Media Monday: Give Peace a Chance

Wow....just wow!  I think this is just too awesome for words...not that I'm not about to try.

Gloria Steinem (which if you don't know how amazing SHE is, go educate yourself.  I'll wait here while you do a quick Google search.  She's an incredible woman.  Among other things, she is actor Christian Bale's, AKA Batman's, stepmother.) and other notable women are planning to walk across the DMZ as part of a Korean Unification Movement.

I think this is awesome on so many levels.  It's unbelievably fearless.  Let's face it, the action in and of itself is fairly illegal and North Korea is not exactly know for its gender equality and shining human rights record.  But it could also be dangerous and counter-productive to unification efforts.  How responsive can you expect a government to be when you blatantly disregard its laws and culture.  I think this is especially important if a majority of participants are Westerners....NK is already hostile because of Western influences in the South.

There are far too many issues surrounding Korean unification to discuss properly here.  I personally believe that it is possible and would love to see it happen.  However, realistically, the longer the two Koreas remain separated and North Korea remains isolated the more difficult unification is going to be.  I feel like the clock is really ticking on this one and only time will tell.

All that being said, I wish Ms. Steinem and her compatriots good luck!

Read the article here:
http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3001860&cloc=joongangdaily%7Chome%7Cnewslist1

Media Monday: Some Good Advertisement!

In case you missed it, (and you probably did if for some unknown and unfathomable reason I am your source for Korean news, and last week my face was hurting too much to write anything) last week the US Ambassador was attacked by a political activist.  Thankfully, his injury was not severe and he is recovering well...which in this article he credits kimchi for his speedy recovery.  Talk about some good publicity for kimchi!

Here's the article, enjoy!
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/03/116_174835.html

It's Nothing You Should See the Other Guys...

Or you would if the other guys were not inanimate objects...namely, my desk, a chair, and the floor.

I just always wanted to say that.

And it explains why I have already deviated from my plan to write here regularly.

Sigh.

So, what happened is, I spent last week "desk warming"...a GET term for showing up at work and not teaching classes.  I actually don't mind too much because I have a lot of time to prepare new materials, repair old ones (like the class Scrabble tiles), and clean and organize my classroom.  So, I don't idly wile away my desk-warming hours...I stay busy doing the things I have to cram on top of my already full teaching schedule.