the daily grind

Sorry, FSTK readers, but some fellowship application deadlines have been putting substantial blogging on the backburner.

I started phase 2 of my research today, waking up early(9:20 A.M.) to conduct some interviews over at Ediya Coffee near the front gate of Sogang University.

I tracked through Sogang, Yonsei, and Ewha Universities, three of Korea's most prestigious universities(all conveniently located within a 15-20 minute walk of each other where I live in Sinchon), on Monday afternoon, posting flyers that promised free coffee and English practice for any student willing to do an interview with me about multiculturalism in Korea.

I've only had a few bites so far, but the first bite called up two friends who I interviewed after we finished our iced coffees and mochas. Just those three interviews have been enormously helpful in giving me insight into how Koreans think about race; though my first interviewee thought that multiculturalism meant the different Korean regional cultures, and immediately began singing his praises of Cholla-do, a region in southwestern Korea, where his mother's family is from.

After the interviews, I head over to City Hall for a meeting with a racial discrimination lawyer at the National Human Rights Commission. He wasn't much help, but he gave me a copy of 2003 report on mixed-race people published by the Commission. And my Mom, whose been worried about how I'll be able to work after she leaves next Tuesday, embarassingly harassed a London School of Economics intern into agreeing to translate for any interviews I do next week.

And Saturday evening, finally, I'll be interviewing a mixed-race male my age!

Mark One Race Only

In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau allowed people to check more than one racial category on the census questionnaire for the first time.

6.8 million people checked more than one racial category. 868,000 checked Asian and White.

So, what did these 868,000 check before 2000?

My family never talked about the mixed-racedness of its children. Growing up, the fact that I was of mixed-racial heritage was always just that, a fact. To me, it seemed normal that I couldn't talk with my Korean grandmother; it seemed normal that I ate rice with every meal, whether bul go gi or hamburgers; it seemed normal that my parents didn't have the same skin color. That was just my life. It wasn't until coming to college, until last fall, really, that I began to realize that yes, growing up as a person of mixed-racial heritage has impacted me in ways I wasn't fully conscious of as a child.

And, being here in Korea, studying mixed-race issues with my Mom as translator, has led to some long overdue conversations about race.

She asked me, as we transcribed my first interview--a man who railed on the Korean government(update later!)--if I felt like a, "second class citizen" in the U.S. Her phrasing was a bit dramatic, but I did my best to explain my deal, talking about the invisibility of mixed-race people in American society and culture, how until 2000, the U.S. Census demanded that mixed-race people choose only one race. And I asked her, what did she check for my brother and me on the 1990 census, the year I turned four and he turned three?

"White. You both looked white. Your last name was white. And you spoke English."

some not-so-funny Asian english

So, I don't think making fun of Asian English(or the sound of Asian languages, Rosie) is ever funny. Yes, I know that my Mom has an accent. Yes I know she can link English words together in occasionally bizarre phrases. Thanks for letting me know. But that's a whole nother post...

Since July 17, 2007(about 3 weeks ago), three former comfort women have died without being acknowledged as survivors of the worst incident of mass sex trafficking in modern history, without receiving an apology or reparations from the government of the country that perpetrated this terrible sex crime. Here are their obituaries, all translated into English by Ja-young Kim, and all posted on website for the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan

r.i.p...

Hwang Sun-I
Ms. Hwang Sun-I passed away at 8 o'clock on 6/23. She had stayed in the asylum and recently was in the hospital. Born in Hadong, Kungnam in 1922, Ms. Hwang was forcefully drafted when she was 13 and suffered in Mongolia, Hong Kong, Singapore as a "comfort woman." She came back to Korea when Korea became independent but could not settle in her hometown because of the fact that she was a "comfort woman." She had surgeries last January and February because of the lung cancer. She had neither family nor relatives.Even though there is some good news such as the U.S. House's "comfort women" resolution, victims are still frustrated over Japanese government's evasion of responsibility and deception. In this circumstance, the number of survivors is decreasing everyday. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the "comfort women" issue as soon as possible.

Suk Bok-dal
At about 1 o'clock in the morning, on Thursday, 8/2, Ms. Suk Bok-dal (82) passed away in San-cheong, Kyungnam. At first she wanted to bury her heartburning forever, but, in 2004, reported that she was the victim. The doctor had said that she was getting better, but we heard the sudden notification that she passed away. She had had lots of pains and bitterness in her heart, but she shall rest in peace. She would look down at us with bright smile.

Lee Sun-san
early morning, 8/3

Ms. Suni passed away because of her illness. Sadly enough, her death was right after the adoption of the U.S. resolution that was expected to be the new turning point. Last January 31st, she had an accident so had to get big surgeries for several times. And on August 1st, after the surgery, the doctor told her health was very bad with low blood pressure and blood from the anus. Two days later, she died alone in the Hospital. We are sorry because we could not do anything for her when she was with us. We wish that she now rested in peace.

Ms. Lee Sun-san's brief biography

1922. Born in Gajae
1937. Fifteen years old, she was deceived, drafted to China through Osaka, and forced to be 'comfort woman' for seven yrs
1944. Came back to her hometown, Gajae
1946. Married
1992. Reported that she was the victim
2007.8.3. passed away

glamour girl

Last summer, I tried to spend time with my hal muh ni (grandmother) at least a few times a week. One day, we'd meet for for lunch or dinner somewhere around Seoul. One day, I'd stop by after work for dinner at my yeemo (aunt)'s house where she lives half of the week. And, every Sunday, usually, I'd go over and spend the afternoon with her at my sam chon (uncle)'s house where she spends the rest of the week.

Nosing around her apartment one Sunday afternoon, I discovered some old family photo albums and saw that my Mom was quite the glamour girl in her youth. In both family portraits, she's really the only one you could call glamorous, I'd say.

Even now, at fifty-eight, when she and I stopped at a bar to use the bathroom at 2 A.M. during an all night drive down from San Francisco, guys my age were offering to buy her drinks.

my big break!

Well, I hope so.

Having my mom here to help out has been great. She's been helping me schedule appointments, snoop around Seoul for leads, and bug my relatives to tap into whatever connections they might have. After lunch this afternoon(my--and also Gwyneth Paltrow's--favorite dol sot bi bim bap), we took the subway just outside of Seoul to Bucheon for a meeting with the Executive Director of Pearl S. Buck International Korea(PSBIK), the organization working with mixed-race children in Korea.

I'd been told that PSBIK was too busy to help students do research, so I wasn't hoping for much, maybe just a chance to volunteer. But, after we went through the usual Korean pleasantries, the usual exclamations of, "oh, but you don't look mixed...," Kyung-Hee Bae, the Executive Director, ended up making a dream of a proposal.

Although PSBIK works primarily with children, they do keep in touch with the young adults who have participated in their programs, and Ms. Bae promised to try to arrange for me to meet with two guys, ages 18 and 19. Normally, she told me, when you interview someone in Korea, you pay them an honorarium, but she wanted to propose an alternative: why didn't I spend a day with these guys, get to know them, treat them to lunch, and give them a crash course in how to do basic daily activities in the U.S.(one is starting college in the states soon). And, also, since they'd both like to practice English more, why don't I offer to keep up an e-mail correspondence with both of them.

I did run into one problem that I hadn't considered, but it seems so obvious now that I should have. While thinking aloud about my options, Ms. Bae named a few mixed-race young women in the age group I'm going after, but when she offered to arrange some introductions, she left them out, only naming the two mixed-race young men.

"What about the girls?" my Mom asked her, "you know, he's[me] very gentle"
(My mom's English usage is not always right on the mark; what I think she was doing here, was not making gender generalizations, but rather trying to explain that I'm very sensitive to gender issues in the work I do)

"I'm sure he learned that from you, but, you know, they don't speak English very well," she offers as an excuse, knowing that I have my Korean mother with me as a translator.

We proposed a different option: my Mom spending some one-on-one time with the girls instead of me, so I'm hoping that will work out. Actually, really, as the bolded try should indicate, I'm hoping something comes of this period. I've already been disapointed once by a seemingly all-knowing contact.