Hello there! 👋

What does self-actualization look like for you? I have been pursuing many different paths over the past couple of decades, and have been lucky to be part of a few things that have had a positive effect on the world, if small. Travelling to Toronto this month to try and convince more publishers to use open technologies and “seize the means of production” is one of them. My next project is another meaningful one. (It will be announced soon. It was formally incorporated on Oct 19th after more than two months of work!)

Early on in the month I wrote about Rice work vs Life Work, a sort of Maslow’s hierarchy of labour needs. Last week I started reading American Hagwon (see below), a story of hardworking Korean diaspora parents who lose their high status jobs in Korea due to the Asian currency crisis, and end up scraping by in fish fry-ups and nail salons in Los Angeles, just to provide for their families.

Listening to their daily struggles as I cook and clean this week has reminded me to keep my feet on the ground. Currently I am single-parenting while my wife is back east, her first solo trip within Canada in nearly 20 years. She went early, landing in Ottawa, then taking the train up to Quebec City to visit friends. Finally she headed to Montreal for the National Association of Japanese Canadians conference where she was invited as a delegate. As a founding board member of a language school built by Japanese diaspora moms to teach their heritage language to their kids, she has done some great and meaningful work. I am really proud of all she does.

She has done a lot to support me in my own actualization. When I listen to the very real stories of American Hagwon, I think of all the gambles I have taken to hit the heights of the pyramid, sometimes at the cost of the more foundational layers. Our lives have been anything but predictable and stable these past few years. Hell, the world has not exactly been predictable and stable! But I am really really hoping I can put together something that lets me serve the community in a more durable way over the next couple of years. Especially as my own kid goes to uni next year. And I want to take my wife on more trips in the future too! Not just me on my own jetting off to Europe to run my next event (which will be in April actually).

It has been a week of hard work and introspection. Tomorrow I pick my wife up at the airport and later this week we will hear Min Jin Lee talk about her book at the Chan Centre at UBC. I am sure we will have lots to talk about, and I look forward to it!

Here’s to your own self-actualization, founded on a secure base.

/ck

🖋 From the Blog

Rice-Like-Life-Light Work A Maslow’s hierarchy of work.

Event Recap: Toronto 2026 Not my personal blog, but from my side project Protocols for Publishers ✨. A peek into the two day event I ran in Toronto.

🧭 Elsewhere

Around Toronto Photos →

We saw a play in Japanese with English surtitles Photos →

Calm walk in the forest Photos →

Lovely evening at False Creek Yacht Club after Polyglot Unconf Photos →

Best ep of Serving Sidequests to Strangers Short →

Hashtag true love Link →

LocalWiki shows you cool things within 30 mins of you Link →

📖 What I’m Reading

American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
(59% Complete)

A meticulous portrait of intertwined, intergenerational lives in the Korean diaspora. Fleeing the IMF austerity of the late 90s, the characters leave Korea for Sydney and Los Angeles, taking on whatever work they can to scrimp and save for their children's education, all while navigating the power structures of Korean corporate and church life. Some of my friends lived through this. Halfway in, I'm saddened by how hard these characters (so real!) must work, by their disappointments… but maybe I'm even more saddened by how much harder I should be working! I am always chasing the next big thing…

2026 is the year I leave GoodReads. Since January I have been using 📘 Hardcover which has been a delight. Connect with me there: https://hardcover.app/@chadkoh