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[wwidsith]

In Laos, every man has to be a monk, at least for a little while. Some stay in a monastery for just a month or two, others for several years. A few never leave. It's kind of like national service, except that instead of learning how to kill people, you learn to be peaceful and think about things. Is it naive of me to think that if more countries

Comments

[rag_and_bone]

i think your next vacation should be a silent retreat.

[wwidsith]

Mmmm. That would be awesome. Maybe Mount Athos!

[chlomar]

Thanks so much for your posts about Laos. I just read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which is a book about the Hmong. It talked about the "secret war" in Laos, which I never knew much about. It seems like I'm destined to continue to find out about weird and horrible things that the US government has done over time as I continue through life. I was so idealistic and patriotic as a child...

[wwidsith]

Oh yeah, I bought that book before I came out here, but I haven't got around to reading it yet! What a coincidence! The US govt can be pretty scary, but they are very good in a lot of areas too. Anyway I think an important part of being patriotic is picking out where your own country has fucked up!

Hmong in West Phila.

[anonymous]

When I lived at 44th and Chestnut in West Philadephia in the late 1970s or so there was an influx of Hmong refugees settled in the next block. The resettlement organization did not do a good job teaching these new immigrants how to live in W. Phila. Hmong families didn't know that it was not okay to be packed into houses owned by unscrupulous landlords. They came from remote rural areas and didn't know how to use the plumbing or take out the garbage.

There was tension between black residents and the new Hmong residents. Rumours were that Hmong immigrants received large cash payments when they arrived here. Black residents were bitter. They felt that their children had been sent by the Army to kill these people and now they were here getting US paid benefits.

I watched kids playing in the alley behind my house, imitating American kids' games. They rolled marbles down planks. They jumped rope and counted 2,8, 6,33,27... any numbers they knew.
- Rachel W.

Re: Hmong in West Phila.

[wwidsith]

It's a pity your neighbours were so ill-informed...their children would have been fighting alongside Hmong rather than against them since they were almost all working with the US against the Communists. A lot of Hmong are still hiding in the hills in Laos, fearing reprisals....a group were captured in 2006 and imprisoned. It's amazing how long it all rumbles on.

Sounds like a pretty typical immigration story though....it's incredibly difficult to get it right.