· June, 2006

Stories about Ideas from June, 2006

Jamaica: Going home

  30 June 2006

Jamaican Francis Wade addresses the “remarkable inner journey” one embarks upon on returning to one's homeland, and discusses some of the tools that have helped him along the way.

China: Senior high reflections

  30 June 2006

Recent high school graduate le journal de Ahom blogger Ahom Guo finishes up his four-part look back at his high school years with the discovery that his high school is renowned for its progressive approach to education: “Teachers in Xiao-Shi rarely interfere students’ private affairs, meanwhile in other schools, ‘shit...

Appreciating Caribbean writing

  29 June 2006

A New York Times article about a new anthology of Jamaican writing published by a US press gets Geoffrey Philp thinking about why North Americans may not be as open to Caribbean writing as their British counterparts: “The reader has to be willing to shed notions of what is and...

China: Tips on raising kids

  29 June 2006

Shanghai-based Sinosplice blogger John Pasden found a book in a supermarket recently, ‘100 Things Parents Should Not Say To Their Kids,’ and translated a few. Number eleven: “Be careful. If you trip, I'm not going to help you.”

Why No Mention of Slavery in African and Haitian Fiction?

  28 June 2006

Why is there so little mention of slavery in African and Haitian Fiction? That is the question that Togolese France-based blogger Kangni Alem addresses in a prolific and well-thought out blog entry. He deplores that African fiction does not count more passages on the different waves of slavery that have...

China: Hopes, one day

  28 June 2006

Journalist-blogger Taras posts a list [zh] today of all the things he hopes yet to do: 1. Be a foreign correspondent in any country; 2. Find the one thing that he likes most to do in this life; 3. Figure out women's hearts; 4. Learn how to play pizzazzy songs...

UN Human Rights Council & Presidential Election

Several bloggers wrote about the presence of Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran chief prosecutor, in the Iranian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. A few bloggers tried to find out why Iranian government sent such a representative with a very poor human rights record. Some other bloggers try to...

Bermuda: Stained glass ceiling

  26 June 2006

Bermuda's Anglican Bishop Ewen Rattray's continued opposition to the ordination of women doesn't surprise the Limey, who takes the opportunity to air his own views.

Taiwanese Oversized Wedding Albums

  23 June 2006

Jason from Wandering to Tamshui talks about Taiwan’s booming wedding photography industry, and a book called “Framing the Bride“, written by Bonnie Adrian. Looking past the ridiculous fads and soft lighting that are endemic to the industry, Adrian manages to come up with some interesting theories on why Taiwanese (and...

To Be or Not to Be a Martyrdom Seeker

In Iran some people call themselves martyrdom seekers and demonstrate in cities to show their readiness to die for Islamic Republic. A couple of weeks ago Mohammad Masih, blogger and martyrdom seeker invited several bloggers with different points of views share their ideas about martyrdom seekers. Let's look at briefly...

Myanmar: Why Blog?

  20 June 2006

Mady June in Myanmar explains why she got into blogging. Myanmar and neighboring Lao have lower number of Internet users compared to other South East Asian countries. Most of the visible Myanmar bloggers live outside the country.

Armenia: Dual Citizenship

Christian Garbis writes about dual citizenship in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. He asks why some people want Armenian citizenship when the only major difference between that and special residency status is the right to participate in politics.

Football & Presidential Election

Iran was defeated 2-0 by Portugal in World Cup and lost any hope to go to the next round. Iranian bloggers have shared their thoughts, feelings and photos about this game. Watching the game with the iron men Arash Ashoorinia, a leading photoblogger, watched the game with Hossein Rezazadeh (the...

Russia: Kalashnikov

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile takes a minute from his preparations for getting married and posts about Mikhail Kalashnikov and his famed creation: the AK-47 gun.

Japan: Simplified characters or traditional?

  13 June 2006

Danny Bloom at Japundit hosts a quick but thorough discussion on the division over simplified Chinese characters (mainland China) and traditional characters (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Chinatowns worldwide): “What’s your take on all this? Will China's system take over, and if it does, will it have an impact on Japan's writing...

China: University entrance exams

  13 June 2006

A seldom-heard stance on China's tough university entrance exams (Gao Kao) from Raymond Zhou at Not only movies just days after the testing period ended: “It may sound paradoxical, but I'm not for abolishing the gaokao system. For all its quirks and partiality, it is one of the few mechanisms...

China: Netgame proxy players

  12 June 2006

Possibly the strongest unifying force for Chinese men under 30, fierce competition in internet-based roleplaying games has led to the development of an unusual new meta-occupation: proxy player. Translates Virtual China‘s Lyn Jeffery: “As the article explains, proxy player shops “网游代练”公司 arose to serve those who love online games but...