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 of rebellion and unity….
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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…
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New buses are good news for Yangon’s riders By Daniel 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…
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By Daniel Opacki
Over the years I’ve known hundreds of ex-political prisoners (XPP’s) in Burma/Myanmar, and I’ve met hundreds more. During uncountable conversations and interviews, I have never run across a single of Myanmar’s thousands and thousands of XPP’s who took pride in their sacrifice, or claimed that their sacrifice meant significantly more than that of another.Read More
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.
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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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Many of the famous 1988 Generation student leaders arrested after the 1988 uprising released from prison before the 2007 Saffron Uprising occurred. When freed from prison most returned to the Democracy movement immediately. As tensions increased leading up to the 2007 uprising, some of the 88 Generation leaders were hunted down and arrested. Whomever political activists…
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Little clouds of dust floated lazily on the air from the pattering feet of people who looked as if they were from not a single place but many places. The young men in Mae La wore jeans and old tattered shirts washed clean and had facial features I recognized from photographs of people in…
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One of the most enjoyable aspects to traveling in Burma, now Myanmar, is crossing paths with children eager to try their English. Some are just curious and wish to try out a “Hello!” Sometimes after hearing my “Hello” they would giggle or laugh and run off or at times the real chatty ones wish to…
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