Ways of seeing: More than a film — a relationship

I met Khongoroo (pronounced Hungara), the protagonist, 15 years ago when she rode her reindeer into a Dukha reindeer herding settlement I was visiting.

My mother called being a part of a conversation “getting a word in edgewise.” I never had trouble doing that, maybe because I was the oldest of five kids. Never, that is, until after COVID-19. I spent more than a year living alone, not seeing or interacti … (read more)

In 1969 I adopted a biracial daughter. Though she has not searched for her heritage, she has always believed herself to be half African American. Jasmine was born in Vermont and grew up in Addison County, graduated from Middlebury Union High School and th … (read more)

This is the best moment of my life. When I see this sentence on a young woman’s T-shirt as she walks with friends in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, I think, you know, that’s right. As I think about it more and more, I realize that I don’t recognize life … (read more)

The strangest things happen while traveling backward into my life. I am writing a memoir. The first draft, now finished, includes vignettes, little stories I found myself sharing. Then as I dive deeper into the stories, I find more. For instance, one day … (read more)

When I mention that I saw a little farm stand with summer squash on the way to a socially-distanced visit with a friend in Lincoln, she tells me to stop at the farm stand next to the river on the way home through Bristol. I don’t remember any farm stand t … (read more)

Due to COVID-19, the border to Mongolia is closed, so I can’t go there. Film festivals are not in person. I stay home. A friend gets my groceries for two and a half months. In early May when I have my annual exam by telemedicine, I tell my doctor I’m gain … (read more)

2011: The summer when my mother goes into hospice, I decide not to go to Mongolia and to spend as much time as possible with her. My plan is to visit with Mom in Connecticut for three days every week, where she is in a nursing home with dementia. The firs … (read more)

Mongolia is a herding land with nomads and their 44 million goats, cattle, camels, horses and sheep. The favorite food is mutton from sheep. Mutton with noodles. Mutton dumplings. Mutton covered in deep fried dough. Boiled mutton. I am familiar with these … (read more)

At the beginning of the millennium, I watched modernization take over the traditional nomadic culture in Mongolia at a fast rate and feared that the culture might be lost. In Vermont, we have had time to come to terms with industrialization, electronic te … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Nineteen trips, three documentary films, and a book later, Sas Carey decided to do things a little differently for her fourth film about the nomadic reindeer herders of northern Mongolia who she’s been following since 1994. “I’m doing everyth … (read more)

The first time I was in Mongolia twenty-five years ago, my friend Kathleen and I were riding on a red and white bus with standing room only. We were returning from a day at the black market where I had bought necessities like a light bulb and toilet seat. … (read more)

Our team is made up of two young women and me. Jen, an American, is taking videos to add to our latest movie and Mongolian Anuka is translating. We have a horse guide and three wranglers. Now we are coming back from the East Taiga where we took vitamins a … (read more)