Modern Grace is a monthly column for Best of Korea by Yoojin Grace Wuertz Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s in northern New Jersey, I was part of a large wave of Korean immigrants hitting the tri-state area. I remember when I first started American kindergarten in 1986, I noticed no other Asian faces…
It has been more than 70 years since the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950. I remember waking up one morning in my home in Seoul to a very loud and unusual noise coming from the direction of Main Street. Hurriedly I ran out to the street to see a strange army marching…
Noona’s Noonchi is a column for Best of Korea by Jeanie Chang, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Dear Noona’s Noonchi, I just saw the movie, “Umma,” and it got me thinking about the relationship with my own mom. There’s a scene near the end of the movie that made me realize that perhaps my mom…
What is han? Denoting a sense of deep sorrow, frustration, resentment, and anger that comes from suffering and trauma, han 한 恨 is often presented as a quintessentially Korean feeling. Some insist that only Koreans can truly comprehend and experience it. While the cultural significance of han has declined significantly in South Korea since the late…
Modern Grace is a monthly column for Best of Korea by Yoojin Grace Wuertz One of my earliest memories of Americans after moving to New Jersey as a six-year-old was hearing a particularly brash peer announce, “My parents will SUE YOU!” whenever she was displeased about something. Keep in mind this was a 1980s working-class…
“Korean culture and kindness repeatedly found me in my life. Not only did they find me, they kept saving my life.” Powerful words from Africa Yoon, who recently published her book, The Korean. If anyone has a passion for Korean food and culture and its benefits to our mental health, it’s Africa Yoon. I first…
Remembering my mother and our long journey together. I’ve often likened my relationship with my mother to a marathon. I am a serious runner. I was not an athlete in high school. I ran my first 5K in 2009 in order to keep the trains in my head running right. I’ve run five marathons in…
It is September, and there is a special group of parents across America who confront a certain sadness. These men and women see their first borns leave them for college. The children disappear around the corner of a campus walk or into the recesses of a dormitory, leaving their parents to silently experience the sad-happiness-pride-anxiety that…
I have two teenage daughters who swear to me they will never have children. They say that they, like all children, are a drain on the life of their mother. Why would they want to put themselves through that, they challenge us to answer. I have nothing to say to this. We men may be…
U.S. Attorney in Georgia, BJay Pak played a critical role in preventing a catastrophic failure of our government. After the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, I remember a neighbor asking me, “Can you believe it?” I found myself answering “Yes, I do believe it; I actually thought it would be much, much worse.” …