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Protesters near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on Monday. Pro-democracy protests in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong appeared to be subsiding as students and civil servants returned to school and work after more than a week of demonstrations. Carlos Barria/Reuters/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Carlos Barria/Reuters/Landov

Protesters near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on Monday. Pro-democracy protests in Chinese-controlled Hong Kong appeared to be subsiding as students and civil servants returned to school and work after more than a week of demonstrations.

Carlos Barria/Reuters/Landov

The number of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong has dwindled today after a weekend that saw dozens of arrests and an angry backlash from business owners whose shops were shut down amid the demonstrations.

The South China Morning Post says: "protest sites are quiet on Monday as some demonstrators leave for work, others remain and authorities keep their distance."

And, The Associated Press notes: "The subdued scenes left many wondering whether the movement, which has been free-forming and largely spontaneous, had run its course - or whether the students have a clear strategy about what to do next."

The BBC refers to "hundreds" of demonstrators still on the streets in three main protest areas where there had been thousands or tens of thousands last week. The news agency says civil servants were returning to the government's headquarters, which had been blocked for days by the protests.

"The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says the protesters appear to have decided to beat a strategic, possibly temporary, retreat - partly out of sheer exhaustion, as the demonstrations entered their second week.

"She says activists have been encouraged by news that student leaders have begun meeting government officials to lay the groundwork for talks on political reform."

Those talks, first agreed to last week, were quickly called off amid violence from what students claimed were government-sponsored counterdemonstrators.

Although the talks appear to be back in play, NPR's Anthony Kuhn, reporting from Hong Kong, says the two sides have failed to agree on the details.

"The protesters say they will stick to their demands for political reforms and free elections," Anthony says. "They also want the police to protect them from the counter-demonstrators."

The territory's top leader Leung Chun-ying says the demonstrators must allow schools and government offices to reopen on Monday," Anthony says.

At a Monday afternoon briefing, police spokesman Hui Chun-tak said 37 arrests had been made in Kowloon's crowded Mong Kok distract and that "[another] 5 arrests were made in relation to suspected cyber crimes, in a case where a link was posted online for people to hack government websites with," according to the SCMP. The arrests came after police threatened to take "all measures necessary" to break up the protests.

Hong Kong protests

China

Of all the issues in all the congressional races this fall, none may be more personal than gun violence in Arizona's 2nd District.

That's the seat Democrat Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords held until she resigned after being shot in the head three years ago.

Her then-district director, Ron Barber, was also wounded in that mass shooting, and went on to succeed her in Congress. Now, Barber is locked in a rematch of a tight 2012 contest, and Giffords' presence has suddenly become controversial.

Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, are not campaigning directly for Barber as they did two years ago. This time, they're campaigning through their super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions.

The PAC was set up to promote stronger gun laws, and it's been running some tough, emotional TV ads attacking Barber's opponent, Republican Martha McSally.

This one features a Tucson woman named Vicki.

Americans for Responsible Solutions/YouTube

"My daughter was just 19 when she told her boyfriend their relationship was over, and he got a gun and he shot her and my husband," Vicki says in the ad.

An announcer says, "Martha McSally opposes making it harder for stalkers to get a gun."

Vicki continues, "I don't think she really understands how important that is for a lot of women."

The ad got a swift, harsh response from McSally.

"I was disgusted by that ad," she said.

Not terribly surprising that a candidate would be offended by an ad suggesting she was somehow responsible for a double murder. But McSally startled people by saying the ad bothered her for another reason: McSally said she had been the victim of a stalker.

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Republican Martha McSally is running for the Arizona House seat once held by Gabby Giffords. Cliff Owen/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Cliff Owen/AP

Republican Martha McSally is running for the Arizona House seat once held by Gabby Giffords.

Cliff Owen/AP

"So it is personally offensive to me, because I know what it's like to live in fear," she said. "In addition, I put the uniform on every day and put my life on the line."

McSally, the first female Air Force fighter pilot to fly in combat, says she was stalked and held hostage while on assignment. She wouldn't give details.

In an editorial, the Arizona Republic condemned the ad as "base and vile." But Pia Carusone, executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions, stands behind it.

"It's an intense issue," Carusone said. "People die every day in this country from gun violence."

At issue is a federal rule allowing stalkers convicted of misdemeanors to own a gun. Stalkers convicted of felonies cannot legally own guns.

Giffords' group calls that the stalker gap, and wants the gap closed. The PAC also wants background checks for private sales at places like gun shows.

McSally is on record as being opposed to any new laws restricting gun ownership. So, while the ad may have been over the top, technically it was correct.

Barber was mum about the ad, but said he supports Giffords on the issue.

"I believe that the only way to stop stalkers, who might have a gun and might hurt somebody because of that, is to expand the background check system so that 40 percent of the gun sales in this country cannot be made outside of the background check system," he said.

McSally doesn't support expanding background checks, but she has changed her mind on stalkers. She now says she agrees those convicted of misdemeanors should be barred from owning guns.

Carusone counts that as a victory for Giffords' PAC, and cites it as a reason the group has stopped airing the ad. But she says the Arizona race is just one of 11 House and Senate races it's pumping money into, all of them important.

The Two-Way

Book News: Gabrielle Giffords Writing Book About Gun Control

"From a business perspective, we don't want to lose, right?" Carusone said. "We're in the business of winning, right? We're in the business of changing minds."

Yet the website Open Secrets says Americans for Responsible Solutions has so far spent nearly $1 million to keep Giffords old seat from turning Republican — almost double the amount it's spent on any other race.

Two years ago, the gun violence against Giffords and Barber was fresh and personal for her southern Arizona district. Sympathy almost certainly played a part in deciding the race.

It's not yet clear how much Giffords' support means this year.

Tibet has "remained a mysterious country," says the Dalai Lama, and the mystery extends even to himself. Ever since the spiritual leader fled to Dharamsala, India, after being forced by the Chinese to leave his home country in 1959, his only information about Tibet has come from eyewitness accounts. He tries to meet with every refugee who makes it through the Himalayas.

And therefore it was neither the photographer York Hovest, nor the reporter Jrg Eigendorf, but the Dalai Lama himself who asked the first questions during their interview in Dharamsala. He wanted to know the details about Hovest's time in Tibet. Whether there were still monks in the monasteries where the Dalai Lama once studied and took his exams. How exactly the surveillance cameras of the Chinese worked. And whether it was not somehow possible to plant a few trees 5,000 meters above sea level. Page by page, he went through Hovest's book, 100 days in Tibet.

But in the end it was still an interview.

Your Holiness, do you think that you can return to your homeland one day?

Yes, I am sure of that. China can no longer isolate itself, it must follow the global trend toward a democratic society. I can already feel that change among Chinese students. I heard there are more than 200,000 Chinese students studying abroad nowadays. A few years ago when I met students, they were serious and reserved. Today they smile. Those are signs of change.

Is this the reason you have become almost conciliatory toward China during the past few months?

A new era has begun with the presidency of Xi Jinping. He wants to create a more harmonious society than the one under his predecessor, Hu Jintao. In former years, it was the era of economic growth, which has created a lot of resentment and envy.

“ Deep down in their hearts, 95 percent of all Tibetans still feel and think very Tibetan. They are strongly connected to their culture.

- The Dalai Lama

If China reforms, what happens to Tibet?

Whoever wants a harmonious society can't rely on violence and suppression. Harmony comes from the heart. It is based on trust. Harmony and distrust are mutually exclusive. This is good for Tibet.

How Tibetan is Tibet these days?

The Chinese did not manage to destroy our culture, which is 3,000 to 4,000 years old. Those who criticize different beliefs and cultures actually make them stronger. Deep down in their hearts, 95 percent of all Tibetans still feel and think very Tibetan. They are strongly connected to their culture. This even applies to those who work for the Chinese.

What do you mean by "thinking and feeling Tibetan"?

This is to practice and internalize Tibetan Buddhism, which is the teaching of compassion, wisdom based on intelligence and interdependence. We believe in being reborn over and over again, until we attain enlightenment.

Do you need to be anxious about the Tibetan culture?

We still have a big problem: Without proper teachers and proper training, keeping up a religion is very difficult. Prior to 1959, there were outstanding scholars in Tibet. But most of them were arrested, some were killed, some fled.

So there aren't enough scholars in Tibet who could train new monks?

We have trained some monks here in India who have returned to Tibet. But this is rare. The danger is that religion becomes a mere ritual. It's not sufficient to ring a bell, you know. Monks have to master the doctrine and the meditation. They need to be good in both. This requires thorough training.

“ Without proper teachers and proper training, keeping up a religion is very difficult. ... The danger is that religion becomes a mere ritual. It's not sufficient to ring a bell, you know.

- The Dalai Lama

Why do you think Chinese President Xi Jinping is serious about the change he began?

He resolutely fights corruption. And corruption is the main source of mistrust. Xi Jinping is brave. He has alienated large parts of the old cadres. Some high-ranking Chinese officials have been arrested. The president seriously thinks about values. During his visit to Paris in March this year, he even referred to Buddhism as an important part of the Chinese culture.

Could Buddhism play an important role in China's transformation?

Maybe. The leader of the Communist Party saying something positive about Buddhism is definitely new. He has Buddhists in the family; his mother even practices Tibetan Buddhism. And many Chinese people are fascinated by our religion.

But monks are still burning themselves in Tibet, human rights are still violated blatantly.

Yes, that's terrible. And it hurts to see that. But we have to accept that Tibet will always be in the neighborhood of China. We cannot move it anywhere else. Although the two countries have a bad relationship at the moment, that wasn't and will not always remain this way. I hope for change being carried from outside into China. It is good that China was integrated into the world economy. I've always said so. What matters now is that the modern world supports China becoming a democratic country — with rule of law, human rights and freedom of press. So integration is good, for Tibet as well.

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The Dalai Lama, shown here as a child, says in his dreams he dies at the age of 113. He also says he wishes to be reborn "as long as sentient beings' suffering remains." Bettmann/Corbis hide caption

itoggle caption Bettmann/Corbis

The Dalai Lama, shown here as a child, says in his dreams he dies at the age of 113. He also says he wishes to be reborn "as long as sentient beings' suffering remains."

Bettmann/Corbis

You are now 79 years old. Can you imagine that you won't have a successor?

Yes, indeed, I can. The institution of the "Dalai Lama" was important mainly because of its political power. I completely gave up that power in 2011, when I retired. Politically-thinking people must therefore realize that the more than four centuries of having a Dalai Lama should be over.

But isn't your spirituality more important than political power?

Tibetan Buddhism is not dependent on one individual. We have a very good organizational structure with highly trained monks and scholars. Over the past five decades, step by step we have built up a strong community here in India.

So the Tibetans do not need a Dalai Lama anymore?

No, I don't think so. Twenty-six hundred years of Buddhist tradition cannot be maintained by one person. And sometimes I make a tough joke: We had a Dalai Lama for almost five centuries. The 14th Dalai Lama now is very popular. Let us then finish with a popular Dalai Lama. If a weak Dalai Lama comes along, then it will just disgrace the Dalai Lama. (The Dalai Lama laughs.)

How old do you want to become?

The doctors say I could become 100 years old. But in my dreams I will die at the age of 113 years.

You have written and said that you can affect your rebirth.

I hope and pray that I may return to this world as long as sentient beings' suffering remains. I mean not in the same body, but with the same spirit and the same soul.

It is said that whoever has achieved enlightenment will not return.

The first Dalai Lama became 80 years old. There his disciples said that he was ready for a place in heaven. He replied: "I have no desire for any of these heavenly places. I want to be reborn, where I can be of use." This is my wish, too.

Jrg Eigendorf writes for the German newspaper Die Welt.

China

Buddhism

Dalai Lama

Tibet

I watched the season premiere of Law & Order SVU, and I was excited to see that it covered a topic I've reported on for the last year — sex trafficking of women in Mexico — and that a very rich cast of Latino actors were featured on the show. But man, that good feeling stopped almost as soon as I heard them speak.

The Spanish and Spanglish used in the show was embarrassing. When it comes to Latinos on the screen, Hollywood keeps missing the mark on the way we speak.

One of the SVU story lines focused on a young Mexican prostitute who has been trafficked to the U.S. a year or two ago. Somehow, she speaks fantastic English, just with an accent, to the NYPD detective during a long interrogation. After that, she spontaneously starts talking in very dramatic Spanish to a non-Latina detective she just met.

As someone who regularly speaks English, Spanish and Spanglish (that mix of English and Spanish), this made no sense. For American Latinos, there are certain unspoken rules about what language you speak, and to whom. I know if I ever speak to my parents (native Argentines) in Spanglish, I will get immediately corrected with the word I'm looking for — but can't remember — in Spanish. And if I ever speak to my mom in English — well, I don't do that (she pretends she can't hear me over the phone.)

I'm not alone. Other NPR listeners have chimed in on how they navigated the family politics of language. Twitter user Yvonne Hennessy wrote: "Abuelitos [grandparents] = Spanish. Nuclear family & primos [cousins]= Spanglish or English.

Gisela Castanon wrote in to say, "My parents were from Mexico & both were bilingual in Spanish and English... the rule was cuando te hable en espaol me contestas en espaol, y cuando te hable en ingls,e contestas en ingls. When I talk to you in Spanish, you reply in Spanish, and when I talk to you in English, you reply in English."

Listener Marly Perez wrote, "I speak Spanglish with my sister, but not with my relatives. It's Spanish only. They don't get annoyed if I do — they just call me out on it."

If you're a Spanglish speaker, it's not just your family calling you out. Anti-immigration activists in the U.S. are also fervent critics. They point to Spanglish as a symbol of everything that's wrong with Latino immigration. Look! They aren't assimilating! Hispanic invasion! Destruction of the English language! Gah! Interestingly, that distaste is shared by plenty of Latin Americans, who wrinkle their noses at the mere mention of "Spanglish."

As a South American myself, I've heard plenty of snide inside jokes about "those" Latinos in the U.S. who don't fully master the Spanish. In certain circles, Spanglish is seen as a "contamination" of the Spanish language. A few years back, the Spanish Royal Academy created a small controversy when it inducted the word "Spanglish" into its dictionary, but defined it as "deformed elements of vocabulary and grammar from both Spanish and English." Ouch.

But for some Latin cultures, losing Spanglish would also mean losing their identity. Listener Paola Cap-Garca wrote, "it's definitely a part of everyday living in Puerto Rico, not just the US Latino experience....I think we're taught to think Spanglish is a failure, that it's 'imperialist' or that it's 'uneducated' or 'unattractive,' but I've come to accept/appreciate it...I like the hodgepodge."

I like the hodgepodge too, but only when it's done right. Too many U.S. movies and television shows get it wrong, even when they pride themselves in being authentic. Many people singled out the show Breaking Bad, and the character Gustavo "Gus" Fring, for falling flat on language. Tamara Vallejos writes, "Gus' Spanish and accent were so painful to listen to, and it made me super angry that such a pivotal and fantastic character would have such a giant, noticeable, nails-on-a-chalkboard flaw."

I will say there are examples of Hollywood doing it right. The film Chef is a great example. The film stars Sofia Vergara, but with a script that doesn't force her to overdo her accent or screech her way through the boisterous Latina stereotype (which is how many of us see her in her Modern Family). In the film, she isn't playing a Latina stereotype. She's playing a concerned mom who happens to be Latina. The Spanish and Spanglish happens when it's supposed to, and it just flows very naturally.

This is the way it's supposed to be, and it's the way it could be. There are over 50 million Latinos in America, and surely scriptwriters can find one of us to check the script with.

Until then, I have this thought: Here's a word I love in the Spanish language: ningunear. It's a verb that comes from the noun ningun, or "none." It literally means to turn someone into nothing, to condescend. Dear Hollywood: stop with the ninguneo.

spanglish

Breaking Bad

Hollywood

Latinos