Ways of Seeing: Thinking of mom and knitting hats

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 first week I go, the weather is beautiful, so I take Mom out in her wheelchair and we sit feeling the breeze. She comments on the flowers and asks why the flag is at half mast, but can’t carry on a conversation any more, so we just sit. As a Quaker I am comfort … (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)