어머니는 카메라 셔터가 눌리는 순간이면 늘 눈을 감는다. 일부러 그런 것은 아니지만 평생 그래왔고, 그래서 우리 가족 사이에서는 “엄마는 남이 시키는 대로가 아니라 자기가 하고 싶은 대로 한다”는 농담이 생겼다. 어머니는 미인이시다. 한국 여성의 평균 키가 155cm 이던 시절에 어머니는 170cm 의 늘씬하고 운동신경 좋은 사람이었다. 천성이 수집어 남의 눈에 띄는 것을 싫어했지만, 그 키와…
My mother closes her eyes at the moment of the camera shutter. She has done it all her life without meaning to, and the result is a running joke in our family, that she does what she wants, not what she is told. My mother is a beauty. At a time when the average Korean…
A few weeks ago, The New York Times reported that a deadly plane crash near Muan was caused by bird strikes. The birds involved were among the species that rely on the Getbol to survive. Scientists had warned for years that building airports in these areas would be dangerous. No one listened and worse, plans…
Call me competitive, but I admit I watched the medal count in the Olympics every day of the events in Paris and, sometimes, multiple times a day. Two numbers mattered most to me: the USA and South Korea. When the events came to an end on Sunday, the numbers were fixed and there was a…
Most people associate cherry blossoms with springtime in Korea but you’d be remiss not to pay attention to the amazing Getbol that also comes to life around the same time. Getbol, or tidal mud flats of southwestern Korea, may not be high on your list of must-see places. However, this Unesco World Heritage site is…
It is up to the government to shut down anyone who would flood the streets with [drugs]… But is there enough capacity or resources to both effectively stymie drug traffickers and have time to spare to investigate individual users? * South Korea lost a special actor when Lee Sun-kyun died last week from apparent suicide. …
I was adopted when I was nine years old. The year was 1976 and America was poised to celebrate its bicentennial. I arrived with my little sister in hand at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. For our arrival, Minnesota shed its passive, “nice” demeanor and welcomed us with its brutal honesty. It was April, and a…
One of the best things I learned as an adult is the growth mindset, which describes a way of viewing challenges and setbacks as an opportunity to learn. Growth mindset assumes that skills and intelligence are not set in stone and can always be improved with dedication and hard work. For many of us who…
Around this time last year, I did some back-to-school clothes shopping for my son. He was a newly minted six-year-old heading to first grade, growing so fast that it seemed he was leapfrogging sizes. “Can you please try these on?” I asked, setting a stack of pants in his room. “I want to make sure…
Modern Grace is a monthly column for Best of Korea by Yoojin Grace Wuertz Even if you haven’t read Amy Chua’s now-infamous book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom (2011), you are likely familiar with the moniker “Tiger Mom.” It refers to the type of draconian, ends-justify-the means parenting that Asians and Asian-Americans have become…