Podcasts about Khmer

Pour la première fois à Paris est exposé un morceau du Vishnou couché du Mébon occidental. Une statue de plus de cinq mètres de longueur ainsi que certains de ses morceaux. Des pièces qui ont été longtemps séparées et qui sont rassemblées pour l'exposition «Bronzes Royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin». Cet événement rassemble aussi plus de 200 artéfacts de l'art Khmer. À la veille de la nuit européenne des Musées, on a choisi de pousser la porte du musée Guimet, le musée national des arts asiatiques qui proposera demain une programmation spéciale tournée vers l'art et la sculpture du Cambodge. Et pour cause : Guimet abrite depuis quelques semaines l'exposition Bronzes royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin avec en vedette -s'il est permis de parler ainsi d'une divinité - le grand Vishnou du Mebone. Un bronze monumental qui a fait le voyage de Pnom Penh à Paris il y a un an pour y être analysé, restauré et donc aujourd'hui présenté au public. Certains parlent de lui comme de la «Joconde du Cambodge» pour attester de son importance dans la statuaire khmère. Il a en tout cas le même sourire –doux et énigmatique- que la Mona Lisa du Louvre.   Pierre Baptiste et David Bourgarit, commissaires de l'exposition, sont les invités de Sur le pont des arts. L'exposition Bronzes Royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin est à voir au musée Guimet à Paris jusqu'au 8 septembre 2025. Au programme de l'émission :► Reportage En direct du festival de Cannes, Isabelle Chenu nous fait un point sur les premiers films projetés durant les trois premiers jours.  ► Chronique Histoire de rireDamien Roucou nous fait découvrir l'humoriste Jordan Rotella. Avec « perruques, gloss et folie », le comédien imite à tour de rôle des vedettes internationales ou françaises comme Afida Turner, Kris Jenner, Natasha St-Pier ou encore Cristina Cordula. ► Playlist du jourVictor Solf - Que le coeurOriginal Koffee - Koffee.

Pour la première fois à Paris est exposé un morceau du Vishnou couché du Mébon occidental. Une statue de plus de cinq mètres de longueur ainsi que certains de ses morceaux. Des pièces qui ont été longtemps séparées et qui sont rassemblées pour l'exposition «Bronzes Royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin». Cet événement rassemble aussi plus de 200 artéfacts de l'art Khmer. À la veille de la nuit européenne des Musées, on a choisi de pousser la porte du musée Guimet, le musée national des arts asiatiques qui proposera demain une programmation spéciale tournée vers l'art et la sculpture du Cambodge. Et pour cause : Guimet abrite depuis quelques semaines l'exposition Bronzes royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin avec en vedette -s'il est permis de parler ainsi d'une divinité - le grand Vishnou du Mebone. Un bronze monumental qui a fait le voyage de Pnom Penh à Paris il y a un an pour y être analysé, restauré et donc aujourd'hui présenté au public. Certains parlent de lui comme de la «Joconde du Cambodge» pour attester de son importance dans la statuaire khmère. Il a en tout cas le même sourire –doux et énigmatique- que la Mona Lisa du Louvre.   Pierre Baptiste et David Bourgarit, commissaires de l'exposition, sont les invités de Sur le pont des arts. L'exposition Bronzes Royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin est à voir au musée Guimet à Paris jusqu'au 8 septembre 2025. Au programme de l'émission :► Reportage En direct du festival de Cannes, Isabelle Chenu nous fait un point sur les premiers films projetés durant les trois premiers jours.  ► Chronique Histoire de rireDamien Roucou nous fait découvrir l'humoriste Jordan Rotella. Avec « perruques, gloss et folie », le comédien imite à tour de rôle des vedettes internationales ou françaises comme Afida Turner, Kris Jenner, Natasha St-Pier ou encore Cristina Cordula. ► Playlist du jourVictor Solf - Que le coeurOriginal Koffee - Koffee.

Nguyên là đại sứ Pháp tại Việt Nam từ 1989 đến 1993, ông Claude Blanchemaison vừa cho ra mắt độc giả ở Pháp một cuốn sách gần như là hồi ký của một nhà ngoại giao. Tác giả đặt tựa cho quyển sách là “Fragments d'un parcours aventureux” ( tạm dịch là “Những phân đoạn của một hành trình kỳ thú” ). Ngoài Việt Nam, ông Blanchemaison đã từng là đại sứ ở các nước Ấn Độ, Nga, Tadjikistan và Tây Ban Nha và cũng đã từng giữ nhiều chức vụ cao cấp trong bộ Ngoại Giao Pháp. Hiện là một chuyên gia về châu Âu và châu Á, ông vẫn thường xuyên bình luận về thời sự quốc tế trên các kênh truyền hình và truyền thanh của Pháp. Cuốn sách của ông “Sống với Putin” đã nhận được giải Jacques Fouchier của Viện Hàn lâm Pháp năm 2020. Trả lời phỏng vấn RFI Việt ngữ, cựu đại sứ Blanchemaison kể lại, vào ngày 24/02/2022 (đúng vào ngày Putin xua quân xâm lăng Ukraina !), khi đang ở một nhà hàng ở Paris ông đã bước hụt và bị ngã, vỡ cả hai đầu gối, nên phải được phẫu thuật và phải nằm viện một thời gian dài do chấn thương đầu gối khá nghiêm trọng. Chính trong thời gian đó mà Claude Blanchemaison nảy ra ý định viết một cuốn sách kể lại đời mình từ thuở thiếu niên cho đến ngày nay, nhưng phần lớn tác phẩm này được dành cho sự nghiệp rất dài của một nhà ngoại giao kỳ cựu, mà một trong những chặng đường mà ông đã đi qua là Việt Nam: Rồi một ngày đầu năm 1989, tôi được thông báo: "Họ đang suy tính bổ nhiệm ông làm đại sứ tại Việt Nam". Một khả năng khá là chắc chắn và tôi thậm chí còn được mời tham gia một phái đoàn của bộ trưởng Nông Nghiệp Pháp đến thăm Việt Nam vào tháng 2/1989. Thế là tôi đã đến đó cùng với ông và đã khám phá Việt Nam với những cảnh quan tuyệt đẹp. Tháp tùng bộ trưởng Nông Nghiệp Henri Nallet, chúng tôi đã đến Hà Nội và Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, nơi chúng tôi gặp các giám đốc của các viện nông học đã từng du học ở Pháp và về cơ bản đã duy trì được mạng lưới hợp tác trong lĩnh vực nông nghiệp, hợp tác với các kỹ sư nông nghiệp Việt Nam và Pháp. Đây gần như là lĩnh vực duy nhất thực sự có sự hợp tác, ngoài lĩnh vực ngôn ngữ, nghĩa là giảng dạy tiếng Pháp và duy trì đội ngũ giáo viên dạy tiếng Pháp. Tôi nhận thấy rằng người Việt Nam luôn có thông tin đầy đủ: Một trong những phiên dịch viên nói với  tôi: “ Có tin đồn rằng ngài sẽ đến Việt Nam với tư cách là đại sứ, vậy khi nào ngài sẽ đến?” Vị đại sứ trẻ Claude Blanchemaison đã nhậm chức đại sứ Pháp tại Việt Nam năm 1989, vào một thời điểm rất đặc biệt: Việt Nam vẫn còn bị Mỹ cấm vận, nhưng bắt đầu mở cửa với thế giới và  cải cách kinh tế, trong khi đó cuộc chiến ở Cam Bốt vẫn chưa kết thúc hoàn toàn. Blanchemaison kể lại những ngày đầu tiên ông đại diện cho nước Pháp ở Việt Nam: Đối với tôi, đó quả là một thách thức, vì chỉ thị mà tôi nhận được từ tổng thống và ngoại trưởng là nối lại quan hệ với Việt Nam, nối lại hợp tác bất cứ khi nào có thể và giúp đỡ Việt Nam. Vào thời điểm đó, Việt Nam còn nghèo đói sau hơn 30 năm chiến tranh với Pháp, với Mỹ và sau đó Việt Nam đánh đuổi Khmer Đỏ ra khỏi Cam Bốt, khiến Trung Quốc tức giận và đã đánh sang miền bắc Việt Nam. Và như ông có nói, lệnh cấm vận của Mỹ rất nghiêm ngặt và thực tế là tình trạng kinh tế của đất nước rất khó khăn. Khi tôi đến thì Việt Nam đã quyết định thi hành chính sách Đổi Mới, tức là cải cách kinh tế. hơi giống với những gì Trung Quốc đã và đang là từ trước đó một thời gian, đó là chuyển từ nền kinh tế tập trung, kế hoạch hóa sang nền kinh tế thị trường mang màu sắc Việt Nam. Nhưng vấn đề là chưa có một khuôn khổ pháp lý. Chỉ có quyết tâm chuyển sang nền kinh tế thị trường không thì chưa đủ, mà cần có những luật lệ, quy định, thể chế phù hợp với nền kinh tế thị trường. Và đó là nhiệm vụ đầu tiên của tôi. Phía Việt Nam hỏi tôi liệu có thể tìm được người trợ giúp họ, tư vấn cho họ về việc soạn thảo bộ Luật Thương mại không?Thật tình cờ là khi đó có một luật gia người Pháp rất nổi tiếng, là một trong những chánh án Tòa Phúc thẩm Paris, ông Pierre Bizard, sinh ra tại Việt Nam. Cha ông làm việc trong chính quyền Pháp và từng công tác ở Việt Nam. Ông Pierre Bizard đã tình nguyện đến Việt Nam rất thường xuyên, trong các chuyến đi 8 ngày hoặc 15 ngày để làm việc với nhóm của bộ trưởng Tư Pháp Việt Nam về bộ Luật Thương mại Việt Nam, vì ưu tiên là phải có khuôn khổ pháp lý để chuyển sang nền kinh tế thị trường. Hơn nữa, khi đó bộ Tài chính Pháp cũng có một cơ quan hợp tác với nước ngoài, đứng đầu là một thanh tra tài chính rất nổi tiếng vào thời điểm đó, ông Jacques de Chalendar. Ông de Chalendar nói: "Chúng ta có thể huy động chuyên môn của các công chức, phó giám đốc, giám đốc của chúng ta tại bộ Tài Chính". Và ông đã tổ chức hợp tác với bộ Tài Chính Việt Nam để Việt Nam có một kho bạc thực sự và một tổng cục thuế thực sự. Có nghĩa là, giống như bất kỳ Nhà nước hiện đại nào, thuế phải được thu theo đúng luật, theo các quy định pháp lý, và tiền thuế được đưa về trung ương, tức là về Hà Nội, về bộ Tài Chính, rồi sau đó việc phân bổ ngân sách phải thực hiện dựa trên ngân sách do Quốc Hội biểu quyết. Trong hệ thống trước đó ở Việt Nam, lãnh đạo các vùng có thể giữ lại một phần tiền thuế để phục vụ nhu cầu của địa phương và gửi phần còn lại về Hà Nội. Vì vậy, cần phải cải cách toàn diện và cơ bản. Các quan chức Việt Nam và Pháp đã hợp tác để thiết lập hệ thống giúp hình thành một nền kinh tế thị trường thay thế cho nền kinh tế tập trung, kế hoạch hóa  kiểu Liên Xô. Chúng tôi thực sự đã mất khá nhiều thời gian.” Trong cuốn sách, ông Blanchemaison có kể lại chuyện tướng Võ Nguyên Giáp đã bất ngờ đến dự lễ kỷ niệm 200 năm Cách mạng Pháp, được tổ chức tại đại sứ quán Pháp ngày 14/07/1989. Cho tới lúc đó, tướng Giáp chưa bao giờ đến đại sứ quán Pháp và đối với đại sứ Blanchemaison, sự tham dự của vị tướng này một dấu hiệu của sự hòa giải, mà sứ mệnh của ông Blanchemaison cũng chính là mang lại sự hòa giải và xây dựng lòng tin giữa người Việt Nam và người Pháp. Tiến trình hòa giải giữa hai nước còn được đánh dấu bằng chuyến thăm lịch sử của tổng thống François Mitterrand 4 năm sau đó, năm 1993: “Chưa từng có chuyến thăm cấp Nhà nước của một tổng thống phương Tây tới Hà Nội và cũng chưa từng có một chuyến thăm của một tổng thống Pháp đến Việt Nam. Chuyến đi này thực sự đánh dấu kết quả của một quá trình hòa giải. Tổng thống Mitterrand cũng đã gặp tướng Giáp. Ông nhất quyết muốn đến Điện Biên Phủ để được Pierre Schoendorfer, một nhà làm phim trong quân đội ở Điện Biên Phủ, giải thích cho ông về trận chiến, do Schoendorfer hiểu rõ trận chiến, thậm chí sau đó đã bị bắt làm tù binh tại đây. Mọi chuyện diễn ra rất tốt đẹp và đó là biểu hiện to lớn của hòa giải ” Ngay cả sau khi hết nhiệm kỳ đại sứ Pháp tại Việt Nam, ông Blanchemaison tiếp tục giữ liên lạc với Việt Nam thông qua những hoạt động khác: “Sau đó tôi trở về Paris, vì chúng tôi phải luân phiên đảm nhiệm các vị trí ở nước ngoài và ở Paris. Rồi trở thành tôi trở thành vụ trưởng vụ Châu Á và Châu Đại Dương và vì thế, tôi luôn để mắt đến Việt Nam và tôi đã tiếp tất cả những vị khách quan trọng của Việt Nam đến Paris, những người mà tôi đã quen biết khi ở Việt Nam. Chúng tôi đã cùng nhau ăn trưa, trò chuyện và tôi cũng có cơ hội quay lại Việt Nam vào thời điểm đó. Sau đó, vẫn hướng châu Á, tôi đi nhận nhiệm vụ ở Ấn Độ. Sau khi rời Ấn Độ, tôi đã đi làm việc ở Nga, vào thời điểm Putin lên nắm quyền, tức là năm 2000. Sau nước Nga, tôi trở về Paris, được giao đặc trách mọi vấn đề hợp tác của Pháp với các nước thứ ba và như vậy tôi có dịp trở lại Việt Nam khi Hà Nội đăng cai hội nghị thượng đỉnh ASEM, tức là thượng đỉnh giữa châu Âu và châu Á. Do tổng thống Jacques Chirac phải tiếp tục chuyến công du của ông nên giữa chừng phải rời cuộc họp. Ông nói với tôi: "Ông thay tôi nhé, vì họ biết ông rất rõ, ông giữ dùm ghế đại diện cho nước Pháp trong nửa sau của cuộc họp. Thật là thú vị, bởi vì tôi biết rất rõ thủ tướng Việt Nam, người chủ trì hội nghị. Vì vậy, chúng tôi đã trao đổi rất nhiều ý kiến ​​và cả những chuyện đùa nữa.” Vẫn theo dõi sát tình hình Việt Nam, Claude Blanchemaison đưa ra đánh giá của ông về tiến triển của Việt Nam kể từ thời ông làm đại sứ Pháp cho đến ngày nay, tức là trong hơn 30 năm qua: Khi tôi đến Việt Nam vào năm 89, lúc đầu chúng tôi đã phải cử những người trẻ trong đại sứ quán đi mua các thứ cần thiết ở Bangkok. Nhưng tình hình đã diễn biến rất nhanh chóng, vì Việt Nam đã mở cửa rất nhanh và hiện nay rõ ràng Việt Nam là một trong những con hổ châu Á, đã phát triển toàn diện và hội nhập hoàn toàn vào Hiệp hội các quốc gia Đông Nam Á (ASEAN), điều mà chúng tôi đã thúc đẩy vào lúc đó. Ngoài ra, Việt Nam cũng như các nước khác trong khu vực đều cho rằng liên minh quân sự là một điều hơi nguy hiểm và mong muốn có quan hệ với tất cả các nước muốn có quan hệ tốt với mình và do đó hợp tác chiến lược với rất nhiều nước, bao gồm nhiều lĩnh vực khác nhau tùy thuộc vào những gì quốc gia đó có thể mang lại cho Việt Nam và tùy thuộc vào những gì có thể thực hiện được trong các hợp tác hai chiều này. Rõ ràng nhất là hợp tác với Liên Hiệp Châu Âu. Khi tôi còn tại nhiệm, chúng tôi đã nhấn mạnh Việt Nam phải ký kết các hiệp định kinh tế với Liên Hiệp Châu Âu. Và hai bên đã ký hiệp định. Tôi thấy bà Ursula von der Leyen sẽ đến Việt Nam để tăng cường quan hệ và nâng quan hệ lên một nấc cao hơn. Điều này rất quan trọng, đặc biệt là vào thời điểm ông Trump đang làm đảo lộn hoàn toàn nền kinh tế thế giới. Chúng ta phải có những biện pháp phòng ngừa và thực sự những biện pháp phòng ngừa còn mang tính chiến lược trong lĩnh vực kinh tế giữa Pháp và Việt Nam, giữa Liên Hiệp Châu Âu và Việt Nam.”Kết thúc phần nói về Việt Nam trong cuốn sách của ông, cựu đại sứ Blanchemaison đặt câu hỏi: "Nước Pháp có thể phát triển được quan hệ đối tác chiến lược với Việt Nam trong các lãnh vực nhạy cảm công nghệ lưỡng dụng, thậm chí thuần túy quân sự?" Tác giả nhắc lại trong chuyến thăm cấp Nhà nước ở Pháp hai ngày 6 và 7/10/2024, tổng bí thư Tô Lâm ( lúc đó còn kiêm nhiệm chức chủ tịch nước ) và tổng thống Emmanuel Macron đã nâng quan hệ Pháp-Việt lên thành Đối tác chiến lược toàn diện. Ông Blanchemaison ghi nhận: "Hợp tác giữa Pháp và Việt Nam đã phát triển đều đặn trong một bầu không khí tin cậy. Chúng ta có một lợi thế so với các đối thủ cạnh tranh tại một quốc gia nay có đến 100 triệu dân và có một mức tăng trưởng hàng năm hơn 7%."

Nguyên là đại sứ Pháp tại Việt Nam từ 1989 đến 1993, ông Claude Blanchemaison vừa cho ra mắt độc giả ở Pháp một cuốn sách gần như là hồi ký của một nhà ngoại giao. Tác giả đặt tựa cho quyển sách là “Fragments d'un parcours aventureux” ( tạm dịch là “Những phân đoạn của một hành trình kỳ thú” ). Ngoài Việt Nam, ông Blanchemaison đã từng là đại sứ ở các nước Ấn Độ, Nga, Tadjikistan và Tây Ban Nha và cũng đã từng giữ nhiều chức vụ cao cấp trong bộ Ngoại Giao Pháp. Hiện là một chuyên gia về châu Âu và châu Á, ông vẫn thường xuyên bình luận về thời sự quốc tế trên các kênh truyền hình và truyền thanh của Pháp. Cuốn sách của ông “Sống với Putin” đã nhận được giải Jacques Fouchier của Viện Hàn lâm Pháp năm 2020. Trả lời phỏng vấn RFI Việt ngữ, cựu đại sứ Blanchemaison kể lại, vào ngày 24/02/2022 (đúng vào ngày Putin xua quân xâm lăng Ukraina !), khi đang ở một nhà hàng ở Paris ông đã bước hụt và bị ngã, vỡ cả hai đầu gối, nên phải được phẫu thuật và phải nằm viện một thời gian dài do chấn thương đầu gối khá nghiêm trọng. Chính trong thời gian đó mà Claude Blanchemaison nảy ra ý định viết một cuốn sách kể lại đời mình từ thuở thiếu niên cho đến ngày nay, nhưng phần lớn tác phẩm này được dành cho sự nghiệp rất dài của một nhà ngoại giao kỳ cựu, mà một trong những chặng đường mà ông đã đi qua là Việt Nam: Rồi một ngày đầu năm 1989, tôi được thông báo: "Họ đang suy tính bổ nhiệm ông làm đại sứ tại Việt Nam". Một khả năng khá là chắc chắn và tôi thậm chí còn được mời tham gia một phái đoàn của bộ trưởng Nông Nghiệp Pháp đến thăm Việt Nam vào tháng 2/1989. Thế là tôi đã đến đó cùng với ông và đã khám phá Việt Nam với những cảnh quan tuyệt đẹp. Tháp tùng bộ trưởng Nông Nghiệp Henri Nallet, chúng tôi đã đến Hà Nội và Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, nơi chúng tôi gặp các giám đốc của các viện nông học đã từng du học ở Pháp và về cơ bản đã duy trì được mạng lưới hợp tác trong lĩnh vực nông nghiệp, hợp tác với các kỹ sư nông nghiệp Việt Nam và Pháp. Đây gần như là lĩnh vực duy nhất thực sự có sự hợp tác, ngoài lĩnh vực ngôn ngữ, nghĩa là giảng dạy tiếng Pháp và duy trì đội ngũ giáo viên dạy tiếng Pháp. Tôi nhận thấy rằng người Việt Nam luôn có thông tin đầy đủ: Một trong những phiên dịch viên nói với  tôi: “ Có tin đồn rằng ngài sẽ đến Việt Nam với tư cách là đại sứ, vậy khi nào ngài sẽ đến?” Vị đại sứ trẻ Claude Blanchemaison đã nhậm chức đại sứ Pháp tại Việt Nam năm 1989, vào một thời điểm rất đặc biệt: Việt Nam vẫn còn bị Mỹ cấm vận, nhưng bắt đầu mở cửa với thế giới và  cải cách kinh tế, trong khi đó cuộc chiến ở Cam Bốt vẫn chưa kết thúc hoàn toàn. Blanchemaison kể lại những ngày đầu tiên ông đại diện cho nước Pháp ở Việt Nam: Đối với tôi, đó quả là một thách thức, vì chỉ thị mà tôi nhận được từ tổng thống và ngoại trưởng là nối lại quan hệ với Việt Nam, nối lại hợp tác bất cứ khi nào có thể và giúp đỡ Việt Nam. Vào thời điểm đó, Việt Nam còn nghèo đói sau hơn 30 năm chiến tranh với Pháp, với Mỹ và sau đó Việt Nam đánh đuổi Khmer Đỏ ra khỏi Cam Bốt, khiến Trung Quốc tức giận và đã đánh sang miền bắc Việt Nam. Và như ông có nói, lệnh cấm vận của Mỹ rất nghiêm ngặt và thực tế là tình trạng kinh tế của đất nước rất khó khăn. Khi tôi đến thì Việt Nam đã quyết định thi hành chính sách Đổi Mới, tức là cải cách kinh tế. hơi giống với những gì Trung Quốc đã và đang là từ trước đó một thời gian, đó là chuyển từ nền kinh tế tập trung, kế hoạch hóa sang nền kinh tế thị trường mang màu sắc Việt Nam. Nhưng vấn đề là chưa có một khuôn khổ pháp lý. Chỉ có quyết tâm chuyển sang nền kinh tế thị trường không thì chưa đủ, mà cần có những luật lệ, quy định, thể chế phù hợp với nền kinh tế thị trường. Và đó là nhiệm vụ đầu tiên của tôi. Phía Việt Nam hỏi tôi liệu có thể tìm được người trợ giúp họ, tư vấn cho họ về việc soạn thảo bộ Luật Thương mại không?Thật tình cờ là khi đó có một luật gia người Pháp rất nổi tiếng, là một trong những chánh án Tòa Phúc thẩm Paris, ông Pierre Bizard, sinh ra tại Việt Nam. Cha ông làm việc trong chính quyền Pháp và từng công tác ở Việt Nam. Ông Pierre Bizard đã tình nguyện đến Việt Nam rất thường xuyên, trong các chuyến đi 8 ngày hoặc 15 ngày để làm việc với nhóm của bộ trưởng Tư Pháp Việt Nam về bộ Luật Thương mại Việt Nam, vì ưu tiên là phải có khuôn khổ pháp lý để chuyển sang nền kinh tế thị trường. Hơn nữa, khi đó bộ Tài chính Pháp cũng có một cơ quan hợp tác với nước ngoài, đứng đầu là một thanh tra tài chính rất nổi tiếng vào thời điểm đó, ông Jacques de Chalendar. Ông de Chalendar nói: "Chúng ta có thể huy động chuyên môn của các công chức, phó giám đốc, giám đốc của chúng ta tại bộ Tài Chính". Và ông đã tổ chức hợp tác với bộ Tài Chính Việt Nam để Việt Nam có một kho bạc thực sự và một tổng cục thuế thực sự. Có nghĩa là, giống như bất kỳ Nhà nước hiện đại nào, thuế phải được thu theo đúng luật, theo các quy định pháp lý, và tiền thuế được đưa về trung ương, tức là về Hà Nội, về bộ Tài Chính, rồi sau đó việc phân bổ ngân sách phải thực hiện dựa trên ngân sách do Quốc Hội biểu quyết. Trong hệ thống trước đó ở Việt Nam, lãnh đạo các vùng có thể giữ lại một phần tiền thuế để phục vụ nhu cầu của địa phương và gửi phần còn lại về Hà Nội. Vì vậy, cần phải cải cách toàn diện và cơ bản. Các quan chức Việt Nam và Pháp đã hợp tác để thiết lập hệ thống giúp hình thành một nền kinh tế thị trường thay thế cho nền kinh tế tập trung, kế hoạch hóa  kiểu Liên Xô. Chúng tôi thực sự đã mất khá nhiều thời gian.” Trong cuốn sách, ông Blanchemaison có kể lại chuyện tướng Võ Nguyên Giáp đã bất ngờ đến dự lễ kỷ niệm 200 năm Cách mạng Pháp, được tổ chức tại đại sứ quán Pháp ngày 14/07/1989. Cho tới lúc đó, tướng Giáp chưa bao giờ đến đại sứ quán Pháp và đối với đại sứ Blanchemaison, sự tham dự của vị tướng này một dấu hiệu của sự hòa giải, mà sứ mệnh của ông Blanchemaison cũng chính là mang lại sự hòa giải và xây dựng lòng tin giữa người Việt Nam và người Pháp. Tiến trình hòa giải giữa hai nước còn được đánh dấu bằng chuyến thăm lịch sử của tổng thống François Mitterrand 4 năm sau đó, năm 1993: “Chưa từng có chuyến thăm cấp Nhà nước của một tổng thống phương Tây tới Hà Nội và cũng chưa từng có một chuyến thăm của một tổng thống Pháp đến Việt Nam. Chuyến đi này thực sự đánh dấu kết quả của một quá trình hòa giải. Tổng thống Mitterrand cũng đã gặp tướng Giáp. Ông nhất quyết muốn đến Điện Biên Phủ để được Pierre Schoendorfer, một nhà làm phim trong quân đội ở Điện Biên Phủ, giải thích cho ông về trận chiến, do Schoendorfer hiểu rõ trận chiến, thậm chí sau đó đã bị bắt làm tù binh tại đây. Mọi chuyện diễn ra rất tốt đẹp và đó là biểu hiện to lớn của hòa giải ” Ngay cả sau khi hết nhiệm kỳ đại sứ Pháp tại Việt Nam, ông Blanchemaison tiếp tục giữ liên lạc với Việt Nam thông qua những hoạt động khác: “Sau đó tôi trở về Paris, vì chúng tôi phải luân phiên đảm nhiệm các vị trí ở nước ngoài và ở Paris. Rồi trở thành tôi trở thành vụ trưởng vụ Châu Á và Châu Đại Dương và vì thế, tôi luôn để mắt đến Việt Nam và tôi đã tiếp tất cả những vị khách quan trọng của Việt Nam đến Paris, những người mà tôi đã quen biết khi ở Việt Nam. Chúng tôi đã cùng nhau ăn trưa, trò chuyện và tôi cũng có cơ hội quay lại Việt Nam vào thời điểm đó. Sau đó, vẫn hướng châu Á, tôi đi nhận nhiệm vụ ở Ấn Độ. Sau khi rời Ấn Độ, tôi đã đi làm việc ở Nga, vào thời điểm Putin lên nắm quyền, tức là năm 2000. Sau nước Nga, tôi trở về Paris, được giao đặc trách mọi vấn đề hợp tác của Pháp với các nước thứ ba và như vậy tôi có dịp trở lại Việt Nam khi Hà Nội đăng cai hội nghị thượng đỉnh ASEM, tức là thượng đỉnh giữa châu Âu và châu Á. Do tổng thống Jacques Chirac phải tiếp tục chuyến công du của ông nên giữa chừng phải rời cuộc họp. Ông nói với tôi: "Ông thay tôi nhé, vì họ biết ông rất rõ, ông giữ dùm ghế đại diện cho nước Pháp trong nửa sau của cuộc họp. Thật là thú vị, bởi vì tôi biết rất rõ thủ tướng Việt Nam, người chủ trì hội nghị. Vì vậy, chúng tôi đã trao đổi rất nhiều ý kiến ​​và cả những chuyện đùa nữa.” Vẫn theo dõi sát tình hình Việt Nam, Claude Blanchemaison đưa ra đánh giá của ông về tiến triển của Việt Nam kể từ thời ông làm đại sứ Pháp cho đến ngày nay, tức là trong hơn 30 năm qua: Khi tôi đến Việt Nam vào năm 89, lúc đầu chúng tôi đã phải cử những người trẻ trong đại sứ quán đi mua các thứ cần thiết ở Bangkok. Nhưng tình hình đã diễn biến rất nhanh chóng, vì Việt Nam đã mở cửa rất nhanh và hiện nay rõ ràng Việt Nam là một trong những con hổ châu Á, đã phát triển toàn diện và hội nhập hoàn toàn vào Hiệp hội các quốc gia Đông Nam Á (ASEAN), điều mà chúng tôi đã thúc đẩy vào lúc đó. Ngoài ra, Việt Nam cũng như các nước khác trong khu vực đều cho rằng liên minh quân sự là một điều hơi nguy hiểm và mong muốn có quan hệ với tất cả các nước muốn có quan hệ tốt với mình và do đó hợp tác chiến lược với rất nhiều nước, bao gồm nhiều lĩnh vực khác nhau tùy thuộc vào những gì quốc gia đó có thể mang lại cho Việt Nam và tùy thuộc vào những gì có thể thực hiện được trong các hợp tác hai chiều này. Rõ ràng nhất là hợp tác với Liên Hiệp Châu Âu. Khi tôi còn tại nhiệm, chúng tôi đã nhấn mạnh Việt Nam phải ký kết các hiệp định kinh tế với Liên Hiệp Châu Âu. Và hai bên đã ký hiệp định. Tôi thấy bà Ursula von der Leyen sẽ đến Việt Nam để tăng cường quan hệ và nâng quan hệ lên một nấc cao hơn. Điều này rất quan trọng, đặc biệt là vào thời điểm ông Trump đang làm đảo lộn hoàn toàn nền kinh tế thế giới. Chúng ta phải có những biện pháp phòng ngừa và thực sự những biện pháp phòng ngừa còn mang tính chiến lược trong lĩnh vực kinh tế giữa Pháp và Việt Nam, giữa Liên Hiệp Châu Âu và Việt Nam.”Kết thúc phần nói về Việt Nam trong cuốn sách của ông, cựu đại sứ Blanchemaison đặt câu hỏi: "Nước Pháp có thể phát triển được quan hệ đối tác chiến lược với Việt Nam trong các lãnh vực nhạy cảm công nghệ lưỡng dụng, thậm chí thuần túy quân sự?" Tác giả nhắc lại trong chuyến thăm cấp Nhà nước ở Pháp hai ngày 6 và 7/10/2024, tổng bí thư Tô Lâm ( lúc đó còn kiêm nhiệm chức chủ tịch nước ) và tổng thống Emmanuel Macron đã nâng quan hệ Pháp-Việt lên thành Đối tác chiến lược toàn diện. Ông Blanchemaison ghi nhận: "Hợp tác giữa Pháp và Việt Nam đã phát triển đều đặn trong một bầu không khí tin cậy. Chúng ta có một lợi thế so với các đối thủ cạnh tranh tại một quốc gia nay có đến 100 triệu dân và có một mức tăng trưởng hàng năm hơn 7%."

durée : 00:58:42 - Le Cours de l'histoire - par : Xavier Mauduit, Maïwenn Guiziou - À partir de 1860, l'art khmer fascine les voyageurs et fonctionnaires occidentaux. Des sculptures aux bas-reliefs des temples, la France s'érige en principale figure de restauration des œuvres. À l'encontre du discours colonial, l'art khmer n'a pourtant jamais été oublié des populations locales. - réalisation : Thomas Beau - invités : Gabrielle Abbe Docteure en histoire contemporaine; Pierre Baptiste directeur de la conservation et des collections du musée Guimet, conservateur général de la section Asie du Sud-Est

durée : 00:58:55 - Le Cours de l'histoire - par : Xavier Mauduit, Maïwenn Guiziou - Entre le 9ᵉ et le 13ᵉ siècle, les rois khmers imposent leur pouvoir sur un espace bien plus large que le Cambodge actuel. Des temples-montagnes aux canaux fluviaux, les souverains khmers font progressivement du site d'Angkor le centre de leur pouvoir et le symbole sur terre de la cité céleste. - réalisation : Thomas Beau - invités : Hedwige Multzer O'Naghten docteure en langues, civilisations et sociétés orientales; Christophe Pottier architecte et archéologue, maître de conférences à l'École française d'Extrême-Orient; Thierry Zéphir ingénieur de recherche au musée Guimet, chargé des collections de la section "Monde himalayen"

Lunedì 21 aprile, giorno della morte di papa Francesco, sono stati assegnati i Goldman environmental prize, informalmente noti come “Nobel per l'Ambiente”. Tra i vincitori ci sono anche due attivisti albanesi che hanno tutelato il Vjosa, l'ultimo fiume libero d'Europa. Oltre 400mila persone a Roma per il funerale del Papa, ma il conclave per scegliere il prossimo non comincerà prima del 5 maggio. Infine, un colossale sondaggio mostra come l'89% della popolazione mondiale chieda azione più incisiva per il clima – nonostante continui a pensarsi come minoritaria.Lucia Bellinello, esperta di geopolitica, ci ricorda del cinquantesimo del genocidio perpretato in Cambogia dai Khmer rossi di Pol Pot, che sterminò quasi un quarto della popolazione del paese. Una nuova legge rischia però di reprimere di nuovo le opposizioni. Puoi scriverci a podcast@lifegate.it e trovare tutte le notizie su www.lifegate.it.  Rassegna stampa: La battaglia per il fiume Vjosa in Albania vince il Goldman Environmental Prize 2025, Luigi Mastrodonato Questo mondo dopo Francesco, Tommaso Perrone 

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Op een planeet 124 lichtjaren hier vandaan ontdekten wetenschappers sporen van moleculen die op aarde enkel door levende organismen geproduceerd worden. Hebben we nu buitenaards leven ontdekt? Vanaf vandaag mag je plug&play zonnepanelen gebruiken. Maar is het de moeite om die stekkerpanelen in huis te halen? Precies 50 jaar geleden namen de maoïstische rebellen van de Rode Khmer de macht over in Cambodja, het begin van een massamoord. Welke gevolgen heeft dat tot op vandaag?

Heute vor 50 Jahren beginnt in Kambodscha die brutale Schreckensherrschaft der Roten Khmer, die fast einem Viertel der eigenen Bevölkerung das Leben kostet.

Tin tức sáng 12-4: 50 năm Ngày Thống nhất đất nước: Hà Nội gặp mặt cán bộ lão thành cách mạng; Sẽ đề nghị khởi tố doanh nghiệp bỏ địa chỉ kinh doanh, trốn thuế; Thủ tướng Phạm Minh Chính chúc mừng đồng bào Khmer dịp Tết Chôl Chnăm Thmây...

Surrounded on every side by peaceful waters, Ankor Wat rises from the jungle as the crown jewel of the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor. Sitting on 402 acres of land, it is considered the largest religious structure in the world by Guinness World Records. Angkor Wat is a unique combination of the temple mountain and the later plan of concentric galleries. The construction of Angkor Wat suggests that there was a celestial significance with certain features of the temple. This is observed in the temple's east–west orientation, and lines of sight from terraces within the temple that show specific towers to be at the precise location of the solstice at sunrise. The temple's main tower aligns with the morning sun of the spring equinox. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods according to Hindu mythology: the central quincunx of towers symbolise the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat symbolize the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. The mainstream history narrative tells us that Ankor Wat was originally constructed circa 1150 AD by the Khmer king Suryavarman II who ruled 1113-1150 AD) in the early 12th century. But is there more to Ankor Wat than we've been led to believe? In this episode I sit down with researcher and explorer Cassie Martin who just returned from an expedition in Cambodia exploring Ankor Wat and the many temples of Cambodia. Using Power Point presentation, Cassie will guide us through many examples of out-of-place-artifacts, LIDAR scan and architectural styles that seem to point to an older history at Ankor Wat and the surrounding temples... Did Khmer king Suryavarman II reclaim and build upon an ruins from an earlier epoch?JOIN US ON AN UPCOMING TOUR

VOV1 - Thời gian qua, ông Thạch Thia Sê Rây ngụ ở ấp Đại Mong, xã Phú Cần, huyện Tiểu Cần, tỉnh Trà Vinh được giới văn nghệ sĩ cũng như những người mộ điệu nghệ thuật truyền thống của dân tộc Khmer biết đến và yêu mến.

A veritable gaggle of gamers take to the airwaves to discuss three recent competitions held in Plymouth, Burton (which took place recently in "the land of beer." ) and Bournemouth, all in a rather chilly February of this year. There are also diversions into buying rubbish on eBay from Heinz Games (or at least that's what the AI Summary thought we said..), shipping wargaming stuff from the USofA (pre tariffs!), Central London Club's recent enfatuation with two new rule sets, Jackals and Sword Weirdos, and Mark's progress in finishing a whole book on the Khmer (which he's writing, not simply struggling to read.). There is also talk of commissioning figures, Richard Morgans new SF tome "Thin Air," set on Mars, a bit of Test of Honor as well as Simons upcoming stab at converting Warmaster units and rules to use ADLG's mechanics, which is about to be tried at CLWC in the coming weeks and months.  Towards the end (in its traditional slot, and with its traditional French Techno soundtrack) Andy's Quiz makes a long overdue reappearance, although sadly sans Andy this week. The quiz covers the theme of hesitant allies, inspired by Andy's recent experience at Burton. The quiz answers will be released in the next podcast!  

This hour is a special hour of content celebrating languages! Hosted (in English) and collected/edited by Jenny, close to 40 different people contributed over thirty languages to fill our airwaves in celebration of "International Mother Language Day" which is observed every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. We've included a list of languages featured, below - if your language is missing reach out to us! We'd love to do this again in the future and include even more! Contributions included one-word greetings, radio shout outs, stories, poems, and personal thoughts and reflections, interspersed with music. For languages, in our spoken sections, you will hear Tagalog, Gaelic, Slovak, Italian, Hungarian, Lik'wala, Czech, Serbian, Dutch, Korean, Arabic, Mandarin, Yoruba, Telugu, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, Flemish, Vietnamese, Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Polish, Farsi/Persian, Khmer, Russian, French, German, Hebrew, and Danish.The playlist of music on today's episode is as follows:"Sluníčko-Hřej(TheSunSong)" by Louisa Krátká (unreleased)"Assuf Ag Assuf" by Tinariwen off the album Idrache (Traces of the Past)"Woyhenna" by Songhoy Blues off the album Heritage"DE ZEE EN MIJN ZUSJE" by Hurryman (Robert Hurryman), off an upcoming album due out in April 2025"Déjà" by N NAO off the album Nouveau Language"lyenogie" by Sonia Aimy off the album LIGHT IMOLEand"Tambor Chamou" by João Selva off the album OndaFor more information about "International Mother Language Day" you can visit https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bridgingthesocialdistance.substack.com

durée : 00:12:22 - Les Enjeux internationaux - par : Jean Leymarie - Mardi 18 février, le Rotsaphea, l'Assemblée nationale cambodgienne, a adopté une loi mémorielle renforçant les peines encourues en cas de négation du génocide perpétré par les Khmers rouges entre 1975 et 1979. - réalisation : Daphné Leblond - invités : Anne-Laure Porée Anthropologue, post-doctorante à l'EHESS.

How do people encounter Gods presence? Through Jesus healing power and the faith of Christians in Cambodia, this sermon explores spiritual hunger, perseverance, and the impact of living out Christs love. Listen now! To catch up on the latest sermons from Deep Creek, go to iTunes, Spotify ordeepcreekanglican.comand check out the website for more info about whats happening. We are a welcoming and growing multigenerational church in Doncaster East in Melbourne with refreshing faith in Jesus Christ. We think that looks like being life-giving to the believer, surprising to the world, and strengthening to the weary and doubting. Read the transcript Good morning. This morning the Bible reading is from the gospel of Mark, chapter four, verses 21 through to 34. Bible Reading When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders named Jairus came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So Jesus went with him.A large crowd followed and pressed around him, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched my clothes?You see the people crowding against you? his disciples answered, and yet you can ask, Who touched me?But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. There you go. If you're going to sleep now, you can wake up if you're getting warm. How about you, say to Pedram, put on one of the coolers because we don't want you falling asleep. We've got an opportunity to hear more about the way in which the life and ministry that Tim and Olivia and the boys are experiencing over in Cambodia teaches us something about the theme that we have for this year. (That theme, taken from 1 Corinthians 14, is that when people come into the orbit of the people of God, they experience that God is alive and active, working in the people of God and present in the community.) And so, it's a great privilege for me to have asked these guys if we can get some extra insight from you as you come and do your deputation. I think there's a lot that we can learn about what it looks like for you to see people (like in the Bible reading) drawn to the Lord Jesus, because they know that there is hope of restoration and healing in Him. And we long for our friends and family, our colleagues, and our acquaintances in the community to have that hunger to come to Jesus because they know that He is good. How do you see spiritual hunger and people kind of reaching out for the presence of God in Cambodia? Yeah. Thanks. Although we were wondering, has anyone ever coined the term a Megan Curls curly question, or can I patent it?You definitely can.Thank you, because plenty of curly questions here. So we are going slightly off script you know, apologies for that. So, like we mentioned in the Kids Talk, most Cambodians are Buddhist and the society is very spiritual in the sense that if you walk around the streets, you don't have to go far to see a temple. There are monks walking the streets everywhere. The spiritual realm in a physical, visual sense is very obvious and very present in people's lives. And so I think people are always you know, anything that goes on, people will resort to their usually Buddhist roots. Sometimes we think that's a hunger for the spiritual. Sometimes it seems like a fear of the spiritual. Some of the cultural practices come out of fear of the spirits and of people who have died. So is there a spiritual hunger? Is it a fear? Is that kind of the same, you know, different sides of the same coin? Maybe. But I think very much so. Often when people become Christians, it's not that unusual for that spiritual realm to continue through their Christianity, so I think it's a bit more visible in the way they go about things. So there's an expectation in their worldview that spiritual things happen and that unseen things can impact your life. Can that be a barrier? Are there kind of cultural barriers that make it harder for people then to recognize God's presence in the gospel of Jesus, in the community of God's people? Yeah, there are a lot of cultural barriers for the Buddhists who would like to follow Christ. The biggest one, the biggest opposition, is their family, and just the society as a whole. (Tim said almost everyone theres a phrase, to be Khmer is to be Buddhist. And so if you are not a Buddhist, then are you truly Khmer?) We see the Christians at the hospital we work at come up against great opposition from their family. And it's along a spectrum. So we have seen some whose families completely disown them or who still expect them to visit the temples during the festivals and behave Buddhist, if you like. And then at the other end of the spectrum, one of the women that I mentor when she became a Christian, her parents weren't happy. But then her brother and her sister also became Christians, and they've kind of gotten used to it, saying, "Oh, well, you know, it's not our ideal, but so be it," and they don't expect anything from them. So the Khmer Christians have really had to, in their own family and society, work out almost what their line is. And that's very much dependent on their families. We know some who say, "I go to the temple with my family, but I will not do any offerings. I go there as a cultural practice and to accompany my elderly grandmother, but I won't take part in any of the offerings or anything like that." So there is that cultural barrier. The other cultural barrier for us is obviously that we are not part of the Khmer culture, nor did we grow up in it. So, MMC has a spiritual impact team that does a lot of outreach and on-the-ground ministry and evangelism, and there are missionaries who are part of that team, but they are not the ones at the forefront of that evangelism. It is always the Khmer people on the spiritual impact team who go and do outreach, or who speak to the patients at the hospital about the gospel, because we want to make sure that it is coming from people who know the culture well, who are in that culture, preaching God's news. So how did they become Christians? Yeah. So I think it's pretty amazing when we stop and think about it, that these young people do become Christians. For example, there are two here on the screen they're both doctors. On the left-hand side and on the right-hand side, both of them come from rural villages in Cambodia that are still very traditional in the way that things happen. So their background is very Buddhist, very animistic, and both of them have grown up in these environments. Also, both have grown up in quite poor environments. So it's remarkable that they've come to the city and become very competent doctors. It's also remarkable that they've become Christians. Most of them become Christians through student movements at their universities (a lot of them through Campus Crusade). A medical degree is actually eight years, so there's eight years of involvement with these groups. That is how a lot of our doctors and nurses have become believers. (Speaker 2 adds:) On the previous slide, there was a photo of one of our other doctors, Dr. Vathai, with her family. She is an exceptional doctor who runs our women's health program at MSI. She's also married to a doctor (in that photo) who does not work at MMC and is not a Christian he is a Buddhist. And that is actually the case for a lot of our female Christian staff at MMC: they have married a Buddhist either when they were Christian or they became Christian after getting married. And one story that we have from Dr. Vathai is that last year in October, during the Pchum Ben festival (which is a religious holiday in Cambodia a very dark holiday), there is a great burden of spirits. People go to the temple for 15 days, making offerings to ward spirits away from coming to their house. They believe that when the spirits come out of the grave, they don't want them coming to their house and imposing upon them, so they take food to the temple for the spirits to go there rather than to their house. Dr. Vathai told us that one night during this time, she had a dream where her husband's eyes were bleeding, and she woke from that dream and realized that in her house, her mother (who is still a Buddhist) and her husband were making offerings to the spirits and burning incense. And so there is really a very heavy spiritual realm in Cambodia. It can be a heavy burden for the Christians, even once they become Christians. How do people, your regular community people, encounter the presence of Jesus in your midst? Is there something different about your team, the hospital? What stands out? Yeah, I think what stands out to them is the fact that at MMC, we, in a sense, go the extra mile in a way that a local hospital would not. In terms of if the patient doesn't have the means to pay for their treatment, then we usually can find means to do that rather than just kind of pushing them out the door. Another very concrete way is: in Cambodia, if you need a blood transfusion, you need a family member or a friend to go to the blood bank on your behalf. They go with a form and it's a bit of a one-in, one-out system. So you need to donate so that your uncle can receive a blood transfusion. If patients don't have this person, then in a normal public hospital, they just won't get a blood transfusion they may die as a result. At MMC, usually if a patient comes in and doesn't have someone to donate, the staff members (both expatriate and local) will put out a message asking if someone can go to the blood bank and donate on the patient's behalf. This kind of generosity really overwhelms the patients, especially because people in Cambodia are quite reluctant to donate blood (they usually only do it for a family member). There was one specific example of a woman who received a unit of blood. She said to one of our residents, "Where did this blood come from?" and the reply from the resident was, "It was donated as a blessing to you by someone who loves God and loves you, even though they don't know you." I think this just characterizes our residents, because they are so faithful, but at the same time they're not pushing anything on our patients (who are mostly Buddhist). Theyre just taking those opportunities to show them the way that Gods working through them and through Mercy. Its incredible and such an encouragement to us that just being a blessing and serving and sacrificing can bring someone closer to Jesus. It sounds like it can be quite a hard place to be a Christian in Cambodia for those that have become Christians. And also, you know, you've hinted that there's been some hard stuff that you guys have gone through as well. How have you, and what you've observed around you as well, cultivated that presence of Jesus to keep you persevering in that challenging place? Yes in very unimpressive ways. I don't really feel qualified to answer this question, necessarily, because we are very normal people. But yes, as you said, the past three years have posed many challenges for our family. We knew that there would be challenges, but obviously we didn't know what they would be, and we could never have predicted these things. Mainly its been to do with the missionary team that we work with at MMC. There has been quite a lot of hardship a lot of curveballs, unexpected things. Not conflict within the missionary team, but things happening to members of our team. And we have actually seen that as quite a bit of spiritual attack as well, because we know that MMC is doing really good work, and the devil does not want [MMC] to be doing that work in Cambodia. So we've had good friends leave the field very good friends of ours left the location because of mental health issues in their children. We've had multiple cancer diagnoses within the team that have made people leave or be away for quite a significant amount of time, or leave permanently. One example of that: on the screen there's a photo of our family with Anna and Thomas. They are an American couple. Thomas is one of the doctors at MMC, and Anna and Thomas have both, separately, been working in Southeast Asia for about 25 years. But they only met and got married about ten years ago. So they're doing wonderful work in Cambodia (and they were in Vietnam as well, and Thailand). Anna lived close to us she was our older two boys' piano teacher. They were both wonderful people, and she was a wonderful lady. I was really getting to know her. She was also part of the Sunday school team, so she really helped me out because her camera is much better than mine! She was there weekly, being a great support to us at church. In October 2023 (about 18 months ago), she was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. In about ten days, they packed up their life in Cambodia and went back to the States. We had to say goodbye, and we knew we would never see her again. (Sorry, this always makes me emotional.) She died three months later its just been the one-year anniversary of her death. That has had a significant impact on our family, on myself. I spoke of my loneliness before, and this was really the start of that deep loss and sense of loneliness being in Cambodia. It's really impacted our missionary team and the MMC church that we are working with over there, because Anna and Thomas were a great part of that. So there's been a lot of loss. We also had a huge fire a few doors down from our house last year. That caused quite a lot of trauma within our family, with our kids working through those things with them and helping them to understand why these things happen, and asking "Will God protect us if another fire happens?" all of these uncertainties that we have. I guess what I want to say is that through these challenges and hardships, our understanding is that He is there even though it is hard. Every day we say to our children as they go to school (especially when they're upset), "Jesus is with you. Even when I cannot be there with you at school or at kindergarten, Jesus is with you, and you need to remember that." We have memorized some memory verses, and I remind them of that. I don't know if they remember the whole of Psalm 23 while they're sitting in their math class at school, but we are attempting to cultivate that awareness of God's presence in their everyday and we are reminding ourselves of that in doing so as well, because it is easy to forget when you get bogged down in the routines of life. It happens to us in Cambodia as it did to us in Melbourne, as I know it does for all of you here today. Another thing that I was speaking to Tim about just an hour ago is that I've noticed with the women that I meet at the Khmer church we go to (the Bible study that I am a part of in Khmer), they are constantly saying the phrase akun Preah Yesu which means thank you, God, praise God constantly, in every sentence. I just kind of brushed over that because in my mind I knew what it meant. But then when I thought about it being translated to English If I used the phrase Praise God, thank you, God, Lord Jesus in every second sentence as I talked to people around me here in Melbourne, that would not be normal, would it? So I think that's a real way that I've learned from the Khmer Christians about how they just integrate Jesus Christ into their everyday. And that is such a wonderful witness as well to the people around them. Yeah. Thank you. I'm aware that time is going. And it's a real privilege to share even a tiny bit of the emotion that has made up your last three years. How do you see the unity and love among believers the people that you've loved and lost affecting the way that non-Christians are perceiving God's presence among you? Yeah. So I think as this photo probably shows, there is a great group of young Christians who, for the most part, enjoy working with each other, and it's usually a fairly fun, jovial place to work people most of the time supporting each other. And I think our patients and our non-Christian staff members see that as something that, you know, they want to be a part of. They see the fruits of the Spirit being played out. And I guess for me, I see that as how the body of Christ should be. It's obviously not always the case, but you hear about it in Australia as well: you hear about people being drawn into a church or a mission group or something simply because of how they see people interacting with each other. And through that, they start realizing, "Oh, that's actually the body of Christ that I can see there." So our patients do see that, and especially our non-Christian staff members. And they kind of want to be a part of that. So yeah. What encouragement would you give to us, who want to facilitate people encountering the love, the presence of God here at Deep Creek, where we are in our workplaces, from your first term? Yeah, I think we're probably not saying anything particularly new it's probably more of a reminder. But I think for us, we are part of a big team at MMC, a big team that is made up of Cambodians and many other nationalities, and each person there has been placed by God for a reason, for a purpose (often for a different purpose and with different gifts and skills). And I think that's really important to remember: we're not all there trying to do the same thing as the person next to us, and we should be remembering, well, what are my God-given gifts and how can I use them for building up the body of Christ and strengthening other believers? So I guess my encouragement is: ...you know, let's just make sure remembering what are my gifts, you know, what are my skills and even what do I enjoy doing? I enjoy cooking for someone. Well then, you know, use your hospitality to how can we, you know further the body of Christ through hospitality. I mean, it's all very biblical, and we don't want all of us doing the same thing. And we are not in Cambodia doing full-time Bible teaching or that kind of thing in a Bible college we are doing ministry through a hospital, through medicine. And so that's different to a lot of other missionaries. But yeah, but you're still seeing fruit, in the way that you're building up the church through what you can bring to the church, and in the way that you're seeing people come, wanting to be close to Jesus because sometimes maybe they want to be close to you guys. Yeah. Well, Bob's going to pray for us, and I want to make sure that there's nothing else that you want to say before we do that, okay? ... All right. Bob's going to pray. Bob's going to come up, and he'll make sure that he prays particularly for these guys, and then a couple of other things. Then we're going to sing and we'll finish our service.

Ngày xưa, mắm Bò Hóc là món ăn không thể thiếu trong bữa cơm hằng ngày của người dân đồng bào Khmer. Vào mùa mưa, khi đánh bắt được nhiều cá, người dân địa phương sẽ làm mắm để dành trộn cơm ăn trong suốt mùa khô. Trong ẩm thực, mắm Bò Hóc được người Khmer chọn làm món ăn cổ truyền của tổ tiên và cũng là món ăn “vua” chỉ để dành thiết đãi khách quý.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight join Host Miko Lee as we focus on the APSC4. We will be doing a short series on the members of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee's campaign for justice. In this first episode we speak with all four leaders, advocates from APSC4 including: Peejay Ai, Maria Lagarda, Kee Lam, and Chanthon Bun. They are staff at Asian Prisoner Support Committee who work with formerly incarcerated folks and their families. They provide support like jobs, healthcare, education, community. And yet, despite their work and their personal transformations and community transformations, they remain in immigration limbo and are at risk of being detained by ICE and potentially deported. Tonight, we hear their personal stories. We learn about movement building and talk about how you can get involved. And just a note for listeners that we will be talking about experiences with war. trauma, sexual assault, and violence.   How to support the APSC4 APSC 4: https://action.18mr.org/pardonapsc3/ APSC Website: https://www.asianprisonersupport.com/ APSC Donation Page: https://donate.givedirect.org/?cid=13… APSC Get Involved Page: https://www.asianprisonersupport.com/apsc-4 Twitter:   / asianprisonersc   Facebook:   / asianprisonersupportcommittee   Instagram:   / asianprisonersc     Arriving: APSC4 Part 1 Transcript Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express.   Ayame Keane-Lee: [00:00:34] Welcome to our multiple part series about the members of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, APSC4, and their campaign for justice. First up is an interview with all four. In the next episodes, we'll be diving into their individual stories. Special thanks to the HHREC podcast for allowing us to re-air their shows, which will be linked in our show notes.   Miko Lee: [00:00:56] Tonight on Apex Express, we have members of the APSC4, Asian Prisoner Support Committee's formerly incarcerated leaders, advocates, and healers. We are talking with Peejay Ai, Maria Lagarda, Kee Lam, and Chanthon Bun. They are staff at Asian Prisoner Support Committee who work with formerly incarcerated folks and their families. They provide support like jobs, healthcare, education, community. And yet, despite their work and their personal transformations and community transformations, they remain in immigration limbo and are at risk of being detained by ICE and potentially deported. Tonight, we hear their personal stories. We learn about movement building and talk about how you can get involved. And just a note for listeners that we will be talking about experiences with war. trauma, sexual assault, and violence. Thank you so much for joining us on Apex Express. Welcome APSC4 to Apex Express. I am so happy to have you here. I want to start with a question that I love to ask of everyone, which is from the amazing poet Chinaka Hodges. And the question is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Let's start with Peejay.   Peejay Ai: [00:02:12] So I am Peejay. I am Cambodian of origin. My mom and dad are Cambodian. We have part Chinese somewhere in our genes. When I think about legacy, I think about my culture, my upbringings, you know, my, my parents cares with them. I Also have experiences in incarceration, and obviously through my journey in life, I have this legacy as well, where I've learned some stuff and I have met people through the prison system. When I think about my people, I think about the people I've come across with who helped me grow in life, you know, and the foundation that my parents taught me when I was a kid. That's kind of my legacy. I think about the people I've come in contact with, my community, my parents, what they teach me about my ancestor. And now that I'm working heavily with the CERI community, Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants here in Oakland, you know, I'm co facilitate the Men's Elders group. So, with them, they teach me a lot about culture, a lot about my roots and where I came from. And so I'm relearning who I am as a person and redefining myself. And also reminded that, you know, beyond my experience, there's a foundation of Cambodian cultural, right. and heritage, you know, behind me. So that's kind of what I think about when I think about my people and I think about my legacy.   Miko Lee: [00:03:29] Thank you so much, Peejay. Bun, what about you? Who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?    Chanthon Bun: [00:03:36] I'm Cambodian. My people are Khmer people. The legacy that I have is resilient. My family have lived through, through a lot of systems even my grandparents being Khmer from colonization to the genocide to, coming to America. My family have endured a lot. so the resilient in us still live and that's the legacy I carry.    Miko Lee: [00:03:58] Thank you so much. Bun, I'm going to ask you about resilience later, because that is a key thing I get from y'all. Maria, what about you? Tell me about your people and what legacy you carry with you.   Maria Legarde: [00:04:09] Who are my people? I'm a Filipina immigrant, so my people are the survivors. You know, those that dealt with a lot of that, that had a lot of challenges growing up, right? And didn't have a voice. So those are my people. My faith community are my people, my elders, my Lolas, and my mylas, my mentors, those that shaped me and who I'm becoming today. Those are my people. The legacy that I feel that what I'm leaving an imprint here on earth is being the voice for those that cannot express themselves. For those that do not have a voice right now and are scared. And I want to be that voice to let them know that they're not alone.   Miko Lee: [00:04:54] Ke Lam, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?    Ke Lam: [00:04:58] My people are my incarcerated. Those are incarcerated. Those that got deported, and those that are living in fear are my people. Because I understand the struggle, I understand the fear, I understand the trauma. The legacy I carry with me is all the advocates before me that have done this work that, you know, that put their life on the line. As well as my grandfather who came to this country, you know, struggling to raise a whole family, whole generation. I think the other part of my legacy is. breaking the, the, the cultural cycle. Like my grandfather never hugged my dad, but I hugged my dad, gave my dad that hug. And so, and, and that progression is going towards my, my siblings, as well as even to other men that was incarcerated. That never got a hug from their father.    Miko Lee: [00:05:50] Thank you all for sharing your stories of who you are and your sense of resilience and giving voice and incorporating your culture. I know that each of you have had incredibly deep and profound experiences and thank you so much to the HHREC podcast, which is allowing us to air interviews that you did already sharing your stories. I have heard your stories also and I'm just wondering what is that like for you to continue to tell your stories again and again? How do you sustain reliving that type of trauma by sharing your stories?   Chanthon Bun: [00:06:25] You know telling our stories is really traumatic. But we've learned how to heal from a lot of our traumas without healing from your trauma, it's hard to tell that story. And when you tell that story, it comes alive again. With that, I believe it's so important for our elders and our youth, especially like Peejay, myself and Maria. We are the 1.5 generation. I truly believe that we bridge these generation, you know, where we could relate to our younger folks. And then our elders, we still hold the tradition that they're used to. Telling our stories is bridging the experience, you know, bridging the past and the future with the present of our stories. For me, a lot of it is because when I grew up, I didn't have stories like this. I had to live it and made mistakes as I went. I didn't have somebody telling a story of how an immigrant could learn this culture. I did it all with mistakes that I've made and lessons that I've learned. And then passing it down. I mean, there's a lot of folks that are in my shoe. There's a lot of folks living the life that I live that still don't understand and still can't heal. And, you know, I'm just hoping that the shared experience could start a conversation of healing.   Peejay Ai: [00:07:44] Yeah, I think for me, sharing my story over and over again it is healing in some instances, and sometimes, you know, living, reliving trauma is very difficult. And I'm learning to like, do my work, you know, as an advocacy with APSE, and through my own experience through restorative justice practices that, sharing my story, it could be empowering for other people to share, right. I think I grew up. In this API community or silence, you know, and it's a shame to talk about, your experience, right, airing out your laundry, pretty much, you know, your personal experience could be very shameful but what that does, and I'm learning, like, you know, like, when you have trauma. and you don't talk about it, you know, you become silent. It's affects you, you know what I mean? It affects your life. It's affects your health. It affects your community and your family. So now as I'm reframing the way I look at my story is that I'm using as a tool and to share, so that other people could, could learn and know, but also feel empowered to share their story. You know, I think storytelling could be a very powerful thing for a community, right? Not just Bun have said, like provide healing, right. But. Also, I think like it provide teaching, you know, like when I hear my elder share their story, it teaches me  about my history, my culture, what they've been through, but also it also like reaffirmed that, I'm on the right track, you know, that healing could happen by watching, you know, my elder shed tears from their story by hearing their emotion and feeling their emotion and seeing it with my own eyes, you know? I think like storytelling is a very powerful tool for us and I think more people should tell their story because they have something to offer, you know, and I think we should always tell our stories. So, what's once was like a very difficult thing to do now become something that I know is very purposeful and empowering.   Miko Lee: [00:09:19] Thanks Peejay Maria. What about for you? How is it for you telling your story again and again?    Maria Legarde: [00:09:24] Sharing my story like I always get emotional. So, it's very hard for me, because I relive it, but I use it as a tool now, as it's a powerful tool, you know, going through it, sharing it, like it just happened yesterday. Because when I share my story, especially with the young women, it makes it real for them. To know that I've been there, like, I've been there too, I know it, I know what she's feeling. And, sharing it, what did I do, how did I do it. Painting the picture for them, not to traumatize them, but to show them how I got from not being able to speak about it. To talking about it to healing and then taking control over my life, and then becoming empowered by the struggles that I gone through all those years. It just didn't take me one year, took me 15, 20 years, even today, you know, so to share that I know that when I plant that seed, it's not because to traumatize them or to make them relive it. There's that collective power in it, the collective healing in it, that that's what got me to share my story in the first place. When I heard all the other women share it, I'm not alone. For the first time in my life when I heard it, I didn't feel alone. Because I knew somebody believed me. When the people that were supposed to believe me didn't believe me, they believed me. You know, so I, that's the gift that telling that story gives another, individual. That life, it's, pass it forward, you know, that's why I was so happy with the Me Too movement because it's a collective power within us. So like with Bun and with Peejay, the intergenerational healing from our, you know, the trauma within our family. Because of that, I know I can share it with my family and we start talking about it because they've seen me do it. Like how is that that young girl was able to talk to you like that? I was like, because she knew that I believed her. The moment she told me, she knew I believed her. it opens the door for healing in my family, in my community. So that's why I, today, I use that as a tool to bring people together, collective healing.    Miko Lee: [00:11:42] Storytelling as collective healing and being able to, be heard and open the door for other people to share their stories as well. Thank you so much for sharing about that. Kee Lam, I'm wondering if you could talk about the resilience it takes to tell your story again and again, what is that like for you   Ke Lam: [00:12:02] Each time I tell my story is almost like an awakening. It, is reliving a lot of that trauma, but it's also like reminding me of what I've been through and, and I'm still here. it's also for me is, Self love, being able to share it because I'm hoping that I can be an encourager to those who don't know how to share a story or who are afraid to share a story. And so when I, the reason I put myself out there all the time is like, who better to, Encourage somebody and somebody that's been through it all as well. when I help, you know, restore your justice circles, people told me the way through is through the fire. and it's not easy to share a story sometimes because it's so traumatic. But one thing that encouraged me all the time is when I see other people. And I see them when they share the story that there's like a burden that was taken off shoulders. I see the difference when somebody able to feel like they could release some of that harm that was put on them and find healing and then find, strength in a community that support them through their struggle. And so that's why I keep sharing my story because I believe that. it takes all of us to bring voice to the hurt and pain that we, we had throughout so much generations.    Miko Lee: [00:13:14] Thank you for sharing angela Davis talks about how prisons are meant to break human beings. I'm wondering how each of you. what tool you drawed on to stay strong while you are incarcerated and how different that is, like, what mental health support do you do now? Do you have a daily practice to stay resilient now? And did you have something different when you were locked up?   Chanthon Bun: [00:13:38] Yeah, that is so true. Prison is meant to break you. And there's many times while I was incarcerated for my 23 years that, I was fighting that, that don't break me. You know, I still had the fight in me. You're not going to break me. even during my long years in solitary, I just, there was something in me, like I say, there's some resilience in me that, innately told me, like, do not let them break you, you know, mentally, physically. but yeah, during my, the hardest time where I felt like, you know what, this, this is getting too hard for me, being isolated, not having human contact. And, you know, the only thing on my skin is concrete and, and metal. I often look back to. My grandparents, I often look back to their teachings, their lessons that they've shown me through the years when I was young. and sometime, I use my trauma, you know, I, grew up in the refugee camp. It was hard. I was starving there. and it's weird how like you use a bigger trauma. To cope with this trauma, you know, it's like, man, I, when I, when I was a kid, I had nothing to eat. So I lick salt, you know, . They gave me three meals a day. I think I'm doing better than I used to be. So it's like, it's it was kind of crazy way to, think about it. And, and I think because I had so much trauma as a child. It really helped me to be resilient when I was incarcerated. And like, it really helped me to empower myself. And then, and then it really helped me to think about what is resilient? at first I didn't even know what it meant. People tell me, I was like, yeah, whatever. It was just, Something I do, like when folks like, damn, you're so resilient, like, I've been like this all my life. I don't know. I don't know what the gauge of resilience you're giving me. I've always been a person like, I'll figure this out, you know, as long as I survive, I'll figure it out. So, if you let them, it will break you. You look deep inside you, and you look at your life, and just like me, a crazy way was, I've been through worse and I could do this too.    Miko Lee: [00:15:32] Before you get to you stay resilient now, Maria, I see you smiling a lot. I wonder if you want to respond to that. About prison breaking, meant to break human beings.   Maria Legarde: [00:15:43] I, I, because I agree with what Bun was saying, you know, it's like trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma. Which one's worse? There's really, like, is, this trauma is really worse than this trauma? Because I both came out of it, you know, so give me more. Is there anything more that you can give me, right? So it becomes a defensive mechanism for us. And Bun said, I didn't know what resilient means. too, when I was in prison, what does resilient mean? I said, I know English is my second language, but, , you know, I don't know what that meant for a human being to be resilient and what it embodies. So that's why I agreed. And I smile because, yep, we didn't know we were resilient because we've been fighting to survive. We've been fighting to just to live another day.   Miko Lee: [00:16:28] Peejay, what about you? How did you stay strong when you were locked up?    Peejay Ai: [00:16:32] There's many factors, right. But I think like one factor I share with Bun, like I grew up on the street. It was hard, you know, I grew up poor. I grew up on welfare. I grew up, you know, as a refugees, you know, coming to America, doesn't speak the language, was bullied, you know, was victim of school shooting to the point. Right. And like, there's. Certain things in my life that really, like, shaped me and, like, pushed me really hard. And so I knew I was different. I knew I was, like, you know, like, the deck is stacked against me. And so I think, like, experiencing it as a young person, I become numb to it. And so when I hit prison, and I went, you know, I went to Juvenile Hall, right? I went to Juvenile Hall. I went to the CYA. I went to prison. So as young person going through the prison system, I started to the lower level first and I can build resilience, you know, like teaching myself how to read, like learning, to accept hardship, right. Not being able to be isolated, not to be like in a cell locked up for many, you know, for many days, sometime many years or two, right. I think the one thing that really shaped my life the most is when I was in Solano State Prison. And I was just like, this was like new. I turned 18, they sent me from CYA. To Solano, and one night my mom came to visit me and, she was just so dumbfounded by like, what she hear about prison. And then she asked me, how am I doing with everything? And then I explained to her, like what the environment is like, and I didn't candy coat it for her, but I just explained it to her and she couldn't understand why people would continue to harm each other in prison. We're all in the same boat, you know, like we're all in the same boat, we're locked up away from our family, like, why are we not together helping each other out? Right? And then there's one thing she said was I stuck with me today. She said life is hard, you know what I mean? Like, and it could be harder, you know what you make of it, right? Like, you've got the choice to make it easier if you want to, like, Your circumstance were always going to be the same, right? But you have a choice to make it worse. And I'm sitting there like, man, that's just makes so much sense to me. You know, like, why are we making much harder on ourself? Right. so then I started looking at life much differently. I think her statement for me was at the moment I had, it's like, you know, things are hard, right, but I can always make it harder for myself and things could always be harder too, right? So why not enjoy You know, things that is around me and try to make a difference in my own self. Right.    So from that concept, I started developing resiliency. You know, I started, I looked at it, I started reframing life differently. Right. I started thinking about like, well, I don't have nothing to eat, you know, like doing lockdowns, I think about, yeah, well, people starving all over the world too, you know, like, you know, So it just kind of gave me strength, you know, as I learned to reframe my environment over and over again. And then I started to develop, like, start to like find opportunity to create better opportunity for myself. I went and got a job, you know, I worked in a kitchen and I fed myself and I, went to school and I got a, education and I started getting in the program. And so, you know, I started really thinking about like, How do I make my life better? You know, I call it my life, despite what I, you know, very little I have, I make the best of it. Right. So I think like that kind of echo out in my whole life until I got to the ICE detention center, you know, I'm reminded like, Oh, it's pretty bad down here. at that point, I'm like, I'm used to this already, you know, I'm used to reframing things to become positive, right? No matter how negative it is, you know, I try to find the best of it. Right. Conditioning through like hardship, hard time when I was a kid, all the way to my adulthood, even now, you know, like things get hard, with this new immigration policy and stuff, there's a lot of fear. I mean, I'm constantly reminded that I'm not alone, you know, I've built community throughout my life, I'm creating opportunity, for healing. And so I should focus on what I have that is positive versus what I don't have that is negative, you know, let's cherish the moment, you know, cherish my friendship, you know, cherish my opportunity, right. And my freedom and soul. So that grounds me, that reminded me that, can get better and it will get better. I just got to keep that faith alive and just keep hope alive and just keep moving, you know. When I go through prison and I survive all the hardship, it's grounded myself on knowing that, you know, like, people in the world have it so much worse, you know, and sometimes we have a choice to make things better for ourselves, but we have to choose to make it better, right? You can't focus on the bad things. Problem solving, you know, don't focus on a problem, like, let's focus on a solution. What can you do different right now to make it better?    Miko Lee: [00:20:11] Thanks Peejay key. I'm wondering how you were able to stay strong when you were incarcerated.   Ke Lam: [00:20:17] Wow. , at first when I first started, on my. Committed offense. I went through the whole system. I went to all one time. I went to juvenile hall, youth authority, county jail, prison and immigration all on one case. It took a while. living straight strictly on survival mode. It's almost no different than when I was growing up. My family moved around constantly and it was just either you survive or you become a victim. And I started off my early life being a victim and then I learned, how to normalize violence, growing up in a predominantly African American community. And that actually, sadly prepared me for my committed offense, be doing time inside. It wasn't easy. one thing I learned was not to be, you know, to be a tough guy. just go there, mind your business, do your time, be very observant. That's one thing that did help me a lot in life is being observant of what's going on around me, being conscious of what's going on around me. And the other thing is. Try not to take too much stuff personal, but it wasn't until I started going through self help classes that I became more in tune with learning about empathy, compassion, forgiveness, not just forgiving others and receiving forgiveness from others, but also learning how to forgive myself for a lot of the stuff that I allow myself to go through and the things that I've done to others. I think the other part of me was becoming really spiritually grounded was another big part of me was, I started out practicing Buddhism. My first, you know, my first stay for, like, 10 years of incarceration. then I converted to Christianity. no denomination because I don't believe in being a religious person. I believe in being spiritual. So a lot of people are like, what's your religion? I say, I don't have one, but I do believe in a higher power. I believe that, you know, we are spiritual being experiencing a human experience. so it's a mixture of what I learned in Buddhism and Christianity is learn to have compassion for everything around me, including myself, and part of that compassion the biggest part that actually helped me to prison was. one thing that I never got from my father and he never got from his father was a hug. So I start hugging guys, giving people hugs, guys, on a yard, you know, so nationality did not matter to me. you know, I didn't grow up. biased against a lot of different people. I learned to embrace a lot of different cultures. and then one thing by going through the self help classes, learning to connect with people on a human level, besides what t they believe in or what they look like. And so once I was able to do that, I started experiencing a lot of healing for myself and for them.    Ayame Keane-Lee: [00:22:50] You are listening to 94.1 KPFA and 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno, 97.5 K248BR in Santa Cruz, 94.3 K232FZ in Monterey, and online worldwide at kpfa.org.   Miko Lee: [00:23:10] I'm wondering what each of you do, what is your personal, like mental health support that you do now to be able to stay, stay resilient, stay in there. Maybe you all have touched or feel like you've answered this already, or is there anything that you're doing differently now in your daily practice?   Maria Legarde: [00:23:26] Do want to share something real quick, Miko, going back the quote, right? That prison is meant to break us. I was already broken when I went to prison. There's nothing more that they can break me. That's why I said it, like, give it to me more. What else can you give me? Because I'm already broken. You took everything from me. You know, everything was taken from me. What more can you do to break me? But then, you know, with my journey, faith as being my foundation, right, I believe that once, God gives you that second chance, right, for me. What do I want to make? With this chance, who do I want to be? So like a phoenix, you know, rise from the ashes, right? And so I utilized that and it didn't take just one year, right? Took me in that journey. That throughout that 14 years to be who I am today. So I took that broken pieces of me and put it in a puzzle and made it into this beautiful product today, right? So my mental health, my wellbeing, emotionally, mentally, I always go back to my faith. Because it's what saved me from when I got to prison. So when everything else is in chaos, I go back into that place. Go to my place within me that I can just be at peace. And meditate, listen to my music, be one in nature, so that's my go to. And it helps when I know I have people, like my beautiful family here. it helps when I know that I don't have to tell them. They can hear it from my voice and say, it's gonna be okay, Maria. So that's the kind of care. Without even having to say it, they just know. And that's more effective than anything else.    Miko Lee: [00:25:16] Thanks, Maria. Peejay, you were going to add?    Peejay Ai: [00:25:19] Yeah, so one of the things that I adopted for myself when I was in prison is that I was heavily involved with the Native American spiritual circle, you know, because of my kind of Cambodian Background before Buddhism came through, we were indigenous, right? And so through my indigenous side of sharing with the Native American cultural there, they found a lot of similarity to us people, right? And so I was fortunate to be invited to join the spiritual circle, did ceremony with them. And so a lot of the spiritual practices that I have done with them, like, for example, like this sweat lodge ceremony, which are often used for healing or prayers. stay connected with the earth, stay connected with your creators, stay connected with the higher power and also like have an opportunity to pray for your family and do some healing and cleansing for yourself. So I still practice that today and sometime when I feel out of balance, when I feel like, you know, a lot's going on and things are heavy and just stuff out of control and I need to find that balance again. You know, I go to ceremony, I go to ceremony here, here when I'm in the lodge. you know, it's pitch black, the sweat leader brings in the stone that just represent grandfather, and your elders and when he poured a water on top of the stone and it's pitch black, the steam comes out, you know, reminding me of like grandfather's breath, right. The creator's breath. And, you know, like that. And like being a sauna, people think about it being a sauna, like it washes away a lot of like toxins out of my body. It just, it washes away a lot of the hardship I've experienced as I leave it into the fire, you know, leave it into the steam and allow myself some time to like disconnect from the world around me and just reconnect with myself, you know, what am I experiencing at that moment, my breath, my pores opening, my heartbeat, you know, and, sometime, you know, people who are in the sweat lodge sing traditional songs and the sound of the drum. , And it wakes up my spirit, and it reminds me of who I am, where I came from, where I'm going. Yeah, and when I come out of the sweat lodge, I always feel like renewed, I feel energetic. I feel like I've been reborn again, right? And that helped me stay grounded on a very physical, spiritual, and emotional level. I think the other piece is that as I'm going through life, I'm celebrating it by, like, with family members, with a long walk with my family. Well, my, my dog, also help, just kind of like putting things in perspective, right. I found moments to do like me time, sometime yoga, even, you know, I, you know, the other day I did silver sneaker, because some of my elders like to do silver sneaker. . And that was like, very, powerful moment, right. And I feel like I guess it's like what I'm learning is that, Those moments help me connect with myself. And sometimes that's the thing that I need to do most when things are hard. sometimes working and responding to crisis disconnect me from myself and then when I start to refocus on myself, I realize where I need to be. then I feel empowered take the next step. That's what keeps me going. Be aware of connecting with myself more often, right? You know, I because sometimes it's easy to forget that I matters and forget myself.    Miko Lee: [00:27:59] Thank you for sharing. It's really easy to get disconnect, disconnected in our world right now. So many things are hitting at us constantly. Ke. What about you? What are ways that you stay resilient?   Ke Lam: [00:28:10] I think for one is definitely take a lot of deep breath is grounding myself is definitely one thing. It's so easy to get caught up in all the chaos around us, you know, hearing all the raids and pick up and who works, who works with ice. It is, it's really, it's depressing and it causes a lot of anxiety. One of the things I do besides breathing is I have wind therapy, wind therapy. I just learned what wind therapy is actually just riding my motorcycle, just going out there and just, you know, pick a location, just go, right? no plan. Just, just go. And most of the time I just go by myself. so I ride my ride. I zone out, play my music and I go, other things. I really, I actually been doing a lot lately is sitting with my dog and Just sitting there in peace and just quiet, just hanging out with my dog. Cause I lost my other one in October. And so the one I have now, I just meet her, just chill at the, on the sofa. I mean, on the ground, sofa on the floor, and sometimes we just go for long walks and just, don't have to talk. you know, just being present and grounded with earth and with the environment around me. and then other thing is, you Just stay connected with family and community. you know, being able to slowly share like what's going on while I'm feeling inside and outside. It's been helpful.   Miko Lee: [00:29:22] Thank you. I think we all need as many resources as we can to find ways to stay connected to ourselves and our community right now. , I'm wondering both. Peejay and Ke, , touched on the fact that you have been involved in the like bad education to incarceration as a youth into adult incarceration and now potential deportation. Can you all give a breakdown about what crimmigration is and why it is important for people to know about it?   Chanthon Bun: [00:29:50] Crimmigration is, my simplest definition of crimmigration is double punishment. crimmigration is for folks that come here legally with papers, but then because of the IIRA IRA law of 1996 that states that any crime of moral sopropo you could be deported after you serve your time so you have to serve your whole sentence pay back to society what they say you got to pay back to society serve your sentence and after that deal with deportation consequences and that's another question that we're going through today Right with this new administration is who deserve to stay in who doesn't and right now it's so Convoluted where where you know, every day we're getting new explanation who stays who goes who stays who goes and everybody talk about the law, it's the law this, it's the law that, the law says this, and they interpret the way they want to interpret it. But nobody that's in power is talking about the family, nobody's talking about the person, nobody's looking into the person like, you know, a country of second chances, nobody talks about that, like yeah, there are criminals. send them out But we have folks that have served long term, like all four of us and we healed ourselves. we went to a parole board, the state of California, the governor approved that. We are no longer a threat to our community, our society, and also an asset to our community and society, right? But after that, immigration comes in like, we don't even care. We just know you were arrested for this and this. And it's time for you to go. And for a lot of our Southeast Asian families, that's a hard thing to wait for your family member for 20, 30 years, and then get deported for life. And I only say that is because We suffer a lot of displacement. We suffer a lot of family separation. a lot of us are the ones that were saved during the genocide, during the war, the ones that survived. and then, this country doesn't look at our history. Right. and our history is sold like you are blessed to have a second chance to come to this country and make something of yourself. Right. And that's a totally blank statement. But then reality was, we came here with nothing. We came here with a lot of trauma, and we were just placed here with no explanation, no nothing. struggling to survive, struggling to understand this country. a lot of us like myself, fall into the criminal system. And we had, paid for what we've done. we've served our time and now to turn around our parents that are elderly now saying goodbye to them again. And, oh, that's a misstatement saying goodbye. They don't even let us say goodbye. You know, it's not like, oh yeah, say goodbye to, no, you got to go. And the way it's done is so cruelly done that, nobody ever think of the human. Nobody ever thinks of the heartbreaks, nothing. And right now, all I hear is the law says so. So we are a country of law, right? But we are human too.   Miko Lee: [00:32:56] Thanks for that rundown on criminalization. Peejay, do you want to add.   Peejay Ai: [00:32:59] Yeah, I think about, like, when I hear crimmigration, I think of, like, my own experience, you know, like, going through the pipeline list. I'm learning, like, there's a pipeline. You know, between the criminal justice system to the immigration system in the criminal justice system, a legal system, you know, like for me, when I came to United States, we settled in a very poverish, violent, crazy community. Right. there was not a lot of resources, you know, and then there's like a lot of gangs, a lot of like bias, racism was happening at the time. This is the time, like the war on drugs, tough on crime policy, it was out, and the prison boom. Right. Right. And so for me, I think like the lack of education, the lack of support was already like a prelude to my incarceration. Like there was a pipeline or established that one, one of these days, I'm going to be in prison because of all those X, Y, Z reason. And I'm not the only one. I think like that's pipeline created, you know, hardship for a lot of people, and then, for many Southeast Asian community end up in prison because of like, Dealing with trauma, you know, like we didn't have the resources to deal with a trauma, you know, it comes out in crimes comes out in gangs, it comes out and, you know, like adapting to environment by, being part of all this negative stuff. Right. And, you know, in a prison system. And, you know, unfortunately, a lot of us in being raised in prison, you know, learning about the prison system, through our lived experience, I have to suffer through it. Right.    And I think like what Bun said, you know, like, for Southeast Asian community. You know, being in prison system is just the first step, like surviving your environment, your resettlement is one thing, right? And then end up in a prison system is another step, right? And then the other step is that you end up in an ICE dentention center, simply not because of like what you did, it is who you are, like you were born with, you were born Asian or you were born an Islander, you were born, you know, API, right? And you have the immigration hole on you. And so they try to punish you again because of that very reason, you know, like if I was an American citizen. And I served my time, changed my life. I will be home. Right. I can give back to my community. I reconnect with my family. But for, you know, for API community, that's not always the case. You know, like where are you pre preset that, you know, like after prison, you're going to go into the immigration system and that's where you're going to take your next step, your journey. Right. And then after you, if you were to survive the immigration system, we will deport you, you know, and we'll separate you from your family again. And often like stuff that makes sense, like Cambodian, for example, and this is true for Laos, Vietnamese, Hmong, and a lot of other Southeast Asian communities, right? Like we were refugees, you know, we came to this country, you know, as kids. So we're not even born in the country that we left, you know, like I, I was never born in Cambodia. My mom left Cambodia during a genocide and I was born in Thai. So then I was in, they were trying to deport me to Cambodia to a country I'd never been to. I wasn't even born there, you know, so it didn't make no sense, right? But I feel like this, when I think about like crimmigration it's a pipeline, you know, it's a pipeline that it's very biased, it treats us very differently. if you're API, then you're out of luck, if you're API, you will be out of luck, you know, like you'd be treated differently. Right. and I, and I don't think that's a right system because it's the exact opposite of what the American society is supposed to stand for. Right. You know, especially like California, and you're like, we're a very liberal community, right? Like, we're a state that just, support, ideally, immigrants and all ethnic background. But then we treat people so differently, And not because of what I did, just simply because who I am.   Miko Lee: [00:35:54] Ke can you talk about the APSC4? What your campaign is about.   Ke Lam: [00:35:58] APSC4 is a campaign to save half of the staff from deportation back to a country that they have no ties to, , for me is Vietnam for Peejay and Bun it's Cambodia and Maria to the Philippines. It's basically trying to say, you know, we're not the same, like people that served time and got released are considered, I consider is redeemed, we changed our lives, we made restoration for the harms that we've done, and we're giving back to the community, and we're showing that people with a second chance can make society greater. And by deporting APSC4, deporting people like us, you're taking valuable resources from the community. People that understand the struggle and, the hardship that's going on in our community. So we're bringing voice to the voiceless. We're bringing, light to those that are still in the dark. And the other thing, the biggest part of APSC4 is we're hopeful for a lot of folks that are, not just impacted people, but for families. If APSC4 is able to get a part in, we're showing the community that when we fight, we win. That together, we can not just save APSC4, but we can actually save our community. I think that's one of the biggest mission of why we urge Gavin Newsom to pardon APSC4 is that way that we can show that not only are people that committed crime, not their crime, because so easy to label somebody that committed crime. You know, as that thing, right? , but we're not, I think that's the biggest part for me for APSC4 and I'd like to hear what Maria had to say on   Maria Legarde: [00:37:24] So much going through my head. APSC4 you know, we make up half of the staff for APSC, right? We represent the community that APSC serves. We're directly impacted. We've been through immigration. We, you know, with our family reunification. APSC4 is the bridge between the people that are inside fighting for their freedom, what freedom looks like out here, how, when they're out here, how they can bridge that gap in their community, how they can bridge that gap with their family, how can they start over by, you know, having a solid reintegration into a community that's gonna be supportive of their success. Because they were given second chances, who they were when they were 20 years ago are different people today. And I think, you know, with Nia, with Danny, right, they received pardons from Governor Newsom, you know, and it was during that time, too, when all the immigrants were at risk. And so for us, APSC4, It would really be, a loss in the community because we bridged that gap, Miko. Like, when I first came home, Ke was my bridge. I was in LA, right? People didn't know it, what to do for folks. immigrants coming home on parole. But we bridged it. Now LA knows what to do. LA knows where to start because Ke bridged that gap between local DMV, and head, Sacramento DMV. You know, that's what community work and that's what APSC4 is. We were the bridge, literally the bridge from our folks inside, to our community out here, to our elected officials that you invested in programs to rehabilitate us, to spend money on those rehabilitation, those fundings, and now that we're here, you're allowing you know, allowing an administration, like for your investment to just, what, go down the drain, because really that's what it is. Only because we weren't born here, only because of what we were dealt with at the time when we were facing challenges we didn't know how to, but now we have all the tools and we've proven that we've held our community, because our community has spoken for us. You know, ask Governor Newsom to please pardon the community members that are coming home that are all at risk of deportation and it's not just APSC4. very much. But we are being the voice for those that don't know how to advocate for themselves. We're showing them, look, we're putting ourselves out here. Because we know the value that we hold today. And our community believes in us. And with their support, hopefully, Newsome hears that, you know, changes his mind, I don't know. Do within his executive authority to save those people that are working in his vulnerable communities, in his marginalized communities, that are thriving, helping those communities thrive. And we are part of that. And we're hoping that he does it in a manner where, because it's imminent, we don't know when we get to talk to our community members again, to you, to have this discussion again, and so that's what APSC4 campaign is about.   Miko Lee: [00:40:50] And folks can find out more about the APSC campaign on their website, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, and we'll also post it on the Apex Express website. And folks can meet all of these amazing guests in person at an event that's happening February 28th from 6 to 8PM at Edge on the Square in San Francisco, Chinatown, where we will be hosting the reading from the book arriving. Can one of you talk about and and the other exciting thing about that is at that event, there's actually a zine. That's based on Maria's life story called when we were girls, that they'll be able to meet Maria and actually walk away with the zine. That's for people to take people can make a donation to actually receive the book. Can one of you talk about the book and what that experience was like working on the book and about what this event is coming up at the end of February.    Chanthon Bun: [00:41:40] Arriving is our second anthology. the first anthology was called The Others. So, Arriving is a collaboration of incarcerated writers. I'm an artist in that book also. it was, it's just stories. of folks that are incarcerated, API folks that are incarcerated, expressing, poems, expressing their trauma, expressing their live experience, expressing what it felt like to be API at a certain moment. in time with, immigration, with, coming to, uh, this country, acculturation, you know, we have, many different writers that, that collaborated with us. when I read certain, certain, writers, And they're telling my story. They're telling all our stories. So, if you guys can, check out, check out the second anthology, Arrival.   Miko Lee: [00:42:30] So we are recording this on the last day of January, 2025. And already in just a couple of weeks, our political system is in tumult based on Trump 2.0 policy. Can you talk a little bit about how, and I know the policy is changing daily. I mean, every day it's this onslaught, but from what you know right now, how has this impacted your community?   Chanthon Bun: [00:42:54] The community is in fear. All day today I was driving around going to meetings, but getting phone calls right in the middle. What's happening? What's going on? I heard and there's a lot of rumors. There's a lot of fear out there and folks are catching up to rumors and, you know, our folks like, hey, they're deporting us. Should I run? Should I stay? Should I check in? Should I check in with my family? Should I move out for a while? And it's just a lot of fear. The sad thing is they're calling me and they're probably calling everybody from APSC. because we have a wide connection with our former incarcerated folks and folks that are under, final removal order. The hard thing is, Like what you said, I tell him the same thing. Like I know it's fear. We have a lot of fear in our community. I know we're all worried. for the kids, for the family. And I can't give you no answers because it's changing every day. I wake up, I look at the news is something else new. There's something there. There's something there. And every day since the inauguration, it's just. hits our community and living with fear is such a mental breakdown. I had one guy, call me a friend of mine. He says, I do a door dash and I see them everywhere. What do I do? Like, I see them everywhere I'm living at. I see them in the corners. I see them eating in the restaurant. And, you know, I have to go pick up food there to drop off. and you know, the only thing I could really say, and it's not even something that, could calm them. It was like, be careful, you know, be aware. I mean, it's hard. I know it's hard, a heart advice but I myself is living in that same fear. being aware, but still trying to uplift our community in times like this. I mean, this is not going to be the first or last time that our community are in fear. It's happened before and we'll get through it. You know, with our community strength, we'll get through it. And the hard thing is, some of us won't get through it. Some of us will be deported. But somehow, as a community, we have to stand strong together. We have to just brace this. And, hopefully, it'll end soon.    Ke Lam: [00:44:57] Yeah, my biggest concern with what's going on right now is when community, fight each other like good immigrant versus bad immigrants. you know, how to stay away from that narrative, right? how not to pit each other against each other. So I think that's one of the things we seen on the first administration. and now with the second administration, especially when he's talking about going a little harder on it. I worry that, you know, family will. Start separating within each other. And, you know, with the, political views, certain family members who support Trump, who doesn't support Trump other part of the population I'm afraid of is those that are remaining silence. Those are that are hiding in the shadows. Right. Because they think by being invisible, they're that, that they'd be safe when in reality they're not. And so like, that's what caused, that's what's going on with this new mission. It causes people to hide and by hiding, by being siloed, that they become more vulnerable. And then I asked that community don't become like that. It's like the shame culture in our, you know, in our generation, the Southeast Asian, where we don't talk about nothing. Right. And that's actually not really productive for healing at all. That's actually the perpetuation of trauma. And so like we need to talk about crimmigration, criminal justice, we need to talk about social reform. Even something as simple as like, did you vote. That are who are able to vote like you need to vote. And don't complain about what's going on if you didn't vote. And so that's a hard conversation with our families, that I have with my family. You know, when they complain, I say, did you vote? No? Well, you got nothing to complain about. Right? But the other thing is, I think the other word that popped in my mind is proximity. How do we get our, people. To come close to the problem and to talk about it. We're all close to the problem, but we don't talk about it. And so like, you know, hopefully people like formerly incarcerated people, like APSC4, we're making that difference. We're bringing voice to our community that don't want to talk about it. Even our community that fight against us and tell us not to remain silent. Like we're like, no, like my family tell me, don't talk about it. Like, I'm like, I'm going to talk about it. You know, either you're with me or not, regardless, I'm gonna talk about it because we need to talk about we need to, we need to heal from all this trauma.   Miko Lee: [00:46:58] Thanks, Ke. Maria, what are your thoughts on how this new administration is impacting your population?    Maria Legarde: [00:47:05] Well, he succeeded in creating that climate of fear. That he wanted to, you know, that's the one thing that he did, but like yesterday I was with a group of community members up here in the Central Valley, and, we were talking about how, you know, when I was growing up, 1986, it's a revolution in the Philippines, when the church and the state, you know, it's always separated, right? But it was that one time. That the church and the state stood together to overthrow a dictator. And if it happened in history once, right, I, there's that hope. And so for my Filipino community that are in fear of what's going on in Trump 0, especially the ones in SoCal, know, knowing their rights and everything that we've talked about for the last week already, right? It's good to know those things, creating that space for them to talk is what my family is helping with others too. So here, my husband and my mom at work, like this is what needs to be done. You know, this is what needs to be done. There's a lot of our Hispanic over there, in the community, and this is what you need to tell them, translate it, so we know what we need to do, so it's our job to, disseminate the information and show them how it's done, so for our Filipino folks, It was actually, you know, my family, some of my family members that gave me a call. It's like, okay, so what do we do again? You know, I said, I'm going to send you some red cards in the mail if not printed. Like, well, I don't have a printer. So just doing my part to make sure that my family is well equipped, their family, their community, wherever they're at. It helps alleviate that fear. And I always tell them like, Yeah, sometimes it would creep in. And when it does happen to me, Bun knows, I go to Bun, I go to my mom, I go to my brother, I cry if I have to, because I just need to release it. And I tell them, just do it! If you need to yell, yell! But, you already succeeded. Then what? But like you said, you know, the laws are changing every day. And so, you earned it. Then fight for it. And when you fight for it, did things happen because you're in this fight and you don't give up and that's what resilient people are. Immigrants are resilient. We're the backbone of the economy. I mean, if they don't know that by now, I don't know what world they're living in or what planet they're living in, because we're showing them that we are the backbone of the economy. You know, and without the hardworking immigrants, would America be really that great? Because we add to that greatness.    Miko Lee: [00:49:26] Thanks, Maria. Peejay, what are your thoughts on Trump 2.0 and the impact on the community?   Peejay Ai: [00:49:31] I think it's terrorism, right? For me, I think, like, when I think about Trump 2.0, I mean, like, there's a lot of stuff on the news about, Trump using anti terrorism, sentiment, to try to scare people into passing all these bills and justifying, treating other people as terrorism, but I think, like, we live here, like, we are being terrorized right now, by the whole Trump 2. 0 process, by, like, separating people from their family, creating fear, attacking people at their home, like, all those are, like, Formal terrorism, you know, I think to me is like, how do you treat human being that way? You know, and, I can't believe that's the best option that you could think of. Of how to solve whatever immigration problem that they feel like they're having, but yeah, I think this is a way to like create separation between community, right? You're pitting people against each other. Like you said, you know, like when people live.   Miko Lee: [00:50:11] in a classic divide and conquer mode.   Peejay Ai: [00:50:14] divide and conquer. Yeah. And I don't think it's fair, you know, I don't think anyone have a right to treat human being that way, you know? create more trauma and justify it as the right thing to do. Cause I don't think, creating that kind of pain. I mean, it's human right. You know, but you're violating, human right. And even the constitution of being violated and that, and people think it's okay that is happening, you know, so if, if, and the constitution are created to safeguard people, right. Safeguard United States the citizen. Right. So if you can't even honor your own constitution, how do you know anyone here is safe? I think we're creating. A lot of damage, right? I think this administration is creating a lot of damage in this policy. And I think, I don't think we're going to recover from it. And people is going to wake up one day and realize that the people they care about is no longer there. And it's going to be too late to be sad because, you know, they're gone, right? and I think people should do something about it. You know, now we have a chance to come together as a community and fight back, you know, and keep each other safe and show the world like what community can do for each other, what it means to each other, right? And I'm, I'm sad, you know, I'm really sad. I have a lot of fear for myself, for my, brothers and sisters, APSE four, and I'm very sad for my community around me and the client that I serve, you know, I think it's tragic. And we're now, At this stage, you know, being in America, I mean, like, that's just insane to me. yeah, I think terrorism has a very crazy definition and I think, you know, if you unpack it, you can see it happening in this, with the way people are being treated right now, from this whole process.   Miko Lee: [00:51:28] Feel like we all need what Ke's saying, take a breath and, lean into the resilience we were talking about earlier. This is why I was asking you questions. You all are some of the strongest people I know, like how do we keep the strength? How do we continue on? I want to move us toward my last question for all of you, which is around a liberatory future and what does it look like? Dr. Bettina Love, who, as you all know, is an amazing teacher around abolitionism, talks about how abolitionist teaching is not just about tearing down and building up, but also about the joy necessary to be in solidarity with others. Knowing that your struggle for freedom is constant, but that there is beauty in the camaraderie of creating a just world. So my question for us to leave in a dreamy note, is what is your dream of a liberatory future? What does that look like for you?   Chanthon Bun: [00:52:22] I'm a father, grandfather. For me, a liberatory future is folks could just live with their family happy. Thank you. You know, we have the worries of, making money and all that, but beside all that, just having the breath to share with your, your family, you know, the feeling of true freedom, right? Like, I don't even know how that looks like or how it feels. Cause haven't got there yet, but there's moments when I spend with my kids and my grandkids. So I want that moment to be longer.   Miko Lee: [00:52:52] Thanks, Bun. Anybody else have their dream of a liberatory future?   Ke Lam: [00:52:57] For me, a future is where there is no us versus them. There is a place where community could come together, break bread, despite different languages. and then part of that is, where members of community that has been a silo for so long can actually come to, to ask for help. You know, there's no fear to, right now I have a friend who's so afraid to ask for help and in the shadow, because a part of it is also a liberatory future. It's like, Not carrying on the shame of the past, breaking a lot of those intergenerational trauma. All right, where it's, you know, it doesn't matter if you've been convicted of a crime, if you're a refugee, if you're darks complected, or you're like completed, there's like no biases in a laboratory future where we share in each other's wealth and happiness. your happiness is my happiness. And there's no need to like, I need to have what you have to be on the same status like it's like no social class, like, there is none. We're all equal. You know, we all have universal health care and, and education, and it's just, and universal childcare as well. We definitely need that because it's so expensive, but it just, it just, for me, it's a place where it's like a utopia, a liberatory future. It's like a dream. Right. And I think, A liberatory future is like one win at a time, but not just one small one, but big wins.   Miko Lee: [00:54:20] Thanks, Key. Peejay, what are your thoughts?   Peejay Ai: [00:54:23] I just want to not live in fear. you know I've Live in fear since the day I was born, and I continue to live in fear to today. And I feel that journey has not ended for me and my family. You know, fear from being murdered and fear from genocide, fear of incarceration, fear of family separation. You know, I haven't had, I have not had a stable life. You know, until today, I'm still living in limbo, right? I was born into it. And so for me, it's just not simple, you know, like I just want what any kid wants, you know, in a family, you know, to be loved, to feel safe, to be accepted. And to be with my family, that's really all I want, you know, just to be a normal kid, to be a normal person with a normal life without having to be afraid all the time.   Miko Lee: [00:55:01] Thanks, Peejay. Maria, what are your thoughts on what does a liberatory future look like?    Maria Legarde: [00:55:06] Think for me, like, everyone shared, you know, what the future looks like. one thing is that not have, not looking behind me or, you know, just walking, enjoying a walk out there without having to fear that is somebody going to come out of that corner. want a future where, you know, finally I'm at a place in my life where I'm able to make Decisions, good rational decisions I'm able to take care of myself, my family, my loved ones, my community, I'm able to give back more than I thought I could, you know, and I'm living that life where I can actually make a difference. You know, who would have thought little old me? Is going to be able to make a difference in people's lives. I just want to be able to continue that and love, you know, and share that love and joy and with everybody. And that's the kind of future like what he said, you know, the kind of future where everybody would have the help that they need. If they need someone, they can go to the next person without having to fear if they're going to get be judged or treated differently because of the color of their skin. Or because of the way they talk or because of the way they look, you know, I just want that kind of future where we can all be happy, and life is full of challenges, but I want that future that we, I know that we can all depend on each other and grow together. That's the kind of future that I want.    Miko Lee: [00:56:27] Thank you so much to the APSC4 Peejay, Maria, Bun, and Ke for sharing your stories, your fight, your leadership, your advocacy, and also what does a liberatory future look like, which is just living without fear, being able to be with our families, being able to celebrate and take joy in beloved community, and not to have to worry, but just breathe and be with each other. I really appreciate y'all and all the work that you're doing and encouraging our big community to come out and celebrate February 28th at Edge on the Square in San Francisco, Chinatown. Thanks, y'all. Please check out our website, kpfa.org. To find out more about our show tonight. We think all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. APEX Express is created by Miko Lee, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaidya, Swati Rayasam, Aisa Villarosa, Estella Owoimaha-Church, Gabriel Tangloao, Cheryl Truong and Ayame Keane-Lee.    The post APEX Express – 2.6.25 – Arriving: APSC4 Part I appeared first on KPFA.

In 1580, a Portuguese Capuchin friar, Antonio da Madalena, departed the renowned Alcobaça Monastery in central Portugal, embarking on an adventure that led him to Goa, India, where he established a library for his order. By 1586, after years of exploring Southeast Asia's dense jungles, cultures, and religions, he stumbled upon the sprawling ruins of Angkor—a magnificent ancient metropolis of stone featuring moated cities, palaces, and the iconic Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious monument. The complex, built without mortar or machines, left Madalena pondering its origins: Alexander the Great, the lost tribes of Israel, or the local Khmer people. This awe-inspiring discovery invites us to explore the secrets of Angkor Wat and uncover an ancient message in stone that resonates even today.

Lill, Felix www.deutschlandfunk.de, Tag für Tag

#126 El arte khmer - Historia del arte con Kenza Un episodio dedicado al elegante arte khmer con una estatua muy especial del Rey Jayavarman VII. Pueden encontrar este podcast en #Youtube con imágenes que lo ilustranPara mayor información sobre los cursos en línea favor de escribir a arte.kenza@gmail.comHistoria del arte con Kenza - Obras que encienden el asombro. Una serie sobre el arte a través de la historia y las culturas. Se presentarán obras que trascienden el tiempo por su belleza y por lo que nos cuenta. Nos puedes seguir a través de la cuenta Instagram @historia.del.arte.con.kenza, para descubrir las obras del podcast y muchas más. Producido por @RojoVenado #historiadelarte #historiadelarteconkenza #podcastdearte #podcastenespañol#HistoriaDelArte #ArteClásico #ArteVisual #ArteCultural #HistoriaYArte #MuseosDelMundo #GrandesArtistas #ArquitecturaHistórica #MovimientosArtísticos #PinturaClásica #EsculturA #HistoriaDeLaPintura #ArteYCultura #CuriosidadesDelArte #ArtistasFamosos #ObraMaestra #CulturaVisual Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

- Chương trình xây dựng nông thôn mới giúp các lĩnh vực kinh tế - xã hội của huyện Châu Thành, tỉnh Sóc Trăng đạt được kết quả khá toàn diện. Hiện nay, điện, đường, trường, trạm … được đầu tư khang trang, đời sống vật chất, tinh thần của người dân nói chung và đồng bào Khmer nói riêng tại địa phương không ngừng khởi sắc, giúp sính khí đón Xuân Ất Tỵ 2025 của bà con thêm vui tươi, hạnh phúc. Chủ đề : Phum sóc đồng bào Khmer, khởi sắc đón tết

- Tỉnh Sóc Trăng hôm nay 31/12 tổ chức lễ công bố Quyết định của Thủ tướng Chính phủ công nhận huyện Châu Thành đạt chuẩn nông thôn mới. Đây là huyện có đông đồng bào DTTS sinh sống, với tỷ lệ dân tộc Khmer chiếm gần 48%, dân tộc Kinh chiếm 49% và dân tộc Hoa chiếm 3%. Chủ đề : sóc trăng, nông thôn mới --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vov1sukien/support

I'd love to hear your thoughts - send me a text hereUS reconnaissance planes lost track of the Mayaguez crew when the trawler they were on arrived at the port of Kompong Som on mainland Cambodia. Because of that, US planners continued to plan for a rescue under the assumption that the crew was split between the Mayaguez itself and Koh Tang island and their estimate of how many Khmer soldier were on Koh Tang was off by 90%. Both of which led to a rescue plan that would not be well suited for the reality on the ground. The introduction and transition music heard on the podcast is composed and recorded by the eldest Ghosts of Arlington, Jr. While the rest of his catalogue is quite different from what he's performed for me, you can find his music on bandcamp.com under the names Caladrius and Bloodfeather.As always, a very special thanks to the Commando Pando Cap Company for its continued help to spread the word about the podcast on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/MountainUpCapCompany Climb to Glory!For more information about the podcast visit: ·       The GoA website: https://www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com    ·       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ghostsofarlingtonpodcast·       Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArlingtonGhosts·       Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ghostsofarlington/

In Cambodian history most people have heard of the great Khmer empire of Angkor, and the radical communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. But who has heard of the famous story of the sweet cucumber farmer who became king of Cambodia in the fourteenth century?  In this original book, Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 (U Hawaii Press, 2024), Theara Thun traces the development of Cambodian historiography, from the royal chronicle tradition of premodern times to modern histories based on Western historical methods introduced by French colonial scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Theara discusses the intellectuals – Khmer, French, and maybe surprisingly even Thai - who helped shaped modern Cambodian history writing. He shows that indigenous Cambodian historiographical traditions survive in the present in surprising forms. This is an important contribution to an emerging scholarship on Southeast Asian intellectual history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Cambodian history most people have heard of the great Khmer empire of Angkor, and the radical communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. But who has heard of the famous story of the sweet cucumber farmer who became king of Cambodia in the fourteenth century?  In this original book, Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 (U Hawaii Press, 2024), Theara Thun traces the development of Cambodian historiography, from the royal chronicle tradition of premodern times to modern histories based on Western historical methods introduced by French colonial scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Theara discusses the intellectuals – Khmer, French, and maybe surprisingly even Thai - who helped shaped modern Cambodian history writing. He shows that indigenous Cambodian historiographical traditions survive in the present in surprising forms. This is an important contribution to an emerging scholarship on Southeast Asian intellectual history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In Cambodian history most people have heard of the great Khmer empire of Angkor, and the radical communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. But who has heard of the famous story of the sweet cucumber farmer who became king of Cambodia in the fourteenth century?  In this original book, Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 (U Hawaii Press, 2024), Theara Thun traces the development of Cambodian historiography, from the royal chronicle tradition of premodern times to modern histories based on Western historical methods introduced by French colonial scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Theara discusses the intellectuals – Khmer, French, and maybe surprisingly even Thai - who helped shaped modern Cambodian history writing. He shows that indigenous Cambodian historiographical traditions survive in the present in surprising forms. This is an important contribution to an emerging scholarship on Southeast Asian intellectual history. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies

In Cambodian history most people have heard of the great Khmer empire of Angkor, and the radical communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. But who has heard of the famous story of the sweet cucumber farmer who became king of Cambodia in the fourteenth century?  In this original book, Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 (U Hawaii Press, 2024), Theara Thun traces the development of Cambodian historiography, from the royal chronicle tradition of premodern times to modern histories based on Western historical methods introduced by French colonial scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Theara discusses the intellectuals – Khmer, French, and maybe surprisingly even Thai - who helped shaped modern Cambodian history writing. He shows that indigenous Cambodian historiographical traditions survive in the present in surprising forms. This is an important contribution to an emerging scholarship on Southeast Asian intellectual history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In Cambodian history most people have heard of the great Khmer empire of Angkor, and the radical communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. But who has heard of the famous story of the sweet cucumber farmer who became king of Cambodia in the fourteenth century?  In this original book, Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 (U Hawaii Press, 2024), Theara Thun traces the development of Cambodian historiography, from the royal chronicle tradition of premodern times to modern histories based on Western historical methods introduced by French colonial scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Theara discusses the intellectuals – Khmer, French, and maybe surprisingly even Thai - who helped shaped modern Cambodian history writing. He shows that indigenous Cambodian historiographical traditions survive in the present in surprising forms. This is an important contribution to an emerging scholarship on Southeast Asian intellectual history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

Tổ chức Bảo vệ Nhân quyền và Lao động châu Á (AHRLA) hôm 27/11 lên án việc chính quyền Việt Nam tuyên phạt hơn 26 năm tù cho 9 người Khmer Krom vì họ lên tiếng bảo vệ quyền của người thuộc nhóm sắc dân thiểu số, và gọi các bản án này là “không thể chấp nhận được.”

Crashing Lightening and Rolling Thunder. In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand. Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected.. “You will never appreciate having to follow a difficult order until you have to give one.” (Late, late Saturday Night) Had I been alone? There are few perks to a solitary lifestyle. One of the few is the freedom from others; and by that I mean you don't have to decide if you care about people you don't know. You are free. Your emotions are free, your decisions are free and your time is your own. Selfish in the best way. Libra took my keys after we arrived at my apartment building and raced ahead to make sure that Timothy and Odette, if either was awake, would be forewarned. Casper clung to me as she always did. Estere took the lead since I also had to do pack mule duty. Brooke carried the few things that were beyond me. The rain was turning from a drizzle to a downpour. Odette had a friend over; a female acquaintance. Timothy; Timothy was in the middle of a very successful date night. Now I had the joy of being an auditory spectator in my domicile's sexcapades. "Shouldn't she be taken to a clinic, or something?" the friend blurted out. I didn't know her enough to decide if she was nervous, flippant, or secretly cruel. Casper dug in tighter. I had to dump the luggage to deal with her heightened anxiety. Libra, Brooke and Odette picked up the slack while Estere soaked in the ambiance of my dwelling. The look she gave me was one of amusement and intrigue. This was hardly the lair of the one and only Amazon Prince. It was sublime and comfortable. It had a nomadic quality she found familiar. Being in a fortress has its comforts. Being in someone else's fortress is far less comfortable. Estere was quietly accounting for every knife, mallet, or other potentially fatal piece of housewares. Brooke, Libra and Odette were already ordering and organizing my life ;  what did they need to get and how would they get it? "So; you are Odette's; friend," the unknown woman stated. Snapping at her was unduly unfair to Odette, who put up with mountains of my insane lifestyle. "Yeah, that's me. Cáel Nyilas; self-made troublemaker," I confessed. "You?" "Delilah," she answered. "What happened to her?" Casper flinched. "Nothing that being reminded about what a wonderful friend she is won't help heal," I cautiously responded. "She is hanging out with me and some friends for the weekend." "Cut it out, Delilah," Odette sighed. "Who are you really, anyway?" Delilah was smooth, I had to give her that. "Odette, what do you mean?" Delilah stood up. "Delilah, or whoever you are, I'm not such a wonderful person that people I've known two days come home with me," Odette lectured. "Now, I kept you here until you could meet Cáel, so why don't you return my courtesy and tell us what's going on?" Odette was keeping Libra and Brooke in my room thus out of play. Timothy climaxed. Good for him. Out in the living room, Delilah made a stutter step. She was frozen by Estere's silenced weapon pointed at her. "You were spotted by a rank amateur," the Hashashin noted. "Who are you with?" "You people are nuts," Delilah flushed with panic. Nice touch, but that panic didn't reach her cold, calculating eyes. "Damn Delilah," Odette shook her head. "You need to watch more television. BBC America has this nice drama called Orphan Black where the exact same thing happened. I knew you were lying to me in twenty minutes. I was nice enough to not bring the Death Squad across the street over to deal with you. They wouldn't have cared whether I was being paranoid or whatever. They would have dragged you out and killed you on general principle. You owe me." "I don't know what's wrong;” Delilah got out. There was a rapid knocking at the door. Shielding Casper behind me, I backed up in that direction. "Last chance," Odette looked at Delilah sternly. "That's the Death Squad." Sure enough, I checked and it was two Amazons in full gear. I opened up and the two edged in around me. "Ishara; status please," the leader asked. "Estere Abed is a diplomat for her Protocol faction, there should be records of Brooke and Libra on file and Odette belongs here. Casper is behind me; special case. That woman," I motioned to Delilah, "is of unknown origin." "Miss, lay down on the floor, on your stomach; arms out to your sides," the leader brought her UP-40 up, aimed at Delilah. "This is insane," Delilah sounded really frantic. Not in the eyes though. "Lie down, or three rounds in the chest," the Amazon team leader related calmly. "Last chance." Delilah decided that she wasn't cut from a fanatic's cloth. She went down like a pro. The two Amazons closed in. I spotted the third of the four woman team at my door, keeping watch. The two inside efficiently bound her hands behind her back and patted her down for weapons; none. "She is in violation of the truce," the leader pointed out. "Should I dispatch her now?" "Wait!" Delilah squawked. "I'm supposed to keep an eye on him and protect him, not hurt him. Fuck, don't kill me for this." "Who are you working for?" Estere came closer. Delilah hesitated so both Estere and the number two Amazon drew their knives. "Fine! Fine. All I have is a name and I'm only supposed to tell him," she pleaded. There was a moment of uncertainty. "She'll tell us," Estere knelt beside Delilah. Now Delilah's panic was real. "Wait," I stated. I motioned Brooke and Libra to move around the crowded room and comfort Casper. "Well," I sighed as I went on my hands and knees beside Delilah's head. The Amazon leader had her hand on the woman's head, pressed tightly to the ground. "Sibeal," Delilah whispered. Mom. "Do you have any way of contacting this person?" I asked. "No. It is not how I work," she said and finally I caught it. The accent. I looked to the leader. "Look at her hands and tell me what you see," I asked the Amazon. I went back to resting on my knees. "Hard; callused from repetitive weapons practice. Short nails. She's very fit," the Team Lead kept up the examination. "I apologize Ishara. She's a soldier." "Let her go," I commanded. The Amazon only paused for a moment before cutting her bonds. Delilah moved cautiously as she moved to a cross-legged position. "You don't have to answer me, but I'd appreciate some honesty. You're English. Would that make you MI-5, or MI-6?" It wasn't as huge a leap as it looked. Who could Mom trust? In this case, a government operative would actually be safer for her and she had to have decades of Illuminati information inside her head. Delilah had one reason to be honest; her mission. "MI-5 is counter-intelligence," Delilah grinned as her British accent came out to play. "M I 6. S I S is foreign intelligence. I'll let you figure it out." "Good enough," I stood then helped her stand as well. "You can stay; starting Monday. I need a break, okay?" Delilah nodded. "Deal. Now do me the courtesy of telling me why I'm here?" she asked. "Love. Deep, abiding love," I looked right into her soul. Crisis averted. Delilah 'agreed' to go with my guardians to 'work things out'. Delilah was curious as to why they called Cáel Nyilas; Ishara. She also congratulated Odette on figuring something was up. Odette told her not to feel bad about it; reference all the psycho bitches that showed up in my life. Brooke headed out to gather some more belongings for herself and Libra because; my vote not even elicited; they were going to hang close to Casper and I for a few more days. Libra and Estere headed out to that authentic Italian pizza joint I'd taken Libra to earlier since my food stockpile was abysmal and the neighborhood was far from safe this late at night. Odette took Casper to my bedroom so that Casper could talk with her parents in Delaware. Timothy and his date emerged from his room. It was Sovann Mean, who I had met before and gotten along with. It took me all of two seconds to figure out what had happened. Sovann had asked Timothy out because Timothy never thought Sovann was interested in him. Sovann was a second generation Cambodian-American and had this stoic demeanor he raised up whenever he was nervous, ensuring Timothy's confusion. "Hey Cáel," Sovann smiled at me. "Still being good?" That was code for me being 'straight'. It still weirded me out a bit; Sovann was a serious weightlifter, like Timothy and I, but a head shorter, so he looked stockier than he really was. When he smiled, his whole face lit up too. It was the Khmer 'twang' that always sounded out of place to me. "We will not discuss the number of women who were here mere moments ago," I joked wearily. "Timothy, I apologize for coming back early; shithead-intervention shut things down in the Hamptons." "No problem, Bro," Timothy came and gave me a man-hug. "With your newfound wealth, we may need to convert the sofa to a sleeper-sofa," Timothy semi-joked. "Oh yeah, and that girl down the hall; when I told her your father died, she baked you some cookies. They're in a tin by the toaster. They really are pretty good, too; walnut and caramel chip." That sounded tasty. I guessed that meant I finally had to meet the women. Sovann came up and fist-bumped me as Timothy went for the refrigerator. The doorbell rang. I wondered who had forgotten what as I swung the door open. Lighting exploded outdoors, our lights flickered and thunder shook the apartment. It was Uncle Carrig. As the old song said 'he looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone'. His eyes wore a harried, feral look. His bellow, as he charged, rolled over me like the amplified heartbeat of a hellish primate. I had no time before he was on me. Down we went. I tried to push him off of me. His suit was soaked with rain and blood, some of it had to be his own. In his right hand he held a dull aluminum cylinder with a metallic suction cup on the bottom. Sovann kicked Uncle Lumpy in the side of the head. Inflicted on a normal man, that would have driven him off me. Lumpy released his hold on my shoulder and backhanded Sovann. The Cambodian went flying in the direction of the sofa despite getting a leg block up. I had a flash of Timothy going for his home deterrent system, aka the crowbar. Odette began yelling. The cylinder was coming down. Carrig's left grabbed my chin, fixing my head in place. I opted to use both my arms to stop his right, and the device, from coming down. I bought a little time. Timothy's blow came down on Lumpy's left shoulder, weakening the hold, but not enough. The device slammed into my forehead. I felt a burning pain as a portion of the flesh beneath the cup was flash-fried away. More pain, then a little pressure and finally nothing. In those seconds before my mind spun out of control, I had the oddest sensation there was something inside my brain. Searing agony; existence lost all meaning and I was gone. (One week later) They say pain in the brain is illusionary. Of all your nerve cells, only a tiny fraction are devoted to pain. The rest do the important work of keeping your body functioning. The brain is on top of it all and it has better things to do that register pain; or so I was told. To be somewhat fair, what I felt wasn't exactly pain. It was the sensation that something was crawling around inside my psyche, doing something. Sharp, tingling jolts shocked my body parts at regular intervals. Painful in their own way, yet not so much I couldn't concentrate. I opened my eyes. The lights in my room had been dimmed, but not enough that I couldn't see the six ladies standing about; doing nothing. I recognized my present lodgings as Havenstone Post-classical Modernism (total lie; I'm not an interior designer). The six ladies turned, looked at me, then closed in slowly. A staring contest was in the offing when two people entered the room from the door at the foot of the bed. It then occurred to me that little sonic indicators on the machinery surrounding me were chirping loudly. One woman was a physician's assistant I knew from an earlier bout at Havenstone Medical. She had performed CPR on me. The other woman; she was the senior-most recruit from my father's graveside service. She looked positively grim. My dry throat requested some water then I attempted to rise. A problem instantly revealed itself. I was strapped down on my bed. The ankles, wrists and a neck/head brace kept my movements to a minimum. There was a side benefit to this imprisonment. That body-wide jolts? My body was wired up to a system that had needles piercing my muscle clusters. Amazons prided themselves on being physically fit and their tolerance for pain. My muscles hadn't atrophied during my; coma and the price was this constant, low-level pain. I still wasn't sure that was the reason I was bound. The PA maneuvered a plastic bottle with a spout to my lips and gave me a brief squirt. A few seconds later I got another and then a third. "Okay," I rasped. "What's going on?" "You have been in an unresponsive state for 7 days, Ishara," the 'senior' told me. "Why are you here?" I coughed. "I mean, why aren't you on the job?" She blinked. "Your life was imperiled so we decided that five of us would be around to monitor you and keep you safe," she answered. "What's with everyone else?" I huffed. The two looked at me. The quiet six were of no help. "Fine, what are you ladies doing here?" I asked the women originally in the room. No answer. "Ishara?" the PA worried. That was when it dawned on me that the two and the six weren't interacting on any level. "How many people are in the room?" I asked my housemate. She paused. "There are three of us, Ishara. You, me and the attendant," she answered. "How many people do you see?" "Well shit," I muttered. Then the first of the six spoke to me. Actually, she mouthed to me. It took me a moment to realize she was giving me her name. The next one started. "Device," I snapped to the 'senior'. As she hesitantly reached for hers, I began rattling off the names. When the sixth one gave me her name, the group dissipated into the ether. "Who are these women?" 'senior' requested. "Find out," I sighed then, "It is important." She nodded. Now that the specters were gone, the mortals began to come in. Right off the bat, I was confirmed in my status as "prisoner". They wouldn't free me when I requested it and they made no attempt to conceal their hostility to my fellow Isharan. The agenda was decided without me; they were going to check me out mentally, then I was off to see Hayden. Why was I imprisoned? My brain was a maelstrom of activity across a broad spectrum of regions and lobes. What had happened? They didn't know. The suction cup had stabilized the tube which was really a firing mechanism. When the device was able to detect and aim for a specific part of my brain, the longitudinal fissure, it shot a rod three-quarters into my cranium. A laser had burned through the skin and skull with surgeon-like precision so a barb of unknown construction could go deep into my brain. Then it 'detonated'. That was one of the problems the medicos of Havenstone were facing. The device had been so badly damaged when it unleashed its energy that they could no longer divine its function. What they did understand was that while my neural network was going super-nova, it wasn't killing me. They leapt on the idea of mind control. That theory sounded pretty lame to me, but I was the one tied down, with one ally in a room full of people bred to mistrust all males. The next approach; was I sane? The PA offered that I was seeing phantasms. 'Wait'. "Go," I directed the senior. "Take care of the business I have given you then tell Buffy and Helena what you've found out. You are wasting your time staying here." She nodded and left. It was more "common sense" rather than any sense of my leadership that made her leave. But that done; I concentrated on the entirety of the message so that it settled upon my soul. I relaxed, shut my eyes and let the world float by. It took them a minute to notice my noncompliance; any positive contribution on my part had slipped so far down in their expectations. "Ishara?" one of the SD chicks inquired. I opened one eye, then shut it. There was nothing to be done. "What is he doing?" that Amazon asked a physician. She, in turn asked me. I took a deep, cleansing breath and continued to ignore them. "There is nothing wrong with him," the physician noted. "He is being childish." That went beyond disrespectful. As a quirk of Amazon society, they had left me my knife strapped to my arm. To take it would have been an insult my tiny house could not have borne; essentially declaring me incompetent. I was heading that way, but not yet. That didn't stop them from deriding me until a lull finally developed. For a moment, I thought I was alone. I was intrigued by the words suddenly aimed my way. "Mr. Nyilas?" an unknown female inquired. I opened an eye. Woman; bad suit; and a badge. What the fuck? I was in Havenstone. "Special Agent Virginia Maddox with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I'd like to ask you a few questions," she began. "Okay," I cleared my throat, "as long as we are clear I am one misstep away from invoking my Miranda Rights." She worked that one over for a second. "Do you know why your uncle attacked you?" "Honestly, I'm curious as to why I'm still alive," I tried to shrug. "Carrig and I never got along, if you consider when I first met him we fought and the second time he stabbed me in the forehead," I explained. "How long did you and your uncle fight; the second time?" she asked. "Um; six second," I guessed. "How is Lumpy doing, anyway?" "Lumpy?" "Uncle Carrig." "He's dead." "Seriously; fuck. What killed him?" "We are working that out. He was beaten, stabbed; by three different blades, shot 67 times by five different firearms, only two which we have recovered," Virginia stated. "We also think he was hit by two cars, one dump truck and a subway." "Well; yeah; Uncle Carrig was looking a bit rough when I answered the door," I confessed. Lumpy had to have been on a freaking quest to go through all that to get to me. Subway? He was hit by a subway and walked away. Most people barely leave a recognizable corpse. "How are Odette, Timothy, Casper and Sovann?" I recalled. She looked at her phone. "They are mostly fine. Casper Winslow was taken to the hospital in shock and was released to her parents," she said. "The other three were taken to the Emergency Room, treated for minor injuries and released," Virginia informed me. "The other four women were a more delicate manner." "Four women? Could you be more specific?" "Your bodyguards." "Could you be more specific?" "For a person with supposedly limited financial means, a lower income lifestyle and a humble background, you appear to have a small army hovering around you, high society friends, and lawyers who are on a first name basis with Supreme Court Justices," Virginia noted. "Lady, half-way through Day Two on this job, I almost gave it all up and biked my ass down to Terra del Fuego to live the sane life of a paranoid recluse," I sighed. "Why didn't you?" "Cause I'm an idiot. I was hoping a crackerjack investigator like you would have figured this out by now," I grinned. "How do you know I'm any good at my job?" she sent a sultry lip twist my way. Yes; pinned to a bed I could still attract the ladies. Having hundreds of little needles in me made the prospects for a quick sexual romp unlikely. "Javiera chose you for this assignment," I told her. "You have to be a woman because this is Havenstone and you have to be clever because this is a lunatic asylum." "Touché," she acknowledged my above average mental status. Next came a list of names. It took me a few seconds to focus on them. "Oh, what happened to them?" I inquired. "What makes you think anything happened to these people?" she parried. "Oh, I'm betting Javiera gave you a list of names and there is only person left alive out of that group," I felt introspective. "I wonder where Anima is hiding." "What happened to those people?" she persisted. "I don't know. I've been napping for the past week, but I'm betting they all met nasty ends," I told her. "Why were these people murdered?" "Were they murdered, or are they merely deceased? See, if I give you my opinion, you will have to pursue that line of inquiry which will only hurt one person who has already been hurt enough and save somebody who shouldn't be saved," I explained. "Why do you get to determine who gets saved?" Virginia pressed. "As opposed to who? You and Javiera? That's laughable. Why don't you go down the net worth of the families of those unfortunate corpses, then tell me how balanced your justice system would be? Please understand, I don't hold you and your profession in contempt," I met her hardening gaze. "To prove to me that I'm wrong, all you have to do is honestly tell me that high-priced lawyers, legions of specialists that confuse juries and enormous bank accounts to keep the appeals going indefinitely while the guilty roam about on bail equates to the legal process working fairly and impartially," I reposted. "That's not the same thing as;” she got out before the door opened and several people traipsed in, including three SD personnel. Last came Troika and she was coldly furious. "I was promised more time with Mr. Nyilas," Virginia protested. She was ignored. "Ishara, you are coming with us," Troika snapped. To be fair, the medical attendant wasn't overly torturous as she pulled out the muscle stimulatory aids and applied the bandages. It still sucked. That was ameliorated somewhat by the read I was getting of Troika. I waited for the last restraint to be removed before speaking. "I refuse to go with you," I stated firmly even as I sat up. See, I needed something to happen that was beyond my ability to obtain. "Take him," Troika directed two of the SD babes. My captors had gone out of their way to make sure these Amazons weren't ladies I knew. "Stop," I declared with authorities. "You cannot touch me against my will as that violates Hayden's ban on me entering blood feuds and wrangling me anywhere against my will constitutes a blood feud in Ishara's eyes." "It is Hayden's order," Troika snapped. "Has she lifted the ban? If not, these ladies will be breaking Hayden's decree." Troika harrumphed then gave Hayden a call. For the purpose of this meeting, the ban was lifted. That was what I needed so off I went. I waited until we got in the elevator and were heading up before launching my strike. Pamela would have been so proud. If Troika had given me an ounce of dignity, I couldn't have pulled it off. As it was, the first stab took her just under the left eye, the second punched through her cheek and spitted her tongue. The third nearly severed her upper lip and then the SD were on me. "Blood Feud!" I screamed. "You stole from me!" Troika was about to come back at me, knife in hand. One of the SD got in the way. What I had done was illegal; blood feuds needed to be approved; except for one tidbit of law Pamela taught me and it was about to come into play. "You cannot wound him while he is in our custody, Troika of Šauška," the Amazon protested. Troika gargled something through the ruin of the left side of her face. "I will peel off a meter of your flesh for this insult," she managed to oozingly communicate before we reached the top floor. For my part; "Unhand me." They didn't. "Unhand me, or am I no longer Head of House Ishara." "Do not attack her," the SD leader stated. "Would you care to explain to me why you are giving me that order?" I mused. "Please, Ishara," the woman ground out. "Do not attack Troika of House Šauška." "Very well. I pledge that from this point until the end of this meeting, I will only act against Troika in my own defense," I promised. "Now give me your sidearm." "You may not bear a weapon in Hayden's presence," the SD leader reminded me. "I asked for your weapon, not your legal advice," I insisted. Another shot of bigotry. "I will not. You are not acting rationally," she stated. Troika snorted. That was okay, because I saw an excellent substitute close by. My deviation from the group was so casual, they barely noticed. I wasn't making a fast break to nowhere. I walked up to the wall and, Vranus be praised, yanked one of a pair of matching battle axes off the wall. Support studs went flying. Like all weapons in Havenstone, this one was real. The SD closed ranks, boxing me in. "You may not bear a weapon in Hayden's presence," the SD leader was at the end of her patience with me. "You are incorrect," I glowered. "There are two occasions I may bear a weapon in proximity to the High Priestess. One is in defense of her person. I am not here to defend her." Harder than any kick to the head; they paled then the anger set in. "How dare you?" the SD leader seethed. "The proof of the necessity of my action stands before me right now; an Amazon defying a House, a First Ancestor and a Goddess on her own initiative and in defiance of everything her ancestors fought, bled and died for," I glared. "Give me the axe," the leader insisted. "No. You will have to fight me for it," I made my stand. She was about to do just that when one of the others spoke. Tears were slowly eking a way down that one's cheeks. "Step away from Ishara, or I will kill you," she told her leader. "You are wrong and Ishara is right though it sickens me to admit it." To add to the macabre, one SD trooper aimed at my 'savior' and the fourth aimed at the third. Civil war. "You know what he plans to do," the leader stated. "It is not our place," the second Amazon insisted. "I cannot face my ancestors letting this abomination pass." "He is the abomination," the leader persisted. "No. The abomination is any full-blooded not of the Council deciding what the Council will and will not do. We now know there were once male Amazons. By the will of our ancestors it was so. Never before have we, the elite of the Host, acted as if we knew better than they," the second Amazon said with righteous conviction. "Go," the leader mumbled softly. The woman on the verge of killing her was most likely a close and trusted friend. Grappling with that sudden rift between sisters was occupying her mind at that moment, not my escape. I moved around her, keeping out of the line of fire as best I could and went with Troika to Hayden's portal. I didn't thank the woman. That would have been insulting because what she did, she did for her people and the hundred thousand that had come before her. Finally we rolled out the Old Kingdom Hittite/Amazon. "See what you have done," Troika hissed. I didn't bother to reply. I was sure, dressed in light green scrubs, I cut a valiant and imposing figure. "Cáel Ishara, what took you so;” and then Hayden saw it. For a second, Saint Marie almost cut me off. Katrina stood up. She wanted to stop me. In her mind, Hayden was one of our allies, but, as I had told her, she (Katrina) didn't get it either. Madi, Beyoncé, Fatima and Krasimira were also present and now highly disturbed. "Take yourself to the cliffs," I announced clearly as I dropped the axe on Hayden's desk. She had stood at my final approach and bore hate my way. "The Goddess Ishara rejects you and has taken herself from the Temple. House Ishara has lost faith in you. Your insults are lengthy and I do not feel like wasting any more time with you." "How dare you?" Hayden spat. "All the times I have shielded you and this is how you repay me? You were a mistake from the beginning." "A mistake we can rectify right now," Fatima snarled. She rose up and drew her knife. "Excuse me, but didn't we gather here for a different purpose?" Krasimira mused softly. "Kill him and end the curse," Madi growled. "Oh; in that case can you kill me first?" Krasimira sighed. "I see no need to postpone the continuation of my chat with my mother." At Krasimira's age, her mother was most likely dead. "Krasimira, you cannot defend him!" Fatima wailed. "Defend him? I am not standing in your way, Fatima. I do know that the statue of Ishara fractured and fell into two pieces in the Temple," she related; certainly retelling information they already had. "House by house, we see nothing but the back of those who fought before us. Five of my augurs had shorn their hair and thrown themselves into the fire. I can do nothing except report what I have witnessed. I cannot appeal to Ishara to lift her curse. I hope one of you can because if you can't and you kill her CLEARLY designated heir we shall all go down to ignoble ends," the Keeper of Records remained serenely poised as she delivered her doom-laden news. "By the way, Troika, what happened to your face?" "He stabbed me," Troika burbled. "Let me kill the bastard." I half-turned. Saint Marie interposed herself between the two of us. "Cáel, lift the curse," Saint Marie demanded. "Lift your damn curse," Fatima and Madi chimed in. "Cáel, lift the curse and then we can discuss things," Hayden tried and failed to sound humble. "If every woman in this rooms fatally slits their own throats in the next fifteen seconds, I'll plead to Ishara to lift the curse," I said. There wasn't a headlong rush to commit suicide. The only one so inclined was Krasimira. I motioned her to stop. "Well, I think we are done here. I have to go and try and cobble my life back together. You ladies have fun pulling off your 'Thelma and Louise' final act while I figure out some way for House Ishara to survive the upcoming war," I shrugged. Of course they didn't let me leave. Fatima on one side, the Golden Mare in the middle and Troika on the other. She had to be in a shitload of pain. "Lift the curse. If we are going to war, we need to be whole," Saint Marie urged me. "No." "Why should I stop these two from killing you right now?" she glared. "Because he is an Amazon," Krasimira muttered. "You should need no better reason. Ah; this is why we must die; thank you Cáel Ishara," she concluded. "A terrible sadness has gripped our people for as long as I have been Keeper. I found it lurking in the shadowy corners of my office when I was elevated. I now imagine it haunted my predecessors for some time as well. At least I will pass on knowing the name of our assassin." "The assassin is right here," Fatima spewed her hate at me. "You are correct," Krasimira chuckled. "The assassin is indeed in this room. Its name is Amazon. I need a moment, please." She stood and walked to the doors. What she wanted didn't take long at all. "Gun," we heard her request. The magazine fell to the ground. The sole bullet did not follow. Krasimira walked tenderly into the office as if every step tore like fishhooks at her flesh. "Take yourself to the cliffs, Hayden," Krasimira intoned as the one-shot pistol fell on Hayden's desk. "I no longer know you." Krasimira took in the whole room. "We show anger when we should show humility. We are proud of our shame. We are arrogant of our weaknesses. We have heaped insult upon insult on our ancestors yet are now aghast that they turn away from us," she shook her head. Her gaze settled on Saint Marie. "I am not one warrior alone, but one of a thousand warriors who have fought before me'; isn't that part of the oath of every member of the Security Detail swears?" Katrina fell to her knees. "Please Cáel. Please save us," she begged me. Something was very wrong with that. "How dare you?" Fatima howled at Katrina. Instead of being ashamed, Katrina's supplicant's face turned first into a grim grin, then one of gallows laughter. "And that is why we are all going to die," Katrina declared as she stood once more. "We are too proud to ask a man for help. We know what Ishara's curse is doing to us. You clearly don't care. You would rather die than admit that our damn ANCESTORS have placed a male here and now. Open your eyes!" she nearly screamed. "They sent a MAN for a reason; to open our eyes before we kill ourselves." You scream 'what gives him the right?' Ishara gives him the right. Nothing else matters. What I am asking you is 'what gives you the right to reject Ishara?' because that is what we have done. How could she make her will any more plainly obvious to us? Cáel has never stopped trying to save us and you two want to gut him like a lamb, or (to Saint Marie) break his body. Hayden, I will not place my rejection upon your desk. You have been as much a mother to me as my actual birth-mother. I love you. Since we first met, I have only wanted to make you proud of me and serve your will. What has gone wrong? How have we come to this? You were the one who told me we had to find a way to save our race; and now, when it stares us in the face; Why can't we accept it? How have I failed you, Hayden? What did I do wrong to not prepare you for this moment? It was my duty to keep you informed in all things and I can find nothing to excuse my failure," Katrina had gone from disappointed to heart-broken. Katrina prized herself on being able to stay ahead of any crisis. Here, at her greatest challenge, she hadn't been able to help her friend and mentor survive this calamity. I imagine that was the final blow for Hayden. Katrina had risen up through the Havenstone system as Hayden's protégé and had given Hayden her all. "Until this moment, I have never considered myself a coward," Hayden murmured. "You are blameless Katrina. In the final analysis, I sacrificed my courage for my life. And now I have neither. I can regain my courage here at the end and be true to the duties I was given," Hayden's resolve strengthened with each word. She took out a piece of paper and created a list. "Saint Marie, on this list are traitors to the Host. Gather these Amazons and prepare them to challenge my accusation." Saint Marie stepped forward, took the paper and quickly read it. "Hayden, this includes a third of the Council!" she gasped. "I am well aware of who I have accused. Please see to my final command, old friend," Hayden sighed. I could see a terrible weight lifted from her; the cliffs. "Final;” Saint Marie and Katrina groaned. "Yes. I will dine tonight with my family, then take myself to the cliffs with the dawn. I feel that will be a good end for me," Hayden mused. "Will Ishara forgive me, Cáel?" "No Hayden. It is not her way, but I will. There will be a place in Ishara's halls for you. I pledge you that," I suddenly felt a sorrowful pit in my stomach. Into that romantically tragic scene, Krasimira snorted with amusement. Eyes turned to her. Hayden shook her head, held up a hand to forestall the Keeper until she rounded the desk and left her office for the last time. "Who is on the list?" Fatima stormed up to the Golden Mare and looked over the list. "I am on this. So are you Troika," Fatima growled. "This is insane. We'll destroy Hayden over this; this; piece of filth." "I don't care if I'm on it, or not," Madi seethed. "I'm with you." "There is a small manner of little known law you may wish to be aware of," Krasimira chuckled. "The ruling of an honorably deceased High Priestess may not be challenged." "You two are under arrest," Saint Marie whipped out her pistol. Being with the SD, she was allowed to be fully armed in the High Priestess's presence. "What do you mean?" Fatima looked to Krasimira. "Cáel has killed you all and he didn't even mean to," Krasimira gave a dry chuckle. "By his act of kindness to Hayden, which I now think Hayden was counting on, our former High Priestess goes to an honorable death; taken into the Halls of Ishara in death. Unable to challenge Hayden's decree, you are all going to be executed and your names stricken from the rolls. You will wander aimlessly for all eternity while Hayden will live in the company of her sisters thanks to a man and his love for someone who was clearly his enemy," Krasimira kept snorting at the dark comedy. "Your sole avenue of spiritual survival lies with a man you tried to kill mere moments ago." "This is insane," Troika shouted and came at me. The room exploded with the sonic resonance of a pistol firing. I may have imagined it, but it appeared the bullet took Troika at the juncture of the right eyebrow, nose ridge and right eye. Whatever the entry point, the 45 ACP slug painted the wall behind her with her grey matter. Saint Marie turned quickly on Fatima. "Troika wasn't on the Council, so I could kill her for attempting to murder someone who was. I can't kill you immediately, but please believe I will put a bullet where it hurts if you don't do exactly what I say," the Golden Mare menaced. The debate was truncated by the four Security Detail ladies storming the room. Orders were dispensed and the wheels of Amazon society burst into motion. A side effect of my stunt was I had put Saint Marie in charge until the full Council could meet to create some sort of Regency Council to pilot the ship. There was zip gratitude aimed my way on her part and I didn't blame her one bit. I was headed out before things got too organized. I wanted some 'me' time. "Cáel Ishara, we have not resolved the matter that brought us to this disaster," Saint Marie growled. I was at the door. I looked over my shoulder at the Golden Mare, turned back toward freedom and saw Pamela. "Shoot me," I told Pamela. I was grappling with the horror of what I had just said when I returned to the darkness. MOTHER-FUCKER! I hate women! (Mutter; mutter; mutter) I became aware of my hazy, fugue-like dream state. Sadly, it was familiar and undoubtedly going to become even more familiar while I lived. "Upset with me, Cáel?" she asked. "You had me tell my friend to shoot me; yeah, Ishara, I'm a little cranky right now." "The question was rhetorical. I can read your mind," the Goddess snorted. "What happened to me?" "She bounced a bullet off your skull. You'll be okay. I am the Goddess of Medicine after all," she reminded me. "From an era when trepanning was popular. Color me unimpressed. Oh; and I apologize." "You will get me the fortune cookie next time," she lilted. Something crucial occurred to me. "Hey! I haven't had sex in a week. That hasn't happened to me in four years." "I don't think you are ready for that stage of our relationship yet," she tickled my nose. "Wait; did you just put me in the Friend Zone?" More laughter. "Seriously," I sighed. "Hayden?" "I forgive you," she soothed me. "Forgive me? I killed her. That is not okay. Wasn't; " "No, my Cáel. We are a blood-thirsty society and the ultimate mistakes are answered with the ultimate punishments. I cannot fully express my pride in you for what you did, even in opposition to my will." There was a pause in our relationship and conversation. I thought she sensed my turmoil and aided me in finding some level of peace. With her kind of entity, I would never be sure. "What did Carrig do to me?" I asked. "I don't know." That was not what I expect. Evasion; yes. The ugly truth; no. "I find the concept of an omniscient, omnipotent deity to be self-defeating," she mused. "Sort of negates the whole Free Will thing," I bantered. "Besides, what is the point of beseeching a being that already knows what's going to happen to you and would have saved you if that is what they wanted?" "Yeah," I groaned sarcastically, "I much prefer the divine ones who randomly fuck with your life because they can, rarely provide useful information and won't even put out on the second date." "I know this will cause you pain yet I will say it anyway; I love you." Yeah; I was suddenly wishing Pamela had missed and hit me between the eyes. "Very well, what can I do for you that would make you happier?" Inside of second. "Clever boy. Are you sure?" "Yes." "Done. I can no longer read your mind." A few seconds passed. "This is annoying. Is this what it is like dealing with me; this 'not knowing'?" "Yes and you proved it by the way," I murmured. Several more seconds. "This is really annoying me. Pick something else." Pause. "What does it prove?" "You love me," I grinned. "Love without freedom is illusionary. Freedom of thought is the basis of hope and hope drives all endeavors." A long pause. I was a bit curious about what was happening to my body. "Please." "No." "I could give you a divine gift; speak in tongues; regeneration; long life?" "Nope. Not happening." "I still love you." "Now I can say I love you and know I mean it." "That's unfair; clever and insightful, but unfair," she teased me. "What about the curse?" "Re-forge my statue at the Temple and the curse will be lifted. Be your regular creative self when you do so." Pause; divine sigh. "I need to send you back now. Oh, and make love to the first woman you see. It is important." "What? Why is it im;” and I felt the weight of my body and the throbbing of my temple. (Augurs don'ts and don't give a fuck abouts) I didn't want to open my eyes; really, truly, deeply. I had been dared by both guys and girls to pick up a certain female at a variety of events, even when they came with company. I'd done it because I'm that kind of low-life. Being pre-ordained to sleep with some chick felt wrong to me. It was cheating. I sincerely wished she hadn't been touching my face. Yes, someone was running their slender, feminine fingers over my forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, nose; yadda. "Ishara, I must speak with you," the strange woman implored. My eye movement had given my wakefulness away. I pried open my lids and looked up into the face of a living ghost. Her skin was albino pale with obvious veins and blue capillaries beneath the surface. Her ocular orbs were a deep milky white, with a tinge of light blue. I could barely make out the pupils. Her hair was whiter than Pamela's. From the structure and musculature of her hands and face; it was as if a perfectly healthy human woman's body was in a constant frantic battle against death. My senses expanded to embrace more of my resting place. I was in Katrina's office on the sofa. Katrina was not present. Buffy, the 'senior', Pamela, Rachel, Krasimira, the super-pale chick and two House Guard I didn't recognize were nearby. Despite my head throbbing to the beat of fiendish jackhammers, I managed to sit up. This upset the lady touching me as my movement broke our contact. "Ishara?" she pleaded. "That's it. From now on its Yakko Ishara, Wakko Ishara and Dot Ishara. Let's end all of this confusion over this 'which Ishara are we really wanting to talk to?' bullshit. So, what do you want?" I groaned. "I'm claiming the 'Yakko' spot, by the way." "Ishara?" she pleaded again. Was she protesting me taking the oldest Warner brothers' spot? Yeah, I was the youngest one of the pseudo-divine trio, but I absolutely owned the role of smart-alec. "She is an Augur," Krasimira explained. "The poisons she takes to put her in a receptive state to the ancestors, goddesses and the spiritual currents of the universe leave her blind and deaf to the mortal world. She communicates normally, but needs to be touching your lips to know what you are saying. Her name is Tadêfi and she has a message for you," she finished. "Give me a sec," I put my thoughts together despite my pain. Buffy shoved a glass of water and three pills my way. I downed them gratefully. Buffy was clearly distressed. I was getting the crap kicked out of me a lot and, in theory, it was her job to stop such things from happening. "Buffy, we couldn't have foreseen Carrig coming after me the way he did. He slipped through the seams of very good security," I tried to comfort her. "Pamela shot me on the Goddess/Dot Ishara's orders. She can only communicate with me when I'm in a near-death state," I said. "I have a new mission for you." I needed to keep her mind busy with things other than me. Buffy was action-oriented and I was giving her a doozy of a task. "Obtain at least five of the bullet casings from the battle that took my Father's life. Give them to Krasimira. They are to be melted down with the original statue and recast into a new symbol of the Goddess. We will be a melding of the old and the new," I ordered. Yes, I was sacrificing a priceless ancient artifact for a current political agenda. I'm reprehensible. Kimberly would be ashamed. "Now, who were the women whose names I gave you?" "They are all deceased 'Runners', Ishara," the senior told me. Oh; that made sense. "Tomorrow we induct them into House Ishara," I stated. "Ishara, they are dead," senior repeated. "Do you believe the souls of Amazons go to the houses of their ancestors after dying?" I posed. That took a few seconds to soak in. My almost albino was getting truly distressed so I took her hand and put it on my lips as I asked the latest question. "Oh;” the senior and Buffy both muttered. "All those 'Runners'; their spirits wander aimlessly for eternity bereft of companionship and a place to call home," I told them. "That is a crime," I continued. "Even as Ishara moves forward, we must be honest about our past. Those women earned a place in the Host. They were unduly denied their promised afterlife and we will start rectifying that tomorrow." Their looks broadcast their interpretation of my declaration: I was a wonderful child who had won first place for our team at the State Fair. Now that she was back in the communication loop, the augur calmed down. "You have a message for me?" I 'asked' her. Halfway through, I stopped enunciating. "Yes, Ishara. My dead sister stepped back through the flames and told me you;” she began. "No; stop," I told her. "Everyone leave." They honored my wishes and departed except; "What are you still doing here?" I asked the House Guard who remained. Now that I had a chance to study her, I realized she bore the same cuneiform designation as Krasimira. "I am her guardian. I am always at her side," the woman explained rather heatedly. She was certainly not a fan of the man in mankind. "By all means; have it your way. Augur, your message is unimportant. Write it down and have it sent out as a memo for everyone in Havenstone to read. Someone may tell me about it. I'm horrible with my e-mail, so I probably won't read it myself," I growled. This shit stopped now. I stood and made to leave. The augur swatted out and grabbed my arm when she hit it. "Ishara, you must;” and I lightly slapped her face. The guardian drew down on me. "How dare you?" the guardian seethed. "I am thinking the same thing; 'how dare you?'" I rumbled. "How dare you decide what messages she does, or does not, deliver?" "Tadêfi has something important to tell you," the guardian growled. "Augurs died to bring you this message." "Clearly the message isn't important enough for you to leave the room," I countered. "I took bullet to the head so I could talk to the Goddess Dot Ishara." I was going to enjoy calling my matron pain-in-the-cranium that. She was probably less amused. "I'm about out of patience with you smug, delusionary superior sluts demanding things from me as if you weren't my underlings," I glared. "Get with the program, or get out." Though I had told her to get out, I was the one leaving. I needed clothes, a shave and a chance to get my bearings. I didn't need those two. Tadêfi tried to speak again. I put my hand to her lips to stop her again then raised her hands to my lips. "I do not want to hear what you have to say," I related. "If you try to tell me what you have been told, I will purposely ignore it and cut out your tongue for your insolence. Your sisters died in vain because your guardian has decided what you say is not worth her leaving the room for us to talk in private. Sleep well with the dying screams of your sisters' agonies echoing in your mind and know your fellow Amazons have wished this fate upon you. Good-bye." "How; augurs are sacrosanct and their messages are rare and crucial to the Host," the guardian sputtered. "Didn't know, don't care and could care less what you think is crucial for the Host," I sighed as I started walking away. "What is happening?" the augur wailed. "Her visions are lacerations on her soul," the guardian howled. "Does her pain mean nothing to you?" Those two had to be incredibly tight, the guardian watching the augur scarred and worn down by the task she had been chosen for; and not being able to help. "Not enough to keep me here," I answered at the door. "She's your buddy, not mine and I have a plateful of unhappiness already set before me." I opened the door. "Is there a problem?" Krasimira inquired as I stepped out. She had a guardian too. Pamela was also close by and strategically placed to dispose of said guardian. "Her bodyguard told me to ignore Tadêfi, so I am," I muttered. I hurt. The pain-killers had yet to kick in; and I'd just come out of a coma. Fuck'em. If Ishara wanted me to nail that girl, she was going to have to step up on her level of assistance aimed my way. I accepted that she had her limitations, but so did I. "Cáel Ishara, is that precisely what she said?" the Keeper was being diplomatic. "No; what do I call you?" "Krasimira, Cáel," she answered. "I do not believe it was Tadêfi's intent to be ignored. May I mediate?" "No," I replied. "I will talk with Tadêfi alone, or not at all. Quite frankly, half the time you women open your mouths, I want to kick you off the roof of this building. Either I see some damn humility; your words, Krasimira; or I carry on the Amazon tradition with Ishara and her legion of former 'Runners' while the rest of you are throttled by your pride." Do note that the Executive Services floor was very active and several members heard my statement loud and clear. "May we please try this meeting one more time?" she requested. Her bodyguard nearly choked on Krasimira's gentle, conciliatory tone. "I could not consider myself an Amazon and deny the Keeper's suggestion on this matter. Let's give it one more shot," I conceded. All I was asking for was 'nice'. I wasn't deluded into thinking Krasimira was suddenly my fan. She was simply acting on the enlightenment that her ancestors and goddesses had revealed. We headed back into Katrina's office. As with any divine direction, she knew she had two choices; harm, or heal. She had accepted responsibility that to heal her people, the spirits had chosen a male. Liking me had nothing to do with it. Being true to her oaths and nature as an Amazon were the acting forces here. Amazons survived, first and foremost. They feared nothing, not even change. Her fellows had denied the need for change based solely on pride and Krasimira recognized that now. Back in Katrina's office, the guardian was trying to calm her nearly hysterical charge. I would have been much happier if we had been more alone. The room had become crowded with ghosts during my short absence. Krasimira, who was following, bumped into me. "Ishara?" she whispered. As unfortunate as that was, Tadêfi's blind eyes following the fixed stares of all the ghosts in my direction was worse. I squeezed my brain for an appropriate bit of trivia that would put my depression on its ass. There was this movie by M. Night Shakalaka-ding dong (or something like that) about a boy who saw dead people. The hero; the man trying to help the boy; he turned out to be a ghost as well who didn't figure that out until the end of the flick. But, it got better. Using the numerous ghostly gazes like searchlights pinning down an escaping convict, Tadêfi ran right into my arms. That was a pretty remarkable feat; a blind girl in an unfamiliar room covering four meters flawlessly. But, it kept getting better. All the ghosts started to yammer, clambering for attention. Tadêfi began to weep piteously. I had to wonder if this was Ishara's penalty for keeping my mind free of her meddling. No one else seemed to understand what the fuck was going on. Krasimira was the augur wrangler, not in tune with the spirits herself. She was also the Supreme Litigator, which necessitated her being able to interact with the mortal world on a constant basis, so I couldn't hold her lack of spiritual mojo against her. My instincts were telling me that screaming and yelling was pointless. The cacophony was incredibly vexing, but I could deal. Tadêfi couldn't. I was looking at this dilemma from the wrong angle. Instead of taking on the hundreds, I would take on the one. I placed one of the augur's hands on my lips then placed my hands over her ears. My hope was that since I could interact with the restless dead, my flesh could act as a buffer to their insistent beseeching of us for recognition of their numerous appeals. My first song was one of the melodies sung to me by Oneida's kin while I fought off her Death Pledge. Bit by bit, a tiny fraction followed by the greater whole, I pulled Tadêfi back from the brink of insanity. Eventually, she began mumbling a different refrain into my chest. "My ears work better than my lip-reading," I chided her playfully. The ghosts hadn't stopped their pleas for attention. It was the sonic and tactile sensation of my song upon her fingers and the fluctuation of my lungs in pushing forth the music that allowed her to focus on her mortal coil. As we sang together, eventually with her teaching me a few new ballads, we shut the world out. Once our shared reality collapsed down to just the two of us, the babble diminished then finally faded away. "May I relay my message now?" Tadêfi requested. "No, we have to have sex first," I replied. Whoops; shit-storm. What followed was a blur. "I can't have sex," Tadêfi murmured. "The touch of a man would corrupt me." Plus. "She is an augur," her guardian declared firmly. "She must remain a virgin." Plus. "Cáel Ishara, augurs cannot be;” Krasimira's tongue became tied. "You go, Tiger," Pamela tossed out there. "Tadêfi, where are you right now?" I began my rotation of responses. "Why does she have to be a virgin? And, thanks Pamela. That was less helpful than normal." "I aim to disappoint, Cheetah," Pamela smirked. I couldn't see her face, but I knew she was. She; Tarzan. Me; Cheetah, the Immortal baby chimpanzee. Just what I needed. "It is the law," the guardian moved to separate us. "She must not be touched by a man," Krasimira stated. "Not having intercourse is implied. If she has been corrupted, why did the spirits continue to surround her after Cáel's touch?" "Keeper, this cannot be allowed," the guardian changed her focus. "I agree in that this is your choice to make," Krasimira countered. "Without knowing the missive, you must decide what your charge may, and may not, do. Your oath is to her personally, not to me or any other entity. Consider what the task of guardian truly is before deciding." The convoluted decision: what was the chief duty of a guardian; the message, or the messenger? The augur could convey urgency yet was powerless to act without the guardian's permission. She had to trust her guardian with the basics of life. The guardian; she had to trust what could not be sensed, or even fully understood. "Why; why this condition?" the guardian returned her gaze to me. I could have been a dick. "Dot Ishara told me to have intercourse with the first woman I saw when I woke up," I said. "If you hurt her, I will kill you," the Amazon threatened. "First off, Tadêfi, would you like to fool around?" I might want to get my potential sex partners permission before proceeding. You know; not be a rapist. "I don't know what you want, but if this is what we must do," Tadêfi acquiesced. "First time sex is going to be painful, so be prepared," I cautioned both young women. "If you;” the guardian repeated her threat. "Cáel, you should give daily thanks I don't leave a trail of dead bodies everywhere you go," Pamela declared with malicious menace. "So many pretentious bitches; I tell you, my ability to tolerate your forgiving nature is being sorely tested, damn it." Wow, was that totally ass-backwards, or what? As a side note to life: I was going to receive a serious beat-down the second my sexual tryst ended. Two pernicious women: Buffy; I had been damaged by someone who wasn't her. There was no way she'd forgive me for that. And Pamela; I had sent Estere away to escort Libra instead of keeping the assassin close. Without a doubt, I had taken Pamela away from some odious errand conducted on my behalf, yet without my knowledge. Yes, some serious torment was headed my way. Back to the girl at hand. Back to being the 'me' I wanted to be. Oink! With torturous reluctance, the guardian made to leave. "Wait," I called out. "You can stay if you join us." Yes, I was angling for a three-way with a women who wanted to make line drives with a five iron using my nuts for golf balls; and the blind and deaf girl. I couldn

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Dr. Kanjana Thepboriruk sits down with Dr. Theara Thun to talk about the evolution of ‘knowledge' and ‘information' within the Cambodian context, especially with the advent of print media and how the new medium affected the production, transmission, and creation of new knowledge. He dives even deeper, looking at the ways the Khmer understanding of history and documentation shifted to encompass Western systems of bookkeeping while retaining their primary method of aural storytelling. Dr. Theara Thun is a scholar of Southeast Asia, specifically his home nation of Cambodia. He studies the shifting intellectual traditions of southeast Asia, reflecting on how the changing world affects the development of education and intellectualism within the region.

Cáel's tombstone: For the love of women, women put him here.In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand.Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected..