Hiromi_X

Second Old Women: Why did you say Burma?

First Old Women: I panicked.

Can I come ?

If you're a sci-fi reader, there's a similar sequel to Ender's Game, called "Speaker for the Dead", about what Ender does after he saves the world. Better then the original, IMHO.

It's not so much imagined, I guess.
Dreary it can be, though - in spite of the good sides of Cambodia, like this one: Sorya e.V.. But AFAIK it can give you some serious breakdowns, too.

When I moved to San Francisco, it was because that's where you moved if you just didn't fit in.

In the days before the dotcom money drew every freshly minted MBA from the midwest to this town, I would go to a dinner party and EVERY person there would have story to tell: sometimes tragic, sometimes harrowing, always compelling - and often beautiful, because at the end of it the protagonist had found their center, both geographically and psychologically, they had EARNED their happy ending.

What do you do after your first big adventure? You go have another one.

Why don't people tell stories about the Hero's Second Adventure?

Because by the time Ulysses finally made it home, he'd figured out how to sail without falling off the edge of the world. Ulysses still had a great time sailing; it just wasn't as much fun to read about.

Do they have Burma Shave signs in Burma?

Some of us move to San Francisco and participate in the efforts of various visionary first worlder groups try to remake the world in a more positive way. No strip malls in the 415. My favorite, most apropos example, which is actually out in the suburbs . . .

http://www.kiva.org/

You can watch the little people from up close, or see if you can bridge to them first world resources from afar.

-danny

i felt the same way after i read tolkien's chronicles on what happened to the fellowship of the ring. aside from eventual death, some of them got married. the rest ran for office. choosing life requires a manual.

Out of curiosity, have you read this book?

http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz1.html

Hmmm... Yeah, that might have been out of left field. Hakim Bey wrote a book called the Temporary Autonomous Zone a number of years ago that was about ways of escaping to freedom outside of the ugliness of the spectacle. In his case, he moved to Iran and became a sufi. But, the TAZ concept was about finding spaces of freedom, even if only for a day, within the empty spaces of any civilization. Anyway, this section reminded me of his writings:

"Places like Cambodia are filled with First Worlders who cannot, or will not, fit into their home country. There, you can shed all your failures and misfortunes and fashion yourself an outlaw, or as an adventurer... Instead of looking at the dreary sameness of strip malls and expanses of asphalt, I can look at brick red dirt and deep azure sky."

T.A.Z. is a monster of a book though. Maybe his book "Immediatism" would be a better place to start.

It's a book. But, it's very popular with anarchists and techies, and Bey is opposed to copyrights, so it's pretty much available everywhere online. I figured I'd just link to it. I probably should have considered just how weird it is! I wouldn't pull a Sokol on you unless it was April 1st, or if I thought you'd get a kick out of it.

Yeah, it started as a prose poem.

In a nutshell... it's that the sort of late capitalist ugliness- the Spectacle- really is oppressive. But that instead of trying to fight it in public we should try to escape it by looking for hidden spaces of freedom- he recommends disappearance as a political tactic. Ideally, the temporary autonomous zone is secret.