The Last Wordle of My Dissertation

via Wordle – Treasures of the Buddha: Imagining Death and Life in Contemporary Cambodia.

emotional deflation ahead.

Progress

Good news! It appears I will be done with my degree by the end of this semester! It’s a relief. Perhaps I’ll return to making this blog more active and rouse it from dormancy. In the meantime, there will be a few sets of links.

Chapter Five Done.

Enjoy.

Wordle Image – Chapter 2

Golly, I wonder what I’m writing about?

Introduction Draft is DONE

Ugh. Hard week, but productive. The first draft of my dissertation’s introduction is now finished. That means I have complete first drafts of every chapter (excepting the conclusion, which has no substantive content, but is merely a summary and restatement of previous chapters). That’s a huge relief. I’m thinking about having a drink. Enjoy the wordle of the chapter. Any guesses as to the content?

Chapter 5: Pchum Ben and the Gift – Draft is done.

Big freaking relief, as I’m going to be completely out of commission for a couple of weeks, beginning next Wednesday. Here’s the wordle, for those who want a foretaste of the grisly feast to come:

Can you guess what I say about Pchum Ben (which I transliterate as bhju.m pi.n.da in the dissertation, and cannot be rendered properly by wordle or your computer unless you have the proper font – TimesPTSA (the pali font of the Pali Text Society)

Chapter 6: Leftovers. That from which we make the world. A wordle.

A wordle from chapter six of my dissertation, “Leftovers. That from which we make the world.”

Thanks Mr. Vonnegut, Wherever You Are

More excellent writing advice, this time from Kurt Vonnegut (and who better, I suppose), via Merlin Mann’s excellent 43folders site.

The seven points, in all:

1. Find a subject you care about
2. Do not ramble, though
3. Keep it simple
4. Have guts to cut
5. Sound like yourself
6. Say what you mean
7. Pity the readers

Weekend Links

Because I need to start tomorrow morning with no distractions – here’s the stuff that’s been occupying cramped headspace this weekend:

* DAS has done the best job of commenting on the latest round of press killings in Cambodia. I’m not sure why these don’t get more press than they do – perhaps no press killings get much press? Perhaps it’s because the Cambodian press is not more respected? Perhaps it’s just third-world racism? Or perhaps it’s just because there’s no way you could ever give sufficient attention to this sort of murder – the kind where they not only shoot the target, but then murder the man’s son as he comes to give aid to his dying father. Khem (Khim) Sambo and his son Khat Sarinpheata were cremated today.
* Not sure yet what to think about the recent set of news reports on the slowdown (or feared slowdown) in Cambodia garment factories. These stories have a cycle, tied to the renewal of quotas and trade agreements, but there’s always a lot of genuine fear and worry. This one’s pretty heartrending.
* Some jackass thought it would be a good idea to use the final line of a Khmer proverb for the title of his dissertation. Nicholas Farrelly over at New Mandala quoted it. Nice of him. But isn’t using the last line kind of like titling your dissertation “There once was a man from Nantucket”? (I know, that’s the first line – but you really expect me to put the last line in a blog post?
* Also over at New Mandala – a good post (actually, a couple) on the supposed exceptionalism regarding takes on the Burmese Junta. Nope, they probably aren’t any more thuggish or ignorant than other regimes. Maybe just worse at PR? (see also, Charles Tilly, Warmaking and Statemaking as Organized Crime)
* And yet another example of the end of civilization. Oprah reaction shots.

Weekend links with little comment

Because I need to start tomorrow morning with no distractions – here’s the stuff that’s been occupying cramped headspace this weekend:

• DAS has done the best job of commenting on the latest round of press killings in Cambodia. I’m not sure why these don’t get more press than they do – perhaps no press killings get much press? Perhaps it’s because the Cambodian press is not more respected? Perhaps it’s just third-world racism? Or perhaps it’s just because there’s no way you could ever give sufficient attention to this sort of murder – the kind where they not only shoot the target, but then murder the man’s son as he comes to give aid to his dying father. Khem (Khim) Sambo and his son Khat Sarinpheata were cremated today.
• Not sure yet what to think about the recent set of news reports on the slowdown (or feared slowdown) in Cambodia garment factories. These stories have a cycle, tied to the renewal of quotas and trade agreements, but there’s always a lot of genuine fear and worry. This one’s pretty heartrending.
• Some jackass thought it would be a good idea to use the final line of a Khmer proverb for the title of his dissertation. Nicholas Farrelly over at New Mandala quoted it. Nice of him. But isn’t using the last line kind of like titling your dissertation “There once was a man from Nantucket”? (I know, that’s the first line – but you really expect me to put the last line in a blog post?
• Also over at New Mandala – a good post (actually, a couple) on the supposed exceptionalism regarding takes on the Burmese Junta. Nope, they probably aren’t any more thuggish or ignorant than other regimes. Maybe just worse at PR? (see also, Charles Tilly, Warmaking and Statemaking as Organized Crime)
• And yet another example of the end of civilization. Oprah reaction shots.