Helen
We’ve been watching Mad Men, the first time for Jon and a rewatch for me, and I think that’s why I’ve been thinking of my grandmother so often. She reminds...
Unbinding
A couple weeks ago I was in DC for the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that paused the Korean War. There's so much I could say about those...
Enough
Years ago, I visited family in Korea. Sitting in my uncle's apartment, he showed me the family register, the thick book listing generations of our family...
War Baby
NOTE: I wrote this two years ago. Sending it out again as today is the official start of the Korean War, now 73 years ago. Korea is One. June 25th. This year...
Pushing Forward: Thoughts on Andor and the diaspora
I think often about Gwangju. It continually inspires me and teaches me. Sometimes what I think about is how those days during the uprising must have felt to...
Intentions
I’ve been thinking a lot about this space that I neglect. I think about how the Kochiyama family put out a regular 8-page newsletter for over a decade and...
Body Heat
I went for a walk yesterday. It wasn't that hot, 81 degrees according to my weather app. After a few blocks I started feeling the heat on my back. The casual...
That Other Greenhouse Gas
Words matter. What we call things matter. Along those lines, I've been thinking for some time about how we in the environmental movement talk about natural...
Thirty-Six
the morning of my birthday, i woke with a heavy heart. i haven't been able to stop thinking about someone who hurt me very deeply last spring. i miss them,...
A Breath Released
*I wrote this several years ago but you almost wouldn't know it, it feels so fitting for the last year we've all lived through. Remember the end of the Lord...
My son is also named Bort
Names are so fucking arbitrary. I’ve had a lifelong struggle with mine. Sometimes my name feels no better than a random mashup of letters. Do people feel...
War Baby
June 25th. This year that marks 71 years since the “start” of the Korean War. A war that is still ongoing. Before the endless wars of Iraq and Afghanistan,...
Uprisings, Strikes, and Elections
It’s May 18th. An election day here in Philadelphia. The 41st anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising in Korea. A general strike is being waged in Israel, as the...