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03/04/14
A Pictureless Post
Filed under: General, Culture
Posted by: @ 5:35 am

Before March 1st, or 3-0-1, no one had ever heard of Kunming. But that night, I got calls and emails from people I have never heard of.
On Sunday, the city mourned over the brutal attacks at the Kunming Train station or “Zhan”, leaving twenty eight dead and millions speechless. It was a ghost town as the government as well as common sense kept people at home.
Many businesses were still closed Monday. There is still extra police protection surrounding schools.
Most people I know weren’t directly affected, but many had friends or knew someone who was.
The local coverage of the event was brutal. Keep in mind, in China, news stories routinely include footage of suicide victims, street brawls and construction workers getting a metal poles removed from their arms.
I can’t even imagine what was included in the footage that was censored.
More saddening than the graphic footage were the faces of those who had lost loved ones. One that I can erase from my mind is of a sixty year old wife who lost her husband and life- long friend that day, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
All she had left was his ID card.
Though the stories were broadcasted in Mandarin, I understood them completely.
The language of the heart needs no translation.
Since we had a “lock-down” on Sunday, I took the opportunity to binge watch three complete seasons of Showtime’s“the L word”.
I think I’m now officially a lesbian.
Don’t expect me posting pictures of that, either.

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