2019-12-13 The rest of the day

Yesterday started with TNKR Special Ambassador Cherie Yang getting interviewed on TBS eFM radio about her new YouTube channel. It would have already been a big day if we had taken the rest of the day off.

But we didn't!

This, of course, will alarm my number one cheerleader, Eben Appleton, who wants me to continue saving the world, but she is also always worried that I'm not getting rest and not socializing enough.

TNKR Special Ambassador Ken Eom dropped by the office to talk about various things. He may be helping TNKR with some outreach at the end of the year.

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Director Choi Young dropped by yesterday to talk about a TNKR video project for 2020. He made a short video from our November 30 forum with TV personalities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUgn5hGlEv0&list=PL-6_xImxyTAJw3qeFJBXFv6fSCFEOb9eG

He first made this video for TNKR back in 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f0wq0hriAU&list=PLn7xtnmarHFo0ddUJrmXFFN6Wd2VyrL9I&index=16

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As TNKR co-founder, am I allowed to be a fan of a student? She is so energetic, happy, eager to learn, she can't stop smiling. I am sure her tutors and mentors will love her! She wants to study, study, study, every word or sentence is a learning opportunity for her. Whichever part of TNKR we talk about, she wants to join!!!

Update: We later wrote Greenlight to Freedom together.

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We have many people who contact us saying they want to help us develop TNKR. but in many cases they want us to adapt to one of their ideas or theories without considering the context of what we are trying to do. Rare is the person with a specific skill who comes to us, tries to figure out what we are doing, then adapts his or her skills to what we are actually doing. He learned about us from one of his professors, then he went to the KOTESOL conference to meet us.

If we are successful, this little project which we hope to start in February will strengthen TNKR's programming and make the experience more effective for students.

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Support FSI: www.patreon.com/fsi21

2020-04-26 "May I choose more teachers?" TNKR Matching session #102

2020-04-26, TNKR Matching session #102 The Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR) humbly began in March 2013 with 5 tutors and 5 NK refugees being matched together. We held that first session at a TOZ business center in Gangnam. Seven years later, TNKR has now matched 455 North Korean refugees with 1,027 tutors, coaches, and mentors. Today we held our 102nd Language Matching session at our slightly expanded office near the Sangsu Subway Station. Instead of just being something that Casey and Eunkoo did short-term, TNKR is now an official organization in both South Korea and the USA, we have been featured in media and by other organizations (just yesterday, we were featured by KOTESOL), and we have fans and donors from around the world.

Helping North Koreans 'strike the blow' (Korea Times)

H ave you ever engaged in action not because you were sure it would change the world, but to satisfy your own heart? That, I emailed to an American friend, is why I have joined the effort to help North Koreans who are trying to escape from their homeland. I can’t change the direction of policy in North Korea or China but I can row the boat I am sitting in rather than lamenting that I can’t steer the yachts somewhere else. So I have tried to do what I can: Attending protests in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul (and I plan to do so when I visit America in April); donating money to the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights ( www.nkhumanrights.or.kr ); educating myself, writing articles and emailing friends; and, as a member of the board of trustees, I recently submitted a resolution to the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association (FDMHA) in Washington, D.C., to try to call attention to the plight of North Koreans. Our organization’s missi...

Chang Ha-Joon's foolish consistency (Korea Times, January 1, 2013)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. Is the sky blue? Is the ocean water? If you suspect those are trick questions, you are right. The sky isn’t always blue ― it is reddish at sunset, dark at midnight, gray on an overcast day. The ocean isn’t water ― there’s also fish, plant life, submarines, dissolved minerals, surfboards, sunken ships, even people swimming in it sometimes. As Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell wrote in his 1996 book ``The Vision of the Anointed,” people who use “all-or-nothing” reasoning can deny a statement because it is not 100 percent true in every circumstance. Such word games might be fun for college students or debaters, but there are some distinguished people who are respected for making such childish arguments about serious issues. In his book ``23 Things They Don’t Tell you About Capitalism,” Cambridge University economist Chang Ha-Joon argues that 1) “[T]here is really no such thing as a free market” and 2) “The free market doesn’t exis...

2020-11-26 My basketball story

This photo was uploaded today by my aunt Annette. This was back in the day, when 1) I had a head full of hair and 2) played basketball a lot. That first year of playing organized basketball, I focused on playing defense. It seemed that everyone wanted to shoot the ball, so I passed the ball and played defense. I probably led the league in steals, rebounds and blocked shots. I enjoyed taking on the best player from the other team, I felt like I would get better, quickly. The second year, I was a different player. I will never forget the first game that second year--we lost 29 to 26, I scored 18 points. I probably led the universe in scoring that second year, although we didn't win much. One thing I learned from that experience is that one great player 9 (at least in his own mind) can't beat a team. An eye injury ended my pro career before it began, to this day I still have floaters in my eyes because of the injury. I started wearing glasses, but the problem never went away. On t...

"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 ...

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