Here Su Kyi said something to me and had a good joke and laugh after she was told I didn’t understand Burmese very well. Ko Ba Htoo Htoo, a young Botany student. He was led the first group of students to protest the currency changes in 1987. His first arrest was in early in…
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by Daniel Opacki While in Myanmar I often receive requests to give workshops, teach a class or provide teacher training. I rarely rejected any request. These photo’s are from two days of teaching Pronunciation and giving Teacher Training Workshops for teachers from Mon State. The teachers were first or second years public school teachers sent…
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by Daniel Opacki Bagan is, or was, a timeless place in the world. The unpaved region where temples and structures constructed across centuries sit are without the common tourist traps. The best way to get around is by motorbike or bicycle. You can safely wander small paths through the brush and experience the minor…
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Personal Leadership Training in the pre-collegiate program with students from IDP Camps in Kachin State. Students spend four to six months preparing for IELTS and regional college entrance exams
by Daniel Opacki Twenty-nine years later, in memory of August 8, 1988. At 11 PM on August 8, 2017, Burma’s 88 Generation student leaders, who where mostly high school or university students in 1988, gathered with family and friends before Yangon’s City Hall. Poets, artists, and musicians made speeches, read poetry, and sang songs…
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Walking from the Ministry of Education’s National English Language Center at Yangon University, I marveled at this old contraption a caretaker was pushing over the lawn of the Judson Baptist Church. A caretaker at Judson Baptist Church with an ancient lawnmower – very cool. It’s perfect for…
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by Daniel Opacki Several weeks have passed since I’ve read another duplicated criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi and her slipping/cracked/falling/lost/melting/peeling/oxidized/rusting/tarnished/shrinking/low-hanging halo. The metaphor of her “lost halo” and coming soon no doubt, her quest to reclaim it, may one day be akin to searching out the Holy Grail. We may see a Buddhist version…
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My Vietnam War, 50 Years Later
Author John Grant, a Vietnam War era veteran offers his reflections on his life during the Vietnam War. It’s rare an American writer references the Tale of Kieu, a narrative poem I read during my youth. I believed one day I’d also be going to Vietnam during the war. This is an important story and Grant sagely ends his article with a poignant assessment of modern American society and politics.
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Banknotes In Burma is a blog by Min Sun Min (from New York) who has some posting about banknotes and stamps in Burma. The link offers great detail about money in Burma, including the odd period when notes were 35, 35, 75, 90. He also explains the superstitious nature of the number 9 some of the Generals had a while back. Click on the name (link) at the beginning to read. 
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by Daniel Opacki Leading up to the 2007 Saffron Uprising some 1988 Generation student leaders were featured on “wanted dead or alive posters” in many police stations. One such Democracy activist was Aung Myo Tint. Aung was a high echelon antagonist closely aligned with Aung San Suu Kyi leading up to the 1988 Uprising. Following…
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