I am reading Ernst Gellner's book, Nations and Nationalism for my class on nationalism in East Asia.  I have read this book several times (and blogged about it here and here and here) and I am quite aware of its… Continue reading

Yes, I fell off the end of the earth for a while.  My daughter has been auditioning for BFA acting programs and we've been on the road a fair amount the last couple of weeks – at the precise time… Continue reading

My home computer is still on the fritz, so I did not have a chance to post this yesterday.  It is my annual (ever since 2005) Thanksgiving reflection.  It has special meaning for me, five and a half years after… Continue reading

My title today is a response to this blog post by David Rohde: "Can Confucius save America's middle class?"  The title really doesn't fit the article, which discusses how a small American city, Bowling Green Kentucky, is attempting to leverage… Continue reading

Summer has distracted me…  Nothing really big; just a series of small trips and activities: a couple of days at the beach in Rhode Island; a quick jaunt to New York; a new garden pond in the back yard… all… Continue reading

Hard to believe that it is almost three years ago that I posted "Can a Black Man be Chinese?," a somewhat long (by blog standards) reflection on race, ethnicity and national identity.  And I would be remiss if I did… Continue reading

…is that the proper English antonym for filiality?  I find the nouns "filiality," as well as "filialness," in my OED.  But I don't find antonyms, using either the prefix "un-" or "a-."  I do find "unfilial" as an adjective, and… Continue reading

The polls are open in Singapore for their general election.  And it is shaping up as the most interesting one in many, many years.  Since 2006 political opposition has grown significantly, and young people are turning away from the tired… Continue reading

Just putting these ppts here so I can use them later… feel free to take a look (but beware, they are rather large ppt files): Download Cambodia Vietnam 2011 Download Yunnan2011 Continue reading