Why did June 22nd end?

My day started at 7 a.m. with me doing a voice recording for a university.

When I got to work, I found that I was part of a Korea Times Interview with Songmi Han.

* * *

Greenlight to Freedom sold some more copies so it bounced up in a few categories.

* * *

We had lunch with executives of a foundation. Jin Park, formerly of the National Assembly and now the Minister of Foreign Affairs, happened to be having lunch nearby. We gave him a signed copy of Greenlight to Freedom.

He gave a moving testimonial about me last year.

* * *

After lunch, FSI's co-founders Casey Lartigue & Eunkoo Lee returned to the office with Songmi Han. She finished signing copies of the book.

On Instagram she wrote: "I'm sure today is my lucky day."

* * *

I had a mentoring session with a North Korean refugee with an incredible story that he may tell one day.

* * *

Evelyn Jeong stopped by for the second consecutive day to work on her book.

* * *

The day started with an article in the Korea Times. It ended with dinner at the Seoul Press Club with top executives, editors and columnists with the Korea Times.

My former editor at the Korea Times who is now the president and publisher.

At the suggestion of one of the top executives, I gave a copy of Greenlight to a professor at the meeting.

This was probably the most incredible moment. A former Miss Korea not only recognized me but she said that we participated in a roundtable discussion a few years ago. She said that I made an incredible impression on her. I couldn't remember which event she was referring to, but it was great to hear!

* * *

Jeong-cheol Lee was featured on Arirang TV Radio. At the Korea Times dinner I posted the photo about the event on Instagram then took a screen shot when James was on.

* * *

Eunkoo Lee and I were in another Eunmi Park video, uploaded at 10 pm.

* * *

H.L. Mencken wrote that editorial writers need to get out of the office at least once a week. Today I met with:

* A top-level government official I have known for about a decade.

* Foundation executives

* North Korean refugees

* a former Miss Korea remembered a meeting we had several years ago.

* Newspaper columnists, editors and executives

* at 7 am, I did a voice recording for a university.

* Counseling a volunteer

* Checking many things

* in addition to those things, I was featured in a newspaper article and YouTube video.

That is some of the fun stuff that I did today!

Waiting for me at the office: Two books that I need to edit.

I have many requests that are waiting for, I need to edit some speeches, keep our donors updated, recruit people for our two events this weekend, raise money for a trip to the USA, etc.

Throughout my professional career I have had people tell me to slow down, that I'm doing so many things that they can't keep up. I usually respond by telling them that this is the way I live and that as long as I don't get confused that things will be fine.

Occasionaly people contact me, asking if I can tell them about my upcoming activities. That usually takes a few minutes. People ask me to reflect on what I just did, and that takes even more time. I have learned that supporters are fine with just one update a week, but those updates are so long that I doubt they read them.

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

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

"Yoegi Anjuseyo!"

* I have a short reflection in today's Korea Times about an encounter with an unfriendly looking Korean man on the subway. It was a reminder not to be too quick in judging people in Korea. 09-13-2011 16:47 'Yeogi Anjeuseyo!' By Casey Lartigue Jr. The recent incident in which an American English teacher bullied an elderly Korean man and other passengers on the bus reminded me of a more pleasing incident from years ago. I was on the subway, taking the train outside of Seoul for a work assignment. I have the habit of standing on the subway to strategically position myself near the doors in case my stop magically appears. On that particular day, there was a Korean man STARING at me. Not just looking at me, but intensely staring at me. He had an incredible frown on his face. Not just for one stop, but for several stops the guy just kept staring at me. If I had known more Korean then I would have been able to curse him ...

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

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

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

2020-11-26 My basketball story

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

The Casey Lartigue Show!

Search This Blog