How I Mastered the Gyumang in One Day
Hi LD world! It’s been a while since my last post and a lot has happened since then – but one of the most exhilarating things happened to me recently…. I got a chance… Continue reading
The Unexpected Familiary: Finding Myself in the Kingdom of Lo (Mustang)
After two weeks in Boudha, Kathmandu, Nepal, I became bored. I was itching to get out. Several friends on Facebook suggested I check out Sherpa country or Mustang, and then I remembered my… Continue reading
Face To Face With The Dalai Lama
“The Dalai Lama is having a public audience.” These were the first words I heard upon arrival to McLeod Ganj, India, exile home of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The… Continue reading
Dancing in New York
A few Lhakar Wednesdays ago, NY & NJ Lhakar team held one of the most (among many) fun celebratory event. According to their Facebook album, they wrote, Gorshey night at heart of Jackson… Continue reading
Lhakar on the Hill
*Guest post by the Interns of the 2014 Parliamentary Friends of Tibet Internship Program* This year the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet (PFT) Internship program saw four new Tibetan interns. It started on May… Continue reading
Conflict of Desires: Female Tibetan Leaders and Gender Advocacy
The last few decades has seen a rise in Tibetan women’s voices that has led to an increase in women’s leadership positions in the male dominated Tibetan state apparatus in exile—Central Tibetan Administrations (CTA)[1] and leading Tibetan NGOs in Dharamsala, India. This is in part due to the exile/diasporic Tibetan state apparatus’s longstanding cultivation/fostering in both its male and female de facto citizens of a desire to rise to the level of “leadership” in order to politicize Tibet and to serve an already disenfranchised community of Tibetans in exile following Chinese invasion in 1959. But what happens when Tibetan women loyal to their community desire subjectivities not endorsed by the exile government?
4 Rivers 6 Ranges
*Guest post by Olo Bayul, rapper and writer based in Boston* Chushi Gangdruk (4 Rivers 6 Ranges) was a voluntary resistance army comprised mainly of Tibetans from the Kham region of Tibet. With… Continue reading
Moving Past the Shaming Effect (A Response to Rinchen Dolma’s Post)
After reading Rinchen Dolma la’s post I felt more relaxed, like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Hearing her talk about her experiences did something for me that is usually acquired in… Continue reading
The Struggle : I make no apologies for my Tib-lish
Collage I made on 13-03-2014 I see you, I do. so clear it hurts to hear you your words they… Continue reading
Dharamsala Days Dharamsala Nights: A review
Although MacDonald’s tone is one of good intention and conviction to tell the hardships and stigmas that newcomers from Tibet face in McLeod-Dharmsala, my main problem with her book was that she decides to choose sides: she favors newcomers over exile Tibetans, and even further makes exile Tibetans, whom she calls “settlers,” the villains. Choosing a side requires categorizing the two groups as single entities at odds with each other. This doesn’t allow room for complexities within and between the group, and also ignores complexities that create tensions between the groups in the first place.