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Back in Phnom Penh

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I have returned to Phnom Penh. Five plus hours from Siem Reap to the capitol city in a 15-seat van. Regardless of what happens, this trip should fun I love Phnom Penh it is a great city, very modern in so many ways that make life easier but also modern in ways that are troubling. All the amenities of a modern urban world from cell phone shops and casket stores to large malls and street food vendors. The city also exhibits the stark divide between; those who have access to materials, power, and prestige, those who serve the powerful, those who serve the servers of the powerful and those who, commonly, through no fault of their own, live on the periphery scratching out a living from what ever is left behind. These levels are part of all urban societies. Being here, I am faced with the fact that I am part of the upper level at least in how I am able to move through this world. As an outsider I am able to go just about anywhere and do just about anything as long as I’m willing to pay...
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Chasing Dreams

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How many people can honestly say they have chased a life-long dream. Although I wish that the answer is 100%, it likely isn’t. Unfortunately, most people are faced with real life and situations beyond their control. Dreams take a back seat to needs. It is tough to live in a world where most people are living one bad event away from ruin. I have lived a truly fortunate life; no question.  I have been given, by good fortune, the ability to chase dreams that were until very recently impossibilities. This time in Cambodia is a one in a million chance for me and I am again through a fair degree of luck able to get out there. The first and primary being looking for my family. I have already talked about that and although I have not made any major progress on this, the small wheels in my head have been spinning. At time getting traction and other just a wobbly spin. My dribs and drabs of smart are starting to develop into a plan for my return visit in the spring. Finding my family is...
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Finding Tevy

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In my book “The Love of My Mothers’ “, I follow the life of a woman named Tevy. From the early days of her life in Kampot Cambodia, to her starting a family with her husband Sok near Phnom Penh. We see her live through the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and see glimpses of her rebuilt life after freedom.  Tevy is my fixtional mother, made up of bits and pieces of my imagination, from my current vision of what life could have been, some historically based conditions and lastly scenes from my childhood as I would lay in bed, sometimes crying myself to sleep, imagining what she would have been like.  Tevy is the mother I created for myself, based largely on my wife.   I wasn’t trying to make Tevy perfect, but I also had no reason to not make her ideal.  The hardest part of creating her was giving her a reason to lose me with out placing the blame on her.  For those gymnastics you’ll have to read the book. I know that Tevy isn’t real and what she experienced isn’t ei...
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