From youth we learned your name, distant, cold and strange,
Your orbit never fit to conform to those of other spheres.
Crossing Neptune drowned your hopes for acceptance.
Your name brought joy and laughter from children,
Who’d conjure images of Disney’s animated dog,
More than the ancient gods whose names remain.
Farewell Pluto; silent, cold, and distant sentinel.
Though you have not moved or changed,
As a planet you are no longer famed,
And we shall miss you,
Yet we won’t forget
Those years when
Our solar system
Numbered
Nine.



Pluto is declassified as a planet. If you wish to read more follow this link.

Life here in Taiwan is going very well. Summer is in full swing. Some friends of mine and I went up to Ping Ling where a cool river with a great swimming hole runs along the side of a beautiful lush green mountain. Long necked white birds swooped down the river valley in search of food, their white bodies and wings in stark contrast with the deep hue of green leaves pushing out from every possible rock and cranny, competing for the summer sun. High above, especially in the morning, eagles flew searching for their own breakfasts. During the day the water was cool and the large flat rocks by the river baked hot by the summer sun. I felt like a reptile, constantly alternating between jumping into the water to cool off and then basking on the rocks to dry off and warm up again. My friends and I spent the day swimming and sunning, some of the gang did some diving off the cliff opposite the river bank while others critiqued the performance offering armchair advice, the armchairs being the shallow cool bank on the opposite shore. We all spent the night in Ping Ling. I had my tent set up on a nice grassy spot under the shade of some trees. We even climbed a few of those trees in the evening. And at night we conversed by a fire and alternated between watching the stars and the fire flies.

Upon awaking the next day some of us hit the water right away, while others went to town to fetch breakfast. A typical Taiwanese DanBing affair with coffee. My favorite kind of breakfast. We swam till well past noon and then we headed to the beach. Breakfast was long digested and the meat eating friends I traveled with were craving a fish barbeque on the beach. I'm a vegetarian still, but my friends and I went to the fish market to get something from that days catch.

Dasi is a fishing town where the boats unload into ice buckets and tubs of salty water on the docks and you buy the catch of the day still flopping around straight off the boats. Tuna is in season so they bought a huge black tuna, had it cleaned, and then went and bbq- ed it on the beach. All claimed it was a mighty good feed. I wandered down to the Taoist temple / town restaurant and ordered a fried rice for my dinner, and brought it back to the beach bbq along with the beer. There we ate and watched the surfers and families play on the beach till sunset, when everyone left and we had the beach to ourselves.

Ironically I was already a little drunk before we arrived in Dasi. This is because we had stopped in a larger town known as TouCheng to pick up a few supplies. TouCheng is the nearest town with a grocery store. In front of what looked like a Taiwanese Safeway were two middle aged men behind a sample table. But rather than the run-of-the-mill sausages or sushi samples, there were 3 small colorful bottles of alcohol drinks - Kind of like Smirnoff Ice drinks - and 2 big bottles of Gao Liang, a Taiwanese white alcohol like Vodka but 50%+ alcohol at least. The men offered my friend and I a shot glass of each. The first 3 colorful bottles were almost like soda. Though the plum flavor of one was a bit disturbing. Not one of my favorite Asian drink flavors. Ever had plum tea? Very bitter. Strangely enough though I think I am becoming accustomed as it is less disturbing each time and even occasionally pleasant. Then came the shots of GaoLiang. Whoowhee. Talk about Grandma's moonshine! The first one was like jet fuel. Good thing I quit smoking a year ago. It would not have been wise to light a flame near my mouth for that one. But we saved face and nodded approvingly to our Taiwanese hosts. They suggested the second one was not as strong - and indeed, it was only battery acid in comparison. After returning from the shopping expedition and seeing the state Jack and I were in, our friend Trevor also tried a shot. Afterwards he ignited his paper shot glass. You could not see the flame in the noon-day sun, but the cup quickly turned black and shriveled with the pale blue flames. This is the condition in which we arrived at the docks and the fish market in Dasi. Quite a trip.

A few of us stayed on the beach all night. A dark orange moon was rising over the bay while the many colored lights of the fishing boats, going out for the night time catches, ploughed across the horizon. Turtle Mountain Island was barely visible standing out in the distant background as a dark silhouette in the sky. My friends had labor day off so they stayed the next day as well. I had to work so I caught a train back to town. It's so cheap and easy to take trains here. Just show up at the station. Hop on the train and buy a ticket from the conductor. For a trip to Dasi from Taipei it's less than 100 NT$.

That was the end of last weekend. Now that summer's here I'm looking forward to many more weekends of the same or better. Hope you are all having fun as well. Enjoy the summer for those of you in the Northern hemisphere - and for my kiwi friends down south, have a nice winter!

Today is a national holiday in Taiwan. Schools and businesses are closed. But it is not one of the many holidays shared with the mainland due to a common Chinese cultural history. Two two eight, as it is referred to here, is unique to Taiwan and is a testament to the desire of all Taiwanese to live in a free and fair society. To understand the events that took place it is necessary to know what was happening in Taiwan – then known more commonly in English by the name Formosa – after the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. Formosa (Taiwan) had been occupied by the Japanese since the end of the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. Following their surrender at the end of WWII Taiwan was returned to the Chinese government. At the time this was the Nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT) being led by Chiang Kai-Shek. The Nationalists were in control of much of the mainland at this time but the fight with the Communists had in many ways just begun now that the common foe, the Japanese, had been defeated. In fact by 1949 one and a half million mainland Chinese from many different provinces, including around 600,000 soldiers, would be moving to Taiwan permanently. But the story of 228 begins a few years earlier. While Chiang was struggling to hold onto the mainland, he sent the cruel and repressive Chen-Yi to serve as Governor. While the Formosan’s had initially welcomed the arrival of the Chinese troops and new governor it was not long before their happiness faded and they found themselves under the thumb of a cruel and corrupt government. On February 27th, 1947, a woman who sold cigarettes on the street and another by-stander were beaten to death by police for not having a proper license to sell. This event became the catalyst that sparked a demonstration the following day. On February 28th around 2,000 people gathered outside of the Bureau of Monopoly in Taipei. Chen-Yi responded with machine gun fire, killing many on the spot. Several days of dissent followed. The Formosan’s, gathering mostly in large unarmed groups, were easy targets for the Chinese soldier’s machine guns. Flyers, signed by Chiang Kai-Shek, promising amnesty to leaders of the movement if they came forward to discuss their grievances were disseminated and dropped by airplanes. Those who did come forward were imprisoned or killed. Many who were imprisoned in the following decades of martial law (known as the White Terror) were not released until the 1980’s. To this day the KMT and the military refuse to offer up files which may incriminate those still alive, or perhaps in order to protect those whose historical image they wish to preserve untarnished by the truth. But without a doubt it can be said that the tragic events of 228 struck a chord in the hearts of all Formosan’s and solidified their will to be a self-governing and free people. Fifty years later the differences between main-landers and Taiwanese continue to diminish with inter-marriage and time. Those sons and daughters born to the soldiers and refugees of the mainland now speak Taiwanese instead of their original provincial dialect, and are having children of their own. A thriving democracy, with all the privileges and problems there of, now thrives on an island which has spent most of its modern history under oppression and occupation. It is no wonder that 228 has become a day of remembrance and hope for all Taiwanese, and for anyone who hopes that the world of our future can escape repeating the tragedies of the past.