Francis' pic of my garden in Malaysia
Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Reading my poetry to a group of students
Where we had lunch (Afghan cuisine at Nawab's)
Tengah feeling baca poems
Reverend John being interviewed (he's role playing, folks!)
Of early English settlers....
cantik juga bunga ni.... (trans: this flower is beautiful...)I have so many pics at Williamsburg , Virginia partly becos' my brother Francis is a keen photographer.So I am putting some of the pics here.We didn't take any at the Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Street but it is also in Colonial Williamsburg, a tourist spot where tourists come to experience the early English settlers' living (macam Melaka lah or Jorvik in York).People play role ni.The Reverend I was with in a pic enclosed here was an actor.If you talk to him, he'd say he signed the Declaration of Independence.Fahamkan dia cuma berlakon. :)
DOG Street in Colonial Williamsburg
We found a spot to eat our lunch
on DOG Street in Colonial Williamsburg
some people are ashamed to be associated with
anything colonial
but here, it is an attraction
a pride of a state
people come to experience what it was like
to be early English settlers
what it was like to be amidst the firsts to sign the Declaration of Independence
Independence of what?
for whom?
Is it still?
I have to re-learn my American history
to join in the celebration
this trip will be one of many
to educate me
but back to our DOG Street lunch
sitting with Anthony, Jason, Francis and a few others
we were of a rich mix
Anthony is 100% Filipino but looks very mixed
dressed in his military uniform, asking curious questions on religion, performance and skits
Jason was easy going, an eye witness to the start of a public quarrel of two visitors
an elderly man and a mother of an excited kiddy
who tripped and annoyed an elderly man, set to have his quiet munchie
barking began on dog street
we were witnesses to a theatrical performance
as we are all to any other fightings and killings
in different parts of the world stage
It's fun to watch
just as it was watching war reports on TV
But my brother Francis spoke to the mother
asking are you alright, m'am
cos' he knew what it was like to be attacked for protecting his kids
flying back to Asia on a long-haul journey
where he was denied meal for asserting his paternal instint
but the high drama would not be complete
without this African American guy cruising in between the shouting and screaming
of two angry adults, trying to pacify the woman, protecting his brother, the elderly man
the woman's husband started to pick on the African-American guy and I guess this is the scene
in which you'd bring in the race sin...
when it could have been just a kindly gesture
The drama got heated
We decided to move on, to find peace
for ourselves
and write reports for others to imagine the kind of
adventure we had been in.
So tune in to this TV.
****more on colonial williamsburg at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/arts/06will.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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