2018/10/03-04 No days off, no off days

Much to my surprise, TNKR co-founder Eunkoo Lee had already scheduled meetings for us on the holiday on 10/3. I had been dreaming of taking a day off to play video games all day.

* Yesterday, students visiting from Denmark interviewed me for a school project. They were efficient with the interview, asking pointed questions.

I asked Youngmin Kwon, project manager of the Bring My Father Home to also briefly introduced Hwang Cheol's campaign to have his father freed from North Korea. New staffer Josefine Johansen and Hyunheo also introduced themselves.

* Students from Seoul National University (SNU) visited again to figure out how they can help. That was on the holiday.

* We also had a Korean-American lawyer who is working in Beijing visit us. He read up about TNKR, and has made it clear that he would like to get involved.

* Josefine Johansen has begun tutoring NK refugees at our office. She is making flyers, tutoring, and helping out any way she can. I was delighted to see her posting about TNKR on her Facebook page (without me asking!). The refugee she is tutoring has been with us for about a year now, and she is so focused!

* We had an orientation session with a North Korean refugee returning to TNKR. He struggled the first time around, he was clearly more interested in socializing with the (female) tutors. He didn't say he regretted that he was more interested in meeting (female) teachers socially, but he did admit that he didn't learn the first time around because he wasn't focused on studying. He says this time he will abide by our rules and be focused on studying, not socializing.

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How not to get your ass beat by the police

The black president of the United States stupidly commented on the arrest of a black Harvard professor in his own home by a white police officer. Some random thoughts and memories: * I'm sure most people are still trying to figure out who Prof. Gates is. As G.K. Chesterton once wrote: "Journalism consists largely in saying 'Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew Lord Jones was alive." * Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare." Perhaps. But having a criminal in my house is even more of a nightmare. Also, having the president of the United States talk off the cuff about me about something he doesn't know is pretty bad. And getting shot by a cop after I escalated a situation would also be worse than getting arrested. Anyway, I have had my own dealings with the police over the years: * Back when I was a college student many many moons ago, one of my brothers and I got stopped by police in Bro...

The Casey Lartigue Show

Guests scheduled for May NOTE: Check here for updates on Memorandum 46! Future Shows Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution This is my first attempt at putting together my own promo , it was rejected because of the sound quality May 19 edition of the Casey Lartigue Show We had a great show yesterday, probably the best so far. The topic: Malcolm X. The occasion? Anniversary of his 82nd birthday. Eliot Morgan and I had a great time talking with the callers. Deneen Borelli called in on our special guest line. You can download the file here. We posed the question: What did Malcolm X do? We contrasted the viewpoint and legacies of Malcolm X and Thurgood Marshall. The one mistake I made was not to focus on the question that Marshall asked: What was the one concrete thing that Malcolm X did. In segment 3, callers begin to get personal with us. May 12 edition of the Casey Lartigue Show Featured guest: Don Boudreaux of George Mason University Promo for the May 12 show May 5 edition of the C...

Does a flower turn to the sun?

I tend not to address points raised by people commenting on posts. In the back-and-forth of such discussions, people sometimes say things they don't mean or take extreme positions. In other cases they are just trying to be provocative, especially when they can remain anonymous. But a discussion on Greg Mankiw's blog caught my attention. That's because a couple of the folks suggested that parents don't really have the knowledge to make decisions about the quality of schools. Between 2002-2004 I was actively involved in the fight to get school vouchers for families in DC. I often heard the argument that parents don't know how to choose between good and bad schools and that, anyway, parents had enough choices with the school system's "out-of-boundary" options and charters (that had also been opposed). Without getting too deep into the out-of-boundary program, I'll point out that Woodrow Wilson HS, considered one of the best schools in the city, recei...

Korea Fighting!

Years ago I read an article about a man who kept a detailed diary about his life. I think it was 70 years of diaries. Nothing was too insignificant for him to mention. I remember reading it and wondering, "Yeah, but will anyone ever read those boxes of diaries about him going to the bathroom?" I guess he often wrote about himself writing... These days I'm having the opposite problem... I'm living it up so much that I don't have time to write... Can you really enjoy life and record it all? If I had time I would blog about... * going swing dancing * getting treated at the Kkunnori restaurant in Jamsil by two friends who insist I'm the luckiest man alive because I know them. * then getting treated to an hour or two at the Luxury noraebang near Kkunnori . * the "call" button in Korean restaurants * Koreans ordering too much food whenever they eat together * Meeting with Gong Byeong Ho (공병호) for the first time in 10 years. * how damn energetic Seoul i...

Weekend roundup

Kim Heung - sook asks: " Who Needs New Bills ?" When I first saw the headline, I thought: I AGREE!!! In fact, I don't want or need ANY bills, whether old or new! I have a dream job now...After a couple of days at work, one of the managers here told me to give him all of my bills, the company would take care of my expenses. So I say...Who needs new bills!!! Who needs old bills!!! Her essay is about the new 50,000 won bill. That's about 40 bucks. The next largest bill? 10,000 won. That's about 8 bucks. * * * Get a job! In an LA Times piece trying to guilt California taxpayers and the governor to spend more on higher education in the state , Vincent J. Del Casino Jr. concludes by asking how he should explain spending cuts to his students: "Governor, any good one-liners I might use?" I've written some speeches for some prominent people over the years, I'll give this one to the governor for free, "Get a job!" * * * The next borrowed word? ...

The Casey Lartigue Show!

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