2014-08-30 TrailBlasian Book Launch

I was delighted to join yesterday’s TrailBlasian Book Launch Party. Here's the book! http://www.trailblasian.com/

Thanks so much to Melissa Watkins and Kenya Evans for inviting me. It isn’t easy to share the stage with others when the focus is on your own book. But they did invite me, and they didn’t make me feel like a trespasser.

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Melissa knows about my activities, so she invited me to talk about them 1) to recruit volunteers and 2) raise money from the raffle (and, as it turned out, a “pass around a hat, make a donation”).

In addition to that, there were many cool moments at yesterday’s book launch discussion:

1) On very short notice, 5 of the North Korean refugees and four teachers from the Teach North Korean Refugees project joined the book discussion. So in all, there were 11 in my crew. Thank you, Pam Davidson, In-Jee Lee, Paul Jennings and Nadine Graham Maside for joining—and I’m sorry, I forgot to mention you all during my remarks. I even forgot to thank Melissa for inviting me…

2) A different world. The two contributors to the book read excerpts. I don’t pay much attention to race issues, and now that I am in Korea, they rarely cross my mind. So it was like a blast to the past as I listened to them tell their stories. I suspect that our North Korean refugee friends couldn’t catch the main points or context, but I suspect that they could identify with the struggles of being strangers in a really really strange land.

3) NKs aren’t interested in NKs. One thing I have learned: North Korean refugees are not interested in North Korean topic events. I have learned that they are less likely to show up to NK topic events. NK related parties? Sure. NK related discussions in English? Not so interested.

4) One of the refugees asked me if I was nervous. Haha! I love public speeches. I can’t remember the last time I got nervous. After a few, I started looking forward to the opportunity—and when no one invites me, I set up my own events.^^.

5) The refugees got to learn more about my work. All they knew is that I arrange the English matching sessions. So a few of them have a greater appreciation for what a great guy I am.^^ Spread the word!

6) My colleague Lee Eunkoo joined. We got about three ideas for TNKR based on yesterday’s book launch party.

7) One great thing about yesterday: I had no responsibility. I didn’t have to recruit, I didn’t have to give directions to a place I had never been to, I didn’t have to apologize to the people who got lost, I didn’t have to worry about who showed up, I didn’t have to get any last-minute excuses from people who suddenly had to cancel. I just had the opportunity to give a speech, talk real pretty, then sit down…

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"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

* I have a short reflection in today's Korea Times about an encounter with an unfriendly looking Korean man on the subway. It was a reminder not to be too quick in judging people in Korea. 09-13-2011 16:47 'Yeogi Anjeuseyo!' By Casey Lartigue Jr. The recent incident in which an American English teacher bullied an elderly Korean man and other passengers on the bus reminded me of a more pleasing incident from years ago. I was on the subway, taking the train outside of Seoul for a work assignment. I have the habit of standing on the subway to strategically position myself near the doors in case my stop magically appears. On that particular day, there was a Korean man STARING at me. Not just looking at me, but intensely staring at me. He had an incredible frown on his face. Not just for one stop, but for several stops the guy just kept staring at me. If I had known more Korean then I would have been able to curse him ...

Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working." She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."

Humanitarian with a guillotine (Korea Times, February 1, 2013) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, `` I’m from the government, and I’m here to help .” For many well-intentioned activists, politicians, and intellectuals, that should be updated as: ``We are here to help you. You’re under arrest.” For example, ``sex workers” around the world oppose anti-prostitution laws. Prostitutes may not know the theoretical arguments but they do know in reality that prohibiting prostitution means they lack protection in dealing with abusive pimps and madams, violent patrons and crooked cops. Locally, a Korean woman busted for prostitution recently appealed to the courts pleading , ``I cannot survive without this job. I don’t want to be treated as a criminal for making a living the only way I can.” How should someone who genuinely wants to help her respond? If you say ``arrest her” then you are qualified to be a “harmful humanitarian.” In your desire to help, you have elimin...

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h...

Manufactured cases

My former Cato Institute colleague Bob Levy is profiled by the Associated Press for his role in the challenge to the DC gun ban. One great thing about Levy is that he tells it like it is. As the article quotes: And Levy freely admits the case is manufactured, not one that bubbled up by chance from the district's steady flow of criminal cases involving guns. He wanted presentable plaintiffs to make a case for gun rights, not criminals. "We didn't want crack heads and bank robbers to be poster boys for the Second Amendment," he said. Is there a problem with this case being manufactured? I heard a talking head on the radio complaining a while ago that this case wasn't from real DC residents, that it was from outsiders. What's wrong with that? There may be some times that it takes an outsider to challenge an injustice or bad law. Did DC residents claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was an outsider who should have minded his own business? And about the case being ...

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