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Orlando is a teacher and aspiring novelist, living a mysterious and reclusive life somewhere in Asia. She used to live a reclusive and mysterious life somewhere in Indiana until Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence became national figures, making it far too humiliating to continue residing there. In her spare time, she travels the world--or her small part of it--snapping pictures and writing down random thoughts to share with the dagblog crowd.

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Republican Semantics

by Orlando 6/4/2011 - 9:59 am   |

Seems like some knickers are in a twist lately on the right side of the aisle. To be fair, twisty knickers are not a conservative phenomenon--politicans can be remarkably thin skinned, especially considering the careers they've chosen. But, because I'm not a Republican, I find it funnier when it happens to them. [Read more]

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Republican Presidential Candidates by the Numbers

by Orlando 5/26/2011 - 6:20 pm   |

Gallup has a new poll out, ranking Repbulican presidential hopefuls. The list includes three candidates that Articleman and I didn't think to mention in our recent email exhange:

17% Mitt Romney

15% Sarah Palin

10% Rand Paul

9% New Gingrich

8% Herman Cain

6% Tim Pawlenty

5% Michele Bachmann

2% John Huntsman [Read more]

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Dagblog Duet: Singing the Praises of the 2012 Republican Presidential Field

by Orlando 5/25/2011 - 12:38 am   |

In the tradition of Paul McCartney teaming up with Michael Jackson for Say Say Say, dagblog is pleased to bring to you in all its original glory this dramatic e-mail exchange that brings together the political commentary of two of its bloggers.  Articleman contends that Orlando is Michael Jackson and that he is Paul McCartney in that metaphor, but that's beside the point.  So for their trenchant insights about the 2012 election, A and O:

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 9:30 AM, Articleman wrote: [Read more]

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Malaysian Travel Journal: Cobra in the Kitchen

by Orlando 4/27/2011 - 10:17 am   |

Not my kitchen. If it had been my kitchen, I would have hightailed it right back to the city. As it is, I have been assured that, although a colleague found a "small" (4 to 5 foot) cobra in her kitchen, since I live on the third floor of a cement block building, snakes can't crawl up into my kitchen. Roaches, yes. Ants, definitely. Rats, possibly. Snakes, no. 

So, I guess I can deal. But so ends my love affair with all things in the natural, jungle-y world. I still love the monkeys though! [Read more]

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Malaysian Travel Journal: Sadness

by Orlando 4/6/2011 - 8:06 am   |

This afternoon, as I was driving along, I saw a monkey. In my new surroundings, there is nothing remarkable about seeing monkeys on the side of the road. Nonetheless, I still find it super cool. The monkey I saw today was acting strangely, just sitting there, shoulders hunched, back to the road. It looked almost like it was in shock. I had about 50 yards to wonder why. That's when I saw the second monkey. Same size, same color, decidedly less alive, sprawled across a highway lane, having very recently succumbed to death by logging truck. [Read more]

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Malaysian Travel Journal: Elephants are Cool!

by Orlando 3/29/2011 - 8:57 am   |

I'm not an animal lover. I've had pets that I've loved, but I've never referred to them as "my children." I don't eat much meat, but I'm not opposed to animals as food. Like most normal people, I balk at animal cruelty, but I balk more at people cruelty. And, when it comes down to it, I'd rather we spent our resources taking care of children than stray dogs and cats. [Read more]

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Indonesian Travel Journal: Saying Good-Bye in a Hurry

by Orlando 3/9/2011 - 8:16 am   |

Ten days ago, I said good-bye to Indonesia. My last few months there were a bit of a whirlwind, especially my last four weeks. I barely had time to say good-bye and that makes me very sad. My year in Indonesia was one of the best of my life. It sounds ridiculously cheesy to say I found myself again, but it's true. After my mom's long illness and years in the wilderness, I rediscovered my love of adventure, of new experiences, and mostly of not being stuck in a rut. I also discovered a true love of my own language and a love of helping others learn it. [Read more]

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Indonesian Travel Journal: Disappearing Acts and Reflections on a Year-Long Adventure

by Orlando 2/5/2011 - 9:01 pm   |

 

Articleman keeps dropping hints that I should give a Southeast Asian expat perspective on what’s happening in Egypt. By dropping hints, I mean that he keeps emailing me and telling me to write a Southeast Asian expat perspective on what’s happening in Egypt. I’ll think about that some more and get back to you.

But first, let me apologize for disappearing right in the middle of a blog series.  I’d like to finish the Blowing Smoke book group discussion in the coming weeks. I hope that you’ve all read the outstanding TPM version in the meantime!  [Read more]

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Dagbooks: Blowing Smoke - Chapter Two - Weep for Your Children

by Orlando 11/17/2010 - 7:39 am   |

In Chapter 1 of Blowing Smoke, author Michael Wolraich (Genghis) introduces what he terms “Persecution Politics,” or the way in which the right wing has employed a trinity of unreality-based ideas to instill fear in the populace. 

Those three things are: 1) the slippery slope; 2) the secret plot; and 3) persecution of you and people like you. 

In Chapter 2, Wolraich lays out starkly the history of the birth of Persecution Politics. 

…in a crucible of racism and piety, baked red-hot by the fear of corrupted youth, a movement was born.  [Read more]

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Dagbooks: Blowing Smoke – Chapter One - How Bill O'Reilly Saved Christmas

by Orlando 11/10/2010 - 10:24 am   |

I am very excited to be hosting Dagblog’s very first book group for various reasons, not the least of which is that we get to discuss a book written by our very own Genghis (Michael Wolraich, for those of you who are new to Dag). We’ll get to the meat of the discussion in just a moment. But first, some ground rules:

1. The plan is to take the book chapter by chapter, discussing the salient points of each chapter as we work our way through. However, this is meant to be a free-flowing discussion so jumping ahead is fine if you feel it helps you make your point. [Read more]

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