Hardly a day goes by without me opening The Korea Times or one of Seoul’s other newspapers and finding a story or two about this country’s most distressing problem—our low birth rate and its long-term demographic implications. As much as I value...
It seems that I was 40 years too early. Way back in 1980, I was living in Denton, Texas. Sometimes I would visit the county courthouse, paying special attention to the Confederate monument. It featured dear old Johnny Reb holding a rifle and...
The logo of the Coast Guard air station in Salem, Massachusetts features a witch riding a broom. Same for police cars. There is a Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, and the mascot for Salem High School is, naturally, the witch. Salem, known as...
I suspected that at some point in the summer of 2020, I would visit an island off the southwest coast of Korea. While looking at the map on my kitchen wall, I picked Jido along with a nearby town on the mainland called Muan. Neither had...
I have little patience with people who utter such absurd lines as “I don’t like history,” “history is boring” and “what’s the use of studying history since it’s all in the past?” Before telling them to shut the heck up, I remind them that there...
Having played one (1) round of golf in my life and served as a caddy for one (1) round, my credentials for writing about this sport are pretty slim. Nevertheless, I have seen a fair amount of golf on TV and read about it in newspapers, magazines...
Along with 30 other children, I was in class 4B at Kiest Elementary in Dallas during the 1962−63 school year. Mrs. Boley was our by-the-book teacher. As with her first name, I do not remember what she taught—maybe language arts, history or social...
Since foreign visitors to North Korea’s capital are so few (the airport has only one functioning runway), it is no surprise that those planning to stay a while have a narrow range of accommodations. There is the Koryo Hotel, the Sosan Hotel, the...
Stockholm syndrome is a loosely defined psychological condition in which hostages, against all logic, develop an alliance with their captors. Despite having been taken, sometimes violently, they develop an emotional bond and choose to remain...
After becoming an expat in November 2007, it took a while for me to get used to the sight of motor-scooter food delivery men blatantly disregarding traffic laws. They ride on sidewalks, they go the wrong way on one-way streets, they navigate...
Hey, Wilbanks Smith, I’m talking to you. I know you are 89 years old and probably fixing to die, but I’m going to give it to you straight. In no way, shape or form do I buy your explanation about what you did to Johnny Bright in the first quarter...
“It’s too early to declare victory.” This is what I tell my friends in the USA, Lebanon, Bolivia, Romania, Canada and the Philippines who express admiration for the Korean government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last three or four...
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