Back in January 2020, I came across artwork by Oogonbair. Oogon, for short, is from Inner Mongolia. His mother was a Mongolian language teacher and an art teacher. Her worldview surely shaped his. He’s now a painter studying in Kobe, Japan, beautifully refining an illustrative style of painting that evokes the precision of Mongol zurag, a flatness that contrasts with rich texture, and ethereal color palettes that remind me of the atmosphere of ukiyo-e scenes. He grew up on the Mongolian steppe of China’s Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, but in his work, I see the steppe and the faces I know from here. He moves easily between worlds of fantasy, memory, and realism. He captures animals and children in a particularly magical way. I was especially taken by his paintings of Mongolian children in nomadic scenes, playing on the steppe, tending to baby animals, standing proudly by their horses. I inquired about purchasing one of his paintings, “Prince of Winter”. It had already been sold, he has a solid base of collectors, but I was offered the opportunity to purchase a commissioned work. With the chance to have a commissioned work, I wanted one of Terra, Basar (our Tibetan Mastiff), and Squid (the horse I had to say goodbye to when I moved to Mongolia). Arrangements were made through his gallery in Osaka, Galerie Moustache. I sent Oogon some reference photos of all three of them, and two months later he had created this beautiful image, “Born on Earth from Love”. Last February, Oogonbair went home to his banner in Inner Mongolia for the Lunar New Year, an important time for being with family, and got stuck there for almost a year because of Japan’s COVID-19 travel restrictions. He’s finally back in his Kobe home and studio. I just got that news this week. I’m happy for him. Mail from Japan to Mongolia is still prohibitively expensive without flights and normal logistics operating normally, so it’ll still be a while before I’ll have the painting shipped to Mongolia. What would be even better would be picking it from Oogon in Ulaanbaatar. He had a solo scheduled in UB this past summer, canceled due to COVID-19. I hope, with Asia seeming to have a better handle on this pandemic situation, that we won’t have to wait as long for a return to things like safe travel and art shows, but it’s anyone’s guess. Until then, this painting is worth the wait.
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This week I had the pleasure of distributing copies of "Tuya's Trip", a story written by Anita Fahrni-Minear and illustrated by Rina Jost, to students and English teachers in Darkhan. Anita loves Mongolia and has volunteered so much of her time and effort into supporting education and environmental programs here. "Tuya's Trip" is the convergence of both her passions. With support from Admon Printing, International Takhi-Group, The Asia Foundation, and Kulturpool Regio Frauenfeld, Anita has published 10,000 copies of "Tuya's Trip" to be distributed to intermediate to advanced English language learners in Mongolia's schools and organizations working with children to provide them with reading material in English (with a Mongolian translation in the back). "Tuya resents having to join her mother on a work trip to the remote Takhintal. She and her classmates in Ulaanbaatar have other plans for the summer vacation. But through her new friend Munkhjargal, the daughter of the park director of the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area, Tuya discovers rare animals in a stunning landscape. She comes to appreciate her mother's conservation efforts in a unique part of Mongolia previously unknown to her." ![]() The foreign language teachers at all of Darkhan's public and private schools attended a seminar, and the books were handed out to them at the conclusion of the seminar. Oyunbileg, who oversees the foreign language programs in Darkhan-Uul Province, put together a list of all the schools with English language programs and the number of 10th grade students at each school, which made the book distribution happen with precision and efficiency. The books are to be given to each of the students to keep and take home, but I imagine they'll find their way into English language instruction. With teaching materials and resources often in short supply, particularly for public school teachers, some teachers asked for extra copies to use for future classes. Thank you, Anita, for your love for Mongolia and its children.
Back in July, I took part in a conversation with the editors of What God Is Honored Here and some of the other contributing writers for the University of Minnesota Press podcast. It was a genuine honor to be included in the conversation. The more I hear from the women who made this anthology possible - the editors and the writers, the more grateful I am to be heard among their voices. Click here to give it a listen. ![]() Miscarriage and infant loss are experiences that disproportionately affect Indigenous women and women of color. WHAT GOD IS HONORED HERE? is the first book of its kind, a literary collection of voices of these women coming together to speak about the traumas and tragedies of womanhood. "We are talking about equity. We are talking about racism. We are talking about all of the things that we’ve been needing to talk about. This work is only still beginning," says co-editor Kao Kalia Yang, who is joined here by co-editor Shannon Gibney and writers Michelle Borok, Soniah Kamal, Jami Nakamura Lin, and Seema Reza. This edited conversation was recorded in July 2020. ![]() I'm not a podcast person, but I've been interviewed for two of them now and I've enjoyed the experience, and I've been honored to be a guest. The origin story of The Trip and where it's taken listeners so far is pretty fantastic. It's a privilege to be part of that journey for Episode 93. Have a listen HERE. Michelle Borok is one of something like 9 million Americans who live overseas—nobody’s quite sure how many there are, nobody cares much about counting them. But one thing is certain: they are a more diverse group than you might think. This week, I’m talking with three American women, writers all—Michelle Borok, Sarah Souli, and Ruth Terry—about what it’s like to be Korean-American in Mongolia, Arab-American in Athens, and Black American in Istanbul, watching all this nonsense from afar. I’ll start with Ruth Terry in Istanbul, who talks about anti-blackness among white Americans overseas and about her dreams for what travel writing could become in a post-lockdown world. Terra made some some artisanal chocolates with the Little Airship DIY candy kit. She gave it 4 out of 5 stars, but noted that the sprinkles were very "rainbow-y". Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe! She still wants to break into the double digits! Spring is my least favorite season in Mongolia, despite the warmer weather, but there is one highlight: floppy, fuzzy, brand-new baby goats and sheep! Last year, we visited Idree's camp to see some babies, with Terra's best friend Sunderiya along for the fun. I put together the video I shot to share with everyone for what has turned out to be a more glum than usual season. Enjoy the bleats of all the babies and the blue skies. If you're so inclined, it would absolutely, positively make Terra's day if you subscribed to her channel. Help us break into the double digits! While everyone is adjusting to #CoronaLife, that's been life in Mongolia since mid-January. A week after our family came home from an amazing trip to the U.S. to spend Christmas with my parents and the week after New Year's with my best friend, the outbreak in China had exploded and Mongolia was on high alert, deathly afraid of the novel coronavirus crossing the border. Schools closed and "quarantine" began. Every day since has been varying degrees of anxiety about what ifs. I'm one of the lucky ones who has always worked remotely and, for the most part, work hasn't changed much for me, but life at home is something else.
So, while this isn't involuntary free time for me, with all the thoughts spinning in my head, I figured it was time to finally launch my website. I'll be archiving past writing that's currently floating around on the internet and sharing new writing, but mostly trying to consolidate the traces of me online. We'll see how it goes... |
Michelle BorokI'm a writer and editor living in Darkhan, Mongolia, by way of Los Angeles. It's a long story... I write about it sometimes. Archives
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