2022-12-04 Harvard Club of Korea annual alumni dinner

On December 1, 2019, I joined the Harvard Club of Korea's annual alumni dinner. Of course, no one in the room knew that the event would be canceled for the next two years because of COVID.

Last night we enjoyed gathering again, with about 90 Harvard alumni and their guests meeting, talking, and networking.

My special guest in 2019 was North Korean refugee Songmi Han. When she joined then she had not heard of Harvard University. I didn't realize just how special that night was for Songmi until we worked together on what became Greenlight to Freedom. This time, she knew what it was and was looking forward to it.

* * *

Mr. Dr. Prof and now Foreign Minister Jin Park was there as a special guest. He is a former president of the Harvard Club and is a special VIP every year. He gave a short speech and also the toast for the event. He gave the most incredible testimonial about me last year. He also remembered Songmi from meeting her earlier this year when she gave him a signed copy of her book.

* * *

I was delighted that former Miss Korea Geum Na-Na remembered me. It has been a few years since I last saw her. I brought Songmi over to her so they could also meet!

* * *

Superman Kent Kim! He has published 17 books in addition to being engaged in a number of global activities. If I ever become truly international it will be because Kent finds a way to fit me into one of his projects.

We met several years ago and he invited me on his TV podcast six years ago.

* * *

The ambassador to Israel was also a special guest last night. He, Songmi, and I were speakers at a Hana Foundation conference in late October.

Two weeks ago, Eunkoo and I bumped into the Ambassador at the KAA Friendship Night. I didn't know who he was six weeks ago, and I have now seen him at three different incredible events.

* * *

There were so many incredible people there last night, I wish there had been more time to talk with more people. Of course, the annual dinner is the key event of the year, but it was great in past years when we also had happy hours.

* * *

A North Korean musician and his South Korean colleague performed for the audience. It was great meeting them. The North Korean musician was recommended to us a while ago and last night we got to meet in person.

* * *

The fun time was the quiz about Harvard's history. Not only did I win for myself, but I also helped Songmi win and was also whispering some of the answers. Finally, the MC detected that something was going on at our table because half of us won prizes! She finally started avoiding our table!

But it didn't matter in my case, because after helping Songmi win, she claimed one of my prizes and I surrendered the other one this morning to FSI co-founder Eunkoo Lee.

I am in charge of FSI but I clearly am not in control.

* * *

I showed up early so I ended up helping the outgoing president of the Harvard Club with setting up.

Claire recently graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She gave me a great compliment when she said that my posts on the Harvard Alumni Facebook page helped her relax because they gave her an idea of what to expect.

I then felt quite welcome with joining the youngsters from the Harvard Graduate School of Education when they took their group photo.

* * *

Mr. Chung is smiling as he grumbles about taking a photo with me at every Harvard alumni dinner.

So much was going on... did I mention that the CFO of Naver participated in a fireside chat?

It started as a photo of me, Songmi and Jamie... then quickly grew!

Another photo that started with just a few of us, then others jumping in!

I caught them being natural!

She really wanted a photo with Songmi!

They allowed me to join the next photo.

There were other name tags but of course I should protect the privacy of others.

Manufactured cases

My former Cato Institute colleague Bob Levy is profiled by the Associated Press for his role in the challenge to the DC gun ban. One great thing about Levy is that he tells it like it is. As the article quotes: And Levy freely admits the case is manufactured, not one that bubbled up by chance from the district's steady flow of criminal cases involving guns. He wanted presentable plaintiffs to make a case for gun rights, not criminals. "We didn't want crack heads and bank robbers to be poster boys for the Second Amendment," he said. Is there a problem with this case being manufactured? I heard a talking head on the radio complaining a while ago that this case wasn't from real DC residents, that it was from outsiders. What's wrong with that? There may be some times that it takes an outsider to challenge an injustice or bad law. Did DC residents claim that Martin Luther King Jr. was an outsider who should have minded his own business? And about the case being ...

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 ...

Rich talking back

The rich are talked about very often in negative terms, but how often do the rich respond in kind? Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, who inherited most of her money but apparently has also done very well with it, recently railed against class warfare and had some advice for the non-rich : "There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working." She complained about politicians raising taxes, regulations that slow investment, and other anti-business policies that harm the poor. "If you want to help the poor and our next generation, make investment, reinvenstment and businesses welcome."

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

Search This Blog