2014-09-21 Mulmangcho 2nd anniversary celebration

Wow, what a wonderful time! The Mulmangcho School (for Adolescent North Korean Refugees) opened on September 28, 2012, I started volunteering two weeks later. Prof. Park Sun-young asked me to teach English to the children, but I declined. Instead, I suggested to her that I might be able to find some teachers who would ENJOY teaching the students. I wasn't sure I could find anyone, but I told her that I would do my best to find teachers.

Most weeks, we have between 5 to 8 volunteers show up to teach North Korean refugees kids.

They honored me on Sunday by giving me another "Certificate of Appreciation," having me as part of the cake cutting ceremony, singling me out on another occasion. I also had a chance to swing dance to entertain the kids, which seemed to have impressed the adults (the kids probably would have preferred real magic).^^

Swing dancing http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GA6YGVFcRlQ

Thanks to my substitute dance partner Ginny Min-Jin Song, a new volunteer who has already volunteered at the school, been the translator for a refugee interviewed for a documentary, and, Sunday morning, was willing to dance on stage even though this was her first time to try swing dance (I taught her then led her). She's also the person who has taken on the impossible mission of improving my Korean. Good luck to her.^^

Special thanks to other special volunteers-Cielo Yoon, Maynard Villamer, Grace Stables, Serena Ha. They have all added something special to the school. Cielo, for a while, was the liaison who helped us avoid chaos. Maynard was the super teacher/guitar teacher who brings an incredible amount of energy to the school. Grace Stables (Sarah) shares her horse farm so the kids can go horseback riding once a month. Serena joined when she heard me talk about Mullmangcho at the Sunday Discussion group we are both members of...
FYI, I mentioned Sarah in one of my columns months ago.
http://freedomfactory.co.kr/bbs/bbsDetail.php…

Some of our other valuable volunteers: Rachel Stine, In-Jee Lee, Luna Yoon, Naomi Chambers,

Welcome to Greg Salvo, Peggy Inkorea, Julia, Kyung Ho, Kim Kyun-soon and Mike Ashley.

Many teachers and volunteers have come and gone during that time. Now year three starts. For me, that means chasing teachers who wait until the last minute to sign up, dealing with changes and cancellations, late arrivals calling me after the bus has left asking me where I am (My response: "On the bus."), occasionally some teachers who grumble about me asking them for a resume and application, oh, and emails every week from people interested or just curious.

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

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...

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

2020-09-24 Still a Little Big Hero?

A former cable TV staff member dropped by TNKR's office today. This is TNKR's second office. When we first moved into our first office in 2016, he donated some items, mainly a microwave office that we still have. His gift today: A testimonial about how difficult I was for the TvN staff to deal with. Apparently everyone (other than Casey Lartigue) featured by TvN has opened up their lives and homes for the cameras. I said "no thank you." Not only that, but I didn't want them to feature me. As I said: "It would be better to highlight the organization instead of me." That was in 2016, when TNKR's future was uncertain, and needed a boost more than my ego does. They tried to convince me, but I said no. I would prefer to stick my head in a lion's mouth. I mention this because I have heard grumbling in recent years about how much I get featured in media, with some people complaining that I don't give Eunkoo or others a "chance." People w...

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...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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