Simon's Blog

Since arriving in Thailand, I’ve traveled to various communities and have enjoyed the people and the simplicity of life here. One of my daily experiences is the problematic nature of the outdoor environment. Thailand is beautiful, but having to constantly think about water, air, and land quality takes away from my experience. The air quality is unbearable during the months of March to June. But despite the haze and health consequences, the burning continues each year. It seems to be a way of life that has become deeply entrenched in the culture. Although this issue is complicated and may take years to resolve, a handful of communities have taken the matter into their own hands. Several villages are working together to clean up the air and water. Still, there’s resistance from locals who prefer to clear the land by burning.   “With long-term exposure the number of deaths rise every year,” Dr Chaicharn Pothirat, who lectures at Chiang Mai University Faculty of Medicine, sai...

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.     The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth, and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man --- all belong to the same family. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he ...

Sun Ra was an American jazz composer known for his experimental music. For much of his career, he led the band called "The Arkestra.” He was involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. He soon abandoned his birth name, becoming Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun) claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace. As a teenager, Sun Ra demonstrated exceptional musical talent. He went to big band performances and would produce full transcriptions of the bands' songs from memory. By his mid-teens, he was performing semi-professionally as a solo pianist and member of various ad hoc jazz and R&B groups. He dropped out of college stating that he had a visionary experience. He claimed, “a bright light appeared around him and that he landed on a planet identified as Saturn. I was told me to stop attending college and that the world was going into complete chaos and that I would speak through music. In 1942, Sun Ra received a selective servic...

Indira Gandhi was born into the Brahmin community of India. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the 1st prime minister of India and a leading figure in the movement for independence from British rule. She grew up with her mother, Kamala Nehru on a large family estate in Allahabad. She was taught mostly by tutors and attended school sporadically. She would continue her education at the University of Oxford where she studied history, political science, and economics.   Upon her father's death in 1964, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and became Minister of Information. At the time, India was reliant on the US for food aid and Gandhi resented the fact that food aid was being used as a tool to force India to adopt policies favored by the US. Also, relations with the US were strained under President Richard Nixon’s favoring of Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. At the end of 1977, she domin...

Soy milk is consumed as a nutritious and vegan substitute for milk. With its creamy texture and non-dairy composition, soy milk was created to offer many health benefits such as lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of cancer.  The US government began cultivating soy to feed livestock and to produce raw material such as oil, fuel, and plastic. But soy milk continues to be  consumed by lactose intolerant people and by those who wanted a milk substitute. One of the issues with the early production of soy milk was its bitter flavor, which people found unpalatable.   Later, Vitasoy began selling soy milk in curvy glass bottles like a soft drink served in the additional flavors of chocolate and malt.  Once recognized as a profitable  product, many companies began selling it. By the 1960s, the quality of soy milk improved drastically as the flavor was altered. By the 1990s, the majority of the population in most countries began acknowledging the health benefits ...