Someone off line asked what is happening to puppeteers in the
Indonesian quake. The answer is things are not good right now and
many areas where puppeteers live are in need. Bantul the area at the
epicenter has a number of puppet-mask artists. I heard that Mas Pono
who makes masks and does wayang orang is OK but has damage to his
home and work area. The stage area of Rama Sas (a great teacher of
dance and music from the palace who died a few years back) compound
has collapsed and the wayang dance and other lessons and performances
they do there will probably have to cease during rebuilding and money
will be needed. Joan Suyunaga, who is married to a wonderful gamelan
maker, says they are OK but again a lot of damage to buildings and
many people are stuck out in the rain. Hospitals are overwhelmed.

They were all waiting for the volcano to explode--but instead it was
earthquake this time. Right afterward there were rumors that a huge
tsunami was coming even though Yogya is 20 kilometers from the
sea--people started to try to get out but with volcano to the north,
reports of Tsunami to the south, pouring rain and devastation, slow
disaster response from the central government, . . well, things have
not been good. One of the oldest buildings in the palace which
housed a carriage that belonged to the first Sultan of Yogya
collapsed. This king is revered by local citizens and his reign name
means something like the "lap of the world" people are of course
saying that a sacred carriage of a sacred king collapsing is a sing
of the world out of balance-a volcano, the tsunami last year,
corruption as Suharto-era people are let off the hook for
prosecution--it all must be interconnected.

In the puppet show of central Java the narration that the puppeteer
says about the world out of joint comes about midnight and has
references to earthquakes and thunder and all kinds of tribulation
for the people. It precedes the scene where the hero (who will help
set things right) appears along with his clowns. This is the
goro-goro scene of the world in turmoil.

Well all the reports coming out of Yogya indicate that we are in the
midnight of goro-goro, hopefully calm will be restored and those on
the ground are doing their best.

One of my graduate student No.e Parker is about to go over to Yogya
for a Gamelan Festival and will be carrying donations the end of this
month. She wrote today:

"I know that none of us are rich and can offer a huge amount of
financial support, but the economy of the area is such that very small
donations of $10 or $20 can have an amazing impact (that is enough to
get food and water for a week for a family). "

She has a mailbox at Digital Arts And New Media, UCSC (SC, CA 95064).
There are many charities--official and unofficial that have started
to gather stuff. Those who are interested can check out some on the
Gamelan listserve which Jody Diamond runs out of Dartmouth and get
reports from people who work with puppetry, music, dance are saying
about the situation. Everyone is still piecing the information
together and figuring how money can get most directly to those in
need.