Ryan Neal in the New Yorker

[Matt S]

This recent article in the New Yorker is well worth the read. Regardless of your opinion of Ryan this is a real insight into his apprenticeship with Kimura and the effects it had on his work and his mental health. It’s pretty brutal.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/202 ... -of-bonsai


Matt.

[BonsaiBobbie]

The points that I found interesting on it were that he also did the same things to the other apprentices when there and tried to bring that model back to the US only for it not to work.

I say that not as a comment on him but how how these cycles are hard to break.

I had read Bjorn’s advertisement for an apprentice too. It seemed very similar. ie 7 days a week and I won’t even train you.

[Matt S]

The points that I found interesting on it were that he also did the same things to the other apprentices when there and tried to bring that model back to the US only for it not to work.

Yeah, treating people like that isn't going to get you far. Thankfully these days people increasingly won't put up with that kind of behaviour at work. Ryan is lucky he was able to break that cycle.

[Daluke]

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

I find him (Ryan) more and more pretentious. It seems his love for trees was “beat” out of him. I wonder if that’s why he comes across as so “fake”.

How can anyone respect a person/teacher that assaults their students.

Huge turnoff for me for Kimura, Taiga and Ryan.

[Stevie_B]

Very interesting to read about the abuse - as this is what it really is. Probably typical of the caste system that has been around for ages. I don’t really take much out of the bonsai aspect from any of them as it is so far removed from my reality.
Imagine it in Oz tho? Go and get a left handed knob cutter kid.