[Tlc] Roxanna Brown letter of condolence

[Anthony Zola]

Dear Justin,

Thank you for including me.

Yes, please add my name to the letter. I only met 
her a few times, but she was indeed an inspirational person.

Best regards, Tony Zola
Anthony M. Zola
Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Resources Development Specialist

Office:
124/170 Moo 1, Piyawararom Village, Bungyeetho
Phraongchaosai Road (Khlong 4)
Thanyaburi, Pathum Thani 12130, Thailand

tel. (+66) (0) 2152-2348;  fax: (+66) (0) 2152-2350
Thai cell phone: (+66 8) (0) 9206-9377; Lao cell phone: (+856-20) 551-1369
email addresses: zolaa at inet.co.th and zolaam at gmail.com

Postal address:
P.O. Box 42, Thanyaburi
Pathum Thani 12110, Thailand

At 01:54 PM 5/17/2008, justinm at ucr.edu wrote:
>Dear All,
>
>Please see the letter of condolence for Roxanna 
>Brown's family attached and below. If you 
>haven't signed your name to it and still would 
>like to, please do not hesitate to contact me.
>
>Thank you,
>justin
>
>Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues of Dr. Roxanna Brown,
>
>When a great and good person is taken from us, 
>the shock calls upon us to freeze the daily 
>whirl of activities and face an irreparable loss in our lives.
>
>Your sister, your mother, your daughter, Roxanna 
>Maude Brown was such a person.  She touched so 
>many lives over the course of her own.  A 
>growing chorus of admiration and affection 
>attests to the broad reach of her life and work.
>
>Roxanna's journey took her from the role of 
>journalist, the conscience of a nation,
>documenting from the ground the unfolding 
>tragedy of Vietnam, to her discovery of what
>would be her life's work buried literally 
>beneath her feet: the ceramics of Southeast
>Asia.  More than once her pursuit of ceramics 
>study through the countryside of Southeast Asia 
>aroused the suspicion of the forces locked in 
>mortal combat swirling around her.  Amidst the 
>horror of war, it must have been hard for them 
>to see the innocence of her search for kilns and shards.
>
>Roxanna became a leading figure in the study of 
>Southeast Asian ceramics, and the culture of 
>which they were a part.  Her keen eye and vast 
>empirical knowledge allowed her to shape 
>theories of historical development in Southeast 
>Asia that challenged accepted paradigms.  That 
>she was able to pursue her work and achieve what
>she did without the force of institutional 
>structure supporting her was remarkable.  When
>she ascended to the Directorship of the 
>Southeast Asia Ceramics Museum, she seemed at
>last fitted with the platform from which to make 
>manifest for the benefit of the public her
>lifetime of study.  The museum is a testament to 
>her sensibility and the rigor of her
>scholarship.  We hope it remains true to her ideals.
>
>Many have spoken of her achievements as a 
>scholar, her unique place in her chosen field of 
>study.  For those of us who were blessed to know 
>her personally, her friendship was equally to be 
>cherished.  All of us have our own stories of 
>Roxanna, our testimonials as friends and 
>colleagues.  Her irrepressible, infectious 
>enthusiasm for Southeast Asian ceramics spread a 
>charmed field of energy about all who came in 
>contact with her.  She moved with equal grace 
>through mansions and the most modest of 
>dwellings.  She asked for little and shared 
>much.  Her gentle generosity and unjudgemental 
>acceptance of difference and frailty in a field 
>all too often marred by intolerance and avarice 
>made her a loved as well as respected figure.
>
>But, compounding this tragedy, this is not a 
>moment of grief at the loss of a loved one
>slipping away from us after a full, rich life, 
>surrounded by friends and family, whose last
>moments are made as safe and soft as material 
>comforts can permit.  This is a moment of
>mischance.  This is a moment of horror.  This is 
>a moment of grief not only for the friend we 
>have lost, but anguish for the suffering, the 
>unjust, unnecessary, suffering of her last days 
>and nights on earth.  A vulnerable, trusting, 
>undemanding soul thrust alone into the
>netherworld of the institutional at its most 
>cold and brutal.  It is unspeakable.
>
>Many of us have discussed how best to pursue the 
>questions that arise concerning the
>circumstances of her most tragic and untimely 
>death.  We wish to be sensitive to your feelings 
>and desires as we move forward.  We feel there 
>are many who need to answer for what has 
>happened.  We do not seek to return vengeance 
>for victimization, but we seek illumination, and justice.
>
>It is not only the cruelty of Roxanna's 
>incarceration we seek to redress, but the slur
>cast upon her name by the accusations that 
>prompted her arrest.  For a scholar of such
>integrity, who tirelessly sought to raise the 
>level of ethical practice in the trade in
>ceramics, it is a cruel irony that her 
>reputation has been thus tainted.  We cannot
>bring back Roxanna, but we can try our best to 
>clear her of any shadow of wrongdoing, and 
>restore her good name for the future.
>
>For all of us who knew her as a scholar and as a 
>person, we will remember her always as she 
>was--dedicated, generous, gentle, warm.  Roxanna will be greatly missed.
>
>In sorrow,
>Caverlee Cary
>Nhung Tuyet Tran
>Pattaratorn Chirapravati
>Hiram Woodward
>Craig Reynolds
>Melody Rodari
>Alicia Carlos
>Charles Keyes
>Joyce Clark
>Judith Henchy
>Susan Kepner
>Rebecca Hall
>Louise Cort
>Michele Thompson
>Robert Brown
>Emmy Bunker
>Shawn McHale
>Edward Miller
>Boreth Ly
>Bonnie Brereton
>Charles Wheeler
>Carol Stratton
>Charnvit Kasetsiri
>H. Leedom Lefferts
>BJ Terwiel
>Louis Gabaude
>Thak Chaloemtiarana
>Stanley O’Connor
>Barbara Gaerlan
>Nguyen-Vo Thu-Huong
>Richard Page
>Eric Charles Thompson
>Anne R Hansen
>Philippe Peycam
>Charles Keith
>Christina Firpo
>Nicola Tannenbaum
>Larry Ashmun
>Nora Taylor
>William Lavely
>Donald Mccallum
>Nguyen Ngoc BICH
>Bin Wong
>Nick Menzies
>Michael Ross
>Philip Taylor
>Darryl Johnson
>Laurie Sears
>Paul Kratowska
>Quynh Kieu
>Chan Kieu
>Laichen Sun
>Richard A. Ruth
>Trude Bennett
>Justin McDaniel
>Cari Coe
>Jim Cobbe
>Scott Laderman
>John Stevenson
>Karen Adams
>Ben Kerkvliet
>David Rehfuss
>Hue-Tam Ho Tai
>Sarah Grant and many many others
>
>
>
>______________
>Dr. Justin McDaniel
>Dept. of Religious Studies
>3046 INTN
>University of California, Riverside
>Riverside, CA 92521
>951-827-4530
>justinm at ucr.edu
>
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