My father in law left last night and I have a feeling it will be a very long time until we see each other again. and thats a damn shame. For a total of six months that man spent every waking hour taking care of this family. Hanging out with Dorian, keeping the books for […]
tragedy
Syed Saleem Shazad
I read Shazad’s writings on Pakistan and the Taliban for years. Every single story of his informed me as to the real, on the ground situation. Never once did I close the Asia Times window and not sit back and think hard on what I had just learned from Shazad. Often I wondered how in […]
/facepalm
Man everywhere i look the oppression is just getting deeper and deeper — at least when I peep the news. there is China doing all it can to keep dissidents either silent or dead or scared out of their wits there is Iran, hailing revolutions one day, torturing them the next there is Libya and […]
Haiti
here is a short essay on Haiti and Chengdu and some of the similarities and differences in the disasters that struck here and there.
Woe unto the Enemies of the State
Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race…Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never.– Rev. William Sloane Coffin Today at 2:28pm, the entire Chinese nation stood at attention for three minutes to remember the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake. Today’s edition of the […]
mom i can’t see your hand
A Poem by an anonymous Chinese circling the web(translated): Children quickquickHold fast to Mother’s handThe Road to HeavenIs so darkMom is afraidyou’ll hit your headQuickHold fast to Mother’s handHave Mom walk with you momI’m afraidThe road to heaven is so darkI cant see your handSince the walls felland stole away the sunI haven’t been able […]
A Theory of Relativity
First off: Blogger is blocked in China, so people cannot see it here, I cannot comment back to any of you and i do use a proxy. There is so much to tell … I drove from Chengdu up north to a place called Hanwang today, through the towns of Shifang and Mianzhu. Shifang was […]
China handles business
President Hu Jintao made it to Dujiangyan today and shook hands with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao… Today I took a ride with a civil engineer and a security and infrastructure assessment expert around the northwest suburbs of Chengdu. We visited Chongzhou, Qingcheng Mountain and the outskirts of Dujiangyan. The purpose of the trip was to […]
To Mianyang
Tomorrow we will try and head up to see if we can help. THe local authorities and Red Cross have designated the Bookworm and Cafe Paname as two foreign est. where supplies can be dropped off and from which teams might be able to head up and help. Earlier today, a group of Brits trapped […]
I’ll make ya famous
Well Chengdu is basically back to normal. My friend Charlie’s harrowing experience is all over the web now — here is the AP story, which also has the video. You can check out the text here. We’ll be heading up north tomorrow in a caravan filled with goodies. It will probably only be a daytrip […]
Chengdu Earthquake day after
Here is a story I wrote that didn’t find space … its a time-pegged story which means I can probably not publish it anywhere else. So here you are, a look at what was happening in the Du the day after:In Chengdu a slight drizzle coats thousands of people who have taken to the streets […]
“Even if there is only a sliver of hope …”
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s speech is looped on TV and radio and seems to have an effect. One line that inspired was: “Even if there is only a sliver of hope, we will increase our efforts 100-fold to save those people” Rumors are out now about the water. Water is turned off in Chengdu […]
A shaky night
There is a tremor going on as i write — has been shaking my building for the past three minutes. still shaking. had tremors all night and all morning and the news has been getting worse every hour. Chengdu seems ot be ok for now, but north of here it is real bad. Chinese Prime […]
No Sleep tonight
Well now that i feel i have done my part cross-referencing links and straining at Chinese characters its time to write lil something for my people. Its gonna be scary tonight for sure.. there was a tremor just now at 939pm and it last till 942. it wasn’t strong but if any of you have […]
updates on Chengdu earthquake: its getting worse
Thousands dead and injured in Beichuan county — the TV is not reporting any of this, getting it off of Xinhua news. All media is locked into the “central brain” local TV is reporting on the “man in the street” and constant quotes on how people felt, where they ran too … Update: Here is […]
updates on Chengdu earthquake: Deyang has at least five schools collapse
The schools are taking a hit across the northern part of Sichuan. Deyang is 45 minutes NE of Chengdu, Dujiangyan is 45minutes NW .. PArty Secretary’s statement is playing every two minutes on the news
chengdu earthquake gets worse
Dujiangyan has been hit with tragedy. 900 schoolchildren are believed to be buried under their schoolhouse when it collapsed. DJY is 56km north of chengdu, making it less than 50km from the epicenter.