I remember George Arellano fondly. He was my favorite family member although our connection was remote: the father-in-law of one of my brothers. Imperturbable, friendly, well-educated, articulate and a world traveler, he was possibly the best...
I first met Kim Kwang-min seven years ago in Damyang, down in South Jeolla Province. He was there with his wife and two young daughters, and I was—par for the course—alone. Kwang-min was then and still is, employed by Seoul Metro. We got along...
Extraordinary athlete though he was, I had several reasons to think badly of Randy Moss. He beat up a White kid in high school and was convicted of misdemeanor battery, leading Notre Dame to withdraw its offer of a scholarship. So he went to...
Born in December 1952, I would have been six years old when the American Football League was established and seven when play commenced. Young and highly impressionable, I was taken by this colorful new sports organization. The games, announced on...
Having cast a vote in the 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, I moved to Korea and failed to do my civic duty in 2008, 2012 and 2016. I offer no excuse since long-distance voting is a relatively easy...
A mega-dormitory called Jester was home during my first two years at the University of Texas. The Jester cafeteria, which served decent institutional food (20 meals per week) is where I met Erwin Reyes. Born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia, Erwin...
You can find us every Saturday afternoon down the street at Tiny Brown or Banapresso, engaged in an animated discussion or reviewing some article from my website. My coffee-shop companion is Dr. Lee Kyoung-min. Earlier this year he answered an ad...
Having recently read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs (I give it 4 1/2 stars), I now have a much better understanding of his many accomplishments. What a life! Given up for adoption by an unmarried couple—his father was of Syrian descent...
It is a sad and undeniable fact that none of my 23 books have sold worth a darn. I like to think that they constitute quality journalism, but none have come within light-years of making the New York Times best-seller list. I thought something...
I paid 10,000 won ($7.37 at the current exchange rate) for a somewhat battered and tattered copy of this 992-page tome, published by Cambridge University Press in 1983, at a used book store in the Hongdae district of Seoul on June 19. I started...
Love him or loathe him, he is the most controversial person in modern Korean history. He did a lot of good stuff, such as instigating construction of the Gyeongbu Expressway linking Seoul and Busan; the POSCO steel giant was his doing; he ordered...
I wish I could remember what prompted me, in the summer of 1976, to drive my Ford station wagon to downtown Austin and find the intersection of Sixth and Brazos, the site of an old furniture store. It had, for the past year, been the home of a...
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