2019-06-29 Another Special Saturday

"When are you going to wrap this up?" That's what a whippersnapper asked me near the end of Q&A yesterday, after I had given a speech to North Korean refugee adolescents and their mentors. Thanks to Prof. Shin Hye-young for arranging the session.

I'm a man with a lot of self-esteem, but it was tested on Saturday by those kids

(more photos below)

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* Saturday evening, was I dreaming? Or delirious after surviving those kids? We met with South Korean and Korean-American parents and students who are forming TNKR Valor International Scholars. TNKR has definitely come a long way from the days when it was just me and Eunkoo, and many times over the years we haven't been sure if TNKR would survive. (more photos below)

* In-between those two meetings, we met with Jackie Cole, TNKR's volunteer Manager of Publicity and Marketing. She is preparing the Annual Report.

* Lovely Sharon dropped by to work on budget issues with Eunkoo.

* A high schooler visited to talk about how he could volunteer with TNKR. His father joined him, at our request.

* It was too late for my previous update, we had another interview with a North Korean refugee seeking to join TNKR. Crying and laughter during the interview.

More photos below!

TNKR Valor International Scholars

Tears of a refugee

Lovely Sharon comes for a visit

Talking publicity with Jackie Cole

2019-12-19 Interview with Japanese reporter

"The interview is the honeymoon, publication is the divorce." --Shinae Chun I had a GREAT and FUN interview today with a reporter from Japan. Let's hope publication will also be great! www.lovetnkr.og

Michael Vick ain't got nuthin on me!!!

After football player Michael Vick admitted that he had been running a dog-fighting business I wrote that he was an idiot. If he was going to engage in such activity he should have gone to Indonesia or somewhere else. He certainly had the money to do so at that time. If he knew then what he knows now then he would have spent $10 million to run his dogfighting ring in Manila. Today I did something that probably not even Michael Vick ever did: I ate dog meat. I never expected that I would do so. It is a bit scandalous because Koreans don't just kill the dogs and eat them. Rather, they will beat them to death while they are still alive. That allegedly is to get the adrenaline flowing which allegedly makes the meat more tender which allegedly improves a man's stamina. I had told a friend that I wanted to give it a try. But as we sat down to eat I said: "I want to try this but don't give me any details until after we are finished eating." It just looked like regular me...

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

Still writing (Korea Times, 2023-12-19)

Still writing by Casey Lartigue Jr. The Korea Times December 19, 2023 https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/12/626_365284.html

Back in America, 4 days and counting

I got back a few days ago, I'm still unpacking... Some of the highlights so far: * Friday morning I was in the audience for a CNN/The Root discussion about being Young and Black in America . As a veteran of so many of these Washington talking events I am less than enthusiastic about them these days. Still, I bumped into a few friends, some of whom are neither young nor black. The discussion seemed so 1980s, with the panelists trying to figure out how to politically empower young black people. I guess it was appropriate then that the head of the NAACP was there. His most irrelevant concern was about hate talk radio...or I guess Rush Limbaugh being on the air all these years explains the high level of black-on-black crime. 20 years later, how is the Stop the Violence movement working out? The highlight of this particular panel was running into old friend David Plotz, who is now editor of Salon Magazine. I don't think I've seen him since college but he recognized me. I forgot...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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