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Songs that Stick: Es Buurebüebli

When I was a little girl, in about 1969 or so, I spent a few memorable weeks on Orcas Island at a summer camp. There was a Swiss exchange student who worked that summer as a camp counselor, a young leader of even younger people, myself included. She was beautiful, … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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THIRTY-THREE SEASONS IN HELL : A PROLOGUE (III)

Eight years ago, I was interviewed for the magazine BaliSavvy “The Official American Express® Guide to the Island”. I found a copy of that old interview recently in an archive of the adversities I have endured since March 2010. I decided to post the 2010 interview here in several installments as a prologue … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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macan tidur and icon asian arts 2010

THIRTY-THREE SEASONS IN HELL: A PROLOGUE (II)

      Eight years ago, I was interviewed for the magazine BaliSavvy, “the official American Express® guide to the island”.   I found a copy of that 2010 interview recently in an archive of the adversities I have endured since March 2010.  I decided to post it here, in several installments, as … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Rice paddies, like paradise, but with hell just beneath the smooth surface of the waters

thirty-three seasons in hell: a prologue (I)

  Eight years ago, an interview and profile of me appeared in the magazine BaliSavvy, “the official American Express® guide to the island”. This afternoon I happened on a copy of it in my messy archive of the eight plus years in hell I have endured between March 2010 and now. … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Concerns , The Saga , Tribal Art , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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For David Pfeiffer, Northwest Landscape Designer

Kudos for the Kudus House Garden My new home is Vashon Island, in Washington State. It’s a place where many threads of my personal history are woven together. Surprisingly, some of them are also knotted tight to the threads that bind my heart forever to Indonesia, where I lived for … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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susijohnston.com blog new revived since Bali and now on Vashon Island

All Change

I used to live in London, where I rode the District Line from Parson’s Green to the City for work. God bless the London Underground. I appreciated its no-nonsense and no-frills way of moving humans around. But I cursed the Underground when the loud announcement, “All change! All change!” blasted … Continue reading

Filled under : The Saga , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Filastine | Colony Collapse

Stills from the video “Colony Collapse” by sound artist Grey Filastine and Nova, Javanese vocalist of sounds and messages without borders. Filastine will appear at Antidasoundgarden on 10 January, and at BetelNut in Ubud the evening before. Can we all make our contributions for the “tukang terang” (cloud clearer), perhaps? … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Bali Not For Sale #notforsale

SITUASI SUSI JOHNSTON: Pelurusan Kesesatan dan Kesalahan Informasi

Tulisan ini berkaitan dengan masalah tanah dan rumah tinggal yang berada di Pererenan, Mengwi, Badung, yang sekarang menjadi objek sengketa antara Tety Carolina (mantan “nominee”) melawan Susi Johnston. Tety tanpa hak apapun Tety Carolina tidak memiliki hak apapun atas tanah tempat tinggal Susi. Dia hanya pernah “pinjamkan namanya” kepada Bruno … Continue reading

Filled under : Architecture , Bali , Concerns , Design , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Important Sriwijayan Artefact Found in a Pile of Dirt

A man in the Musirawas area of Palembang district, Sumatra bought a truckload of fill dirt last Monday and was surprised to find a Sriwijayan stone artefact in the dirt pile. The artefact, a beautifully carved door cornice ornament in the form of a lion mask, is thought to date … Continue reading

Filled under : Ancient Asia , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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azazel facebook violence despair

PROFOUND THOUGHT FOUND ON FACEBOOK. STILL NO LIFE ON MARS. FILM AT ELEVEN.

I have a news monitoring app that’s customized to do what I want it to, and to be flexible so that I can change its behaviour as and when I like. It feeds me selected news, from selected sources, on selected topics (keywords, tags, metadata). I don’t watch television or … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Concerns , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Bali Not For Sale #notforsale

The Susi Johnston Situation: Death to Nominee Scams

Here’s an update on the very intriguing situation I have been thrown into, and have navigated faithfully for the past two years. A three-page summary of the news to date (and the background of this regrettable situation) can be downloaded by clicking here: Susi Johnston Situation (3.5MB – Be patient.)

Filled under : Bali , Concerns , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Kronologi Pengerusakan Bersama (KUHP 170)

3 Kronologi Kasus I 4 LP 127 1 5 LP 127 2 6 LP 127 3 7 LP 127 4

Author : Susi
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Surat Terbuka – KAPOLRI

Desa Pererenan, Badung 30 September 2013 PERMOHONAN PENYELESAIAN PENGADUAN 3 (TIGA) KASUS DI POLDA BALI Kepada Yth., Bapak/Ibu/Saudara(i) KEPALA KEPOLISIAN RI Jenderal Polisi Timur Pradopo Dengan Hormat, Sebelumnya saya sampaikan bahwa surat ini sekaligus memberi masukan agar terjadi peningkatan berkaitan dengan kinerja Aparat Kepolisian dalam memberikan pelayanan kepada masyarakat; semakin … Continue reading

Filled under : Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Kuta, Bali by Adrian Vickers

Wow. What a find. Material for a Master’s Thesis, for sure. A book by an Indonesian writer that exposes Indonesian perceptions of foreigners as they are known. It reflects direct observation, extrapolation from popular media, and a spectrum of preconceptions arising from indigenous ways of being in and seeing the … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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A History of Modern Indonesia by Adrian Vickers

Get on down to the nearest bookshop or online bookseller. Get yours quick. The new edition of Adrian Vickers’ superb and readable history of modern Indonesia is out! Adrian seems to be a force of nature, he never stops. And thank goodness for that! “Since the Bali bombings of 2002 … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Jakarta environment

This seems like a step in the right direction. But the problems of environmental imbalance that affect the watersheds upstream of Jakarta are bigger than just a few dozen villas. It’s not just the upper elevations that affect the whole watershed; the lower elevations and flatter lands nearer the city … Continue reading

Filled under : Architecture , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Nicholas Hughes: Impressions of an Ageing Mountaineer

To sit atop a mountain is an extraordinary, even spiritual, experience when amongst relics of the Hindu and Buddhist periods or on a mountain that locals treat with great reverence. An Australian national, he has lived in Indonesia on and off since 1972. Nick will explain the science behind the … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Bird Flu in Four Regencies in Bali

Since I’m inadvertently serving as ad hoc translator and bridge between mutually-misread populations cohabiting in Bali . . . This news hasn’t filtered through to non-Indonesian-language media yet. For the past several weeks there have been outbreaks of a new strain of bird flu among commercially-raised and traded birds (chickens, … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Concerns , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Breakthrough in Cinema: The Act of Killing

Today, I discovered The Act of Killing, a newly released film that is of major significance in Indonesia’s evolution, and in the evolution of cinema itself. Werner Herzog, who I consider the most impressive living filmmaker in the known universe, put it this way, “I have not seen a film … Continue reading

Filled under : Concerns , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Jokowi: Soon to be a Household Name

Jokowi is a phenomenon. Funny how his miraculous and idiosyncratic ascendancy has gone unheralded by the world press. They should be all over it. And they will be. They’re just a few hundred sluggish heartbeats behind you and I and the rest of us who live in the big world, … Continue reading

Filled under : Concerns , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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Susi’s Synaptic Straps™: Classic Motorbikes

  Exhibition on now at SFO of fine old Italian rides, called Moto Bellissima: Italian Motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s. If you’re changing planes in San Fran, skip Starbuck’s and feast your eyes on these bikes instead. That’s a ’55 Moto Rumi “Raid” above, and a ’52 Motor Devil … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Design , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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What’s Donovan got to do with Bali? He’s a Hindu Buddhist Ubudist!

Big news. Donovan is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and (Marketing) Museum on April 14th. This pixie troubador out of deepest Glasgow enchanted the world in the sixties with his psychedelic naif persona and almost childlike sing-along songs. He was seminal (if I dare use … Continue reading

Filled under : Bali , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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The Beautiful Life of Bruno Piazza (19 January 1941 – 28 October 2011)

BRUNO PIAZZA: MASTERPIECE My beloved husband Bruno Piazza died at home in Bali, at dawn on Friday the 28th of October, 2011 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Bruno lived an extraordinary and beautiful life, and (not surprisingly) he died a remarkably beautiful death. He was not an … Continue reading

Author : Susi
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Bali 19 August: Something Whacko This Way Comes

Here’s the weirdest, wildest and probably the best event of the Bali summer season: Empire of the Sun at Potato Head Bali Beach Club in Petitenget, 19 August. Feeling a bit bored? Jaded? Nothing new to do? Under-awed by the faux-fabulousness of (yeah yeah) normal nightlife? Then pay attention.

Filled under : Bali , Uncategorized
Author : Susi
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