not your fantasy

THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR ARE RISING UP FOR DEMOCRACY

Students, civil servants, nurses, and others are putting their lives on the line to resist tyranny. In order to sustain the movement, they need lost-income support for food, healthcare and housing.

Mutual Aid Myanmar (MAM) is a collection of activists, academics, and policy makers working to support the democracy movement in Myanmar.

Our deep connections in the country allow us to distribute funds efficiently and target activists with the most need and greatest impact.

Alyssa Huynh (alt text)

People perform a traditional dance during the opening ceremony of the Thingyan Water Festival in Yangon, Myanmar, 13 April 2024. The annual water festival, known as Thingyan in Myanmar, sees people gathering to celebrate by splashing water and throwing powder at each other as a symbol of cleansing and washing away the sins from the past year. The festival marks the start of the traditional New Year and is similarly celebrated in countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Mizzima Myanmar News

Merle Oberon (Wuthering Heights, The Scarlet Pimpernel)—She was mixed race (born in India and her mother was Sri Lankan) and still managed to make it in the British and American film industries (by passing) despite a rough start in life and industry racism. She was the first Asian person to be nominated for any Academy Award (best actress in 1935)! She also survived a car accident in 1937 and kept on acting until 1973, despite potentially career-ending facial scars. Also, she met her third husband while they were filming a movie together in 1973 (her last movie and she still looks great!). They fell in love and got married in 1975 when she was 62 and he was 36. She died 4 years later in 1979. Iconic.

Source @hotvintagepoll

P.S Kaguya

It took six years of struggle in an industry that favors thin and Eurocentric for Kaguya to make it to New York Fashion Week. As a second-generation Korean American, she encountered constant resistance to her weight and stigmas about her identity. She quickly discovered, she says, that the same stereotypes associated with Asian women were reinforced for Asian models: to be petite and obedient.

An artist’s interpretation based on interviews with family and a prisoner depicts Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw Prison, Myanmar. (Illustration by Rebel Pepper/RFA)⁣

For over a year, the whereabouts of Suu Kyi has been a mystery. But a source close to her legal team told Radio Free Asia they believe she is in solitary confinement in Naypyidaw Prison, in the capital. ⁣ Each week, her legal team receives a list of items she needs in detention, which they deliver every Monday.

⁣@radiofreeasia

Sarita Choudhury, Fallout 2024

Ji-eun Kim, South Korean track and field athlete

Kim Gee-Yang, Korea’s first “plus size” model?

In addition to LA, Kim has done runway shows in Miami and the Caribbean. She’s also been a finalist in photo contests for Benetton and American Apparel, but she says no Korean fashion shows or magazines will hire her.

So, she started her own magazine that features plus size models.

It’s called 66100 (66 and 100 are the maximum sizes in centimeters, respectively, for women and men’s clothing sold in Korean retail stores. Kim takes a size 88 (she says she wears an American size 8).

On the cover of the latest issue, Kim is clutching a chunk of fried pig’s feet with her manicured fingertips. The picture goes with the feature article, “Innocent Pleasure” — Kim writes that you shouldn’t feel guilty for eating what you like.

France Nuyen