2016-02-02 Eunhee Park's debut

We had a GREAT time introducing TNKR (now FSI) to the American Women's Club, Korea. The event was scheduled to wrap by noon--instead, we got so many questions that it was almost one o'clock before I had to end the event because of another appointment!

Rhonda Rayner Kupka and her team were absolutely great. There are so many great organizations helping so many people, so it was truly an honor that they opened their doors to us. They made the TNKR team feel absolutely welcome. I gave the keynote for the event, but the main part of the program was the three refugee speakers who followed me. They each gave great speeches in different ways. TNKR co-director Lee Eunkoo Lee was able to join, and TNKR tutor Amber Miller also discussed her experience in the program.

Ken Eom is now a veteran speaker. He joined TNKR last March, but he has now given a number of speeches and is really comfortable. He is both poignant and humorous. We had one speaker who was giving her first speech in English and another who was giving her second speech.

We hope we will be able to collaborate with AWC after this. I have given many public speeches, in many cases, it is just a one-time event with no follow up. Several of the ladies in the audience said they hope to collaborate with us in the future, to help us build TNKR.so we can help refugees even more.

2021 Update: One of the speakers not showing her face at that time was Eunhee Park. She had joined us in April 2015. She decided that she would like to give a speech. A few days before, we had a practice session with her.

She has since gone from A-B-C to T-E-D and spoken many times about us changing her life.

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Moments and Movements

The Korea Times

March 24,2014

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/10/626_153960.html

www.patreon.com/fsi21

Get rid of that watermelon!

Part 1: When I was a youngster I used to collect Confederate money, posters and photographs with caricatures of blacks, and "No blacks allowed signs." I loved the money because it was a reminder of how far the sorry Confederacy had fallen. I had one poster of a dark-skinned black boy munching on a watermelon. I would look at that small poster and wonder, "What in the world is wrong with anyone wanting to eat watermelon?" Yes, white people, I'm talking to you. Your parents, grandparents, and other ancestors who thought making fun of blacks for eating watermelon were crazy ! Even people who say that nothing has changed in race relations must acknowledge that the many stereotypes of blacks are no longer prevalent. But then, there are also some ready to remind us of days-gone-by by debunking stuff that doesn't need to be debunked today. According to the Washington Post: The sound you just heard was yet another racial stereotype going kersplat ! Some ...

Common Sense on North Korea (Korea Times, April 2, 2012)

By Casey Lartigue, Jr. As interesting as Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov’s writings are, there is nothing quite like attending one of his lectures. He can barely restrain himself behind the podium, often pointing and waving his arms. I also enjoy his unscripted speeches, but his answers in Q&A sessions are like the difference between watching Michael Jordan shoot baskets in warm-ups and an actual game. I have finally discovered the secret behind Lankov’s consistently solid analysis about North Korea: Use common sense. At an Asan Institute conference last summer, he argued that North Korea watchers should try to understand North Korea from its perspective. Don’t most people know that you must understand the mindset of others you are dealing with? Yet, common sense in theory gets ignored politically. From the North Korean perspective, nuclear weapons are the best thing they’ve got going. They will NOT give them up easily, even if President Obama ...

Rich talking back

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

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

2015-10-16 speech: Legacies of the Korean War at GMU (Korea)

Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special event at George Mason University's campus in Seongdo (Korea). Charles Cousino, an 84-year-old Korean war veteran, discussed his connection to Korea. I discussed Teach North Korean Refugees. And North Korean refugee Sehyek Oh talked about what freedom means to him. It was the speech he used to win TNKR's second English speech contest. Special thanks to Roland Wilson and Michael Dunne for making it happen! support TNKR: www.lovetnkr.org/donate

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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