Too cool!  Carlos Watson is the brother of one of my closest friends and dearly-loved Christian sister, Bevie!  It's premiering this Tuesday, 5 April 2016!  WATCH and LIKE on Facebook!

. . .

Grieving the temporary absence of a role model and friend, Dr. Marla Boelkins Warren, daughter of my godparents, Marge and Wally.  Here, with her sister and my "sister", Ann Boelkins DeVries, accompanying me to my talk at my alma mater, the University of Michigan Law School.

Grieving with the Warrens -- Tom, Mike, Joe, Holly -- and the Boelkins -- Jan, Kathy, Chris, Chuck, Ann -- in the passing of their wife, mom and sister. It was impossible to reconcile the news of Marla's serious illness and her other-centered, other-worldly serene disposition as recently as a year ago when this photo was taken (5 Feb. 2015). Despite her condition, the not-so-nice long drive in the wintry Michigan weather, and her role as medical doctor and wife/mother with family obligations (esp preparing for her daughter's wedding!), she took time out to support me at my talk at my Alma Mater, the University of Michigan Law School. If I hadn't been first informed of her cancer a few years back, I would never have guessed when I saw her on visits with her dad (my godfather), Wally, and then for Wally's funeral. Thank you, Marla, for your life, for your testimony and faith in Jesus, and your friendship and example to me. I will treasure the many memories of you over these several decades and share them with you when we meet again.

- Theary, March 21

. . .

Also here at T2P Media

. . .

False Grand Narrative of Racism

The Vietnamization of Kampuchea:

A New Model of Colonialism

Indochina Report (October 1984)

Part II: Vietnamization of the Economic Framework (continued)

The Unequal Exchange

It is within this new institutional framework that the Vietnamese are asserting their hold over the economy and future of Kampuchea. Fisheries, rubber and rice are the three main sectors affected by what should be termed the Unequal Exchange between Vietnam and Kampuchea.

Re the ongoing Vietnamization of Cambodia, I am reminded of William Faulkner's quote: “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

It's stunning how we -- both Cambodians and non-Cambodians -- have allowed the fictitious grand narrative of rascism, principally based on the use of the word "Yuon" to overshadow, to hijack, to shroud, to erase genocide and other mass crimes against humanity committed by Vietnam and its puppet (Hun Sen's CPP) on Cambodians and Cambodia -- WITH IMPUNITY AND ZERO SCRUTINY.

- Theary, March 18

. . .

Why People Are Confused About What Experts Really Think

International New York Times | 12 February 2016

Indeed, critics argue that journalists too often generate “false balance,” creating an impression of disagreement when there is, in fact, a high level of consensus. One solution, adopted by news organizations such as the BBC, is “weight of evidence” reporting, in which the presentation of conflicting views is supplemented by an indication of where the bulk of expert opinion lies.

But whether this is effective is a psychological question on which there has been little research. ...

What explains this cognitive glitch? One possibility is that when we are presented with comments from experts on either side of an issue, we produce a mental representation of the disagreement that takes the form of one person on either side, which somehow contaminates our impression of the distribution of opinions in the larger population of experts. Another possibility is that we may just have difficulty discounting the weight of a plausible argument, even when we know it comes from an expert whose opinion is held by only a small fraction of his or her peers. It’s also possible that the mere presence of conflict (in the form of contradictory expert comments) triggers a general sense of uncertainty in our minds, which in turn colors our perceptions of the accuracy of current expert understanding of an issue.

. . .

How the Church Helps Black Men Flourish in America

The Atlantic | 28 February 2016

Churchgoing black men are significantly less likely to participate in what the sociologist Elijah Anderson has called the “code of the street”: an ethos marked by violence, criminal activity, a live-for-the-moment mentality, and a desire to protect oneself by projecting strength. ...

Revered Calvin Butts III of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, put it one Sunday:

"[Most civilizations] are destroyed from within. The outward manifestations of this inner decay have been threefold. Three things that you see outwardly. One is drunkenness. . . . [or] getting high. I don’t mean a sip here and there; I mean getting high all the time. [Another is] idleness. . . . And finally, immorality. This means that strong civilizations, those that are able to endure, and withstand attacks from without [have] sobriety, industry, and clean moral living." ...

Thabiti Anyabwile, the pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C.

"People have to be strong enough personally to face the onslaught, but also have to have enough fair play and support to be strong enough."

Re the above article:

In Cambodia, both Cambodians and non-Cambodians often invoke "Khmer tradition", "Khmer culture", often negative attributes / habits, when in reality the attribute or habit is more universally part of a "code of poverty", to work off the phrase above, that just happened to be exhibited by a Cambodian or in Cambodia. It is often invoked in a knee-jerk defensive reaction to the elusive, often fast-changing culture where Cambodians are no longer in control of shaping their own identity.

Related, it strips a Cambodian of human agency. Once a non-Cambodian journalist, someone I do not know by name, face or reference or heard by reference, a complete stranger to me, sent a request to me on Facebook requesting that I help him publicize his writing (a book? it's been a couple of years now) which I ignored; he then wrote back with a long rant decrying how I am not "Khmer woman" because of my Christian beliefs and outspoken disposition. It was one of the very rare occasions when I blocked someone on FB. I regretted it now solely for the fact for not saving his rant for prosperity, like now to use as a verbatim example, before deleting it / blocking him.

- Theary, 29 Feb. 2016

Previous BLOG | All Past BLOGs | All RANDOM Entries