
"After RMS received more than 70 submissions from the local community, the design options further progressed with an improved two-lane roundabout proposed instead of traffic lights," Mr Crouch said.
Mr Crouch said that today's announcement builds upon progress made earlier this month when investigation works were undertaken.
"In early March, RMS carried out investigation works to confirm the locations of existing utilities, in preparation for construction to commence," Mr Crouch said.
The community is also invited to attend a drop-in session on Thursday 5 April between 5pm and 8pm at Kincumber Village Shopping Centre to speak with the project team, provide feedback and learn more about the upgrade.
All feedback on the review of environmental factors (REF) is invited until Friday 13 April and will be considered when finalising the design proposal.
Mr Crouch said he remained fully committed to delivering this important upgrade.
"Upgrading the existing intersection is a core priority for our local community, and I have continued to make strong representations on behalf of residents to RMS staff," Mr Crouch said.
The review of environmental factors (REF) and other related information is available on the project page.


Getting some five-star sleep does way more than make you feel rested the next morning — it's got a slew of health benefits, too. "Your ability to concentrate, make decisions, exercise and handle stress, just to name a few activities, is dependent in part on your sleep quality," says Natalie Dautovich, PhD, Environmental Scholar for the National Sleep Foundation. But when it comes to getting a solid night's rest, actually being able to fall asleep is just the tip of the iceberg. "The beginning stages of sleep are physically restorative, but most of your mental repair happens later in the night," says Michael Breus, PhD, a board-certified expert in clinical sleep disorders. Here's how to make every minute count — and maximize your snooze potential.
You know how you change your sheets every week? That same line of thinking should be applied to your entire bed. You should be changing your pillow every 18 months or so, according to Dr. Breus. "You have an eight-pound head on top of your pillow all night long. The pillow's structural integrity will diminish over time," he explains. He recommends spending between $40 and $60 on a pillow. While that may seem expensive, Breus justifies the cost as a worthwhile investment in your health. As for your mattress, kick it to the curb every seven years. "The best mattress for [an individual varies], but over the years, your body will have different support needs. You have to figure out what you need from a mattress perspective as time goes on," says Dr. Breus.
Of a noise machine, that is. "Unfamiliar sounds can rouse you from the deeper, restorative stages of sleep," says Dr. Dautovich. "You can camouflage noise through the use of a sound conditioner.". But thanks to ever-evolving technology, you don't even need to go out and buy one: Websites like My Noise offer tons of options, such as white noise and rain falling on a tent, to soothe and keep you sleeping.
Lazy Sundays — or even brief respites in your daily schedule — shouldn't automatically call for mid-afternoon naps. "You need to be active and avoid or limit napping during the day in order to increase the drive to sleep later on," says Dr. Dautovich. But if you can't completely wean yourself off naps, try these tips for making sure they're quick recharging sessions that don't spiral out of control.
Going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day helps regulate your circadian rhythms, including ones responsible for when you get tired as well as when you wake up. ,"We cycle through different stages of sleep multiple times [throught the night]," says Dr. Dautovich. "If you're awakening during the end of a sleep cycle, during the lighter stages of sleep, it'll be easier to wake up without feeling groggy." When you have a sleep schedule, your body learns to predict that timing and prepare to wake up during a lighter stage of sleep. Just keep away from the snooze button, which can confuse your circadian rhythm and leave you feeling even more tired, says Dr. Dautovich.
It's tempting to unwind after a long day with a bottle of vino, but wrap it up (and use a cute stopper to cork it) after one (OK, maybe two) glasses. Having too much alcohol in your system is akin to a bouncer in front of Club Good Sleep who keeps you from entering deeper sleep cycles, says Dr. Breus. It reduces REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, according to a 2013 study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, which is far from ideal. REM sleep is when you dream as your brain works on memory and other cognitive functions — pretty important stuff.
Whether you're a fan of steamy summer temps or you're more of a cold-weather creature, stick with sleeping in a cool room to maximize your snooze time. "Your body temperature drops as you fall asleep," says Dr. Dautovich. "We suggest keeping your bedroom between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit to mimic that.". As a bonus, a 2014 study in Diabetes shows sleeping in a room that's 66 degrees can help increase your levels of metabolism-revving brown fat.
"Light can stop the production of melatonin and have a big effect on both your ability to fall and stay asleep," says Dr. Breus. Melatonin is a hormone that aids in regulating your circadian rhythms, helping you fall — and then keeping you — asleep. In addition to not looking at your phone or computer screens for at least an hour before bed, consider swapping your bulbs for these from LightingScience. "They don't emit as much blue light, which seems to stop melatonin production," says Dr. Breus, who uses them in his own house as well.
You probably never sip coffee right before bed (and if you do, we hope it's decaf!), but mainlining a PM cup of joe can practically have the same effect. "Caffeine can stay in your system for eight to 10 hours. If you want to get a good night's rest, one of my biggest recommendations would be to stop drinking coffee by around 2:00 p.m.," says Dr. Breus. Instead, try a natural energy bar with wholesome ingredients to help you power through that afternoon slump.


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Home / Ajinkya Rahane / Bumrah / Cricket / India vs Sri Lanka / Indian Cricket / Indian Cricket News / Indian Cricket Team / International Cricket News / Kedar Jadhav / Manish Pandey / MS Dhoni / Rohit Sharma / Shreyas Iyer / Sri Lanka Tour of India 2017 / Upul Tharanga / Rohit Sharma felt the absence of this star cricketer in Dharamsala
Rohit Sharma felt the absence of this star cricketer in Dharamsala
December 10, 2017 Ajinkya Rahane , Bumrah , Cricket , India vs Sri Lanka , Indian Cricket , Indian Cricket News , Indian Cricket Team , International Cricket News , Kedar Jadhav , Manish Pandey , MS Dhoni , Rohit Sharma , Shreyas Iyer , Sri Lanka Tour of India 2017 , Upul Tharanga Edit
Internet Desk: The Men in Blue has missed the service of Ajinkya Rahane on a seaming track and according to India skipper Rohit Sharma, leaving Ajinkya Rahane out from the playing XI was very tough as he is well known as a specialist opening batsman in the 50-over format.
The team management left out Rahane who had four back-to-back half-centuries against Australia and handed Shreyas Iyer his maiden cap for ODI.
"I think we made it clear in Sri Lanka that he is an opening batsman and we don't want to keep changing his batting slot. It plays on anyone's mind not just his, if one's batting order is kept on changing.
"We have identified him as an opening batsman and that's the only reason he had to sit out. Having said that we understand the runs he scored in the past few series.
But we wanted to give these guys Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Shreyas Iyer fair amount of game before we start touring abroad. It's important that they take the opportunity," said Rohit at the post match press conference after India went down by seven wickets.
After India were bundled out for 112 in 38.2 overs, the islanders crossed the target in 20.4 overs.
While none of the Indian batsman could put up a fight, Mahendra Singh Dhoni stood amid the ruins with a gritty 65 and Rohit heaped praise on the former skipper.
"He has been at that situation so many times and has proved himself again and again. First of all, I never understood why there was a talk of he being in our plans or not. Once he gets runs the whole conversation changes.
"He showed us again. I wish one of our top order was batting, so that we could have got more runs. But we learn from it and move forward," said Rohit.
Asked if India's batting collapse is a cause of concern considering that India would be touring South Africa for a Test series under same kind of conditions, Rohit said: "This is a one-day side, I don't think there is any comparison.
"With the Test team we struggled in Kolkata as well but any team in those type of conditions will struggle. I have seen enough cricket and we recently saw Ashes as well, what was happening there as well."
Defending India's inexplicable batting collapse, Rohit said Sri Lankan bowlers used the tough conditions to their advantage.
"In conditions like these, only one or two batsmen will score, not all batsmen will score runs. I don't think we played any rash shots, but they bowled at the right channel, kept us guessing all the time and batsmen were made to play all the time.
"We knew conditions were going to be tough but sometimes when you are put in such situations, you have to bat the situation, which means we got to respect the bowlers. This experience will teach us a lot of things as a team. We take it in our stride and move forward. Again if we are put in that situation we will respond better," said the captain.
Rohit applauded Lankan pace troika of Suranga Lakmal (4/13), Nuwan Pradeep (2/37) and Angelo Mathews (1/8), who rattled the hosts with a fine display of swing bowling.
"Credit should go to the Sri Lankan bowlers, they made full use of the conditions. But as a team, as a batting unit, days like these will teach us a lot of things, not always we will play on flat conditions and we as a team want to thrive in such conditions and come out on top," he said.
"If you notice, any bowler bowling in that channel would have got wickets. For us we were trying to survive in those conditions because we knew that if initial overs we get over, wicket will get better but we lost wickets and we were also not scoring in that pace, so that put us in even more trouble.
"It is an eye opener, we will learn from it. It is a young batting group, these guys, including myself, will learn and play out of these situations well next time," Rohit insisted.
On Jasprit Bumrah dismissing Upul Tharanga on a no-ball, Rohit said it didn't cost India the match as there was not enough total on the board in any case.
"We lost the game with the bat and not with the ball. It will be unfair to single out one individual, especially a bowler. I think we as a batting group failed. Nobody knew it will happen but this is the game that we play and they go out there trying their best.
"I wouldn't say it cost us dearly, because there was not enough total on the board. If we were defending 180-190, but if you are defending 110, you can hardly do anything except with the new ball and comeback into the game."
Rohit Sharma felt the absence of this star cricketer in Dharamsala Reviewed by Web Master on December 10, 2017 Rating: 5


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Urban planning research papers receive Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning honors
Awards recognize exemplary student research and writing by master's degree candidates.
Tom Gearty
Email: mitnano@mit.edu
MIT.nano
Elizabeth Reed Yarina (left) and Lillian Jacobson
Elizabeth Reed Yarina MCP '15, a teaching fellow with MIT-SUTD, and Lillian Jacobson MCP '15 have been honored by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) for works they published during their graduate programs at MIT. Yarina was awarded the Edward McClure Award for best master's student paper, and Jacobson won the Donald A. Schön Award for Reflective Practice.
The Edward McClure Award recognizes superior scholarship in a paper prepared by a master's student in an ACSP-member school. Submissions may address any topic of investigation generated in the course of pursuing a master's degree in urban/city/community/town/regional planning.
Yarina's paper, "Nauru as State and Space of Exploitation: Current and Future Refugees," addresses many issues important to planning, including poverty; migration, displacement, and social vulnerability; international relations; the built environment; environmental degradation; and the impacts of climate change. According to the ACSP, "Yarina's clear writing and careful approach, emphasizing spatial and architectural perspectives, capably support her evaluation of extensive empirical information to generate insights with the potential to guide local action."
Yarina is currently a teaching fellow in Singapore with MIT-SUTD. She will begin a Fulbright research fellowship in New Zealand in spring 2017 to study the spatial implications of Pacific Islander climate change migration on New Zealand's cities.
Jacobson's paper, "Drawing Outside the Lines: Participatory Design in Unincorporated Communities," chronicles and analyzes her collaboration with high school students from a marginalized community in Santa Rosa, California. The ACSP said that "her thesis documents her successful attempts to elicit reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action among high school students."
Jacobson is currently a project associate at MIG, a planning firm with headquarters in Berkeley, California.
The other 2016 student paper award recipients were: Mercedes Sharpe Zayas of the University of Toronto; Madeleine Koch of the University of Manitoba; Elizabeth Hewitt of Stony Brook University; Chenghe Guan of Harvard University; and Ricardo Cardoso of the University of California at Berkeley.
ACSP is a consortium of university-based programs that advances the quality of architectural education in the United States and abroad, administering annual awards to faculty and students who have distinguished themselves or made major contributions to the urban and regional planning profession.
Student awards were presented at the ACSP annual conference in early November.
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Urban studies and planning
Graduate, postdoctoral


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Hillary Rips Sexist Bernie: I Know 'the Kind of Things He Says About Women and to Women'
According to NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitali's new book, failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused her former rival Bernie Sanders of being a sexist who has routinely made demeaning comments about women.
The quote from Hillary came from Vitali's new book, Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Women In the White House … Yet, a political memoir about her time covering the female candidates of recent U.S. presidential elections.
Politico published an excerpt of the book, which focused on the Democrat primary for the 2020 election, particularly Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign, and the debate night row she had with rival progressive candidate Sen. Bernie, over comments he allegedly made in 2018 that "a woman couldn't win" the election.
As Vitali's book recalled, the debate moderator asked Sanders, "CNN reported yesterday, and Senator Sanders, Senator Warren confirmed in a statement, that in 2018, you told her that you did not believe that a woman could win the election. Why did you say that?"
Vitali recounted that Sanders claimed, "Well, as a matter of fact, I didn't say it. And I don't want to waste a whole lot of time on this, because this is what Donald Trump and maybe some of the media want. Anybody who knows me knows that it's incomprehensible that I would think that a woman couldn't be president of the United States."
At the end of the debate, Warren confronted Bernie on a hot mic, saying, "I think you called me a liar on national TV." Bernie dismissed the charge, saying "Let's not do this now," and stepped offstage.
According to Vitali, "Hillary Clinton was watching this debate moment, too. 'I believed her, because I know Sanders, and I know the kind of things that he says about women and to women,' she told me, her distaste for her 2016 opponent still palpable."
Vitali wrote, "I asked what she thought about the hot mic moment. 'I wish she had done it on mic,' Clinton said. 'I wish that she had pushed back in front of everybody. I think it weakened her response that it was after the cameras were supposedly off and, you know, they were just standing there.'"
"I wish she had just turned on him and said, 'You know, it's one thing to mislead people about your healthcare plan. It's another thing to tell someone to her face that a conversation which you know happened didn't happen.' I mean, that would have been, I think, a really important moment for her," Clinton reportedly told the journalist.


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HomeAndy ColeColumnistsMelting potANDY COLE: 'All credit to Germany, flag bearers for the beautiful game in the World Cup's first week'
ANDY COLE: 'All credit to Germany, flag bearers for the beautiful game in the World Cup's first week'
By Andy Cole
Every team has now played at least one match at the World Cup and only one nation has really impressed me: Germany. It's not just the goals they scored against Australia – and we're all drawn to goals – but the way they went about their business in an opening week dominated by negativity.
Most of the big countries – the pre-tournament favourites including Brazil, Argentina and Italy – as well as the smaller countries of whom we expected a lot, like Portugal and Ivory Coast, appear to have adopted a "safety first" mentality. Not losing the opening game was paramount, way ahead of winning it. Spain did play attacking football but couldn't find a way through and were the shock losers against the Swiss. But by and large the first week has not seen much great football. At least that is how it's seemed where I've been watching, in various locations around South Africa.
Germany bucked that trend. We take it as a given that Germany will produce the goods at major tournaments and reach the latter stages. But what Joachim Low's side did against Australia was produce a youthful exuberance that stood out a mile.
Low's squad is among the youngest at the tournament and their pace was eye-catching, their passing crisp and sharp. I was impressed with Mesut Ozil especially, and the combinations with Bastian Schweinsteiger, and the finishing of Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Thomas Muller and Cacau. It was just like watching Brazil – literally in Cacau's case!
One can argue that Tim Cahill's dismissal changed the game, and it certainly effected it, but Germany had obviously made their minds up to play attacking football from the start, with the aim of an early goal to free them to keep playing like that.
That's what happened, and good on them.
Green fingers to go? Who knows with Il Capo …
I'm guessing that Robert Green will pay for his terrible mistake in the game against the USA with his place in the England team for tomorrow's match against Algeria. That is probably the way things should be. You cannot be sentimental about hard choices and I don't envy Fabio Capello having to make the call but Green made a howler and why would you leave a player who made a high-profile howler in an important game in your side?
I actually thought that Capello would go with David James from the start because James has got the experience at this level and experience counts for a lot at the World Cup. So I'd probably expect Capello to drop Green and bring James in. Then again, Capello could go with any one of three and frankly nobody but him knows which way he's leaning at the moment.
England players are no different from players everywhere, and as a former England player, I can tell you that we thrive on stability, especially stability of selection. It helps to underpin confidence and it allows you as a player to relax in the knowledge of a familiar set-up.
Of course circumstances will dictate there will be changes to the England team that faced the Americans. I expect Jamie Carragher to come in for Ledley King and I'd guess Gareth Barry will come in at the expense of James Milner. And that goalkeeper change is probably on the cards – whether it's James or Joe Hart who benefit. But if Capello makes changes above and beyond those, I'd say he'd be starting to demonstrate some uncertainty about his direction, and that would transmit to the players sooner rather than later.
Hot air, not thin air, is the order of the day on the Jabulani
Balls. I've heard a lot balls about balls in the past week and honestly I think a lot of it is just air, pure and simple, and I don't mean thin air but hot air. For many decades, certainly as long as I can remember, Adidas has produced a new football for each World Cup, and sure as clockwork, before and at each World Cup we've had a stream of "controversy" about the new ball.
Get over it. The Jabulani is the same for everyone, Fifa is not suddenly going to drop it and use another one, and I'm still at a loss to be pointed to any single incident in this World Cup where a player has said, specifically, "the new ball did this at this time, and it's not normal."
Certainly Rob Green's mistake didn't appear to be ball related. Yes, it flies quicker and higher but that could be altitude as much as anything.
And as far as it's possible to ascertain, access to be ball has been the same for everyone for many months for practice purposes. Adidas made it available early in the year and if England didn't use it because the English FA has a contract to use Umbro balls, then that's an issue for the English FA.
Someone said to me the other day the Germans have had it for ages, that's why they did so well. Nonsense. The Germans did well because they're good footballers, well coached, playing with ambition.
Africa isn't Western Europe? Get over it, folks!
Vuvuzelas. I don't mind them in the slightest. They're part of what you get in the package when you stage a World Cup in South Africa. If the people moaning about the buzzing din of the horns went back in time in England to the Thirties or Fourties they'd probably be banging on about the annoyance of the rattle. It would be: "Why do these people have to swing those things?"
The salient point with the vuvuzelas is the attempted imposition of external fan behaviour and cultures onto Africa.
Yes, I can see the argument that it's a racket although I don't personally subscribe to that view. But if can't embrace a bit of local culture, then don't tune in to a South African tournament. It's their World Cup. It's their culture. It's what they do, self-evidently. Notions that all footie crowds in South Africa should be linking arms and giving it the harmonious Ladysmith Black Mambazo through 90 minutes are so much Western mumbo jumbo.
I'm here in South Africa and for all the perceived drawbacks, the South African nation is putting on a good show.
So stick that in your trumpet.
Wayne's work up front: keep Heskey by his side
On the subject of pre-conceived ideas, England were never and aren't favourites for this World Cup for good reason: there are half a dozen teams and probably with football claims as good or better. The notion England should have steam-rollered the USA was plain silly and it wouldn't have surprised me if the USA had won. Green's gaffe meant America didn't get the credit they deserved.
All to often balance goes out the window first in England coverage. If they'd won 4-0, they'd be media favourites at home and that would be as ridiculous as being media flops.
Looking ahead, England need their best players to step it up, including Wayne Rooney, although I don't begrudge him a quiet game against the USA. He can't be expected to win the trophy alone.
On that theme, I personally don't think he should play up front alone: I'd certainly stick with Heskey as his partner for now. The lone frontman role is a thankless graveyard shift even for Rooney, and though Wayne genuinely doesn't care how he's deployed as long as he's playing, the key to goals is chances, and Heskey creates chances.
The fee for Andy Cole's column is donated to Alder Hey hospital and sickle cell anaemia research. He works on charitable projects with the sport and media team at law firm Thomas Eggar. Andy Cole's columns, or abbreviated versions, also appear in The Independent
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Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party of Minneapolis.
subject to this constitution and its bylaws.
conduct of Minneapolis DFL affairs is prohibited.
shall a contribution be mandatory for participation.
was included in the meeting notice.
meeting at which it was adopted.
December first of the year their successors were elected.
also convene the City Convention.
inability of the Chair to act.
underrepresented constituencies in party affairs.
state DFL office for permanent recording.
the absence or inability of the Treasurer to act.
assigned by the Minneapolis DFL Central Committee.
fundraising, and coordinating the sample ballot.
according to need may establish standing committees.
the senate district chairs or highest ranking officers.
additional members (who shall be residents of the ward).
Ward representatives shall be appointed conveners.
and vice chairs as provided in the State DFL Constitution.
be elected by the Minneapolis DFL Central Committee.
precinct caucuses are not being held.
which the State Party's Constitution provides.
alternate in their new precincts.
elected, no earlier than March 1.
precinct caucuses held within that ward.
shall be delegates and alternates to the City Convention.
at that Minneapolis City Convention.
and shall be called with at least ten days written notice.
constitution do not apply to a rescheduled convention.
appoint members of pre-convention committees.
who reside in that subdivision.


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Former Kings free agency roundup
Zach Dooley July 2, 2019 0 Comments
AlumniContracts and FinancesOntario Reign
Day 1 of free agency saw a pair of moves for the Kings and several moves from players formerly in the Kings system. Listed below are LAK alums that have moved to new teams through a day plus of free agency – Brendan Leipsic (WSH, 1-year, 1-way - $700K) Jonny Brodzinski (SJS, 1-year, 2-way - $70... Read More
Kings sign Ryan (one-way, $725K), Frk (two-way, $700K) to one-year contracts
Jon Rosen July 1, 2019 0 Comments
The LA Kings have signed left-shot defenseman Joakim Ryan and right-shot forward Martin Frk to one-year contracts, LA Kings Insider has learned. Ryan, who has spent virtually all of the last two years with NHL-San Jose, totaled seven assists and a minus-one rating in 44 games with the parent clu... Read More
July 1 open thread; LAK not expected to make big splash
Contracts and FinancesVideo
WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP, IT'S THE FIRST OF THE MONTH. CASH YOUR CHECKS AND MOVE ON. A reminder that today is a good day for player and agent bank accounts. Drew Doughty gets a pre-tax $10-million infusion today, Ilya Kovalchuk a healthy $5.3M. $14.99M will be signed off to John Tavares. Of ... Read More
Audio: LAKI joins Kings Men Podcast
AudioContracts and Finances
INSIDERS. The NHL Draft is nigh. In the latest Kings Men Podcast, Jesse Cohen and I discuss drafting philosophies, the young man most likely to be drafted fifth overall (Kirby Dach - but please listen, anyway!) and how the team will be looking internally to foster team-wide development. Talk to you ... Read More
"We're going to improve this team internally," and lots more from Blake on roster construction
CoachingContracts and FinancesHockey Operations
As the 2018-19 season wound down, and the LA Kings' most pressing postseason question was where they'd land in the draft lottery, Team President Luc Robitaille and Chief Operating Officer Kelly Cheeseman made a number of rounds to groups of season ticket members, sponsors, partners, rightsholders, b... Read More
February 11: Brodzinski nearing rehab loan; practice detail addressed, improved
Jon Rosen February 11, 2019 0 Comments
Morning Skate Notes
INSIDERS. A bit of a busy Monday with the trade news. Let's get down to brass tacks. The LA Kings held an 11:00 a.m. skate at Capital One Arena and aligned thusly: Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown Leipsic-Amadio-Toffoli Hagelin-Kempe-Kovalchuk Clifford-Thompson-Lewis* Forbort-Doughty Martinez-Fantenb... Read More
MacDermid: Two years, two-way, $675,000 AAV
Contracts and FinancesProspects and ScoutingVideo
RFA defenseman Kurtis MacDermid signed a two-year, two-way contract with the LA Kings that carries a $675,000 AAV at the NHL level, the team announced Sunday. MacDermid, 24, totaled four points (1-3=4), 57 penalty minutes and a minus-four rating over 34 games in his rookie NHL season and another goa... Read More
Zack Mitchell signs one-year, two-way contract
Contracts and FinancesOntario Reign
As first reported by CapFriendly, the Kings have signed UFA forward Zack Mitchell to a one-year, two-way contract that comes with a $650,000 AAV at the NHL level and a $150,000 salary at the AHL level. The 25-year-old Mitchell, a right-shot, 6-foot-1, 196-pound forward, has three goals and five poin... Read More
LaDue re-ups for two years, $1.65-million; financials updated
Restricted free agent defenseman Paul LaDue has signed a two-year, $1.65-million contract extension, the Kings announced Friday. LaDue, who will be 26 in the upcoming 2018-19 season, has three goals and 12 points in 34 regular season NHL games and 14 goals and 36 points in 74 AHL games. He scored a ... Read More
Odds and Ends: Arbitration; happy trails, Folin, Rieder, other alums
AlumniContracts and Finances
NOW, WHERE WERE WE? Happy trails, July 4, er, weekend. Five-day weekend. Are five-day weekends a thing? I think so. Six-day weekends aren't. That's essentially "a vacation." Who here is happy that the first thought after an extended break is to categorize lengths of personal time? Anyone? I'll let m... Read More
Mobile, right-shot defenseman Sean Walker signed to entry-level contract
Contracts and FinancesOntario ReignProspects and Scouting
The Kings have signed defenseman Sean Walker to a two-year entry-level contract. Walker spent the 2017-18 season, his first as a professional, with the Ontario Reign, where he led all defensemen in assists, points and plus/minus. The decision to reward the first-year pro with an ELC, LA King... Read More
Jordan Subban signs with Toronto Maple Leafs
Jordan Subban became the fourth member of the 2017-18 Ontario Reign to sign elsewhere as he inked a one-year, two-way contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Subban's contract is worth $650,000 at the NHL level. Subban joined the Kings organization in December of 2017 after he was acquired from t... Read More
Kovalchuk encouraged by talks with Robitaille, Blake; what about his role?
Contracts and FinancesMedia Availability
Bruce Bennett/Getty ImagesA fine July 1 was celebrated by many, including one Ilya Kovalchuk, whose contract signing was officially announced by the LA Kings. Per TSN's Darren Dreger, it comes with an immediate payday. Kovalchuk will receive a $7.85-million signing bonus – and another $5.3M bonus o... Read More


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text:
Twitch Updates Game Store, Makes Video Links Actually Useful
By Nathaniel Mott 28 July 2017
Twitch has updated its website to make it easier to find games for purchase and to share clips from your favorite streamers.
Twitch Games Commerce debuted in February as the company's answer to digital game marketplaces like Steam and GOG. The idea was to make it easier for a) people to purchase the games they just watched someone else play and b) streamers to make money when they drive game sales. But the storefront needs a homepage, too, and Twitch updated that page to make it easier to find new items or current promotions.
The new page features a carousel that highlights a handful of games, a "what's new" section that does exactly what it says on the tin, and places for popular games and in-game items. Twitch also highlighted its Twitch Crates, which offer bits, badges, and emotes that can be used on the service. Streamers get a 5% cut from titles bought via Twitch Games Commerce, and for each purchase over $5, you'll receive a Twitch Crate.
Twitch's apparent commitment to its game marketplace could be good news for streamers. The company has introduced a variety of ways to get paid for live-streaming, whether it's through the new Twitch Affiliate Program or via the revenue splits from Twitch Games Commerce. Paying streamers is crucial to Twitch's success; no payment means fewer streams which means less interesting stuff to watch on the platform.
That also explains why Twitch updated its sharing mechanisms. Here's how Twitch explained the need for this change in a blog post:
Twitch is better with others. When we catch a great stream or see an incredible moment live, we naturally want to show our friends and get them involved. But when you share a live Twitch stream, it eventually becomes a useless link when the stream goes offline. There wasn't much reason to stick around and dive in… until today.
The change in question involves links that automatically send people to video on demand (VOD) archives of past broadcasts. Now, instead of following a link to an inactive stream, clicking on a link will automatically take you to the correct VOD. Provided the streamer makes their videos available for later viewing--Twitch said that if archiving isn't enabled or the broadcast has expired, you'll be prompted to follow the channel.
This is part of Twitch's continued efforts to compete with video streaming platforms like YouTube. Twitch's emphasis on live content is great when someone's live-streaming, but it's not so great when nobody's broadcasting the game you want to watch. This updated sharing mechanism, like its decision to bring chat features to VODs, could help make sure people don't turn to YouTube for their fix if their favorite streamer is offline.


All fish dinners include cheesy hash brown potatoes, coleslaw, & bread/butter. You may substitute a baked potato, french fries or sweet potato fries. Prices vary but start at:11.95. we have beer battered cod, baked cod & ocean perch every week. We have other varieties from week to week which might include grouper, bluegill, walleye & tilapia.Call for this weeks details at 222-1464.
Our fish fry is best dining in. It is made fresh to order, but when packaged the steam tends to "soften"the fish. We try to make it so it is ready right at the promised time of 20 minutes, but still come in a few minutes early, then you are assured of the best possible product! I promise if you have to wait a short time it will be worth it, or better yet, order it here & have a refreshing beverage while you wait!
The bar opens at 3 pm (earlier if packers are playing) even though the restaurant is closed on sundays. Carl will be here to take care of you. Get out of the heat & enjoy some free snacks.
All you can eat spaghetti.
Ribs!! Guaranteed fall off the bone tender baby back ribs.
Maybe. Give us a call at 222-1462 to inquire.
Ristorante accogliente con la famiglia. I bambini amano il Mac e formaggio. Pasta è ottima e viene fornito con zuppa o insalata. Il personale è cordiale.
Sono stato in molte volte Angelo per la cena, ma sempre mangiato nella sala da pranzo, abbiamo provato solo pizza e abbiamo trovato la crosta di essere molliccie, il sapore era fantastico.
Super cordiale, piccolo bar, fermata da dove tutti apparentemente sa il tuo nome: ) pizza ottima, i cocktail.
Mai niente ma una favolosa esperienza all'Angelos McFarland località! Venite per la cordiale, un'atmosfera invitante e tornarvi di volta in volta per il cibo e il servizio eccezionale!
Il servizio e il cibo eccellente! Torneremo senza dubbio! Il pesce al forno è eccellente con coleslaw e sul dozzinale hash Browns!
Ricevi risposte dal personale della struttura Angelo's e dai visitatori precedenti.


text:
[Poem] Kingdoms
Purple as
Crushed shellfish
That bruised question of finite measures.
Every hammered crown
Is removed some way.
Scepters with their strange rotations
Hold no true sway over the inner natures
Of manatee, mechanics
Or magma with her radial flow.
Inspired robes unravel every hour
For gifted maggots and their maws
Who roll in the smoky valleys
Once our fathers' holy mountains.
The Asia you know is murder
On monarchies.
American democracy is far safer
For two-legged mosquitoes.
There, competition rarely ends in graves
For anyone but foreigners,
Distant and near.
Labels: Poem
Happy Frankenstein Day!
Otherwise known as the birthday of Mary Wollenstone Shelly, author of the perennial classic "Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus."
I always have mixed feelings regarding her masterpiece. While she's the first major female science-fiction writer, I often feel she's a forerunner of Michael Chricton, postulating that disaster happens when you have mix of science, ambition and greed. It's hard to describe this as pro-science. But there's no doubt about the influence she's had on so many art forms, literary and otherwise. I've happily wrestled with many a question regarding Frankenstein and his creation over the years. And that's a mark of great art that you can constantly return to it with new things to ponder.
Without Frankenstein, the questions of Blade Runner or even the X-men might be very different indeed. The iconography and ambitions of steampunk would also undergo many changes. The work of H.P. Lovecraft is somewhat indebted to Frankenstein as well, although his approach to the cosmic and the alien would have made for some difficult conversations between him and Shelly.
I've often wrestled with how we categorize Frankenstein's Monster. He's not a cyborg or conventional automaton, and he's not strictly a member of the undead. He's extraordinarily intelligent and strong, and in many ways seems like a reanimated conception of Hobbes' Leviathan or Nietzsche's Ubermensch, even as he could not be accepted by the world at large.
But this year, I'm pondering how do Lao values and our sense of horror intersect with the themes Mary Wollenstone Shelly was addressing. What I'm curious about is what is the root of the terror our community would see in such a reanimated figure who is otherwise articulate and significantly powerful.
We would probably want to look at how does Frankenstein and his creation violate the 5 precepts of Buddhism, which often deeply inform many of our cultural traditions. Violations of the precepts regarding drinking and sexual misconduct do not seem obvious. Violations of the prohibitions not to kill, steal or to lie seem obvious, and lead to karmic retribution.
Does Frankenstein's Monster have Buddha Nature, the zen koan might ask, and it would certainly be a very interesting question considering his nature as a combination of many individuals of bad karma whose remains were stolen.
In the Lao buddhist tradition, suffering arises when a person clings to one of the skhandas or an aggregate. Nibban is attained by relinquishing attachments to the skhandas. Those skhandas are form, feeling, consciousness, impulses, and perceptions. As an amalgam, Frankenstein's Monster is a very interesting entity with which to explore Buddhist metaphysics.
Lao aren't likely to respond with revulsion at the idea of human arrogance and 'playing god.' But I think an interesting question would be how different elements of our culture might read the themes of the servant becoming more powerful than his creator and revolting against him, to disastrous consequences. One could also see Lao horrified at the ruling class (epitomized by Baron Frankenstein) being abusive of the other social classes and see it as an indictment of Lao feudalism.There could be some interesting re-imaginings of Frankenstein as more of a trickster figure along the lines of Xieng Mieng than a physical powerhouse.
This isn't the authoritative or complete list of how the Lao might read Frankenstein, but just some ideas of how we might re-frame his legacy and story in a way that's fresh and interesting. What interests you in the Frankenstein story?
Labels: Steampunk
Future Lovecraft now available from Prime Books
My poem "The Deep Ones" is featured in Future Lovecraft which was recently re-released through Prime Books this year. My copy just arrived this week. Edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. Be sure to check it out if you see it on your bookshelves.
280 pages of horror inspired by early 20th century writer H.P. Lovecraft.
[Short Story] A Model Apartment
One of my early Lovecraftian stories was "A Model Apartment" which appeared in the fourth issue of Innsmouth Free Press in 2009. Drawing from the themes of "Pickman's Model" and "Dreams In The Witch House," "A Model Apartment " also integrated some of the myths and traditions of Laos and the Hmong culture including an entity known as a poj ntxoog.
I've received a few questions about whether there was a particular Hmong artist whose work inspired this story. There are certainly a few candidates who come to mind who lived in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.
I'd probably approach the story much differently today, but it's one of the first widely available horror stories I wrote. I'll be discussing this and other Lovecraftian topics during the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Los Angeles September 28th-29th.
Labels: cthulhu, Horror, lovecraft
[Poem] Saigon Autumn
Falling leaves seem so full of freedom
dying on the Autumn wind
Full of color
Like a saffron monk on fire
In the streets of Saigon
No one understands
Their protest.
Photographer Malcolm Browne, best known for capturing on film the self-immolation of a Buddhist monk in the early days of what would become the Vietnam War died on Monday, August 27th, 2012. He was well known for claiming to have been shot down in aircraft at least 3 times and thrown out of more countries than many people ever visit. My poem, "Saigon Autumn" was inspired by his photos which I first encountered growing up in Michigan during the 1980s.
On June 11, 1963, an elderly monk named Thich Quang Duc, clad in just his robe and sandals, assumed the lotus position on a cushion in a blocked-off street intersection. Aides drenched him with aviation fuel, and the monk calmly lit a match and set himself ablaze. Of the many foreign journalists alerted to the shocking political protest against South Vietnam's U.S.-supported government, only one, Malcolm Browne of The Associated Press, showed up.
Oldest human fossils to date found in Laos
Making the news recently has been the conclusions regarding a 2009 discovery in the Tam Pa Ling (Cave of the Monkeys) in Laos by paleoanthropologists who unearthed skull bones and teeth belonging to a modern human.
The remains are believed to be earliest fossil evidence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia. They date back to 46,000 to 63,000 years ago according to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The remains include a partial skull, jaw fragments and teeth.
Once again, more reasons why books set in Laos could be some incredibly fascinating stories if writers took it seriously and committed more resources to understanding our roots and heritage there. It's certainly not the end-all-be-all but it is interwoven with the rest of the human saga.
Poet to Poet: Wendy Brown-Baez
A new "Poet to Poet" interview is up at the Twin Cities Daily Planet. This time, I'm interviewing the accomplished Wendy Brown-Baez. As always, these are interviews done in the form of poetry. After all, it's the form we work the most in.
We ask a wide range of questions this time, from questions of endurance to ceremonies of spirit and zestful earthwalks. You can visit Wendy at her official website at http://www.wendybrownbaez.com
Previously, we've interviewed poets such as John Calvin Rezmerski, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Fres Thao, Kris Bigalk and Kate Kysar. We have a few more exciting poets planned for the year, and I'm starting to line up some great poets for 2013.
[Poem] Whorl
Today, a poet died
Because he lost all of his questions.
Somewhere in France, a tire exploded,
Delaying a young girl's tour.
She's burst tears,
Caving around a fistful of euros
As she senses lost moments
Just over the next hill
Floating, a red balloon.
There she imagines Joan of Arc,
A bicycle thief and Jacques Cousteau.
A street that's been there
For centuries.
Elsewhere, a little boy becomes an artist
As he sniffs his first jar of tempera
Handed out by a young teacher from Hokkaido
Unaware of the seventy two tubes of oil paint
He will use in his entire lifetime.
Today, I'm waving at a crow in Como Park
As if my hands were semaphore flags
Signaling "Hello," like a transient grey alien
Wondering what a bird has to do to become
reincarnated as a writer the next time around.
Yesterday, a girl I knew changed her hair color
Insisting it made a difference, handing me
An antique birdcage she found in the street
Its curved door broken off, a rusty smile for
Curious dogs who don't know what to make of it,
Howling in a Frogtown alley devoid of poetry.
From On The Other Side Of The Eye, 2007
Mali Kouanchao's "Solo"
Solo, Mixed Media, 2009, 44 x 58
Created by Lao Minnesotan artist Mali Kouanchao, Solo is part of her Displacement II: Never Free series examining the journey of Khmer refugees who were deported from the United States of America to Phnom Penh.
Lately in her artist statements, she has described Solo by saying "Part of my work is to navigate a way to document not merely the external surface lives of the deportees but their inner lives. Not only as individuals, but as new communities. A piece like Solo experiments with pop art and modern approaches to shake audiences from the cliched expectations of what a refugee and a Cambodian American looks like."
It hasn't been displayed widely but is arguably one of the key examples of what she has been reaching towards over the last decade. It's colorful yet chaotic, accurate but often seemingly fragmented, much like the Southeast Asian refugee narrative. How can one image tell enough of a moment in time among those whose lives so often seem to teeter on the edge of history's ashbins?
How do we evaluate it? Do we compare it to the work of others? If so, then what are the other key works by Southeast Asian Americans we need to know? Who is creating work addressing the issues of social justice, particularly immigration reform? Are these the questions we might see examined in the work of Andy Warhol or other pop artists from the mainstream community?
It is fair to ask where does an image like this fit next to Campbell's Soup I or Basquiat's Untitled (Skull) or the work of Hugh Tran. Warhol's concern with his body of work was the dehumanization that took place when one encountered an image enough times. Meaning is a slippery enough thing within art as it is. We struggle to say: "This blob of paint, that line, that texture embodies an idea that means something to you in your experience and culture." When we create a piece like Solo that will speak to mainstream, Khmer and Lao audiences in different ways, how does the artist's message and critique retain potency and coherence?
When we look at Andy Warhol's repeating Campbell's soup cans or Marilyn Monroes, or anyone's, where is the point where it has lost meaning?
Yet, we so rarely encounter an image like Solo or any image of modern Khmer, especially as seen by a Lao woman. How many times would we need to see this, or something like this, until it has gained or lost meaning?
Of course, we might also ask: Amid all of the garish, flamboyant colors, is this effective in capturing the inner spirit of the subject and the cultures that form him? Does it move you to learn more, or does it erect a barrier that keeps you distant and disengaged with his experience? Many of us are are accustomed to the dour images of the Khmer in the aftermath of the Killing Fields that we've become enured to such iconography. What will keep the visual language of the Khmer, or any community's experience fresh, but accurate?
Warhol felt that embracing dehumanization was absurd, and his body of work attempted to bring that critique forward. For cultures who've experienced the apex of dehumanization such as the Killing Fields even as contemporary social forces attempt to commodify them and reduce them to cogs for corporations, how should their art or the art of their neighbors who are witness to this respond? How do we create art that defies the machinery Warhol and others despised, even as others like Takashi Murakami seem to embrace it through movements such as Hiropon Factory?
Colin Cotterill and Lao Censors
Channel 4 recently did a short piece on the struggle of novelist Colin Cotterill to get his Detective Siri novels translated and sold in Laos in "Highs and Laos as crime writer struggles to publish novels" I did an interview with him some time back for Bakka Magazine.
Probably some of the key take-aways from this article that I'd note is the assertion that "the government retains tight control over publishing and the Ministry of Culture must rubber-stamp any translations that eventually make it on to the bookshelves."
Additionally, it's an interesting matter that even for a well-known author "Other hurdles include finding a translator and persuading the Christian owner of the only printing press in the country to print the books. Even if Cotterill succeeds in getting his titles translated and published there is no guarantee that Laotian readers will fall in love with them. This is a country with few bookshops. Fiction is not popular and few customers want to buy books of any kind in the local language."
Assuming that's accurate, what's the implication for Lao American writers or others hoping to break into the Lao market overseas? Especially in genres such as horror, steampunk, or science fiction and fantasy? I guess we'll just have to find out as we prepare the Lao American Speculative Arts Anthology due out in a few months.
This all really reinforces my continued assertion that we need many more Lao and Lao American publishers and channels for distribution, and to rebuild a core body of writers who keep the Lao language alive through bold translation and the creation of new work beyond that of educational, business or government purposes.
3 poems accepted with the Buddhist Poetry Review
The Buddhist Poetry Review will be featuring 3 new poems of mine this September. These will be: "A Koan of 32 Kwan," "Idle Fears," and "The Buddha of Bombies." There will be a little something for everyone in this batch, ranging from a discussion of Lao Buddhism as it intersects with the Mahayana and Zen traditions, popular culture and horror, as well as social policy regarding UXO.
Buddhist Poetry Review is a quarterly online journal dedicated to publishing fresh and insightful Buddhist poetry.Their vision encompasses the full spectrum of Buddhism, and they welcome submissions from authors who write from any perspective. In their view, "Buddhists have used poetic expression from the very outset of their religion to capture and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha. Our mission is to foster this tradition by providing a forum for new poetry written in that timeless spirit."
Interviewed by the Horror Writer Association
I was recently interviewed for the official newsletter of the Horror Writer Association this month by Ron Breznay. This is, at the moment, for members only, but hopefully later I'll get a chance to share it with all of you in the future.
Among the questions I answered were some gems like "What are some of the Laotian mythological creatures that you've written about?," and a retelling of a particularly humorous incident when you had submitted a short story to a Lovecraftian journal (that shall remain nameless) and a transformative encounter with Nang Nak.
The Horror Writer Association is an international professional organization "to bring writers and others with a professional interest in horror together and to foster a greater appreciation of dark fiction in general."
Assembling Origins
While it's a slightly quixotic gesture, almost ten years ago, I had the opportunity to return to Laos for the first time in 30 years and search for my long-lost family. I was successful in finding my mother's side of the family. They are living in California and I still remain in touch with them.
However, due to a number of factors, my father's identity and his side of the family remain an enigma. While I am inclined to accept my mother's viewpoint: "He didn't want to be a part of your life 30 years ago, he doesn't get to be a part of it now," the completist, the historian within me says I am obligated to be neutral and at least hear the other side, although it is my understanding he has since passed away.
In 2008, my sister found this photograph and sent it to me. It was the first image that may or may not be a picture, at some point in time, of my biological father. A transcultual adoptee's life being what it is, until final, definitive confirmation is established, I am obligated to consider this part of the case still fully open.
In theory, these are some of my long-lost relatives on my father's side, but the photo was given to me without any identifying features or method of contact, so they remain an abstraction. They could still be living out in the countryside or they could be in a suburb of Vientiane. Who can be certain?
From one point of view, this experience and this separation does shape a significant amount of my writing and my sense of the world. It constantly obliges me to ask: What is family, what is memory? What does it mean when others have control of what you can know about yourself? To discover truths will not necessarily change who you are, what you value, who you love. But when others decide for you, well. What can one say?
As a poet I have often taught my students that this is the role of poetry. To see the uncertainties of the cosmos and not be paralyzed by it, both at a macrocosmic level and a microcosmic level.
[Poem] On A Stairway In Luang Prabang
Well, many visitors may be coming over to my blog today because of the recent reading of my poem, "On A Stairway in Luang Prabang," on BBC Radio Scotland's The Written World series read by Khanthieng Muongphene, a lecturer in engineering from Laos. Alas, they did not get a chance to mention all of the amazing people involved in the translation of the poem into Lao, but hopefully I'll be able to share that with you a little later this week.
"On A Stairway In Luang Prabang" first appeared in my 2009 book Tanon Sai Jai, which was available from Silosoth Publishing in Minnesota or as a free e-book.
I previously blogged that you can also see the Thai translation by Joy Panigabutra-Roberts or the French translation by Edouard Dupas at his blog. Kongkeo Saycocie provided a Lao translation in the contemporary Lao format here.
This is the original version in English:
On A Stairway In Luang Prabang
Step as you will through life,
A thousand ways, a thousand places.
Carry a home in your heart
Or spend years seeking the door
Where your soul will always smile.
Do you ease the way for others,
Or just yourself?
Do you climb great mountains
Just to leave them unchanged?
One day, the heights of holy Phou Si
Will lay as soft valleys.
We, only memories.
But our children's children?
Will they, too, have reason to smile,
Like those dreaming strangers
Who finished their stairs for us?
Happy 122nd Birthday, H.P. Lovecraft.
As many know, the early 20th century horror writer H.P. Lovecraft was a significant influence on my own work, despite a great many controversies regarding his character and themes. But I think his body of work is still worth wrestling with, both his, and the work of those he influenced, as much as we wrestle with Shakespeare. He was complicated, a man of almost innumerable phobias and the verbiage to describe them. He had an uncanny knack to make some of the most ordinary, everyday observances take on a most bizarre cast.
Among my short stories, they almost always incorporated Lovecraftian elements regarding cosmic unknowability where human action is minute and almost meaningless in the face of the infinite, where, try as you might to order the cosmos, the cosmos won't be ordered about by the likes of you. Key among those short stories have been:
"What Hides and What Returns," Historical Lovecraft, Innsmouth Free Press, 2011
"A Model Apartment," Innsmouth Free Press, Issue 4, 2010
"The Dog at the Camp," Tales of the Unanticipated, Autumn, 2006
"The True Tale of Yer," Bamboo Among the Oaks, MN Historical Society Press, 2002
"A Dream of Laaj," Paj Ntaub Voice, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2000
There are many of my speculative poems that have also been influenced by Lovecraft's work that might not be as obvious. Certainly the influence is clear in "The Deep Ones" but I would also recommend you consider a poem like "What Kills A Man," "Observing the Oblivious," "Moments in the Eye" or "Her Body, My Monuments."
But I'll be discussing all of this and more at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in September in California! I look forward to seeing you there!
Dwarf Stars open
Submissions are now open for the Dwarf Stars anthology, from which the best short poem published in 2011 is selected. Anyone may submit their own poems or those of others; there is no limit to how many poems you may submit for the anthology, but only SFPA members may vote for the award.
Submission is open to all genres of speculative poetry, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and "unclassifiable, but speculative." Poems must be no more than ten lines not including title or stanza breaks and first published in 2011; include publication credit. Send e-mail submissions to dwarfstars@sfpoetry.com. Editors are welcome to submit entire issues; no need to name specific poems. Poems must be received by August 31, 2012.
"Stainless Steel Nak" accepted by Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Science Fiction
My new speculative poem, "Stainless Steel Nak" was accepted by Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Science Fiction. A big thanks to their awesome poetry editor over there, Kristing Ong-Muslim.
This news is good because it's still a few more weeks before "Full Metal Hanuman" is ready for prime time. But that's a different story. This poem could also have become "A Stainless Steel Ratsi" but that's a more esoteric Lao science fiction in-joke. I'm happy with this poem because it's not everyday one gets to pay homage to the work of the late Harry Harrison, Phillip K. Dick, Lao culture and the Southeast Asian zodiac all in one poem. I'll be excited to see it come out in the final version, which will also be Lontar's inaugural issue.
I still really have to figure out how I'd do a Lao steampunk speculative poem, especially one with Lovecraftian elements. But all in good time.
Harry Harrison had a significant impact on my work, primarily through his Stainless Steel Rat series, followed by Make Room! Make Room! and the satire Bill, the Galactic Hero. Among the key things I still try to apply from him as a writer is conscientiousness about how easy you make it for your translators internationally even as you have fun with language. Of course, several of those who've been translating my poetry over the last few years may have different perspective on that.
If you haven't checked out Stainless Steel Rat, the key take-away theme is:
"We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It was easier in the old days, of course, and society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps in the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings. Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment."
I often wonder how other Lao like the stories and what it would be like if they were writing something along that vein.
In the Lao tradition, a nak is a term for a young monk that comes from a legend of a nak who wanted to be a disciple of the Buddha, so he disguised himself as a human. The nak accidentally fell asleep and turned back into his true form, terrifying everyone. He was told he could no longer be a disciple, but because of his great faith, he was granted his wish that young monks taking their vows would be called nak.
In the glossary of On The Other Side Of The Eye in 2007, I explained that a nak is "Sometimes synonymous with Naga. Typically depicted as a many-headed giant serpent, as a river creature, and sometimes as a subterranean being. Nak are believed to help the Lao during wars, floods and are associated with fertility. Some say the Lao are descendants of a giant Nak living in the Mekong. To some, Nak are snake deities who converted to Buddhism and now protect the Buddhist Dharma. In art, they appear on the balustrades of temple causeways and platforms ("naga bridges"), personifying the rainbow, bridging the earthly and celestial worlds."
Two excellent resources to learn more about the Nak are the recently published books The Enduring Sacred Landscapes of the Naga by the Ngaosrivathanas and Naga Cities of the Mekong by Martin Stuart Fox. Keep an eye out for them.
Op-ed: The poetry of Lao spoons
Over at the Twin Cities Daily Planet, I'm considering an old poem, a spoon, a Leonard Cohen tune. And of course, pondering UXO. August is the annual anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions (in addition to Lao Minnesotan Artists Heritage Month, soon to be National Lao American Artists Heritage Month.)
On A Stairway in Luang Prabang on the BBC
On Tuesday, they'll be reading my poem "On A Stairway in Luang Prabang" on BBC Radio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lz14c
They'll have the recording posted up for 7 days. They didn't have enough space to mention that Mrs. Chomsy Kouanchao also played a big hand in preparing the Lao translation with Ai Kongkeo Saycocie. It is being read by Khanthieng Muongphene, a lecturer in engineering from Laos. We're hoping it gets mentioned in the actual reading and we'll be making a note of that on other websites and posts.
An interactive map featuring the poems of all of the writers who were cultural olympians for this program has also been posted at the Guardian. Thanks, everyone!
Considering Rasdjarmrearnsook
The Daily Beast recently noted Thai artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's video series, "The Two Worlds." The premise is Araya rambles off into the Thai countryside with reproductions of famous Western paintings and then tapes the responses of the farmers and asks them to interpret it. Then Araya brings the results back to her colleagues in Thailand and around the world. This is a still from one of her videos of farmers looking at Millet's The Gleaners.
I enjoy the idea of art appreciation in unusual settings, but I'm not sure I agree with what appears to be a very arrogant, elitist act on one's own countrymen (literally) to prop up a former colonial power's aesthetic standards.
"You don't get Jackson Pollack? Bumpkin. But at least I'll make money showing my results of your ill-informed reactions at the MoMA!"
I haven't seen the entire videos but I would hope Araya bothered to engage them in a longer discussion afterwards about how 'mainstream' Thai aesthetics view these examples of Western art, or alternate responses. In any act of art engagement, there should be more to it.
The typical bio you can find online for her is "Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook is universally recognized as one of the leading video artists from Southeast Asia. For the past 25 years, her video, installation, and graphic works have been regularly shown in institutions in her native Thailand and throughout the world."
Her approach creates many interesting questions for Lao artists in diaspora, considering the emerging passion for photography and videography. In addition to questions of culture, I think issues of class and gender will rise forward in our community discussions. Who is privileged to engage our communities and introduce them to what aspects of the arts, and who is not.
What would have happened if this was approached from a social justice angle of Thai farmers looking at books of art and bringing it to the Thai artists and asking them to give an honest opinion and filming those responses? Or would that risk too much cultural depantsing and risk too many scandals? What would happen if some artists were revealed to value art only from a mercenary sense of cash value than an appreciation of its history and the way its previous owners lives are intertwined with it now?
[Poem] Everything Belongs to the Spider
have book lungs for your knives
I circle on the thinnest trap line
Gaze eight times before brunch
Upon the desiccated casts I left behind
Awaiting meals like
An antsy kid for a campfire ghost
Regrettably, this silky web
I wish would lasso a rose-haired sunset
Snags
shriveled
dried shades
and pests
But it will be mine,
Originally appeared in BARROW, 2009.
Lao Cryptid: Sinopoda Scurion
Some time back I wrote a short science fiction story about scientists discovering a giant salamander in Laos. And they did in real life. Before I got the story published. So that always made me a little sad.
In the meantime, a new pack of scientists have discovered an eyeless Huntsman spider in the remote caves of Laos. Or what I'd like to call Lovecraftian Southeast Asian nightmare fuel. At some point in their history so little light entered their domain that their tiny eyes just fell off and ow they simply scuttle about happy as eyeless Huntsman spiders can be in the lightless caverns of Laos. Apparently this new spider was named after a corporation who was a major benefactor of the scientific team. It was found near the Xe Bang Fai cave.
No discoveries of Nak or spawn of Cthulhu reported at this time, however.
Lao Minnesotan Artist Heritage Month in the Star Tribune!
In the recent article "Cultures & immigration beat: Lao artists renaissance has roots in the metro" the Star Tribune highlights Lao Minnesotan Artist Heritage Month and several of the local Minnesotan artists who made this possible. Be sure to check it out!
And thankfully, as Saymoukda Vongsay has pointed out, they even spelled all of our names right this time!
Internship Opportunity: Legacies of War
One of my favorite non-profits, Legacies of War, is working on issues addressing unexploded ordnance in Laos is now looking for interns in the Washington D.C. area. And volunteers.
You can apply for internships or volunteer in the Legacies of War Washington, DC office. The deadline is Sept 5th, see details here: https://legaciesofwar.org/take-action/opportunities Tell them I sent you!
[Poem] Recovering From War
There is a deficit of contact.
To touch is to risk.
To trust contradicts wisdom,
So ignorance prevails.
Absent truths (memories)
Elicit abundant lusts
With gold, rose and incense
To reform states we fear
May rebuild to rewind time
But not remember:
How we failed the first time
That we now have fewer
To remember with
As we rebuild to recover
Some things terrible
Some, less so.
-Originally appeared in On The Other Side Of The Eye, 2007
Picture of the day: Ajahn Anan
[Poem] On A Stairway In Luang Prabang, Thai Translation
Recently, Joy Panigabutra-Roberts translated my poem, "On A Stairway In Luang Prabang" into Thai.
This is something of a daunting task, and I'm deeply appreciative of her efforts. This is perhaps one of my most frequently translated poems. Several Lao translations have been made, and Edouard Dupas has a version in French at his blog well worth examining. My sincere thanks to everyone!
บนขั้นบันไดในหลวงพระบาง
เดินก้าวหน้าไปตามทางชีวิต
ตามลิขิตเป็นพันทางเป็นพันที่
จิตเต็มเปี่ยมในวิญญานรื่นฤดี
หรือยังมีกังขาหาประตูใจ
ที่นำไปสู่รอยยิ้มในวิญญาน
เธอกรุยทางให้คนอื่น
หรือตัวเอง?
พิชิตเทือกเขาใหญ่
โดยไม่เปลี่ยน?
วันหนึ่ง สุดยอดของมหาพูสี
จะนอนราบธรณีในร่องเขา
แต่เรา… เหลือเพียงแค่ความทรงจำ
แล้วลูกหลานเราล่ะ?
จะมีแรงดลใจให้เผยอยิ้ม
เหมือนคนแปลกหน้าช่างฝัน
ที่สร้างบันไดให้เราหรือ?
For convenience, here is the original in English.
One day, the heights of holy Phu Si
Haiku Movie Review: The Bourne Legacy
More Super-Soldiers?
Not absolutely awful,
But this won't go far.
[Poem] Moon Crossing Bone
Moon Crossing Bone
Lover of change, of delta,
Of poetry stuffed with raw porcelain
And craters of saddened basalt,
Glide your light across my beams of pale,
They gleam beneath silver and bolts of sinh,
Beneath my currents and soft bridges
Erected to span my humble limbs like chains.
Oh, kiss them, for the sake of memory,
For the sake of secrets as intangible as dreams
As meaningful as the dark hair tangling
My darling's hands as she struggles
To become clean, to break free of mud
And to sing for the true naks sleeping beneath
Black stupas your candelabra face always forgets
Are there.
Asian American Press covers Lao Minnestoan Artist Heritage Month
Midway into the month, Asian American Press has an expanded write-up Lao Minnesotan Artist Heritage Month. It's a great opportunity for Minnesotans and our community across the US to recognize the contributions and legacy Lao American artists are adding to the American tapestry.
Of course, as the old joke goes, it would be nice if every day could be Lao American Artist Day, but in the meantime, a month is still a great start.Thanks, everyone, for all of your support in our journey so far!
Celebrating 5 years of On The Other Side Of The Eye
Celebrating the 5th anniversary of On The Other Side Of The Eye's publication today. It took a lot of very careful timing to celebrate a fifth anniversary in the fifth month of the Year of the Nak, 2555! (And on the fifth business day too. 555!) But was it worth it? Absolutely.
A big thank you to everyone who was there along the way! You made a difference, and I'm grateful for all of the amazing stories we've made between us. A very special thanks goes to Tyree Campbell of Sam's Dot Publishing, who took a big chance on the first book of Lao American speculative poetry, and to the organizers of Diversicon, who first introduced us!
Keep reaching for the infinite potential within you and all living beings. And now, I'm going to go off and celebrate!
[Poem] Babylon Gallery
Celebrating the 5th anniversary of On The Other Side Of The Eye this month, I'm highlighting a number of my favorite poems from that collection.
Today it's "Babylon Gallery." Originally written in 2002, but not published until it was featured in On The Other Side Of The Eye in 2007, "Babylon Gallery" was one of the more complex speculative poems for me to write from the early 2000s.
In this poem, I was taking a particular risk employing romanized Lao, Hmong, Christian, Buddhist, European mythological motifs to address the issue of Lao unexploded ordnance. The poem is based on a true story regarding a spoon from Laos that an emerging Hmong writer had brought from her recent journey in Xieng Khouang province.
Amid an exhibit featuring the work of artists such as Mali Kouanchao, Vongduane Manivong, Thep Thavonsouk, and others, we placed the spoon on display, with many visitors asking, naturally, if it was really art. The Babylon Gallery was located on 1625 E. Lake Street in Minneapolis until it burned down a few weeks later.
This particular exhibit was the Five Senses Show, which ran from April 12th to May 2nd, 2002, 10 years ago. We learned a lot from that effort. I think we can easily say it set the stage for how we organized our community for the Legacies of War: Refugee Nation Twin Cities exhibit in 2010.
This is probably one the first poem I'd written addressing UXO in Laos. It was also an effort to examine how we might use poetry to confront the subject truthfully, but artfully, especially using elements of speculative poetry.
Today, approximately 26 to 78 million cluster bomblets are still believed to be in Laos, and there is still a thriving market for scrap metal from these and other war materials to create different objects, ranging from spoons to jewelry.
Babylon Gallery
She brought the gray spoon
We hung upon the gallery wall
From the talaat stalls in downtown Phonsavan.
She was supposed to be collecting dab neeg—folktales
And we were showing off art we were so certain
Would change the way the world sees
That stumbled elephant we rode in on.
She was an indelicate work, this buang.
A light cockatrice feather
Crude malice her center
Her bowl an echo of bomb craters
Whispering mad as Gorgon.
"They dine with spoons like this all over there,"
We're informed.
Hammered from war scraps the dogs
Find indigestible. They sold me this one
Certain it's American bullets at the core.
"It was time, they said, we took them back."
I pondered how many startled people
This carnivorous spoon passed through
in her previous incarnations,
Karma denying her a role in a finer flatware set for the saints.
Lao Botany: The Dok Setthi or Euphorbia
In earlier posts, we examined the Fantome du Laos, a Lao tomato that traditional folklore says indicates the presence of spirits nearby by glowing at night. The Euphorbia or Dok Setthi is a popular Lao plant also called the "Rich person's plant" because those who successfully grow this thorny specimen are prone to attracting money to them.
Interestingly, Chinese traditional medicine, it is believed to be one of the 50 fundamental herbs. Western herbalists have long considered it a powerful laxative. Today, the sap is considered very dangerous to handle and in extreme cases can cause inflammation and even permanent eye damage including blindness.
To grow them requires loose, well-drained soil and bright light, but be sure that there is sufficient protection of their roots. Water weekly, and use 5-10-10 fertilizer with low nitrogen.
Review of This Is All I Choose To Tell
My review of "This Is All I Choose To Tell" by Isabelle Thuy Palaud is up at the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement.
The back-text goes like: "In the first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud probes the complexities of Vietnamese American identity and politics. She provides an analytical introduction to the literature, showing how generational differences play out in genre and text. In addition, she asks, can the term Vietnamese American be disassociated from representations of the war without erasing its legacy?"
Does it live up to the pitch? Read the review and find out.
I would say there are some issues that have parallels for Lao Americans to consider in our literature but that there will also be some significant differences that other scholars may want to examine in the coming years ahead.
Carl Brandon Awards Announced
The Carl Brandon Society has announced that Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor are the 2010 Carl Brandon Awards winners. Redemption in Indigo won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award, given to works of speculative fiction created by a self-identified person of color, and Who Fears Death was awarded the Carl Brandon Kindred Award, given to any work of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity. Each award winner will receive a $1000 cash prize.
The awards will be presented at Worldcon in Chicago, August 30 – September 3, 2012. Carl Brandon Awards nominations are open through September 5, 2012 for works written in 2011.
A big congratulations to the winners!
Featured in Angry Asian Man!
My poem, "What Is The Southeast Asian American Poem Of Tomorrow?" was featured in the new Angry Poetry Corner on the popular blog Angry Asian Man. It's a great blog that I've read for years, so I'm delighted to be a part of the series. A big thanks to Cara Van Le for taking on the task of curating the many different entries for what I'm sure will be an awesome series over time!
Previous entries include:
Narinda Heng's "Perfect English,
Audrey Kuo's "I Want to Take You Home With Me Tonight"
Margaret Rhee's "A Dream In A - Z"
Franny Choi's "Wire Woman"
Edren T. Sumagaysay's "Difficult"
Allan G. Aquino's "Dreamlog of a Needful Heart"
E-book collections of my work online
In addition to Lao Minnesotan Artist Heritage Month, this week we're celebrating 5 years of On The Other Side Of The Eye. For those of you who are just becoming familiar with my work, there are a number of collections of my poetic work that can be found for free online.
For convenience sake, I recently posted some up at poemhunter.com although those versions are not the most authoritative versions available due to the site's inability to handle special formatting that's typical of much of my work lately.
Between Souls: http://bit.ly/betweensouls11
This is my most recent short collection of poems connected to the Lao experience around the world, along with a bibliography and some biographical information.
Tanon Sai Jai: http://bit.ly/TanonSaiJai is a full-length, 2009 collection of poems including a photopoetic essay on Laomerica. It is also available in a signed printed edition.
On The Other Side Of The Eye: http://bit.ly/otosote was my first full-length collection in 2007, with a foreword by Barbara Jane Reyes. As I mentioned, it is now celebrating its 5th year. This is a book of speculative poetry from a Laotian American experience, drawing on both the history of Laos and the themes and techniques of science fiction, horror and fantasy. Currently out of print, this e-book version was a pre-publication version stored at archive.org for scholarly purposes. There are a few differences between this version and the print edition.
Touching Detonations: http://bit.ly/TouchingDetonations was the first e-book to emerge from my first trip to Laos in 30 years in 2003. It also collects many of my initial poems written in response to the continuing challenge of UXO still leftover in Laos after nearly 40 years.
They should be compatible with any e-reader that can read pdfs.
Later, in 2012, I hope to upload my short collection Japonisme, Laoisme, connected to the influence of Japanese culture and particularly zen buddhism, iaido and ukiyo-e art on my writing and what lessons the Lao might learn as we begin sharing our work more widely with the world on our own terms.
The Soryu Ham: Document Box collection and Monstro are also planned for later release in 2012. Monstro will most likely include the rare The Kaiju and I in a new edition, along with a revised edition of my first chapbook from my college years in the 1990s, The Leaves.
A big thanks goes to the Minnesota State Arts Board and their Artist Initiative Grant, for their support in making the availability of these collections possible.
Kouanchao Corner debuts at Twin Cities Daily Planet
Dr. Ketmani Kouanchao recently launched an all-new blog at the Twin Cities Daily Planet, Kouanchao Corner. There she'll be addressing questions on education, women's issues and the Lao community. Her opening blog has been about "Educating ourselves, our community." I'm looking forward to seeing future posts from her.
At the Twin Cities Daily Planet you can also find blogs by Little Laos On The Prairie and many other perspectives. The Twin Cities Daily Planet is an online publication connecting citizens in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul with one another and with the global community. The Daily Planet is a project of the Twin Cities Media Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the digital divide and helping citizens empower themselves with media.
In American Librarians Magazine
This month my work featured at the Poetry Parnassus in London during the Olympics was highlighted in the American Librarians Magazine in the article "APALA Member Represents at the London Olympics—through Poetry" by Anchalee (Joy) Panigabutra-Roberts and Jade Alburo.
I became involved with the Asian Pacific American Librarian Association around 2006, just shortly after I had finished my duties as the Interim Executive Director of the Hmong American Institute for Learning, where I had been assisting Hmong refugees in innovating a new literary tradition for their community.
I was deeply impressed by the work of APALA, and had worked with many of their members and other librarians across the country in building an understanding of the role libraries have in Southeast Asian refugee resettlement. Would the resources be there for the community to discover and preserve their stories, or would they languish in obscure corners of campus libraries far beyond the realistic reach of those who need their histories most? As the technology changes and evolves, I always hoped APALA would continue to bring together our diverse interests and ensure that our communities needs are reflected in larger discussions ahead.
As mentioned before, "No Regrets" was informed both by the work Asian Pacific American Librarians and the work of Lao Minnesotan writer Saymoukda Vongsay's debut chapbook of the same title. Hopefully, she'll reissue an expanded edition of it in the future. Thanks for your support everyone!
TalkingImageConnection: Hedge Magic
This weekend the Soap Factory in Minneapolis is closing its show, Hedge Magic. On Saturday, the acclaimed TalkingImageConnection Series is presenting their response to the works found in this group exhibition. The exhibition was drawn from their annual artist submissions, with artists examining issues of transformation, interpretation, reclamation and the super-natural.
Lao American poet Saymoukda Vongsay will be reading poems about "schizophrenics, raging weather, and dusty corpses."
TalkingImageConnection, or TIC, is an organization that connects emerging poets and writers with adventurous visual artists and new audiences. Participating artists include Chris Lawrence, David Hamlow, Jess Hirsch, Amy Reckley, Meredith Foster, Peter Goché, Keith Lemley. The poets from TalkingImageConnection involved this month are Saymoukda Vongsay, Dennis Cass, Heid Erdrich, Jean Marie Larson, Matt Mauch, R. Vincent Moniz Jr., and the lead organizer, Alison Morse.
In their note on the exhibition, the Soap Factory notes that it "has always been a nexus of transformation between the various states of matter. The ancient woodlands of pre-Columbian Minnesota were felled to provide the columns that support our building; clay was dug from the banks of the Mississippi to make the bricks that provide our walls; the National Purity Soap Company rendered animal fat in vast cauldrons to make the soap that gives our building and organization its name. Whereas the factory changed states of matter, artists working in our building work their transformations on both matter and states of being."
They explain the theme of Hedge Magic came from a long tradition. "In old Europe, the hedge priest was an itinerant preacher, a free agent regarded with suspicion by authority and reverence by his flock. Hedge Magic is a practice without a regard for the mediation of a higher power, a non-hermetic magic based on intuition rather than dogma. It is inspired by found materials: the refuse, rubbish and discarded ingredients of the hedgerows and the waste grounds. It is a belief system both smaller and more intimate, as well as wider and more encompassing, recognizing the importance of the chaotic detail that creates the whole. Selected as part of The Soap Factory's annual submissions program, the artists in Hedge Magic all look at the processes of transformation and interpretation through the super-natural lens of art; the artist as the interrogator of the secret process of nature and culture."
Join them on Saturday night if you can!
[Poem] Bangkok Arrival at Toe Good
I'm the poet of the week over at Toe Good http://toegoodpoetry.com, which previously published my poem "Metropolis." This time, I'm presenting "Bangkok Arrival" drawn from my first trip to Southeast Asia in 30 years back in 2003. There's a bit of myth, pop culture and aquatic cryptozoology in "Bangkok Arrival," along with a live reading of it.
Toe Good Poetry's main goal is to publish poets who have shown dedication to their craft.They also seek to "spotlight poets who hope to publish (or have just published) their first collection of poetry." They're strong supporters of the unknown and small-press poets, so if you get a chance, send some work in to them.
Look at their archives as well. There are some nice gems they've presented so far, including the work of speculative poets like Kristine Ong Muslim.
Haiku Movie Review: Total Recall
Must we relive this.
No ideas updated
For good memories.
The Traditional Arts & Ethnology Centre
Recently in Minnesota I had a chance to meet with the founder of TAEC, The Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre, while they were visiting different organizations across the US.
Founded in 2006, The Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre is "a museum in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. It is the only independent non-profit museum and resource centre in Laos dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the traditional arts and lifestyles of the country's many and diverse ethnic groups."
While the time spent with them was relatively short, I walked away with a sense that they will play an important role in the future. Their work could help us all to build a diverse sense of Lao history, as seen through the eyes of nearly 160 different ethnic groups present in Laos. Only time will tell, of course, but you can see more of their work at: http://www.taeclaos.org.
OTOSOTE: 5 Years Later
Most of On The Other Side Of The Eye was written and revised at this coffee shop formerly known as the J&S Bean Factory. Today, it's called Groundswell Coffee and is found on 1342 Thomas Ave Saint Paul, MN. I stopped in for a quick cup of joe recently for old time's sake. I wonder what other books will be written here in the future.
The editing process was one filled with many questions. How do you create a unified text, but one where each poem could be read independently? Do you kitchen sink it, or keep a tight focus? Should you include a glossary and footnotes? How much original material should you include? These all nagged at me at different points, but that's part of the writer's journey.
Bamboo Among the Oaks: 10 Years!
This October 1st, the landmark Hmong anthology, Bamboo Among the Oaks will be celebrating 10 years since its first publication by the Minnesota Historical Society's press.
As a side note, in addition to my poems and short horror story, "The True Tale of Yer," featured in this collection, I also provided the cover photograph, which had been taken in Washington DC in 1997 during the dedication of the Hmong Veterans Memorial in Arlington Cemetery.
Hopefully, we'll see some celebrations from the community in October to mark the occasion.
[Poem] No Regrets, Thai Translation
"No Regrets," from my 2009 book, Tanon Sai Jai has recently been translated by Joy Panigabutra-Roberts:
ไม่เสียใจ
สักวันหนึ่ง
หน้านี้จะมีคนอ่าน
เพลงนี้จะมีคนฟัง
เส้นสายนี้จะมีคนเขียน
คำอธิบายนานัปการ
กวีกับศิลปิน วิจิตรและงดงามเหมือนทุ่งข้าวใหม่
จะได้รับความเป็นธรรม
ครอบครัวหนึ่งจะได้เริ่มชีวิตร่วมกัน
เด็กน้อยคนหนึ่งจะได้รู้ชื่อของคนแปลกหน้าที่เชื่อมั่นในตัวเขา
ก่อนที่จะได้พบกัน
หัวใจดวงหนึ่งจะได้รำลึกถึงพี่ชาย พี่สาว อาชญากรรม เสี้ยวเวลาหนึ่งของความรัก
พงศาวดารเมือง ไฮกุจากญี่ปุ่น
เพื่อนคู่หู
ตราบจะถึงวันนั้น มีอะไรที่แน่นอน?
กลางคืนมาเยือน เลื่อนเป็นกลางวัน พระจันทร์ พระอาทิตย์ สายฝน เส้นคลื่น
และอื่นๆ บางสิ่งอาจจะถูกจารึกไว้
หรือไม่… ก็ได้
Maybe one day,
A page will be found,
A song will be heard,
A stroke will be drawn
Filled with explanations.
The nuckawi and silapin, beautiful as a field of khao mai
Will be vindicated.
A family will start.
A child will learn the names of a stranger who believed in them
Before they even met.
A heart will remember a brother, a sister, a crime, a moment of love,
A chronicle of a city, a haiku from Japan.
A friend on the other side of your eye.
Until then, what is certain?
Night arrives, then day.
The moon, the sun, the rain and waves.
A few other things, maybe something someone will write down.
"Stainless Steel Nak" accepted by Lontar: The Jour...
Lao Minnesotan Artist Heritage Month in the Star T...
[Poem] On A Stairway In Luang Prabang, Thai Transl...
Asian American Press covers Lao Minnestoan Artist ...
Celebrating 5 years of On The Other Side Of The Ey...
Kouanchao Corner debuts at Twin Cities Daily Plane...