The Casey Lartigue Show! does Seoul

Steve Jobs on benefits of competition in education (Korea Herald)

2012-01-30T22:32:00.003+09:00

I have the following article in today's Korea Herald:

Steve Jobs on benefits of competition in education

There seem to be as many political solutions to education problems in South Korea as there are people thinking about them. Thus, there is endless controversy about which policies should be implemented. A major reason for the controversy is the biggest difference between political and market-based polices: In politics, a situation that captures public attention is seen a problem or crisis; in the market, such situations are seen as opportunities.

Some of the world’s greatest, boldest and most aggressive entrepreneurs have avoided tackling education problems. Instead of being “innovative disrupters” in the education world, entrepreneurs have been relegated to being surrogate parents tutoring kids. Wealthy people are welcomed ― as money trees who donate money, expected to celebrate wildly like cheerleaders regardless of the results. Is there any doubt that education would look different today if youngsters weren’t just using iPODs or iPADs but also were in schools established by great innovators and entrepreneurs who were motivated by the profit motive rather than altruism?

Steve Jobs has passed away, but his 1996 interview with Wired Magazine is a reminder about the negative consequences of sticking with a political model that funds producers rather than a market competition model subsidizing consumers. To cut to the chase, Jobs’ main public policy suggestion was to have a “full voucher system.” In his early days he had spearheaded initiatives getting computer equipment into schools, but he later changed his view that technology could help education. “What’s wrong with education,” he argued, “cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.” He pointed to the “political problem.” He was blunt: “The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education because it’s not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy.” He made similar comments at a 2007 appearance with Michael Dell.

Jobs’ proposal to put education dollars in the hands of parents rather than schools is not exactly new. Classical liberals like French economist Frederic Bastiat (1801-50) and American Milton Friedman (1912-2006) have noted that the quality of education is undercut by the lack of a private motive in education and by parents not paying directly. Some libertarians go so far as to suggest that there needs to be a full-blown free market in education. Jobs was being more pragmatic but pointing to the same age-old problem: The lack of concern about efficiency and cost when others pick up the tab. As Jobs said: “They feel like it’s free, right? No one does any comparison shopping.”

Education was on Jobs’ mind just as he was about to return to Apple. Imagine that: Steve Jobs could have spent the last 14 years of his life developing the iPOD equivalent for education if there had been a market model in education. That could have truly changed the world, even more than the iPOD has. In 1996, he told Wired: “I believe very strongly that if the country gave each parent a voucher for forty-four hundred dollars that they could only spend at any accredited school several things would happen. Number one, schools would start marketing themselves like crazy to get students.”

That would mean real change ― schools could no longer rely on compulsory education laws and truant officers to deliver customers to them. That’s where we have the choice between remaining with the current political model or having a market-oriented model in which parents would seek out schools they believe are most appropriate for their children, regardless of school boundary lines.

His second reason for a full voucher program that would lead to the market model: “I think you’d see a lot of new schools starting. I’ve suggested as an example, if you go to Stanford Business School, they have a public policy track; they could start a school administrator track. You could get a bunch of people coming out of college tying up with someone out of the business school, they could be starting their own school.”

He then gave a final positive result of a universal voucher program: “The third thing you’d see is I believe, is the quality of schools again, just in a competitive marketplace, start to rise. A lot of the public schools would go broke. There’s no question about it. It would be rather painful for the first several years.” Naturally, reporters, activists and educators would focus on those painful stories, but families would be better off eventually with a wider range of choices, educators who must cater to them, and the power to easily exit schools they aren’t satisfied with.

The “discovery process” that guided Jobs is impossible in the political model where education is a problem rather than an opportunity. Jobs could have been wrong, not everything he touched turned to gold, but as almost all education systems (including South Korea’s) are currently structured, there is not a chance to find out. For at least three decades, private institutions (“hagwon”) have been targeted for destruction by the intellectual and political elite in South Korea. Unfortunately, South Korean politicians are pushing for giveaway programs that don’t enhance private enterprise and instead strengthen government power. It is likely that the education status quo will remain in place, with the usual tinkering and internal reforms that frustrate more than they improve things.

By Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Casey Lartigue, Jr., director of international relations at the Center for Free Enterprise, is co-editor of the book “Educational Freedom in Urban America: Five Decades after Brown v. Board of Education.” He has a master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. ― Ed.

"Intellectual Shock" in Seoul

2012-01-20T10:18:00.001+09:00

‘Intellectual shock’ in Seoul

By Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Dearest Casey, You did it. You left America again to return to Korea, where you lived and worked during part of the 1990s.

Because this is your second journey abroad (12 years apart), people often ask you what has changed about Korea. You first mention the obvious things ― the country has developed; Koreans seem more globalized and your fellow expats seem more educated. But there is the less obvious one that is more important: You’re different.

Casey, you enjoyed some moments in the sun as an education researcher in America. As you began to approach the age of 40 you began to tell family and friends that you felt free to do as you pleased because you realized you would never be Martin Luther King Jr. (assassinated at age 39) or president of a country. One of the things you realized that you wanted to do was to live abroad again. And so you have.

You never suffered from culture shock while abroad ― you expected things to be different. You were never interested in a traditional 9 to 5 job. During the 1990s, as an English teacher, you occasionally wrote in the local newspapers ― about America. You weren’t ready to comment on Korea very often.

As you heard another expat say later on: ``When in China for a week, you feel you can write a book about the country. When in China for a few months, you think you might be able to squeeze out an article for your community newspaper. When you are in China for an extended period of time, you put your head down and mutter.”

Now that you are a working professional in Korea, you often find yourself putting your head down and muttering to yourself. It may be ``intellectual” shock. South Korea is rushing to establish a universal welfare state with politicians of both parties trying to one-up each other in ``freesomething” giveaways. Your side for limited government is losing the public policy and political debate in South Korea ― and prospects in the near future don’t look bright.

In the 1990s, when Koreans you talked with wanted to blame America ― and you ― for (fill-in-the-blank), you could honestly say, ``Hey, I don’t care. The president would never accept my calls so you need to find someone else to complain to about this.”

Now, one arm is tied is behind your back because you are an American who doesn’t speak Korean very well trying to engage a populace that fundamentally sees Americans as being imperialistic. You have even been warned by friends that it might be dangerous for you, as an American, to attend rallies against the free trade agreement between America and Korea.

You believe in individual liberty but you are now living in a population with a collectivist mindset ― and they were doing quite fine before you ever showed up. When you talk of individual freedom, people are skeptical, preferring to have someone in charge of the economy and culture.

Welfare redistributionists have the upper hand now but that won’t deter you in your push for individual freedom. Your side may not be winning, but that won’t stop you from doing what you do. Both you and South Korea are different from the last time you were here. Perhaps both will go through positive changes in the future.

The year 2012 has now begun, and it should be a big year for you as well as the country. Korea will have elections for the National Assembly and presidency. Things are sure to get heated. Will you have an impact? Will your voice be heard?

I Remain,

Casey Lartigue, Jr.

Casey Lartigue, Jr., is Director of International Relations at the Center for Free Enterprise in Seoul, South Korea. He may be contacted at cjl@cfe.org or www.cfekorea.com.

This article was originally published in the Korea Times on January 20, 2012.

Quoted in today's Korea Herald

2012-01-17T14:48:00.002+09:00

I am quoted in today's Korea Herald about the prospect of South Korea adopting a welfare state.
...

Kim’s colleague at the CFE, international relations director Casey Lartigue argues that helping the less well-off is a matter of government doing not more, but less.
“Instead of focusing on social welfare spending, why shouldn’t Korea, for example, follow Sweden’s historical model of having free markets, free trade, and its policy of universal school choice?”
...

But whether a program or system is fiscally sound or not, Lartigue says the principle off hands-off government is important in itself.
“The right not to have the government take half of your money to set up programs gets ignored in the rush for welfare policies. So focusing on the big government scheme is a distraction from the relationship of the individual with the state. In the age of globalization, it may not make sense to be creating a Swedish model, thereby giving citizens less control over their money and lives,” he said.

Korea Herald illustration by Han Chang-duk

Smarter than a two-year-old (13 years later)

2011-11-21T22:28:00.001+09:00

I have a reflection in today's Korea Times.

11-21-2011 17:30

Smarter than a two-year old

By Casey J. Lartigue Jr.

I was reading and listening to music in a coffee shop when a Korean toddler approached me, unconcerned that I was deep in thought.

He had been crying loudly a few minutes before ― the snot still running down his nose was evidence. Smiling brightly, awkwardly holding a smoothie, he was adamant that I take a drink. I outsmarted him and held the cup for him to take a drink, much to his delight.

I learned that little trick from a previous incident when I lived in South Korea, in the late 1990s. As I was sitting in the bank, a little girl holding a bag of potato chips was staring at me. Thinking about the expats who then complained about ``run by hello-ings” of children, I smiled. The smile wasn't meant for the little girl, but she broke into a huge smile and waved at me, frantically, as if she were a mile away.

A minute later, she hesitatingly wandered over in my direction. Our eyes met, and I smiled again, that time on purpose. She then walked directly to me and held out two potato chips.

It was my turn to be hesitant. I imagined she might have dropped all of the potato chips in the sandbox earlier, scooping them up before her mother noticed. Or that she had a runny nose and had been dipping into the bag as she wiped it. I took the two potato chips and thanked her. She then walked back to her mother, beaming.

To eat or not to eat, that was the question. She was watching me, so I couldn't toss them. I would have given them to anyone jealous she gave them to me.

I ate the potato chips.

Slowly. First, the large one, then the one that was broken in half. I could see her smiling. She then started handing out potato chips to everyone in the bank. At that time, I wrote that I had learned three things. One, if you ever want to poison everyone, then have a small child hand out poison-dipped potato chips. The police would arrive on the scene with her as the only survivor.

Second, young Koreans may be as spoiled as older Koreans claim. The older Koreans ate the potato chips without hesitation. I could imagine the lecture: ``When I was a kid, we ate dirt! And we were happy to have dirt! Your uncle and I used to fight over who would eat the biggest pieces of dirt! Of course we would have eaten potato chips from a little girl in a bank. But we didn’t have banks, either!”

One young woman asked the girl why she was handing out potato chips. Her friend took the potato chips, then fed them to the girl. Ah! A clever tactic I had not thought of back then! The little girl was happy to eat them.

Or, third, the difference may have been between parents and childless people. The Koreans with that ajumma/ajeossi-look ate the potato chips while younger Koreans who probably weren’t married did not. Adults who have spent years learning table manners seem to completely forget them after they have kids.

I told this story to a co-worker, who she said her husband would suck the snot out of her son’s nose whenever he had a cold, to prove his love. I did issue a challenge: Yeah, okay, but has he ever tried that at the other end when the kid was having a stomachache?

Casey Lartigue Jr. is director of international relations at the Center for Free Enterprise in Seoul. He can be reached at caseyradio@daum.net.

The Strange Nature of Welfare Populism in Italy

2011-10-17T18:07:00.002+09:00

* I will be the MC for a policy forum on Italy tomorrow.

"New employee" Casey Lartigue

2011-09-30T22:52:00.002+09:00

I just got a double hit in the Korea Herald

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
The roundtable discussion I organized featuring Andrei Lankov got quite a bit of media coverage by the Korean press. Here's the text of a Korea Herald article. As the host of the event, I had many considerations.
1) Three different speakers who all have a lot to say about North Korea
2) More people than I expected showed up.
3) Keeping the spirit of a "roundtable discussion" while having a lecture from Lankov and discussion with special guests invited.

RAP VIDEO

The Korea Herald followed up with a nice little article about our rap video.

The Korea Herald, September 29, 2011

Signs of market economy in N.K. emerging: expert

A market economy and new business class have emerged in North Korea since the 1990s even though their government will not acknowledge it publicly, a panel of experts said Wednesday.

Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise in Yeouido, Seoul, professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University said that the populace was forced into adapting to a new market economy after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Following the collapse of its main benefactor, there are sources that suggest that the North's industrial output was halved by 2000 compared to what it had been in 1990, and that half a million to 1 million North Koreans perished, he said.

Unlike in former communist countries where the government chose to adopt capitalism or the people demanded it, "in North Korea it was just a way to stay alive," he said.

"Only top officials survive on salary," he added.

Walter Klitz of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty said that in his periodic visits to North Korea he has seen the effects of the new market economy on the populace, as those in some rural areas of the nation are relatively well off.

"They don't have a food problem, they have a distribution problem," he said. Furthermore, he has witnessed traffic jams in urban areas apparently spurred by increased economic activity, something unheard of just a few years ago.

This also indicates that sanctions imposed on the North have been bypassed, particularly through increased investments from China.

The increase in this market activity, however, does not mean that the nation is no longer a planned economy, as the main institutions are still in place, they said. For example, laws against activities such as traveling outside of one's home county or exchanging foreign currency are no longer enforced.

The North Korean government attempts to contain such market activity, but no longer attempts to clamp down on it since the botched currency reform of late 2009, Lankov said.

Furthermore, the presence of this new business class ¡ª primarily made up of women because men are required to keep up appearances at their state-approved jobs ¡ª does not mean the nation is more prepared for reunification than before. Lankov said that North Koreans who have succeeded in business would likely be swamped by competition for the South, and much of the nation would form a "permanent underclass" should unification take place.

"You would see much of North Koreans disadvantaged and never recover," he said.

After each member of the panel made their remarks, they took questions from guests, with many questions relating to the succession process from current leader Kim Jong-il to his son and heir apparent Kim Jong-un.

Lankov said that he does not like to talk about succession often.

"I don't know anything about Kim Jong-un, period," he said. Whether or not he is more reform-minded than his father or grandfather, though, may not matter.

"His logic ¡¦ will be much more defined by the political situation than by his own inclinations," he said.

Another panel member was Donald Kirk, Korea correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. In response to a question comparing the unification of the two Koreas to East and West Germany in 1990, Kirk called a comparison between North Korea and East Germany "fallacious."

"East Germany was the most powerful economy in Eastern Europe," he said. "It was not a starving country. It was certainly not a failed state."

By Rob York (rjamesyork@heraldm.com)

This article was originally published in the Korea Herald on September 29, 2011.

Rap gets down to business
2011-09-29 20:05

Complex economic arguments such as the appropriate role of government in the economy are likely to be met with groans of boredom by many outside business and politics.

But one Seoul-based fee market think tank is seeking to change that and get people thinking about economics ¡ª by rapping about it.

"We Can Do It," a rap battle tackling the question of whether the government should protect small businesses from bigger players, is the Center for Free Enterprise's latest endeavor to bring economic issues to unlikely audiences.

"For us, why not try something different? Companies must always innovate, try different things, so the same thing is true with us," CFE head Kim Chung-ho told The Korea Herald.

"We will still mainly focus on research, writing, events, this is just an added feature. A rap battle seemed to be a good way to present both sides of this debate over the role of government and political intervention into the marketplace."
Kim Chung-ho (right) and Kim Mun-kyung go head-to-head over the government and small business. (CFE)

In the video, the think tank's second through rap, pro-free market Kim faces off with Soongsil University Professor Kim Mun-kyung, whose rhyming skills are put to the test in defense of small business.

A "Fail Harder" sign Kim had seen at Facebook's head office in California last year had inspired him to be daring with education when new employee Casey Lartigue Jr. directed Kim to a rap video from his native U.S.

The video, pitting fictional representations of economists Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes against each other, inspired the CFE's first foray into music, "More Grasshoppers than Ants." Before long, a second video was in the works.

"At many companies, the boss is in charge. At CFE, whenever we want to do something new, he (Kim) says, `yes, let's make it big!' We have no excuses here, we have a boss who sets the kind of atmosphere that makes it okay to try and to have no shame if we fail," said Lartigue.

For Kim, if their dalliance with a genre more readily associated with guns and girls encourages people to take themselves a little less seriously and have some fun, so much the better.

"I hope people won't think it is crazy to have some 50-plus-year-old guys rapping and jumping around. We are amateurs at this, but we hope it can even be inspirational for people who feel restricted by social pressure to stop having fun once they become `adults.'"

You can watch "We Can Do It" on www.eng.cfe.org or Youtube.

By John Power (john.power@heraldm.com)

This article originally appeared in the Korea Herald on September 30, 2011.

"We Can Do It" music video

2011-09-22T22:37:00.000+09:00

I am the "referee" in a new music video produced by The Center for Free Enterprise. Here is the link at the CFE site. I will be posting the translation and other information related to the video there, so bookmark it for updates.

Yes, I have a tough job. Who would have ever thought a think tank geek would be making a music video?

"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

2011-09-13T21:33:00.000+09:00

* 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.

* I will be hosting a roundtable discussion on September 28 with Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University about North Korea.

* I will be attending a discussion on K-pop featuring Fulbright Researcher Emilie Chu this Friday night (Sept 16, from 6-8 p.m.,at the KAECMapo-gu building). You may email them directlyat executive.assistant (at)fulbright.or.krto register and may :cc or :bcc me cjartigue(at)yahoo.com. Emiliewill be speaking from 6-7, then Grace Ha will be speaking on Haenyo, Jeju, andthe Future of Marine Conservation. RSVP ASAP.

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 out or to tell him he had 10 seconds to start looking at something else ― and that I would start counting at nine.

If I had to guess, I would say that he was a farmer, probably in his late 40s or early 50s. He was poorly dressed. He seemed to be headed for a Hollywood casting call for the role of a Korean farmer seeking out a living during the Korean War.

Then, the person next to him stood up to get off the train.

An incredible thing happened.

The frowning farmer began to point at the seat next to him, and was almost shouting at me...

``Yeogi Anjeuseyo! Yeogi Anjeuseyo!"

Even if I had not understood ``sit down” in Korean, his body language made it clear that I had to sit in that seat right then!

No one was trying to claim the seat. I was stunned for a moment but quickly sat. He then had a huge grin on his face, as if he had accomplished something by securing that seat for me. He turned to face me, just looking at me, grinning. Had he saved me from a burning building? Helped me cheat on my taxes? No. He was pointing to a seat that had just been vacated. Perhaps he feared that an ajumma would bump me out of the way and claim the seat.

Sitting there, I was embarrassed that I had been so wrong, and frustrated I could not explain it to him. So there we were sitting, unable to communicate, but with enough good feelings that we could have brought peace to the Korean peninsula all by ourselves.

Then, when it was time for his stop, he stood up, forcefully shook my hand, and said good-bye in Korean. I stood up, not knowing the proper protocol for such a situation, said goodbye to him as we bowed to each other on the subway.

After that day, ``yeogi anjeuseyo" joined ``nunchi," ``ajumma," ``han," ``skinship” and a few other phrases in my lexicon of favorite Korean and Konglish words and phrases. But when I tell Koreans ``yeogi anjeuseyo," I don't just say ``yeogi anjeuseyo." It is more of a command, the type I heard on the subway that day:

``Yeogi Anjeuseyo! Yeogi Anjeuseyo!"

Of course, Koreans advise me not to say it so forcefully. I agree with them, promising not to do so again. But I do.

Yogi Anjuseyo

2011-09-06T18:42:00.005+09:00

People often ask me, now that I am back in Korea, how things are different. My main responses: 1) I'm different. 2) Koreans seem more open-minded 3) The expats seem more educated, but have many of the same complaints and are using the same analysis I was hearing then.

Robert Neff writes in the newest edition of the Korea Times about the recent fight on the bus. He mentions:

"Scribblings of the Metropolitician brought up an interesting observation ― one that bothers him a great deal ― the empty seat. According to him, regardless of how crowded the bus is and the number of people standing, the seat next to him is always empty. It is insulting to him that no one wants to sit next to him.

"But not all expatriates in Korea have that problem ― some find themselves with unwanted seatmates."


Seoul subway line 5, Sept 8, 2011. --Casey Lartigue, Jr..

That is one of the low-rent issues I remember from the 1990s. I have learned that Scribblings of the Metropolitican is a 40-something year old mixed race (Korean and black) guy who seems to fancy himself to be a social critic. He recently discussed his secret desire to beat up various Koreans who annoy him on public transportation.

I wrote about this empty seat issue back in the mid-1990s and 1999. If I were to write it today I would write it somewhat differently, probably even more dismissive of the complaint.

* * *

AsianWeek

August 4, 1999

While Abroad, Chill Out by Casey Lartigue, Jr.

It is natural that people living abroad have trouble adjusting to a new culture. Numerous personal essays, scholarly research papers and books have explored the various phenomena associated with culture shock, adjustment and cultural differences. While some of the complaints of visitors to Asia may be valid, some border on paranoia, if not downright childishness.

When I was living in South Korea, one complaint I heard from more than a few expatriates was that Koreans avoid sitting next to them on public transportation. Apparently some Koreans remain standing when a foreigner is sitting alone, next to an empty seat, on a crowded bus or train.

If only that were true. While I secretly hoped that no one would try to sit next to me, I could always count on an oversized ajimah with two or three bags to squeeze into the seat next to me. She'd usually give me a big smile after she was all squeezed in. I suspect that most riders on the public transportation are more concerned with their own comfort than with the national origin of other passengers.

Let's assume for the moment, however, that the expatriates aren't just paranoid. There could be any number of reasons that someone may not want to sit in an empty seat. People who have been sitting in an office all day might dread sitting even more. In some cases, someone who may be getting off the bus soon or isn't sure exactly where to get off might not want to sit. In others, the person may want to give you the "personal space" so many expatriates have complained they don't get in Korea .

I'll even offer a new theory. Some Koreans have been said to suffer from "telephone phobia." Unable to rely on visual clues to help them through a conversation, they will just hang up the phone when confronted by English. Likewise, some Koreans may be suffering from "empty seat phobia." Unable to speak English fluently, they may avoid sitting next to you out of fear that you will talk to them. In short, there are any number of reasons that someone may choose not to sit.

If the fact that someone doesn't sit next to you when there is an empty seat means that you are being discriminated against, what are we to conclude when Koreans single out expatriates and demand that they sit? Or what about Koreans who often offer to hold the bags of people who are standing on public transportation? If one action is discrimination, then the opposing action would seem to be favoritism, if not downright nice.

This is not to deny that there are some xenophobic Koreans who avoid sitting next to expatriates. There probably are some Koreans who hate non-Koreans enough that they would refuse to sit next to a foreigner--in which case, you should consider yourself lucky that such a person doesn't want to sit next to you. Who the heck wants to sit next to a xenophobe? Let her stand. Just give her a big smile and enjoy your ride.

I heard other complaints from expatriates. Some are bothered by the personal questions many Koreans ask. Some also complain about the lack of personal space and privacy that they have in Korea . By far, the most incredible complaint I heard is that some expatriates feel unfairly singled out by drunks and smart-aleck children shouting, "Hello!"

Now that I'm back in America , I can see that drunks here aren't exactly the most dignified of souls. And many of the kids will tell you to "go f...yourself" if you tell them to tie their shoes. In our respective countries, when encountering rude or playful children, we say, "stupid kids." While in Korea, far too many Americans will say, "stupid Korean kids," attributing the "hello" to a character flaw in Koreans.

Some expatriates even plot strategy to handle kids shouting "hello" at them. As a kid, I would have been surprised to know that an adult was plotting strategies to counter my antics. Not that such adult strategies would have been completely unwarranted.

In my neighborhood, when we weren't shooting arrows or BBs at each other, we loved tossing water balloons at cars and people passing by. From the roof of a house, tossed with just the right trajectory, you could hit a man square on the head from 30 yards away with a water balloon. It was also fun to wait until our friends were playing in the front yard, then to blindly toss two or three water balloons from behind a fence when the first adult walked by. Those stupid kids would get blamed for it while we made our getaway. We'd get a whipping if we caught got, but the thrill was worth it.

We had fun looking up dirty words in the dictionary and randomly shouting them at each other. Or telling adults to "go f... yourself" if they told us to tie our shoes. Ringing someone's doorbell and then running off before they could open the door was fun, too. Boobytrapping the door in a neighbor's house was worth a laugh or two before we got whipped.

But I digress. Those Korean kids, winding down from another pressure-packed day of studying for 14 or 15 hours, really shouldn't be yelling "hello" at hypersensitive foreigners. They should be yelling something much more appropriate, like "Yankee, go home!" And "home" is where some people need to be. There's no place like home. Some people never should have left.

* * *

Previous version from 1995 or 1996

* * *

Yogi Anjuseyo
by Casey J. Lartigue Jr.
The Korea Times
c. 1995 or 1996

    Koreans may not know it, but many expats here in Korea feel discriminated against on a daily basis. Some complaints have been voiced on many occasions. Koreans point and stare at non-Koreans. They yell obscenities. They are nationalistic, xenophobic, racist. One complaint Koreans may not have heard is that some foreigners feel that Koreans avoid siting next to them on public transportation. Apparently some Koreans remain standing when a foreigner is sitting alone, next to an empty seat, on a crowded bus or train.

    Recalling my own initial experience in Asia, I'm skeptical. After about a week in Taipei, Taiwan, two things quickly irritated me: 1) Taiwanese shopkeepers seemed to be following me around the store. That's a sure sign in America that the shopkeeper doesn't trust you. 2) Taiwanese shopkeepers often did not hand me my change directly. Instead, they would often place it on the counter for me to pick up. Instead of jumping to conclusions, I decided to observe Taiwanese people interacting. Sure enough, the shopkeepers followed the other customers around. Not only that, they placed the change on the counter for Taiwanese customers to pick up. I'm sure they weren't putting on a show just for me, so I assumed that was normal behavior in Taiwan. After a few months, I found myself walking out of stores when shopkeepers did not pay attention to me within a few seconds. I even started leaving the money on the counter for shopkeepers to scoop up. I guessed that I was blending into the local culture.

    Likewise, I think some culture vultures here have spotted racism where it isn't present. Could there ever be a legitimate reason for someone to leave a seat vacant? One reason could be that some people just prefer to stand. People who have been sitting in an office all day might dread sitting even more. I would guess that some women, especially the lawbreaking, miniskirt wearers, might be wary about sitting next to any men. You might look harmless, but that doesn't mean the person who might later take your seat will be. It might be rude to remain standing when there is an open seat, but it is doubly rude to stand up after someone else sits down. Some Koreans who haven't learned to speak English may fear that *you* will talk to them. Still others may prefer to stand if they think their stop is coming up soon. How many times have you complained about people who remain seated until two seconds before the bus driver gets ready to take off for the next stop? In short, there are any number of reasons that someone may choose not to sit.

    While some expats have stories about sitting alone on a crowded bus, train, or subway, there are just as many expats who can tell stories about aggressive Koreans who are all too willing to fill that empty seat. I've had people actually grab me and physically try to force me to sit. I've seen others similarly accosted. Other Koreans already sitting will hold your bag for you if you're standing. That some expats feel discriminated against by Koreans who allegedly don't want to sit next to them is all the more ironic because many expats complain exactly about the opposite thing: far too many Koreans are all too willing to sit next to them. Some of them want to look at what you're reading, some want to hit you up for a free English class. Complaining about both being ignored and approached might lead some Koreans to conclude that expats can never be satisfied. After years of hearing that foreigners need "personal space" and detest personal questions, I personally wouldn't blame Koreans for avoiding expats.

It seems that some are attributing racism to some very natural occurrences. On public transportation around the world, vacant seats are often as lonely as the last piece of chicken at a picnic: everyone sees it, but no one takes it. Most of the people who believe that Koreans don't want to sit next to them are probably newcomers who have come to Korea expecting to be discriminated against. It has become fashionable in America to picture oneself as a victim. Some have even drawn parallels between themselves and "disenfranchised" people.

    If you seriously believe Koreans standing nearby are discriminating against you, try saying, "yogi anjuseyo." (Have a seat). Beware, however. They may never leave you alone. You might end up with an invitation to dinner. On a bus or subway, I suspect that most Koreans are more interested in their own comfort than about the national origin of other passengers.

* * *

Update: People of Color discussion about race in Korea.

* * *

Linked by Monster Island,

The black race can't afford him no more

2011-08-30T13:24:00.001+09:00

An elderly Korean man may have a story about a near riot experience from yesterday. Not the one that is circulating the Internet.

Yesterday I was boarding the subway, a Korean friend called me to wish me a happy birthday (he was wrong, early by one week). I was standing, as I often do on the subway, and talking on my cell. As I thanked my (very busy) buddy for taking the time to call, an elderly Korean man softly tapped me on my knee about two or three times and signaled for me to be quiet. I'm not surprised about Korean men, whether sober or drunk, initiating contact, so I just ignored him, walking down to the other part of the subway car--and continuing the conversation. As I noted to my buddy on the phone, I wasn't the only one talking on a cell phone.

This morning, I saw the video of a black man going off and getting into a physical altercation with an elderly Korean man. People often say that black people all look alike, but I guess in this case that I don't need an alibi.

There have been many comments about it. Of course, we don't know yet exactly what happened off camera leading up to moment someone started recording, but I guess things were getting hot enough that someone figured it was worth recording.

One blogger did the "I don't condone it, but I can understand it" analysis:

"And as a black man in Korea who ain't even that black, skintone wise, and considering all the SHIT *I* get, I really, really doubt the man just got up for no reason and started going buck wild."

This is the "Reasonable Like Me" Standard that people often mistakenly refer to people who suddenly show up in the news. "Hey, I'm reasonable, I get bothered, I can understand why that guy would be so upset." That's fine, except that there are some real sociopaths, liars, criminals, abusive and violent people. So many people do stupid things I would never do, so it is difficult to see why such projection makes sense.

* * *

Hanging out with some friends Saturday night in Hongdae, some white dudes were getting drunk at the table nearby. As the group prepared to leave, the drunkest guy who took off his shirt a few times then stuck his fingers in his mouth, pushing deeply, until he successfully threw up on the floor. It wasn't a case of "Oh, my goodness, I think I'm going to regurgitate." It was more like...well, I don't know what he was thinking, but he clearly had time to walk, perhaps even crawl to the bathroom, before throwing up in the toilet. He had to force himself to throw up on the floor under his table.

Everyone at our table--about 12 of us--was disgusted. Throwing up, as drunk people sometimes do is one thing. Taking the time to force yourself to throw up on the floor as you are leaving? It clearly ruined a fun night for one of the Korean guys at the table. I would guess he is in his late 40s or early 50s. He may one day have such an altercation with a non-Korean, as happened on the bus.

He was guessing the guys are GIs, that they look down on Korea and Koreans, and other mind-reading. After that, he just could not have a good time.

* * *

By the way, the elderly Korean man in the video does look a lot like a Korean man who, about six months ago, was shouting at me and a platonic Korean female friend in Anyang. We had finished dinner and were saying good-bye when the Korean guy came up, staring like I had stolen something of his, then began cursing at us in Korean. Not the first time that kind of thing has happened to me, by the way, so I can understand what the blogger was complaining about. Quite a while ago I did develop the ability to ignore the rantings of crazies, drunks, angry people, both here and back home in America.

In Anyang that night, my friend and I had talked earlier about drunk and crazy people getting into fights, so the old Korean guy was a caricature of what we had been discussing earlier. She pleaded with me to just ignore him, that he clearly was an idiot.

I just looked at him and smiled, then walked with my friend to a police car that just happened to be parked nearby. The old guy followed up, still cussing up a storm.

The cop got out of the car, he listened to my friend's explanation, then listened for about 5 seconds of the older Korean guy cussing and complaining. The cop then opened his own can of whup ass and hauled the older guy into the police station. I must say, after seeing Saturday's video, that the cop was shouting like he was an angry black man on the bus.

Korea Herald article

2011-08-23T11:20:00.000+09:00

I have greatly reduced my already slim chances to go to heaven with an article in today's Korea Herald opposing a universal free lunch program.

Two weeks ago I was the MC for an event that brought Aristides Hatzis of the University of Athens to Seoul (photos). In addition to him speaking at a major event at the Plaza Hotel (photos), he addressed the National Assembly. Yesterday, he was mentioned by South Korean president Lee Myung-bak. Yonhap article in English, link in Korean to the president's bi-weekly address, .

I'm big in Tennessee

2011-08-15T16:50:00.004+09:00

What a surprise--the folks at Tennessee School Choice have posted a series of posts reviewing the 2004 book I co-edited for the Cato Institute.

As they write:"...Educational Freedom in Urban America: Fifty Years After Brown v. Board of Education edited by David Salisbury and Casey Lartigue Jr. Part one is available to read Here, part two Here and part three Here. Keep in mind we are only sharing that which really jumped out at us as enlightening, helpful, informative or, in some cases, profound, but there is much we aren’t sharing that you may find helpful by reading the book in full. Should we stir your interest to learn more the ebook is available for $9.99 Here."

The folks at the Cato Institute were kind enough to ship me a box of books here in Korea. Next time I am in America, I will stop by Tennessee to give a talk, and see if Cato will send books for me to sign.

My chapter is reviewed in post #2.

CJL

Welfare populism: Lessons from Greece policy forum

2011-08-04T13:34:00.005+09:00

I will be the MC for an event featuring:

Aristides Hatzis, University of Athens
Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul
Moo Sung Kim, National Assembly of South Korea
Sungkun Ha of Yonsei University

The event will be held in Seoul, Tuesday, August 9, from 10:30 a.m.-12:40 p.m., RSVP ASAP cjl(@)cfe.org

* * *

Last Tuesday I was the host of a roundtable discussion with Prof. G. Marcus Cole of Stanford University Law School.

CJL

Park Chung-hee: Dictator or benevolent autocrat?

2011-07-23T21:15:00.006+09:00

The Korea Herald published my analysis of Willam Easterly's paper "Benevolent Autocrats." Check it out at the CFE Website. Easterly questions if "benevolent autocrats" really deserve credit for high economic growth.

The Idiots' Collective calls it "a must-read" piece.

I agree.

CFE forum on Korea-EU FTA (Korea Herald)

2011-07-05T23:04:00.001+09:00

Public forum on FTA on Thursday
2011-07-05 19:21

A conference on economic opportunities and challenges arising from the Korea-EU FTA which came into effect on July 1 will take place in Seoul on Thursday.

The conference, taking place at the Koreana Hotel from 2 p.m., will also examine the current economic crisis in Europe and economic development in Korea.

The event is being jointly hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise, a Seoul-based free market think-tank, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, a German foundation for the promotion of individual freedom which has offices around the world including in Seoul.

“We picked the date hoping National Assembly members wouldn’t find a way to delay the agreement going into effect. So this is really timely because we are holding this less than a week after the agreement went into effect,” said Casey Lartigue Jr., manager of international relations at the CFE.

Speakers at the conference titled “Economic Freedom and the Wealth of Nations” will include independent political and economic consultant Stefan Melnik, Barbara Kolm of the F.A. v. Hayek Institute and Choeng In-kyo of Inha University in Incheon.

Lartigue said the conference was free and open to the public but recommended that those interested RSVP in advance.

“We are always trying to remind the public about the benefits of free enterprise, trade, voluntary exchanges. Agree or disagree, we are happy to present our analysis to the public,” Lartigue said.

Those interested in attending can visit www.cfe.org (Korean) or http://eng.cfe.org (English) to register, or call (02) 3774-5000 (Korean) or (02) 3774-5056 (English).

* * *

Korea Herald link,

Korea Herald, CFE conference

2011-06-30T11:39:00.002+09:00

1) TODAY: Korea Herald article

In a Korea Herald debate, I argue in favor of legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution.

2) NEXT WEEK: You are invited...

to a joint conference hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise and the Naumann Foundation for Liberty, July 7, from 2-6 p.m. As long as the world doesn't come to an end tonight then the EU-Korea FTA will go into effect tomorrow. The FTA will be one of the topics discussed at the event. I will kick off the conference by introducing the event sponsors.

Please let me know if you are interested in attending. It is absolutely FREE of charge for attendees, we truly welcome your attendance.

CJL

Don't Call It A Comeback

2011-06-02T12:59:00.016+09:00

I recently joined the Center for Free Enterprise in South Korea as Director of International Relations. Scroll down to click through to my bio. That means that I have resumed writing and speaking and will be actively seeking opportunities. Will start with letters and opinion pieces in the local papers until I hit on something worth sending abroad. As LL Cool J said, "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years." This has to be one of the coolest jobs I have ever had. My boss has given me complete freedom to do whatever I want. Of course, after one year, we will evaluate. To get an idea of the kinds of things I can do, check out this original rap video created by CFE. It is a pro-free trade, anti-welfare rap. Last night my boss thanked me for giving them the idea last year, even before I joined the company.

* I helped bring the Harvard University men's soccer team to South Korea. They were here for 13 days, played 3 games, visited the DMZ, and had a lot of fun. It was a great moment for me when I proposed a toast to the team and coaches. I had proposed the idea of bringing the Harvard University men's soccer team to South Korea more than a year ago. We did a lot of planning, were amazed that they had finally arrived.

* Yesterday, I joined HPK (Harvard Project Korea) as vice president.

* Yesterday I met Korean figure skater Kim Yuna (pictured here to my right), comedian Bak Jun Hyung, and National Assembly member Cho Jeon Hyeo. The comedian was just that.

* I will be the guy to quiet the audience and introduce the presidents of two organizations hosting an international conference in early July.

* I gave speeches last week in Gyongju (conference on student activities) and Daejon (World Youth Fair). In Gyongju, I discussed my activism in Washington, D.C., to help get the school voucher program passed. In Daejon, they mostly wanted to hear about Harvard University. The staff, parents, and students treated me like a star, they wanted my autograph, to take photos with me.

* I'm not very involved in American issues these days, but a few weeks ago I signed a petition in America against the creation of a national school curriculum. I'm not opposed to a school curriculum at the family, school, district, or state level. Unfortunately, the formatting on the page is screwed up and it seems they don't know how to fix it.

My first photography credit. Page 12, issue 4 of the new Roking Magazine. Scroll through to pages 98-99 to see my photos.

CJL

Too Many Grasshoppers, Not Enough Ants

2011-06-01T08:55:00.000+09:00

Here is an original rap video produced earlier this year by the Center for Free Enterprise. CFE is putting together another video, this will even include Casey Lartigue, Jr., in it.

ENGLISH VERSION

(chorus) ba bam ba, ba bam ba, ba bam ba
More grasshoppers than ants
"Ba bam ba, ra ra ra ra ra ra ra, ba bam ba
Ba bam ba, ra ra ra ra ra ra ra, ba bam ba
Ba bam ba, ra ra ra ra ra ra ra, ba bam ba
Say 1-2-3 Go
"

Where are our jobs, that's the question of the day, but we need more people who can make their own way
Who, what, when, where, the jobs created by who, always looking for someone else to come to your rescue
Take the initiatve, create, there's no free lunch, too many handouts, country's in a credit crunch
Spending money like you’re a drunk politician, we can't get saved by political magicians

Too much debt, spending money like its free, but even the National Assembly doesn't have a money tree
Tax the rich, that's what the scholars say, but tax enough, the rich hide their money on tax day
make your money, then spend it away, soon you're left with nothing on a rainy day
you just sleep, dance, complain, just wasting your talent and brains
Too many grasshoppers, not enough ants

Enough is enough
government's debts are getting out of hand
Enough is enough
too many acting like work is banned
Enough is enough
look around, you're an adult, you're not in the womb
Enough is enough
don't expect government help 'til you're in the tomb

Check it out, Independence Gate is at So-Dae-Moon
our weakness hit our country worse than 100 typhoons
We get weak, other countries get stronger
history repeats itself, we lose our freedom
Who, what, when, where, will it happen again?
Get so weak that our country is in pain
Korea in the middle, squeezed like shrimp in the big food chain

G20, yeah, we made it, that ain't no lie
like Germany and China, so we can cope with China
Korea needs to be a powerful nation, we'll have it made
we can do it, through competition, not welfare and foreign aid
Trade, competition, yeah, oh yeah, that's the way

Enough is enough
government's debts are getting out of hand
Enough is enough
too many acting like work is banned
Enough is enough
look around, you're an adult, you're not in the womb
Enough is enough
don't expect government help 'til you're in the tomb

Too many grasshoppers, not enough ants

* * *

Korean lyrics by Noh Hyun Tae and Kim Chung Ho
Translation and English lyrics by Eric DeokJin Song, and Casey Lartigue, Jr.

linked by Tom G. Palmer,

Casey Lartigue speech in Seoul

2010-10-18T14:51:00.002+09:00

I will be speaking in Seoul on October 26 from 7-9 p.m. at the TOZ Business center (Shinchon subway station, line 2, near Yonsei University).

The working title of the talk: "Rome is Coming to You: Living in a Globalized World."

CJL

Mayor Fenty booted out

2010-09-16T16:48:00.000+09:00

1) I already knew it four years ago

I've read the various analysis about why DC Mayor Adrian Fenty got booted out of office by voters just four years after winning a landslide election., In addition to all of the other explanations, I'll add one that I have yet to read, but knew four years ago: He's an asshole.

2) Would they boo his kids, too?

I was at Fenty's inauguration party back in 2006. People were protesting him that night. That's because he waited until after he won the primary in 2005 to announce that he was taking over the schools. A lot of the people who supported him would not have voted for him if he had mentioned he would take over the schools. So he lied his way into office anyway. Not the first to do so, I know.

3) Activists in DC want a listener

I have mixed feelings about Fenty getting kicked out. Yes, he's an asshole, but then, he did some stuff as mayor that was pretty good. Such as taking over the schools (actually, I would have given a voucher to every student). DC is a city where community activists and others can talk you to death. After enough input, someone needs to make a decision. A problem with Fenty is that he was great at keeping his actions a secret and did not even bother with the input phrase. Community people would show up at meetings to find out that things had been decided. People who went along with it were kept involved, people raising questions got squeezed out.

Fenty (and his predecessor, Anthony Williams) didn't realize that one of the things that makes Marion Barry so popular even today. Barry was also a talker, but he seemed to realize as a former activist that activists want to have their say almost as much as love to be given jobs and money.

4) You give hardball, you get hardball in return

Fenty plays hardball all of the time. Some people may not remember the way he kicked out former superintendent Janey--he kept the guy twisting in the wind for a month, then just before he gained control of the schools, he cut off Janey's email and (I'm guessing) gave him about 8 minutes to clean out his office. That's how fast it happened. I'm not saying that style is wrong, I may have done the same thing, but then, I would not have pretended that I was a man of the people who listened to everyone. And you don't see me running for mayor.

Before the Janey-Rhee switcheroo, Fenty had kept the city council and the entire city in the dark before he suddenly announced that he was appointing a white chick to be police chief. There was outrage about that and other Fenty appointments.

5) Not a bean-counting mayor

The main thing that probably did Fenty in was that he refused to be the black people's mayor. He tried to be multicultural by appointing Asians. Latinos, whites, and (I'm guessing) gays to prominent positions in the government and his cabinet. I actually believed him when he said he was trying to find the best people for the job. The non-blacks he hired then brought non-black people with them. That strategy worked perfectly if his goal was to be a one-term mayor.

6) Obama ain't dumb

Some are comparing Obama to Fenty but I don't think the comparison holds. One, Obama is much smarter than Fenty. Two, Obama is the only black choice blacks have. If some other black person with credibility were in a position to challenge Obama then President Fo-Fo might be in trouble. But the two main candidates in DC are both black, and it was for mayor, not president, so no biggie.

7) Michelle Rhee

Another big factor is definitely Michelle Rhee. She was a lot like Fenty--secretive, tough. But the biggest problem is that she's Asian and was unknown to district people before she became chancellor. Her midnight appointment drove the activists crazy, they were on a mission to have her booted out and worked against Fenty almost from the start. No matter what nice things anyone says, she will not remain in a Gray administration. She will head off to Sacramento to be with Kevin Johnson and mull over her offers that will come through. I heard she will be on Oprah's show on September 20 (along with Bill Gates). She is big enough that she will not want to wait for Gray to make a decision about whether or not to keep her. Her next job, whatever it is, will be much softer than being chancellor of DC public schools.

8) Lost his supporters

Here's how bad it got for Fenty--there were allegations in the past few weeks that Fenty beat his wife. Some of the black talk shows hosts who had supported him early on didn't challenge the rumors. Rather, they listened patiently and mentioned that they had heard similar rumors.

CJL

Fan Death homicide attempt?

2010-09-06T11:39:00.000+09:00

the air conditioner is broken at work...
my coworker located a fan, and pointed it directly at me--then closed the door when he left.
is this an attempt on my life?
Check out fan death, still one of my all-time favorite Web sites.
I wonder, have there any been any attempts at killing someone through fan death? Such as, a wife closing the door and turning on the fan while her drunk husband slept.
Or attempted fan death suicides?

CJL

Accidental crimes on the rise in South Korea?

2010-08-27T09:43:00.004+09:00

The Korea Times has a breakdown on the increase in violent crimes in South Korea.

A few things caught my attention:

The NPA’s white paper also reported that police apprehended 2.33 million criminals across the nation in 2009. (bold added by me)

I'm no bleeding heart liberal when it comes to criminals, but being arrested doesn't make you a criminal. Giving the reporter or translator the benefit of the doubt, I will guess it means that these people have already been prosecuted, so it is safe to call them criminals?

Of the 2.33 million [people arrested in Korea last year], 448,420 committed crimes “by accident,” accounting for 19.2 percent of the total.

So that means that the other 80.8% committed the crimes "on purpose"?

The reporter doesn't mention whether or not crimes committed on accident are also on the rise.

The reporter then adds an editorial comment, in bold here:

The recidivism rates for robbery, arson, violence, theft and rape stood at 64.7 percent, 65.7 percent, 54 percent, 50 percent and 47.9 percent, respectively, indicating a more effective rehabilitation program should be introduced for violent criminals while they are in jail to stop them from repeating offenses.

Why is that the conclusion? Perhaps it is "indicating" that the death penalty needs to be used more often or that criminals need to spend more time in jail before being returned to society.

A couple of random statistics I'll bookmark here for future reference.

* However, five types of violent crime — murder, robbery, rape, theft and violence — jumped 8.4 percent to 590,087 last year from 544,527 in 2008.

* The number of murders soared 24 percent to 1,374 nationwide over the one-year period, while robberies surged 32 percent to 6,351.

* The number of burglaries reached 256,423, up 15 percent from 2008, with rape and other sex crimes rising 6.4 percent to 18,351.

* Murders occurred most frequently from July through September when the weather was hot and humid. Robberies took place most often in May.

The article also mentions various measures police have taken to stop crime. I'm sure there was a previous article hailing those measures.

CJL

Walter E. Williams on Rush Limbaugh

2010-08-24T21:35:00.006+09:00

Professor Walter E. Williams will be hosting the Rush Limbaugh Show 8/24/10 from noon-3 p.m. EST. Thomas Sowell will be his featured guest the second hour.

In case you can't hear the show or can't wait, you can listen to me interview him back in 2007 (hit the free user button, wait for countdown, then download). We discussed reparations for slavery during one show and the minimum wage on another.

By the way, I was really thankful that he agreed to be on my show twice during the three months I was on the air. I interviewed him another time when I was a guest host and he interviewed me on the Rush Limbaugh about a paper I wrote about education in Washington, D.C.

When I contacted him and told him that I was going to have my own show and that I would be delighted if he would come on from time to time, he hesitated at first. I waited. He then said it would be okay. I know he won't do anything if it is inconvenient for himself, so I asked if there was a conflict. He said he had to be sure it would fit in his schedule because on Saturday mornings he was taking Mrs. Williams to the hospital for treatment.

She died later that year, around Christmas. I only met her once, at a retirement party for Professor Williams. He was infamous for cracking jokes about buying her insensitive gifts--such as a smaller shovel so she would not hurt her back while she was out shoveling the snow. It was hilarious stuff.

So when I met her, I asked about the things he would say on the radio. She started laughing, saying I should not believe those things he said about her, that he was a sweet guy who treated her like a princess.

CJL

Memorandum 46

2010-08-16T12:33:00.003+09:00

The Root lists its top 10 racial conspiracy theories.

How can there be a list of racial conspiracy theories on a black website without Memorandum 46 being highlighted, if not #1 on the list?

Here's the memo.

Here's a piece Eliot Morgan and I wrote about it in 2007.

Here's a rebuttal from Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, a former member of Congress.

CJL

North Koreans love me--really!

2010-07-19T10:08:00.003+09:00

I have a piece in today's Korea Times.

CJL

Surprise — North Koreans love me! By Casey Lartigue Jr.

Irish novelist Oscar Wilde once quipped, ``Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” I can’t help but conclude that my friends, while professing love and concern for me, believe that others are unhappy whenever I ``arrive.”

When I was first leaving America to live and work in Taiwan, I was warned by friends that the locals might discriminate against me. I had a great time. Before I later left Taiwan for South Korea, I was warned by Korean friends and others in Taiwan that I might get discriminated here. Again, I had a great time.

Things came full circle when I was leaving Korea to return to America. I was warned that rather than the preferential treatment I had received as a college professor in South Korea that I might get discriminated against in my own country!

So I wasn't surprised when I told friends and colleagues that I would be attending a conference last July 10 with North Koreans in Seoul that I was warned that the attendees might be afraid of me. Instead, I was welcomed by the 35 or so North Koreans at the event sponsored by the South Korea-based Center for Free Enterprise (CFE).

Because I wasn’t a scheduled speaker and the attendees had not been warned in advance that I would be there, I suppose the North Koreans were shocked to find an American freely mingling with them during the final day of their two day conference. Surprised, yes. Fearful, no.

One of my colleagues who organized the event was more surprised than anyone when he came out of the main auditorium to see me comfortably seated on the couch with about seven North Koreans huddled around me, peppering me with questions in Korean, Chinese and broken English about myself and America. Two of the people there who could speak some English made it clear that they wanted to be friends with me, demanding that I call them soon.

I was getting along with them so well that Kim Chung-ho, president of the CFE, asked me if I would like to speak to all of the attendees after he finished his opening lecture.

I’ve never met a working microphone that I didn’t like so I accepted the invitation, encouraging the newcomers to first, not be embarrassed to make money, that money gives the freedom to do the things they want to do. Second that business people may not care about their customers, but that’s okay, because they care about ``themselves” so they will work hard for others in a market economy, and third that they had fulfilled their dream to escape North Korea, and they should enjoy their lives here or wherever they go.

At lunch, I talked with them individually and in small groups, learning that many of them wanted to learn English because it would help them get better jobs here in South Korea or to travel abroad. They had heard only bad things about America when they were growing up but had a positive view of America and Americans, the more they learned.

That gathering was a reminder that politicians and arbitrary borders get in the way of people from around the world getting to know each other, with one of the worst friendship blockers being the DMZ. Forget Barack Obama, Lee Myung-bak and Kim Jong-il. It seems that we could have resolved problems between North and South Korea that morning before lunch.

When I left a few hours later, it was clear that they were not happy to see me go, with several reminding me to contact them.

What do you like to do?

2010-06-23T11:23:00.004+09:00

I have an article in today's Korea Times. I wrote it Sunday afternoon as I ate lunch at the Isaac sandwich shop in Suwon.

In it, I mention meeting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. I'm sure that most Koreans will have no idea who he is. But according to surveys, most Americans don't know he is, either, and aren't familiar with the other 8 justices.

What do you like to do?

By Casey Lartigue Jr.

When I was working as a policy analyst and radio talk show host in Washington, D.C., I had the honor of meeting U.S. Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas on several occasions.

The first time, at a dinner party, I listened as others asked him serious questions about recent court cases. When it was my turn I started to introduce myself, but he interrupted me to say, ``Casey, I know who you are. You are that young man at the Cato Institute causing so much trouble about school choice."

What a surprise! Justice Thomas knew who I was! Instead of choosing one of the difficult policy wonk questions swimming around in my head, I asked him: What do you like to do?

It is a question that we don't ask others often enough. Justice Thomas burst out laughing with the deep powerful laugh he is known for. It turned out, among many things, that he loves bodybuilding. Whereas he was careful with his responses about court cases, he gave a hilarious and animated impromptu lecture on the history of bodybuilding.

I was reminded of that conversation with Justice Thomas as I recently prepared to be the MC for a networking event in Seoul hosted by the Korea Foreign Company Employees Human Network (KOFEN at www.kofen.org) on June 18. I usually revise my prepared remarks for speeches after I meet with audience members so I chatted with Korean staff members and guests who arrived early. They gave serious, almost apologetic, responses about their jobs. But when I asked them ``What do you like to do?" I got the same types of responses I got from Justice Thomas: Laughter and joyful discussion!

I scrapped my original remarks, encouraging everyone at the event 1) not to be shy 2) not to sit or talk with friends/colleagues and, most importantly 3) to ask each other, ``What do you like to do?" I stressed: Many people dislike their jobs or do them to get paid until they can find something else better. So why spend this wonderful evening discussing something you don't really like? ``What do you like to do" became the evening's theme, as people gleefully discovered similar interests.

At work, we must report to and work with superiors, clients, coworkers, customers. But our free time is our time to do what we like so it should be fun. And talking about it should be fun. Eventually the ``what do you do" questions were asked, but they were by people who felt they already had a connection.

Very often when I ask Koreans what they like to do, I get two responses. One, ``sleeping." Two, they don't have (or lack time for) a favorite activity. I'm surprised when people must ``think" about what it is that they like to do. I rattle off mine without thinking: Sing, dance, read, write, talk. You could wake me up at 1 a.m. from a deep sleep and I could answer the question (and would be ready after a quick shower to go out after I figured who you are and where you were!).

I'm also surprised when Koreans who have ``known" each other for years know very little about each other. I recently started meeting with two Korean linguistic professors who have known each other for a number of years. We discuss politics, life, education, Korea, history. At our first meeting I asked both ``What do you like to do?" They were looking at each other, shocked at what they learned about each other. The second time we met, we celebrated by doing things they both loved to do.

Linked by Iron Magazine forum,

Reporting live, from Hankook

2010-06-10T11:51:00.002+09:00

The Republic of Hankook

Michael Breen suggests that South Korea should change its name to differentiate itself from North Korea. It may make sense, but it is so unrealistic that if it happened, Breen would probably be the most surprised. He suggests the name be changed to Hankook.

Okay, I'll play along.

Mathias Specht writes about the importance of branding Hankook for tourism purposes. Specht, unfortunately, is not a very clear writer. He does finally say: "In the case of Korea, a similar storyline could rather convincingly (and truthfully) be built around its recent economic achievements, which are nothing short of breathtaking."

Does he seriously believe that people will want to visit Korea today because of its economic improvement?

* * *

Suppose you were an idiot. Suppose you were Charles Schumer. But we repeat ourselves

Charles Schumer, idiot Congressman from New York, is determined to force American consumers to pay more for honey. Of course, that's not what he says, but that's what his actions cause. He's upset because Chinese honey sellers are trying to get around stiff U.S. tariffs on honey. Of course, Schumer focuses on the Chinese and that they are "breaking" the law, but the consequence is that he and other members of Congress force American consumers to pay more for honey.

Mark Twain famously said, "Suppose you were an idiot. Suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

Meanwhile, there's a news story about millions of Americans waiting for food stamps. What type of mischief have Schumer and others engaged in to cause so many people to be dependent on government?

* * *

Disconnecting from Facebook

Lacey Klingensmith has disconnected from Facebook. While we did the same action, we have completely different reasons for doing so.

He writes some silly stuff, such as: "If the general consensus admits a suspicion that these technologies are not really paving the way toward better communication, then why are we still keeping them around?"

We keep them around because we like them. We can pick and choose which ones we like. Those who don't like them can drop out. I'm not on Facebook, that doesn't mean I want some type of a vote or U.N. resolution to determine we should keep it around.

S/He concludes, somewhat dramatically:

"All I know is that somewhere in the midst of this confusion, I realized I forgot who I was. I chose to disconnect to reconnect with myself, and through myself, to rediscover the world of others.
For real communication to take place, it takes a self to know a self.'

1) I have no problem with people clicking over to talk to someone else and leave me hanging. I usually start counting. After 10 seconds I am likely to hang up. People I know become aware of this. So they don't feel the hurry to click back over to me and they know to call me back.
2) He/she may be right that he is not a good conversationalist. If he is as whiny with family members as he is in the column then there may be a good reason others look to get off the phone or click over to others.

* * *

Message to Jeremiah Masoli: Stop breaking the law, asshole!!!

He has been kicked off the football team at the University of Oregon. He's talented, but he also keeps doing stuff to attract the attention of law-enforcement.

CJL

Upcoming events

2010-06-06T15:20:00.003+09:00

I'm scheduled to be a featured guest on Mind Yo' Business hosted by Brian Higgins on XM 169 The Power.

Briwn will be interviewing me from America, I'll be talking on my cell phone from South Korea, I should be on the air from 9:15 or 10:15 a.m. ET (10:15 or 11:15 p.m. Korea time).

I'll be talking about a number of things related to South Korea, including traveling and working here, Korean politics, North Korea, education.

* * *

June 18 I will be the MC for a Wine Business Party of Korean and American professionals in South Korea. Will give more details. I've convinced them to give a discount to anyone who mentions my name.

* * *

At the end of the month I'll be speaking to a group of freshmen reporters at one of the universities here.

CJL

Please don't blow up this blog!

2010-05-26T19:01:00.004+09:00

I have an opinion piece in tomorrow's Korea Times about North Korea.

As I mentioned yesterday, North Korea has threatened to blow up loudspeakers from South Korea spouting propaganda.

I Believe!

By Casey Lartigue, Jr.

I believe North Korea when it says the South started the Korean War in 1950. I didn't believe former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin in 1994 when he released declassified documents revealing that North Korea started the War.

I believe North Korea didn't send 31 commandos into Seoul in 1968 to kill Park Chung-hee. I believe North Korea didn't send armed guerrillas onto the East Coast area of Uljin and Samcheok in 1968, or Heuksan in 1969, or Heukchon in 1970.

I believe the assassin who killed the South Korean first lady in 1974 wasn't a North Korean agent. I believe several North Korean agents did not cross the border in October 1979. I believe the Earth moved and they only appeared to be in South Korea. I believe that three North Korean agents shot near the Han River in March 1980 were just out for a swim. I believe that North Korean agents shot to death in November 1980 in Hwanggando got lost while hiking. I believe that three North Korean agents shot to death in Namhae a few months later were part of a search party looking for those lost hikers.

I believe that three agents who infiltrated into Geumhwa in March 1981 were sleepwalking. I believe it is routine for North Korean agents to go to sleep in North Korea and magically wake up in South Korea the next morning, fully armed with grenades, machine guns and dreams of reunification.

I believe North Korea didn't dig tunnels underground in the 1970s. I didn't believe South Korean leaders when they showed the pictures of the tunnels to the world. I believe the mob of North Koreans who chopped up two U.S. army officers in 1976 did it in self-defense. I believe nine North Korean agents shot to death after their boat sank off the coast of Seosan in 1981 were lost fishermen. I believe that North Korean agents shot to death near the Imjin River in July 1981 and June 1983 were wayward scuba divers. I believe North Korea agents spotted along South Korea's east coast in 1982 were tourists.

I believe that reports of North Korean soldiers entering the DMZ is South Korean and American propaganda to justify increased military spending. I believe the ``imperialists and puppets" from the U.S., Japan and South Korea who are feeding starving North Koreans want war.

I believe North Koreans didn't set off the bomb killing South Korean government officials in Rangoon in 1983. I believe the North Korean agent who killed three South Korean civilians in September 1984 was a South Korean agent. I believe that Kim Hyun-hee, who helped blow up a South Korean plane in 1987 (killing all 115 on board), is a forgetful woman who left her bomb on the plane.

I believe North Korean agents shot to death in May 1992 (three along the West Coast) and October 1995 (two in Buyeo) were bringing reunification messages. I believe that the North Korean government official who threatened to turn Seoul into a ``sea of flames" meant to say a ``country of happiness." I believe defectors from North Korea are, as a spokesman said, ``rats," ``criminals," and ``cowards." I believe that only rats, criminals and cowards would leave if North Korea opened its border. I believe North Korea is protecting South Korea from rats, criminals and cowards.

I believed North Korea when it said that its submarines ``drifted" to the South because of ``engine trouble" in 1996 and 1997. I believe North Korea cannot prevent such incidents because North Korean subs naturally drift to the South when they have engine trouble. I believe the South uses a large magnet to attract drifting North Korean subs.

I believe the dead man discovered washed up on a beach wearing North Korean clothing and armed with North Korean weapons was an actor. I believe the South Korean tourist shot to death in 2008 on Mt. Kumgang in North Korea shot herself. I believe the Hyundai Asan employee held hostage in North Korea last year for criticizing North Korea was lost for four months. I believe North Korea acted in self defense in 2000 when it threatened to ``blow up" the Chosun Ilbo newspaper for ``slandering our Republic" for claiming the North started the War. I believe it is ridiculous to suspect North Korea had a role in the sinking of the Cheonan warship on March 26.

I believe all of this because I don't believe that North Korea actually exists. I believe Boris Yeltsin had the secret documents to prove it.

The writer, a former policy analyst with the Cato Institute and formerly host of the Casey Lartigue Show on XM 169 in Lanham, Md., is now a freelance education consultant based in South Korea. He can be reached at www.caseylartigue.blogspot.com.

CJL

Shooting loudspeakers

2010-05-26T11:23:00.011+09:00

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT?

Some days I really enjoy the things I eat here. This is one of my favorites, I ate it last night.

Koreans constantly tell me that it is a summer dish and that restaurants don't serve it now. Yet, for the past few months, I have constantly found places that serve it year-around. I guess I am one of those people who likes what he likes when he likes it, I don't wait for a particular season or time to eat something. That is not just about Korean food. I don't particularly like turkey and would never choose it at a restaurant. I don't like it more on Thanksgiving Day than I do on other dates.

But...I'm not even sure what those things below were. I didn't bother asking. I just made sure those things were cooked thoroughly when they got to my table a few minutes later.

* * *

PROMISES, PROMISES

I happened to be in South Korea in 1994 when North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, finally kicked the bucket. North Korea closed the border for a month and cut off communication with the world. I remember that friends and relatives were alarmed that I might get caught up in a civil war.

Today's Korea Times tells us: "North Korea said Tuesday that it will cut all relations with South Korea and will have no contact with the Southern authorities during the remaining tenure of President Lee Myung-bak."

Such promises.

Assuming he serves out his term, Myung-bak will be in power until 2013.

So North Korea will go without handouts from the South for at least three years? Or do they plan on being good communists and just TAKING what they want?

* * *

I have been asking my Korean friends about the North. Their main two responses:

* MB is crazy and eager to start a war.

These seem to be the same people who thought the ship that sank may have been an inside job.

* The two previous liberal South Korean presidents were too soft and have encouraged North Korea to feel like an entitled bully.

I haven't yet told them what I think about it, I really wanted to hear what they thought.

* * *

NO NAME-CALLING (yet)
A wonderful thing is happening. My comments about the Civil Rights Act violating private property rights were posted on a black issues blog. So far, none of the people commenting have called me a sell-out or questioned my sanity as a black man.

Of course, that can always change, especially after pointing it out. I think it helps that I'm not in America now. I'm clearly not angling to get a job with Republicans or selling out in some other way (that seems to be a major concern of blacks who lean to the left). I'm really saying what I think and I guess they are accepting it.

In response to questions, I recently told a black friend in Korea that one wonderful thing about being here is that no one can accuse me of doing well here because of affirmative action.

Things I get here are despite my race.

* * *

WHO NEEDS A TEAM DOCTOR?

NBA player suffered a broken nose during a game the other night. He kept playing in the game.

Let's just say that if I suffered a broken nose that I wouldn't play basketball for a while. Or probably do many other things.

Incredibly, he adjusted his broken nose himself during the game!

* * *

SHOOTING AT LOUDSPEAKERS
According to the Korea Times:

North Korea threatened to fire at South Korean loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and destroy them, Monday, if Seoul resumes propaganda broadcasting suspended since 2004.

"If South Korea installs new speakers for psychological warfare, we will directly aim at them and open fire to destroy them," an unnamed North Korean military commander said in a statement, carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

"If the South Korean traitors challenge our rightful response, we will counter with mightier physical strikes to eliminate the root cause of their provocation," the statement said.

I know North Korean leadership hates freedom of speech but this is ridiculous even for them. If the Korean War resumes then I hope it won't be because of some idiots shooting at loudspeakers.

CJL

Random political stuff

2010-05-25T09:28:00.010+09:00

I agree with Rand Paul's point that private businesses should be exempt from the Civil Rights Act. That should be a restriction on government, not on private business.
I can say that because I'm not interested in being a politician and my job doesn't depend on me keeping myself from saying what I think.

Nevertheless, if I had been alive in 1964 and somehow found myself in Congress then I would have voted to pass the Civil Rights Act even though it was not been perfect. There's a difference between political decisions and what's correct.

* * *

WEW hosting RUSH

Walter E. Williams will be hosting the Rush Limbaugh Show 5/25/10 from noon EST.

* * *

KWAME CONTINUES TO FALL

I briefly met former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at an education conference a few years ago. He was bigger than life, had a Marion Barry larger-than-life type of personality, and he greeted everyone, including me, like they were long-lost friends.
He was booted out of office a few years ago when it was revealed in sexual text messages that he had lied under oath. He has been struggling since then and now faces jail time again.

Amazing. Just a few years ago he was heralded as part of a new generation of black leaders. According to the article, "Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 2008 after sexually explicit text messages became public, showing he had lied under oath about an affair with a staff member in a whistle-blowers' lawsuit. He resigned, served 99 days in jail, agreed to give up his law license, repay the city $1 million, and stay out of politics for five years."

* * *

42.7 % OF PEOPLE COMMIT SUICIDE AFTER READING ABOUT IT

A writer in the Korea Times opines: "Several decades ago, with fewer gadgets, life was happier and suicide less common."

I really hate it when people try to explain why people commit suicide. We really don't know. Of course, everyone ties the increasing number of suicides to whatever they believe is a problem in society. It may be that more people are committing suicide because with more gadgets and better technology they can live longer, but some get tired of it. I'm not saying that is true, just to point out that explanations are like statistics--as the saying goes, 42.7% of statistics are made up on the spot.

The writer adds: "Without any hindrance in face to face conversations (i.e. the constant ringing or vibration of a cell phone), people could put more effort into hearty discussions. Conversations then were neither disrupted nor disturbed; they were more meaningful in effect."

People who know me know that I ignore my cell phone when I choose to do so. I may be the last man on the planet without Facebook. I've never done MySpace. I don't remember my Skype account number. If people want to do something their own way then they can!

* * *

MINIMUM WAGE KILLS JOBS, LIVING WAGE KILLS PROJECTS

'Living wage' kills projects, Mayor Bloomberg says, according to the New York Daily News. Should not be surprising that artificially setting wages at an arbitrary level will result in bad economic results.

How long will it be until Bloomberg says that the minimum wage prices a lot of people out of the job market.

An option to have a job at a low wage is better than a theoretical job at a higher wage.

* * *

CHECK WAS IN THE MAIL

This kind of story pops up from time to time:: Piles of undelivered mail found in Mich. shed.

How long could a FedEx or UPS driver get away with not delivering packages? The guy says he was overwhelmed. He may have disrupted lives by not delivering mail, some of which could have been payments, letters to loved ones, etc.

* * *

TRADE DEFICIT NONSENSE

One of the absolutely dumbest statistics that people keep track of is trade deficits. Today the Korea Times informs us that North Korea has 'suffered' a trade deficit for two decades.

1) Does anyone expect that countries will always have "balanced" trade? It is a stupid premise to begin with.

2) According to the article: "North Korea exported a total of $790 million worth of merchandise to China in 2009 while importing $1.9 billion made-in-China products. Pyongyang mainly bought crude oil, machinery and electronic goods."

What should the balance be?

3) So...the North Koreans who suffered from the "deficit" didn't get anything in exchange? Think about your everyday life, you have "deficits" with most of the business people you meet--grocers, pharmacists, department stores.

When is the last time Bill Gates or Steve Jobs bought something from you?

4) According to the article: "Transactions with South Korea were excluded from the survey because the two are of the same ethnicity. Inter-Korean trade in 2009 was $1.7 billion, down 7.8 percent from 2008. "

So if a Korean person in China buys something from a North Korean in North Korea then it is part of a "trade deficit." But a Korean person in South Korea buying something from a someone in North Korea then that "deficit" isn't included.

5) Okay, I'm not the first to make this point. Adam Smith (1776) wrote: "Nothing, however, can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade, upon which, not only these restraints, but almost all the other regulations of commerce are founded. When two places trade with one another, this doctrine supposes that, if the balance be even, neither of them either loses or gains; but if it leans in any degree to one side, that one of them loses and the other gains in proportion to its declension from the exact equilibrium. Both suppositions are false."

6) As I wrote in the Korea Times nine years ago: As [James] Ingram explained it, an unknown entrepreneur discovers a way to turn wheat and lumber into cars. His factory, which had been built on the edge of town near the sea, was off-limits to protect his secret process. As wheat and lumber were turned into products consumers wanted the businessman was hailed as a hero across the country.
Then, a journalist investigates. He finds a former employee who reveals that the large factory is empty. There was a large hole in the back of the factory, where ships imported cars and exported grain. Because of the news story, the businessman was vilified for driving up the nation's trade deficit, eliminating U.S. jobs, and destroying the nation's automobile market.

CJL

Random photos from today

2010-05-23T22:27:00.010+09:00

I went walking around today. Whereas some people like to go walking in the mountains, I enjoy walking around in the city. Well, not D.C. or other cities with many homeless, crazy and/or armed people walking around...

* * *

Here's where I had lunch today. About $1.90 for a ~~hamburger~~ hamberger.

* * *

Ha-ha! Bet you never would have guessed that Batman is a drinking place in Korea!

* * *

Man Clinic? The Koreans walking by seemed to be very curious about why I was taking a photo of a "Man Clinic." They may know something I don't know...Actually, I wasn't curious enough to go in and find out what it was...

* * *

Right down the street from the Man Clinic...there's a Love Shop! I love the euphemism. "Love Shop" sounds much better than Sex Shop. I'm guessing that if you don't go to the "Love Shop" to buy condoms that you may need to visit the Man Clinic a short time later?

* * *

Nobody in South Korea has guns. Apparently that's because they are all at this gun shop I passed by today.

CJL

Busy week for fakers

2010-05-21T19:13:00.008+09:00

What about "No" would they not understand?

The Korea Times identifies a new problem: freeloading Koreans visiting relatives in America. The cause: it is now easier for Koreans to travel to America because of a visa waiver.

1) I am amazed at some of the people that reporters can find and about the things people will say to reporters. Complaining because you can't say no to family? Even if I did want to complain about such a thing I would not do so to a reporter.

2) Perhaps Koreans need a return to the good old days, back to 1987 when martial law prevented most Koreans from traveling abroad without a good reason (education, religion or business). A great thing about freedom is that we can complain about trivial things, and even be taking seriously by reporters. When Koreans were living under dictators they wished for the chance to travel abroad.

3) The most obvious solution, besides saying no the first time relatives and friends ask: Say no the second and third times they ask. Is it better to be known as the unfriendly relatives who won't let others stay at her place for a month or to live with visiting relatives for a month when you don't want to do so? That's a choice everyone must make. The people complaining apparently made the choice to say yes to relatives.

4) Send the link CouchSurfing to all of your Korean relatives--people apparently enter a network that allows them to crash at the homes of other people, as long as they allow others to crash with them. But only send the link if you are sure you won't need to crash at a relative's home for a month. I do wonder how many of the Koreans in America griping about freeloading relatives crash with them when they come to South Korea?

5) How many people do say no to relatives or find an excuse? It would be nice to hear that in such an article although people may not want to admit it. It may be that just a handful of people don't know how to say know.

6) Sometimes it may seem that I hate reporters. Not completely true.

* * *

Conspiracy Theories

I had been thinking about writing a book about education in Korea. But the longer I am here, the more I think about writing a book about conspiracy theories. The latest one is that the Korean government sank the Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean sailors. By government, I mean the South Korean government.

More than a few South Koreans have said this to me, apparently they were being serious. The conspiracies started based on the government's slow response. Then, suddenly, the government's quick response helped explain why it was a conspiracy--they had been caught and had to cover up what they had been doing by appearing to be busy. Upcoming elections--a handy explanation for any conspiracy theories--were cited as proof of a conspiracy.

The conspiracy theorists are also quite sure that former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun, who reportedly committed suicide, was killed.

Of course, I don't know the truth in either case. They don't either, by the way.

* * *

Self-photos

I may eventually buy a camera because I have learned that I enjoy taking photos. I wasn't always this way, I guess it is a sign of old age.

So I can appreciate the picture-taking culture here. As I've previously blogged, I often see Koreans taking photos of themselves.

I was in a sandwich shop earlier today...

There must have been an announcement in Korean, "Please take photos of yourselves." The two middle school girls at the table across from me were taking photos of each other and themselves. The couple sitting on my left were taking photos of themselves and each other (the woman started it by taking photos of herself. A minute later, two women sitting together started taking photos of themselves.

I really, really wanted to take photos of them all...

* * *

Busy Week for Fakers

Item 1:
"A Texas man with no military experience managed to trick the Army into letting him enter a reserve unit as a noncommissioned officer earlier this year, putting an untrained soldier in a leadership position in a time of war, an Associated Press investigation has found."

Item 2:
"A former Harvard University senior is facing 20 criminal charges for allegedly creating a fraudulent life history that led to his admission to Harvard, and for using forged academic materials from Harvard when he applied for the prestigious Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships."

Item 3:
"When does Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick plan to quit lying about his military service? It's been a week since it was first pointed out that Walt had been misrepresenting his service on his campaign Facebook page and, as shown below, still no change. Today that lie was repeated nationally by KIDO radio's Austin Hill."

What's next? As some have pointed out, Obama faked his way into the White House, so that could be the next big story.

CJL

Drunk people don't whisper

2010-05-20T11:23:00.001+09:00

ALWAYS ON DUTY?

Was talking to a friend a few days ago, she mentioned that she saw a cook from a Korean restaurant she has eaten at digging into his nose with his finger as he walked down the street. I'm sure the cook may say he was off-duty, but I think she should tell the people at the restaurant and that the guy should get fired. Of course, he may do such a thing when he is in the kitchen at the restaurant, but he should never let his customers see him do anything strange...

* * *

BASEBALL ANNOUNCER NAPS DURING GAME

I am not a baseball fan. I do love playing softball. But I haven't watched a baseball game in years. I just read about a baseball announcer falling asleep during a baseball game. He's paid to talk about baseball so I guess it should be a problem that he was sleeping on the job.

I haven't been to a baseball game since I was 12 years old. But I may go to a baseball game here in Korea.

1) Korean fans are GREAT at games. Not even dead people can sleep while they are cheering. I've only seen this at basketball games, but apparently the same thing happens at baseball games.

2) There are cheerleaders at baseball games in Korea. So that is a second reason I may go.

(Actually, the cheerleaders are the main reason I'd go to a Korean baseball game.)

* * *

DRUNK PEOPLE DON'T WHISPER

I stayed out all night last weekend, on a retreat. We drank a lot during the night. I finally went to sleep at 5:40 a.m. Actually, I wasn't sleepy, but I thought I should sleep. Several guys STILL didn't want to sleep, and they were talking so loudly.

This seems to be an international phenomenon. Drunk people don't whisper. Mind you, we were in a remote area, not a nightclub. I wonder...is it that drunk people lose their inhibitions, so they speak loudly? Or is it that the beer drowns their ears, so they speak louder so they can hear themselves?

* * *

DATING ADVICE

One of Yahoo's recently featured stories was: "10 Places You're Guaranteed to Meet Men."

The one that should be on the list, but isn't: A good place to meet men is wherever they happen to be standing or sitting.

*

A few years ago a friend of mine asked me where is a good place to meet women.

Here was the conversation:

Friend: I went to a wine-tasting last night but I didn't meet any women.

CJL: Since when did you start drinking wine?

Friend: I'm not a wine-drinker. But I heard that's a good place to meet women.

CJL: So why would you go to a place to meet women doing something you don't enjoy doing?

Friend: Because that's where women go. Women were there.

CJL: With that logic, you may want to open a nail business. Women go there to get their nails done. You do realize that if you meet a woman at a wine-tasting event that she may want to go there again in the future?

Friend: So where do you think I should go to meet women?

CJL: Why don't you meet the women at the places you enjoy going? Open your eyes to the women already around you. That way, you will have something in common with the women you meet.

*
I don't disagree with the title of the article, the author is correct that women can "meet" men at the places she listed. It doesn't mean the women who take her advice will be meeting men they have anything in common with. If the women don't enjoy going to Home Depot then it is a bad idea to meet a guy who enjoys going.

* * *

ANALYSIS VERSUS CONCLUSIONS

Over the years I have noticed that people can agree on analysis and disagree with their conclusions. An example is socialists and capitalists agreeing on problems--then coming to completely different conclusions about what should be done.

I've also noticed the opposite--people completely disagreeing in their analysis but still coming to the same conclusion. That happens on the issue of immigration.

I agree with a lot of what Walter E. Williams writes, but I typically disagree with him on one main issue: Immigration. Here's his latest column on immigration. He argued a few years ago in a TV interview that immigrants should be shot on sight.

He concludes his latest column: "Start strict enforcement of immigration law, as Arizona has begun. Strictly enforce border security. Most importantly, modernize and streamline our cumbersome immigration laws so that people can more easily migrate to our country."

I disagree with his analysis leading up to the conclusion, but strict enforcement of immigration (or any law)? Sure! Either the law should be on the books or it should be taken off the books. Otherwise, the law can be enforced at any time rather than enforced when violated. I also favor strict border security. And I agree with that the immigration laws should make it easier to migrate to America.

CJL

useless hoops history

2010-05-06T18:45:00.004+09:00

There's a breaking story about Joan Sloan, a backup player on an NCAA Division II team who has applied to play in the NBA.

I recall that Dick Whitmore, then a player at Brown University, did the same thing in 1989 as a junior at Brown. He also had a few minutes of fame.

CJL

Random Notes: Fastest Man in Korea

2010-05-03T08:05:00.000+09:00

Life after death...another thing I don't worry about

Saw a news article saying that there is new proof of life after death. I don't doubt it. It would be a pleasant surprise. I must admit that I'm more interested in life before death. This is the only ticket on the Life Train that I'm sure of, so I'll ride this one out until I hit the end of the line.

* * *

Except Resigning

Obama says consider everything in tackling debt

* * *

DELIVER DIRECTLY TO UNDERTAKER!

When I was applying for my current job in Korea, one of the job application questions asked if I had any tattoos. Of course, I wrote "no." But I will admit that from time to time I do think about getting a tattoo, or perhaps a series of tattoos. That's because of "presumed consent."

~~Some jackass~~ A New York assemblyman has introduced a bill aimed at making the state the first to presume people want to donate their organs unless they specifically say otherwise. People aren't willing to give up their organs for free so the lawmaker wants to just take them. There might even be some cash, $1,000, as compensation for them just taking your stuff. That is the equivalent of raping you in your bed, then leaving a small tip on the nightstand.

So I'm debating which of the tattoos I should get:

"Do not remove parts upon death."
"Presumed consent DENIED."
"Not to be Donated or Dismembered Without Payment in Advance."
"Keep Intact, especially after death in New York."
"Deliver Directly to Undertaker!"

I mean it, I will never go to New York again if they pass that law.

* * *

Does he need more time?

One of the triggermen in the assassination of Malcolm X just got out of the joint.

From the article:

Hagan declined to comment after his release.

"I really haven't had any time to gather my thoughts on anything," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

He hasn't had time in 45 years to gather his thoughts? Guess I was wrong when I said that criminals needed time to figure out the "root causes" of their crimes, then they could explain them after 20 to 30 years. If they can't even explain themselves, I won't try to figure them out, either.

* * *

Fastest Man in Korea...until Usain Bolt arrives

Koreans often seem to be in a hurry. The morning and afternoon commutes, however, don't begin to compare to the midnight rush to catch connecting trains. As lively as Seoul is, the subway system shuts down around midnight. Meaning, if you don't catch your connecting train by then that you a) take a taxi home b) wait for the buses or subway to start in the morning c) go to a bus stop and hope it is one that runs later.

Saturday night, I had that dilemma, and chose to catch my connecting train, then decide if I would stay out all night to meet a friend whose birthday party was still in progress. One day, I was Casey Cool. I walked while others ran. So I missed my connecting train, but I guess I looked cool doing it. Thankfully, there was a bus nearby so I didn't need to find out how much it would cost to get home. Saturday night, I ran. I outran everybody, even though I was carrying a laptop in a bag.

Usain Bolt will be running in Daegu, South Korea, later this year, so I guess I'm still the fastest man in Seoul.
(Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, unless I'm rushing to catch the train at midnight)

* * *

So this is not a political story?

I've seen a few headlines in the Korea Times about "foot-and-mouth" disease. I had assumed that it was about another politician sticking his foot in his mouth by saying something stupid.

CJL

Happy Earth Day! Please, die already

2010-04-22T00:33:00.003+09:00

I have a piece in today's Korea Times about overpopulation and Earth Day.

The intro:
"The annual Earth Day celebration (marking its 40th anniversary today) makes one point clear about the issue of overpopulation: There are too many people who think there are too many people."

The conclusion:
So we've reached another Earth Day, with life for the poor surpassing that of the affluent from yesteryear. Yet the dire warnings and demands continue. The unofficial kick off for Earth Day is Earth Hour, held in March, when people demonstrate their commitment to the environment by turning off their lights for one hour. Don Boudreaux of George Mason University suggests that Earth Hour's founders (the World Wildlife Fund) should ``create a special Lifetime Achievement Award for North Korea's Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il."

Why? North Korea celebrates ``Earth Hour" year around.

(2006 satellite photo of the Korean peninsula)

We can only speculate what that one light on in North Korea may be. Kim Jong-il watching his dancing girls perform?

Whatever the case may be, the photo is striking. Those of us in Seoul may sometimes regret the bustling activity. Cars everywhere. People everywhere. Bright lights on 24 hours a day. Seoul is crowded, not overpopulated. If things had gone differently in the 1950s, then we might be using candles as they still do in North Korea, wishing one day that we could have Neon Light Hour.

"Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?" --Lord Byron

2010-03-01T00:54:00.002+09:00

Frederick Douglass loved that quote. Booker T. Washington would say it sometimes, too.

I recently met two women from North Korea. That's right, that North Korea. I asked them many questions but held back somewhat. I suppose they still must be careful and I don't want them to think I'm a spy. Hey, I used to be a host on black talk radio, I was accused of many things then.

Plus, if North Koreans are trying to track those folks down I suppose the last thing they'd want would be to have their photos posted on a blog.

At some point I will write about meeting those ladies.

* * *

Yesterday I got interviewed by a Korean reporter about various political and social issues. After I confirm that my interview made it past the station's producers then I'll post the info here.

CJL

Foreigners? Come on in, and out the exit!

2010-02-15T18:41:00.014+09:00

I went to E-Mart (a large Korean grocery/department store). Bought a pair of earphones because the pair that came with my iPOD stopped working a few weeks ago. I just couldn't bring myself to buy another pair. That's because I have about 5 pairs of earphones back in storage in Virginia. It was getting kind of bad because I could only hear Ray Charles in the duet song, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Sounds good, but Ray can't carry the song alone...But the option was to spend $1,500 on a ticket to Virginia to get several pairs of earphones.

* * *

After E-Mart I stopped at a PC room to check my email.

Seemed okay when I first walked into the building. The name of the place is "Game Holic."

There's even a welcome mat at the front of the door of the place.

But....OOPS!

But wait...was it a grammatical problem? I don't mean "f" in "foreigner."

As in..."No! foreigner, please." Please, what? Please, come in?

In many cases, when Americans ask a question like, "Wouldn't you like to eat some ice cream," Americans will answer either, "Yes, I would," or "No, I wouldn't." Koreans would answer the opposite.

* * *

A few days ago in Suwon I stopped at a book store, with "Book Store" written in English on the side of the building. Imagine my surprise when I found only Korean books in a store with "Book Store" written on the side of the building. At least the sign wasn't written, "No! english books." Or would that mean that there were English books there?

* * *

At the PC room I wasn't in the mood to be Martin Luther King Jr., but I decided to walk in just to check their reaction. The employee on duty was playing a game, but he hopped up and rushed to me. Seemed nice enough, he was ready to seat me.

I've always admired those civil rights activists from the past who demanded to be served at all-white restaurants, knowing full well in many cases that the white employees would spit in their food. I asked the guy in Korean if they had a business card I could have but he said they didn't have any. So I decided to go to a different place. This one is named "Thank U". I did thank them when I came in...

* * *

Back during the mid-1990s there was a minor controversy in Itaewon (an area where a lot of non-Koreans live). There were various drinking establishments there that had competing "No foreigner" or "No Koreans Allowed" signs. A friend of mine at the time had his birthday party at one of the "No Koreans Allowed" places (I think it was called the Nashville Club). A Korean friend who joined at the last minute stopped in his tracks when he saw the sign, "No Koreans Allowed."

I told him, "No problem, we'll get you in." Actually, I didn't know about the sign before we arrived, but was willing to raise a ruckus to get him into the place. I've always been a libertarian at heart recognizing the rights of owners to prohibit undesirable customers, but I also recognize that it isn't unlibertarian to make an argument to owners that I'll do everything I can to embarrass them if they don't change their ways.

So at that time at the Nashville I didn't mind playing Martin Luther King Jr.--or in that case, the late Pee Wee Reese (the Dodgers white shortstop who wrapped his arm around Jackie Robinson at a time other players avoided him).

I was ready for a battle...instead, we got a welcome mat that wasn't pulled under our feet. We walked in, sat down, and ordered food and drinks. We were both surprised to see so many Koreans inside. I later learned that the sign was (allegedly) put there to keep groups of Korean males from entering the place and harassing Korean females hanging out with non-Koreans. So it may be that the place today would let me in by myself, meaning the sign should have been written, "No! korean, please."

* * *

CJL

Things I love about Korea!

2010-01-12T21:23:00.003+09:00

Okay, so readers of Lonely Planet say that Seoul is a lousy city. The New York Times says it is a great city to visit.

How do you choose sides when two idiots disagree? How can you tell who is telling the truth when two liars tell different stories?

* * *

I was on the subway the other day when I began writing a list of things I love about Korea. This is not a final list, by the way.

* The tax rate is 3.3%. That's right. 3.3%. Not 33.3%.

* Even better, I won't have to go through the April 15 IRS game. The government here just TAKES the money. They don't force to also send in forms by a certain date.

* Every company working with Western employees seems to have a manager who will show up when called on a Friday night to help you when your heating system stops working. On the other hand, he is also likely to get you stranded on the highway when his van runs out of gas. (Yes, both things happened recently.)

* The seats on subway line 4 are heated. The next time my heating system at home stops working I may just ride up and down line 4.

* People can look at themselves in a mirror without others thinking they are strange. Many Koreans in fact do this. There seems to be mirrors everywhere. One thing I've noticed is that Korean women seem to enjoy taking photos of themselves, especially when they are seated at cafes or donut shops.

* You can slurp your food without people staring at you. You can even pick up your bowl and drink from it. Americans (at least others I've eaten cereal with) seem to do the same thing but for some reason Americans here think it is strange when Koreans do that with noodles.

* Koreans are eager to meet, greet, and host non-Koreans, especially those who are from Western countries.

* Singing rooms. In some areas there are singing rooms on every corner. I recently went singing in a ritzy part of town for about $9 an hour.

* Seoul seems to be the Swing Dance Capital of the world!

* Koreans will praise me for saying very simple things such as "hello" in Korean.

* One of the best things in the world is a Korean friend who is concerned with how you are doing in Korea.

* Cell reception is great everywhere, apparently for every type of cell service. The downside is that cell reception is great everywhere, meaning you need a good excuse for not answering the phone.

* Korea is extremely safe.

* Tipping is not allowed or expected. I've never enjoyed tipping, it should be enough that I return.

* * *

Things I don't like about Korea? I've only been back for a few weeks. Check back in about 6 months.

CJL

Random stuff from the Korea Times

2010-01-09T17:10:00.003+09:00

U.S. Black Activists Launch Attack on Cuba

According to the L.A. Times, published in today's Korea Times: Before Obama, "no human rights groups, which largely come from the left, wanted to be seen as lackeys for George W. Bush," said Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy for the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.

Cornel West, Ruby Dee, Melvin Van Peebles and the others who signed the statement should condemn Sabatini for saying such a thing!

1) This is a teachable moment: Say what you think is right, regardless of who agrees or disagrees with you.

2) Will the statement will do any good? I doubt it. Is it late? Certainly. If it will do any good then it may have been even more powerful years ago.

3) Not that I paid attention to them before, but if it is true that they didn't want to be Bush's lackeys, then everything those black activists said about Cuba before 2008 should be disregarded.

4) To paraphrase Golda Meir: They hated Bush more than they loved black Cubans.

4) Edmund Burke is often credited with saying: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." Burke should have added: Or wait until someone you like is in office to get the courage to say something.

* * *

Korea Times: "Blizzard Creates Additional Odd Jobs."

1) That which is not seen: This article reveals a big difference between journalists and economists. Journalists observe and write about the obvious. Economists (usually) analyze that which is not always obvious, examine the long-term consequences of policies and actions.

2) Invisible victims: The Korea Times reporter, no doubt, is correct that some jobs were created. At what cost? There was probably much more economic activity that was delayed or prevented because of the blizzard. By the way, in this regard, policymakers are more like journalists in that they focus on the obvious immediate benefits rather than long-term negative consequences.

3) Negative economic substitution: So one person quoted in the article was paying 7,000 won (about $5.50) an hour to get someone to shovel snow. If not for the blizzard, perhaps he could have spent that 7,000 won on something else, creating economic activity elsewhere that a reporter would not notice?

4) Apparently a good way to improve an economy is to have more blizzards. Just imagine how many odd jobs could be created if it snowed every day for the next 6 months! Snow removal could become a permanent job.

* * *

Korea Times: Teacher Evaluation Program Starts From March

A beautiful thing about free markets: Customers make evaluations, not bureaucrats or experts. They are not perfect, of course. But the decisions are made based on who shows up, not what a former Minister of Education thinks.

* * *

Korea Times: Seoul Disputes Lonely Planet's 'Least Favorite City' Label

I didn't realize the travel guide Lonely Planet was still being published. I was a contributor to one of its editions about a decade or so ago. I assumed it died after that.

Based on feedback from readers, it has named Seoul one of its least favorite cities.

Seoul has responded quickly, apparently much faster than it does at cleaning snow off the ground.

1) I haven't done a survey, but I suspect Seoul would easily be named the least favorite cities of Seoulites.

2) Seoul is a great place to live but you wouldn't want to visit.

* * *

Experts: Cold Snap Doesn't Disprove Global Warming

Of course it doesn't. That would be real news if it did.

Okay, I'll play along. So what would disprove global warming? It is the ultimate heads-I-win, tails-you-lose game. Hot weather proves global warming is occurring (heads), cold weather doesn't disprove it (tails). In the 1970s, it was global cooling. Then it became global warming. Now it has become climate change.

So, what, in the eyes of those experts, could disprove global warming/climate change?

* * *

I usually don't mention the Korea Herald because it hides its links. But today's newspaper has a staff editorial: KORUS FTA in limbo.

Some people who know me wonder why I have lost interest in politics.

I remember, in late 1993, in Seoul, being handed a flyer by a wide-eyed college student who was greatly upset that the U.S. was using GATT to force open the Korean rice market. I asked her what she thought I should do about it.

Now, 17 years later, the free trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea is in limbo. I suppose I could have spent the last 17 years becoming an expert about free trade between the two countries.

CJL

Foreign Food + People

2010-01-02T20:33:00.006+09:00

A few days ago one of my coworkers mentioned that we were all going to an Indian restaurant on Friday night. Obviously, I wasn't present when this was discussed and the final decision was made. I didn't fuss about it because they said we'd sing after dinner...

* * *

I have eaten all types of food. In particular, I love Chinese and Korean food. I have eaten Korean and Chinese food so many times that I no long consider them to be “foreign" food. I think they should be among the food groups…bread, meat, vegetables, Chinese food, Korean food.

So most food is not foreign to me. Food is food. I don’t care which country it was first eaten. Either I enjoy it or I don’t.

But there is one exception: Indian food. It is still foreign to me.

Foreign, as in, from now on I am going to eat a snack before going to eat Indian food.

Foreign, as in, I may eat at a different restaurant and meet up with friends and coworkers later.

Foreign, as in, next time I will just drink water as others eat.

Foreign, as in, I will never move to India.

* * *

Most Indian food tastes bland to me. It may not be the food's fault. As I now say about politics, I don't have a particular label, I'm just an extremist, and extremely proud of it. When it comes to food, I like food that is at an extreme.

When I go to a new restaurant, I'm usually looking for the most extreme item on the menu. If there is goat on the menu then I'm trying it. Rabbit? Sorry, rabbit, I guess your foot wasn't lucky for you. Dog on the menu? Ruff!

* * *

I like food that is really salty. Or really sweet. Or really bitter. I guess that's one reason Sweet & Sour Pork or Chicken sounds good even before I start eating. I like food that is at an extreme.

The one exception is really spicy food. Yes, that means there are some Korean dishes I avoid, but can still eat the spicy stuff when there are no other options.

But Indian food? Most of it tastes bland. The fancier the restaurant, the blander it is. Bland is not an extreme. What I can taste doesn’t taste good. I don't recall ever eating cardboard, but I have the feeling it would taste about the same as Indian food dipped in sauce. In fact, the only acceptable Indian food I've tasted are the sauces covering the food. Perhaps I should just eat the sauce next time?

Curry is fine, but it has to cover up the main dish. Last night's Shrimp pag Curry had potential. But that was all it had, potential.

I'm not saying Indian food is terrible, okay? Terrible is an extreme and bland can't be extreme. I'm just saying that I feel like I have wasted my money when I eat Indian food. 15,500 won (about $13) of mine is gone forever.

I would have been better off mailing the money to a homeless person in America.

* * *

It isn't that I haven't tried various Indian dishes. I have tried Indian food with names I’ve never heard of…I’ve tried Indian food with some of my favorites, such as shrimp. It doesn’t matter. The best Indian food I've had is instant Curry out of a box.

Perhaps the cardboard added to the taste?

* * *

Last night, I felt like I was in church when I was a youngster. I remember that we had to sit through the minister’s sermon, sing, then we could have ice cream or other things we really wanted to eat. But last night, the world was again turned upside.

I ate food I didn’t like before I could sing.

I should have punished my coworkers by delivering a sermon on Indian food being the only foreign food in the world.

* * *

Speaking of foreign, I've heard another non-Korean in Korea complain about Koreans referring to non-Koreans as 외국인. It doesn't bother me one way or the other, I haven't been excited about such semantics since the great African American or black debate of the early 1990s. As you may have noticed, I still use black.

My question for the complaining foreigner: What would you prefer? Not all non-Koreans in Korea are Americans. Many Canadians, Brits, and Australians get upset when Koreans refer to them as Americans. Would Westerner (서양인) be more palatable? Non-Korean?

The complaint may have merit, but the best complaints come with alternative suggestions.

It was always funny to me, by the way, to hear Koreans in America referring to Americans as foreigners. In America!

* * *

I don't think I've ever really thought of food as being foreign. Still, I did LOL the first time I ever saw a dog eating noodles. I hadn't been in Taiwan for very long. I was eating at a friend's home. I remember that the dog was, like all dogs, begging for food. Then, the mom put the noodles on a plate or in a bowl and fed them to the dog.

I don't know why I thought it was so funny. But then, I thought: Dogs in America would eat noodles if someone put them on a plate, in a bowl, on the floor, wherever. Dogs don't care about the national origin of food or its presentation. A dog in Taiwan won't frown about noodles or American beef. Does it like it or not is the test.

A dog, if it could cook, might have some preferences, but 99 percent of the time, it will probably eat whatever it is given when it is hungry.

I don't cook either, by the way, so that may explain my apathy about where food comes from. I'm just happy to be eating...

* * *

I’m sure I amazed my coworkers last night. My Korean isn’t that great, I haven’t tried speaking it to them. I’m very serious at the office, very little joking around. But last night? I sang reggae, love ballads, hip-hop, Korean songs. Yes, I was great. For once, I wasn't the only one who thought so.

By the end of the night, after I sang a few Korean songs, the Korean women there started chanting, “오빠! 오빠!”. Hard to translate, the literal meaning is “big brother,” but in that context, it is like chanting for a hero or superstar.

Even I started to believe I was singing well when I had those Korean women chanting and cheering me.

If they had done that a few more times I probably would have paid the entire bill for the night. I was already feeling happy enough that I was willing to forgive them for taking me to an Indian restaurant.

CJL

Stuff I've learned/observed/experienced

2009-12-31T19:30:00.006+09:00

I've been back in Korea for a little more than a week. Here's some random stuff.

* * *

If there's a line forming, then stand it. You won't regret it even if you don't want to be in the line. You never know when an entire elementary school of kids may show up. A colleague of mine who didn't take my advice dallied about for a few minutes. Suddenly, a million Korean kids showed up. He got back in line, but far enough that I needed binoculars to see him. Thankfully, the lines in Korea go quickly, so he ate about 15 minutes after I did.

* * *

My favorite sandwich shop opens at 10 a.m. I learned that a few days ago at 8:30 a.m., after walking 15 minutes out of the way to eat there.

* * *

I saw one of the directors at my job wearing a mask over his nose and mouth. Does he know something I don't know?

* * *

As a foreigner in Korea, I often must trust the Koreans around me. My colleagues helped me set up my bank account. I was standing there, with my documents out in the open for anyone, along with my allegedly secret password that seemed to be available for public information.

People show up at my apartment saying they need to take me somewhere. I do ask them questions about who they are just to confirm that I'm not being shipped off to China.

I should blog more often just so someone will notice if I have gone missing.

* * *

It snowed a lot a few days ago. It snowed the day after I arrived. Before I left D.C. I was slip sliding around in 16 inches of snow.

I hate snow. But I already knew that.

* * *

There is occasionally miscommunication between Koreans and non-Koreans. The more I understand Korean, the more I see that there is plenty of miscommunication between Koreans, too.

That would be fine if it didn't involve me. But I had another example...a manager rushed to me, saying I had to be at the main office at 4:40 p.m. today. At about 5:10, after I asked many times in Korean and English why I needed to be there, the manager apologized that I didn't need to be there.

I knew that, too.

* * *

Drivers can run red lights here at small intersections, as long as there are not pedestrians present, and as long as there aren't other cars speeding through the green light. Unfortunately, jaywalking is also rampant, meaning bad things happen at some intersections at which both drivers and pedestrians don't pay attention to signs and lights.

* * *

The ATM machine I went to earlier today was bilingual (Korean and English). There may have been other languages, I forgot to check.

I was just happy to be able to do stuff with my money in English. I hate guessing, wondering if the button I'm pushing means that I'm transferring my money to someone else's account.

* * *

A bad thing about banks here...a Korean friend of mine told me earlier today that they charge customers a fee for withdrawing money from an ATM. That's even when the bank is closed and you don't have an option to go directly to a live teller.

If there's a user fee, it should be for seeing a live person, not an ATM machine that is available 24/7.

* * *

Not every Korean is generous. The guy who picked me up at the airport not only did not offer me and the other pickup anything to eat, but he also proceeded to eat a Korean snack as he drove. He was munching away.

He did arrange for food later before we stopped for the night at a remote location. He dropped us off at a 7-11.

* * *

GPS machines in Korea warn drivers when they have gone several kilometers over the speed limit in an area with speed cameras. The damn sound can get so loud that you slow down just to shut it up. In comparison, radar detectors in America are almost always illegal. I guess the point here is really to get people to stop speeding, not to collect money for the city.

* * *

I also love the gas stations over here. Stopped at one with a colleague a few days ago. Apparently every gas station in South Korea is full-service. I've never seen customers pump their own gas.

The receipt shows customers that 10% of the money collected was a tax.

They serve canned coffee at some gas stations. Of course, the coffee snobs won't like that.

* * *

Drivers in Seoul are bad. I hate them.

The only thing I hate more than the drivers in Seoul are the drivers outside of Seoul.

CJL

linked by Booker Rising,

Update: Thomas Sowell was interviewed by Walter E. Williams on the show. I'll listen to it and mention their main points.

Man of the Year (again)!

2009-12-31T19:24:00.003+09:00

I noticed that Booker Rising's readers have named Thomas Sowell the site's Bookerista of the Year. Well-deserved, to be sure.

I just held snap elections. I have been named Person of the Year of my blog. That has happened every year I've had this thing. Even when I forgot to hold elections I retroactively held elections and won.

Reasons my award means more:

1) Sowell would never show up at a Booker Rising conference to accept the award.
2) Because I've blogged regularly from both Korea and America, that means I've been Person of the Year on two different continents.

* * *

Thomas Sowell's longtime partner in crime, Walter E. Williams, will be hosting the Rush Limbaugh Show December 31.

CJL

Who can spit in the face of a country that is smiling?

2009-12-26T09:38:00.008+09:00

Christmas eve, after arriving in South Korea the night before, I joined a group of Americans, Canadians, Brits and Koreans at a party in Seoul. During one of the stops, I disappeared for a few minutes to check my email at a PC room (PC방). They are very popular places customers can use a computer for about 70 cents an hour.

The problem is that I barely got to do much on the computer the other night. One of the guys working at the place treated me like I was about to write him a one-million dollar check (that would not bounce). Most PC rooms provide customers with a drink, such as iced coffee. Not only did he bring me the customary iced coffee, but also a package of cookies. Then, as I tried to check my email, he peppered me with questions about where I'm from, how long I would be in Korea, etc. It was a mixture of Korean and English, as the customers nearby watched, clearly amused.

Then, because it was Christmas Eve, I seemed to give him an early present. I asked him if I could take a photo with him.

I'm surprised he didn't ask me to wait so he could go get a haircut.

* * *

According to a former student of mine, there's an old Korean saying: Who can spit in the eye of a man who is smiling? It seems funny considering that Koreans are not known for smiling. Back when I was in Korea in the 1990s, I was told by Koreans not to be upset by unsmiling Koreans. Many people used to be taught that a big smile was a sign of stupidity.

As I noted a few months ago, a university in South Korea was even setting a Smile Clinic.

* * *

On the way home at the end of the night, waiting for the metro, there were some Americans cursing and complaining about Korea. I guess they were American. Definitely black in their skin color, and black in the Shakespearean sense of the word. They weren't listing specific grievances. Just cursing and complaining about what a lousy country Korea is. I asked a Korean guy in my small group if Koreans would be willing to start up a Deportation Fund to help such people get back home. He was ready to reach into his own pocket to get the fund going.

People have gripes about wherever they are, I know. There just seems to be something uncouth about complaining on the subway while using language that would make a sailor blush.

It is much better to do that type of thing on a blog.

* * *

A few minutes later, on the subway, three white guys got on, complaining and cursing in English like they were rap stars on the way to an audition. Mostly, they were complaining in graphic language about not being able to meet more Korean women, about Korean women being prudes. I did my best to ignore them. My colleague, a very proper Brit, noticed that the seats across from them were vacant.

I said there was a good reason no one was sitting across from them.

* * *

Even some of my new acquaintances acted like knuckleheads during the night. At one point, when we were walking down the street, they grabbed some of the New Year's Eve poppers that were on a table in front of a bakery and started setting them off. The store owners probably hadn't imagined that someone would just GRAB the items and set them off.

Of course, it startled some of the people we walked past. I grabbed a few of the unpopped ones to return the bakery. I did my best to apologize in Korean to the Koreans who had their stuff stolen, explaining that those guys were drunk.

Some people might think I've gone native and overly apologetic. Some have previously suggested that, as a black person in Korea, I should try to be a credit to my race.

Not yet. At heart, I'm a guy who has always believed it is wrong to take other people's stuff without their permission.

I'm a credit to myself. If I happen to be a credit to my race when it is in my interest then I suppose that is a bonus for the world...

* * *

We did make many Koreans smile. Early in the night, on our way to the Christmas Eve party, my British colleague mentioned that he could not read in Korean. So I proceeded to teach him the basics of learning to read in Korean. I suppose that it was a funny scene: A native English speaker teaching another native English speaker how to read in Korean. I can be quite demonstrative when I'm teaching. At one point, I even stood up, pointing at a couple of the words on the subway train to show him that he would be able to read almost anything.

He was really pleased that I had successfully taught him a couple of words. A young Korean man was so enraptured with our impromptu class that he almost fell over into my colleague's lap. He got off a few stops earlier, smiling as he left.

When I stumbled with a bit of the pronunciation, I then asked the Korean man who then sat down in the other guy's place to help out. He was delighted to do so. When he got off the train, he wished us well in our time in Korea, smiling like he had also received a good million dollar check.

* * *

The impromptu Korean class continued through the night, including after my colleague got the munchies. So we stopped at a Korean restaurant. Again, I demonstrated to him that he'd be able to read anything by pointing to words on the menu on the wall. Just about all of the Koreans in the restaurant were watching me as I was teaching him. A Korean friend with us was absolutely loving it, and not just because he was still a bit drunk.

He said he was amazed, he wondered if I had ever taught Korean before and if I could actually speak better than I had been saying.

CJL

"One-man crime wave" crashes

2009-12-20T22:24:00.000+09:00

A friend of mine called me a few days ago. He was sad when he heard about the death of Chris Henry, the football player who died a few days ago in a domestic dispute with the mother of his three children. People don't like to speak ill of the dead so I can understand his concern, as well as those of bloggers. Some people who are saying nice things about Henry never heard of him until they had heard he had died.

The main point of the nice comments has been that Henry had been trying to turn his life around.

Here's the part of the story that adds some context. It is from a 911 call by a woman who was following the truck Henry was on shortly before he expired:

"It's got a black man on it with no shirt on, and he's got his arm in a cast and black pants on," she told a dispatcher. "He's beating on the back of this truck window. ... I don't know if he's trying to break in or something. It just looks crazy. It's a girl driving it."

If Henry had not been arrested five times or been suspended by the NFL for half a season (which is known for being lenient with players) then I might be more sympathetic. Henry, who was called a "one-man crime wave" by a judge, crashed to reality a few days ago.

Kids often look up to athletes as role models. With that in mind, I'd like to suggest a few lessons to be learned from Henry's case:

1) You should not try to resolve your domestic problems with violence. After all, your fiancee may keep driving. You may fall off the back of the truck and hit your head on the ground. A better strategy when your fiancee is driving off in the truck? Wave at the truck, and say a cute rhyme, such as, "goodbye truck, goodbye fiancee, I'll live another day."

2) Stories about turning your life around should not include a report that you are beating on the back of a truck being driven by your fiancee. It undercuts your credibility.

3) A lot of women are bad drivers so you should not beat on the back of a truck as a woman is driving. If she doesn't want you in the truck then get a ride with a different woman.

4) On the bright side, if you at least say you were turning your life around there will always be people to defend you.

CJL

Baby, It's Climate Change outside

2009-12-20T22:21:00.006+09:00

Back in the day when I was a student, I wondered why homeless people stayed in cold climates. If you're going to be homeless, why not be homeless somewhere warm?

I guess it should have been self-evident...if you have made decisions that have landed you on the street then you probably won't make decisions putting yourself anywhere except on a better street corner nearby.

I remember arguing to some people who called themselves homeless advocates that instead of sleeping overnight with homeless people to show they cared, that they'd help the homeless more by helping them move to the deep south for the winter.

After trudging through the snow yesterday in D.C. and Virginia,, I'm sorry I didn't set up such a program so I could apply to be moved to Florida or Texas.

I mean, if even a bird with a tiny brain knows to move deep south for the winter, then why am I still living in a cold weather climate?

* * *

I'm not following political issues that much these days, but...

I have noticed that global warming has become climate change. It is a sleight-of-hand move that I won't go along with. During the 1970s there were warnings that there was a chance we'd have global cooling. That morphed into global warming. Then it became a little tough to explain how the same problem could lead to either warming or cooling.

So...Viola! Abracadabra! Cover your eyes! Cover your brain! Forget what we were saying! Global warming+global cooling=climate change.

The tremendous snow should be a rude reminder that humans have very little control over the climate or weather. Even if we wanted to make it snow 27 inches over a large area in just a day, could we get it done? Could we stop it? I assume we can't stop it because if we could then I would not have been slip sliding around yesterday.

* * *

Yes, I ignored the repeated warnings to stay home yesterday. At least I did (make that, could) not drive.

There were no taxis on the street. I walked for five minutes to the metro--I saw one car moving, slowly. There were very few people on the street. The mall I went to last night was a ghost town.

How bad were things?

Even the Chinese restaurant at the mall ran out of food!

Even the McDonald's near my home was closed!

I bet even the hookers were home on a Friday night!

McDonald's closed? Chinese restaurants running out of food?

The only other time I've seen things like this, with so few people out, with so many restaurants closed? I went to New Orleans a few months after Katrina devastated the city. But that was not a natural disaster, at least according to the conspiracy theorists who thought it was part of former president Bush's plan to destroy the city and eliminate black people.

* * *

linked by pengram, Booker Rising,

* * *

Ray Charles & Betty Carter - Baby It's Cold Outside

Is Our Education Reporters Learning?

2009-12-04T07:21:00.014+09:00

Yesterday I went to the Brookings Institution for a policy forum, No Reader Left Behind: Improving Media Coverage of Education, celebrating the release of the report, "Invisible: 1.4 Percent Coverage for Education is Not Enough."

The main point of the paper: The media doesn't write about education enough and when they do they tend to write about non-education topics.

* * *

A few random thoughts and comments:

* The authors say that 1.4% is not enough. But what is a better or more palatable percentage? If they had announced that 3.3 or 5.2% of stories were about education then those numbers might also seem small.

Whenever someone introduces a shocking or dire statistic without comparing it to another number, I'm reminded of the economist who was asked, "How's your wife," and he answered, "Compared to what?" So 1.4% is not enough...compared to what?

* If 1.4% is too not enough, then could someone please explain why I have had to set up a folder filter for all of the friendly people sending me links to education articles and blogs? Anyone who wants to read about education all day long can do so. I used to do that back when I was at Cato and Fight For Children. I'm not paid to do so anymore so I am free to ignore the stories just as my fellow citizens do. But really, if education is your interest then you can spend your day going through education stories and if you have more free time then you can read the original studies rather than just the reports.

* I'm not convinced that there is a demand for more education coverage. I really do wish that someone with access to website hits of newspapers would have been on the panel to tell us if 1.4% of the hits on their sites were to education articles. People may say they want to read more education articles, but they also say they want to lose weight and do many other things they never plan on doing.

* The authors did raise a good point that too many education stories are about non-education issues. On page 8 of the report they demonstrate that the most common stories were on school finance/budget cutbacks, politics in education, H1N1 or heath, the economic stimulus package.

Good point.

My question: Do they believe that more coverage would be on education related issues? As the old saying goes, if it bleeds, it leads. There would probably be more in-depth stories about budgets and political issues.

* One reason there isn't much of a demand for national education stories: People tend to personalize education. Quick anecdote here: Back when I was a guest host then later a host on XM Radio, I did a few education-focused shows. Most of the people who called in did so to discuss their own kids, not national stories. Those stories just don't seem to resonate in education. No Child Left Behind or a cut in the soccer program at your school? Most people want to discuss the soccer program.

Thankfully, I didn't try to have an education focused show, I might not have lasted the first month.

* E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post (he's stage left) highlighted recommendation #5 from the report: "Reporters should draw on education research in the way that health care reporters use medical research." Sounds good but it won't happen.

a) If there is a new medical innovation, cure, or some form of cosmetic surgery then you can go to a doctor to get it done, sometimes immediately. But if there's something new in education then can you go to your local school and ask them to put that in the curriculum? Much education research ends up being esoteric battles over ideological differences about what a proper education should be (and most people can't even define what they mean by "education") whereas with medical research there are clear outcomes.

b) I'm not a doctor but it does seem that there is some settled science. Disputes, of course, but has a doctor tried to put leeches on you recently? With education is there an issue the late Gerald Bracey and Chester Finn would have agreed about--and for the same reasons? School uniforms, sex ed, school prayer, home schooling, teacher training, vouchers, diversity, testing, charters, etc., etc., etc. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw--you could line up all of the education researchers in a line and they still wouldn't come to a conclusion.

* The speakers mentioned that the education beat needs to become more valuable or respected. Right now, it is a stepping stone for many reporters. The case of Jay Mathews of the Washington Post was cited.

But journalists skip around different beats. That's expected! They are supposed to know something about everything and apparently have experience covering just about every beat as they rise in the world of journalism. Jay Mathews was a reporter for 17 years and the author of 3 books on China before he wrote his first book on education. He has written 10 books, just 3 or 4 of which are about education. Certainly there are some who stay on one beat but there are many more who bounce around.

* The speakers discussed the lack of access to classrooms. I was tempted to get up and yell, "You lie." It is the eternal Groucho Marx contradiction of journalism. Marx (or W.C. Fields, or Oscar Wilde, or Woody Allen) said he would never be a member of a club that would have him as a member. On the one hand, journalists often complain about everybody and their momma begging them to write about them and their organization. On the other hand, journalists complain that they don't have access to particular organizations or people.

Journalists don't like to go places they have been invited. They want to go places where they must go undercover. I mentioned to a couple of the speakers and journalists who discussed the lack of access to classrooms as a barrier to education coverage that there are at least 40 charter schools in D.C. that I could lead them on tours on as soon as they were ready to go. Based on my visits to charter schools, they are desperate to tell their stories, to show people what they are doing. I say that as someone who is not an enthusiastic supporter of charter schools. I also mentioned that there is a for-profit education center I recently visited. The school leaders claim in their brochure literature that they have on average raised SAT scores 362 points. I invited the journalists at the event to visit there, too. There certainly should be some interest in people producing such good results.

They weren't interested.

It has been said, What someone wants you to publish is advertising; everything else is news. Journalists aren't interested in visiting places they get invited.

The mistake I made was in taking those journalists seriously. If I had mentioned a problem with the budgets of those schools or education centers then they might have been interested. That, after all, is what the panelists were complaining gets too much coverage...

CJL

"Is our children learning?"
--George W. Bush

Update: Got a comment from a health policy expert who notes that medical research is as bad as education research. I have the feeling this will quickly become a "your field is worse than my field" discussion...

Update #2: Linked by This Week in Education.
Update #3: Linked by Inner Education for Inward Educators.
JProffit concludes: "I think a series profiling the school climates of an inner city school, a middle-class school, and affluent school, and an inner city charter could provide great discussion."

That's a fine idea, but a "series" sounds too serious. In addition to points I've already made about readers not really being interested in such topics and reporters not showing up where they've been invited:

1) Been there, covered that: I'm sure every newspaper can cite such a series that has previously been done. It could have been 10 or 20 years ago, but if they've done such a series and anyone at the paper with institutional memory argues that no one read it then, either, then they won't see the need to do another. Plus, haven't there already been books done by researchers and reporters visiting schools? Overall, such books praise those schools while adding some caveats.

2) Who's gonna pay for it? In an age of declining revenues and subscribers, newspapers don't seem to be that interested in a long series that take reporters off the daily beat.

3) Reverse the relationship: Educators need to understand reporters. How do newspapers make decisions about what to cover? That seems to be a mystery to educators (and, I'll add, probably a lot of reporters, too). A lot of educators and researchers, including those at the Brookings discussion that got this conversation started, seem to think that reporters and newspapers write stories based on the public interest and what it is that people want or need to read. Seems to make sense to outsiders, but what do the people working for newspapers think about that as they are putting out a daily paper?

Case Closed on Tiger

2009-12-03T21:06:00.012+09:00

A friend of mine read my comment about the prospect of me being chased out of the house at 2 a.m. by a woman armed with a baseball bat. His comment: "So, instead of Casey at the Bat, it would be Casey Fleeing the Bat?"

* * *

Tiger Woods has paid his fine for being a bad driver. He should stop releasing statements admitting to anything, even if videos or pix get released. Better to have reporters shouting questions at him rather than feeding the media frenzy.

* * *

Yesterday I heard Charles Barkley recommending that Woods "be a man" and address the media. That's the same Charles Barkley who told police he was speeding because he was in a hurry to get a blowjob. As he explained to police, the reason he had run a stop sign: "You want the truth? I was gonna drive around the corner and get a blow job."

Barkley will say anything. It isn't surprising he would advise others to do the same.

A media person on TV this morning suggested Woods should quickly admit to everything, perhaps even hold a press conference. Of course a media person would want such a thing.

Woods should take a lesson from Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina who is barely holding onto his political career. So admitting transgressions will stop the media frenzy, right? Then who were those reporters flying south of the border to smoke the woman out?

* * *

A friend of mine keeps telling me that what Tiger Woods does in his marriage is not anyone's business. I agree with him. I have noticed, however, that my friend knows even more details about this case than I do. I am getting most of my Tiger Woods updates from him.

* * *

A female friend of mine says that Tiger Woods' wife should not have "gone ghetto" on him. Any woman who marries someone rich and famous like Tiger Woods should expect such a man to stray.

That sounds like a good position but I would just recommend that the couple agree on that in advance. I know that I would have married Tiger Woods and agreed in advance that he could cheat...

* * *

I'm in a three-way conversation about Tiger Woods.

Person A: The media should investigate Tiger Woods and report about his alleged affairs. This is yet another example of a cheating professional athlete/celebrity.

Person B: Not even the police should have asked Tiger Woods questions. It was his home, no one was complaining.

CJL: The police should at least knock on the door to ask questions when there is a chance of abuse or violence. But once it is determined that everyone is okay and no one wants to press charges, then the cops should move on (which, according to police, is what they usually want to do).

CJL

Tiger Woods

2009-11-30T20:24:00.009+09:00

"I don't care what people do as long as they don't do it in the streets and scare the horses."
--attributed to many people

* * *

And, I'll add, as long as you don't run over a fire hydrant and into a tree.

Wow, the Tiger Woods story is amazing. The speculation is even more amazing.

I might as well as jump in, too.

1) Should Tiger talk to the police? Just do what is legally mandated. If I were Tiger Woods I would just give my name, rank, and serial number.

2) I doubt that we'll ever get the real story. We might find out he is not the tiger in his own family.

3) A man running out of his house at 2 a.m. in the morning? If you heard about me running out of the house at 2 a.m. from a woman who just happened to have a baseball bat, wouldn't you think I was probably up to no good?

4) I don't care about Tiger Woods and his wife. They don't want to talk, there is no proof of abuse. But once you end up lying in the street after running over a fire hydrant and hitting a tree? Then suddenly I am very interested in your domestic life. If that happened to one of my neighbors then I would want the police to get an explanation to prevent that from happening again.

5) Of course, there is great irony in Tiger Woods possibly getting chased by his wife while she was armed with a golf club.

6) Whatever happened, Tiger needs to protect his image. As Mark Twain has been quoted as saying: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt." In Tiger's case, it is better to let people speculate about what happened rather than to turn state's evidence.

CJL

Stop! Charleston time!

2009-11-29T01:28:00.019+09:00

People who watch me dance (at clubs, parking lots in Korea, karaoke bars, anywhere there's enough space for me to turn) are often surprised to learn that I didn't know how to dance until I was a sophomore or junior in college. Up to then, I had been a reliable wallflower. If there was a wall that needed to be held up at a dance party so that it would not fall on the dancers then people could call on me.

I had the ability to stand with my back against a wall for hours without moving.

* * *

I still remember the day I learned how to dance. I had gone to a party but hadn't danced. I was incredibly shy then so that didn't help. I had never drunk alcohol and wasn't interested in starting. The music was so loud that I couldn't really talk. So, as I stood there, I thought to myself that it was really kind of pointless for me to be there if the wall was already secure.

I've always been an all-or-nothing person. I decided that I would learn to dance--or drop out of college until I learned. Thankfully, I didn't do that. I might still be a sophomore at Harvard.

I'm sure that my exit interview with my academic advisers would have been quite interesting:

Ms. Spreadbury: So, Casey, you're saying you're dropping out of college because you haven't learned how to dance yet?
Casey: That's right. There is really no point in me being here if I'm just holding up the walls during dances. It seems I should be getting paid for such labor. So I will go out and work for real.

* * *

After another party of not dancing, I remember being at home the next day. I turned on my boom box, got out my favorite music of that time (Prince, New Edition and Patrice Rushen), and danced for about four hours in front of a mirror. Like magic, I could dance. Even I thought I looked smooth as I danced at college parties. I even looked natural.

* * *

One of my favorite memories from this past summer in Seoul was one of the nights I had gone out singing and drinking with my American and Korean co-workers. One of the Korean employees, an assistant manager, clearly admired my ability to dance while I sang. After he had enough to drink that particular night he decided that he wanted to try. So I was teaching him various hip-hop moves (from the 1980s and early 1990s) as we cued up every hip-hop song.

He was dancing like it was 1989!

After our group finished drinking and singing, the assistant manager called a driver to drop me off and then to drive him and his wife home. As we waited, he was still in the mood to dance. So, in the parking lot, he insisted that we dance some more. So there we were, at a parking lot at 2 or 3 in the morning, doing variations of MC Hammer's Running Man.

We had a great time! After that, he constantly addressed me as "my master" whenever the topic of going out singing and dancing came up.

I enjoy that type of dancing and still do. But I'm reminded of something Ray Charles said about singing rap music: Man, I don't respect nothing I could do when I was 12 years old.

Okay, so I was 20 when I finally learned how to dance...

* * *

Although I enjoy dancing to hip-hop, rap, top-40s, reggae, I've secretly wanted to learn how to dance to swing. That type of dancing--swing--has always looked cool to me. I loved the music before I was aware that there was a particular dance style attached to it. I wasn't aware that I could take classes to learn. It wasn't until graduate school that I actually tried to dance swing. But it seemed that I would need some help at learning swing, that I wouldn't be able to dance in front of a mirror to learn. Of course, at that time, I didn't realize that it would be almost two decades later before I would actually learn the basics, and that I would do so in Seoul, South Korea.

* * *

If you go dancing at a club you can dance by yourself, with a partner, with a group or with an imaginary friend. It doesn't really make a difference. You could be dancing with one person, then just completely move around the room and dance with no one in particular. Sometimes when people are dancing at a club it is hard to tell with whom they are dancing.

But swing dancing? You need someone to dance with. You could change partners, even during a dance, but you do need a partner. You and your partner must communicate with one another. If not, you could elbow her in the face or she could swing and hit you in a spot that would hurt a lot (probably on purpose to avenge the second or third elbow in the face).

When done right, swing dancing can be beautiful. Two people interacting. The leader leads, the follower follows. They become one.

But when done wrong? Read on.

* * *

After grad school I moved to Taiwan. I was young, free, and curious so I went. I couldn't find any swing dancing places. For all I know, I may have walked past them every day. I moved to Korea next. I couldn't find any swing dance places. My friends weren't helpful. At that time, swing dancing in Korea was dismissed as being a place for lonely housewives and playboys to meet. I didn't care who else wanted to dance that way. That is like telling me I should not vote for a particular candidate or believe in a certain idea because of others who support that candidate or idea. As it has been said, "An idea is not responsible for who believes in it." For me, an activity doesn't become bad because of the other people who also enjoy it. I can fit in with any crowd.

I moved back to America. By then I had moved on to other hobbies and didn't think about swing dancing until I was at an office party. A little guy was twirling his wife around the dance floor like he was moving his own hands in a puppet show. Ah, swing! My long-lost, I never really knew you friend!

As I was preparing to go to Seoul last summer, I e-mailed myself a to-do list. There were seven things I wanted to do in Seoul. Number 1 on the list: learn how to swing dance well enough that I wouldn't embarrass myself. I remember telling myself that if I had not learned the basic steps that I would leave Seoul after a month. I can just imagine the conversation with my bosses, explaining that I would leave early because I had not learned how to swing dance.

Perhaps I should I have told myself that I would never leave Seoul until I did learn how to swing dance.

* * *

Swing dancing is very tough for men who are beginners.

The man must lead when it comes to swing. Very often, he must physically PUSH the woman in the direction he wants her to move. I've never hit or pushed a woman who didn't ask for such things so it is kind of tough for me to push a woman when we're dancing. But it must be done or communication breaks down. I would really prefer to verbally inform her what I want her to do next, MC Hammer style: "Stop! Charleston Time!"

The man dancing is usually referred to as the leader. Guys who want to swing dance must get good, and do so fast. When you're a guy who is a beginner then you don't really have a suitable dance partner. The expert female dancers surely must be bored with a guy moving in slow-motion. The female dancers who are pretty good are probably looking to move to the next level; that means dancing with someone who can spin them around and lead them through difficult moves. Female swing partners who are also beginners? Then it is the blind being led by the blind.

There are some moves that I have now mastered. There are some moves that I'm in the process of mastering. And there are some moves that treat me like I'm their prison bitch.

This past summer, when I was moving in slow-motion through a step, one woman I was dancing with got impatient and spun herself through some moves. I was still looking at my feet. (I was being told in Korean not to look at my feet. I pretended I didn't understand.) That was the last time I mentioned swing dancing to her. Another woman, a beginner, danced with me a few times. Then she danced with a guy who looked like he should be on a dancing show. She came back to me, raving how well he had led her through moves and how great it was. We danced again, but I had less enthusiasm than before. I knew I was moving in slow motion for her.

It has been said: "Sure [Fred Astaire] was great, but don't forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards . . . and in high heels!" Sure, Ginger Rogers did it backwards and in high heels, but would she have taught a beginner? I asked several women who were good dancers if they could teach me moves. They had no idea about the guy's role, they just knew how to follow. Whereas men are the leaders, women swing dancing are followers. There are always guys willing to guide them, especially when they see them dancing with a guy who clearly doesn't know what he is doing.

Even though men are leaders and are ostensibly in control, to the point we must push women through dance moves, there is a lot of pressure on us when we first start. It is kind of like one of the lessons from the book A Self-Made Man. In it, lesbian journalist Norah Vincent goes undercover as a man for 18 months. She joins a bowling team, goes through therapy sessions with men, even lives at a monastery. One thing she realizes: Dating is tough for men. They are expected to take the lead in asking a woman out. Of course, women have their own challenges, but they are in the position of waiting for guys in the club or bar to come to them. As Vincent told 20/20: "In fact, we sit there and we just with one word, 'no,' will crush someone," she said. "We don't have to do the part where you cross the room and you go up to a stranger that you've never met in the middle of a room full of people and say the first words. And those first words are so hard to say without sounding like a cheeseball or sounding like a jerk."

The great thing about swing dancing is that no one refuses to dance with anyone. But what if you aren't ready to lead?

* * *

By the way, I have yet to see any gay people swing dancing. Women dance together, but as far as I have noticed, it is only because there aren't enough men available. Men, and I am definitely including myself in this, would prefer to be wallflowers rather than dance with another man.

* * *

I would probably now be considered an advanced beginner. So I can lead beginners. In Seoul, after I had learned the basic steps, I went out dancing with a beginners' class. At last, I could kick sand in someone else's face! I remember dancing with a friend I had recruited for the beginners' class, watching her struggle with the beginning steps. She was looking to me to teach her. I did so with great enthusiasm. I danced with every woman in that beginners' class, happily telling them what they were doing wrong, confidently leading them.

I have now found a happy medium back in America. I can lead a friend of mine who is a beginner and wants to learn. I was ready to kidnap her when she told me that when she gets married that she will want to swing dance for an hour every night with her husband. I'm just one chapter ahead of her in the book of swing, but that is enough for now. I'm hoping she won't go out swing dancing without me. An expert dancer could probably teach her in one night what it will take me months to learn, and I'd have to find a new beginner to experiment with.

My main dance partner now is a friend who (1) happens to be a professional dancer (2) who is also incredibly patient. She is Ginger Rogers teaching a beginner. I don't underestimate the importance of a patient woman who can also dance well. She has taught me more dance moves than my brain or feet are ready to comprehend yet. A few weeks ago she showed me, no kidding, nine different dance steps that are connected. As I tried to "lead" her through the steps, I felt like I was dancing in front of the kind of mirror at an amusement park that distorts your shape. I knew what things were supposed to look like but the mirror in my brain made everything look distorted. I did my best to lead her, but I think she could see from the befuddled look on my face that I was trying to catch nine rabbits at the same time. My brain, eyes and feet just weren't communicating. They seemed to be sabotaging one another.

A few days ago she dumbed it down for me, teaching me fewer moves, going through the same steps until my brain and feet worked together. She insisted that she was having a good time and couldn't wait to go out again.

* * *

There is a video of me that I am doing my best to keep hidden, that thankfully only my Korean friends who don't speak much English have a copy of. I am wearing a t-shirt in Korean that reads "today is my birthday." It was actually the day after my birthday. I was dragged to the dance floor and had to dance for a few minutes with women while everyone else applauded and watched. The women would change every 15 to 30 seconds. It was tough, the music was fast. I remember being embarrassed because I didn't realize I would have to do that. I had only been swing dancing for about 6 weeks so I only knew a few moves.

Anyway, next time I'm in Seoul swing dancing, I may try to keep it a secret that is my birthday unless I'm actually good then.

* * *

There's a Korean word, han, that explains the unfulfilled frustration that a person feels. There apparently isn't an English equivalent to the word. As it is explained here: "No foreign word can adequately translate it, for it includes such different nuances as are conveyed by the words rancor, grudge, hatred, lamentation, regret, grief, pathos, self-pity, fate, mortification, etc. Han's exact meaning can only be grasped experientially."

My experience with swing hasn't been that serious but I will be happy when I am a good swing dancer.

CJL

Hammer Time!

Charleston Time!

What a coincidence that you're reading this!

2009-11-22T01:02:00.017+09:00

"Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence."
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

* * *

Back in the day apparently has become a popular phrase. I heard a clip on the radio the other day in which an announcer was saying that phrase has become hip. As usual, I'm a man ahead of my time!

I was even saying back in the day back in the day!

* * *

Back in the day, I attended a lecture given by author/wacky chick Camille Paglia. I remember she told a story about going to Egypt and meeting one of her colleagues there in one of the pyramids. They were both shocked. What was the chance that they'd meet in the pyramids in Egypt.

After reflecting on it some, they realized that the chances were actually very good. It wasn't a coincidence after all! They were interested in many of the same topics. They were studying the same subjects. I remember thinking to myself that it was more likely that they had passed each other on numerous occasions, perhaps missing each other just by minutes several times before. Still, isn't it worth marveling when such meetings occur?

* * *

I'm not a mathematician, economist, or a statistician but I hang around with enough of them that it is tough to be romantic or sentimental sometimes. There's a principle known as "the law of very large numbers." Briefly, it means that with a large enough sample, any outrageous thing can happen. While most just lose when playing the lottery, there is the occasional person who will win more than once, sometimes even multiple times within a short period of time.

Statisticians even point out, for example, that in any room with at least 23 people there that at least two of them will share the same birthday. Or the same last name, same clothing, might be from the same hometown or high school.

I understand what they are saying. Still, isn't it worth marveling when those things do happen.

* * *

More than a decade when I was in Taiwan, I met an absolutely lovely young lady at a birthday party. The meeting almost didn't happen. The b-day party had been scheduled on a Monday night. I could not attend that night because I was teaching adults on Monday nights and I think we had a party in my honor scheduled for that night. This was the days before cell phones and I didn't have an answering machine at home.

Then, I got a call the next morning...the party had gotten canceled because of a problem at the club where the b-day party was being held.

I got to know a great lady there. After we got to know each other better she told me that it was great that the party had gotten postponed to Wednesday because she couldn't make it on Monday. Otherwise, we may have never met. We both thought...wow! Because of a problem at the club we got to meet.

I didn't want to seem too cynical, but I also later learned that we had already just missed meeting each other several times before. The birthday boy then worked in an art shop. I had stopped by to see him one day. She later told me that she and a friend had seen me there. They had thought, as they watched me, that I was so 1) cute 2) friendly 3) funny. Of course they were right. Another day, they had seen me at a cafe with a friend, reading and writing as if the world were coming to an end. They had also sat next to me in a restaurant one day, listening carefully as I talked away in English and butchered a couple of Chinese phrases.

So should we have celebrated all of those times we didn't meet? Or celebrated the day we finally did meet?

* * *

I'm not a romantic or sentimental person. But I am definitely a friendly guy. I used to be extremely shy but now I can be overbearing at times. I'm a member of a social group in which we go out together to sing once or twice a month. I expressed opposition when the organizer of the group suggested that we should have specialty nights. Singles nights one weekend; under 30 or over 40 other weekends; married couples other weekends. It wasn't that I was opposed to a particular night.

I feel like I can fit in with any group! Young or old; single, married, attached, divorced, separated or complicated; American or international. Whatever. I can have fun with just about any group, learn from anyone. Sometimes I'm the innocent baby in the room, sometimes I'm the wise elder.

I'm there for the fun. I love every situation.

* * *

I don't know if it is still a lesson there, but when Derek Bok was president of Harvard University, he would tell incoming freshmen that one of the most important things they'd do in their four years would be to meet their classmates. As I see the names of former classmates and schoolmates pop up in the news, I can better see the wisdom of his comment.

Back in the day, when I was a student, I was a member of many student groups. American Indians at Harvard, The Objectivist Club of Harvard, Black Students Association, the Society of Black Professional Entrepreneurs, the Harvard Crimson, Harvard Democrats, Harvard Republicans, etc. I attended many debates and discussions.

For about a year, when I was an undergraduate, I was the club secretary of a group at Harvard Law School. We weren't even sure if it was legal or not but we did it anyway.
I got to meet many of the black students at Harvard Law School. One became a U.S. senator a few years ago. I hadn't thought about him for more than a decade. I remember when I was working on the DC voucher legislation that we were reviewing the names of senators that we'd have to reach out to...then I saw the name Barack Obama. Barack Obama? No, couldn't be!

Derek Bok was right, after all. I should have gotten to know that guy better. Back in the day, I did run into Obama a few times but we never became friends. If I known he would later become president I would have taken photos with him back then, and gotten him to sign them. Or I would have broken into his dorm room and stolen a lot of his stuff--and sold them on ebay if I were still in jail.

These days, I'm not out trying to meet my classmates, but I do enjoy meeting my fellow citizens whenever and wherever.

* * *

This past summer I was living, working and partying in South Korea. Very often I'd have Koreans strike up a conversation with me on the subway, in a coffee shop, on the street. My co-workers often wondered what my magic was. We could all be out, but for some reason, the Koreans would seem to focus their attention on me. I suspect that it is my approach in dealing with people. Many of my American friends in Korea were on their guard against Koreans trying to buddy up with them so they could practice their English. But me? I always remember the old phrase that a stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet!

Many point out a coincidence when people finally meet. For me, it might just be a coincidence that we haven't met yet! What were the coincidences that prevented us from meeting?

Instead of being on my guard, I embrace new people. In Korea, it was like being back at Harvard. I joined English language conversation groups, went swing dancing, singing, met people on the street, subway, etc.

In particular, I enjoyed going to the English language discussion groups. It seemed sad to me. Korean students and adults organizing those conversation groups, doing their best to practice English without any native speakers present. Of course, they were doing it on the cheap, which is the reason many of the Americans would avoid them.

Koreans were always delighted when I joined, not only because I'm a native English speaker but because I know I was enthusiastic. I'd get calls and emails from them inviting me to return. Some of them later joined me in my other activities, such as swing dancing and going out to sing.

Then, some of them became friends! I imagined that, years later, after some of them had gotten married or become good friends, that they'd talk about the way they first met. What's the chance that some Koreans would become friends after being introduced by an American who was in Korea for just a short time? What a coincidence!

* * *

A few years ago I was hanging out with a buddy. Driving, he turned right and almost hit a pedestrian. First, he started cursing the idiot. Then, he recognized the idiot...it was one of his neighbors! Instead of cursing each other and perhaps getting into a screaming match, they laughed and joked about the near fatality.

My friends and others who drive with me are always surprised that I never get upset at other drivers on the road. I'm a patient driver. I wouldn't curse at a friend for cutting me off, I don't curse the idiots I don't know yet.

* * *

There are so many coincidences in life. With a U.S. population of more than 300 million, there are bound to be many coincidences.

I'm aggressive about life. I'm even aggressive about making coincidences happen. Why wait for chance? I'm not passive when it comes to serendipity. Fate may be waiting to guide me in a particular direction...it may just be a coincidence that I appear to be running in that direction when fate shows up...

* * *

Last year I joined another social group. There were two new members that day. Since then we have become good friends. I now consider her to be one of my closest friends, probably a friend for life. A few days before I was returning to America a few months ago I sent her a message to let her know I'd be back in the U.S. soon. What a coincidence! She was going to be boarding a plane for Korea that same day. Two airplanes passing in the night. How is it that we both just happened to choose that day to leave? Just as we just happened to join that social group the same day?

A statistician might point out that there were many people on both planes that day. There were probably many connections we were unaware of. It is possible that the plane I was taking back to America would, after I got off, pick up someone I knew to take them to America. Perhaps that person would even sit in my seat, cursing the jerk who left his newspaper in the seat pocket.

There are so many coincidences and possible ones. And yet, when one happens, can't we at least take a moment to marvel at them?

* * *

P.S. #1: I wrote this as part of my weekly blogger writing session. I'm reminded of something that the late Michael Crichton wrote in his autobiography. When he was a medical student at Harvard, he learned that medical students and interns constantly feared they were coming down with serious diseases. After all, they were reading and learning about symptoms for diseases. They often feared it was happening to them.

After writing about coincidences, it seemed that yesterday afternoon was full of them! It started even before I left the blogging/writing session. The session was very serious. No talking for two hours, everyone just writes. When it was over, I wanted to learn what the other people were writing about, who they were. The people writing books weren't very chatty. They really had just gone there to write and didn't want to mention details. I suppose some are on their guard, too, against someone stealing their ideas.

The first time I went there, it turned out that the three people who hung around afterward to talk all had connections with South Korea. Yesterday, the new member who hung around to chat didn't mention a connection to South Korea. But it turned out that even though we had never met, we have both written for the Root. Then, it turned out that we had even written on some of the same topics for various publications. We even knew some of the same people.

P.S. #2: Walking in the subway, I saw a woman who I thought I recognized. But I wasn't sure. I try not to stare for too long at women I don't know, so I was ready to look away. But she was smiling! Had I attracted the attention of some psycho woman? I smiled back, but was ready to move on until I saw her smile get bigger. I recognized her but couldn't remember how we had met. One problem with meeting many people is that I can't always recall how we met. Sometimes, people ask me how I met a particular person. I often don't remember or care.

After about a minute of chitchat about what we had just been doing, I said my name. "Casey, of course I remember your name!" She was disappointed that I could not remember hers. She mentioned some of the crazy places we had gone out one night...

Unfortunately, that did not narrow things down for me!

Then she mentioned a mutual friend. What a shock! I had just been on the phone, five minutes before, with that mutual friend. They were going to be meeting later the same day. The three of us might meet today for lunch.

P.S. #3: A few days ago I was complaining to a friend about some hoodlums who had killed a D.C. liquor store owner. I got a call from a different friend yesterday morning who was connected to the case. She wanted to know if I could drive her to meet the family (they don't live in a great area). I'm one of the last people anyone should call when they need a bodyguard, but I did my best to look tough yesterday. Everything about the conversation was confidential, but I will just say that people who injure and kill other people probably have no idea about the pain and confusion they can cause in the lives of others.

P.S. #4: Walking back home to get ready to be a bodyguard, I saw a woman taking photos in front of a building in D.C. I was in a hurry but I stopped to ask her if she wanted me to take a photo for her. She looked like a tourist. In a coincidence state of mind, I was going to ask her who she was and where she was from, but instead I just snapped about five photos of her. I wasn't looking to pick her up and didn't want to be misunderstood. I asked her to look at the photos, to make sure they were okay, that I would take more for her if she needed it. She thanked me profusely. I gave her back her camera then wished her well. I just walked on, wondering if I had just said goodbye to the sister I never knew I had.

I suppose that the statisticians who point out that such things aren't unusual would be proud of me for not bothering to ask more...

CJL

Random Thoughts from writing session

2009-11-15T01:58:00.045+09:00

I’ve joined a writing and blogging support group. We get together once a week to WRITE for at least an hour. About any and everything. The following is what I did during the session.

* * *

Ignorance is Power?

A commonly cited quote is Bacon's "knowledge is power."

Sometimes not understanding the world around you can be a benefit. When I was in Seoul, I went on a retreat with a swing dancing group. About 40 Koreans, me, and an Australian guy. I won’t go into detail about the mayhem and mischief we engaged in during the retreat. At one point, we played a game where a man from each of the 5 or 6 teams had to hold a woman in the air, while flat on his back, using his feet and hands.

Doesn’t sound challenging, I know. To add to the challenge, each woman had to take a drink of water before starting, and hold it in her mouth. Meaning, if she laughed that she would spit the water into the man's face. And while the men were holding the women up, members of the opposing teams did their best to make either the man or woman laugh.

I was at an advantage for several reasons:

1) The woman I had to hold up weighs about 90 pounds. So it didn’t take much effort.

2) I couldn’t understand what people around me were trying to say when they were speaking in Korean.

3) They weren’t fluent enough in English to crack any jokes funny enough to make me laugh. I would have had to ask them to repeat the joke a few times for me to understand it. So I closed my eyes and hummed a Prince song while they chatted around me in Korean and broken English.

When it was down to the final two teams, one of the organizers who could speak English told me that I had to hold my partner with just one leg. No problem. For once, not being able to understand Korean really came in handy as we easily won. I held her up a few extra seconds after the other team had dropped out, just to make the point that we were better, not just lucky.

* * *

Dating--Mismatches and Bad Matches

H.L. Mencken once said that editorial writers must get out of the office at least once a week. Even though I usually drive to wherever I am going, it is still enjoyable to take the metro sometimes to watch people. Of course, women on dates probably don’t like to hear about the benefits of taking the metro or walking. As the old song goes, “I can be bad all by myself!” She can take the metro or walk by herself.

But then, I guess it depends on the woman. I saw a feature story on Yahoo earlier today about terrible dating experiences people have had. The teaser headline quoted one woman as saying she knew it was going to be a bad date when the guy asked whether if she liked McDonald's or Burger King. I hope she let the guy know so he wouldn’t waste time on her in the future. One problem with dating is that people aren't honest at the beginning of the process about what it is they want. They complain to friends or Yahoo instead of letting the other person know directly. So many of the terrible dating stories that were told seemed to be about people with different priorities and values. Just like a job interview, people highlight what is great about themselves so they can get the job.

If the woman who didn't want McDonald's or Burger King had mentioned a place she wanted to go, then offered to pay for it, then cheapskate guy probably would be quoted on Yahoo one day as saying it was the best date he ever had.

Or, she could have done what I told a woman to do about a man who recently complained they had not sex after he bought her dinner. My advice? Send him a check to cover her portion of the evening. She can't give back the time he wasted but at least he'd have his money back. She did, and he seemed to be okay.

Some people can have fun on dates whether or not they spend money, other people aren't having fun unless they the receipts to prove they had a good time. I'm reminded of a date I went on. I recommended a couple of restaurants to her. She seemed interested. Then I asked her what she would like to eat. She said that she wanted to have Onion Rings at Burger King. I thought she was joking. She insisted that's what she wanted. I took her at her word. We pulled into Burger King, ordered the food, then ate in the car. She seemed to be happy with the meal. It wasn't the only time we ate like that. She seemed to be uncomfortable if I spent more than $20 on the date. So many people are so strategic when it comes to dating, it is always refreshing to meet people who are just themselves. She was frugal with her own money, she didn't expect me to spend a lot of money on her, either, in order for us to have a good time.

* * *

Trains Not Running on Time

A few weeks ago, I was waiting at DC's Metro center when I looked at the message board about approaching trains. The next subway train would be there in about 16 minutes? Okay, so it was a Tuesday night. Still, 16 minutes? After being in Seoul, I got used to trains consistently arriving every couple of minutes. It seemed that a 5 minute gap was a delay. During 3 months of riding trains in Seoul, I don't recall a single train outage. But then, I may not have understood the message board announcing problems elsewhere...

Not just the trains are a problem in D.C. There is ALWAYS at least one escalator out in a DC metro station whenever I pass through.

One thing is the same between the two metro systems. I can’t understand what the train conductors say. In Seoul, after listening numerous times, I finally caught onto the Korean phrases being used by the bilingual recorded voices. In DC, I still have trouble understanding which stop the conductor is announcing. Anyway, I can comfortably listen to my iPOD, whether if I’m in Seoul or D.C., as long as I look for the stop's name written on the wall.

In Seoul, many of the trains now have specific information, inside the subway car, on electronic boards, info such as the name of the stop, which side the doors will open. That's in English and Korean, and in areas where there are more Japanese or Chinese living or shopping, then the signs are in those languages, too.

* * *

Get mad, put it down on a pad...
I’ve been driving on a consistent basis since about 1996. When I was in Seoul during this past summer I didn’t even have an international driver’s license. I got used to taking the metro again. It was exciting for me because I was having a second look at Seoul. When I’m driving I’m too busy paying attention to the road and defending myself against other drivers to watch the world as it goes by. Getting a second look at Seoul was great, I may go back for a third look. At some point, I’ll be ready to write something more extensive about being there. But then, the more time I spend there, the less interested I am in writing about it. I remember reading once where a writer said that, after spending a day in China you want to write a book. After spending a month in China, you want to write an article. After spending a year in China, you just put your head down and mutter to yourself.

As Public Enemy said, “When I get mad. I put it down on a pad. Give ya somethin' that cha never had.” I’m not mad, I don’t have a pad, but I’ll blog or write an article at some point. Most of the time I think I don't really have things to say about Seoul that are worth the time to say them formally, then I will hear about something, and say, "I could have written that story."

* * *

NPR discovers Korean exam hell

A friend called me yesterday, quite excited about an NPR story he had just heard about South Korean kids going through exam hell. It was in reference to the college entrance exam students there take. He wanted to know if I had heard the report. No, I said. As he began to tell me the story, I stopped him. I then guessed what the story was about, guessed the outline of how they told it. He was amazed. He then reminded me that I had just said I hadn't heard the report. Oh, I said, I didn't hear the report you just heard, but I've read and heard that story so many times before. I'm pretty sure that I've even told him about Korea's exam hell, but I realize that some people don't listen until the New York Times or NPR says it. I then added some things they didn’t say. He told me that I should have written the story. I probably will, next year or the year after when the people at NPR or the New York Times (again) discover that Korean kids are going through exam hell.

* * *

A tourist in my own country

One great thing about living abroad: It is perfectly natural for me to take photos. As a traveler, tourist, or explorer, you are expected to be curious. When I was in Seoul I even took a photo of a McDonald's motorcycle used for making deliveries. I had never seen such a thing in America.

But back in my own country? Things I see now are so interesting. I suppose it could be a form of reverse culture shock.

Sometimes, I even want to take photos with people I meet for just a brief time. I've lived long enough to know that I won't see many of those people again and after a short time won't even remember what they look like. I wish I had taken more photos a few years ago when I was working at Cato, back when I was in Korea the first time around, the brief time I worked at Fight For Children. Everybody at Cato is now at least a decade ago, some are graying, some of the olden folks have retired, etc.

When I was on my way to the writing session I got out my camera when I saw a sign telling riders all of the things they couldn't do. No eating, no drinking, no loud music, etc. It didn't mention that I couldn't take photos! So I took a photo of the sign. I also video recorded part of it (click the "free user" option).

It reminded me of a few things...One, a 45-year old D.C. woman who got handcuffed and arrested for eating a candy bar in a D.C. metro station. Yes, she had been warned, but STILL! To quote Dickens, the law is a ass. Two, I remember one night shortly after I joined the swing dancing class that one of my classmates bought all of us ice cream cones in the subway station. We ate and talked on the train. I wish someone had taken a photo of us doing that.

The courtship of Michelle Rhee

2009-11-06T23:05:00.009+09:00

It was announced on the local DC news last night that former basketball star Kevin Johnson and DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee have gotten engaged.

I heard the rumor about them dating so long ago that I thought they were already married and on the verge of divorce...

* * *

A few months ago I testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. As I recall, I was on the second panel, Rhee was on the first panel. I thought about saying something to her in Korean but just greeted her in English.

From previous press reports she had always seemed a bit melancholy. That morning, she was upbeat, optimistic. She even SMILED during her testimony as she testified without any notes. I'm guessing that she enjoyed talking with the members of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission more than she does dealing with local DC activists. Just like presidents are more popular when they go abroad, politicians and other government leaders are more popular with outsiders than insiders.

* * *

As soon as it was announced a few years ago that Rhee would be the Schools Chancellor, the local activists went into overdrive. They were still upset that Mayor Fenty had pulled a rope-a-dope. After being seen as a friend of the public schools when he was on the city council, he announced soon after he won the primary that would take over the schools. I was there on inauguration night when some of the activists walked around with their signs denouncing Fenty. A mayor getting denounced on inauguration night? I'm not surprised that his poll ratings are so low and that some (such as Council chairman Vincent Gray) are considering running against him.

Many people were still upset at the way Superintendent Janey had been dumped by Fenty. After leaving Janey twisting in the wind for a few months, Fenty suddenly fired him, cut off his email within minutes, then introduced Rhee as the new schools chancellor. It was a really cold thing to do...and just the way I would have done it, even though I met Janey a few times and liked his arrogance.

* * *

I just checked my email, the local disgruntled activists are as disgruntled as ever. As one said, Rhee is ambitious so she sees Johnson (currently mayor of Sacramento) one day being governor of California, so she'll be first lady of the state. Rhee, another says, is on her way out so this is her exit strategy, to be a consultant to the city while Fenty is still mayor of DC.

Once they find out what she had for breakfast this morning they will probably also complain about that.

* * *

So there was Rhee. Separated from her husband, as the Washington Post mentioned in just about every one of the stories about her for the first month. Getting attacked by activists questioning if an Asian woman could lead a school system with mostly black students. Others were upset she was getting paid so much ($275K annually). In just about every photo of her she seemed to be frowning.

I had read in the travel books that Koreans are taught not to smile in public. Politicians in Korea were notorious in the past for never smiling. I had guessed that Rhee was just being a good Korean city administrator.

* * *

Kevin Johnson was one of my favorite NBA players. So I was delighted a few years ago when he gave a great luncheon speech at the annual Black Alliance for Educational Options symposium. He had a great story, he was incredibly optimistic. The guy always seems to be smiling. I suspect his enthusiasm has rubbed off on Rhee. Or, at the least, he may have told her, "Honey, you gotta show some teeth when you're dealing with ya peeps." Another assist for the point guard!

After Johnson finished his remarks that day I tried to get to him to invite him to be on my radio show to talk about charter schools. But after seeing the herd of women lining up to talk to him, I thought better of it. I didn't want to get between him and those women...

I guess now that he is hitched with Rhee that the sisters may be less enthusiastic than before.

CJL

Update: Here's the Washington Post confirming the story

Easier said than done

2009-10-28T21:51:00.002+09:00

A friend of mine who used to be a journalist now refuses to read op-eds or blogs. I understand why. The author can say anything he or she wants without suffering any consequences for what happens later. Also, the author can call for an overhaul of entire systems and industries without worrying about how to get it done.

That's why a staff editorial in today's Korea Times is so refreshing. The KT staff outline many of the problems with "elite" schools that recruit top students.

The KT staff then concludes in staff editorial style:

"Therefore, policymakers and educators are required to overhaul the entire education system and the college admissions policy in order to hammer out more comprehensive measures to free students from private tutoring and narrow the education divide."

Oh...and the staff also added..." It is easier said than done"

Congrats!

* * *

By the way, whenever I read staff editorials by newspapers advising politicians and citizens about what they should do, I keep in mind that many newspapers have closed down, are printing their papers in red ink, and are struggling with circulation declines. According to a recent story, U.S. newspaper circulation down 10.6%.

Seems that if newspapers want to fix problems that they'd start with that. But I guess, to quote the Korea Times, "It is easier said than done."

* * *

Andy Smarick has a well-researched and pretty smart piece arguing that the attempts to improve low-achieving schools has failed and continuing with the policy is misguided. He goes into some detail about it, but the main points are that (1) instead of trying to reform failed schools, it would be better to close them down and (2) to reopen closed schools as charters.

Wow! Talk about being easier said than done! I'd prefer to start my own newspaper!

* * *

I have been having an ongoing argument with a libertarian friend of mine. He opposes vouchers, tuition tax credits, charters, just about any form of school choice. What does he want? To blow up the whole public school system and start from scratch. We've argued about this over the phone, over lunch, on the radio, and probably in his dreams. I tell him that even vouchers scare many people, why in the world would they be interested in the complete unknown of starting over again.

I wish I had thought to tell him, "It is easier said than done."

* * *

Arguments for completely starting over sound good. They may even be correct most of the time. After all, whatever has been going on probably hasn't been working, that's why some people are calling for reform. There are interest groups embedded, making money off the way things are currently being done. Everyone may want a better mousetrap, but not if you are the mouse.

Just think about the teachers and administrators in the current system. They may love the hypothetical new jobs that they'd have in the hypothetical new system, but I bet they love their current jobs even more than hypothetical jobs. It is hard to pay for lunch with a hypothetical salary. It is hard to impress a woman with your hypothetical car when you're late for dinner.

I reminded my libertarian friend who wants to blow up the school system that after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision overturning Jim Crow that there were black educators worrying about what would happen to them! The entire system was going to be overhauled, segregation was being made illegal, black children would (theoretically, at least, for a decade) be able to attend local schools...and some black educators were wondering, but what about us?

* * *

Calling for overhauling systems is appealing, in the way it was during the 2008 presidential campaign when candidate Barack Obama was making pretty speeches saying that he was for change. He even had a pretty slogan, "Yes, we can," to go along with it.

It is hard to be against change in theory. How has that been working out for president Obama? Apparently, change was and is easier said than done, whether if you're a blogger, journalist, researcher, or president of the United States.

CJL

Gerald Bracey, invited to his final mugging

2009-10-23T21:03:00.012+09:00

"Journalism largely consists of saying 'Lord Jones is Dead' to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive."
--G. K. Chesterton

* * *

I don't usually do obituaries because

(1) I don't know the person who has just passed away
(2) It is usually in poor taste to speak honestly about the recently departed
(3) I do know the person who has just passed away, but still feel too close to them to write about them on a blog.

But I will make an exception in the case of Gerald Bracey!

In case you didn't know, he was an education researcher and public schools advocate. He was also highly sarcastic, acidic, a gentleman who was often uncouth and even childish.

A couple of random thoughts and memories:

* Just as I was getting into the education policy analysis world I thought about inviting Bracey to be a speaker on a panel. I asked a couple of prominent education researchers. The first three told me that they refused to be on a panel with Bracey. I could invite him, I was told, but it would be tough to get anyone who was prominent to talk with him.

* My first encounter with Bracey was at a Manhattan Institute panel discussion. The topic was DC education choice. I had read quite a bit about it and was versed in many specifics at that time. So, during Q&A, I went after Bracey. He later wrote about it, saying, "It was not the most hostile audience I have ever faced, even though you could almost see the heat rising from the bald head of Cato's Casey Lartigue as he railed at me during Q & A (even Brennan asked Lartigue if there was a question anywhere in his comments)."

It was the first time that anyone had referred to my head in a professional context.

* I learned to be skeptical of Bracey. I remember when we spoke at the same charter school conference a few years ago in Florida. During a break, Bracey told me that I was wrong, that he was actually a school choice supporter. I laughed at him for trying to put that BS past me. He then dared me to prove he wasn't. I listened to him, then realized the game he was running. He then fessed up that he was a PUBLIC school choice supporter, then mentioned that I was one of the few school choice supporters who pushed him on that instead of just dismissing him. He told me that I was a great listener. At times, it seemed that he was playing head games with people, testing to see if they were listening, thinking. He had a PhD in psychology, so he may have been.

He later wrote that he had been invited to a mugging. At that time, he described me as being "laid back." (He later dropped the "laid back" part in the official 14th edition of his rotten apple awards.)

I later asked him what he meant. He said that I seemed to be "super cool" despite my views on things. I completely agree with him about me being super cool. Parenthetically, that reminds me of a very liberal black woman at a minority writers seminar who told me, after we had spent a few days together learning how to write op-eds, that I seemed "normal" even though I worked at Cato.

* One of the few things I liked about Bracey: he was a listener. I always had the feeling that he was listening because he was looking for a flaw in your argument. Nevertheless, he rarely interrupted other people when they were talking. He was a Jekyll/Hyde--a gentleman who would disagree with you in a friendly way, then later eviscerate you in print.

* We mixed it up a few years ago in a discussion on his education discussion group. I remember getting a lot of off-list emails from his critics, some of them prominent, who were happy to see someone taking him on directly. I didn't mind his barbs, I knew they didn't help his point. The attacks always seemed childish. Again, the psychologist in him seemed to be determined to get into the heads of his opponents. I don't allow people to live rent-free in my head. I remember that he got really upset when I turned his style on himself by questioning his funding sources. I didn't really give a damn. It was one of the rare times that he really seemed to get upset. He ended the thread after that.

* I first met Bracey at a debate he had with Chris Whittle in Arizona. It was a crowd of mostly school choice supporters. Bracey, a defender of public schools, was the punching bag. I was amazed when the debate was over that no one talked to Bracey. I spent several minutes probing his facts and figures, much to his amazement.

* Jay Mathews of the Washington Post, Greg Toppo of USA Today, Andrew Rotherham of EduWonk and certainly others Bracey attacked over the years have noted Bracey's passing. Bracey spent a lot of his time focused on correcting the media. As I mentioned to a friend a few years ago, he is similar to Rush Limbaugh in that regard--he spends much of his time correcting and challenging what is written about in the media.

There's a Korean phrase 미운정고운정 that (is much deeper than I could understand, I'm sure) describes the feelings that even adversaries can have about one another. The best comparison I could come up with is two boxers who hug one another after they've been battling each other. There is both a good and bad feeling. The people that Bracey attacked over the years seemed to respect that he was genuine, even though he was uncouth. For all of his flaws and personality quirks, he did keep school choice advocates and education reformers on their toes. We could all be sure that at least one person had read our studies, reports and op-eds.

* I wasn't surprised two years ago when Bracey, who enjoyed debunking myths, wrote me a nice e-mail expressing regret about XM 169 pulling me off the airwaves after my radio co-host and I debunked the Memorandum 46 myth.

My favorite myth Bracey debunked: That American kids today are somehow less informed than kids in the past. He has mentioned it several times, most recently in a response to Bob Herbert of the New York Times. Of course, we still came to different conclusions about what that means for education policy today.

* A few days ago I was complaining to a friend about Bracey. I had come across some comments Bracey had made about education in South Korea. As usual, Bracey had to take a gratuitous shot by putting the worst possible spin on things. Last week I was scribbling some notes for a possible article about education in Korea. If I ever get around to it I will still mention Bracey.

CJL

I agree with B. Obama and Rush L.

2009-10-22T19:57:00.002+09:00

Back in DC

Last week I gave four speeches at universities in North Carolina. My main topic was the relationship between minorities and the government. By the third time I had given the speech I was already ready for the Q&A as soon as I stood up to start talking.

Barack Obama

I agree with Obama's administration moving to allow people to smoke weed in states where it is allowed for medical purposes.

I also agree with Obama's ongoing effort to control compensation for company executives whose companies receive government bailouts. That'll learn 'em.

Rush Limbaugh

Those NFL players grumbling about Rush Limbaugh possibly being a part-owner of the St. Louis Rams might have felt differently if he had stated he was in favor of abolishing the salary cap.

Organ donations: A world-wide catastrophe

Economist Gary S. Becker writes in favor of allowing vital organs to be sold. I agree with him. He concludes: "My conclusion is that markets in organs are the best available way to enable persons with defective organs to get transplants much more quickly than under the present system."

It isn't just in America where altruism is failing to produce enough organ donations. According to the Korea Times: "Less than one out of 10 South Koreans donate their organs while more than 18,000 patients are waiting for transplants."

CJL

Mini-speaking tour next week

2009-10-07T22:20:00.000+09:00

I'll be speaking at four universities in North Carolina next week. Here is an announcement that has been posted on the Fayetteville State University Website.

Radio, Harvard

2009-10-03T21:40:00.005+09:00

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

Volunteering at the school choice rally

2009-10-01T19:32:00.030+09:00

Yesterday morning I volunteered at the rally for the Opportunity Scholarship Program. My, how time has flown! Six years ago I was one of the folks who was lobbying Congress to set up the program. Yesterday I met some teenagers who were in the 2nd and 3rd grades back when we were pushing for the program. Now, some of them are big enough to whip my ass in a fight. So, yes, there is a good reason for these kids to get a quality education.

Some of the school choice movement's greatest advocates and political leaders (Virginia Walden Ford, Howard Fuller, Kevin Chavous, Rep. Boehner, former education secretary Spellings, and DC Mayor for Life Marion Barry!) were there yesterday.

This group was organized...I wasn't looking, but I bet they walked off the bus in 2s.

* * *

I had my group line up against the wall. They had a tough teacher with them, believe me, I was saving them by taking control. That was a no-nonsense lady. She wasn't even interested in small talk with me as we walked the kids over.

* * *

Behind the scenes, the staff volunteers were loading up the water and food. Considering how heavy the water was I figured it was a good time to get out my camera to document the heavy lifting being done. Gerard Robinson (the brother about to drop the water) is the president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. As I mentioned to him then..."Good to see you putting that Harvard education to good use."

* * *

The morning before the rally I was told that anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 people were expected to attend. The estimates were anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 people were there.

I wonder if the reporter quoted him in the story.

* * *

My man! Marion Barry! We talked school choice a few months ago at a different rally. He told me then that he has always been a school choice supporter. I asked why he led the charge against the 1981 tuition tax credit referendum and was invisible when Republicans tried to pass DC choice in 1995. He said he just didn't like those particular proposals...which he later translated as, "There wasn't any money for D.C. in those plans."

* * *

A few years ago at an event I was standing next in line while a lady went on telling Mayor Barry how great he was and how much he had done for the city. I've seen that a number of times. I said to him that time that it must be nice to have people praising him like that. He responded, "You gotta earn that." I said I was using my own money when I help so I guess I would be less effective. He then gave me a quick lecture I don't recall about the virtues of public service.

* * *

Media. There were more lurking around.

* * *

These folks were hanging around. I remember going on Capitol Hill a few years ago with the lady on my left. My, how time has gone by...

* * *

We recognized each other almost immediately. Six years ago we didn't have many black fathers attending rallies and events so he was noticeable just for that reason.

* * *

The woman with the yellow shirt was ready to attack a public school heckler who showed up. I remember talking with her a few years ago.

* * *

I love this couple. They have been some of the movement's strongest parent advocates. She hugged me so tightly when she saw me that I think I lost 2 pounds.

* * *

After the rally was over I went on Capitol Hill with some of the parents to hand out propaganda about the voucher program. Not to say you can judge people based on their staff, but the folks at the offices of Reps. Tiahrt, Issa, and Jackson were absolutely delightful. If you ever get arrested then those are some folks you'd want in your speed dial.

Another added benefit about Jackson's office was the number of beautiful looking ladies working for us all. Tiahrt and Issa are both Republicans, their staff were really friendly even before we told them why we were there. Jackson is a Democrat, but even after we told the staff why we were there, they were still incredibly friendly. Of course, based on his father, Rep. Jackson may want to have my number in his speed dial.

On the other hand, the staff in the office of Rep. Barbara Lee seemed to be concerned we were there to spread the H1N1 virus. The folks in the offices of Delegate Norton and Reps. Emerson, Clyburn, and Serrano were fine.

CJL

Back in America, 4 days and counting

2009-09-28T16:11:00.006+09:00

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 to get his contact info, I'll have to follow up.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN White House correspondent and moderator of this particular panel, was college roommates with one of my best friends. I said hello to Malveaux, took a picture with my cell phone that didn't come out. I thought to remind her that I knew her back when she knew me, but skipped it because she was (predictably) in a hurry to scoot out of there.

* Friday evening I went to a Congressional Black Caucus reception hosted by two black congresswomen I don't like very much. Anyway, it is always fun networking and eating the finger food at such events. I took photos with a couple of folks, including the ambassador to Nigeria.

The reception was sponsored by several big oil companies.

I do always enjoy hearing Congressional Democrats from Texas saying sweet things about oil companies that happen to be located in their districts.

* Saturday morning I got up early to hand out leaflets publicizing a rally for DC School Choice this Wednesday. It is pretty clear that the program will get killed, thanks to the inaction of Mayor Fenty and the City Council, and the actions of President Obama and Congressional Democrats.

I have mixed feelings about this, as someone who actively pushed for the legislation five years ago. Fenty, Obama and the Democrats should roast in hell for this (and many other things). The public schools in DC remain lousy, the various levels of government would do better to allow children a choice to find schools that work for them.

On the other hand, five years later, it should be parents, not advocates, who are handing out leaflets and holding rallies. Still, I will be at the rally this Wednesday holding a protest sign.

*Sunday morning I got up early again, this time to meet with some people talking about Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point. Whereas some people will only show up to talk about a book that is currently on the New York Times Best Sellers list, I enjoy discussions where perspective and time allow us to more fully evaluate a book. In many cases at forums about recently released books, most people haven't read it/have read only reviews about it.

It was a good reminder that Gladwell made many good points in the book. One of the main things that caught my attention was his point that there are three kinds of people: Connectors, Mavens, Persuaders.

This week I will try to resume swing dancing, someone I finally got into when I was in South Korea. I still have some actual work to do while I'm here so I'll try to get to it.

Speaking of the 1980s, here's one of my all-time favorite videos.

Self-Destruction from 1989!

CJL

September 5

2009-09-04T09:12:00.007+09:00

That time of the year again. Yes, it is my birthday. I will be hiding from everyone here this weekend. After all, if you take people out on your birthday in Korea, you must pay. No kidding. So I may just take the battery out of my cell and stop answering e-mails until Sunday.

* * *

My buddy and advisor Walter E. Williams will be hosting the Rush Limbaugh Show Friday noon EST-3 p.m. I interviewed him two or three times when I hosted my own show on XM Radio during 2007. I recorded these myself, April 28 and June 9. I interviewed him another time but the idiots at XM 169 could never get me a copy of the show.

* * *

As I mentioned, I went on an MT retreat with the members of my swing dance group. It was fantastic. Drinking, dancing, games, drunken dancing...

I posted a note in Korean on the organization's Website. I got back about 35 touching responses from the group members who heaped all types of praise on me. Unfortunately, 95% of it was in Korean so I struggled with understanding all of it and had even more trouble responding when I did figure it out.

* * *

Last night my coworkers and I celebrated the birthday of one of the Korean staff members by going drinking and eating in 홍대. We know the friend of the manager at one of the places so they kept dumping free food and drinks on us. I will try to return the favor by trying to find the place the next time I'm in the area.

* * *

Went singing again Wednesday night, this time with two teaching assistants at a nearby university. I had edited the paper of one of them so they took me out to eat, then had to endure my singing to finish making the payment for editing.

CJL

Wish me luck!!!

2009-08-28T18:24:00.004+09:00

I'm going on what Koreans call MT (short for "Membership Training"). I suppose Americans would call it a retreat.

I was invited by the swing dance group I've been taking lessons with for the last month.

It has been described to me as a weekend of drinking, dancing, drinking games, then I, suppose, drunken dancing...

The following weekend I'll be celebrating my birthday. The weekend after that I'll be going on a retreat. Then right after that I may be going to China for a week or so.

CJL

Failed rocket launch and somewhat successful McDonald's trip

2009-08-19T18:58:00.008+09:00

According to the Korea Times: "South Korea postponed its rocket launch Wednesday as an order was issued to stop the rocket's liftoff 7 minutes and 56 seconds before the firing.It was not immediately known why the launch was halted. The South Korean government said that it will announce the reason of the launch delay."

My question: Will anyone get arrested? It seems that every failure in South Korea results in someone getting arrested, executed or being forced to resign.

* * *

Ordering at McDonald's

I'm what is known as an aggressive shopper. I always want a discount. Yes, everyone wants a discount, but I mean that once I see an item on sale, I will never buy it again until it is on sale again. Anything another customer is offered, I want it too. In America I could always understand and find deals.

But in Korea? I'm not always aware of what's going on or what's available. Some friends took me to McDonalds the other day. If you buy a set meal then you also get a free Coke glass. I noticed that another woman had been handed the item as I waited my turn. Of course, when I ordered, the woman was so flustered that she couldn't understand that I wanted the number three set (Big Bulgogi Burger) + extra value menu. My friends with me helped me out. The woman then handed me the Coke glass as my reward.

But it was a tad frustrating that I couldn't even order something at a McDonald's! I've eaten at McDonald's so many times during my life that I should be considered a stockholder. Walking around looking for something to eat earlier today I suddenly stopped at McDonald's. I've been eating so much Korean food that suddenly McDonald's was a change of pace. Of course, the woman couldn't understand my feeble attempt at ordering in Korean. So she called over The English Speaker working there who had probably convinced a supervisor that he could speak English. He couldn't understand either, he probably thought my attempt at Korean was an English dialect.

He first rang up two different orders of the number three set. Then, as I kept trying to explain, he then rang up three orders of the number three meal. I'm a patient guy so I just kept smiling. Otherwise, I would have aborted the mission.

Finally, a light bulb went off in his head. He finally understood that I wanted the number three set meal + extra value. Meaning, four different meals.

I kept trying to tell him in Korean and English that I just wanted one of them. Finally, he got it right, at which point the woman returned. Then, after getting my food, she didn't hand me a Coke glass.

I pointed at it, not bothering even trying to say it in Korean. She handed it to me.

Of course, I wasn't completely happy. In America, when I order Fries at McDonald's, I will ask to get them fresh out of the grease. McDonald's Fries have a short shelf life and aren't very good when they are cold. I don't even really want them warm. I want them hot, hot, hot! In some cases in America they would tell me that I would have to wait until they cooked them, meaning I would have to wait 2 or 3 minutes. I was always fine with having to wait a few minutes. But after all of the trouble with just getting with the food I happily ate my warm Extra Value Menu Fries earlier today.

* * *

About wanting the same service...

Because my computer blew up when I tried a transformer I have been computerless. That means that I have been using the computer at work and at PC rooms.

1) If anyone in Seoul tells you, "I couldn't email you," trust me, the person is lying. PC rooms are everywhere. It typically costs about $.70 to $1.00 an hour.

2) I've noticed at some places that they will immediately serve Iced Coffee to customers. And, I've noticed, that at some places they will serve Iced Coffee to Korean customers but not always to me. Of course, I let them know immediately that I have been slighted. It usually just takes one reminder; the next time I come in they will get my Iced Coffee right after I am seated.

3) There is an occasional report about a Korean man named Kim or Lee who dies while playing video games for 50 consecutive hours. I have previously expressed my doubts about this story. But now that I am here I may be able to give an on-the-scene report if one of the folks here keels over while playing.

4) I'm at a PC room now. Most of the customers are men playing video games together or against one another on networks. But there are often female customers playing the same games. There were two chicks who were playfully shouting at each other while they were playing. During the day there are plenty of kids who come in to play games. Yes, there are also some people drinking and smoking, but the kids just play games.

5) I left my Playstation in America. I wanted to avoid spending my free time in South Korea playing Madden. It wasn't easy parting with my PS2. I have avoided going to the EA Games Website so I won't be tempted. Of course, being surrounded by people playing video games for hours is like trying to quit smoking while joining a support group for chain smokers. But I have resisted the temptation so far and even rejected my coworkers who have tried to get me hooked into video games again (by hooking PS2 into the large projector screen).

CJL

내 티셔츠는 멋지게 말한다 (Translation: My t-shirt speaks so cool"

2009-08-18T09:26:00.017+09:00

Chris in South Korea has some great photos of T-shirts spotted around Seoul with creative English written on them. I am on the hunt for something different: I want to buy some T-shirts and caps written in Korean.

* It would make perfect sense. The Koreans around me have on T-shirts and caps written in English, I'd have the same in Korean. I wish I could write the Korean myself to make sure the grammar would confuse Koreans, like the T-shirts below.

* I have seen a couple of Koreans wearing caps written in Korean. The best I could decipher is that the caps were related to organizations they were probably members of. And, in the small sample, they have all been older Korean men.

* The Wondergirls have really taken off in America. Are there any Wondergirl T-shirts available in Seoul? I've seen T-shirts with Madonna or Marilyn Monroe on them, but not the Wondergirls or other Korean stars.

* I'm limited in my Korean language ability but it seems that Koreans don't name their institutions after Koreans. Is there a Park Chung-hee Military Training Institute? Of course it is understandable that Koreans would name their English language institutes after non-Korean things. I have also seen some creative names.

I guess I could steal some ideas from here.

How will I know Korean culture when I see it?

2009-08-17T09:19:00.006+09:00

A few days ago a Korean colleague mentioned that she was trying to learn about American culture. I had caught her printing out a long bilingual text explaining American history and culture, sent to her by a Korean professor.

She mentioned, that after hearing Americans complain, she had gotten uncomfortable asking people their ages. She said she had stopped asking other Koreans she met. I tried to explain that Americans will discuss each other about their ages, but in context. Just my presence isn't enough context.

I guess some may consider that Koreans altering their behavior to be a good thing. It is a big world, we have a lot to learn from each other. Societies evolve, outsiders sometimes have great ideas and inventions.

But...I'm still in the learning stage about Korea. So at this point I'm hesitant to draw conclusions about the things I see, hear and do or to welcome the role of the lecturing visitor.

I've noticed that Koreans who speak English well seem to be on guard to protect Korea's image. I suppose they have met Korea-bashers so they don't want to share details to give them evidence of Korea's flaws. There are plenty of world-savers always ready to lecture other people about how they should live. As Thomas Sowell has said, "The sins of others are always fascinating to human beings."

I like learning about Koreans as they are, not as the way they want to package themselves to Americans and other world-savers. I don't go so far as the Prime Directive of Star Trek of non-interference.

"No identification of self or mission. No interference with the social development of said planet. No references to space or the fact that there are other worlds or civilizations."
--Star Trek's Prime Directive

But at this point, I'm more interested in Korea as it is. Perhaps a few years from now I will change and have recommendations about whether or not Korean women should have cosmetic surgery. I guess before judging that one first must understand.

* * *

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
--Adam Smith

According to today's Korea Times:

"Lotte Chilsung, the biggest beverage maker in the country, was fined 21.7 billion won and the prosecution indicted its CEO. The Free Trade Commission (FTC) said Sunday that five beverage companies ― Lotte Chilsung, Haitai Beverage, Woongjin Food, Coca Cola Korea and Donga Otsuka ― colluded to hike prices four times between February 2008 to February this year."

Perhaps they should not be allowed to collude, I don't know. But government punishment of private companies is often done even as the government colludes with interest groups to inflate prices, at a cost much higher than what is being done in the private sector.

For example, wouldn't it be crazy to read a headline like this:

President Obama calls for steps to consume more hamburgers

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised to read such a headline.

But here's an actual headline from the Korea Herald, "[South Korean president] Lee calls for steps to consume more rice." According to the article: "There is an excess of at least 160,000 tons of rice every year. The government spends some 600 billion won in storing extra crops in order to support rice prices and thereby protect farmers."

I hate it when reporters talk like government officials. I believe that "storing" crops means keeping them out of the market. In some countries, they will even BURN some crops. That way, there's more of a demand for the available supply, meaning prices will be higher.

Flashback to 2001: "Korean farmers on Saturday denounced recommendations forwarded by a government advisory panel to lower the government's purchasing price for rice next year."

And what about those prices? According to the same article: "Korea's rice, due in part by the subsidies provided by the government is about nine times as expensive as rice produced in countries like Thailand, and even if a 400 percent tariff rate was slapped on imports, local rice would be hard pressed to compete with imports."

Just to be clear: some Korean companies collude to jack up prices by 10 percent, with the result being that one company gets fined almost $20 million and the CEO gets prosecuted. The Korean government colludes with farmers to force Koreans to pay several times the world price for rice and the government spends almost $500 million on storing crops to inflate prices and the result is that the Korean government encourages Koreans to eat more rice?

Of course, there is room to condemn both the Korean companies and the government.

* * *

I'd still prefer T-shirt, shorts and sandals

According to the Korea Times:

The Cool Biz Campaign encouraging office workers to wear short sleeves and leave their ties at home during the summer has proved to be effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.The National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) made the conclusion after measuring temperature changes and perspiration rates.

The campaign was launched to reduce the energy used for air-conditioning during summer by wearing comfortable clothes. The campaign first began in Japan in 2005 and Korea adopted it in the summer of 2006. Office workers are advised not to wear jackets or ties during the summer months, which is supposed to reduce their temperatures by one or two degrees Celsius.

I think I'll celebrate by running my air conditioner for the next 24 hours.

What I really like is the way the test was carried out:

The experiment was conducted on four males and a mannequin. The Cool Biz group wore short-sleeve dress shirts, without neckties, while the control group wore long-sleeve shirts and ties.The average skin temperature of the Cool Biz group was 0.47 degrees Celsius lower in 27 degrees Celsius conditions, which is the recommended summer room temperature, and 0.8 degrees Celsius lower in a 25 degrees Celsius environment, which is the average temperature at offices.

* * *

The Moment

Yesterday we learned our first complicated swing moves at my swing class. For the first time I struggled. Because I've been the only non-Korean in the class there is plenty of attention on me when I can't catch on quickly.

And, of course, the Koreans in the class seemed to assume that all Americans can dance swing. After all, they all do in the movies.

Plus, I'm such a cool and smooth looking fellow, it would seem natural that I could already dance swing.

There was finally some attention on someone else yesterday. An Australian who has been in the country for almost 4 years joined the class. He stumbled along. Of course, there was what I call The Moment.

This goes back to America when other black people show up in a professional or business context. Do you embrace them immediately? Or keep your distance? I've heard some black people complain about other black people ignoring them in the office because they want to be special. But then, I've heard other black people complain about black people trying to buddy up to them in a professional context, thus making it seem they were conspiring or closer than they really were.

My rule is: just do what I want to do. You can't please everyone and not everyone will always agree. So I encouraged the guy, introduced him to a Korean woman in the class who had lived in Australia for a while, tried to help him learn the basic steps and moves.

Last week, I saw a rare sighting: a black woman. I started to say hello, but she looked at me, then looked away. I'm thinking, in my Ebonics voice: "Sistah, we 9,000 miles away from home, I know you see me!" But I let the moment pass as she walked on by...

To give her the benefit of the doubt, she was dressed rather nicely, probably on the way to the office, perhaps in a hurry, while I was in a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. In America she may have also kept on walking...

CJL

Aug 15, DJ is still alive; ugly or plain Koreans

2009-08-15T12:41:00.012+09:00

I often say that I would give up my right to vote in a libertarian society. After all, if the leadership was true to its beliefs then I wouldn't have to monitor what the damn government does. But because we have geniuses in office who believe they know what is best for people--and have the power to enforce it--I keep track so at least I can see the punch coming.

I have also said that Kim Dae-jung is one of the few politicians that I actually trust. I don't say this just because he may be dying. In addition to the many other wonderful things he has done over the decades, that he spared the lives of a politician who had once sentenced him to death on trumped-up charges was an example of a politician not abusing his power once in office.

I truly expected to wake up this morning to read that Kim Dae-jung had expired.

1) He has been very sick for about a month now.
2) He's 85 years old. That's not a good combo.
3) Today is Liberation Day in South Korea. More than 1 million people are being pardoned. If anyone symbolizes getting thrown in jail for stupid reasons, it is DJ.

Of course, DJ might not care for the irony of dying on Liberation Day, and might prefer to die a few years from now, regardless of the irony.

* According to a reporter friend of a friend, there is now a death watch for DJ. Reporters are camped out at the hospital waiting to see if he will really die this time. He has had many close calls over the years so there is always hope he'll make it.

* As is customary, the newspapers probably have their "DJ is dead" obituaries written and ready to post/print.

* As I've mentioned, harmony seems to be very important in Korean society. On the other hand, when there isn't harmony then there is vengeance. DJ was the exception. He could have allowed his former adversaries to be executed, but lobbied against it. On the other hand, Korea's occasional purification and anti-overconsumption campaigns are a good chance for those in power to silence, punish and/or jail opponents. It also helps to have everything against the law for such occasions.

* The Korea Times headline doesn't quite get it right. Chun Doo-hwan Comforts DJ at Bedside. But according to the story,

``I am sure that Kim will eventually regain his
health," Chun said as he comforted Lee, who has
been receiving numerous well-wishers since her
husband's hospitalization a month ago. He was
unable to meet Kim, who is now in an intensive
care unit. [Italics mine]

* I've heard people blame reporters and writers for headlines but the reality is that they rarely write their own headlines. In many cases, the reporters are already home in bed (or drinking the night away) by the time the headlines get written.

I've been victimized by this as a writer and reporter, wondering what in the hell the headline writer was thinking. But then, I've also written headlines at 2 in the morning, and wondered why in the hell the writer didn't get to the main point faster or buried details in the article.

* The former Korean politicians are kissing and making up now. I guess that means they have been told that DJ will really die this time. Of course, it is easy to be friendly when you are all out of power.

* * *

Cosmetic Surgery in South Korea

Korea Times columnist Jon Huer writes at length about cosmetic surgery in South Korea. It is typical Huer. Long-winded. Points that don't add up to a conclusion or course of action. A couple of mean-spirited comments tossed in.

He has some folks who absolutely despise his writing. I'm thankful that he is writing for the Korea Times rather than working for the government to force his views on anyone.

I'm not surprised to learn that Huer is a sociologist. My definition:

A sociologist: A busybody with no power.

They have a lot to say about society. Mostly, it is stuff that can be safely ignored.

Huer takes on Korean women. He asks, "Why is plastic surgery so popular in Korea?"

Huer answers: "One, a population made up of people with plain faces; two, enough money to go around for this fixing enterprise; three, Korea's famed one-for-all and all-for-one herd mentality."[italics mine]

Well, that's how he answered it online. In the newspaper version, he answered differently, "One, a population made up of people with ugly faces; two, enough money to go around for this fixing enterprise; three, Korea's famed one-for-all and all-for-one herd mentality." [italics mine]

So is it that Koreans have ugly or plain faces, according to Jon Huer (pictured on the left). Just as writers don't write their own headlines they also lack control over what appears in the newspaper. I've also been a victim of editing errors. I've seen other writers who have had editors change major points in an article after the reporter had already left the office, gone home, or logged off for the night.

Either way, after reading Huer's writing, I still wonder, "What of it?" Should Koreans stop having cosmetic surgery? So what if Korea is the "Mecca of Cosmetic Surgery?" Are they asking Huer to foot the bill? Huer writes a lot but doesn't tell us why his question is important.

We only go around once in this life. If a chick wants bigger boobs or a dude wants different eyelids, what is the problem?

Jon Huer apparently has written 51 extended pieces for the Korea Times so he probably doesn't really care. He is just doing what a sociologist does.: Writing a bunch of stuff that can safely be ignored as long as he doesn't have power.

* * *

MT

I've just been invited to my first MT. Those are the initials for the Konglish phrase "Membership Training." A group of Koreans will...well, I'm not exactly sure what happens. I think it is more accurate to call it a retreat, based on what I have heard. Membership Training always sounded a bit socialist to me but it seems to be a chance for folks to bond.

Will be able to give this update in about three weeks.

* * *

My feets wuz tired

Thursday night I went to an English discussion group. The Koreans there were absolutely overjoyed that I had joined. Things only got better later when I went out singing with them. Apparently they want to require that I attend every week and sing at least half of the songs.

Last night I practiced swing dancing with many of my swing classmates. We danced from 8 p.m. until almost midnight. Although people often tell me that I look young, I didn't feel that way last night. As old black folk say: "My feets wuz tired." Instead of sandals or tennis shoes I was wearing dress shoes so it may have been a one-time occurrence.

After dancing about 25 of us went out to eat and drink. Our dance instructor announced, in his form of English, that we were going to be out all night. Of course, about three hours later, he was peacefully sleeping on a chair as the rest of us danced and sang.

When we were eating they were curious about just how much I could drink. It took coming to South Korea for me to realize that not being much of a beer drinker doesn't mean I can't drink. I like flavored drinks most of all but prefer hard vodka drinks to beer.

About half of that group made it to the singing room. Unlike other groups I've been with these folks were into singing! In some cases they would sing just half of a song before cutting the music to get to the next song. They were up dancing and singing most of the time we were there. When I did Harry Connick Jr's version of It Had to Be You then several folks were dancing swing.

* * *

Me Love Me Some Free

I stopped at the Herbalife shop. The ladies there now apparently are looking forward to my visits. They were so disappointed I didn't stop by the day before.

This time, the owner fed me fruit, gave me some pills, free tea, a free shake. I'm trying to figure out how I can get the stuff I actually paid for without making them feel they must give me so much free stuff.

Yes, if you know me, I know you are having trouble believing that I'm feeling guilty about accepting free stuff.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Good news: The Korean government says that if your sham marriage prospers that you won't be punished.

Bad news: The Korean government still thinks it should use its authority and resources to ferret out sham marriages.

According to the Seoul Eastern District Court, a 53-year-old Korean man, identified as Park, "married" a Chinese woman in 2004 in exchange for 4 million won. The purpose of the action was for the woman to secure work in South Korea.

Well, if it wasn't difficult for her to work in South Korea then she would not have had to shack up with the guy to begin with!

CJL

My favorite team

2009-08-14T10:14:00.006+09:00

I'm a sports fan who doesn't care which team wins or loses. When a game is over my regret is not that a particular team didn't win. Rather, I'm sorry that the game is over. After a team wins the Super Bowl or championship I regret that the season is over.

Some people don't believe me when I say this but I mean it. I have been watching football and basketball for so long that I now just enjoy the sport for what they are. I don't remember who won last year's Super Bowl, or any of them since about 1989.

That has now changed! My favorite team? The Philadelphia Eagles! I've always been a Donavan McNabb fan. And now, they have signed Michael Vick off the Ex-Convict list.

Vick is one of the few players I enjoy watching play. I have followed his career since he was in high school. I had just arrived in Virginia when there were news reports about him and a high school superstud, Ronald Curry.

Vick is the only player I would go out of my way to watch whenever his team was playing. After he got caught in the dog-fighting ring I hoped he would be able to get out on weekend furlough and still play football. After all, if a murderer like Willie Horton could get out of jail on weekend furloughs, why not Michael Vick, who would only be a menace to dogs? Clearly, those dogs would be in more danger around me than Vick.

The Eagles were the team willing to step up and take the public relations hit for signing Vick. So they've got my support as long as he is playing for them.

I'm not surprised that one of the 26 teams that said they weren't interested in Vick signed him. There was no reason for a team to admit they wanted Vick before they signed him. The Eagles have the excuse that another quarterback got injured. So many quarterbacks get injured during the year, of course Vick was just a knee injury or bad day by a backup from getting signed. Some reporters may congratulate themselves for calling every team to find out if they were interested in signing Vick, but clearly they were just going through the motions.

CJL

Ready to take on the NBA

2009-08-13T09:07:00.010+09:00

Some former NBA stars are coming to South Korea. In another decade or two their skills should have deteriorated to the point that I could actually compete with them. They'll be playing on my birthday, Sept 5, so that will give me an excuse not to get out and play with them. I don't care how good Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was back in the day, he is now 62 years old. I think I'm ready to take him on now.

There is one way I could get on the court against any NBA player, whether current or retired. I would just need to be able to change one or two rules.

Rule number 1: I could never be called for a foul.

Rule number 2: The opposing players all must wear high heels.

If the game is still competitive then I would require the opposing players to wear boxing gloves.

In other words, this shit ain't perfect

The Korea Times has a hit piece on TBS eFM, the all-English radio station based in Seoul. To prove their case they talk with two people--a native Korean and a Canadian. Based on such a sample I could prove that no one ever listens to Rush Limbaugh.

* The easiest story for a reporter to write is that something is "overrated" or has fallen short of expectations.

* Has the Korea Times reached expectations?

* I did notice that the Korean national interviewed in the story said he keeps up with the news by reading several publications, including the Korea Times (but not the Korea Herald).

* The reporter commits a cardinal sin of reporting: relying on just one or two sources for extended commentary.

Slow Lane to Free Trade

I mentioned that I had lunch with my buddy Kim Chung-ho a few weeks ago. Today he has an opinion piece in today's Korea Times. In case you can't read the piece, rest assured that he is very much in favor of more free trade.

SHUT UP AND ACT!!!

I really don't know why people pay attention to what celebrities, actors, and athletes have to say. One thing I hate is when I go to a concert and a musician decides to start talking about politics. If they put their thoughts to some good sounding music, fine. But I don't care what you think.

The latest Please Shut Up and sing/act/play request comes via a Korean actress named Kim Min-seon. She just got sued for her comments last year about U.S. beef.

As the Korea Herald reminds us:

In last May Kim, amid nationwide protests over the government's decision to
import U.S. beef, wrote on her mini-homepage that she would "rather eat
potassium cyanide" than see the imports of U.S. beef with bones tainted with mad
cow disease in Korea.

* I do wonder about the intelligence of people who would have stopped buying U.S. meat because of what an actress said.

* I do hope the company successfully sues the skirt off her...

* I suppose she convinced Koreans to buy Australian beef?

* This is nothing against the Korean actress. My favorite singer is Prince. I really don't care what he thinks about politics or American beef.

Easy to find Supermarket!!!!

2009-08-11T09:39:00.004+09:00

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 street about 100 meters. Turn left. Go down the stairs. Take the elevator to the top floor. After you get on the roof, run to the edge and jump to the next building. Climb down the side of the building. Walk backwards for 4 minutes. Run down the alley marked 'run or die.' Then, dig a tunnel until you reach a wall with the sign, "Easy to find Supermarket." Exit through the manhole. If you run into a barricade, no problem, just don't stop running, as long as it between 5 to 7 p.m. If you see a sign reading 'Welcome to North Korea' then you have gone too far and should dig a hole in the opposite direction. Then, look on your left. And you'll be there! Easy! I go there once a week! Tell them I sent you."

* * *

I love the Herbalife ladies

After a busy weekend I planned on coming home early and relaxing. It looked it might actually happen after many previous false alarms. I cooled down by visiting the Herbalife Diet shop near my home. I absolutely love the ladies (a lovely Korean mother-daughter team) who are running it.

They sent me a text message reminding me to stop by. Which I did about an hour later after work. One thing about Korean business people I've encountered: Once you are deemed a loyal customer then you can expect them to give you many freebies. So much so that I find myself rejecting the offers. Of course this happens at some places even after you first visit. But once you are in then you are really in.

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I love free stuff. To paraphrase Terrell Owens: Me love me some free. I literally walk down the street looking for change someone may have dropped. I'm not so rich that I'll pass up coins on the street. Today at the Herbalife shop it was free tea, a free protein shake, free other stuff that I finally just had to start rejecting. I'm sure they will end up giving me more free stuff than I have purchased.

Another thing about a lot of Korean business people: They will keep their stores open until the customers leave. The diet shop officially closes at 10 p.m. But they mentioned they were open until 1 a.m. on Saturday.

Drinking or singing

Still thinking about relaxing at home...instead, I accepted an invitation from my coworkers to join them to get something to eat. Of course, getting something to eat means we will spend several hours together eating, drinking, and perhaps even singing. We did all of those things until 2:30 a.m. I think we made four stops along the way. Singing was stop number four, and we only continued when we all promised to stay for only 30 minutes.

As is the custom, we paid for an hour after we got there and the folks running the place gave us about 45 minutes of bonus time.

* * *

Exchange with a friend

Casey: Incredible! I went out early one morning and saw people going TO a singing place at 7 a.m.
Friend: What kind of people go to sing at 7 a.m.?
Casey: The kind of people I need to meet!

More diet...

In addition to the Herbalife shop I also got a great workout yesterday because my washing machine stopped working. I repeatedly walked from the kitchen to the washing machine with a small pot and large bottle full of water that I had refilled. I lost count how many times I did that. But it seems that I have created a path.

The buttons on the washing machine are all in Korean. Even after figuring out what the different buttons mean I couldn't get it working. There may be a serious problem requiring technical support. I'll be having my Broken Washing Machine Workout for at least another day.

* * *

Tired of being treated like a kid because there are kids around...

As has been documented here I have consumed many adult beverages in the last month. Not once have I been asked for ID. I can't remember the last time I bought beer at a grocery store, restaurant or bar in America without being asked to prove that I'm of legal age. Some people take it as a compliment when they are asked to prove they are at least 21. It irritates the hell out of me that I must always get permission to buy beer.

The problem isn't just busybody government. It also suggests there is something wrong about Americans. Even though Koreans don't get carded there doesn't seem to be an issue about Korean youngsters buying beer. Either they do it without needing permission or people don't make a big deal out of it. Korean youngsters spend so much of their formative years studying so it may be that they don't have time to drink beer before they get to college or start working.

Korean culture

A lot of things are explained to me as: That's Korean culture.

Sounds too familiar to a t-shirt that was popular many moons ago: "It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand."

1) Harmony

As I mentioned yesterday, harmony is very important among the Koreans I have hung out with. The entire group will usually move in one direction. That's great when you need to fight a war. But not so great when your idea of fun differs from the group that particular night.

Even if several members of the group want to join you then it is better to remain silent so the others won't feel bad. After the dance lesson many of us went for dinner. Then we went back to dance swing. Some of us had planned to go out singing but the Koreans who wanted to sing separately got overruled by those who want to drink. In America, in situations when I was with a group and we were deciding where to eat there were times I would tell the others that I would meet up with them in an hour or so. I hate standing around talking about what to eat.

I'd prefer to just pick something and eat then join up with the others later.

2) Singing or drinking

The majority of the swing group wanted to go drinking, not singing. As I mentioned yesterday, drinking is one of the stops during the night with the people I have hung out with so far, not a priority. I was in the mood for singing so I skipped out.

One of my favorite quotes about majority rule is from P.J. O'Rourke in his book Parliament of Whores:

Majority rule is a precious, sacred thing worth dying for. But -- like other precious, sacred things, such as the home and the family -- it's not only worth dying for; it can make you wish you were dead. Imagine if all of life were determined by majority rule. Every meal would be a pizza. Every pair of pants, even those in a Brooks Brothers suit, would be stonewashed denim. Celebrity diet and exercise books would be the only thing on the shelves at the library. And -- since women are a majority of the population -- we'd all be married to Mel Gibson.

How do I know Korean culture when I see it?

A few days ago someone commenting on one of my posts mentioned that Korean women occasionally grab each other's breasts. I have heard about this but didn't think much of it.

1) I'm never invited to join in such pajama parties.

2) What happens occasionally among people doesn't suggest to me that it is culture.

If I see something happen seventeen times in a row, then, yes, I feel confident concluding that it is culture. On the other hand, a Korean friend of mine who read something online about American boys having circle jerk parties asked me if that was American culture.

It may just be the people I hung out with but I never heard of circle jerking until I was in college. And even then, thankfully, no one was inviting me to join in. That some people may engage in an activity isn't enough for me to conclude it is culture.

Live Korean

Over the weekend I probably had the most successful language exchange I have ever had. The reason? Everyone participating was at a low level. The two Koreans both struggled to speak in English and only did so after I prodded them. Then, after they finally did so, they felt comfortable to push me to speak in Korean. Clearly they were enjoying the show. A third person who also speaks Chinese joined us later on so we were able to also misunderstand each other in that language.

A lot of language exchanges fall apart because...

1) When one speaker is at a higher level than the other then they will speak in that person's language.

2) Some or a lot of language exchanges end up in relationships.

3) People meet 1:1. Meeting in a group of 3 or 4 keeps the topic on language.

I actually know some Koreans now who either don't speak English or struggle mightily with it. That means that I am now getting email messages that are completely in Korean. They will mix in some English but I never know which language the text messages will be in.

One problem reminds me of an incident from a few years ago. A buddy of mine was going through a tough time. I hadn't heard from him for a few days. Then, he sent me an email with a long poem by Kipling. I told him years later that people asking for help or advice should not send a riddle or puzzle. I had to read the damn poem several times before I had an idea of what he meant.

What happens with my Korean friends. We have a mix of English and Korean. Then, at the key moment, such as deciding if and when we should meet, they switch completely to Korean, with completely new sentence patterns and vocabulary.

* * *

McDonald's

I ate at McDonald's for the first time since I've been back in Seoul. I had the Bulgogi Burger. It was quite good.

CJL

bookmark

2009-08-10T09:41:00.003+09:00

I usually get to work at least an hour early so I can blog. I only got to work 25 minutes early today so I will blog later.

I'm bookmarking this so I'll get back to these things later.

My latest diet plan/washing machine problem
Getting asked for ID in Korea, America
swing
struggling with Korean culture at times
singing or drinking in Korea
line dancing in Korea
suntans
language exchange over the weekend

CJL

Smokin!

2009-08-08T12:55:00.011+09:00

Misconception about Karaoke in Korea?

I've heard Karaoke described as being the national pastime in some Asian countries. Based on what I've seen in Korea I would say that isn't quite accurate. Singing is just part of the fun to be had during a night of revelry. I have met a lot of Koreans in the last month but I have yet to meet anyone who went out to sing with singing being the main activity. Some Koreans actually need some drinks in them before they are ready to sing.

I've asked a few about it. They say they will sing if there is still time, but they really wanted to eat, drink and talk. Singing comes after eating and drinking. Sometimes, it gets skipped.

* * *

Getting around Wh-questions

Many Americans complain about Koreans asking them the same questions. When Koreans start in with their Wh-questions I take a shortcut: I like to sing, dance and drink. It obviously confuses them when I offer information so I try to be patient.

I usually wait patiently but yesterday I tried different strategy. Even before I was asked I said, "I'm Casey, I'm an American, I've been here for a month, before I came here I was in Washington D.C., but I'm originally from Texas."

Let's get physical

As I mentioned a few days ago, the Koreans I've met and hung out with are typically very physical when we're out eating, drinking and singing.

Last night I met up with some Koreans who work at a company in my area. One of them said "hello." When Koreans make an effort to greet me then I do my best to respond in kind. We started talking. They said they were going to drink or sing. They had already been eating and drinking so apparently this was stop number two or three of their night out.

It took about 20 minutes for them to decide which place to go. One thing I've read is that harmony is very important for Koreans. One part of the group wanted to continue drinking. Another part wanted to sing. So they split up into two groups when talks broke down.

After they learned that I could understand some Korean they seemed to warm up to me. That meant rubbing up against me, wrapping their arms around me, feeling my waist and muscles as we talked on the street about where to go. No kidding. As I've said, once the Koreans I've hung out with feel comfortable then things get very physical very quickly.

I'm not ready to draw conclusions about the things I've seen and been doing but I'm guessing this is connected to the Konglish word "skinship." It isn't necessarily a sexual thing. Once Koreans feel comfortable then there is absolutely concern about personal space. This goes beyond people bumping into each other on the street and not apologizing. In that case, you are ignoring people who are not in your world. Skinship is about the close feeling between people who are in your world.

My Korean listening ability is still low-level so I couldn't follow the conversation completely. But from what I could understand they were worried about what I would think about their plans for the night.

1) From what I've heard before and definitely learned later in the night, Koreans tend to see Americans as being hypersensitive, even prudish, when it comes to having fun. Apparently the group I was out with last night had been out with Americans and the Americans were more into making moral statements than in going along with the fun.

2) They didn't want to show me the bad side of Korea but they also wanted to have fun.

We went to one place but they didn't like the price quoted at the singing room. We then went to another place. After a couple of minutes they told me that some girls who worked at the singing room would be joining us. They seemed to be trying to put it as delicately as possible so they would not offend my sensitive Americans ears. It seemed that they had been debating whether or not I would not want them to invite girls in.

They were already engaged in horseplay before the girls joined us. Rubbing each other, bumping and grinding, sitting on each others' laps...seven Korean men wearing ties, dress shirts, formal pants. They were completely uninhibited with each other. When the girls came in then they got even worse. One guy started with sexually suggestive dance moves...

They were very concerned about me...every person who started to smoke would come directly to me to ask if it was okay with me if they smoked. I said I didn't smoke but I didn't mind if they did. I talked to one guy, he said that Koreans believe that Americans hate smoking, that Americans aren't allowed to smoke when they go out and that the Americans they have met start coughing at the sight of a cigarette. As one person said to me...America is a free country but sometimes it seems they aren't free to have fun.

They were clowning around and fondling the girls at every possible moment. The women would gently resist but they knew they couldn't resist too much. At one moment one of the guys told one of the uncooperative girls to leave. One of the other guys whispered in my ear that his friend was just joking but wanted to remind the ladies that they wanted to have fun.

At one point three of the girls were huddled around me. They told me I was such a gentleman. My guess at what they were trying to say: Thanks for not rubbing our breasts.

The women were there to feed the snacks to the guys, to fill their glasses, to sing with them, to pamper them, to get them to spend money. I did notice that the women would dump their own beer into garbage cans beneath the tables, apparently to get more beer bottles emptied faster. After feeding the snacks to the guys they were also in a hurry to order more to keep the tab meter running.

The bumping, grinding, dancing, and singing lasted until about 2 in the morning. I have no idea who paid, as is customary nobody asked me to chip in. They asked me several times during the night if I could teach them English two or three times a week. I suspect that most mornings they will be late for class, if they show up at all.

Speaking of getting physical

I saw two near fights last night.

1) I don't know if the woman had a towel or sweater...but whatever it was, she used it to snap, pop and crack the guy she was with in the head three times. The first time she caught him by surprise. The second time he tried to duck but still got hit in the head. The third time he tried to duck but got hit square in the face.

He was then screaming back at her. I watched as he then put her in a headlock. I continued watching as he did this for a few seconds. She managed to break free and walked ahead without him for a few seconds. He was clearly grumbling and cursing, but he swallowed his pride and caught up to her. He seemed to apologize. She was still ignoring him but finally allowed him to walk with her without having to duck...

2) I walked up as two guys were staring each other down. A woman with one of the guys convinced him to go into a beer place with her. They continued to stare at each but that was it.

Then, as I continued walking up the street, I witnessed some Korean women (yes, in high heels, miniskirts) attempting to chop up some plastic bricks. No matter how poorly they did the guy running the business would reward them with some type of a toy.

Just a short distance away there were some older Korean women, I would guess in their 50s, doing their best to kick a soccer ball in an arcade game.

This now puts into perspective an incident from a few weeks ago. I was out with some newly made friends. A Korean female suddenly wanted to show me that she knew taekwondo. I thought she was joking but took it seriously when she struck a fighting pose. She had already had many drinks so it wasn't difficult to block her first kick. She then saw that I knew what I was doing so she kicked harder the second time. That time, I blocked her kick with more force and responded with a move that would have knocked the lipstick off her face if I had followed through. I drew some cheers from the folks watching.

* * *

Age, again

I may not even bothering mentioning this many more times. When I was out with the Korean company workers last night they asked me about my age a little after I told them my name. I told them I would tell them my age after I had a drink.

One of the Korean guys asked me about 15 or 20 times. He told me that he could not relax until he knew my age. Finally, after we sat down at the singing place he immediately poured me a drink and began demanding my age.

As I mentioned before, Koreans need to know other peoples' ages so they can know how to address them. He then began calling me "big brother" in Korean.

Because I always add a decade or two to my age I can get away with a lot of stuff.

For example, it is still customary when Koreans eat together for everyone to wait until the oldest person has taken a bite or sip. Then, everyone else can eat. I like to eat food when it is still sizzling or smokin' and I like my beer when it is still cold so I hate having to wait for others. So, because I tell them I'm 54 or whatever age I feel like being at that moment I usually get to get or drink when I'm ready.

There is another reason I started telling people that I'm 54. I heard Chris Rock say that the average black man dies at the age of 57. So I tell people I may have only three more years to live so I want to do as much as possible in the time I have remaining...

* * *

Solving geopolitical bullshit

A Korean friend who knows that I used to be a political commentator in America asked me why I'm not writing about things like Bill Clinton's visit to North Korea, Obama, Sotomayor, etc.

1) I haven't given a flip about political issues for a few years now. Working in D.C. for a few years cured me of any trust I had in politics or politicians.
2) Rational ignorance: No matter how much I learn about those issues I doubt that Obama would really care about my opinion.
3) I'm tired of the same arguments I've heard (from new people) for two decades.
4) The way so many people argue (questioning motives, making personal attacks) is tiresome.
5) Americans already know everything about everything so they don't need to hear anything from me.
6) There are already enough world-savers. They are so busy doing so that they probably didn't even know I had taken a break from doing so.
7) I'm sure I'll learn more about busybodies here in Korea.
8) Trying to help humanity is more likely to get you shot than praised (although, in death, you may be respected).

* * *

Southeast D.C. in Seoul

I took two Korean female friends dancing in Itaewon (basically, an area where a lot of American soldiers go to party, it was once the main area for American tourist to visit).

They were both very curious about it but had never gone.

I took them to a black club. Seriously, it felt like I had been transported to southeast D.C., except that the women bumping and grinding were Korean. The brothers there were wearing do-rags, other ghetto type clothing and styles.

Of course, because I was with two sexy Korean women I had a number of guys who suddenly wanted to be my best friend.

I drank a large amount of Cherry Soju, probably the most I have ever had at one time. We then went to what seemed to be an Asian-American club. We met one really friendly Korean guy who shared a lot of (clearly expensive) Vodka he has purchased. But when he got up from his seat a Canadian guy plopped down. The Canadian started bitching about the club, complaining that the women wouldn't talk to him. He then shook up his bottle of beer and started spraying it into the air and onto himself, pretending to jerk off.

He then tried to get friendly with me but I told him he was bothering us. So after a minute he finally got up and left. Unfortunately, the Korean-American friend who has lived in America for a number of years was bothered by the cigarette smoke so we went back to the black club where the ventilation was better.

* * *

Smoke in his eyes

As I mentioned, the Korean guys I was out with last night kept apologizing for wanting to smoke. A week or two ago when I was out with some Koreans, a Korean woman started puffing away on a cigarette. She then handed it to me when her cousin (or brother, it wasn't clear) returned to the table. She then whispered in Korean to me that he doesn't know she smokes. Well, I think that's what she said, she may have been telling me she was on fire, I still can't get the gist of some things even when I know the keywords.

They were all pleasantly surprised that I smoke (I don't). I then asked the Korean woman who had handed me the cigarette if she wanted to try. She pretended that she wasn't the least bit interested. But after I asked a few times she put on a great performance showing interest.

Her cousin who apparently didn't want her to smoke seemed to think it was funny that an American would ask his cousin to smoke. After all, Americans don't smoke and don't like it when others do so. He then encouraged her to smoke my cigarette. It was her cigarette after that...

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Swing & Sing!

Tomorrow night I will take my weekly swing dance lesson. After that a couple of us will go singing. The same thing will happen Friday night.

CJL