Professor Mertha is one of my favorite professors here. Hilarious, vibrantly knowledgeable, and–as he told us the first day of class last semester when i took a class with him–has a pepper on ratemyprofessor.

I’ve always had an interest in Asia. When i took CAPS 3403 with Mertha, that interest became something like an obsession. There is so much to be learned, studied, and enjoyed through China. Even the Chinese language is great.

What was fun and fresh about this talk however, is that it wasnt all about China. The Cambodian Experience of the Khmer Rouge was brought into light.

Mertha is really interesting in the sense that he has such a bank of analogies. In this lecture, he told the story of when he interviewed, in Chinese, Pol Pot’s cook-turned-China ambassador.

After the lecture was over, I went up to Mertha and asked him about Beijing, which he is familiar and where I’ll be for two months this summer. He told me of the Chinese War Museum, which should have a connection to the Khmer Rouge as well as China at large. I’m pretty excited to check it out, and pretty happy to attend another one of his talks after my time in his class has elapsed.