I look down from my balcony, and I see some five stories below me, the world that Walt Whitman captured in his vision of America: I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work or leaves off work…. (from Walt Whitman’s poem, “I Hear America Singing.”) Whitman’s vision was of a working class happily toiling toward a blissful future. His vision was of seemingly disparate countrymen harmoniously laboring, each within his own talents and trade, toward a singular inevitable glory. It was a vision of a …
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the post that started it all: the lion mall and the slums
a universe next door: the lion mall and the slums (living in qingdao, china)
I live in a 32-floor high-rise building directly across from Old Stone Man Beach, a strip of Yellow Sea shoreline that is a quiet enclave in the winter and a full-fledged free-for-all of luxury cars, tour buses, hawkers, and a deluge of local tourists in the summer. Across from the front entrance of my apartment complex, rising from the edge of the sea, is the five-star Hyatt, which offers upscale resort-style accommodations, and is the setting of opulent weddings and other lavish events. This neighborhood, known as Lao Shan, just six miles …
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about the author/photographer
about
I am an American escaped lawyer turned guidance counselor, currently living and working in the Lao Shan district of Qingdao, a coastal city in Northeastern China that is best known for its beer, green tea, and Daoist origins. I enjoy expat-life, and I spent several years traveling throughout Asia. For more about how a private wanderer with hardly so much as a bi-annual Facebook presence ended up detailing her encounters with the world on a blog, please read my first post, "a universe next door: the lion mall and the slums." The post--and the …