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by Joyce Audy Zarins If someone from a school overseas invited you to do an author or artist residency in connection with your picture book what would you do? I said yes even before I knew the particulars. If that would be your reaction, there are a few things you may want to consider to […]

Iceland, 2015 Being invited for an artist or author residency is such an honor. Last May I went to northern Iceland for a week long artist residency to help seventy kids in grades one to ten paint murals. The school was Valsárskóli in Svalbarðsströnd, which is across the fjord from where my son Eric and […]

Today we walked among snow-encrusted trees at Maudslay State Park and an idea came to me. Now that I have drawn it, let me explain. Symbols can be powerful. Consider Gerald Holtom’s peace symbol, which he designed for the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War in the fifties. It is now widely used and is […]

In this terrific TedX talk, author Linda Sue Park talks about a path to changing the world. Life is not fair, but stories engage the minds of those who can develop empathy and act in heroic ways. Bookmark

This is a review of two books with different target audiences that have one mission: to share some of the treasures and history of the Forbidden City in China with the world. They are voices from the other side of the globe. Can you hear them? Bowls of Happiness: Treasures from China and the Forbidden […]

This post is #4 in a series. The earlier ones are here, here and here. This article also appears on another blog, here on WritersRumpus.com. We see hundreds of excellent children’s books each year published here in the U.S., but what about those published in other countries? The rest of the world is producing books […]

The New York Times Op Docs today offered 45 minutes of beautiful wisdom. Humans can cause peace. Bookmark

Yours truly on the streets of Siem Reap, Cambodia

This past summer I took a trip to the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Trips that take in a different culture firsthand are a great way to broaden one’s perspective as a citizen of the world. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I hope these photos give you a glimpse of what my trip was like.

My boys standing in the Angkor Wat temple

Our first stop was Siem Reap, Cambodia. We were there to see the temples built in the early 12th century. The temples were truly magnificent.

shots of Angkor Thom temple

Years ago, I visited several great cathedrals in Europe, but the Cambodian temples were different. I know these were holy places, but their scope and size exuded a feeling of tranquility and reverence that I have rarely felt before.

traffic in Ho Chi Minh City

What was most shocking about Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was the traffic. Being from New York, the hustle and bustle of city life is second nature, but Ho Chi Minh City blew me away.

entire family on scooter

While the population of Ho Chi Minh City is nine million people, compared with the eight million who live in New York City, the traffic is much worse in Vietnam because of the lack of mass transit. Crossing the street was actually scary! If you ever go there and want to cross the street, remember to walk—not run—and the traffic magically flows around you. Coincidentally, The New York Times ran a piece on this very same topic in Hanoi, which I can confirm is just as crazy as Ho Chi Minh City.

shots from the Cu Chi tunnel

The Cu Chi tunnels consist of seventy-five miles of underground tunnels. The tunnels essentially allowed the Viet Cong to win the Vietnam War. The tunnels go deep into the ground and were very cramped and claustrophobic. When I took history in school, the Vietnam War was not explored in much detail. However, in Vietnam, the War is a topic of national pride.

People working at the night market in Siem Reap

In all the places we visited, the people were open and friendly. Vietnam is the first Communist country I have visited. My preconceived notion of a Communist-ruled country was that its people would lack ambition and drive, but this proved false. From what I saw, the people were very hard working.

Multicultural cuisine from Vietnam

Throughout the trip the food was wonderful. And cheap! We had top-notch meals for a total of $10.00 to $12.00 per person, which included our bar tab. You can find a meal for $3.00 to $4.00 per person as well, but it won’t be any good. We chose to splurge!

our boat in Ha Long Bay

The finale of the trip was staying on a boat for two nights while sailing among the islands of Ha Long Bay in Northern Vietnam. Ha Long Bay is one of the seven natural wonders of Asia.

Ha Long Bay

The 1,900 small, uninhabited, limestone islands in Ha Long Bay were one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my life. I felt as if I were in Middle-earth or Pandora. I think these film directors may have borrowed their visions from either visiting or seeing pictures of Ha Long Bay.

Another shot from Ha Long Bay

I am always moved by trips like this one, but it takes effort not to let the memories fade as one becomes re-immersed in the daily grind. Looking at my photos and thinking about the trip makes me want to explore other places in Southeast Asia and experience more. If anyone cares to reminisce about past trips I never get tired of hearing about people’s travels—they are my favorite stories to hear.

Image via Wikipedia

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K-9 Transportation

“You know how much gas could be saved if we just like uhh used dogs for transportation. Geez man like people have dogs as pets. If you did the numbers I bet the dog population is almost equal to the human population, but guess what: this untapped resource isn’t used at all. I mean think of it this way. People take dogs for walks and people train dogs by making them run, we should just use this to our advantage and use them like Iceland Eskimo dudes use them as transportation”

Yes, we should. If I did the number crunch and calculated a K-9’s daily routine checkup and maintenance versus the maintenance and upkeep on my 2005 Honda Civic it would probably be a lot cheaper. Plus anything dog or not would be cuter than my car. Even though Dan doesn’t make his point clear I agree, when are we going to use chariots of K-9 dogs like those “Iceland Eskimo dudes”?

Free Beer for MEN

“Duuuude, I don’t understand something okay? How come in society men are the ones who offer women drinks? It’s CRAZY what happened to Equal Rights? What happened to the fight for women’s suffrage? I think that Women should buy drinks for Men. Duude clubs and bars are also sometimes sexist man I can’t get a drink or something like that because I’m a man, but damn it I’m a man and I’m proud of it don’t hate on me because of my gender I won’t be discriminated anymore”

Dan’s rant about sexism in society might seem sexist itself, but I think his whole rant is just explaining one thing that is on the minds of many males when they go out and that is Free BEER. When are men going to get free drinks like Dan says? When are men going to be free from discrimination? I don’t know, but I hope it will be soon like next friday.

Video Games Instead of Wars

“Hey dude let me tell you something. Video Games are the future. Everyone plays them, hell, everyone has at least a damn game system in their house whether it be their computer or some rusted old piece of crap nintendo 64. We should like uhh use video games to resolve conflicts instead of fighting wars. I mean video games prove skill man. I mean I always play video games with my roommate Kyle to see who should do the dishes. The better guy wins so hell let’s just forget fighting these pointless wars and pick up the next game of Mario Tennis.”

I agree. We should stop trying to find a way to get global peace in the world and just find other ways to release our aggression: instead of throwing bombs we throw koopa shells, instead of killing each other we should race in Mario Kart. It would all be better if we stop trying to end fighting altogether and sit down and see “Who is really the better person, nation, etc”.

The Government Should Research Superpowers

“Superpowers are so cool dude. I mean hell why doesn’t anyone have em yet? I bet if the massive government invested like 100 billion dollars into some sort of research we’d find something. I want to be like Captain American man. I want that cool suit and be able to kick ass with like my super speed or something uhh or whatever he’s able to do. Damn man next time like a politician promises something like superpowers I’d go register to vote ASAP.”

Dan’s right hell we should be able to have superpowers. It is almost our god given rights as Americans. We should be able to leap over buildings, fly across the country without planes, and we should be given the right to kick major ass. The government does give us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but when are they going to give us the right to superpowers?

Dan might be a complete idiot to many people, but he’s a hell of a better “thinker” than I am. I included basically the gist of what my friend tells me, but if you really want to know how the world could be a better place buy a couple of beers and head over to Dan’s place and he’ll be sure to tell you.

K-9 Transportation

“You know how much gas could be saved if we just like uhh used dogs for transportation. Geez man like people have dogs as pets. If you did the numbers I bet the dog population is almost equal to the human population, but guess what: this untapped resource isn’t used at all. I mean think of it this way. People take dogs for walks and people train dogs by making them run, we should just use this to our advantage and use them like Iceland Eskimo dudes use them as transportation”

Yes, we should. If I did the number crunch and calculated a K-9’s daily routine checkup and maintenance versus the maintenance and upkeep on my 2005 Honda Civic it would probably be a lot cheaper. Plus anything dog or not would be cuter than my car. Even though Dan doesn’t make his point clear I agree, when are we going to use chariots of K-9 dogs like those “Iceland Eskimo dudes”?

Free Beer for MEN

“Duuuude, I don’t understand something okay? How come in society men are the ones who offer women drinks? It’s CRAZY what happened to Equal Rights? What happened to the fight for women’s suffrage? I think that Women should buy drinks for Men. Duude clubs and bars are also sometimes sexist man I can’t get a drink or something like that because I’m a man, but damn it I’m a man and I’m proud of it don’t hate on me because of my gender I won’t be discriminated anymore”

Dan’s rant about sexism in society might seem sexist itself, but I think his whole rant is just explaining one thing that is on the minds of many males when they go out and that is Free BEER. When are men going to get free drinks like Dan says? When are men going to be free from discrimination? I don’t know, but I hope it will be soon like next friday.

Video Games Instead of Wars

“Hey dude let me tell you something. Video Games are the future. Everyone plays them, hell, everyone has at least a damn game system in their house whether it be their computer or some rusted old piece of crap nintendo 64. We should like uhh use video games to resolve conflicts instead of fighting wars. I mean video games prove skill man. I mean I always play video games with my roommate Kyle to see who should do the dishes. The better guy wins so hell let’s just forget fighting these pointless wars and pick up the next game of Mario Tennis.”

I agree. We should stop trying to find a way to get global peace in the world and just find other ways to release our aggression: instead of throwing bombs we throw koopa shells, instead of killing each other we should race in Mario Kart. It would all be better if we stop trying to end fighting altogether and sit down and see “Who is really the better person, nation, etc”.

The Government Should Research Superpowers

“Superpowers are so cool dude. I mean hell why doesn’t anyone have em yet? I bet if the massive government invested like 100 billion dollars into some sort of research we’d find something. I want to be like Captain American man. I want that cool suit and be able to kick ass with like my super speed or something uhh or whatever he’s able to do. Damn man next time like a politician promises something like superpowers I’d go register to vote ASAP.”

Dan’s right hell we should be able to have superpowers. It is almost our god given rights as Americans. We should be able to leap over buildings, fly across the country without planes, and we should be given the right to kick major ass. The government does give us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but when are they going to give us the right to superpowers?

Dan might be a complete idiot to many people, but he’s a hell of a better “thinker” than I am. I included basically the gist of what my friend tells me, but if you really want to know how the world could be a better place buy a couple of beers and head over to Dan’s place and he’ll be sure to tell you.

… FSU’s associate general counsel D. Michael Cramer asked that the student union’s policy be more in line with the university’s, which does not include sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and socio-economic status.

My bottom line is I don’t write about my former jobs unless I have positive things to say, but given the FSU-centricity of Tallahassee, this story is much broader than My Former Place Of Work (MFPOW). Yesterday (after a flurry of emails that were soon circulating city-wide) the Florida State University Student Union Board rejected a proposal from FSU’s general counsel, D. Michael Cramer, to remove protection for sexual orientation from the Student Union Board’s anti-discrimination policy.

At last week’s conference, Jan Ison quoted another librarian who once said libraries should avoid doing things that make them look stupid. Of all the things FSU had to worry about — including the budget crisis — this was a priority? Please, Cramer, you make FSU look stupid.

The Democrat covered this story — good for them! — and noted that the big school down the street (University of Florida at Gainesville, gallingly known as UF, as if there were only one, not eleven) had much stronger anti-discriminatory policies. Not noted in the story is that UF also offers its faculty domestic partner health benefits.

Giving up protections and benefits was part of the package deal of moving here, and MFPOW wasn’t worse than anywhere else in the immediate area. The state itself offers little protection (and is busy trying to Defend Marriage when it really needs to be defending public services and figuring out how to fix the budget and insurance crises).

State institutions that want to compete outside of Florida (you know… like with other ARL institutions) need to work around painfully backward state laws and policies — and these institutions are often attempting to provide equal rights and benefits in an environment that enables the D. Michael Cramers of the world to feel free to get up in front of students and propose removing protections from a nebbishly little student government policy. Doesn’t spell well for future reforms.

When locals go on and on about how “great” it is here, I need to start saying “Yes, but.” A little awareness wouldn’t hurt.

Bookmark to:

… FSU’s associate general counsel D. Michael Cramer asked that the student union’s policy be more in line with the university’s, which does not include sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and socio-economic status.

My bottom line is I don’t write about my former jobs unless I have positive things to say, but given the FSU-centricity of Tallahassee, this story is much broader than My Former Place Of Work (MFPOW). Yesterday (after a flurry of emails that were soon circulating city-wide) the Florida State University Student Union Board rejected a proposal from FSU’s general counsel, D. Michael Cramer, to remove protection for sexual orientation from the Student Union Board’s anti-discrimination policy.

At last week’s conference, Jan Ison quoted another librarian who once said libraries should avoid doing things that make them look stupid. Of all the things FSU had to worry about — including the budget crisis — this was a priority? Please, Cramer, you make FSU look stupid.

The Democrat covered this story — good for them! — and noted that the big school down the street (University of Florida at Gainesville, gallingly known as UF, as if there were only one, not eleven) had much stronger anti-discriminatory policies. Not noted in the story is that UF also offers its faculty domestic partner health benefits.

Giving up protections and benefits was part of the package deal of moving here, and MFPOW wasn’t worse than anywhere else in the immediate area. The state itself offers little protection (and is busy trying to Defend Marriage when it really needs to be defending public services and figuring out how to fix the budget and insurance crises).

State institutions that want to compete outside of Florida (you know… like with other ARL institutions) need to work around painfully backward state laws and policies — and these institutions are often attempting to provide equal rights and benefits in an environment that enables the D. Michael Cramers of the world to feel free to get up in front of students and propose removing protections from a nebbishly little student government policy. Doesn’t spell well for future reforms.

When locals go on and on about how “great” it is here, I need to start saying “Yes, but.” A little awareness wouldn’t hurt.

Bookmark to: