Goodbye Thailand...for now

The final Fulbright/TUSEF meeting in Bangkok was bitter sweet --it was great to see everyone and share stories, but hard to say goodbye. I'm writing this post from my home in Louisville, not really able to describe how sad it is that my Fulbright grant in Thailand is complete. I already miss Thailand, and I know I will return soon. Thank you for every day of the last seven months!

I wish nothing but continued success to my fellow Fulbright friends and dedicated staff at my school Princess Chulabhorn's College Chiang Rai (PCC) and Thailand-U.S. Educational Foundation (TUSEF) . It has been an enriching experience meeting all of you. Chook dii na ka.

Making Waves

Some pictures from traveling in southern Thailand. Kali and I traveled for about three and a half weeks. Our journey began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where we couchsurfed (http://www.couchsurfing.com/) with a friendly guy and local KL native, Shkib. We then traveled to the islands of Koh Phi Phi, Koh Samui, and Koh Phangan in southern Thailand. Absolutely beautiful.

(Arriving in Koh Phi Phi, we were sure we had found paradise)

(We went kayaking and snorkeling our first day. The first stop was monkey beach --were monkeys literally line the beach. We brought bananas with us and were able to hand feed some of the elder monkeys. Some of the younger monkeys were quite scary when they growled. If you look closely in the picture you can see one monkey drinking from the water bottle it stole from our kayak!)

(Beautiful Thailand --it was nice being able to include the Thai flag in my photograph.)

(Mickey the monkey. He is such a good poser.)


(A photograph of our guide on our longtail boat journey. It ended up being just Kali, the guide, and myself for our four hour tour around Phi Phi island. We first snorkeled with black-tip sharks --I swam with about 20 or so. Then we did cliff jumping, some more snorkeling at Maya Bay, and watched the sunset over the water as we returned to the island for dinner.)

(We spent our nights at one of the coolest bars I've ever been to. Carpe Diem (seize the day) was the name of the place and everything about it lived up to its name. Below you can see one picture of the incredible fireshows they had. They even had flamming jump-rope, limbo, and other firey activities for the crowd to participate. We made some friends, shared some laughs, and I would go back in a heartbeat.)

(Wow!)

(Go CARDS! This shirt was actually quite popular in parts of Thailand. The front was written in Thai so I never understood the meaning, but the back is understandable. I loved the feeling of pride in seeing the symbol the University of Louisville and the feeling that perhaps I am helping to change the world by teaching abroad, I got everytime I saw this shirt.)

After Koh Phi Phi, we traveled to Koh Samui for a lazy few days of sleeping, walking the beach, and eating great Thai food. We then met Kali's brother and two other friends in Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party.

Fear is Profitable

Here’s the idea: most news coverage is overwhelmingly biased, censored and marketed toward an audience of pocketbooks. During the Fulbright/TUSEF mid-grant meeting in Bangkok, in November of last year, I participated in a discussion about mass media communications with a news anchor from True Visions Radio Thailand of the National Broadcasting Company of Thailand (NBT). “Mass media presentation has an off-track focus, rather a lack of focus and preparation” as stated by the news anchor. The man, who had worked for numerous media and journalism outlets in Bangkok, went through a run-down of the biased opinions, politically censored, and corporately corrupt characteristics of the major news sources in the city. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, especially considering that the city of Bangkok is one of the largest hubs in Southeast Asia.

I finished grading the final exams of my students in Chiang Rai a few weeks ago, and have been traveling throughout southern Thailand and Malaysia since. Upon our return flight to Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur on February 24th, Kali and I took a shuttle bus to Khao San Road. We saw the thousands of red-shirted protesters marching the streets. As the bus dizzily weaved in and out of foot-traffic, we took pictures of the marchers as they smiled and waved. There was no fear, but rather smiles. There was not a feeling of tension in the air, but rather of fueled social activism.

Please look at the following illustration of that day published by the Los
Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-thailand-protest25-2009feb25-pg,0,6824945.photogallery).

Protests in Bangkok, Thailand
Riot police stand guard outside Government
House during an anti-government protest in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of
demonstrators who support deposed populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra are demanding the dissolution of parliament and fresh elections.
February 24, 2009

Then, take a look at the pictures I took with my own camera –granted I did not capture the entire day’s event, nor was I a reporter on the ground, but I still believe my depiction to be slightly more accurate. The L.A. Times took a fear approach, and I choose to take a human approach. I feel that similar “protests” in the United States would be seen as political activism and socially organized movements worth a more neutral depiction –in a foreign land, it is shown as aggressive protesting. In a quote from the same news anchor at True Visions, “If you don’t expose yourself to international contexts and cultures, it will eventually affect the way you tell the story.”

People not joining the movement appear to be just going about their day.

Notice the waving hands...they're waving at us on the bus.

To be fair, here is an article posted by Reuters on News Daily that paints a better picture: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre51o0m1-us-thailand-protest/.

Furthermore, what does this all mean? It means that as people, not as consumers, we owe it to ourselves and our planet to search out the most ethical and unbiased sources of news. They may not be perfect, but here are a few international sources that I recommend:

pulitzercenter.org
worldpoliticsreview.com
globalvoicesonline.com

-------------------------------------------------------------

Traveling for the next few weeks…be home soon…can’t wait to see you all.

Paige

Life's too short

Life is too short to spend energy, time, and money tearing down the happiness of other human beings. My cousin sent me the following email this morning and I would like to share it with anyone who has the compassion to understand.

Have you heard that Ken Starr -- and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund -- filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and attempting to forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year?

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, with a decision expected within 90 days. The Courage Campaign has created a video called "Fidelity," with the permission of musician Regina Spektor, that puts a face to those 18,000 couples and all loving, committed couples seeking full equality under the law.Please watch this heartbreaking video now. If you have the same reaction that I did, please help me spread the word by sharing it with your friends and family

The more people who see this video, the more people will understand the pain caused by Prop 8 and Ken Starr's shameful legal proceeding. After you watch the video, please join me and over 200,000 people who have signed a letter to the state Supreme Court, asking them to invalidate Prop 8 and reject Starr's case.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.


For more information: www.couragecampaign.org