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Showing posts from January, 2015

Freedom Factory Shareholder Meeting (2015-01-31)

  Re: Building something out of nothing Freedom Factory is a very small company, of which I am a shareholder.  Yesterday we had our annual shareholder meeting. Freedom Factory is allowing us to "incubate" TNKR until we can stand on our two own feet--or at least crawl on our four hands and feet. (Consumer Rights Watch is in the same position).  I owe special thanks to FF CEO 김정호. He is a "true believer" in the cause of freedom, so he is allowing both projects to grow out of FF. That's even though Freedom Factory is a small start up with the CEO, staff and supporters wondering how we are going to achieve our dreams with such a tight budget.  So when I say I am so thankful to the volunteers and donors of TNKR, it isn't just lip service. Volunteers--along with Freedom Factory, the Atlas Network, donors--are helping us to create something out of nothing, helping North Korean refugees find their own way and tell their own stories. Like the FF CEO, I also don't

2015-01-30 Speech, more TNKR volunteers

  After speaking at an international school twice this week, today I played the role of connector and moderator. It was a great event, two of our "Teach North Korean Refugee" Ambassador speakers gave very nice speeches this morning to an overflow crowd of students. The hosts were probably a bit surprised by the turnout of our team: * TNKR co-directors Lee Eunkoo and Casey Lartigue * TNKR Special Assistant Suzanne Atwill Stewart * FF Assistant Cherie Yang * Three TNKR coaches of our speakers * Three NK refugees, including two speakers It was like our speakers had their own cheering section! The teachers strongly praised me for my speeches on Tuesday and Wednesday, it turned out that they used a lot of what I presented in learning exercises for the students, and several told me that they felt inspired by the things I had said. Another speaker at the event in the first session was Joseph Park, someone who I am sure people have said that I should meet, but this was the first time

2015-01-27, speech, Helping Hands Korea, documentary 여기 저기

  I'm director of International Relations at Freedom Factory, the Asia Outreach Fellow of the Atlas Network, and the International Adviser to both the Mulmangcho School (for adolescent North Korean refugees) and HOPE (Helping Others Prosper Through English). As you may notice, none of those require me to be at the office--instead, I should be out meeting, greeting, "strategerizing" for freedom. Yesterday I didn't go to the office--and it is unlikely I will go today! The main event was a speech I gave at one of the international schools in Seoul. The students were lively, had many questions. I invited them to interrupt me at any time during my speech with questions--and they did so, many times! I also joined Rev. Tim Peters of Helping Hands Korea for his weekly meeting. His organization rescues North Korean refugees in China and also provides help for the children of North Korean refugees. He was delighted to meet my new assistant, Cherie Yang (who is quickly learning

CaseyLartigue.com

I will be moving to my own domain.. Nothing against blogger. CaseyLartigue.com I also am finally on Instagram, although I am not sure what to do with it. I already have several sites over the Internet, plus Twitter, Facebook, and other sites, so I may shut down this or mirror this one. 3/26/15 update: Instagram: Posted one photo, haven't logged in since then. Twitter: Deleted. Nayacasey: Deleted Blogger: Won't delete, may use it again.

Busy time coming...

1/24 TNKR Matching session 1/27 speech--Harvard 1/28 speech--Volunteering 1/29 speech--TNKR 1/31 Korean language Matching session 2/9 speech--TNKR 2/14 speech--Frederick Douglass 2/16 testimony--Uber 2/28 speech contest 3/21 rally 6 speeches in three weeks on different topics in 2 different countries...

2015-01-19 Meeting Cherie Yang

  2015-01-19, the day Cherie Yang joined TNKR! She had contacted me in late 2014, then when she came to Korea, we had lunch. She hasn't left TNKR since then! 2017-02-25 Cherie Yang: That Woman, That Moment (caseylartigue.blogspot.com) She is a foodie. You can check out her YouTube channel here:  Cherie Foodie - YouTube Her TEDx Talk :  Cherie Yang: My Arduous Journey for Freedom, Family and the Future | TED Talk * * * When I got back to the office six years ago after having lunch with Cherie, I told my boss that I may have hired a new assistant. As I wrote six years ago: Here was the conversation for me to get approval from our CEO: Casey: I may have a new assistant starting tomorrow. CEO Kim: Good. Did you tell our team leader? Casey: Yes, I told her. CEO Kim: Good. Starting when? Casey: Tomorrow. As I wrote about him, he is a "Yes Man." There aren't many CEOs in this world who are "Yes Men," but Rapper Prof. Kim Chung-ho is definitely one of them!  "

An expatriate encountering myself (The Korea Times, 2015-01-14) by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

When people ask me if I have read a certain book that I indeed have read, I often hesitate to confirm. Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" or a book about dating is a different experience at age 16 compared to 36 or 56. I first read the late Paul Fussell's provocative collection of essays " Thank God for the Atom Bomb " as a graduate student. When I reread it a few years later, I noticed that I had completely skipped the chapter about traveling. I am a " digital immigrant " who still prefers printed books, newspapers and articles so I can markup the text. I didn't mark a single thing in that travel chapter the first time around. The second time around, years later, I wondered how I could have missed Fussell's profundity. In particular, I appreciated his point distinguishing among travelers, tourists and explorers. (" There's No Place Like Home," Feb 12, 2013 ). What had changed? Me. I grew up in Texas and Massachusetts, but h

2015-01-13 Harvard Alumni Networking Night

2015-01-13 Economist Debating Forum

My first full day back in Seoul, I joined my buddies at the Economist Debating Forum.

2015-01-09 Asia Liberty Forum (Kathmandu, Nepal)

I was pleased to be one of the speakers at the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum, held this time in Kathmandu, Nepal. Freedom Speakers International has presented at the Asia Liberty Forum several times. I was invited in 2014 and have been able to invite North Korean refugees to also speak at the forum. 2014, New Delhi, India Speakers: Chanyang Ju, Casey Lartigue Jr. https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2014/01/07-09-ALF-India.html http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2014/01/137_149698.html https://www.facebook.com/CaseyLartigue/posts/1308010646009594 2015, Kathmandu, Nepal Speaker: Casey Lartigue https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-01-09-asia-liberty-forum-kathmandu.html 2018 Jakarta, Indonesia Speakers: Eunhee Park, Casey Lartigue FSI was named a finalist for the Asia Liberty Award https://caseylartigue.blogspot.com/2021/01/11-Asia-liberty-award.html https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/organizations-from-afghanistan-nepal-south-korea-named-finalists-for-asia-l 2019, Colomb

2015-01-08 Kathmandu, Nepal

It's a crime the way Korea punishes rapists of children

According to the Korea Herald : " In its safety forecast for this year, the Police Science Institute said the number of sex crimes, which rose 41.3 percent from 20,375 cases in 2010 to 28,786 cases in 2013, will continue to rise." One reason? Sex criminals aren't punished harshly in South Korea when sentenced for raping youngsters.* " At the same time, the average sentencing for raping children and adolescents stood at four years and nine months, falling short of the minimum five-year sentence mandated by the law." "The fact that sex crimes against children 13 years and younger accounted for nearly a quarter of all sex crimes committed against children and adolescents in 2013 should ring alarm bells for society to better protect its vulnerable members. One way to accomplish this is to deal strictly with sex crimes, by letter of the law." * * * * This is not endorsing or condoning rapists of adults. It seems that reporters paid to write arti

Fine print in government crackdowns

The results are in, many Koreans stopped smoking after the government raised the tax on cigarettes. The tax hike has been so effective, according to the Joongang Daily, that some people stopped smoking even  before  the tax went into effect. "Of those surveyed, 10.6 percent had quit smoking sometime between the price increase announcement in September and Jan. 1, when it was implemented. Another 26.7 percent answered that they had reduced the number of cigarettes they smoked per day."  This reminds me of the 1990s, when Bill Clinton announced that the federal government was going to help police departments put an extra 100,000 cops on the streets. There were reports that crime went down after the announcement. Apparently criminals didn't read the fine print that the cops weren't going to be on the streets for at least a year or so, and that they would be spread out across the country. They just heard: 100,000 cops. This is why I suggest that the government should

2015-01-03 TNKR speech contest planning meeting

I met with several enthusiastic volunteers helping us with the planning of the TNKR speech contest planned for February 28. I often say that I can't do this without volunteers, and I sincerely mean it. By myself, I couldn't sell candy in an elementary school without going bankrupt. So I need smart folks willing to help out to make things happen. Special thanks to my TNKR co-director Lee Eunkoo for coming out (again) on a Saturday afternoon. Our TNKR-FAN coaches  Fiona Fong  and  Fatima Nicholson  and TNKR tutor  Gabrielle Wray  for joining. The meeting was inspired by  Gabrielle  asking how she could help with the speech contest. So I confirmed she could make it, then held a meeting! Thank you also to  Michael Buckalew , Stephen Choi, Jessiica Steffl,  Hyewon Hwang , and  Charles Costello  for showing up and for signing up to take on various tasks. Not even Eunkoo and I agreed on everything. It was good brainstorming, but with practical action items attached, so people weren&#

2015-01-02 Asia Leadership Institute

Friday night I was one of the speakers at an event with about 40 members of the Asia Leadership Trek--a collection of geniuses from Harvard, MIT, Tufts. I spoke along with three Ambassadors from the Teach North Korean Refugees project. The students responded really strongly! In my case, some of the students were pleading for the opportunity to help TNKR. And they were telling me specific ways that they could help out, so there could be some real opportunities. A few of them said the same thing--they follow many issues (talking and analysis), but it isn't often that they can see real opportunities to get involved. Our three Ambassadors all gave speeches that touched the audience in different ways. One with her call to action, another with his personal story, and another who had the courage to give her talk in English even though she is still new to TNKR. Special thanks to John Lim and Samuel H Kim for allowing TNKR to present at their event, and to the students who gave us such a s