elanya

For my lecture next Tuesday, I want to talk about subcultures and counter-culture movements, both in the US and elsewhere. Any suggestions as to interesting groups I could look at briefly? :)

The point really is to show that culture is dynamic and people respond to cultural pressures in different ways.

I am going to be talking about the Hmong in my class next week, so I have been reading a lot about them - about their history, the Silent War in Laos, how they were used by the CIA to fight local communists, and then abandoned after the Americans withdrew from the area and the Pathet Lao took over the country.

Many made a difficult, peril-filled journey to refugee camps in Thailand, the larges of which was Ban Vinai. The camp was closed in 1992, and many of the remaining Hmong were sent back to Laos, or forced to emigrate to other countries.

Those who returned to Laos still face problems with the local government because of their involvement in the war. Some never left Laos, and are, along with their families, still actively targeted by Laotian troops.

One of the things I came across during my image hunts was this slide show hosted by the New York times, and the related story talking about the experiences of Hmong groups who are essentially still on the run, almost 35 years after the 'end' of the war...

Dictionary.com doesn't have a definition for infrastructure o_O Is that... a joke? I'm confused.

In other o_O moments today, am sad for Texans who can't spell "y'all"

Since his weekend, there has been an orange fluffy kitty hanging around my complex, meowing loudly. Yesterday he accosted me loudly as I was leaving the house. he was very friendly, but has clearly been outside for some time. I took pity and set out some food and watr for hi as I went off to school. he was back this morning, and followed me and Jola up the steps as I brought her out, and hung around for a while, meowing again. I went back out and petted him - he is smelly and gross, as tends to happen with longhair kitties who are outside for much time. He also has a balding (mange?) patch on his head. I left him some milk, and came back in.,

Apparently I didn't close the door properly because a few minutes later he was poking his head in my study o_O Stealth kitty - J didn't even notice until I'd picked him up (to be fair, she was sleeping on the bed in another room). Picked him up, tried to put him out, he ran back in! Well, kitty, you are very sweet and all, but this is not a good day for me to deal with you! I did give him a better look over, and considered trying to bath him, but decided against as I was wearing short sleeves :p

Oh, what to do, what to do.... I have no doubts he'll be back :p he s very loud and meowy, as I've said, but Mittens has soured me a bit on having a kitty for the moment :p He's definitely a 'he', and is probably an adolescent kitty. He isn't terribly thin, either, so I doubt he is too malnourished. Who knows re: worms and such though :/ I'm not comfortable bringing him in the house (well, on purpose) if he might have mange though...

In other news, today is my first day of actual teaching. Wish me luck!

I am looking for films to show in my class later this term, or as extra credit. but I haven't seen a lot of these films, so it is hard for me to judge!

I am thinking of getting them out from the library on Saturday and sitting down to have a mini anthropology film festival. Anyone interested?

I don't know what all I'll be screening yet, but I definitely want to check out In The Land of the War Canoes, which is a 1911 silent film about the Kwakiutl. Probably that and one or two other things, possibly short ones.

Ummm... for the moment this is dependent on either picking movies they have on DVD or borrowing or acquiring a VCR -_-