Skip to main content

2019-11-30 Four TV personalities/TNKR students

TNKR had an absolutely spectacular Global Leadership Forum yesterday. Four TV personalities who are also TNKR students gave speeches, then answered questions from an engaged audience.

Three of them have YouTube channels, please subscribe so they can develop their channels and speak unfiltered (without editors, writers and producers "guiding" them).

Eunhee
Chanyang
Yuna

TNKR
Casey Lartigue (If I can monetize it, I will donate all proceeds to TNKR)





The forum was interesting for several main reasons:

1) We had four panelists who have experience with analyzing NK related things.

* That meant they weren't shy in giving their opinions.
* They have practice (in Korean) at being concise, and now are practicing doing that in English.



 2) Having a few speakers meant:

* The panelists were talking to each other! I usually tell audience members to be quiet to listen to the speakers, but what do you do when the speakers are talking to each other? :-)
* The speakers were calling each other out, mentioning things about each other.
* The panelists were learning from each other! I don't know if the microphones caught the number of times they expressed surprise at some of the things they heard. The speakers are from different parts of North Korea, they had different experiences in North Korea, different escapes, and different experiences. 
* The panelists presented different perspectives, making it clear there was not one all-knowing source.
* When we organize our events or are invited by others, I try to have three speakers. When it is two speakers, people will keep comparing those two speakers. When there at least three, then it provides more perspective, and it seems that audience members of more accepting of the clear fact that there isn't just one North Korean/North Korean refugee narrative.
* Another advantage of having three speakers is that we can "hide" one speaker, giving beginning speakers or those with lower-levels of English opportunities to practice and gain confidence. One of the speakers yesterday has given a few speeches.


 2) Having a few speakers meant:

* The panelists were talking to each other! I usually tell audience members to be quiet to listen to the speakers, but what do you do when the speakers are talking to each other? :-)
* The speakers were calling each other out, mentioning things about each other.
* The panelists were learning from each other! I don't know if the microphones caught the number of times they expressed surprise at some of the things they heard. The speakers are from different parts of North Korea, they had different experiences in North Korea, different escapes, and different experiences. 
* The panelists presented different perspectives, making it clear there was not one all-knowing source.
* When we organize our events or are invited by others, I try to have three speakers. When it is two speakers, people will keep comparing those two speakers. When there at least three, then it provides more perspective, and it seems that audience members of more accepting of the clear fact that there isn't just one North Korean/North Korean refugee narrative.
* Another advantage of having three speakers is that we can "hide" one speaker, giving beginning speakers or those with lower-levels of English opportunities to practice and gain confidence. One of the speakers yesterday has given a few speeches, but lacks confidence. She had to be encouraged by the audience to speak yesterday.



3) So many forums featuring NK refugees will have one speaker. That can be fine in many cases but in many cases:
* it puts all of the pressure on one speaker to be the all-knowing source.
* some audience members embrace that speaker as the all-knowing source.
Staying true to TNKR's approach of choice and accountability, the speakers had the choice of giving speeches or answering a few questions.




MODERATOR

As moderator, I had a lot to manage, listening to what was being, managing four different ladies with strong personalities and opinions, messaging with staff about things, trying to add some useful information without dominating, but also not disappearing.





AUDIENCE MEMBERS

Some of our Track 1 (English tutoring) volunteers may have been a bit surprised yesterday. In Track 1, I absolutely forbid tutors from initiating conversations with refugees about their stories or indirectly leading refugees in that direction.

Yesterday, nothing was off-limits, unless the students deferred, which they didn't. We have been wrestling with bears as we have tried to develop Track 1 so that it is a safe-zone for students to study English without being expected to answer questions about North Korea.








BEHIND-THE-SCENES: TNKR staff

TNKR is growing, which means we have staff to help us get events prepared. In the past, I would go on Facebook and email everyone in TNKR asking if they could help out at the event. Volunteers come and go, joining when they feel like it, but staff are in tbe office and helping out ar events canbe part of their job tasks. Thankfully our staff embraced this, finding the venue and also doing the step-by-step video to make it easier for attendees to find the location.




PHOTO TIME

Track 1 volunteers were probably also surprised to hear me say: Photos are fine!

Based on our internal survey, 65% of refugees don't want their photos taken, 35% are fine (depending on the context). We have a blanket prohibition in Track 1, unless the photos are taken at our office and we are sure the refugee hasn't been coaxed into it.

Yesterday, there was no prohibition, our TV personalities are used to cameras being pointed at them.



RECORDING

A film director who is a TNKR fan recorded yesterday's forum. We will put some excerpts online.

Here are previous videos Mr. Choi has made for TNKR.




Thanks to our staffers and volunteers for helping with designing flyers publicizing the event.






Three of them have YouTube channels, please subscribe so they can develop their channels and speak unfiltered by editors, writers and producers.

Eunhee
Chanyang
Yuna

TNKR
Casey Lartigue (If I can monetize it, I will donate all proceeds to TNKR)



Popular posts from this blog

Radio, Harvard

I'll be a guest on XM 169 The Power this morning from 10:15 a.m. EST. I'll be talking about teaching English abroad. I'll be interviewed by Brian Higgins of MYB Talk . I sang last night for about five hours with friends but I'm sure my voice will be fine. Tuesday, I'll be interviewed by a Harvard University representative who wants my input on a new doctoral program for education leaders . It is a collaboration between the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School. Some folks at the Booker Rising site are (again) reminding me that I'm not as smart as I think I am. CJL

Easy to find Supermarket!!!!

Getting around Seoul is easy. On the other hand, actually finding your final destination can be very difficult. The main reason is that Koreans don't actually use street addresses. I am constantly amazed when I find a new place. I always leave early, giving myself a 30 minute cushion to walk around lost, meeting Koreans who are happy to get lost along with me. Still, I have had a few Koreans tell me that a particular place is "easy" to find. At one meeting with a group of folks, when I called to say I was lost the organizer said the place was easy to find. She called me about 20 minutes later, guessing that I was still trying to find the place. I was actually a few subway stops away from home. She was a bit surprised, letting me know they were waiting for me. I told her that it would be easy for them to find me. A colleague of mine mentioned that a supermarket nearby was easy to find. He later gave me directions that sounded something like, "Sure, just go down the st...

Scam? Yo Momma!

Note: This was originally posted shortly after Jesse Lee Peterson's book was published, reposted in 2005, and now because of a fight between black customers and a Korean merchant in Dallas, Texas. Scam? Yo Momma! During the summer of 2002 I was an observer to a dispute between the Asian owners of a Chinese takeout and some of their black customers in Washington, D.C. The month-long boycott began when a local activist accused a cook at a Chinese takeout of attempting to cook a piece of chicken he had allegedly dropped on the floor. Despite the best efforts of human rights activist Dick Gregory, popular talk-show host Joe Madison, and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the protestors were unable to coax any media to report on the protest. On some days there were, by my unofficial count, as many as 100 people chanting songs and marching. But one key person was missing: Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was important to the foot soldiers at the boycott that someone from the media report on...

How long until they get arrested? Not long enough!!!

As I recently noted, some executives were arrested for putting industrial ethanol in food they sold. I noted: "Of course, it seems that NO ONE checks on the stuff sold on the streets of Seoul..." I haven't been this wrong since 1982! What will happen to these folks? The Korea Times reports: 24 Percent of Ice Cream Contaminated With Germs About a quarter of ice cream and ice at restaurants and drink shops in Seoul is contaminated with high levels of bacteria that can cause food poisoning, according to Seoul City, Monday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) inspected 74 ice cream shops, fast food franchises, coffee houses and bakeries. Among the shops selling ice cream and ice, 18 shops sold products that contained more than the permitted levels of bacteria such as colon bacillus and staphylococcus aureus that can cause food poisoning. I love 팥빙수 (patbingsu) so I would support the death penalty for anyone selling contaminated stuff in it. The city government also inspec...

Mentoring while Black (Korea Times 2/16/2023)

  Mentoring while Black by Casey Lartigue Jr. February 16, 2023 www.patreon.com/caseylartigue