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Last Saturday, we went to the Tulip Festival in nearby LaConner (yeah, the name is dumb, we all know). After visiting the town, my friends and I stopped by a random field to wander around and take pictures. In a small corner, we found some people harvesting tulips. Watching them work very, very hard to harvest flowers, I felt guilty.
Then we went to my mom's house for lunch and followed that up with a trip to an outlet mall.
No gold teeth? Durn!
And 24 years and older for guys, 23 and older "preferred" for women? That's silly. What a pretentious nightmare.
on my aircon unit.
This little thing landed there off the roof the other day during a small storm. It's not really easy to get to as it's outside, but it's also a bit gross. I am assuming it's leftover from a rooftop BBQ... yuk
That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis is not only being felt among the poor but is also eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on fragile governments.“It’s the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years,” said Jeffrey D. Sachs, the economist and special adviser to the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. “It’s a big deal and it’s obviously threatening a lot of governments. There are a number of governments on the ropes, and I think there’s more political fallout to come.”
And we got them. Thanks to the two who showed up. We had a nice time and a nice chat. The donuts were good, too. It was a nice way to spend part of my birthday, too!
And for those who are too humorless to get this, boo on you!
We Demand Donuts.
The People's Republic of China has used the Olympics as a political event from their first opportunity, refusing to attend the 1956 Helsinki Olympics. The criticism that the Olympics shouldn't be a political event rings hollow when it comes from Mainland Chinese. Sorry, but history is on my side.
Today, a crowd of PRC citizens protested the Dalai Lama (something that they cannot do in their home country) at my alma mater.
They didn't come across well. They looked more like tools of the Chinese Communist Party. Sad for them.
Several hundred protest Dalai Lama at UW
Protester Shufu Xe, a systems analyst at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said the Dalai Lama's message has been distorted by the Western media. "I like some of his ideas about nonviolence. But I think he is behind some of the violence in Tibet," Xe said. "I don't like that he's using the Olympics to promote his political agenda." Xe, like many of the protesters, was born in China. He moved to the U.S. seven years ago.
Touché.
I feel, that like this fish, I'm struggling up some stairs in my own life, but hopefully it's for something good. The fish are going up the fish ladder to spawn. I don't think I'll be doing the same thing. :D
A perennial favorite sign.
I like the new Starbucks cup.
I'm going to have to start shooting cups in more exotic locations :D
I keep having to remind myself these days, of my feelings about the People's Republic of China. It goes something like this:
Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government. Love the country, loathe the government.
I recently came across a group on Facebook called Support the 2008 Olympics when I saw that one of my friends had joined it. I looked into it and became disappointed at what I saw. It was typical nationalistic, pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tripe, masquerading as something that wasn't.
I took a few hours and collected my thoughts, and wrote my friend an email:
Dear Redacted
I was surprised when I noticed that you joined the group "Support the 2008 Beijing Olympics" here on facebook. Reading through the group's statement and postings by its members, I found it hard to believe that you condone their statements.
If you haven't read the group mission carefully, I would take this time do so. The leader of the group seems to be telling everyone who inquires that China's human rights abuses are China's problem, and anyone who objects should ignore them.
The group owner didn't want to see the Olympics turned into a political event by special interests with axes to grind. Unfortunately, when the International Olympic Committee gave the Olympics to Beijing, they did just that. Unfortunately, that large special interest group, the Chinese Communist Party, won't allow any other groups to use the event for political reasons, only their own.
While I come from a country that has its own human rights issues and problems, one huge difference between my country and the PRC is that we allow the free and open discussion of ideas, and respect the right to protest, rather than killing those who disagree with their government. We also have a free press, educating citizens with a variety of voices, rather than the "single voice" media that the PRC has. The owner of this group is, quite naturally, biased toward the PRC and fails to take into account that the CCP is still a totalitarian state, prohibiting any dissent or discussion of ideas in the public sphere.
A country like that certainly isn't living up to the "Olympic Ideal", nor should it be condoned.
This caught my eye while getting coffee. Every once in a while, this city catches my attention by having tons of color in unexpected places.
I wish Seattle had better light. It's frustrating!
Near the Louvre Museum, a torchbearer was forced inside the bus again when a protester approached with a fire extinguisher. Chinese officials ordered that the torch bypass City Hall after local officials hung a banner outside declaring: "Paris defends human rights everywhere in the world."Full story: Will protests snuff out torch relay?
on East Pine Street.
After last night's depressing story, now, I find this little nugget. I'd struggled to find a job when I graduated in December, and no one seemed to believe that finding a job was hard. Incredibly hard!
80,000 Jobs Cut in March; Unemployment Rate Rises
The economy shed 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of rising unemployment, presenting a stark sign that the country may already be in a recession. Sharp downturns in the manufacturing and construction sectors led the decline, the biggest in five years. The Labor Department also said employers cut far more jobs in January and February than originally estimated. There were fewer jobs in March than there had been five months earlier. In the last 50 years, whenever there has been an employment downturn like the one of the last few months, a recession has followed.
Simply astounding.
Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.
In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002. Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.
A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.Full story:81% in Poll Say Nation Is Headed on the Wrong Track
As some of you may know [1], I'm having a small solo photographic installation at the 1600 E Olive Way Starbucks starting Thursday 3 April 2008, running through the end of the month.
It's a collection of transportation images from Taipei. No blue trucks, though. They don't work hot in black and white.
While it's small, this has been a great year for my development as a photographer. I've had photos in two books and now, two installations - with one of them being just my work.
If you're in Seattle, come check it out. Come buy something.
This card is not my best work; I'm way out of practice with graphic design! [2]
movement: taipei
[1] After getting very excited phone calls from me last week. Heh.
[2] While making this, I kept wishing I had QuarkXpress 2.0 because I can use it really, really fast (a holdover from using it at a daily newspaper on deadline).
