Electronic Sources: Another Dharamsala Blog!

I know that this is called a bibliography assignment, but more than anything it is supposed to be for me to find sources that will help me continue and learn about my project.  After meeting with my faculty mentor, Dr. Burton, I realized that finding electronic realms of communication was really important for my blog.

In the field, I am taking a Digital Culture course contract with Dr. Burton.  I will flesh this out later, but the three themes I need to tackle in this proposed course are how my digital media can be used to Consume, Create, and Connect.  Based on my  last field experience, my Ghana blog did a lot of consuming and creating, but I seriously lacked on the connecting part.  With this second round through, I am going to tackle that last "C."

So for one of this weeks sources, I found a block called "My Thoughts and Activities in Dharamsala."  It is a blog by Kangpa Tasapo.  He was born in Brooklyn, grew up partially in Panama, and lived in Florida after middle school.  My favorite part?  He dropped out of high school to live on the streets and hitchhiked around the US.  Eventually he ended up in Berea as a transient and went to Berea College, got a B.A. in Asian studies, and is now living in Dharamsala studying Buddhist Philosophy at Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies.  I love biographies like this.  Hitchhiking across the country was always a bit of a dream for me.  I only ended up doing it seriously when I lived in Hawaii though.  Anyways, I think we would be good friends, or at least have good conversations.

He blogs very regularly, and his posts are thoughtful and well done.  He refers to books he has read, things he is studying, and is an entertaining writer.  I wish that he had labels somewhere so that I could navigate through his experience though.  At the moment it seems a little daunting.  I am excited to follow his blog learn about some of the things he has experienced and get a little more acquainted with the place I will be living in for three months. 

So yes, this source assignment was technically in the realm of "Consume," but I think it is great that it also has the potential to get me connected.  Another great thing about Kangpa's blog is that he has a lot of followers and also follows other blogs that will link me to similar people interested in things that I am also interested in!  I am really excited to follow this blog.