Sunday, September 12, 2004
A Stranger in a Familiar Land
I've been back in the United States for a couple weeks now, and I'm surprised how much is the same, and how much is different. I had been reading, during my time in China, about how America has been changing during the four years that I've been away, but now that I'm planning to be here for a year or two, experiencing these changes for myself is quite different.
When I last lived in the U.S. four years ago, America seemed to enjoy unparalleled prosperity, while the whole world basked in its glow. Americans complained about many things of course, but generally we took for granted an overall optimism that things would only keep on getting better for us. I imagined the most upsetting element of American culture to be a widespread materialism, combined with overblown concern with celebrities and various petty issues of the day. I had a sense that our biggest problems in the future would continue to lie with the burdens and excesses of being the world's most well-to-do society
I had just graduated from college, and I wanted to explore a new life in the land on the other side of the world. I was also eager to get away from a country that understood little of the disheartening living conditions that many other people are living in. When I left, war seemed like a far away thing from history.
But the times have changed. I think in the coming weeks, it would be useful for me, and for you too, I hope, to try to process these changes that have taken place in my homeland, as well as changes in my own life that have taken place during the same period of time.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
More New Directions
This last month and a half have reordered so many things in my life. I hope you will pardon my absence. Some people say that change is hard, and while that’s true, I feel that my particular changes this time are very good indeed.
I would rather not say directly what all the changes in my life have been, yet. You’ll know that soon enough anyway. It will affect this website, but as to exactly how, I’d like to let that be a surprise for later.
The one thing I should say now is that I’m planning to go back to America for an extended trip of more than a year. I’m currently getting ready to go now, and I expect I should be there in about a month. During my first month or two in the States, I plan to dedicate a significant amount of time to making this site work the way I want it to. Then during the months after that, I hope to mainly just write new content for it, without working too much on the underlying code.
I like surprises, so I’m going to let you wonder for a while what Brightwind will become. I myself am eager to discover more about that as I go, anyway. I may end up even more surprised than you! Whatever happens to me in my life, and however Brightwind evolves as a website, getting there will be a gradual journey, so I hope that you’ll be patient with me as I work at it. Thank you for being here all this time so far!
Friday, June 04, 2004
New Directions
Brightwind has been running for several months now, and it’s given me a lot of chance to think about what it could become in the future. I’ve tried posting everything from inspiring essays to film reviews, and from short stories to photo galleries. All this experimenting has given me a better sense of the kind of thing I like to write, draw, photograph and so on.
In terms of the site management, I was going strong with the Typepad system for a while, and just when I was getting into its rhythym, the Typepad service became inaccessible from China and I was forced to move over to a new provider and a new blogging engine. I chose Expression Engine, even though it was expensive for me, because it seemed to have the widest potential for growth. With it, I could make Brightwind into any kind of website I might want to have.
But this added flexibility and power, combined with a wider appreciation for what I really want to accomplish here, creates a much larger work load! The current design is not flexible enough to handle everything I want to do, so basically I need to work out something totally new.
Here’s the list of ideas I’ve thought through concerning ways Brightwind’s content might develop:
Click here to continue reading this entry...
Monday, May 31, 2004
Chessmaster
This man was playing chess, as if for the millionth time. I saw him one day, when some friends of mine and I stumbled upon a beautiful garden in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. There were a pagoda, a tea shop, and lots of old people sitting around, filling up their time with hobbies.
I walked around with my camera looking for interesting things to photograph, and I saw this man’s wrinkles, his cigarette, and most importantly, the attention he devoted to his game.
Chinese Chess is different from its western variety in a number of ways. Some say that it’s more subtle. I certainly find that it’s easier to find yourself on the losing side without knowing how or why you got there, but maybe that’s just because I’m not very good at it.
In any case, I politely asked this man if he would mind my taking his picture. He didn’t respond. I asked him again, but all I got was something like a shrug that seemed to indicate contempt. Another man, younger than this player, although by no means “young,” who was apparently just watching the game, took notice of me, smiled, and gestured for me to go ahead and take my picture. If he hadn’t done that, I think I would have considered myself blown off and walked away.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of Chinese Chess, a magical square of hypnosis into which old men can fall when they desire to escape from the world, its young people, and its digital cameras. It seemed to have developed in this man the power of concentration to such a degree that I was reduced to little more than a fly.
Or maybe he was just in a bad mood. Maybe he was deaf. In any case, his attitude surprised me, but also left me feeling like I shouldn’t be surprised, as if I had just started a game with him and found myself at a sudden disadvantage.
Even though one part of me felt as if I had been treated rudely, another part of me felt that there was something noble about him and his game. Or perhaps the nobility really came from the observing man at his side, who was kind enough to be polite to me on this man’s behalf.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Old Woman, New World
This is my favorite photo out of the 500 or so that I took last winter in Yunnan. It’s not the most beautiful from an aesthetic point of view, but it has a symbolic meaning to it that I was extremely lucky to catch. I was just walking down the street with my camera open, and as I saw this lady, I stealthily turned to snap a picture from my stomach-height as she walked by.
The woman clings to the past. The future is already here, and she seems almost ill and dizzy in a new world of shopping complexes and brand-name clothes. All of the modern age is caught up in this one blurry moment, and everything is so unclear to her. She clings to the hand of her grandson, who laughs and plays in a world he can understand but she cannot.
But she is the one with the keys to this new world dangling around her neck.
Photos • Yunnan • Way of Life • (59) Trackbacks • Permalink
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