I look up into the hills just past Mirror Foundation where we are working. I look up and know that Burma is just over those hills a little way. So close, and yet so very very far away from being able to do anything.
it makes my heart heavy, and it's hard to concentrate on much else.


words can't begin to express the horror...


Right now I am working on some grant proposals for Mirror, who has really creative, effective projects to help the Hilltribe peoples of the Mae Yao area with the issues that they face as stateless, semi-nomadic tribes, such as human-trafficking prevention and awareness, Thai citizenship process, missing persons locator, and sustainable agricultural life.I willl tell you more about these projects when time, or you can check out their great site (see Thailand links.)

Day after tomorrow we trek to a Lahu and Akha village where we will stay in villager's homes and learn their unique and beautiful ways.

5.13.08 - Kitsch in Chiang Mai

Word on the street was that there was some underground scene of painters and drawers in Chiang Mai. Well, we found them - and they really were under ground. Last Saturday, while searching around night markets, we found about 30 very talented creators that worked out of a basement of a market. Nearly everything that they were selling were drawings (almost no prints). Everyone of them uses their gallery as a studio -or maybe vise versa- but essentially there was no difference. They seemed to be in groups of 3 to 6 people. They weren't creating work as nameless massproducers, yet they seemed to share in each other's success. One of the guys seemed quite happy to sell me a drawing made by his friend, and after I bought it, 4 of them abandoned their easels to help take it out of it's display frame to pack it up. It looked like such a beautiful way to work.

As many of you know, the Master Painter I am apprenticing is a leader in a movement to define a stream of painting under the Superstructure of the term Kitsch. He has done a lot to reorient people's thinking of that term to not only include pink lawn flamingos, precious moments dolls, and a picture of a moose by a lake, but also "high kitsch" - including painters like Rembrandt, Waterhouse, and, well, himself. With this philosophy, Kitsch is concerned with pathos, the eternal, and the intimate, while Art is concerned with irony and originality.

I could go on with these ideas, but instead, I'll direct anyone interested to some writings by Jan-Ove Tuv and Odd Nerdrum.

http://janovetuv.com/bruker/articles/Manifest_E%207.pdf
http://janovetuv.com/bruker/articles/confused_about_kitsch.pdf
http://janovetuv.com/bruker/articles/kitsch_and_irony.pdf
http://www.kitschforum.com/
"On Kitsch" by Odd Nerdrum et. al. Published by Kagge Forlag

I was quite happy to find these Thai "Kitschists".

5.12.08 - Reflection on Chiang Mai

We've left our precious friends at Agape. They are so dear, so thoughtful and so talented.

Our last day there was beautiful and challenging. I had frequently drawn copies of photos that the kids and Nannies brought me, but the last day after class, a few kids bought me photos of their families. My heart ached drawing these images.

One of the photos looked like it was taken only months ago, for the girl was in the photo with the family. Her eyes were red and worn, apparently from crying. Her dad was sitting to her right with his hands in his own lap, her mom was to the right with her hands in her own lap, and further to the right was the grandmother with a hand reaching over the mom to touch this girl on the knee. It was a loaded image.

Another girl had me draw a wallet size photo of her dad.

Michelle's group performed their dance brilliantly. It was so entertaining and attractive that even some of the boys joined in at the end. But I will let Michelle tell you more about it.

Early Sunday Morning our gracious and generous hosts helped us to the train station. And here we are now in Chiang Rai. But our adventures here will be left for a different post.

Until then,

Luke

P.S. the photo of the kids drawing that bearded guy is them doing my portrait. so great. In Thai the band's name, on my shirt, is pronounced "pedraladalalalada". (smile)

the shape of things to come

Tomorrow


Next Week

Today is Our Last Day at Agape

Today is our last day with the beautiful kids at the orphanage, but you can bet the stories and pictures of them will keep coming, because there is so much we haven't had a chance to share yet. The girls have been working on a dance we made up to a Psalters song, which they will hopefully get to perform for the nannies and other children. They love it! They love to perform, and are so proud when it all comes together.
The kids have also enjoyed designing and drawing their own superheroes with Luke!

We've had a wonderful experience at Agape and will be sad to leave these very important children and the reality that they let us experience with them for 2 weeks. But we are really looking forward to moving 3 hrs. North to Chiang Rai where we will be spending time in Akha and Lahu hill tribe villages, and helping out at Mirror Foundation, which works on the prevention side of the human=trafficking issue among hill tribe women and girls.

The most important part of what I have to say is that (I'm sure most all of you have heard)last weekend Thailand's neighboring Burma (Myanmar)was hit with a category 4 cyclone which had destroyed entire villages and killed AT LEAST 22,000 people, with 60,000 reported still missing.
This is a horrifying tragedy for any country to experience, but what makes this case particularly desperate is that the Burmese military junta (government) is one of the most horribly corrupt and human rights- abusing in the world right now, and they're denying aid into the country, and dragging their feet in meeting the emergency needs of their people. Among the areas that were hit were the Kareni and Mon states. Karen and Mon are minority hill tribes, and I imagine that this disaster will make an already vulnerable group of people, more vulnerable to the lure of human-trafficking in their state of desperation.
I urge our friends and family to pay attention to this issue, though it is hard to know how to help right now.

Blessings and love to all of you!

Wat U Mong & Old City

Tuk Tuk


monk's laundry at Wat U Mong


monks' art from the 60's



















We had some free time over the weekend so, on Sunday we took a tuk tuk (3 wheeled motor cart awesomeness!) to Wat U Mong (the forest temple) on the outskirts of Chiang Mai city. I have been wanting to visit this special wat since reading about how it is tucked away in a cave among trees! I don't think many tourists visit this wat- we were the only farangs when we visited. Wat U Mong was first used during King Mengrai’s rule in the 14th century. Tunnels in the cave were built around 1380 as meditation cells for the clairyoyant monk Thera Jan. Later,the monastery was abandoned, then re-inhabited in the 60's when Ajaan Buddhadasa, a well known monk and teacher at S Thailand’s Wat Suanmok, sent several monks to re-establish a Sangha (Buddhist brother hood) there. The monks in the 60's made awesome paintings and illuminations of Buddhist and Biblical texts on walls of one of the building (see pictures). SO awesome!

The feeling on the wat grounds was one of ancient sacredness and lush, green,humid serenity. We were quiet, and listened to sacred chanting of scripture by the monks who live there. There were incredible ruins in every nook and cove to be discovered. There is a gold Buddha deep inside one of the caves, and a large statue of the fasting Buddha (not a common image) elsewhere on the grounds.

Then we rode into the Old City (moated center part of Chiang Mai) and visited the Chiang Mai Arts and Cultural museum, which was neat but I was itching to get back out on the street and to learn about Chiang Mai by experiencing it! We wandered around, ate at a noodle shop, then found ourselves in the thick of the Sunday Walking Market, where 5 or so blocks are taken up by vendors peddling their goods old school-style on mats laid on the road. Fascinating! The most fun part was just watching all the people. And we did a little bargaining for some hilltribe goods as well ;)

5 Favorite Things about Thailand (so far...)

1. Cheap, delicious Thai food- on average, $3 total for a meal for 2 persons!!
2. Recycled water- what you wash with is what you flush with. brilliant! (I think we call it "Grey Water"?)
3. The scent of Jasmine everywhere- the first time I've smelled real jasmine that wasn't in a tea or candle.
4. Monks in beautiful saffron and bright orange colored robes are everywhere
5. A bidet hose in every bathroom! hooray for clean butts ;)

- Michelle


Chiang Mai Arts & Culture museum




puppies sleeping on side of street at market




scary "lady boy" performer


barbecued octopus tentacles anyone?


weird "Miss Piggy's Mini Pork Balls" mobile playing Elton John tunes and rolling around the city! We saw her the next day too, miles away.



(posted by Michelle)

5.6.08 - Tuesday - Chiang Mai

Hello family and friends,
We haven't posted in a bit. We're having trouble uploading photos.
Some people have asked if we've experienced any of the weather that hit Burma. We'll, it's been pretty rainy here, but nothing even close to the tragedy across the border. So, we're fine.

The work with the kids is going well. Michelle and the girls look beautiful doing her choreographed dance. I think they're planning on performing this Friday. We have three more days left of classes. Our newness has definitely worn off, and the kids are starting to treat us like family - with all the smiles, hugs, and occasional disrespect that comes with it. I'm going to miss these guys.

We ran into a couple of the girls at the market yesterday. It was kind of a shock seeing them in a different environment. I know they were being monitored pretty closely, but it was so good to see them out and around. I guess some of them also went camping this last weekend. Michelle and I talked about their futures today. How on earth will life work for them? Boyfriends... Marriage?

I'm hopeful to hear some of their stories in 5 to 10 years.

I'll keep this one short - and talk to you soon.
and wishes of clarity to all you Indiana and NC Democrat voters out there...!

Luke

5.3.08 - Saturday - Chiang Mai City

So today the kids got a break from their rigorous art and dance training and Michelle and I spent some time in "downtown" Chiang Mai. We got a late start to the day, but it turned out to be really enjoyable.

Much of the main city area is surrounded by a moat, which used to be the boundary of Chiang Mai. Although now there is little difference between the areas inside and out of the square city.


We sectioned off a third of the square that we planned to walk and we finished it in about 5 hours. While going in and out of alleyways and shops, Michelle and I mostly talked about Lost theories, painting philosophy, and the kids at Agape. We helped each other remember the kids' names and told each other our own little stories that we've gathered about them.
For lunch Michelle had a yellow curry and I had a "jungle" curry, all for about $3 - man, I'm really loving this stuff!



We also found some great batik work. It is done on thin fabric - so we may be able to pack one in our luggage.

We poked our head into a couple of the many "Wats" (temples) that are in the city. Some are more than 700 years old and they are a bit intimidating, but one of the monks quickly greeted us and spent 10 minutes practicing his english.





We ended the night at one of the only little restaurants open past 9pm. There were about 6 older British guys there, flipping between about 6 football matches on the TV. We shared a super soup called Tom Kha.

We got a Tuk Tuk (3 wheeled taxi) ride home. Our friends had told us that we could barter with the drivers, but one attempt and one disgusted look from the driver later - I quickly reverted to his extremely reasonable first offer! It is really quite an experience trying to barter with prices that are already less than 1/5 of what one would pay in the States. Here's an earlier photo of a Tuk Tuk -


So we're at the apartment now, listening to the rain that has been going most of the day. Here's an earlier photo of our room -

In order to get a wifi connection, I must sit where that chair is - with my computer against the corner. (sometimes we can get it where Michelle is sitting!) We're actually really lucky.

Oh, by the way, any beauty that comes through in these photos is with great thanks to Amy for helping me pick out a great used camera and letting us borrow a nice lens. (and any blurriness is completely due to our inexperience with SLRs!)

Have a great weekend, talk to you soon.

Luke