MEMORIAL DAY: "After great pain a formal feeling comes."

For

MEMORIAL DAY

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

"AFTER GREAT PAIN,

A FORMAL FEELING COMES -- "

-- Emily Dickinson

(The text of the poem, here)

(Some discussion, here)

(Two pieces on the honor guard

at Arlington National Cemetery,

here and here)

BERKELEY STREET SCENE: A Vignette -- and The Rest of the Story?

SEEN ON THE STREET

ON A SUNDAY IN MAY

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

A vignette --

and

the rest of the story?

YELTSIN WINS THE WHITE HOUSE -- TWENTY YEARS LATER

BORIS YELTSIN

WINS THE RUSSIAN

"WHITE HOUSE"

May 29, 1990

THE RUSSIAN "WHITE HOUSE," MOSCOW

PHOTOGRAPHED IN 1984

A HALF-DOZEN YEARS BEFORE

IT EVER CAME TO BE CALLED THAT

(to be continued)

PATRIOTS & POLES & MORE PLACES TO PARK U.S. TROOPS

PATRIOTS & POLES & 

MORE PLACES TO 

PARK U.S. TROOPS 

POLISH SOLDIERS PARADE 

AT THE TOMB OF 

THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER 

WARSAW, POLAND, 1981 

This is the week that American Patriot missiles arrived in Poland. 

On May 26, 2010, AFP reported that Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich "formally welcomed the 100-strong US unit that had arrived at a Polish army base in the northern town of Morag at the weekend, and viewed the three unarmed Patriot missile launchers which Polish troops will be trained to use. 

"'Your arrival here in Poland has two dimensions, political and symbolic. Politically, it's about Poland's security. And symbolically because on Polish soil, for the first time, US soldiers will be stationed long-term,' he [Klich] said." [italics added] 

Today (May 28) a Russian deputy foreign minister protested. 

Morag is only sixty kilometers, less than forty miles, from Russia. 

But of course the missile placement has nothing to do with Russia.... 

Some interesting analysis here. 

THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE OPENS, May 27, 1937

THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

OPENS

May 27, 1937

THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

MAY 2010

MAKE BAOZI, NOT SAUSAGE

MAKE BAOZI 

NOT SAUSAGE 

MAKING BAOZI 

NANJING, CHINA, 1981 

The great flurry of articles about the attempts to stave off war on the Korean Peninsula, or at least to enlist China on the side of the -- angels -- , coupled with speculation on possible civilian-military splits in the Chinese leadership on the subject, and on how this all fits in with the *RISE* of China -- linked (not accidentally) with the recently overused cliché on the similarities of sausage-making and policy-making (or law-making), and the very recent news that sausage is bad for you -- brought to mind this photograph of baozi (steamed bun)-making right out there in public in Nanjing in 1981.  

(Making a law, like making sausage, it is said,is not pretty -- you do not want to see what goes into it.) 

THE TWO-HUNDREDTH POST

POST # 200 

BALLET EXERCISES 

CHILDREN'S PALACE 

SHANGHAI, CHINA, 1981 

JOHN KING FAIRBANK, b. May 24, 1907

JOHN KING FAIRBANK

May 24, 1907-September 14, 1991

JOHN KING FAIRBANK

Harvard Professor, Mentor, Friend

The "Dean" of American China studies

pictured at home in the Winthrop Street

house (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

he shared with Wilma Cannon Fairbank

until his death on September 14, 1991

ALAN GARCIA, PRESIDENT OF PERU, TURNS FIFTY-ONE

ALAN GARCIA

PRESIDENT OF PERU

b. May 23, 1949

ALAN GARCIA

Hosting the APEC Summit

November 2008

Due for a U.S. summit June 1, 2010

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, KID

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU,

KID

MACHU PICCHU LLAMA

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE... (Lima, Peru)

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE...

ANOTHER PERUVIAN HILLSIDE,

WITH HOUSES, THIS ONE IN LIMA

THE PREVIOUS ONE, IN CUSCO, IS

HERE

NEWS OF THE DAY FROM PERU

"Peru Is in a 'Growth League of Its Own,'

Bank of America Says"

BusinessWeek reports that "Peru will grow 6.1 percent this year and 5.8 percent in 2011, Bank of America said in the report, reiterating its revised forecast from April."

YOUNG PIONEERS II

YOUNG PIONEERS II

MEMBERS OF A

YOUNG PIONEER HONOR GUARD

MARCH AT A CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA, 1984

BACK IN THE USSR

YOUNG PIONEERS I

YOUNG PIONEERS I

YOUNG PIONEER

HONOR GUARD MEMBER

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA, 1984

BACK IN THE USSR

SHE TOOK HER DUTIES VERY SERIOUSLY.

On May 19, 1922, the Young Pioneer Organization of

the Soviet Union was founded; it was formally known

as the Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization.

The Young Pioneer Organization continues

today in Russia. (See a Reuters photograph

here -- the second in the slide show.)

CUSCO HILLS: TO FOLLOW UP ON THE MACHU PICCHU FLOOD STORY

FOLLOW-UP ON THE

MACHU PICCHU FLOOD STORY

CUSCO HILLSIDE

CUSCO (CUZCO), PERU

CAPITAL OF THE INCAN EMPIRE

The Ferrocarril Transandino (Fetransa) authorities have

promised to have the Cusco-Machu Picchu Railway

repaired by June 30, reports LivinginPeru.com

GONE FISHIN': A MAN, A POLE, A KREMLIN

GONE FISHIN'

A MAN, A POLE, A KREMLIN

MOSCOW 1984

BACK IN THE USSR

IT IS SUNDAY: PRESENTING THE SILVER LEAF GOSPEL SINGERS

IT IS SUNDAY

PRESENTING THE

SILVER LEAF GOSPEL SINGERS

In concert at Sanders Theatre

Cambridge, Massachusetts

May 19, 2005

Joyful, a capella, “jubilee” singing

First "gig," March 11, 1945 

PETER THE GREAT, TAKE II: THE SNAKE AT THE BACK

PETER THE GREAT

TAKE II

THE MONUMENT TO

PETER THE GREAT

BY E. M. FALCONET

"THE BRONZE HORSEMAN"

THE REAR VIEW

We have seen the horse of Mao Zedong;

the horses on the Narva Triumphal Arch,

the answer to the Arc de Triomphe;

and the front view of The Bronze Horseman.

Here we have tsar, horse, and snake --

the snake at the back representing

the enemies of Peter the Great,

the enemies of reform.

ANOTHER NOVOSIBIRSK MONUMENT: MEMORIAL TO THE (RUSSIAN) CIVIL WAR

ANOTHER SOVIET WAR MONUMENT

MEMORIAL TO

THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA

Photographed back in the USSR, in 1984

HERE BE GIANTS

ANOTHER ETERNAL FLAME -- THIS ONE IN STONE (NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA)

ANOTHER ETERNAL FLAME

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA

Another eternal flame (see Stalingrad Memorial),

this time in stone; another upthrust hand

holding the flame

Photographed back in the USSR, in 1984

HERE BE GIANTS

THE NARVA TRIUMPHAL ARCH & THE WAR OF 1812: RUSSIA'S OTHER "PATRIOTIC WAR"

THE WAR OF 1812

RUSSIA'S OTHER

"PATRIOTIC WAR" --

AGAINST NAPOLEON

THE NARVA TRIUMPHAL ARCH

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

The sixty-fifth anniversary of victory in the European

theater in World War II (the "Great Patriotic War")

has just been celebrated in Moscow.

The Narva Triumphal Arch (above) in St. Petersburg,

Russia, was erected to celebrate the Russian victory in

the "Patriotic War" of 1812 over the invading forces of Napoleon.

The original version of the arch was erected in time

to welcome the Russian troops returning from France

in the summer of 1814 (more information here).

MAKING WAVES: BIG SURF OFF THE HAWAIIAN ISLAND OF OAHU

MAKING WAVES 

BIG SURF OFF THE

HAWAIIAN ISLAND OF

OAHU

TO OLD FRIENDS: A TIP OF THE HAT TO A.R.M.

TO OLD FRIENDS

A TIP OF THE HAT

TO A. R. M.