Distractions

*If you've ever played Simcity, you'll remember Arcologies, the massive buildings in which a person could happily live their entire lives without ever leaving (why? I have no clue). Paolo Soleri's concept of a city within a city, buildings which could house everything essential for a fulfilling life, has been realized in Vienna. Four massive gas tanks in the Simmering District have been transformed into full-fledged communities. Check out Vienna's Gasometers.

*The Village Voice covers a play called Church, the call of a modern day "Jeremiah" to her hipster brothers and sisters. Young-Jean Lee is an atheist who questioned her parents Christian views and is now in turn, questioning the views of "her fellow unbelievers."

*Ladies, want to get away? China may have the perfect solution, a town in which women make the rules and men get punished for disobedience.

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The Devil Made Me Do It*

When I was nine years old, I expressed some anger I had felt to my mother. In response, she offhandedly replied that these particular emotions were somehow caused by Satan. I remember being really angered by that answer. My mother is not the type to just toss out common Christian banalities and so her remark took me off guard. I felt that the comment careless and fairly illogical based on the situation. It was a bit out of character for her, but at nine, I didn't have the verbal skills to even begin to express what I felt, and I knew it, so I let it go.

So, 13 years later, I brought it up again, trying to figure out why she said it. I think the conclusion we reached was that she just hadn't been listening, and had just tossed an answer thoughtlessly. I can deal with that. But the conversation we had leading up to that conclusion was just as troubling as that conversation when I was nine. Maybe it's because I have a lot of friends who don't associate themselves with a religious community but I cringe when people say "The Devil this, Satan that..." I'm a huge fan of my parents, but I have a problem with life being simplified and divided between two categories into which everything must be sorted. I see the world in hues of gray.

I feel the profound frustration of the moderate Christian. My parents are by no means extremist, but they do see the world with greater contrast than I. But I choose to continue to see the world as a extremely complex mesh. I don't want to be so simplistic as to categorize everything...but is this the inexperience of youth? Do we who stand in this position choose to avoid confusion with the unwavering belief that in the end, there are only two sides, nothing is neutral? Is this the wiser choice? Or do we decide to believe that while there is good and evil, we choose to accept the confusion that comes with the gray patches and spend our lives exploring the overlap?

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Once Again...

See, every time I feel a glimmer of pride about my dear, supposed homeland...something like this pops up.
This is when I daydream about being Norwegian or Canadian. Of course, they committed war crimes too, but Norway only has several instances recorded; and Canada has about 1,700 on the books. This is still quite small compared to the US, Britain, and the Soviets as far as Allied troops go.

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I Tripped Somewhere

Have you ever paused, just for a moment, and realized you're not anywhere close to who you want to be? Has it happened mid-sentence in a conversation as you begin to wonder if you even know the person who is speaking? Do you want to just stop and say, "Wait a second, this isn't who I really am, but I don't know how to show you that person, I don't know if that person exists any more,"? Has it happened as you reel from the shame of something you can't let go of, something that is slowly eating away at you? Has it happened as you realize you've betrayed the wide-eyed kid with all those dreams so many years ago? Or is it all of the above?

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Nomadism 101: The Most Beautiful Thing...*

This post and the three before it are expandable (as indicated by the *'s). Enjoy.


Introducing the new Singapore National Library...oh yes, it's love at first sight.

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Nomadism 101: Reflected*

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Nomadism 101: The Food*

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Nomadism 101: Singapore Sights*

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Nomadism 101: Welcome Home*

Tonight there are a few things that have struck me about being back in Singapore for the first time since in 17 years. It's the first time I've revisited a place from my early childhood. There is this strange feeling that I've found home (I've always said I've found home in people...this is very true, I'm a cultural nomad after all, but this place feels like home, the first place that has really done that) triggered by familiar things I haven't seen in 17 years and confused by the fact that this city has become a very different place in those years. to be visiting a city where although the government is currently well behaved (slight bratty behavior notwithstanding) the citizens are used to living under restrictive rules and almost complete surveillance. But that's all for later...right now, I'm going to talk about food.
A few of my Mom's friends took us out to LingZhi, a vegetarian Chinese restaurant, which some people apparently consider the best vegetarian restaurant in Singapore, which is saying a lot. An interesting note: LingZhi's philosophy is not to do “fake” anything. You're not going to find mock duck or chicken here. No gluten is found on the menu, though tofu is heavily used. Sure, some of the flavors might be quite meaty, but they're not in the business of imitation. I will say that while this is a pretty darn cool philosophy...I'm not against the other form of vegetarian dining either. After all, Chijuya, one of my favorite restaurants in Bangkok is all about creating near perfect vegetarian versions of Japanese and Taiwanese meat dishes. But back to LingZhi: I'm no New York Times food critic, and I can't remember the entire meal, there was just so much, but here are some highlights.
The meal began with a "rock n' roll salad": a variety of dark greens, mushrooms, a few cucumbers, several sliced slices of strawberry, and a herbalicious (I know, I know...just...shhhh) are placed in a large bottle which is then corked, shaken, and then re-opened and the contents served. This is followed by a seaweed/spinach soup served in a tall, narrow bamboo bowl.
After this, servings started coming quite fast, but a few of the highlights included monkey head mushrooms in a delicious honey glaze of some sort (I wouldn't have known they were mushrooms, they seemed more like meaty chunks of ... something), sauted and fried tofu on skewers (each piece of tofu prepared in a slightly different way, from crunchy to very moist) in a peanut sauce, and dark brown noodles with snow peas. The meal ended with some really great dim sum and a variety of desserts we all passed around. I don't think I've been this excited about food in literally years...I spent half the time just reveling in flavor combinations I hadn't dreamed of before.


I still am missing a camera from my life, so I owe these cool people a thank you for having pictures of LingZhi's dishes:
Aroma Cookery and Richard J. Steiner

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The Edges*

There is some music, a very small quantity really, that takes hold of your heart and flies you to places you have never seen. In a single line it can tear away your armor and make you completely vulnerable. When I was a kid, it was so much easier to find music that did this; perhaps it is because everything was new to me.
But I'm glad it is harder to experience such intensely spiritual spaces...like C.S. Lewis' two encounters with JOY, there is so much more value to a moment that occurs only a few times in a life. James Newton Howard's theme for M. Night Shymalan's Lady in the Water pulls me into one of these moments.
The film itself is perhaps a subject for another day, but I will say that it effected me like few other stories have since I was dragged kicking and screaming into jaded adolescence. Now that I'm supposedly an adult, I'm thankful for the art that lets me touch the edge of my understanding every so often. There are places only music and poetry can take us, far beyond our earth-bound feet. Go find a quiet space...dig up that mp3 or cd or record that used to leave you gasping for breath, curl up in a little ball, and remember the innocence of awe and feel the edges of a universe you can barely understand.
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A Galaxy of Me

I am still young in my artistic journey and so I may not have all my facts straight, but I felt I stumbled onto something insightful today. I should not, many of the things I am saying apply to us as humans in general, but I felt like there was additional meaning or weight for those of us who consider ourselves artists.
We artists tend to dig deep within ourselves, constantly searching for our capricious muses and in that search, I think we tend to become a little self-centered. We see other's experiences and hear their words through the filter of our own experiences and memories. We levitate in the center of our own personal galaxies, the bits of our diaries whizzing around us in tight orbits; in our little galaxies, the personal experiences of others are reduced to minor wandering stars.
But I believe that one of the responsibilities of an artist is to open the eyes of the watching world to what life is like in another person's shoes. So all I want is the ability to escape my galaxy and hitch a ride on a wandering star, discovering all the secrets and stories it carries. In the end, we are all just sibling stars in whirling orbit around a greater mystery. If I cannot reach out and feel the fiery beauty of another's life, I am simply a slowly dying ember in the dark.

Yes, if you were curious, the image does come from The Fountain, go see it.

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Introductions

I've been looking at the map here at The Nomad Chronicles every few days or so and I've noticed that all kinds visitors from interesting places keep popping up on the map. I'd love to know a little about the people behind the dots. So if you're wiling to pull back your veils of anonymity, say hi, leave a message, I'd love to know more about you.

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The Colors of Lunch

I was cooking lunch today and was struck by all the colors of the garlic, tempeh, and bell peppers so with my trusty Mac's built in camera (you use what you can), I took a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.



And the final result:

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