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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 86
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 86 |
I write to direct attention, for any who may be interested, to an aricle in the 8/13/01 issue of THE NEW YORKER entitled "Letter from Indonesia - Soldiers and Spice", by John Seabrook. (Sorry - My 19th Cent heart & brain, and 18th Cent computer skills, do not reach to creating "links" or whatever, and besides, I do not have a scanner-majig.) You can LIU. I am also mindful that our Parliamentarian, AnnaS, may chide me, alleging that this article bears little relevance for our stated linguaphilic purposes. Nevertheless, (obviously!) I proceed, weakly asserting that there are SOME curious words and phrases therein of possible interest.
My usual focus and interests are centered on Western Civilization ( I acknowledge a certain cloistered, a rather parochial, weltanschauung) and, were it not for my friend Bingley, whom I much admire, I would have skipped the article. At all events, I found it an interesting blend of history, geography, politics, religion and culture, a well-articulated synopsis of some part of the world surrounding our colleague Bingley. I was quite surprised to learn, e.g., that "Two hundred and ten million people live in indonesia, making it the fourth most populous nation in the world. The only modern nation with a comparable multitude of people, cultures, languages, religions and ethnicities was the Soviet Union ..." Take a look if you are so inclined.
Post Script - - As I corrected a typo "multidude" to "multitude", it occurred to me that maybe, in our brave new world, there is a need for a word like "Multi-dude". Does this then, my Lady Anna, bring me into the legitimate confines of "MISCELLANY"???? .....
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Thanks scribbler--but the New Yorker site is a pretty crummy one-- and its really hard to find, and create links to back issues.. at this point most of us are going to have to trudge down to the library and read the article in hard copy, or see if a search on john seabrook finds it...
it is a wonderful article-- especially since 95% of what i knew about indonesia was garnered from menus (i like the food) and from the 1960's move "a year of living dangerously"--with a very, very young Mel Gibson-- which is pretty pathetic.
next up, i need to read some of the new stuff coming out about the Congo and Patric Lumumba-- since i know my elementary teachers, all good nuns, were not impartial about him.. all i associate with his name is the congo, and nuns being killed. i have no real knowledge..
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
With no offence to our Bingley intended at all, I last saw Indonesia from the position I like best - between 30,000 and 40,000 feet above it and travelling at about 500mph away from it.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
My Dear Scribbler, My computer skills, sadly, were not up to locating the article you mentioned. However, in the search, I stumbled upon a site which this group may find of interest as a way to pass a few minutes here and there: Cardigan Industries: The Ecstacy of Communication, at the Corner of Art and Commerce. This is, apparently, a series of articles, tongue-in-cheek (what I've seen, anyway), written with words of way more than one syllable, about various aspects of modern life. In fact, I had to look up one of the category headings: obloquy. Here's a sample paragraph from an article on Cardigan Personal Style -- "Be the Sweater":
COURTESY
Be diligent in the writing of notes of gratitude. Before sending, shuffle notes and envelopes to ensure random reassignment. Speculate how your aunt, who prepared a fine roast chicken dinner, will react to a note indicating the pleasure you took in reading her novel, and why you’re addressing her as Bob.I loved one of their ratings of articles: Too clever x .5. http://www.cardigan.com/2000/08-13/(This is to the article quoted--I can't find anything labeled as a Home Page. The closest thing is something called Textism, a good read.)
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
http://www.cardigan.comA strange, interesting world.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
dear Jackie, it not your skills that are lacking--it's the site-- even though they post most of the magazine each week, there is no way to get to the archives.. unless you go to the site each week and bookmark it.. there is no path to a previous issue..
so its rather easy to get to this weeks issue, or to any old issue that i have book marked.. (an the one i created a link to in one of the threads still works) but since i didn't bookmark last weeks issue.. its gone!
its one of those quirky, fun, irritating things about the magazine! if you checked out tsumw's link, or the home page of The New Yorker, you find they don't have an email address.. you can't email in comments. very old fashioned that way.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Thanks, Helen. Kind words, coming from an expert!
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Well, I'm flattered that my presence here should have aroused such interest in this part of the world. I'm currently reading Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (familiarly known as Pak Pram -- Pak more or less equals Mr.), who is reputed to be Indonesia's greatest living writer and whose name regularly appears on the Who's Going to Get the Nobel Prize This Year gossip circuit. He was a political prisoner under Soeharto and was exiled to the prison island of Buru -- not a nice place. While there he entertained his fellow prisoners with a serial story, later written down as The Buru Quartet, of which Bumi Manusia is the first part. It's been translated into English as This Earth of Mankind . It's a real stretch for my vocabulary. The story is about a young native Indonesian, granted the privilege of being educated in the Dutch colonial education system at the end of the 19th century, and his involvement with the family of Ngai Ontosoroh, the rich mistress of a Dutchman. There is a website devoted to Pak Pram's life and works at: http://www.radix.net/~bardsley/prampage.html Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Dear Scribbler the Multi-dude, Your post is indeed most appropriate, most well-placed and most interesting.  You may go to the head of the class. Indeed, my knowledge of Indonesia was mostly confined to the food and to its position as a coffee producer. Thanks not only for posting the existence of the article, but for extracting interesting bits for us. I'm headed to the library this afternoon - I will look for it.
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