chris

interesting, this is the poem i wrote before leaving

garysnyder — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:48:24 +0000

i wrote this the night before leaving for thailand . . . and i should say my time in thailand was awesome, great experience, it was really the perfect accumulation of why i came to dc for the degree…including for sure what i was able to actually apply what i had learned at good ole’ american university…so compared to the one/poem i just posted, it’s kinda a neat movement…real stuff mind you, rambling of mind emotions what is happening at that time to paper, computer, takin’ notes

study of craters
of chances to start over

of waking up
& just smile
to an odd room

what noise
a morning can make
in a new place

to build
into your environment
structures that stir the soul—

study of smiles
study of how teeth
push through

study of bodies
& posture

food, struts

how people laugh
& how it feels to be tickled
by the laugh

the strange sounds
& musical pitches
a mouth can make

i choose jay farrar
because I listened
to him my first night

in song

i choose jay farrar
to honor the loop
when we find ourselves
in the universe again

i’m more engaged
on the road

i do better
on the road

i need to be
on a road

as mike said,

how many more times we get
to make a jump?

ping pong, pizza, beer & a poe

garysnyder — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:31:14 +0000

sunday, today at 4:00 PM alice and i will be at comet…you have a short walk/taki ride from the metro stop, i think the american stop is where i usually get off…i’m sleeping till 3:00 PM and taking off, call me if you can make it!!! hope you can!!!…here’s the link http://www.cometpingpong.com/

and a new get back to dc poem wrote last night

i can now see real value

i can now see real value

in collecting long good byes

even somehow makes family more better

and those that you miss

are more with you again

even tho you haven’t seen’em

these social constructs

we fill ourselves into

that don’t lead with heart

collapse & disappear under such scrutiny–

lots of long times still coming

and there’s always been coming

lots of long times coming

illiterate-on-mammal-heart- heat

in how to handle time, being honest

getting old & bumping into things

our handlers

always-we-were/have been/will-be-such-children

and maybe another way to say it is

we always fuck up when we don’t lead

with heart

in international development

& otherwise.

i’m no longer canadian– coming home

garysnyder — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:53:33 +0000

back in the day in thailand, during bush 2, there were many times i’d say in chiang mai talking to tourists that i was canadian just to not have to get into it…especially being from texas, because make not doubt about it, if you were from texas, many times, you were ripped!

yesterday i hung out with a french and italian guy at the guest house having a beer. the italian guy to be more interesting for the ladies was telling people he was from austin, tx. i really can’t describe first of all how funny it was hearing him say this with his accent…and then me asking him if he’d gone to the last south by south west concert, enchanted rock, if he liked shiner beer, etc; and the second, the irony, that now i could say i was from america and being congratulated on our president and not having to be the big white canadian in the room with the funny accent.

i’m leaving tomorrow morning, 8:20 AM, hopefully getting back will be more smooth than getting here. i’m sooooo sad, which i think means more than anything how fulfilling my 10 week “vacation” was. i couldn’t have asked for a better practicum/internship experience in all that I was able to do– i met so many different people, some from peace corps, some from the guesthouse, some over dinners in odd places– and of course, reconnecting with people who were so helpful to me five years ago.

there’s a lot i have that i haven’t been able to put up on the blog because of time so I’ll keep puttingup post once i get back, tho’ i’m quickly running out of free wordspace room…i do recomend for sure wordpress.com for blogs, it’s easy to work with.

so, hope to see many of you soon, all best, and do what you love!

Christian

final powerpoint PC presentation

garysnyder — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:42:18 +0000

I haven’t been able to put up a lot of work posts yet, because well, shit, i just haven’t had the time, and a lot of it is tied to video and it still needs write up, some of which, a lot of which, I’ll be doing back in the states. but here is a rough draft of what i’ll be presenting to the PC staff today in Thailand.

RPCV 113 Chris Wagner’s Graduate Practicum

Ta Prohm, a magical place, where part of tomb raider was filmed

garysnyder — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:11:30 +0000

Ta Phrom Late 12th/13th Centuries: Style: Bayon Reign Jayavarman VII, enlarged by Indravarman II

I probably spent more time here than anywhere just hanging out. honestly, i didn’t even go to ankgor watt, the big famous temple this time, other than to walk around it. Ta Prohm here, well, there’s just this feeling you get in your bones when you see something so old and beautiful and how nature has grown around it, reclaiming it, in such beauty.

to see the tree roots and vines slowly tear down an intelligence that created such aritecture, such sculpture, such sense of space, of large public areas behind, within such giant teak trees like you see the big reds in the north west…it’s a wonder to behold.

i have so many pics from here, and i want to put most if not all of them up…i don’t care if they bore you but i want to show as many sides of it has i can.

it was a monastary temple, so there were people milling about…during jayavarman VII’s reign, late 12 to 13th centuries, almost 1000 years old. It was dedicated in 1186 to the king’s mother. there are two kinds of trees, silk-cotton (ceiba pentandra) and a strangler fig (ficus religiosa) these are the trees you will see emeshed in the stone…but make no doubt about it, it is settled in a dense forest of giant teak trees.

I’ll leave here with a cool quote about how this works “in both cases (the two kinds of trees) the plant takes hold in a crevice somewhere in teh superstructure of a building, usually where a bird had deposited the seed, and extends roots downward to the soil. In doing this, the roots work their way between the masonary that that as they grow thicker they gradually wedge open the blocks. Eventually the tree becomes a support for the building, but when it dies, or is felled by a storm, the loosened blocks collapse.”

Ta Phrom Late 12th/13th Centuries: Style: Bayon Reign Jayavarman VII, enlarged by Indravarman II

that’s a natural found metaphor for a poem if i ever found one…somehting about the fragility of our time here on the planet…something like that

Ta Phrom Late 12th/13th Centuries: Style: Bayon Reign Jayavarman VII, enlarged by Indravarman II

Thra Phrom

Ta Phrom Late 12th/13th Centuries: Style: Bayon Reign Jayavarman VII, enlarged by Indravarman II

Welcome to Ta Keo late 10th, early 11th century

garysnyder — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:38:42 +0000

This grandaddy is completly made of sandstone. This is a mountain side temple that i don’t think i visited 5 years ago…at least I don’t remember, thus, thank buddha/god for blogs, so i can now know i’ve been here…anyway, it’s a freaking good climb to get up here, but it’s worth it! It wasn’t completed, thus a lot of the scultptures within it weren’t finished. work began in 975AD and was dedicated in 1000AD. “When Suryvarman I came to the throne in 1010 AD he gave the temple to Yogisvara Pandita (guru of King Suryvarman) but only used the lower parts, considering himself to unworth of occupying the upper terrace.

I don’t blame him, it was a long freaking walk up to this guy

sorry, i realize i didn’t take any pics of the walk up…it was raining on & off too!

Ta Keo Guide Book Chapter 10th to early 11th century Style: Khleang Reign: Jayavarman and Jayaviravarman

Ta Keo Late 10th to early 11th Style: Khleang

Ta Keo Guide Book Chapter 10th to early 11th century Style: Khleang Reign: Jayavarman and Jayaviravarman

From about half way up to the top level 10th to early 11th century Style: Khleang Reign: Jayavarman and Jayaviravarman

Ta Keo Guide good view of one of the 3 chambers 10th to early 11th century Style: Khleang Reign: Jayavarman and Jayaviravarman

Ta Keo and just the sense of space between the three chambers...again, the gods resided here...so it's not like there was a lot of people walking around between them like now (for better and worse of course) Chapter 10th to early 11th century Style: Khleang Reign: Jayavarman and Jayaviravarman

china town poem

garysnyder — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:59:18 +0000

kiddo at ta keo angkor watt

my lighter continues to run
on inconceivable & unseen fume

i would very much like
to understand how this works

how i seem to be such a flame

i sometimes get scared
when i know i have no place
to call home—

i can listen to the new son volt
& remember how that first night felt
in phrae with the loudest chorus
of frogs, cicadas, and tukes

i had ever known

i take the same pictures
i have in storage back home

i can go to angkor-watt
& see temples i could not
get to before for time, money

& means of transportation

i see the same
i feel the same
& yet there’s more

in content
sincerity
ardrenaline
awkward
social
structures

& more forward smiles
especially when it turns silent–

taking a river taxi again
& getting off someplace different

spending an afternoon in china town
looking for the elusive green lanterns
that must have been put out years ago

& finding home again in china town

a home can be
any place people gather
for a cup of green tea.

poems now coming!

garysnyder — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:15:16 +0000

me & head lamp at shanti guest lodge on my balcony

having something on your mind
makes the drink we shared that much

it was
that spark
that came so close to
when you talked about
anything that engaged

and annihilated
your every-day boredom

& depression

& i saw it
& i undestood it
unlike any other

or so i believed

II.
he plays
witness
for us

he’s read books

he’s hung out in bars, farms
and unemployment lines

he sleeps in cities

buys stuff from their walmarts

& visits their hometown center squares
when he can find them

he seeks out
what’s playing

in small corners & large corners of america

he asks to play w/them

at their local bars & coffee shops

he absorbs &
completes for consumers
albums of american

conversation & song

our shared american life

what is spoke of

& what is not spoke of

environment, love, politics, & otherwise

this being born
into american life

and his music
reflects this self-aware, shared
wisdom too.

III

a life lesson i can now claim lived through

the more you do something
the better you get at it

i belong with the dreamers
the fascinated, the goers

what
anywhere that
breaks inertia

what demands
time alone

“i’m the same as everyone
just kind of lucky .”1

what i now know is everyone
carries what they carry heavy

& the way we feel about it
is malleable.

1. Son Volt; American Central Dust; “Cocaine and Ashes” based on interview Jay read about Keith Richards spreaking and snorting some his father’s dead ashes.

Ankor THom Post 12 Century

garysnyder — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:29:43 +0000

Angkor Thom 12 Century

Prepared to be blown away. I like this place actually better than Ankor Wat that I didn’t really visit since i had spent so much time there five years ago…angko thom is amazing, the energy there is palpable, the south gate as you pass through and the area around the temple itself…you can only imagine the thriving community that was there…a community that was extremely talented, the artistic doings of the temple are truly a wonder to witness…enjoy

oh, and i have been working should anyone wonder! i’ve been sooooo busy, just put in a ten hour day and am starting to feel the pressure of having so much i can do in such a short amount of time…i’ve been really blessed to have had this assignment as my practicum…i only wish i had another 10 weeks, and could help with the next pre-service training…

this has really reaffirmed by belief in peace corps being a wonderful organization…of course it is not perfect, i get sooo tired in dc meeting people who play the political game of moving up…a thing that will probably keep me from ever really being a “somebody” but in terms of program and training, working with the volunteers and really enjoying my time with the staff and being able to use their input, going to them for their ideas and being open to changing my ideas through them…that fits me really well. there are some program training officers opening up and i will apply though i promised my boss i’d stay through the fall term…but at least i now know I can do a job like this, and do it well. we got the reviews back from preservice training 2 and the volunteers were great witht their feedback on my sessions…which made me feel very, very good. anyway, enjoy the pics and seriously, if history and temples and just spiritual places are soemthing you are into…come to cambodia…support this struggeling poor country and see for yourself not only through amazing, amazing history, but also meet a wonderful people who open their homes and hearts if you give them a slimmer of a chance.

Angkor Thom 12 Century

close up of statue at Ankor Thom 12 Century

close up at Angkor Thom 12th Century

Thai guy resting inside/outside chamber at Ankor Thom

Artist at Ankor Thom

close up of one of hundred or so faces at ankor thom

buddha status at Ankor Thom w/yellow robe added to scultpture

the grounds around ankor thom

big tree in front of ankor thom

more beautiful woods around ankor thom

newer smaller temple on ankor thom grounds

fertility shrine found in many temple rooms at ankor thom

good view of multiple face carvings at ankor thom

inside one of the chambers at ankor thom from the inside

ankor thom 12 century

workers working on repair angkor thom part of wall

great piece at ankor thom...absolutely beautiful

colomns...don't stand underneath too long!!!

the tourist...you can see the remains of the supports of one of the library halls

crane/construction on ankor thom wall...a continuing process for many of the ruins

front of ankor thom

very front of ankor thom

angkor thom south gate 12th century

garysnyder — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:08:53 +0000

kiddo and driver on way to South Gate Ankor THom 12 century

This is the famous south gate to Angkor Thom which is probably the second most famous site at the Angkor Wat complex. I loved the drive up to the gate, big trees, magnificient bridge leading into the Angkor Thom temple complex.

Me and Bingko driving up to South Gate entrance Angkor Thom Gate 12 century

kiddos on the way to South GAte Ankgor 12 century

kiddos on the way to south gate

lake on way to south gate

mom on way to south gate

Overall view of South Gate from Bridge 12th century

this is the bridge before the south gate…the next post will be of ankor thom which is extraordinary…what you see on either side are the gods/good guys and the wrathful dieties/bad guys each pulling on the end of the snake, the naga, my tatoo. this is part of the khmer/hindu creation myth…they are churning the milk of life, if i understand it correctly in a collective tug of war!

close up of the top of the south gate, ankor thom 12th century

elephant and tourist passing through south gate

better close up of south gate

look at that, almost 1000 years old, amazing

another one of the lower faces...which could be from what i know one of the kings or a hindu diety

this was built during jayavarman VII’s reign…so the faces could be of him,,,,again, built 12century,,,served as the capital until the 17th century…there were 4 gates…4 cardinal directions…this one of the most impressive, intact.

these guys are along the right side of the bridge, the good guys churning the milk of life through the tug of war pulling their end of the snake

this is one of the wrathful dieties churning the other side of the snake...i love the idea of an epic tug of war!

here you can see the work they have done in fixing some of the stolen/deteroriarated pieces