Like the first week I was here in December, one of the things I got to do was to experience traditional Khmer culture in a new exciting way. I'm sorry that my photos are so lousy, but alll I had was my iPhone to take these shots of folk dances from the provinces. In this dance ont eh steps of the National Museum (remember I live directly across from this world treasure) the men and women act out harvesting rice in a traditional wet setting dragging their baskets through the water as they pull at the stalks. This performance and that of Kong Nay (below) were part of the King's support of Khmer artistic culture on his birthday. I feel so honored to be here during this renaissance of Khmer arts, crafts, dance and music. I remember so clearly the fear of Khmer refugees and of other artists that all this would be lost as the Khmer Rouge systematically mowed down everything that was traditional or in their eyes "elite."

Along with this cultural renaissance here in Phnom Penh, there's another kind of birth happening. This week Khmer people and ex-patriate supporters are cele brating Lesbian and Gay Pride week. My housemate dragged me out to a bar to watch a drag show. I stayed as late as I could but didn't last much beyond 10:30 and the performance didn't get started until after 11 p.m. As you may have read before in this blog (see the December lpostings) drag here involves lip synching to Mandarin, Cantonese or English music. Most of the performers don't know what they are supposed to be saying, so they act out their little skits to their own lyrics regardless what the actual lyrics say.

Ain't that like what every new subculture has to do in every society. The members of the subculture may be tempted to imitate the practices of fellow subculture members from other countries, but it isn't authentically theirs until the community members take their own material and create their own story with it. That's true whether the particulars are gay or lesbian, new print journalists, hip hop artists or even G-d forbid, Mormon.

Forcing the foreign way of doing things in a subculture in a new context is like training pigs. It's tough, it smells and it only annoys otherwise amiable co-inhabitants of our planet. The Mormons from Salt Lake keep trying to force Utah European-based music into Cambodian services... the problem is that Khmer takes 2-3 times as long to say the same thing as English. So Khmer doesn't fit into the convenient 4/4 or 3/4 patterns of western music. Trying to make it do so just annoys everyone's ears.

Encouraging the local subcultures to find their own way requires patience from outsiders. It also requires taking a huge step back and trusting that people will find the way if they are supported. Support means giving a hand up and not spoon feeding others. Hand up assumes that the supported are equal to the supporters and not needing to be spoon fed.