Monthly Archives: September 2005

oh no, not a post on Christianity!

i recently came across an excellent article in Harpers regarding the state of Christianity in America. it is definitely worth a read, not so much because it bashes on Christians, but because it’s an eloquently written observation of some troubling trends in our nation’s interpretation of the religion.

i won’t bore anyone with my own thoughts on the matter, and frankly, i find it very uninteresting to even engage in discussion about the topic of whether or not to be Christian. hey, if it works, just do it! if not, find something else. i’ve been in the realm of “something else” for quite a while now.

okay, i won’t let myself off that easy. i did come across two papers from my sophomore year that deal directly with my views on religion. i’m not as passionate about such things anymore, but it was nice to read something from a time when i took many things much more seriously. it even sounds like i followed politics very carefully and hoped for some sort of social changes in the world. well, little has changed in terms of core beliefs, but i guess i’m not so sure i can make all that much of a difference anymore. sharing very liberal pieces of writing is a start:

On Self and Religion – I begin by interviewing my Hindu friend Samir about the impact of religion on his life and then proceed to write about my own dealings with religion, particularly the interaction with my parents, who both attended Christian seminaries and led ministry for a number of years. I think I wrote this one pretty last-second because the quality is second-rate.

The Korean Church Effect – this is a politically charged paper that many of you may find disagreeable. I’ve met many faithful Christians who find ways to balance faith with liberal and socially progressive beliefs, but the conservative ideology still exists among most Korean American Christian groups. And you may find that some of the themes in the Harpers article are also in my paper, such as the idea of Christianity catering to a self-obsessed mindset that obstructs community action.

as a parting note, i just want to mention one song that really struck me when i heard it for the first time several years ago. it was 2pac and Outlawz’s Black Jesus and it talks about the idea of a black Jesus who understands the plight of blacks – “somebody that hurt like we hurt, somebody that smoke like we smoke, drink like we drink.” Imagine that – in America, where the dominant image of Jesus is an Anglo-Saxon hero who happened to live in Israel (and whose teachings supposedly “enlightened” slaves brought over from Africa) – to call out for a dark-skinned Jesus with an affinity for African American culture… it’s nothing new. all ethnicities, cultures, and denominations shape Jesus in their own ways, much like Western Europeans gave Jesus a lighter hue, African Americans decided to make him dark, and Asians…

the night of the last-minute Chusuk celebration

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one of the first things i did when i was president of my korean students association during my junior year at columbia was to change our club’s september bbq event into a Chusuk (or as John would write – Chuseok) Festival. growing up as a pastor’s kid, i remember my dad was very big on korean cultural celebrations at church, especially as a reverend in America, where Koreans often found most of their cultural exchanges on Sundays. i would always look forward to this time of year, knowing one of the Sundays would have a lot of bulgogi and song pyun, the little rice cake that seems to taste especially good on this holiday. of course, never having really cared about the Lunar calendar, i wasn’t too keen on the meaning of the holiday, and every year, I’ve had to ask my mom to look up and see when the next Chusuk would be.

this year, because of work, not living on campus, and infrequent contact with the parents, i almost forgot about Chusuk entirely. melanie had emailed me the previous day and told me a bunch of things about some sort of “Moon Festival” that was going on in Taiwan, but I couldn’t quite put two and two together, especially since Chusuk, at least in my mind, has a distinctively Korean quality to it. so i sat mindlessly in front of my computer on a Sunday night, wondering if it was really necessary to have crunched numbers on Bloomberg on a beautifully sunny day. i receive an IM from Jeff Hsieh, my Chinese buddy who currently dates a Korean girl, and he asks me if I had done anything for Chusuk. doh! i looked up at the clock and it was still 10:30pm. i suddenly had a craving for song pyun and maybe some dduk guk. i was ready to just go to k-town solo and satisfy myself before i realized that company would enhance the experience. speaking of company, i asked my “Lehman Bro” (oh man, looks even cornier when written) Brandon if he would join me. he surprisingly said yes and trekked all the way from the financial district to meet me at Kunjip for a late late meal. as i waited for him on 32nd Street, i called up my dad, whom i hadn’t spoken to in a long time, and let him know about my craving and my late trip. he reminded me to ask for song pyun and seemed to love that i was still korean, unlike my sister who probably doesn’t even know what Chusuk is (haha, big mo).

inside, i ordered dduk guk as planned and Brandon ordered dwen jang jigae. we also had two rounds of OB beer, the ultimate complement to a Korean meal, in my opinion. i also asked the waitress if they had song pyun and she said she would check for me. she returned and gave us four pieces. during the meal i realized i missed my family and wished i could’ve been at home eating with them. at the same time, it was nice sitting with a co-employee (we work in different departments) chatting about our company’s success, our crappy hours, and whether or not we would look shady if we went to a college party this coming Thursday night. those few minutes of heavy breathing after the bowls have reached bottom and only one or two gulps remain in the glass of beer – and yet, you still find yourself picking at some random piece of banchan – i think it’s a Korean moment that has never ceased to make me feel both happy and proud. our waitress also gave us each a small cup of shikhae, a sweet traditional Korean drink, which seemed to clinch the deal for me.

when i returned to the apartment, i told Warren about how i realized it was “Korean Thanksgiving” and rushed to K-town for food. “You mean, Chinese Thanksgiving,” he said. moon cakes? no thanks.

***

one side note. i went to Boston (Cambridge, rather) this weekend to visit Jina, and it was a great time. i’m actually thinking about making a mini-website using the photos i took on the trip since i seem to like doing that with all my Boston visits (winter 2002, summer 2002, 2003, 2004). thanks to Jina for a wonderful weekend – i really loved the coffeeshop Finale, Little Italy, and Baker Library. and the showers in her dorm reminded me of Wien’s awesome pressure showers, the ones that sting when you first get hit with water.

the spaces we choose

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when i was in middle school, my parents bought a new dining table, replacing our round dark brown wood table that our family had been using for the past few years. they told me i could take the table and put it in my room. for the next four years, the table was a centerpiece of my room, occupying a big chunk of the space and effectively turning my room into a home office. whether i was doing my math homework, studying for SATs, holding a meeting with my teen magazine staff (most often just wally), or hosting friends for cheating preparations on the next calculus test, the table was always in the middle of the action. it was usually cleared on top except for a mug of pens and pencils and a desk lamp. since then, i have always sought out spaces with large desks or table tops. for me, this is THE essential element to my concept of a desirable space.

i mention this because i came across a new business venture near union square that touts itself as a space for writers. it is called Paragraph: Workspace for Writers (via kottke) and it has a really nice website. the place offers membership access (over a hundred bucks a month) to a very well-planned space (at least from the pictures they have up) that caters to those who want to sit down and seriously write. i was almost tempted to join but realized i am barely home enough to take advantage of such a membership. furthermore, i have a spacious apartment room with a very large desk. while i was at first skeptical of such an idea (who the hell wants to pay so much dough for some place to sit?), i realized that in New York, space is hard to come by and so many distracting elements (roommates, noise, crappy furniture) can take away from a writer’s concentration. after browsing the site, i began to miss Butler Library and how much i had loved the various spaces there – the Reading Room, where the lighting usually sucked but a comforting feeling of being with others who were studious, the 4th floor, where I often swore I went to school in Korea because of all the international students, the cafe lounge, where you can eat smelly food and talk loudly while studying and be guilt-free, and the stacks, where I sometimes found myself when I really needed to hunker down and crank out a paper. and to think – i never ceased going to Butler even when I had a very spacious room my senior year, the quietest roommate ever (hi Grace!), and of course, a very large desk, from Ikea. sometimes spaces grow on us and you find yourself going an extra seventy blocks uptown just to sit down in a familiar spot to get some studying done (as I did this past summer).

this is a very loosely written entry, i admit. lots of rambling and nostalgic waxing, but i should attempt a tie out (as my CDO group often does with their carry calculations): there are many dimensions to the concept of space (no pun intended) that are interesting to consider. in what ways do we arrange our own spaces, and how does this affect the way we behave? how do different people react to different spaces? why do people like to hang around Starbucks? how does space reflect the construct of power in our society? (haha, that last one was just a weak hark back at Foucault – I just remember the way he talked about the way prisons, hospitals, and schools were arranged and how they all seemed to have that panopticon type of construction where the customer – inmate, patient, student – is monitored and moved about regimentally). or to put things simply, what sort of spaces do you like? what spaces do you dislike?

my likes/dislikes: the privacy of a cubicle or a bathroom stall is nice sometimes, but i also like the bustle of a cafe and the open air of an art studio. outdoors are always nice, but not always convenient. i love places that feel homey but also like sleek places that aren’t too overboard on minimalist design. well, i guess like just about any place that is comfortable and has space for some books, a laptop, and a notepad. as for spaces i dislike? seats on the train (not the MTA subways, but NJTransit), seats on the airplane, lecture halls (they are napping spots for me and desks are too small), and the back seat of cars. i guess i like stationary spaces.