Kid, Jakarta & Rules for Writing

Here are over 400 rules for writers from 40 writers

I like Philip Pullman's rule: 

“My main rule is to say no to things like this, which tempt me away from my proper work.”

Kid, Singapore

“Statistics show that states with stricter gun laws and fewer guns have less overall gun violence than those with more lax laws and more guns. Hemenway, who has done extensive research on guns, said it boils down to access to weapons.”

Girl, Kolkata

Clouds And Waves

Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me-
    "We play from the time we wake till the day ends.
    We play with the golden dawn, we play with the silver moon."
    I ask, "But how am I to get up to you ?"
    They answer, "Come to the edge of the earth, lift up your
hands to the sky, and you will be taken up into the clouds."
    "My mother is waiting for me at home, "I say, "How can I leave
her and come?"
    Then they smile and float away.
    But I know a nicer game than that, mother.
    I shall be the cloud and you the moon.
    I shall cover you with both my hands, and our house-top will
be the blue sky.
    The folk who live in the waves call out to me-
    "We sing from morning till night; on and on we travel and know
not where we pass."
    I ask, "But how am I to join you?"
    They tell me, "Come to the edge of the shore and stand with
your eyes tight shut, and you will be carried out upon the waves."
    I say, "My mother always wants me at home in the everything-
how can I leave her and go?"
    They smile, dance and pass by.
    But I know a better game than that.
    I will be the waves and you will be a strange shore.
    I shall roll on and on and on, and break upon your lap with
laughter.
    And no one in the world will know where we both are.

Rabindranath Tagore

Mother & Child, Hanoi

Review by Annuska Derks in New Mandala of
It's a Living: Work and Life in Vietnam Today, ed. Gerard Sasges, NUS Press, 2013 

"Despite such obvious changes, the stories demonstrate the continued importance of the family, which on the one hand provides support for learning skills or finding a job and on the other hand needs support.  This latter need is often the prime motivator to endure long separations and sometimes hard, dirty, dangerous or tedious work"

Boy, Jakarta

The Act of Killing should have won the Best Documentary at the Oscars but lost out to continuing ignorance of Indonesia & its history in the west. There is also a need to examine the US & western powers role & encouragement in the policies leading to the Indonesian killings in the mid 1960s.

The Lowy Interpreter blog has a good piece on the impact of The Act of Killing in Indonesia.  

The Economist also has a fine article.

Young Boy, Jakarta Selatan

At Chinese New Year, Papa Eko and I went for a walk to the fish farms near his house in Cipedak and met this young man outside the community centre.

Portrait of a Young Girl, Jakarta Selatan

​Jakarta Selatan, March 2013