It’s been a long time coming — at least it seems that way. Today I leave to meet the better-half in a town called Garze or Ganzi (in Chinese) or Kandze (in Tibetan).

Ganzi, which is what we decided to call it, is in the Sichuan province of China or Eastern Kham if you’re Tibetan. It’s a small town, 3,500 meters up, and the wife has been there for the past 2 months as a TESOL teacher, teaching spoken English at a Monastery school. The school is for kids from about 7 to 15 who are from poorer families that can’t afford the cost of sending their children to the local government school.

Anyway, that’s where she is and that’s where I’m off to. It’ll take me 4 days to get there — Sydney, Hong Kong, Chengdu by plane (one day) and then a two day bus ride plus a one day stopover to acclimatise for the altitude, in a place called Kangding.

By the way, the pic is of the school and was taken by another Aussie who taught their a while back. Note the clothes. There is no heating and it’s winter and it’s 3,500 meters (or 3,800 according to some) up in the Himalayas — brrrr!

I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.

William Faulkner, from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech

I’ve got a couple of friends who are late developers. You know — boomer types who came along after the whole free love in the back of a psychedelically painted VW Combi Van scene.

Anyway, these guys make great silver jewellery so I thought that since this is my blog and since nepotism is alive and well throughout the world — well I thought… why not give them a plug.

So, grab your credit card (you’ll need it) and have a gander at | BOUVIER

I don’t really need to tell you this is a manufactured photo, do I? Well it is, and I guess like the newspaper cartoonist of my youth, it is a parody of what people, like me, think of Bush and his handling of the crisis in New Orleans.

My mate Jack emailed me the pic — he gets a tad miffed if I don’t mention him. Well Jack, here it is, another 15 seconds of fame on my blog.

David Whyte writes, lectures and recites stories and poems that helps bring to life the experience and emotion of change. Whyte says that poems help people to rethink their daily habits and assumptions, thus stirring up some creative juices.

When I find some prose that speaks to me, I like to share it. I found this poem of his while surfing the net today. I’d just finished scanning news — reading about New Orleans and Iraq and terrorism and all the other heart warming stuff that is happening in our world. I decided I needed a soul-break, so I moved away from reading news and started surfing poetry. A few moments later this poem pops on to my screen.

Sometime ago, a Buddhist friend of mine gave me a David Whyte book; The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America. I found it a good read, with some interesting ideas and some nice poetry.

Maybe I’ll try and find it and read it again…

Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

Haiku by Matsuo Basho

The order ‘shoot to kill’ is from a state Governor of the most civilized nation on this earth. Or so they would have us believe. If this is the type of government America wants to export to the rest of the world — I’ll have none of it, thanks.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters late on Thursday that National Guard troops were under her orders to “shoot and kill” if needed to restore order.

“These troops are battle-tested. They have M-16s and are locked and loaded,” she said. “These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will.”

SMH | Link

I read the article and wondered if any of the governments from Tsunami effected countries had ordered the troops to ‘shot to kill’ their own citizens — maybe they couldn’t afford to have M-16s locked and loaded.

Then again, I do remember a lot of vitriol thrown at ol’ Saddam Hussein for using the Iraqi army to keep Iraqi citizens in line. No doubt he thought it was justified, just like Governor Blanco.