What’s in a name? Myanmar and National Identity

By on Feb 26, 2015 in Other Blog Posts, Rants & Raves | 8 comments

I'm an American. That's what I say if anyone should ask me my nationality. I'm a mutt made up of various immigrant peoples. My mother's father was the child of a German immigrant mother and an Irish immigrant father. My

The Invisible Race – The Rohingyas, Part III, Where are they now?

By on Aug 14, 2014 in Other Blog Posts, Rants & Raves | 4 comments

Read also Rohingyas Parts I and II in this blog. The Rohingyas are outcasts, circling out from Myanmar’s borders but staying close, not intermingling or assimilating into neighboring countries, but waiting, suspended like oil in water, until they can return …

The Invisible Race – The Rohingyas, Part II, Why Are They Hated?

By on Jul 13, 2014 in Other Blog Posts, Rants & Raves | 19 comments

[Please Read Part I...} Buddhists have a reputation for being gentle. I conjure up an image of a meditating monk being harrassed by a fly. It lands on his nose but he maintains his peaceful composure. That's how we think of Buddhists. They wouldn't swat a fly. I've been looking at videos of the massacre. Houses are burning and people are running about trying to get away. There are photos of bodies lying on a beach and horrible living conditions for the homeless Muslim Rohingyas. This isn't how I think of Buddhists. What's wrong? Why do these Buddhists hate these Muslims? Why do the Rakhines hate the Rohingyas? There must be a good reason. What is behind it?

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An Invisible Race – The Rohingyas, Part I

By on Jul 3, 2014 in Other Blog Posts, Rants & Raves | 4 comments

Note: In Burma/Myanmar some names have changed. In this post I will use the term Myanmar instead of Burma, Rakhine as a state name instead of Arakan, and Rohingya instead of Bengali for the Muslim minority living in Rakhine state. …