Eid Mubarak, Selamat Hari Raya

Two, three cat running Not the same dog running Two, three day more raya coming Everything is ready huh?? Pandan Island far-far in the middle Daik Mountain has three branches During Ramadhan everybody struggles So during Syawal don’t spoil the chances Jump frog jump Jump high-high What knowledge u try Ketupat rendang very delicious High-high […]

Strange Fruit pt. 6: Rambai & Tampoi

Some of the fruit here in Malaysia are so good I wonder why they are not marketed more in the US. Some of the other fruit though, you understand why. There must be a half dozen fruits here that are very different in shape and size, remarkable to look at. Inside though, there is just a small grape sized fruit that is a little sweet, a little tart, you suck on it for a second and then it’s done. Tampoi is like that.

Ailanthus in the Underworld

Ailanthus shows up in Don DeLillo’s book Underworld. It is a very bleak chapter, describing two nuns distributing alms in a bombed-out area of the South Bronx filled with abandoned cars, cripples, utter desolation. The landscape and the people who live in it are vividly described through the eyes of the senior nun, Sister Edgar. […]

About Me (and John Walker Lindh)

When John Walker Lindh’s story first broke, I remember reading about it and thinking, Good Lord, he could be my brother. I put together the chart below as one of my first web projects. It feels dated now somehow. Maybe people don’t even remember who John Walker Lindh is. Here is what I wrote about […]

Naming conventions pt. 3

One last thing about names here is the “bin”. Bin is Arabic for “son of”. Binti is “daughter of”. Although it does not appear on the birth cert itself, it is inserted between the first and last names of muslims, or more accurately, between the child’s name and the father’s name. (So in case you […]