Ming Holden served the Mongolian Writers Union as their International Relations Advisor during her year as a Luce Scholar in Mongolia, collaborating with The Asia Foundation on literary translations and working towards the formation of a Mongolia PEN Center. She is a freelance nonfiction writer, editor, and grant writer back at The Asia Foundation for a short time to edit more Mongolian translations. Her blog can be found here.

Blog Entries by Ming Holden

The Message Is Simple: Buy More Stuff

Posted December 2, 2009 | 05:57 PM (EST)


"What's the message here?"

"To Buy More Stuff."

"Is this sarcastic?"

"No, ma'am. We think everyone should buy more stuff, and hurry!"

"Are you an anarchist?"

"No. I believe in spending. Either the stores will run out of stuff or you'll run out of time!"

"I don't get it. Are...

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Schwarzenegger, Solar Power, and Midland School

3 Comments | Posted October 14, 2009 | 04:55 PM (EST)


The picture below of Arnold Schwarzenegger shaking the hand of Will Graham, Head of Midland School, at the September 30 Governor's Global Climate Summit 2 is noteworthy mainly because of Midland's reputation: a tiny hippie school, a fringe school, a farm school, a therapeutic school.

Not anymore. Midland just...

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Infected, Detected, Rejected in South Korea

1 Comments | Posted October 6, 2009 | 06:47 PM (EST)


With a Masters in Education, Andrea Vandom went to Korea to teach university-level English. Since early 2006 she created textbooks and curriculum, taught English to university and adult students, and invented a class where her students learned English by playing sports. She loved her students and co-workers enough to renew...

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Infected, Detected and Rejected in South Korea

1 Comments | Posted October 6, 2009 | 02:10 PM (EST)


With a Masters in Education, Andrea Vandom went to Korea to teach university-level English. Since early 2006 she created textbooks and curriculum, taught English to university and adult students, and invented a class where her students learned English by playing sports. She loved her students and co-workers enough to renew...

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Green Ideas, Green Actions: China's Eco-Revolution

1 Comments | Posted July 29, 2009 | 11:33 AM (EST)


GIGA is a brand-new nonprofit whose website launches this week. It stands for Green Ideas, Green Actions. Standard eco-fare, right? Except that it's coming out a city of 20 million -- in China (where Huffington Post is often blocked).

We could start with the fact that over the...

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Mongolia: A Young and Hopeful Democracy

2 Comments | Posted June 22, 2009 | 01:36 PM (EST)


"The main question is, how do you maintain tradition and heritage in the face of a changing economic and political landscape?" asked U.S. ambassador Mark Minton at an informal barbeque at his residence in Ulaanbaatar last Sunday. Also in attendance were Layton Croft, in charge of social responsibility at Ivanhoe...

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Witnessing Mongolia's Election

Posted June 1, 2009 | 04:47 PM (EST)


In the Ulaanbaatar Hotel, a large square building off the southeast side of Sukhbaatar Square in Mongolia's capital city of Ulaanbaatar, about 27 expats gathered with as many Mongolians last Friday to learn about being International Observers at Mongolia's Presidential election. Leading the presentation was Tim Meisburger, an elections expert...

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