Boats and Dragons; Origins of Vietnamese Culture
February 13, 2025
I put off going to Vietnam for a long time. Many other Southeast Asian cultures were heavily influenced by India about 2,000 years ago,
Teaching Chinese Architecture to Play in Vietnam
February 8, 2025
I found lots of things that I didn’t expect when I was in Vietnam. They showed me that Vietnamese culture is unique and
China’s Multicultural Empire; The Tang Dynasty, Part Two
January 20, 2025
You always make it there, you make it anywhere. If Frank Sinatra had lived in the eighth century, he would have been strutting around Chang’an,
China’s Multicultural Empire; The Tang Dynasty, Part One
January 16, 2025
I had read about guys like this in books on Chinese art, but I was surprised that there were so many of them when I
Teaching Plato and Aristotle to Dance; How to Liberate Yourself from Western Philosophic Assumptions
January 9, 2025
Alfred North Whitehead wrote that the European philosophical tradition, which America has inherited, is mainly a series of footnotes to Plato. Other philosophers have given
Early Western Philosophers in Each Others’ Footsteps toward India and back to Greece
January 2, 2025
After the first known Greek philosophers (in Meletus) speculated about the basis reality, Parmenides and Empedocles expanded mental horizons further beyond the visible world
Ancient Western Philosophy Stepping toward India and Landing back on Greek Soil
December 21, 2024
The first known Greek philosophers focused on aspects of the physical surroundings that people could observe with the eyes and measure. This befit the natural
Seeing with Thai Eyes
December 11, 2024
This torso of a standing Buddha statue from the 14th century in the northern Thai town Chiang Saen is different from what Westerners are used
Hidden Mysteries in Bangkok and Thai Perspectives
December 5, 2024
Bangkok quickly grew after it was founded by the new Chakri Dynasty in 1782, but it never developed into a grid pattern like Chicago or
Traditional Thai Concepts of Space in Modern Bangkok
November 27, 2024
The first time I arrived in Bangkok, it seemed to have its own logic—or illogic. Gleaming skyscrapers were unevenly spread among low-rise apartments, single-family homes,