Exploring life, seeking questions and answers, seeing other sides, and figuring out what it all means
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Yungang Grottoes
Yungang (Cloud Ridge) Grottoes (云冈石窟) are a sprawling complex of Buddhist cave temples that were carved out of the rocky crag and cliff face at Wuzhou mountain near Datong city in Shanxi Province. The monument was constructed from the mid-fifth century to the early sixth century (ca. 460–524 CE) under the patronage of Northern Wei dynasty rulers and Emperor Wencheng, in particular, as Buddhism…
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Lancang, Yunnan
A ladder, brooms, shovel, mop, drying maize, clothes, towels, shoes, bags, toothbrush, cups, comb, metal washbasins, and other hand tools and effects are hung on the wall outside the front door and kept in the courtyard of a Wa family home. Such objects embody societal values and norms and result in particular lifestyles and experiences that can shape people’s everyday behavior and be a source of…
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Happy Mother's Day
Happy Mother’s Day
\A delivery mother on a motorcycle looks for oncoming traffic on a busy street in Taipei with an infant strapped to her front, a hot pink Food Panda carton fastened to the rack behind her, and a brazier with burning ‘joss’ paper in the handicap parking spot beside her.
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Taipei
A bedding store clerk burns a handful of medium-size sheaves of cheap, coarse textured, yellowish ‘joss’ paper printed with a red-inked decorative design of the Chinese characters for prosperity in bold and depictions of the gods of wealth (财神). It is laminated in the center with a rectangular square of shiny gold foil, which is offered almost exclusively to gods (神) as the highest rank of…
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Happy New Year!
May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. ~ George Carlin
The doorframe of a residential home in Pu’er, Yunnan, that has been recognized as cultural heritage (a historical landmark) is adorned with a set of handwritten, bright red Chinese character couplets (对联) expressing good wishes for the new year. In the center of the door, the Chinese character fu 福 calling for…
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Turin, Piedmont
Where thou art, that is home. ~ Emily Dickinson
A statuette of a young girl in a blue dress seated on a window ledge with her back to the building and a rendering of a small bird perched on the back of her hand is displayed in front of a pottery store on a narrow street in Turin’s historic district. Turin is an industrial city situated in the heart of Piedmont, Italy.
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Halstatt, Austria
No star is ever lost we once have seen, We always may be what we might have been. ~ Adelaide Anne Procter
A star ornament hangs in the window of a private home in Halstatt, Austria to mark the Christmas holiday.
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Lancang, Yunnan
A sheathed scythe and black cloth bag are hung next to a cap and jacket beside the front door of an ordinary brick house in a Wa village. On the ground below them are an earthenware jar, wooden pestle for pounding, bamboo basket for carriage, flat bamboo pan, wooden stool, straw broom, and other everyday articles. Even though the items are only part of the world in a material sense, they are…
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Qiunatong, Yunnan
The simple hearth of the small farm is the true center of our universe. ~ Masanobu Fukuoka
Roasting a suckling pig in Qiunatong, the village I wrote my Master’s thesis about in 2008-2010. Thanks to my advisor, whom I owe everything to, the last sentence of my thesis reads in part that ‘potential hydropower development… may turn out to shape development more comprehensively and quickly than…
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Boshao, Yunnan
Blessed are you when you enjoyed the company of elderly people. They are always ready to share their rich experience and wisdom with young people. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita
An elderly Wa woman and young child sit on small stools, preparing a meal together over an open hearth on the floor in the kitchen beside a blackened kettle and pot for boiling water and cooking rice in. Wa, Lahu, and other…
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Ali, Yunnan
Give your hands to serve and your hearts to love. ~ Mother Teresa
A Lahu woman and young boy spread fresh-picked tea leaves onto a bamboo mat to dry in front of their home in Ali village. Ali lies approximately three kilometers from the Sino-Myanmar border in southwestern Yunnan, where the soil and climate are favorable for growing tea. Tea is typically processed for home consumption and sold to…
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Prague
And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings. ~ Meister Eckhart
A tall European-style clock tower stands over one end of the historic Charles Bridge in Prague.
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Borneo
Bloom where you are planted. ~ Mary Engelbreit
An orchid in Kuching.
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Tasmania
True security lies in the unrestrained embrace of insecurity — in the recognition that we never really stand on solid ground, and never can. ~ Oliver Burkeman
A gull walks along the edge of waves lapping gently against the sand on a eucalyptus tree-lined beach in Tasmania.
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Kengtung / Kyaingtong, Shan State
Kengtung / Kyaingtong, Shan State
Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body. ~ Martha Graham
Middle-aged Akha women dance together on the second floor balcony of a wooden stilt-home in a village outside Kengtung in the Shan State in celebration of a wedding. According to Tooker (2004, 275), “the concept of a “stage” has no precedent in traditional Akha culture.” Instead, she describes ���traditional” dance as a personal…
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Göttingen
Sometimes the smallest things take the most room in your heart. ~ A.A. Milne
Tiny umbels of witch hazel, a powerful, winter-flowering, yellow and red medicinal shrub, flourish in the snow.
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Yangon
The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi
It has been deeply moving to see large numbers of civilians and police in Myanmar unite to resist the military government’s coup at this historical juncture.
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