Yogyakarta in Central Java, Indonesia is a hidden jewel, the seat of Borobudur, the oldest Buddhist temple in the world. I was there two weeks ago at 5 AM, part of my end-stage tour of Indonesia after completing a Fulbright at Universitas Padjadjaran in West Java. The stupas of the 9th century temple are… Read More
Great Cold War debates happen in the most unlikely of places. West Java, Indonesia, March 26. Today I’m invited to a very dressy event. A Russian Ambassador to Indonesia along with a Vice Minister of Telecom and Mass Communication arrive at the university to attend a big do — a celebration of Russian language, media, and… Read More
It’s been three weeks so chock full of Indonesian experience. Each day new lectures, close encounters with medical and comm students, children, security guards, cooks, geophysicists, random athletes and mop-haired photojournalists and artists. It’s as though I’m being flooded with torrents of images, data, and experiences and I can’t stop the flow. Surprisingly, at… Read More
March 4 2015: First jet lagged impressions… It’s been quite a trip to Bandung, Indonesia: a 24 hour unexpected furlough in Japan, arrival at midnight in Jakarta, strange languages, 1 AM rides through shanty squalor fronted by modern highways. We drove down a single lane into a hotel courtyard, trees swaying with Christmas lights.… Read More
When sparks go flying, When raptors fall with injured wings, When little girls reach out beyond the frame to crows and ravens, singing; a chirp and caw of destiny evermore, the flutter of black wings. Oh friend I shall be leaving But not forgetting why I came to this place — Reminded of the beak… Read More
Washington, D.C., September 2014. Arielle S Emmett, Ph.D. has been selected for a Fulbright Specialist grant in Communications and journalism at University Padjadjaran, West Java Indonesia for spring 2015. As a Fulbright specialist, Dr. Emmett will be involved in a class project related to digital journalism and visual storytelling. She will be devising an online… Read More
What I Meant to Tell You About Mongolia Hello friends and family– Chapter 1: Mongolia. After waiting in Beijing Capital Airport October 1 for 18 hours for a flight to Outer Mongolia, and having been bumped again from another Mongolian Airlines flight that actually did fly and told to come back at 3 AM to… Read More
In Beijing this past November, my creative writing class read Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. It’s a play about family abandonment, the interactions and spoiled dreams of an American mother and two children trying to survive the Great Depression. My Chinese students relished acting in this play. The girls, especially, enjoyed the central character, Amanda… Read More
February 17 — Shanghai Bund. My 33 year old friend Wang Qian is one of the best feasts of human nature that I have encountered in China. Call that a mixed metaphor. But it’s true. I ran into her at the Bookworm Book store in Beijing last September during a lecture on the… Read More
Bin Ma Yong, a Terra Cotta Warrior, Tomb #3. Photo by Arielle Emmett (c) Arielle Emmett *No photos or text reproduced without permission. In Xian yesterday I made a clean sweep of all the Han and Qin Dynasty tombs. Hadn’t been there for 17 years, and all I remember were dusty roads and the army of terra… Read More