An MIT Alumni Association Publication

Photo of the Week by Owen Franken ’68—Sept. 29, 2012

  • Amy Marcott
  • slice.mit.edu
  • 1

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A schoolboy in red at the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma (© Owen Franken).A schoolboy in red at the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma (© Owen Franken).

Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his website.

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Comments

Aye Moah

Mon, 10/01/2012 10:04pm

Hi there,

Just wanted to add some background info to the caption. It's not a schoolboy wearing something red. It's a picture of a Buddhist novice monk in his robe. And he's holding a Buddhist literature book that he's likely studying. The primary duty of a novice monk is to study Buddhist literature and teachings in preparation to be ordained to the higher order of monk hood.

A typical civilian Burmese school boy would look something like this. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/elections/burma/images/04.jpg

- a Burmese alum from MIT '05