Don't Call It A Comeback

I recently joined the Center for Free Enterprise in South Korea as Director of International Relations. Scroll down to click through to my bio. That means that I have resumed writing and speaking and will be actively seeking opportunities. Will start with letters and opinion pieces in the local papers until I hit on something worth sending abroad. As LL Cool J said, "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years." This has to be one of the coolest jobs I have ever had. My boss has given me complete freedom to do whatever I want. Of course, after one year, we will evaluate. To get an idea of the kinds of things I can do, check out this original rap video created by CFE. It is a pro-free trade, anti-welfare rap. Last night my boss thanked me for giving them the idea last year, even before I joined the company.

* I helped bring the Harvard University men's soccer team to South Korea. They were here for 13 days, played 3 games, visited the DMZ, and had a lot of fun. It was a great moment for me when I proposed a toast to the team and coaches. I had proposed the idea of bringing the Harvard University men's soccer team to South Korea more than a year ago. We did a lot of planning, were amazed that they had finally arrived.

* Yesterday, I joined HPK (Harvard Project Korea) as vice president.

* Yesterday I met Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (pictured here to my right), comedian Bak Jun Hyung, and National Assembly member Cho Jeon Hyeo. The comedian was just that.

* I will be the guy to quiet the audience and introduce the presidents of two organizations hosting an international conference in early July.

* I gave speeches last week in Gyongju (conference on student activities) and Daejon (World Youth Fair). In Gyongju, I discussed my activism in Washington, D.C., to help get the school voucher program passed. In Daejon, they mostly wanted to hear about Harvard University. The staff, parents, and students treated me like a star, they wanted my autograph, to take photos with me.

* I'm not very involved in American issues these days, but a few weeks ago I signed a petition in America against the creation of a national school curriculum. I'm not opposed to a school curriculum at the family, school, district, or state level. Unfortunately, the formatting on the page is screwed up and it seems they don't know how to fix it.

My first photography credit. Page 12, issue 4 of the new Roking Magazine. Scroll through to pages 98-99 to see my photos.

CJL

The Casey Lartigue Show

Guests scheduled for May NOTE: Check here for updates on Memorandum 46! Future Shows Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution This is my first attempt at putting together my own promo , it was rejected because of the sound quality May 19 edition of the Casey Lartigue Show We had a great show yesterday, probably the best so far. The topic: Malcolm X. The occasion? Anniversary of his 82nd birthday. Eliot Morgan and I had a great time talking with the callers. Deneen Borelli called in on our special guest line. You can download the file here. We posed the question: What did Malcolm X do? We contrasted the viewpoint and legacies of Malcolm X and Thurgood Marshall. The one mistake I made was not to focus on the question that Marshall asked: What was the one concrete thing that Malcolm X did. In segment 3, callers begin to get personal with us. May 12 edition of the Casey Lartigue Show Featured guest: Don Boudreaux of George Mason University Promo for the May 12 show May 5 edition of the C...

Does a flower turn to the sun?

I tend not to address points raised by people commenting on posts. In the back-and-forth of such discussions, people sometimes say things they don't mean or take extreme positions. In other cases they are just trying to be provocative, especially when they can remain anonymous. But a discussion on Greg Mankiw's blog caught my attention. That's because a couple of the folks suggested that parents don't really have the knowledge to make decisions about the quality of schools. Between 2002-2004 I was actively involved in the fight to get school vouchers for families in DC. I often heard the argument that parents don't know how to choose between good and bad schools and that, anyway, parents had enough choices with the school system's "out-of-boundary" options and charters (that had also been opposed). Without getting too deep into the out-of-boundary program, I'll point out that Woodrow Wilson HS, considered one of the best schools in the city, recei...

Korea Fighting!

Years ago I read an article about a man who kept a detailed diary about his life. I think it was 70 years of diaries. Nothing was too insignificant for him to mention. I remember reading it and wondering, "Yeah, but will anyone ever read those boxes of diaries about him going to the bathroom?" I guess he often wrote about himself writing... These days I'm having the opposite problem... I'm living it up so much that I don't have time to write... Can you really enjoy life and record it all? If I had time I would blog about... * going swing dancing * getting treated at the Kkunnori restaurant in Jamsil by two friends who insist I'm the luckiest man alive because I know them. * then getting treated to an hour or two at the Luxury noraebang near Kkunnori . * the "call" button in Korean restaurants * Koreans ordering too much food whenever they eat together * Meeting with Gong Byeong Ho (공병호) for the first time in 10 years. * how damn energetic Seoul i...

Common Sense on North Korea (Korea Times, April 2, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

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