Lily Rong Cong 丛榕

Translations I recently reviewed:
Sylvia Earle’s TED Prize wish to protect our oceans: English, Chinese (Simplified)
James H Kunstler dissects suburbia: English, Chinese (Simplified)

A talk I recently translated and desperately needing review:
Sasa Vucinic invests in free press: English

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Printed in 1961, listed for 50 US cents.

It was intact before I picked it up. As I was reading it, I was afraid that the book would disappear when I’m done. Luckily, it didn’t happen.

A white façade with sections of red bricks. Trees and flowers decorate the public areas. A pavilion nestles among the buildings. Corridors cleaned weekly. Quiet and friendly neighbours.

Such is how I had always boasted about the apartment building I live in. Until this morning the property manager posted a notice on every tenant’s door, I had not known the danger of my surroundings.

“We have received a number of complaints regarding odours (such as cigarette smoke, smoke from illegal substances, cooking odours and pet odours) coming out of the apartments and entering into the corridors. …we … discovered that there were many smells in the corridors … especially … the smoke of illegal substances …”

November 2009: LRC takes possession of the plant with approximately ten flowers.
January 2010: Flowers wither.
November 2009 – present: LRC painstakingly nurtures the plant.
March 2010: The plant starts to bloom.

With fresh snow on the ground, we went up the hill in Geir’s hometown in Norway.

As we came down the hill, something Marcus Aurelius said in the movie Gladiator seemed to be more appropriate to say than anything else, “It’s a good home, worth fighting for.”

When the sky was suddenly lit by fireworks from all directions, I exclaimed, “Another year wasted!” It was not only me, but surely many others and all of us collectively: The Copenhagen conference yielded no real results; in the two countries which I call home, one is still using more and cheaper energy to extract less but more expensive energy from the dirty tar sands at the expense of deformed fish and cancer-ridden villages and another continues to punish severely for “crimethink”.

But I’ve got to be better than those politicians. So I looked back more closely. Although there were no impressive accomplishments, I did seem to have made some progress towards obtaining more joy and freedom for myself and others:

1. Spent six weeks of vacation with mother. Strengthened individual body, soul, and relationship contributed directly to a better society.

2. Committed to promoting proportional representation in the province of British Columbia. Proportional representation is a electoral system that results in more democratic election results than the current system of first-past-the-post used in federal and provincial elections throughout Canada.

3. Obtained Chartered Accountant designation. My service to the public accounting industry ceased to be a commitment.

4. Started purchasing some food from a local food supplier. My goal in the next two years is to buy 90% of food from local sources (within a 150km range), grow some food myself, and thus reduce the pollution and slavery created by the global food system (see more in the movie Food Inc.; although focusing on USA, it’s a good representation of the food system in most developed nations).

5. Biked or used public transportation 95% of the time while travelling for less than 10km.

And with that, I have no more regret.

High resolution, higher resolution! In every corner of the picture!

(Conclusion above is based on my observation of the photography exhibits at National Art Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.)

Closer and closer, I am drawn to their majestic beauty.  It’s unmistakable now – these must be the Rocky Mountains.  As I come near, they ready to surround me, to devour me.  I have no choice but to worship them, to submit to them.

Then they smile at me, presenting me their most precious treasure.

One of them invites me to climb onto her shoulder, looking down at the gem in her palm.

Another is topped with 325 square kilometres of glacier.

But she is weakened, by the disasters my own fellow beings have caused, the ice at her feet retreating 10 metres a year.  I sit close to her, listening to her silently moan.

I wish I could remain, in this endless dream.

Any government that builds grandiose structures has something to hide from its people.