Vote Brooke

My classmate, Brooke Ellison, is running for the State Senate of New York, and I encourage any Americans out there who would be voting in that election to learn more about such an amazing and wonderful individual. She is paralysed from the neck down and requires a ventilator to breathe, but still graduated with honours from Harvard, has a Masters from the JFK School of Government, and is currently working on her PhD. Her constant cheerfulness, hope and optimism was an inspiration to all of us.

She spoke at Class Day in 2000 and her story of overcoming disabilities to graduate with honors was personally moving. Furthermore her message of gratitude to her community -- that she couldn't have achieved so much without her mother, her friends, her peers -- is a lesson in humility, collaboration and opportunity.

We were also in the same section for one of the Biology Core classes, and I can personally attest that she is really sharp and hard working. She is a truly impressive person.

Please take a look at her website. I know you'll be very moved and impressed by what you see.

Angkor

One thing which struck me, quite early on in my trip to Cambodia was the sudden realisation which side of her family my girlfriend gets her looks from... the women of Indochina have features which are slightly but distinctly different from the southern Chinese.

It's quite a cliche to describe a third world country as 'a land of contrasts'. You can find contrasts anywhere, particularly since third world countries tend to have an oppressive, exploitative ruling elite and a vast impoverished majority. There's a contrast right there. So I won't describe Cambodia as a 'land of contrasts'.

Instead, what struck me most about Cambodia is how many tourists there were. The most popular temples- Angkor Wat, Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm, to name the three most popular ones- were packed with so many tourists that it was impossible to move around at times. It felt more like H&M the morning of the launch of Stella McCartney's limited edition clothing range, if everyone were also stopping to explain the history of the clothes and then take photographs standing next to them.

In the lobby of the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor, there were photos from the 1866 French expedition which popularised the temples of Angkor to the Western world (or, in a nod to post-colonialism, you might say it was the expedition that 'discovered' what was already there). There were also photos from 1933. They showed the temples in a state that was pristine compared to what I experienced. Vegetation grew over the temples and there was much rubble, true, but the majority of the statues had heads and were intact, compared to the decapitations that plagued all the statues at more remote temples.

Also, at Angkor Wat, and Phnom Bakheng, to get up the steps we had to climb using our hands and feet as the steps had worn away to such a great extent that your foot wouldn't fit on the steps any more. I assumed the ancient Khmer people had smaller feet- but the photos in the lobby of the Raffles showed French ladies daintily strolling up and down the steps, one hand holding there umbrellas, no more concerned than a stroll down the Champs Elysees. 70 years of wear from countless feet had worn the steps down to stubs already.

I guess I would advise people to go while the temples are still accessible and intact; but that would just encourage more wear. What really is needed is proper care and restoration of the temples from the money which is paid by the millions of tourists every year; but until Cambodia has clean government, 90% of that money is going to skimmed off and the temples are going to continue to be exploited.