The Ddeok is always greener

Goodbye; transitioning

2009-05-17T12:50:00.002+09:00

Well, I am strangely quite sad about this whole process, but I am moving my blog to another site. I have taken this whole blog, posts and all, over to another site at

http://michaelgallagher.wordpress.com/

That is where you will find me from now. All these old posts will be there along with uber-new cool stuff. I have maintained a variety of blogs for quite sometime and I am thinking 2009 seems like a good year for consolidation. Join me if you want. I will sincerely miss those that don't.

I will miss blogger. I will miss knowing I started here almost five years ago on this exact site, almost identical interface. It was in Seoul in Seodaemun that I started this blog. And it will be in Princeton on Wordpress that I will continue.

Come on over. I will be less for it if you don't.

Goodbye.

Frightened Rabbit

2009-05-16T23:30:00.001+09:00

This is what I am listening to at the moment. The name of the band is Frightened Rabbit. Not bad at all.

Learn As One

2009-05-11T05:55:00.003+09:00

Learn As One is taking a unique Kiva-esque approach to online fundraising for schools. They are looking to build a school in Zambia. I sincerely hope this works well for them.

Visit their website and consider donating if you can spare a little.

http://www.learnasone.org/

Ddeok is always greener on the other side

2009-05-04T02:23:00.004+09:00

In keeping with my new banner and title, I give you a series of Korean proverbs from Wikiquote.

My new title comes from this proverb:
남의 떡이 더 커 보인다. - Someone else's rice cake always looks bigger.
which seems to correspond to the English proverb of the grass being always greener on the other side. Rice cake=떡=Ddeok, hence the Ddeok is always greener. As always, I am bringing the world closer together.

소 잃고 외양간 고친다. - After losing a cow, one repairs the barn.

빈 수레가 요란하다. - An empty cart rattles loudly.

하늘의 별 따기. - Catching a star in the sky. - an impossible deed.

아는 길도 물어가라. - Even if you know the way, ask one more time.

티끌모아 태산. - One can build a mountain by collecting specks of dust.

시작이 반이다. - Starting is half the task.

등잔 밑이 어둡다. - Underneath the lampbase is dark.

* 호랑이도 제 말하면 온다. - If you speak of the tiger, it will come

Present

2009-05-03T22:44:00.002+09:00

Etiquette dictates that this begin
with reference, a frame in which to harbor
a divergent thought.

Sunday morning, perhaps. Cloudy, wet, lush day, as well.
Sleeping clothes, New York Times ink-stained fingers, cold coffee, black mug
from Dublin. Ribs pained, scuttling currents of tortuous electricity housed between shoulder blades like nestled insects. Percocet awaits, the last of the initial prescription.

All contextual underpinning, a stage, a scaffold. All sheer trickery, a sleight of hand, a distraction.

This is about being, being now, in this conscious moment. Like a mathematical equation, my path to solution, however elegant, matters less than the answer, the gist. Context serves only to sever you from me, from my understanding becoming a universal one.

I breathe consciously, I sit rigid, my mind alert. Thoughts drift to memories, I corral them back to the present. I avoid metaphor. My present is stark, illumination.

I am.
I am at this very moment.
I will die at some present moment in the future.
I will live in all others. Patient and fearless.

I will kiss my wife when she awakes and be joyous, content in this present. I will grow restless as the sun arcs across the sky. I will plan a far off journey with utmost sincerity. All of these will be accomplished in some present space, however far in the future it remains now.

I will never be more complete than now, but I can be more comprehensive. I will never be smarter than now, but I can be wiser. I know the pinch from my watch snapping at the hair on my arm will still cause me to twitch even when I am 75. I am 33 now. A series of rotations around a sun, loops in orbit. Repeated breaths. Conscious thought. Sunrises and sunsets. A thousand chances to be perfect in this present, to achieve perfection engulfed in a balanced feeling, thought, deed.

I do not desire this perfection, do not let myself long for it.
I only know that it will come, if not today. If not now.

Buddha Quotes on Buddha's Birthday

2009-05-03T01:06:00.004+09:00

Saturday is Buddha's Birthday, a day of great celebration in many parts of Asia. For many of us living there, it was a good day to have off and roam around and see the city of Seoul decked out in colorful lanterns.

Even if you are not Buddhist, which I am not, some of these thoughts are provoking and just lend themselves to some spiritual introspection.

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him."

"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."
-Everything is relative to everything else. No great surprise here, in spite of pronouncements of absolute truth, of moral absolutism, of perceived social clarity. We exist in relation to others, in fact our very existence and creation (as well as our eventual destruction) is determined by our relation to other(s). Beyond no man being an island, perhaps no man is a man. We are singular in thought, in our thoughts relation to our experience. However, our thoughts, our experiences and our prescriptive courses of action are not singular; they are indeed shared. Proper thought and course of action occurs first in that singularity of self, but that does not mean it is novel. Nor should novelty ever be pursued for its own sake. Rather, action, existence itself should be grounded in condition. How does this thought, this action meet the conditions of this very present? How does this better or worsen me, and with me, all of us?

"Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals"
-This particular quotes resonates with me. Frustration stemming from delay is a signal that something is out of sync, either you with this world, or you with your self. I imagine Buddha would think those are one in the same.

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."
-This is interesting as well, lest we all think that Buddhism resides entirely in the mind. Buddhism is a course of action as well as thought, a prescription and a cure. It is the mind and body acting as one, the goal of any major religion.

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
-Believe the message and not the messenger. Intense introspection will lead to understanding which will fortify logic and common sense. Then we can face the world comfortable with our reasoning and our ability to discern fact from fiction. Once again, a strong parallel with other religious chains of thought.

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."
-This is perhaps my favorite quote of all time. Chaos is a naturally occurring concept, one that will always be present when anything exists in multiples, not as singularities. Chaos is neither positive nor negative (there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so-Hamlet), but an indication of individual determination to extract logic from chaos. There is method to madness, patterns in the noise, structure to be had and built upon. Chaos is inherent but not a sole determinant.

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
-I tend to interpret this as sequential. There is nothing that dictates the future but the present. The present has been dictated by the past, which was once the present. The future requires no fixation, because it is entirely derivative of the present. Therefore, focus on the present, your current manifestation.

"Ennui has made more gamblers than avarice, more drunkards than thirst, and perhaps as many suicides as despair."
-How beautifully modern a thought. Ennui is an extreme form of lethargy, of listlessness, of apathy. It is like freezing to death, slowly and often without violence. But it always meets a violent end. Passion need not be tempered to the point of dullness, a vibrant mind need only focus thought, concentrate the intensity, the passion on a single conscious thought for it be filtered. The strongest current flows through the smallest crevice. The passion that flows from the soul is like water on a rock, useless if not channeled. The passion that flows unregulated will lead to disillusionment, despair, ennui. The existence of passion alone does not justify its presence, its usefulness. It simply is. It is a means to a greater consciousness, a tool for focus, for clarity. It is the strength in which meaning is conveyed, the power of the strong current.

"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely."
-Amen to that. I am not sure of a religion that would disagree. Death is the most natural of progressions. And nothing stops at death. Whatever you might believe, even at the most primitive of transformations, essence is merely rearranged at death. Physically, spiritually, in relation to this world, in relation to ourselves. Death is a moment of reorganization, the continuation of the ennobling journey. It is natural to fear it, as it is dramatic, entirely different than experience to that point, yet it is represented daily on a massive scale in all that is around us. It is constantly reiterated and framed and presented in a myriad of forms, impressions, tones. The one thing I am certain of, both logically and emotionally, is that nothing stops at death. All our clusters of self are reorganized in different forms. Your collected wisdom is not lost in the ether; it feeds the root of humanity, builds verse upon the ancient epic, it carries with you in whatever, wherever you might find yourself.

The image comes from the Korean Buddhist shrine of Seokguram (석굴암) located in Gyeongju, South Korea. It is officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and sits high on a mountain overlooking both the East Sea and Gyeongju itself, 750 meters above sea level. It is an impressive construction feat for any time in history, more so for the fact that it was constructed using granite brought from other areas of Korea in 750. It is considered to be one of the finest Buddhist sculptures in the world and truly personifies the Korean view of Buddha, as opposed to the thinner or fatter versions found in other countries. If ever you make it Korea, Gyeongju and Seokguram should be high on your list of things to do and see.

Amadou and Mariam

2009-05-03T00:59:00.002+09:00

Mbifé - Amadou & Mariam

I have grown really fond of this duo from Mali, Amadou and Mariam. Both are blind and met while at a school for the blind. They have grown to have a considerable following for their live shows and they are coming to New York for a show at Webster Hall in June. Manu Chao produced their last album, which this song is taken from.

Quote from James Madison

2009-04-29T06:38:00.002+09:00

"Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government."

James Madison, primary author of the Bill of Rights.

Tagore and Daylight

2009-04-21T09:05:00.001+09:00

Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come.

Rabindranath Tagore

Bakoye by Ali Farka Toure

2009-04-21T07:53:00.002+09:00

http://snipr.com/gbcf0

Bakoye by the late great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, one of the most beautiful tracks ever composed.

Buddha=not sleeping

2009-04-17T00:46:00.000+09:00

One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
"I am awake", Buddha replied.

Toumani Diabate, Princeton and the McCarter Theater

2009-04-16T23:56:00.003+09:00

Tomorrow evening, I will be seeing Toumani Diabate in concert here in Princeton. Diabate is a legendary Kora musician from Bamako, Mali. The Kora is basically a 21 string lute used primarily in West Africa to produce some wonderful music. Truly stunning and Diabate is one of the most prominent, if not the best.

Take a listen for yourself. I recommend it highly for working at your computer; you can drift away.

Cheikhna - Toumani Diabate & Ballake Sissoko

Above you can see a picture of the man himself with his kora.

Harvard Africa Map

2009-04-16T08:46:00.003+09:00

This is a new Harvard Africa Map that allows for layering of different maps and geospatial materials from different collections. In this screenshot, I have layered two historical maps over the Google Map layer. You can even adjust the density of the maps off to the right. Quite a fun way to explore older data and a very promising creation.

You can find the beta site at http://cga-3.hmdc.harvard.edu/africamap/. Give it a whirl and enjoy.

Lalibela, Ethiopia

2009-04-16T08:14:00.002+09:00

3D Laser Scanning of the Churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia from World Monuments Fund on Vimeo.

This is a 3D Model of Lalibela, Ethiopia, an intricate series of rock-hewn churches created by Dr. Heinz Ruther of the University of Cape Town. You can find the work he has done on both the remnants of Aluka and the World Monuments Fund website at http://www.wmf.org/Eth_lalibela_2009.html.

Thomas Merton wisdom

2009-04-15T20:04:00.000+09:00

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.

Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng (천상병)

2009-04-12T09:55:00.002+09:00

When Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng left this world on April 28, 1993, it was a long-rehearsed departure. He had already left the world a first time in his childhood, when he fell over a cliff but survived after being caught in the branches of a tree. A second departure came in 1967, when the agents of the National Security Agency (KCIA) whisked him away to the dreaded cellars of their building in central Seoul. There he was subjected to torture by water, and also by electric-shock applied to his genitals. His name had been found in the address-book of a friend from university days, a friend who was now accused of being a communist spy after visiting the North Korean embasy in East Berlin. After six months in detention, he was finally freed, having nothing to confess except the fact that he had friends. As a result of the electrical torture, the poet would never be able to have children.

Born in early 1930 in Japan, he returned to Korea with his family in 1945 and resumed his interrupted schooling at Masan. The first of his poems to be published was the poem "Rivers" that appeared in the monthly review Munye in 1949, when the poet was still at school. By 1952 he was established as a poet, with recognition from already reputed writers. By this time he was studying at Seoul National University. After finishing his studies there, he worked for a while in Pusan. In addition to writing poems, he had also already begun to compose literary essays that were published in various periodicals. They constitute the other important aspect of his life's work as a writer.

Not very long after being tortured, Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng seemed really to have died. Deeply traumatized by the violence he had undergone, he began to roam about, drinking wildly until at last, in 1971, he disappeared. Months passed, his friends and relatives searched for him everywhere to no avail. They could only conclude that he had died and been buried somewhere anonymously, unknown. In sorrow, they collected the poems they could find, and published a posthumous memorial volume.

Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng's career may have been marked by a series of deaths, it is also a story of multiple resurrections. Suddenly news came that he was alive after all, interned in the Seoul municipal asylum where he had been taken after he had collapsed in the street. The only things he could recall at that time were his name, and the fact that he was a poet. Perhaps the second memory was the thread that kept him alive.

Deeply withdrawn though he was, Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng showed a clear improvement after being visited by Mok Sun-Ok, the younger sister of one of his university friends. The doctor told her that she could help him by her visits and that if all went well he might be ready to return to life in the outside world after a couple of months. So Mok Sun-Ok came to visit her brother's friend every day, until he was as ready as he ever would be to come back to life in society. Only it was clear that he would hardly be able to fend for himself on his own. He had the heart of a child, and a child's fragility. Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng and Mok Sun-Ok were married in 1972, a marriage that endured through twenty years of sometimes terrible hardship and struggle.

The poet's love of company, his simple trust, and his enjoyment of a drink and a smoke, did not answer the question of how the newly-weds were to feed and house themselves. Friends helped Mok Sun-Ok open a café in a small room in the Insadong neighborhood of Seoul, much frequented by artists, writers, journalists and intellectuals. The name given to the café was Kwi-ch'ŏn "Back to heaven," the title of one of Ch'ŏn's early lyrics. The couple lived in tiny rooms in an old house on the outskirts of Ŭijŏngbu, to the north of Seoul.

By 1988, years of drinking had eroded the poet's liver until at last a doctor told Mok Sun-Ok that her husband had reached the end of the trail, that he would never recover and she must prepare for the inevitable end. Another doctor, a friend of theirs, with a small clinic in the town of Ch'unch'ŏn, twenty or thirty miles outside of Seoul, decided to try to help. Ch'ŏn Sang-Pyŏng was admitted there and for the following months Mok Sun-Ok took the bus every evening to be with him. She has written how, returning to Seoul from her daily visits, she used to pray silently in the bus: "God! Not yet. Give him another five years, please. Five more years."

Amazingly, strength returned and the poet was able to leave the clinic to resume a measure of normal living. For another five years. In the space of this reprieve he saw the publication of new volumes of poetry and of essays. Until at last he made his final journey Back to Heaven on April 28, 1993. People opening the door of the Insadong café no longer hear the poet's raucous voice call from his customary seat in a corner: "Come on in, there's room, there's room!" Even when, with fifteen customers, the room was completely full.

And a poem by the man himself:

Next

Soon the wind will blow from the northern hills
snow will fly; winter's coming.

Then on snowy days
I'll walk Seoul's snow-covered streets,
longing for spring.

Even when I had nothing at all
I always had
this "next"
this dawn, this "next."

I reckon this absolute irresistible urge
is all my own.

Soon, tomorrow
my dragging steps transformed
into something hotter than fire

my hope
will impose on the world a heavier burden
than the surf, than all the oceans.

So this "next"
like Seoul's streets on snowy days
is the road to my world's ocean

My favorite quote from Teddy Roosevelt

2009-03-23T08:38:00.001+09:00

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Yonsei

2009-03-21T03:59:00.001+09:00

Yonsei University in Seoul

Yonsei University in Seoul.

To go

2009-02-14T09:29:00.001+09:00

I never had the heart to heave that crippling blow.
I knew it from the start, way back when,
I should go.

Observation

2009-02-01T07:16:00.001+09:00

Dusk, waning light,
is fuel for verse,
a pedestrian curse.

Unfurl the flag of youth

2009-02-01T06:27:00.002+09:00

In as plain a language as I can muster,
I tell you this.

I wandered out just now to take the garbage out. The
wind was flicking my ears like a grade school bully (plain=figurative)
and I walked by a vent pumping steam from a heating unit. Mixed with the cold air,
it was refreshing. It reminded me of something.

Years ago, an eon perhaps. A Friday afternoon after work, after a few drinks, that Majuang wine
that the storekeeper kept asking about. "Is it good?" she would say and I would nod. Good enough for a Friday afternoon.

We went to your roof, high behind Sajik tunnel, Seodaemun stretched out beneath us. The kindgergarden, that beautiful house with an interior garden, those few remaining bits of the ancient Seoul wall. A perfect picture I never took. I think by that point I had a departure date set. I think it was one of those last times, that last Friday perhaps.

The wind whipped around up there, blowing my hair in face, my tie flickering like a sail. We always looked out over the city perhaps because neither of us wanted to look any closer at that menagerie of the landlord's underwear on the clothesline. Or his friendly face when he came up to retrieve them.

That, for me, was Korea in a nutshell. And for every day from here to the end, I would be willing trade it for one more Friday afternoon on that roof, watching the sun slowly set over our busy hive, our flags flickering in the dusklight.

I am better here, no doubt about it. But I was something there, too. Something worth remembering in a photograph. A few lines in plain language.

My childhood home

2009-01-30T09:09:00.000+09:00

It looks peaceful from here.

View Larger Map

Market in Accra, Ghana

2009-01-15T07:34:00.001+09:00

2009

2009-01-13T10:02:00.001+09:00

I had nothing to say really. I just wanted to post for the first time this year.

Lonely Pier in Princeton

2008-12-29T19:11:00.001+09:00

I stopped for a minute or two,
held my breath,
saw right through.

Pimatgol

2008-12-29T19:07:00.000+09:00

I caught a glimpse of the cold Seoul sky
Through the Pimatgol walkway one last time; shuffled
Along the uneven pavement like an antiquated Yangban,
Whispered and wept for it is going, gone.

The wind whipped, stung my throat, stripped me bare.
It was as if I was never there.

Seoul signs

2008-12-26T20:15:00.000+09:00

Not waving but drowning by Stevie Smith

2008-12-26T18:51:00.004+09:00

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

This is a poem by Stevie Smith. It is rather somber, but it builds a nice crescendo towards the end. It is also the rarest of poems in that it ends with a bang, the climax is the final stanza. All too often, as is the case with me, people get too enraptured by the cadence of the words and lose sight of the meaning, words as conveyance of meaning. Stevie Smith did not and this poem is remarkable for it. Not waving but drowning is one of those absolutely classic lines that could apply to a dinner party as much as something more overtly dramatic as someone drifting out to sea.

I do like her wit as made evident by the following quote:
"If I had been the Virgin Mary, I would have said 'No."

Classic.

Spoon by the moon

2008-12-26T18:29:00.005+09:00

I pretend to choke on your long black hair

when we spoon;

the verdant December light pours through the room,

the moon.

Alone this Christmas, as in Seodaemun,

this flickering memory, none too soon.

We will now talk of 2009,

dissuade the fear

that props up the rear.

Where to next? What is best?

Embrace the future, forget the rest.

Part from here, go to there.

In the journey we come closer to a path,

make it clear.

I am up for anything,

game for any chance,

ours is an active pursuit

free from circumstance.

We leave a large wake,

swallow those whole

who dare seek roots

skimming across our cereal bowl,

damn hyperbole.

Contrary to popular belief,

a spoon is not one but two,

squat and square in our hand,

needing something to do.

That is the rub of us,

despite all the grandeur of travel, that wanderlust.

Whatever we do, we have to do.

Whatever we choose, we have to choose.

Complacency is not an option

or our spoon we would lose.

UNESCO's Open Training Platform

2008-12-22T22:13:00.002+09:00

A good organization advocating for open training platforms especially for non-traditional education, education that focuses on life skills, literacy and medical concerns.

Home

2008-12-22T15:58:00.003+09:00

2:30 AM, a day or two before Christmas in 2008,
waiting calmly for the other shoe to drop. Our return
from Seoul brought us through a gamut, fathoms deep
in our recollection, years of excess, of waste, of celebration.

To think we would return, to know we are no longer the same,
to know we are the same to each other, dependant. It is too
much to comprehend. To know Seoul is, if not the same, then similar. Seoul
is its own flux, its own change, it is the river in a Buddhist dream, transformed.

It is not a stable landmark, it is our fluid relation with it, locked hidden
in our experience, our vault pried open only in death.

So many places, we have been to so many places and many of them we called home.
Home. To think we could leave again, to know that road is there before us. To summon the courage, the energy, the sheer will to make it a success.

I grow tired just thinking of it. But exhlirated. Exhausted beyond belief and ready to dream. Ready to surrender to sleep, to let my subconscious thoughts rip sense from stimulus.

I am lost. Lost in possibility, in movement, in heady action away from permanence.

I know how this will end. Always one more adventure. There is always enough in the tank for one more discovery.

Julee Cruise

2008-12-22T15:15:00.001+09:00

Questions In A World Of Blue - Angelo Badalamenti & Julee Cruise

This is what I am listening at the moment late at night recovering from a rather intense bout of jetlag.

Queen Bee, Mali and Diabate

2008-12-22T14:48:00.002+09:00

This is an absolutely beautiful version of Queen Bee, performed by Taj Mahal and the great Malian musician Toumani Diabate. Diabate will be performing in Princeton in April and I will most definitely be there. Along with the late great Ali Farka Toure, Diabate is truly a legend in the field.

Northeast Corridor on Christmas Eve

2008-12-22T14:09:00.002+09:00

Another Christmas Eve,
another place.

The 4:37 on the Northeast Corridor to Penn Station, a quick bite to eat
in Koreatown, perhaps. Lingering on 5th Avenue for a bit before heading back to
Madison Square Garden to catch the LIRR to Manhasset, to you. The lonely winter evening blinded by the pulsing, constant beat of the sidewalk. Manhattan to Manhasset, from light to dark.

We might not be here in a year, but the 4:37 will. Lurching through New Brunswick, Edison, Elizabeth, Newark, Seacaucus. Always leaning towards New York. Everything around here does. I am only in transit; my sights this evening are set for Long Island, deep on that island.

Korean politics

2008-12-19T17:51:00.003+09:00

What is lacking in American politics? Civility? Depth of thought and logic? Moral fiber? How about the possibility of a full-scale Battle Royale! This is from a recent Korean vote on the acceptance of a Free Trade Agreement with the USA. I am generally against FTAs for a variety of reasons, the least of which not being that they tend to destroy local capacity for the production of basic necessities (re: agriculture), but I am not sure I would jump over the crowd as that one guy does halfway through the video.

If ever C-SPAN needs a rating boost, they should consider a steel-cage match instead of a filibuster.

Molly Bloom parting thoughts from Ulysses

2008-12-19T17:08:00.001+09:00

I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharons and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas 2 glancing eyes a lattice hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.

Seoul Finance Center

2008-12-19T17:03:00.001+09:00

This is a sushi restaurant in the Seoul Finance Center.

Reclaim Namibia

2008-12-19T16:02:00.001+09:00

Excellent charitable organization and a perfect act of giving this holiday season

Thoughts from the back of Nancy's car on the way to Incheon Airport

2008-12-14T09:30:00.000+09:00

Your conversation draws me from my own sullen facade.
A rhythm of friendly banter, of our not wanting to say goodbye.

I listen to each word timed with the lines on the median,
see each tree, newly planted, on those artificial hills, adjacent to Samsung ads,
bright as the angry dawn.

I hear the tires cross each crease, a tap, tap, tap lingering beneath your joyful chatter.
I hear a pulse.

At the airport now. We can only muster a meek goodbye.

2008-12-14T09:26:00.000+09:00

I lack the art
to craft verse
from this.

The year is winding down,
thoughts pull inward like a collapsing star.
Introspection as dense as tofu, adrift in a bowl of jigae.

The haze of hope lifts and I stare the future in the eye.
I naturally recoil to the past, awash in a sea of memories,
of people, of home on any shore.

Seoul

2008-12-14T09:19:00.000+09:00

I am just about to head off to Incheon Airport to leave Seoul after a wonderful eight days here. We have visited friends, eaten great food, taken public transportation, acclimated to Korea. We have made plans to come back every year if possible. It is most definitely hard to say goodbye.

2008-11-25T07:58:00.000+09:00

We stare over the folds of the Sunday
New York Times, awash in the Arts and
New Jersey sections respectively,
lost in the singularity of being content.

My heart apace with yours, our shallow breaths
in time like a metronome, our legs folded, our coffee
dutifully at our side.

We both enjoy the sun puring through the bedroom windows,
the straightness of the sidewalk from our balcony, the contours of the dishwasher,
the sense of space. We sit still and pass for furniture.

We giggle and throw a hyperbolic tantrum,
knees and elbows and hair drooping beneath your nose.

My ring on your finger. My chair facing yours, a few bits of scrambled eggs
on an otherwise empty plate. The fork resting plaintively on its side.

The laundry, the dishes, the cleaning, the smile. That smile.

Memory

2008-11-25T07:54:00.000+09:00

Memory
rolls like an autumn fog,
whet with your pursed lips,
your defiant smile.

Chicago

2008-11-14T21:27:00.000+09:00

Not a hog butcher in sight.

Carl Sandburg and Chicago

2008-11-14T21:16:00.000+09:00

Well, in honor of my current location in Chicago for the African Studies Association Conference, I thought it would be interesting to give Carl Sandburg's view of Chicago circa 1916.

CHICAGO

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.

And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.

And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,

Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,

Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,

Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,

Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!

Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Pleasure or dak galbi (닭갈비)

2008-11-11T00:30:00.000+09:00

This is my definition of a good time. A beer, side dishes, dak galbi (닭갈비). Dak kalbi is made with chicken legs although the name contains "galbi." It is seasoned with a gochujang-based sauce and is cooked at your table.

부대찌개, Budae jigae

2008-11-11T00:09:00.000+09:00

Jen and I will also be partaking in a fine feast of buade jigae (부대찌개), which is basically a big stew of hot pepper, leeks, onions, tofu, ramyeon, dukk (떡 or rice cake) and hot dogs. Yes, hot dogs. It might sound commonplace, ordinary or entirely derivative, but it is extraordinary if done right. We are greatly looking forward to it.

You can read more about it here. Also, I have mapped an approximation of where my favorite budae jigae restaurants are located. Please feel free to click into the map if you would like. Unfortunately, I can't remember their names, but there are several outside the front gate of Yonsei University and my personal favorite is on the street behind the main drag in Gangnam.

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낙지, slithery goodness

2008-11-06T21:35:00.000+09:00

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that there will be at least one visit to the Nakji area in Jongno (a cluster of maybe 5 restaurants specializing in octopus).

Nakji (낙지) is octopus in Korean. It can be served in a variety of ways with Sannakji (산낙지)probably the most famous. Regular nakji can be fried or boiled or served in any manner you want, but the sannakji is basically live octopus chopped once or twice and still slithering. It is not for the weak of heart and there have been incidents of people choking to death from a piece of octopus still clinging to life (and airway). Jen and I usually like it after it has shuffled off this mortal tentacle. However when they stir fry it in front of you, it is still moving. By the time it gets to your mouth, however, it is not.

If you are curious, you can read more about it here.

Otherwise, enjoy the YouTube video (not mine; doc19081).

Seoul restaurants that we shall revisit

2008-11-06T21:14:00.000+09:00

Jen and I are off to Seoul in early December and will be there for eight days, just enough time by our calculations to visit 12-14 restaurants that we used to go to with some degree of regularity during our days in Korea. We do have quite a few that we want to visit, but time is limited so we will have to prioritize.

This restaurant shown above is a Sujaebi restaurant, which is basically a thick soup with something approaching dumplings inside. It is filling, hot and is perfect for the autumn/winter. This particular restaurant, to the east of Gyeonbokgung Palace in the Jongno area of Seoul, used to be frequented by former president Kim Dae Jung in his days as a student activist. It is excellent and cheap.

Jen is standing in front of my personal favorite restaurant for both Mandu Guk (만두국) and Dong Dong Ju (동동주). It is located in Insadong, a particularly touristy area right down the street from I used to work in Jongno. The Mandu Guk is amazing and more than enough for one person and the Dong Dong Ju is rich without being overbearing. At one point, I considered myself an amateur connosseir of the delights of this milky substance and this was always my favorite. It is down one of the alleys in Insadong so good luck trying to find it.

This is my one entry for Gangnam (south of the Han River) although Jen has many more restaurants she likes there. This place does Hanjeognshik exceptionally well, which is basically a table filled to the breaking point with small dishes of exquisite goodness, including roots, fish, radishes, kimchi, vegetables and anything else you can possible imagine. Absolutely fantastic. The first picture at the very top is our table spread during our last visit to this restaurant.

Temple Stay

2008-11-06T20:57:00.000+09:00

I imagine this will available when I lived in Korea from 1998-2006, but I was never able to track down information on it. Either way, if you happen to be visiting Korea and are looking for a unique experience, I strongly recommend a stay in a Buddhist Temple, a service offered by Temple Stay. One does not have to be Buddhist to participate. The programs range from a half a day to an overnight stay (as well as multiple night sessions). It ranges in price (depending on the temple) from 20 000 Won to 80 000 Won and has to be considered an affordable option to really experience the country and its culture.

Korea adopted the Chogye Order of Buddhism, which was founded in 1354 as a means of unifying all the different Buddhist currents running through Korea at the time. Chogye ascribes to one of three tracks, the most famous being Seon (Zen), although many Buddhist monks can be found in Korean universities and in artistic fields. If you want to learn more about Jogye, go to this article or read the Wikipedia article. There are strong parallels to the monastic life prescribed in many other religions, including the monastic Catholic orders. In this respect, it seems like a natural compliment for intense introspection.

If I were to do this Temple Stay, I would most definitely choose Goglulsa, a temple close to Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla Dynasty. It is my favorite place in all of Korea and does not take very long to adjust to its slower rhythms, speech, pace. Absolutely stunning.

If you are interested, do take a look at the Temple Stay website.

Walt Whitman and Song of Myself

2008-11-06T18:57:00.000+09:00

Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-washed babe, and am not contained between my hat and boots,
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and everyone good,
The earth good and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.
I am not an earth nor an adjunct of the earth,
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself,
(They do not know how immortal, but I know.)
Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female,
For me those that have been boys and that love women,
For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
For me the sweetheart and the old maid, for me mothers and the mothers of mothers,
For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,
For me children and the begetters of children.
Undrape! you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,
I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no,
And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless, and cannot be shaken away.

I enjoy Whitman from time to time, especially reaffirming when you question your place in the world, your significance. Nobody considers it lucky to be born, nor die. Embracing both because it is, because we all go through both is more realistic. It is, so it is good.

Obama's Victory Speech

2008-11-05T18:46:00.000+09:00

Please feel free to listen to it in its entirety, but I was particularly impressed with the quality of the speech itself. Kudos to that speechwriter as it mixed a nice balance of rousing rhetoric with practical details. Initially, I thought that reference to the 106 year old woman was going to be cliched and altogether hackish, but it proved a good vehicle for walking through the American history of the 20th century.

I am of the opinion that political speechwriting is the borderline equivalent of playwriting in the 1920s. Good writers are drawn there.

Autumn

2008-11-05T18:34:00.000+09:00

There was no transition to these autumnal shadows, this darkness.
I boarded a plane on the Mediterranean and cast my lot with the
familiarity of youth, endless waning fall days spent staring from the cracked
window of my bedroom on Clearmount.

I remember this listlessness and am perversely comforted by it. Winter stretches
out ahead, dreams dither, action is neither conclusive nor decisive. Scripts stretch over reams and not sheets.

It is time for introspection, for recollection, for retribution. It is a winter of contentedness,
a flicker of self-importance.

Vote!

2008-11-04T21:19:00.000+09:00

Now is your chance.

Vote Report

2008-11-04T21:17:00.002+09:00

Egypt

2008-11-01T19:44:00.000+09:00

This picture is outside the Bibliotheca Alexandrina along the Corniche, the inner harbor in Alexandria home to so much legend.

This picture shows Siro Masinde, my colleague, in front of a promotional poster at Ain Shams University before our presentation. You can see JSTOR there amongst all the Arabic.

This first picture is of the Nile River in Cairo from my hotel room. It was quite stunning.

I have returned from the Tunisia and Egypt trip and am happy to be home in Princeton. The trip was a success and we hope to return someday soon. For now, I am more than satisfied to savor the next two weeks with my wife, my bed, and my sofa. I will be off to the African Studies Association Conference in Chicago soon, but for now I will simply embrace the beauty of Princeton in the autumn.

I will write more about the trip in future posts, but for now I leave you with a few images. The full photoset can be found at my Flickr page, if you are interested.

2008-11-01T19:40:00.000+09:00

You forfeit your fertile eyes
for fashion.

Let me look into them, unadorned.

I am a pious apostle, a devotee.
I will only heap praise on them,
like a fool raising a forest fire.

I am consumed by this hope you kindle,
your deep brown endlessness, your reassurance.

Call to prayer in Tunis

2008-10-24T17:13:00.001+09:00

Call to prayer in Tunis

2008-10-23T05:45:00.000+09:00

Tunis

2008-10-23T05:00:00.000+09:00

My wife, Siro and I have traveled to Tunis, Tunisia for a conference at the African Development Bank as well as training sessions conducted at various regional universities, including El-Minar University. We had one day off to explore Tunis at the very beginning and explore we did. We visited the haunts of Tunis along with Carthage, that ancient city of Hannibal.

Tunis is incredible on a variety of levels, including the amount of tobacco that is inhaled. In elevators, bathrooms, restaurants, hallways. I am guessing they smoke when they sleep. Either way, it has been a week of good work, great food, great people and great sights. We are off to Cairo on Friday for three days of training sessions at Cairo University and Ain Shams University. After that, we fly to Alexandria for a few sessions at the Bibliotheque Alexandrina.

Photographs are available on my Flickr page at http://flickr.com/photos/michaelgallagher/. Feel free to take a look and comment if you like.

Ireland

2008-10-13T10:53:00.000+09:00

We just returned from a short vacation to Ireland and it was indeed wonderful. If you are interested, you can see the full Flickr set here.

Hamlet's wisdom

2008-10-03T20:46:00.000+09:00

Well, I suppose it is rather an obvious series of quotes, but I am still amazed at how immensely quotable Hamlet is and how much these quotes have been integrated into the English language. They still hold a lot of wisdom and are quite relevant.

"Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar."
Polonius, scene iii

-I wonder what Polonius would say if he saw American Reality TV. Vulgar is too gentle a word.

"Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. "
Polonius, scene iii

-Good advice for modern political punditry. Heed thy warnings CNBC, Fox News, and CNN!

"Why, what should be the fear?

I do not set my life at a pin's fee,

And for my soul,

what can it do to that,

Being a thing immortal as itself?"
Hamlet, scene iv

-Seeing how fear drives much of modern though, at least politically, this is sage advice. If you believe in the immortality of self via soul, then fear for the body is illogical and completely unwarranted. I am looking at you, Mr. Christian Coalition. Where is the message of optimism, of hope?

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Hamlet, scene v

-Humanity is limited only by its own imagination. That is the only message of hope that I need to hear and it is not that audacious.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. "
Hamlet, scene ii

-I will leave this matter to the philosophers and religious leaders of this world, but if a sin falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

"I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams."
Hamlet, scene ii

-I love this quote. It is meant to be a negative and the mention of bad dreams affirms that, but I think the point is optimistic. Being happy, satisfied, truly content and hopeful is a state of mind and nothing more. People with less are often the most satisfied. I am actually driven to a phrase from another poem by W.H. Auden, In MEmory of W.B. Yeats which finishes with an absolute flourish echoing Hamlet's point about being bound, "the prison of his days." I will leave you with that below.

"Follow, poet, follow right

To the bottom of the night,

With your unconstraining voice

Still persuade us to rejoice;

With the farming of a verse

Make a vineyard of the curse,

Sing of human unsuccess

In a rapture of distress;

In the deserts of the heart

Let the healing fountain start,

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise. "

Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay

2008-10-03T20:33:00.000+09:00

"The railroad track is miles away,

And the day is loud with voices speaking,

Yet there isn't a train goes by all day

But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn't a train goes by,

Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,

But I see its cinders red on the sky,

And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with friends I make,

And better friends I'll not be knowing;

Yet there isn't a train I'd rather take,

No matter where it's going. "

I have a fondness for this poem. In general with poetry, I often take some meaning from it that is often nowhere to be found in the poem itself. Perhaps it is just the way the words strike you or the memories they conjure. I imagine that in dreams do we travel the most, but I like the use of the train and its whistle shrieking. As far as I am concerned, that is the perfect metaphor for wanderlust. That desire to see the world, that understanding (whether real or imagined) that somewhere, far away, that there is meaning and understanding and wisdom. Perhaps it is just a greediness or a selfish desire or a lonely impulse of delight. I think it is more than that; it is a real willingness to understand. That train whistle will stay in your head forever, just as I still hear the subway voice from Seoul, so elegant, or the church bells in Venice rising over the lazy sounds of the waters lapping up against the old stone. You never forget these sounds. You can close your eyes and hear them and are instantly transported.

Ireland

2008-10-03T20:31:00.000+09:00

I am my family are off for a vacation to Ireland tomorrow and I am sure there will be many pictures and videos available quite soon if any happen to be interested. This is my favorite time of year to travel when it is crisp and the mind is sharp. We will be in Galway for a few days and then off to Dublin with stops at points all over.

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Tourists Abducted In Egypt, Tourism Minister Condemns It As Act Of Banditry | AHN | September 22, 2008

2008-09-23T01:57:00.002+09:00

Well, I suppose this won't necessarily help my case when I try to assuage the nerves of my family. Luckily, I won't be anywhere near there.

Tourists Abducted In Egypt, Tourism Minister Condemns It As Act Of Banditry AHN September 22, 2008

Posted using ShareThis

Train and sound

2008-09-17T03:06:00.000+09:00

Train

2008-09-17T03:03:00.000+09:00

Relatives

2008-09-16T08:35:00.000+09:00

This is a picture of my wife's grandparents in Seoul in 1936 after getting married.

Eluvium

2008-09-15T08:03:00.000+09:00

hymn #1 - eluvium

Sunday morning

2008-09-14T21:22:00.000+09:00

Complacency, yes,
a maroon mug steaming on the footstool,
my fingertips inked black from the New York Times,
a hazy morning protruding above the manicured complex.

A thought or two escaping gives rise to conversation,
about trivial concerns, not what is in the heart's core-
a sturdy furnace stoked with potential, possibility

I am awash on a Sunday morning
and complacent, yes,
having inched from content a half an hour ago
right before I meandered to the Metro section,
right before the washing machine upstairs kicked in,
right when the last of hazy dreams from a sober Saturday night sleep
evaporated into the ether.

What a movie this would make: Tae-kwon do master recruited by North Korean agents for assasination?

2008-09-11T03:10:00.000+09:00

You can read the full story here. Or, you can read an excerpt below.

"According to Choi Jung-hwa, North Korean agents infiltrated the federation and instructed experts in the martial art - including himself - in a plot to assassinate President Chun, who governed South Korea for much of the 1980s.

"I was unintentionally involved," Choi Jung-hwa said on his return to Seoul. "I think that's because of my political naivety or spirit of adventure."

He told the Korea Times newspaper he had hired two agents to shoot President Chun during a 1982 visit to Canada.

The plot was reportedly uncovered, forcing Choi Jung-hwa to flee to eastern Europe and eventually to North Korea.

He returned to Canada in 1991 and was released after serving one year of a six-year jail term, his aide told AP.

End

2008-09-10T18:33:00.000+09:00

Furtive wind
lures me,
a horizon at dusk
alone with me.

My heart, calm.
My thoughts, clear.
An embrace, this dusk.
A passage of time.

I shed these sutures,
this lonliness, fear.
I breathe that descending air,
Lungs achingly remember.

I dissolve into the dusk,
at one with now.

56 minutes

2008-09-07T02:57:00.000+09:00

We talked for 56 minutes,
according to Skype,
and if anyone else had said that precise a figure
I would have called them a liar.

I have been drifting in the hours since.
Lazily doing laundry, dusting, cleaning the solitary dish.
Listening to Eno again and again and again
(as you know my fondness for repeat; may it never falter!).

Watching the sun creep forward in the sky,
I type in a vain attempt to reconcile the
distinct advantage thought has over word spoken or written.

It can fill the crevices, the divides that we long to reconcile
with words, that we try to fill like a gutted bathtub.
Like flinging paper cups of water on a burning building.

Thought will always push further and, in turn,
further isolate.

We just have to settle for knowing.
Knowing you are there and I am here, a knowing that
spans the oceans and endless miles between a thought
and a dream.

A patter of rain on the streaky window, a rinse cycle in the washer,
a lazy Saturday afternoon dangling, a flickering promise of a productive day.

Content in my heart's core (a foreign land) and the rain picks up in tempo
as if to offer permission for spending the day staring at that big bold window.

I retreat today to push forward tomorrow.

North Africa

2008-09-06T20:21:00.002+09:00

I will be traveling soon for work to North Africa. We will be conducting presentations and meeting with officials and librarians in Tunisia and Egypt.

I will have the opportunity, hopefully, to see the ruins of Carthage in Tunisia and Ibn Khaldoun's haunts in Tunis. I will see the Citadel in Cairo, reinforced by Salah al-Din (Saladin) to protect against the Crusaders. I will be presenting at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which is built near the site of the original Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the largest library of the ancient world developed by Ptolemy I in the 3rd century B.C.

All the while, I will be humbled by what I am being allowed to experience.

That being said, to get there I have the following itinerary:

JFK to Paris to Tunis to Amman to Cairo to Alexandria to Athens to JFK.

I have a map below to illustrate it further. You can click on the post title to go directly to Google Maps. The same is true of the detailed Tunis and Egypt maps in the following two posts.

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Tunis, Tunisia

2008-09-06T20:18:00.002+09:00

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Egypt

2008-09-06T20:06:00.000+09:00

View Larger Map

Change

2008-09-06T19:56:00.000+09:00

The rosy-fingered dawn
is gone.

The sounds of the sea
have fled.

I watch the day bloom,
a bird, a dog, a man on
the floor below singing.

A crossroads approaches,
I gather my strength.

Change is elusive to find
because it is omnipresent.

Find me on the other side
of all of this and I will wait for you.

We, of this moment, will not be the same.
We cannot be, our self shaped by the swift current
etched from a thousand natural shocks,
molded from that hard innocent clay.

This change will propel me
towards rebirth, and further rebirth.
An image of an image of an image,
far removed from that original model
of Ohio autumn, a dream of a far off place.

For there is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so,
and to me it is not a prison, but a playground.

This change encircles me, engulfs me, swallows me whole.

Does lack of television produce extremes?

2008-09-05T02:52:00.000+09:00

This article is interesting if only because it kind of vindicates not having a television. On the one hand, people without television tends to be more rigorously liberal or conservative (does its lack produce extremes or does TV water us all down?). On the other hand, people without TV tend to be much more productive in their lives.

I expect the number of people who do not have television in their homes will grow as it is becoming more of an anachronistic delivery device for entertainment.l Now, pulling away from my laptop would be a much more impressive feat. All the same, an interesting article in a Yahoo News, Look What We Found that isn't about kittens! kind of way.

You can read the article here. Below is an excerpt:

People who had relinquished television didn't report too many downsides. Most felt satisfied getting their news from newspapers and radio, and while some people said they felt less connected to pop culture, "many adults noted that as a point of pride," Krcmar said.

Even most kids in non-watching households seemed to agree with their parents that they were better off without the reviled medium, though a number of kids around ages 10 to 13 said they resented feeling left out when other kids talk about shows and actors on television. By the time they reached later adolescence around age 14 and 15, though, most had come full circle and said they didn't really like TV and didn't mind doing without.

For those who want to experience some of the benefits of life without the tube, but don't feel ready to go cold turkey, Krcmar said she thinks good things can come just by setting limits.

"I think you can have the benefits just by having kids watch less television," she said. "Be selective about content. You don't go to a restaurant and let them eat anything on the menu. Instead you say choose something that's healthy that you would enjoy."

Face of the waters

2008-09-04T03:52:00.000+09:00

"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters."

This Biblical quote is rather amazing, approaching something truly sublime. This is a thought that a Buddhist would surely gravitate towards.

2008-08-30T20:23:00.000+09:00

I wonder what window I will be looking through
when I draw that last breath and my chest heaves,
exorcising soul from the atrophied clutch of body,
what light will shine through, what flicker of wind will tussle
a strand of hair, what release I shall feel as I ascend into the ethos,
the vapors lurking too deep for eyes or tears.

I wonder; it will be the greatest of my travels.

But other trips loom beforehand; experience begets acumen
and as a seasoned traveler then and only then can I appreciate
that final leg of the journey. That dissolution into the bosom of everything.

I say this early on a Saturday morning with my coffee and New York Times looming,
my wife asleep in the other room, change in the air. I say this all in the midst of all this flux
and my thoughts lazily drifting on those pernicious waves, borne by the tide and drifting further
from the shore. I am rarely at one with everything; it can be exhilarating.

Queen Bee by Taj Mahal

2008-08-30T20:21:00.000+09:00

2008-08-24T21:09:00.000+09:00

Sunday morning,
awake as others slumber,
in Roslyn Harbor, far from home,
imagining the Great Neck waters
lapping, lapping, endlessly lapping onto
those Gatsby shores, desperately trying
to be born on this rough sand.

The chance to evolve
into something fitting yanks them from those waters
bubbling their way out into the Sound. Out into the Atlantic.

My coffee is cold and this window is large, streaming rivulets
of sun piercing through late summer leaves, a step away from retirement.

In Dayton, my friends lingers at the airport plunging into the blue chasm of sky,
that Pacific journey that became so familiar, so mundane. That stuffed polar bear in Anchorage, those kimonos in Narita, that international wing in O'Hare past the great security barrier, the long waits, the nervous anticipation, that wonder of landing late in Incheon, the luster leaving with each bumpy mile on the airport bus. I, like him, always arrived at 9:20 P.M. That time always felt significant.

He will then leave for Tokyo; Seoul will have neither of us. Memories will fade, perception will sharpen, that long haze of history will slowly evaporate into wisdom. I will be left again, as always, with our friendship. After all these trips and spectacles, it always seems to settle back on that.

I will be traveling again soon to places neither of us have been, but who knows when we will see each other again? I will sit and stare at these trees and watch them yellow with the crisp wind that is sure to be coming, I will watch the winter come and go, and my thoughts will husband this hope.

Rejoice in your new adventure, your new life. Celebrate for the both of us.

Home

2008-08-22T20:54:00.000+09:00

I need a Google map to take me home.
A hulking jet, an airport queue,
an instinctual hunger to get to you.

This day is good, but night will end
all that these words can't amend.

Tonight, that barren word,
will bring me your closer to your door
and we can plan a pleasant fiction
never to part, nevermore.

Ann Arbor

2008-08-19T23:38:00.000+09:00

I am off to Ann Arbor for the rest of the week so blogging might be a little scarce. I will be back soon so expect more then.

This time it is real: Zambian President dies

2008-08-19T23:31:00.000+09:00

It does seem as though the President of Zambia has died for real this time, unlike the previous misreported passing. There is a bit of an excerpt below:

"Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa died in a French hospital on Tuesday after suffering a stroke several weeks ago, Vice President Rupiah Banda said.

The Zambian leader, 59, was a favorite with Western donors for tackling corruption in the southern African country and he had been one of the strongest critics in the region of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

"Fellow countrymen, with deep sorrow and grief, I would like to inform the people of Zambia that our president Dr. Levy Patrick Mwanawasa died this morning at 1030 hours (4:30 a.m. EDT)," Banda said on state television.

"I also wish to inform the nation that national mourning starts today and will be for seven days."
Banda is expected to take over as acting

Commence mourning good people of Zambia. Hopefully, this will be a peaceful transition, but Zambians come across as a relatively level-headed lot so I would be surprised if there wasn't an easy transition.

You can read the full article via Yahoo here.

The Korean Mata Hari: Kim Soo-Im?

2008-08-18T20:53:00.000+09:00

The Korean woman believed to have passed along sensitive military information on the eve of the Korean War has now been proven to be innocent, according to recently released U.S. intelligence documents. This is from an AP story running on the ABC News site. You can read the full story here, but this is an excerpt:

"In late June 1950, as North Korean invaders closed in on this teeming, panicked city, Kim was hastily executed by the South Korean military, shot as a "very malicious international spy." Her deeds, thereafter, only grew in infamy."

For those that don't know, Seoul changed hands 4 times during the Korean War.

"In 1950s America, gripped by anticommunist fever, one TV drama told viewers Kim's "womanly wiles" had been the communists' "deadliest weapon." Another teleplay, introduced by host Ronald Reagan, depicted her as Asia's Mata Hari. Reviled as the Oriental queen of a vast Soviet "Operation Sex," she was even blamed by Washington columnist Drew Pearson for igniting the entire Korean War."

Ronald Reagan? He was already mixing it up with the Communists in the early 1950's.

"Kim Soo-im and her love triangle are gone, buried in separate corners of a turbulent past. But in yellowing U.S. military files stamped "SECRET," hibernating through a long winter of Cold War, the truth survived. Now it has emerged, a half-century too late to save her.

The record of a confidential 1950 U.S. inquiry and other declassified files, obtained by The Associated Press at the U.S. National Archives, tell a different Kim Soo-im story:
Col. John E. Baird had no access to the supposed sensitive information. Kim had no secrets to pass on. And her Korean lover, Lee Gang-kook, later executed by North Korea, may actually have been an American agent."

The picture itself is not Kim Soo-Im, but rather a TV drama I only recently discovered called Seoul 1945. Looks good in an incredibly predictable, airbrushed sort of way. Not to be too sarcastic or anything, but I wonder if the woman in the black dress is the rich villian?

What I learned from Korean dramas

2008-08-15T21:30:00.000+09:00

I am taking this from Korean Pop Wars, which is referencing it from somewhere else, but it is funny. For those that have watched Korean TV dramas, these will register quite clearly.

Here is an excerpt of what you can learn from a Korean TV drama:

1) Hot, rich, younger men love fat, older vulgar women.

2) If you have a best guy friend, he is in love with you. And secretly you are too.

3) You and your boyfriend will always playfully chase each other on an ice rink, at the beach, or in the leaves. And you'll laugh for no reason and your boyfriend will hit you "playfully" but the force of his push will have you flying across the room. But it's okay. Cuz you're still laughing like a crazy person.

4) Brothers/cousin/uncles-newphews will always love the same girl.

5) You're allowed to make uturns wherever you want in Korea. And there is never traffic on the side you want to u turn to.

6) There is a super quick payment device that allows you to pay a bill quickly enough for a guy to run immediately out of a restaurant after his angry girlfriend storms out.

7) Everyone has cancer.

8) If you're sick, all you need is an IV to make you feel lots better.

9) There is no vomit and urine all over Seoul at nights.

10) Fighting at a pojangmacha with a random stranger is merely part of a normal night's event.

11) Soju must cost 10 cents. Everyone drinks it everyday all the time, especially the poor people.

12) If you're rich, you're a jerk.

13) If you're poor, you're an angel.

14) Women sleep and wake up with a full set of makeup on.

15) You're not studying hard enough unless you get a nosebleed.

16) If you have a nosebleed, you most definitely have cancer. And you have no money to pay for the surgery that will save your life. And your liver is missing. We're not sure where it went, but it's making your cancer progress faster.

17) If you work in a sool jeep, you have massively curly hair and wear flashy colors from the early 90's.

18) You always order orange juice or coffee at a cafe. And you never drink it. EVER.

19) You will always call your boyfriend by his job title. Or simply sunbaenim. Never his name. Never. He doesn't have one.

20) If you TRULY love each other, you must die together in the end. Frozen outside instead of finding shelter like sane people. Just frozen....

21) You go to America you come back miraculously successful. You go to England you come back amazingly fashionable. You stay in Korea the only thing that changes is your hairstyle.

22) And if you come back with no apparent reason then it's because you have cancer.

23) Everyone always goes to the same hospital no matter where they are.

There are many more. You can read the full post here.

Remove that which isn't useful or beautiful

2008-08-15T21:02:00.000+09:00

A trite signature on an email the other day
cautioned against maintaining a house full of clutter,
mandating that I remove anything that wasn't useful or beautiful.

If I were to heed this worldly sage
I know that you would not be pleased
for I would remove the glasses (including those remaining Spiegalaus I haven't broken)
and you would have to drink from the faucet or the carton.

I would heave our laptops from our window and reluctantly whisper a wish that they didn't strike the dog of Mr. Late Night Phone Talker downstairs.

You would have nary a chopstick to poke at food, nor a small spoon to slurp your soup.
There would be no chair to sit, no bed to sleep, no closet to hang your assortment of Adidas running clothes, nor thousands of futuristic jogging shoes for that matter.

There would only be you.

China condemns its own export of counterfeit goods to Tanzania?

2008-08-15T20:52:00.000+09:00

I came across this blog post in Afro-IP, which further references China's Daily News. It seems as though China finds the counterfeit goods export situation regrettable and urges Tanzania to shore up their customs practices. So, China would prefer Tanzania to control the import of counterfeit goods emanating from China itself. Why not just stop exporting them?

Nothing further to comment, but that is rich.

You can read the blog post here.

Korean poem by Wôlmyông

2008-08-14T20:44:00.000+09:00

I like the mention of polishing the path and the Pure Land, both very evocative.

Master Wôlmyông (c. 742-765)

Requiem for the Dead Sister

On the hard road of life and death
That is near our land,
You went, afraid,
Without words.

We know not where we go
Leaves blown, scattered,
Though fallen from the same tree,
By the first winds of autumn.

Ah, I will polish the path
Until I meet you in the Pure Land.

Ohio voting law may be a boon for Obama supporters

2008-08-14T20:28:00.000+09:00

It seems as though Ohio is proving critical for the upcoming election just as it had in 2000 and 2004. I find it almost satirical now that I have changed my official residency to New Jersey that my vote would more likely be counted in Ohio (if I were to vote there.) I voted absentee ballot in 2000 and 2004 and neither vote was counted because the state was called before getting to the absentee ballots. I felt slightly disenfranchised at the time. Either way, this is an interesting development. Here is an excerpt from the article:

"Ohio has created a window in the election calendar that would allow residents instant gratification — register one minute, vote the next. It's also given the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain a chance to bank thousands of first-time voters during that Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 window.

The move will benefit Obama, who enjoys a 2-to-1 lead over McCain among 18- to 34-year-olds, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last month. If Obama's campaign were able to tap into college campuses with one-stop voting, it would add thousands of votes to his tally in a state where, in 2004, John Kerry lost to President Bush by only about 118,000 votes, putting Bush over the top in the electoral count."

You can read the full AP article here. The image I took from ABC News.

History of Beer in Korea

2008-08-12T21:38:00.000+09:00

This is a very interesting article by Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in The Korea Times on the history of beer in Seoul. I didn't know that Sapporo and Kirin were there first, but I suppose it stands to reason. For those of you who don't know the man, Lankov writes fascinating short histories on social and other developments in Seoul primarily from the turn of the 20th century, a period of great flux in Seoul.

Below is an excerpt. You can read the full article from The Korea Times website here.

"So, the introduction of beer only began at earnest in the 1890s, when Japanese merchants introduced the Sapporo brand to Korea. Japan is also a relative newcomer to the world beer scene. However, by the 1890s Sapporo was one of the oldest Japanese breweries, established in 1877, soon after the beverage was first introduced to Japan. Two other major Japanese breweries, Kirin and Asahi, began to sell their beverages in Korea a bit later, in the early 1900s.

The Korean name for beer, maekju, is of Japanese origin, but consists of two Chinese characters (the Chinese themselves use different characters, however). It means "barley liquor.''It seems that the first small brewery (I would probably not apply the modern description of "microbrewery'') began to operate in 1908 in Seoul, being open by Kirin.

Initially most of the consumers were local Japanese settlers, but in due time the beer began to win approval from Korean customers as well. The year 1933 was a great turning point in the history of the Korean beer industry. Almost simultaneously, two large breweries began to operate in Seoul (well, not quite in Seoul, strictly speaking, since the Yeongdungpo area where both factories were located, was only formally included in the city limits a few years later, in April 1936). "

Fascinating.

Seoul Green Line

2008-07-23T00:13:00.000+09:00

This is relatively interesting information from Wikipedia about the Seoul Subway Line 2, or the green line. It is a circular line and I have spent many many hours on it, always seemingly coming away from or towards Shinchon (I still use the old spelling). I got to familiarize myself with it, from a different angle altogether, when we moved to Gangnam that last year. It felt nicer south of the river for some reason, not unlike a lot of Seoul.

"Seoul Subway Line 2 (dubbed the green line) is a circular line of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. The line running clock-wise is called the "inner circle line" and the counter clock-wise line is called the "outer circle line." This is Seoul's most heavily used line, and the longest circular subway line in the world. (Total length: 60.2 km)

Line 2 was built 1978-84 together with the Seongsu Branch (the second Sinjeong Branch was built 1989-95). Dangsan bridge was closed for reconstruction in 1996 and reopened on 22 November 1999. The old steel girder bridge was replaced by a 1.3 km long concrete bridge between Dangsan on the southern side of the river and Hapjeong on the northern bank. Headways on the line can now be reduced to 30 seconds, off peak intervals 5-6 min. The line connects the city centre to Gangnam, Teheran Valley and the COEX/KWTC complex."

The Good, the Bad, the Weird

2008-07-22T22:25:00.000+09:00

This is a new Korean film coming out starring my favorite Korean actor, Song Gang-Ho (송강호)that I cannot wait to see. It is an homage to Spaghetti Westerns set in Manchuria when Koreans were fighting against the Japanese in the 1920s and 1930s. Either way, look at these posters and tell me this doesn't look good.

Airport detached

2008-07-21T06:52:00.000+09:00

This, on the other hand, is my definition of abstract lonliness. Just numbly drifting along.

Tambo International Airport, South Africa

2008-07-21T06:48:00.000+09:00

This, for me, is serenity.

Dubious guest at hotel in Lusaka

2008-07-16T11:37:00.001+09:00

This is right in the middle of the lobby of the hotel in Lusaka. I am not sure if he is a paying guest or not.

Korean in Zambia

2008-07-16T11:29:00.000+09:00

I know it is blurry, but I only took a quick shot here. I have no idea why there was a small paper sign, taped to the door, in Korean at the Lusaka Conference Center in Zambia. This makes absolutely no sense as I asked to see if there had been a Korean conference of some sort there. There hadn't been any at all.

Lusaka Conference Center

2008-07-16T11:16:00.000+09:00

The conference started yesterday to much fanfare, including the Minister of Somesuch and a full marching band. They went on playing for close to 30 minutes, time that might have been better spent discussing library matters. I am not a Zambian so I don't want to pretend to understand. Either way, I would wonder away occasionally from the solitary booth I was manning and wander outside for a second. The conference center is in the middle of the city, a city of over a million people. It looks rural, but it is not. The pictures I took were literally from the door of the conference center; I didn't walk anywhere to take these photographs.

I am not sure if they were delegates or attendees, but they most definitely didn't seem interested in Aluka. I tried to hand them a few brochures and they ate them. Quite boorish behavior, if you ask me.

Tools of the trade

2008-07-14T02:05:00.000+09:00

As a side note, these two items have been more useful to me in my Africa trips that anything else.