Explorations

A missive from Jay: I am on the tail end of teaching this semester, while also planning a fall class. More soon on that process and our plans. But I wanted to take a moment to share some observations of things that have become commonplace for us: Archery Archery is the national sport here. A lot of people do it, either using fancy high-tech bows (compound bows) or traditional bamboo bows. It’s not just a youth versus elder thing. One of the 20-something faculty assistants at JSW “plays archery” using a traditional bow. Official tournaments apparently have teams of 13 archers taking turns with two arrows each. Our friend David watched one of these tournaments, apparently a very competitive match. The prize was a washing machine for each team member of the winning team. An exceptionally awesome prize for the tournament.  In assessing the health care system in Bhutan as we prepared to come here, one colleague who lived here for years explained that for simple stuff, you are ...

It's been a while since I've posted anything. For the last few weeks, I have been traveling, celebrating, grieving, ailing, hugging, crying, contemplating, eating, and sleeping. My head is spinning. I have been in so many time zones, and places, and states of emotion. But now I have landed in Seattle and I get to stay put for a little while, screw my head back on, and remotely resume my work at the law school for the remainder of the semester. I miss the JSW students and the mountain, but it was so good to go to New York and be with all of my family there, and celebrate my niece's wedding while grieving my sister's death. Extensive emotional exercise. I am still processing it all. And Jay is still in Bhutan, so I get to experience it through him for a while longer.   Before I left Bhutan, our friend Sangay suggested hiking up to a temple above the law school and lighting butter lamps in honor of my sister Barbara. It was a lovely thing to do, and Sangay had arranged for...