October 22, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR – During an interview this week for my new short story collection, Velvet & Cinder Blocks, the Malaysian reporter mentioned she had just returned from a conference in Mexico City that brought together individuals, academics, and private and public sector leaders from around the world to help grassroots movements produce positive social change through new technology.
Her sponsor? Read the rest of this entry »
October 20, 2009
Somehow I missed it. Bono (yes the rock star) alerted me in a New York Times op-ed on Saturday: the same week Obama won the Nobel Prize, America was found to be the world’s most admired country, marking a seven-spot leap and the biggest jump a country has made in the history of the National Brands Index Survey.
Ten months ago America looked like toast. Now it’s the toast of the town.
What happened? Read the rest of this entry »
October 10, 2009
As an American abroad, it seems I haven’t been able to go a few feet these last couple days without being asked, Do you think Barack Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize?
They go on. Don’t you think it’s too early? Don’t you think if it was anyone else – say Hillary Clinton – who had done what he has done, that he or she would not have been chosen? What has he done? Read the rest of this entry »
October 8, 2009
Non-Malays say Malay fears about ending Malay privileges are unwarranted. Are they? Read the rest of this entry »
October 4, 2009
Few countries are more preoccupied with their global image than Malaysia . Billions have been spent on everything from megaprojects to slogans to put the Southeast Asian country of 27 million “on the map.” And yet few countries have done more to undermine their intent. During my visit to the US this summer, it seemed hard to click a mouse or pass a newsstand without catching a disturbing headline out of Malaysia – a woman sentenced to caning for drinking a beer, protestors who desecrated a cow head over the planned construction of a Hindu temple, the government banning Muslim Malaysians from attending a Black Eyed Peas concert because Guinness was sponsoring the event. (For more on the Malaysian government’s hardline stance against foreign performers click here.)
For the last two weeks Malaysia has been making news of a more positive sort, Read the rest of this entry »
