During the Joseon era, young people demonstrated filial piety by living at their parents’ grave sites for three years and then maintaining them in perpetuity. Cremation in that neo-Confucian society was strictly forbidden—except for the lowest...
Paul Lundgren is fondly remembered from our shared enthusiasm for running 5K’s and 10K’s in central Texas 30 years ago. An alumnus of Texas Lutheran and UT, he directed the Elgin Western Days 5,555-meter race every August; you could count on it...
If John Gray’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus was the worst book I never read, Dallas was the worst television show I never saw. I studiously ignored all of its 357 episodes between April 2, 1978 and May 3, 1991, its Knots Landing...
This photo was taken in a Christian church in Pyongyang in the first decade of the 20th century. We do not know the name of the church, nor that of the pastor, who stands at the front with his right hand lifted. Boys and men are to our left, and...
I have already skewered Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. With the help of some other critics, I demonstrated the sheer wrong-headedness of his major theories. Freud, you may know, was very big on dreams—their meaning, their symbols...
I wish I could remember where I was and what I was doing on January 15, 2001. I know I was living in Austin, Texas and working as a proofreader at McElroy Translation Company. I was also in the middle of writing Home Field / An Illustrated...
It was February 1994, almost 27 years ago. I was on a memorable three-part trip to the Far East, gathering information for Coming to Texas / International Students at the University of Texas. I had already met with Dr. Kim Soo-gon in Jeonju...
The recent death of Floyd Little—an all-America running back at Syracuse and then a star for nine years with the Denver Broncos—has sparked a series of obituaries and retrospectives. Number 44 deserves it because he really could play. Versatile...
There are now 284 Starbucks stores in Seoul, more than in New York, Shanghai, London or any other city you care to name. I recall once standing at a big intersection and seeing a Starbucks at three of the four corners—how’s that for saturation? I...
Although I admire King Sejong, Admiral Yi Sun-shin, Park Chung-hee, Kim Yuna and all seven members of BTS, I admire Jeon Bong-jun even more. For that reason, on consecutive days I journeyed to the intersection of Jong-ro and Ujeongguk-ro in...
After reading an article by Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated, it appears that I am a hater and a troglodyte, and my masculinity is easily threatened. I beg to disagree. Unlike Forde and some others in the American media, I have a deep and abiding...
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