Tel Aviv Pride Parade

The 18th annual Tel Aviv Pride Parade took place on June 3, 2016 with more than 200,000 participants from Israel and oversea. It's the largest event ever in the Middle East. The theme for the 2016 event was “Women for Change,” highlighting the role of women in the LGBT community.

Postcard TW-1958271 from Taiwan shows the Tel Aviv Pride Parade from a previous year. The 2017 Tel Aviv Pride Parade will be held on June 9, 2017.

In the United States, thousands turned out in Columbus, OH, Denver, CO, Olympia, WA, New Orleans, LA, Portland, OR,  Chicago, IL, Albuquerque, NM and Providence, RI. for pride festivals and parades over the weekend. The mood for many people was somber as forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 others were wounded in a mass shooting inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL last weekend on June 12, 2016. Security were tightened at events over the weekend. Participants declare that they refuse to live in fear, with more people come out to show support.

Chung-cheng Lake in Meinong, Taiwan

This postcard from a private swap shows the Chung-cheng Lake (中正湖) in Meinong District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). A man-made lake originally built in 1748 known as Jhongjun Pi (中圳埤), it was renovated into a reservoir between 1916 and 1920 during the Japanese occupation. With an area of 21 hectares or 52 acres, the lake had a capacity to furnish water for irrigation of over 130 hectares or 321 acres of farmland. It was also used for fish farming. After World War II, the lake was renamed to Chung-cheng Lake in 1956, after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石: October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng (蔣中正) who was the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975. A pavilion was also built in the lake in honor of Chiang. However, there have been petitions to change the name of the lake to Meinong Lake (美濃湖) since 1996, in protest of Chiang's role in the 228 Massacre. On a side note, many statues of former president Chiang Kai-shek have been vandalized across the island around the 68th anniversary of the 228 Incident on Saturday, February 28, 2015.

While the lake capacity for water supply has been diminishing due to sediment built-up since the 1957 Meinong flood, it becomes part of the largest wetland ecosystem in the area that hosts a large number of migratory birds during the winter months from October to March next year. More than 60 bird species have been spotted around the lake. A wooden boardwalk around the lake was completed last November to accommodate nature lovers.

The Horrifying Search - The 228 Massacre in Taiwan

Postcard HK-126198 from Hongkong was entitled "the Horrifying Search - The 228 Massacre in Taiwan." Measured 14x18.3 cm, the illustration was first published by WenWeiPo, a newspaper in Shanghai, on April 28, 1947.

The 228 Massacre was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that began in 1947. After the Japanese rule of Taiwan for 50 years ended in 1945 due to Japan's loss in World War II, Republic of China government, led by the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT), took control of Taiwan. However, local inhabitants became resentful over the perception of corrupted KMT authorities that tended to seize private property arbitrarily and mismanage economy. A dispute between a cigarette vendor and an officer of the Office of Monopoly on February 27 triggered civil disorder in Taipei and an open rebellion spread to the whole island and lasted for days. The uprising was violently suppressed beginning on February 28, or 2/28, resulting in the massacre of more than 10,000 civilians.

The incident marked the beginning of the KMT's White Terror period in Taiwan as the island was placed under martial law. Thousands more had vanished, died, or were imprisoned, before martial law was lifted on July 14, 1987. This incident is one of the most important events in Taiwan's modern history. It continues to divide Taiwan after 66 years.

恐怖的檢查 -- 臺灣二二八事件 by 黃榮燦（力軍）民國36年(1947) 4月28日上海文匯報首度刊登

The Tower at University of Texas, Austin

This postcard shows the main building at the center of the University of Texas at Austin campus in Downtown Austin, Texas on September 16, 2010. I was traveling from Dallas, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada that day on my Jetblue All-You-Can-Jet (AYCJ) pass. However, since JetBlue did not have flights to or from Dallas, I took a bus to Austin in the morning for an afternoon flight to Long Beach, California, then onto Las Vegas. I had a few hours around noon, so I took a quick tour at University of Texas at Austin, and had lunch in a Thai restaurant near the campus.

The Main Building is known as "The Tower" since it has a 94 m or 307 ft tall clock tower, designed by architect Paul Philippe Cret and completed in 1937. It is the most recognizable landmark of the University and the city Austin. 

In a massacre on August 1, 1966, architectural engineering student Charles Joseph Whitman, opened fire from the observation deck of the tower of the Main Building, killing 16 Austin residents and wounding many more. He was shot to death by police at the end of 96-minute stand-off.