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Lithunian college women dress in Korean traditional dresses and spread the Hallyu

            In Kaunas, Lithuania, you can see Lithuanian college women dresses in Korean traditional dresses and singing Korean songs or talking about Korean movies. Through the teachings of Professor Seo Jinseok at Magnus College of Korea and Korean culture since 2008, a group of women interested in the Korean culture were formed. Seo JinSeok is a professor at the Magnus College and teaches Korean regional sciences to students. With the help of his knowledge of Korea as a Korean himself, they meet regularly and watch Korean movies, listen to Korean pop, eat Korean food and etc. These women are helping the Korean culture, hallyu, grow with their deep interest. Korea was always thought to be a “single race”. However, these foreigners are helping Korea grow out of this single race and spread the cultures and spirits of Korea to their country. Now Korea’s range of race is widening to a multicultural race across the globe.

Two faces of Audition Programs-Is it a chance, or is it planned?

           Lately, programs such as American Idol and America’s Top Model have been taking over the television in the United States. In the spread of audition programs, in Korea, programs like Super Star K, Dancing with the Stars, Shin Yip Sa Won (New announcer of broadcasting station MBC) and etc. have been showing up also. Audition programs differ from regular television broadcasts because they have regular people instead of stars. Regular people compete for the chances they dreamt up. In American Idol, contestants sing with all their might to be a singer through the show. In Shin Yip Sa Won, people competed to become the next MBC, a Korean broadcast channel, announcer. Today, I interviewed each contestant from American Idol and Shin Yip Sa Won. These two people both participated in audition programs. Yet, they take different views about audition shows. One says it’s an everlasting experience, and the other says it’s an unfair competition. Let’s hear about the two sides of audition programs from these two participators.

 

                                            Tiffany Preston

                                                American Idol in United States.  

Q. Could you please introduce yourself?

A. My name is Tiffany Preston. I'm 19 years old, currently attend Grand Valley State University with a major in psychology and have a huge passion for music, my family and friends, and God.

Q. How did you get to participate in the American Idol show?

A. In order to participate in the American Idol show, I had to register in the audition city which was Kansas City, MO for me. You have to fill out forms and then when you register, you get a wristband and a number for your audition.

Q. What kind of experience was ' American Idol' to you?

A. American Idol was an interesting experience to say the least. It was a great opportunity to meet new people who have the same love for music as you and fun to be able to show the world what you love doing. Some things about the competition weren't very fair, including letting on contestants who obviously weren't on for the right reasons but to get fame or letting contestants on who couldn't sing. This didn't give people who actually had a talent to succeed in the competition because someone who wasn't talented at singing took their spot.

Q. Is there anything different about before the competition and after? If there is, what is it?

A. Before the competition, I didn't have as many opportunities to grow in music until I made it on the show. After the show, I was contacted by radio stations and newspapers which made me feel so blessed and humbled to be able to do these things.

Q. Would you recommend 'American Idol' to people with dreams of a singer? If yes (or no) why?

A. I wouldn't necessarily recommend American Idol to others who have dreams of becoming a singer because I believe the process isn't very fair. Those who don't make it with talent normally get cut if they don't have a shocking life story which in unfair.

 

                                                            Lee Siu 
                                            Shin Yip Sa Won  in South Korea

Q. Could you please introduce yourself?

Hello. I am model Lee Siu that has been taking responsibility of the Korean fashion. Actually, to be exact, I was. Now I’m Lee Siu who wants to take lead in Korean broadcast.

 

Q. How did you get to participate in the ‘Shin Yip Sa Won’ program?

Since I was young, I liked to talk in front of many people. Also since it made me very happy to make others laugh, I had a dream of becoming a MC. However due to my situations, I was bent on making money. So I chose the career of a model. While modeling, I forgot my dream. However through the encouragements my friends I decided to participate in the audition program. Most of all, the biggest appealing part was that there was no age or educational background limit. 

 

Q. What kind of experience was ' Shin Yip Sa Won’ to you?

It was the greatest experience in my life. Through the program I met many people. I’ve only met people in the fashion industry. However through this chance, I’m so happy to get to know many people in the broadcasting field. Most of all, despite of educational backgrounds, I felt that that I can do it through my passion in my dream.

 

Q. Is there anything different about before the competition and after? If there is, what is it?

When I walk around, many people seem to recognize me and cheer up me. If there is anything bad, because my image on the audition show was kind of humorous, the image still lasts even when I’m modeling now. It’s been hard to stand on runways.

 

Q. Would you recommend ‘Shin Yip Sa Won’ to people with dreams of a singer? If yes (or no) why?

I really recommend it. You earn what very much and I believe that learning in this kind of experience will give you lots of help.

 

Q. Was there a specific reason why you dreamt about becoming an MC, even while you were standing top in the fashion industry as a model?

While I was modeling, I had a chance to MC a show. Through this experience I was able to feel that this job was very charming. The woman MC was Ahn Hye Kyung and watching her talk so well impressed me. By this experience, I was able to dream about broadcasting once again.

*These two opinions about audition programs are personal opinions according to their very personal experience.

Diplomat; a Public Servant

             In the 2011 state-administered examination for diplomats, 1659 people applied-making the competition rate 55 against 1. 38 people passed the 2^nd part of the exam and moved on to the 3^rd part, interview. Finally, on 16^th of June, 26 people for the diplomacy trade duty, two as an English linguist and one Russian linguist has been chosen to as the diplomacy of South Korea. A total of 29 people passed and gained the chance to stand on world stages with a Korean flag. Out of these 29 people, Hyung Kwon Jung, a student of Seoul National University, passed with the highest score, average of 71.62. He graduated Dae Jin Boys High School and currently is a senior at Seoul National University as international relations major. Jung said he was worried before starting to prepare for the examination for diplomats because he didn’t know how long it would take for him to pass. However with passion, he tried to reach his goals and at his 3^rd try he managed to pass and now is ready to stand on world stages.

             Since Ban Ki Moon has been inaugurated as the Secretary General in United Nations, many teens dream about working as diplomacy like him. Hyung Kwon Jung gives advices to teens with the dreams in the diplomacy field and reveals one’s plans as a diplomacy.

New Writing Style: Portraying with the Headlight on One’s Car

“My work every day is first to write as well as I can, to get better as a writer, as opposed to “representing” anything/anyone in particular, or speaking for a particular group. “

                                                                        -Sonya Chung   

           Many people ask Sonya Chung, the writer of Long for This World, “How can you survive as a Korean-American writer in the land of United States?” She answers with determination that it is her writing that identifies her work; not her race. Indeed, Chung is correct. It is her writing that defines the characters of Sonya Chung as a writer. Her unique, yet soft style of writing has captured many readers’ hearts through her first novel, Long for This World.

           Sonya Chung’s debut novel Long for This World starts by two brothers after the Korean War-one deciding to be Korean and the other deciding to be Korean-American. The story starts from the point of the brother who has immigrated to the United States in the decision to becoming Korean-American, Han Hyun-ku.  His daughter, Jane, and he unexpectedly go to Korea after 40 years in the U.S. The story progresses by showing Korea-Americans trying to fit in the Korean society. They are awkward of the unfamiliar cultures and struggle to understand. Later the story moves on to the perspective of other characters and each character tells the story of how they are trying to fit in this family and the new world. Based on Sonya Chung’s own experiences of visiting Korea herself as a Korea-American, the story is told in lively languages. Her experiencing of visiting Korea has inspired to her write this novel. After all, she is a Korean-American herself.

Reasons why people need to pay attention to Sonya Chung

Many people are probably not familiar with Sonya Chung and her work yet, since she is a new-comer to the world of novels. However, her soft yet vivid use of language is receiving many attentions from the literature world in the United States. She has been the recipient of Pushcart Prize nomination, the Charles Johnson Fiction Award, and the Bronx Council on the Arts Writers’ Fellowship & Residency. Her strategy of writing in a step-by-step process is well praised by many people. Chung said that her writing will not feel like looking at the whole society on a sunny evening. Instead she said that the reader will probably feel like driving through a dark foggy night with only the headlights on. As the headlight only shines a little at a time, so does her writing as she portrays the characters’ mentalities. As well as she expands the psychology of characters, she introduced the Korean cultures to many Americans. At her meeting with fans at the University of Maryland Ulrich Recital Hall, American readers said that they have been able to learn about new Korean cultures through her novel. Today, she speaks of her work and exposes her hopes that Long for This World would get more popular in Korea; popular enough for someone to translate into Korean.  

Photo Credit: Robin Holland

Q. Could you introduce yourself to us?  

A. I am Sonya Chung, a writer and writing teacher living in New York City. I was born in Washington, DC, and have lived in Maryland, Seattle, and New York.  My first novel, LONG FOR THIS WORLD, was published (by Scribner) in March 2010.  My parents were both born in S. Korea; they emigrated to the U.S. in the mid 1960s.

Q. Why did you decide to write a novel based on a Korean and Korean-American Family in 'Long for this world’?

A. The initial inspiration for LONG FOR THIS WORLD was in 2002, when I visited Korea for the first time.  I was meeting relatives I’d never met before and seeing the places where my parents grew up.  In a small town near Pusan, one of my aunts (by marriage) was playing tour guide and hosting me, and I found her to be an intriguing woman.  She wasn’t very talkative, and because my Korean is not very good we didn’t communicate very well in words; but something about her intrigued me.  She had a quiet competence about her, a bit of mystery.  I wondered who she was and if she had a story.  (My family both didn’t know much about her background, and didn’t talk about it – I think this was because she is not a blood relative, and because she is a woman, her identity subordinate to her husband.)  So I started writing the part of LONG FOR THIS WORLD that takes place in Korea, and I imagined a story for a woman like my aunt.  

The Korean American part of the story was also there from the beginning.  I knew that the novel would be about the interesting relationships between immigrants and their native place, and that there would be parallel stories in Korea and the US which would collide/converge in some way.  In addition, I knew that Jane, the Korean American main character, would be someone who had traveled a lot, who was worldly (in the novel she is a photojournalist); I wanted the story to encompass more than just Korea and the US.

 
Q. Does being Korean have any kinds of effects on your writer life in American? (Positive or negative)

A. It’s hard to know what the effects are.  There is a wonderful Asian American writer’s community in New York, and across the country, which I am fortunate to be a part of.   Also, I think a positive aspect is that many American readers are interested in stories of cultures that are different from their own – writers like Chang-rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Zadie Smith, and Junot Diaz, for example, has a very wide readership in the US.  For the most part, though, I think of myself as a writer, not primarily a “Korean American writer.”  Which is to say that my work every day is first to write as well as I can, to get better as a writer, as opposed to “representing” anything/anyone in particular, or speaking for a particular group.    

 
Q.  Have you ever read any Korean literatures? If yes, what book and what do you think about it? If no, do you have any interest in Korean literatures?

A. I have wanted to read Hwang Sun-won’s work, and I am excited that Shin Kyung-sook’s work is now being translated into English.  (Unfortunately, I don’t read Korean well enough to read literature in Korean.)  Also, there is a book that was written about my great grandfather, Song Chang-keun, who was a well-known theologian; I wish I could read that book, or that someone would translate it!

 Q. How did you become a writer in America? Was there any hardships?

A. It was, and is, very challenging.  For immigrant families, the job of a writer is one that seems unstable and unfamiliar.  Many Koreans emigrate to the US with the hopes that their children will do well academically, professionally, and financially.  A writer’s life is not as easily accepted as that of a doctor, or an engineer, or a lawyer, for instance.  So the decision to become a writer was somewhat lonely for me; it wasn’t something that my family quite understood or for which they could offer much support.  

In addition, when you are starting out as a writer, and even later after you’ve published a book, it is very difficult to make a living from your writing.  So you have to always be figuring out ways to earn income while also writing books and stories.  These things are always in competition, i.e. your “job” and your writing.  In 2006, after I’d been working on LONG FOR THIS WORLD for two years, I quit my full-time job because I felt I needed time and space to finish the novel.  This was a big risk, and an anxious time, because I didn’t know if I could finish it, and I didn’t know if I could get it published.  I was happy and relieved that I was able to do both.

Lastly, writing itself is very difficult; it requires so much patience, and solitude, and you are always facing the blank page, figuring out how to tell your story.  It never really gets easier, and in many ways it gets harder.


 
Q.  Can you give words of cheers to anyone that is deeply interested in being a writer like you?
 
A. I would say: 1) Read a lot, read all the time, read the best writers; reading is your best teacher 2) Expect difficulties.  Writing well is difficult, getting published is difficult, getting your book to be recognized can be extremely difficult.  3) Because it’s difficult, you should pursue writing only if you love it, if you are someone who feels you MUST do it in order to fulfill your sense of purpose and your sense of yourself in the world.  The writing itself is its own reward; everything else is somewhat out of your control, so you can’t count on it.  Good luck!

This interview has been done by e-mail through the MIZY youth reporter MinKyung Kim and Sonya Chung.

 Judy Blume, the children book writer of all time, speaks of her love

“Over the 40+ years I've been writing I've also written for adults, but I always come back to young people.”  
                                                                                                                              -Judy Blume

Judy Blume is one of America’s most-loved writers of all time; especially for the younger generation. She has sold over 80 million sales of novels including books such as the Fudge series, Are you there God, it’s me Margaret, Blubber and etc. Without Judy Blume, lots of young readers may be still complaining about how boring reading is. Today Judy speaks of her love for the younger generation and the passion for her writing.                                                               Photography credit to Sigrid Estrada              1. What has driven you to write so many books especially for young adults/children?

I need to be involved in creative projects. That was true even when I was in school.  It was when I was out of school, married with two babies, that I realized I needed to find creative work.  I missed the excitement, missed the energy, missed that feeling of wanting to jump out of bed in the morning and get back to my project.  I was physically sick a lot in my 20's.  But once I found writing the illnesses magically disappeared. 

I don't think about writing books for children vs. writing for young adults, or even adults.  I go with whatever story is inside my head and demands to come out.  I think of characters rather than plot.  This isn't right or wrong, it's just the way I work.  I have a connection to young people, maybe because my memory of my own childhood is so strong.  I've always identified with young people.  It never occurred to me, when I began to write, to write about anything else.  Over the 40+ years I've been writing I've also written for adults, but I always come back to young people.

I think novelists are interested in everything, too, but mainly in people.  I'm a people watcher, an observer, a listener.  This has always been true.  Even as a young child I made up characters inside my head.  I invented stories about them but never wrote them down. 

Before I start a book I keep a notebook -- I call it my security blanket -- because I could never face a blank screen, or a blank page.  This way I'm less scared about starting.  I've got my notebook filled with ideas, characters, and scenes.  This is where I am right now.  I left a novel that I'd just started two years ago, when the opportunity to film Tiger Eyes came along.  Yesterday I took out my notebook.  I think I'll soon feel ready to begin again.  And that's good, because I'm happiest when I'm writing, even though I might tell you it's torture (and sometimes it is).
 

I try not to sign a contract for publication until I've finished the book.  That way I don't have the pressure of deadlines.  For some writers, deadlines are essential.  Without them, they'd never write, or never finish.  But this is how I've always done it and it works well for me.  One time I decided I needed the pressure of deadlines so I signed a contract for a series of four books -- The Pain & the Great One series for younger readers.  And it worked okay.  I did what I had to do.  But I wouldn't want that kind of pressure for this novel that I'm trying to write. 

I feel my responsibility is to write the best, most honest books I can.  I owe that to my readers.

I'm hoping I get to do more of the same.  Writers tend not to retire.  We write until we can't.  I still have stories to tell and characters to create. 

Thanks for your very thoughtful questions.  Morning is my best time for writing -- but you see, I'm answering emails instead.  That's because it's so hard to get back to writing a book.  But now that my notebook is next to my computer, now that I can see it every day, I know I'll be getting back to that novel very soon.

This interview has been done by e-mail through the MIZY youth reporter MinKyung Kim and Judy Blume.