EVE THE GREAT

I have a one-on-one class with a 6th grade boy. His English level is very high and he is good...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:41:32 +0900

I have a one-on-one class with a 6th grade boy. His English level is very high and he is good student. We decided not to do a textbook this term, instead he is just going to do independent reading at home. Then we’ll discuss the book and talk about new vocabulary once a week.

Anyway, I’m looking for book recommendations. Preferably less than 250 pages… I want him to read both nonfiction and fiction books. He likes science a lot, but I’d like him to read about a variety of subjects. Also, I’d like to avoid mentions of sex to be honest. We are reading The Time Machine right now and I was reading a page to him that said “playfully making love”. And… it was displeasing to me, haha. I’ve found a lot of lists online, but I’d like a lot of suggestions. We’ve previously read: Hatchet, The Westing Game, and a young adult version of Shakespeare’s Tragedies.

The tamagotchi that I bought for 2,000 won at Alpha keeps dying. Good thing I’m not planning...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:09:10 +0900

The tamagotchi that I bought for 2,000 won at Alpha keeps dying.

Good thing I’m not planning on raising any children.

Photo

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:16:22 +0900

satifice: tranqualizer: [photo: black and white picture from...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:00:31 +0900

satifice:

tranqualizer:

[photo: black and white picture from political demonstration by yellow peril, black panthers, and brown berets outside of the courthouse where huey newton was being tried in in 1968]

dregsone:

black history month.

yellow peril, brown berets, and black panthers protesting outside a courthouse where huey p. newton was being tried. a beautiful example of different cultures coming together for change.

holla

This is the kinda solidarity I wants.

I think it might be beneficial for me to develop some aspirations.

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:00:06 +0900

I think it might be beneficial for me to develop some aspirations.

Tumblr...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:33:29 +0900

Tumblr Crushes:

The hair clips I’m purchasing.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:07:58 +0900

The hair clips I’m purchasing.

I may have cried a little bit.

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:38:52 +0900

I may have cried a little bit.

I get a little bit weepy and delirious when I’m sick… which I currently am. Also I...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:38:43 +0900

I get a little bit weepy and delirious when I’m sick… which I currently am.

Also I strongly dislike it when tumblr accounts I enjoy disappear.

I found an old key in my mailbox. I had somehow not noticed it in the almost two years that...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:43:48 +0900

I found an old key in my mailbox. I had somehow not noticed it in the almost two years that I’ve lived here. I hope it opens a treasure chest or perhaps a hidden chamber in my apartment.

Currently using my new phone after way too much hassle. However, it is so very pretty that I do not...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:47:08 +0900

Currently using my new phone after way too much hassle. However, it is so very pretty that I do not care.

Did you know that you can’t open a new KT account on a Saturday? Well, you can’t. And I...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:27:35 +0900

Did you know that you can’t open a new KT account on a Saturday? Well, you can’t. And I went to Gangnam to find this out. At least I got to go to a cat cafe finally.

Hmm, some of my students have gotten into the habit of burping into each other’s mouths....

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:09:34 +0900

Hmm, some of my students have gotten into the habit of burping into each other’s mouths. Usually, I’m not easily grossed out but it’s seriously making me want to vomit on their faces.

Ryan Gosling is definitely the funniest part of this.

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:23:27 +0900

Ryan Gosling is definitely the funniest part of this.

I attempted to paint my nails like candy canes but it looks more...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:04:00 +0900

I attempted to paint my nails like candy canes but it looks more like I was attacked by Freddy Krueger. Luckily, the snowman turned out alright and my students are easily impressed.

So luckily they reduced the price to $1500 because he didn’t survive. It still seems so...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:08:31 +0900

So luckily they reduced the price to $1500 because he didn’t survive. It still seems so expensive. I think I’ll send her some money for it as a Christmas gift.

And in completely unrelated, less depressing news (that I kind of feel like a punk for bringing up)… I am going to buy a smartphone but I am having a lot of trouble deciding between an iPhone 4S or a Galaxy Nexus.

BBC News - N Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:19:00 +0900

BBC News - N Korean leader Kim Jong Il dies:

I just told all my Korean coworkers and they FREAKED out.

My mom just called me to tell me that one of my dogs, Jasper,...

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:45:45 +0900

My mom just called me to tell me that one of my dogs, Jasper, died.

It seems so shocking and strange because of the circumstances. Yesterday, she sent me an email about my older dog being in the hospital to remove stones from his bladder. When she called me I was expecting news about him. Apparently, when they got home from the vet, Jasper was acting strange and throwing up. They ended up taking him to the hospital and he had to have emergency surgery to remove his spleen. Only, when they opened him up, he was actually riddled with cancer. He died on the table. And apparently this is going to cost my mom $7000 she doesn’t have.

Merry fucking Christmas.

teachacrajy: peaceshannon: Why I’m lucky to know the...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:31:48 +0900

Halmonis at the House of Sharing

With 김순옥할머니 and 간호사샘

With 이옥선할머니 and other volunteers

With 이용녀할머니 and Fielding

teachacrajy:

peaceshannon:

Why I’m lucky to know the Halmonis

First off, I just want to say how happy I am to see the 1,000th protest photos explode on Tumblr. Thanks to everyone who reblogged to spread the word about this issue. It warms my heart to know that many people have gotten to hear at least a little about these courageous women.

Next, I want to write about how grateful I am to have been able to know them for the past 2.5 years as a volunteer at the House of Sharing. These women are truly remarkable.

I’ll start with an anecdote to illustrate the attitudes these women face when they go public as survivors of “comfort stations”. On my own FB wall, an acquaintance of an acquaintance commented (one reason you should not accept just anyone’s friend request) in regards to a post I made about going to the 1,000th protest. He wrote something along the lines that these women need to stop employing “nationalistic rituals” in order to ask for free handouts from the Japanese government and stop distracting from Korea’s more “pressing issues” (North-South relations, rise of China, etc). Of course, this guy thinks he’s an expert in East Asian diplomacy, all because he lived in Japan for a couple of years. I don’t think I need to explain any further, right?

ㅡㅡ

And then I remembered once again how amazing these women are. Because they hear this bullshit all the time and they are STILL fighting. I was ready to put my head through a wall after just that brief discourse on my FB wall and it wasn’t even in reference to anything that I’ve been forced to experience. These Halmonis have to listen to people casually discuss the THOUSANDS of rapes that they survived as if it’s a nationalistic plot or should be discarded in order to promote diplomatic relations. This is not a pawn for strategic relations, people. These are real women - over 200,000 - who were systematically raped, beaten, tortured, and killed. And they have to listen to dickheads like this guy flippantly reduce the rapes and torture that they experienced to political maneuvering.

He also made several references to them being similar to prostitutes, that they had volunteered to work in this “comfort stations” or were paid. Let me just make two things very clear here: First, even IF you “volunteered” to work as a prostitute (how many 11-19 year old girls in 1930’s Korea would really knowingly do that??), once they are unable to voluntarily leave their “volunteering”, once they are physically forced to stay somewhere and have sex with people against their will, it is rape. Even IF (big if), the initially went there as a volunteer, they ceased being a volunteer and became subjected to rape when they were unable to leave at their own will, unable to refuse sex at their own will, unable to avoid physical abuse and torture at their own will. Secondly, even though most of these women never saw a dime of the money being paid (in official Japanese military coupons, by the way), being paid by your rapist does not make you a prostitute. BEING PAID BY YOUR RAPIST DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PROSTITUTE. Let me say it again - if someone rapes me and then throws $100 at me, I am not a prostitute and you are still a rapist.

And even though they face these attitudes EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY, they still fight! That is why I’m lucky to know these women. They teach me that women’s voices matter. That no matter how little socio-economic power we have, if we demand to be heard, we will eventually be heard!

When they were abducted and forced into “comfort stations” they were the most vulnerable members - young, poor, uneducated females - of an already vulnerable society - Korea under forced Japanese colonial rule. And yet they have created the longest-running human rights protest in the world. These women have been fighting for 20 years to be goddamn heard. And people have listened. The US, Canada, EU, Philippines, and over 25 prefectures in Japan have passed official resolutions, urging Japan to resolve this issue. And that is powerful people. Old, poor, uneducated women - the most underrepresented members of our international community made people hear their voices.

Then this FB guy demanded that if I was so sure that it wasn’t a nationalistic issue, I’d better be doing everything I could do to stop it “in my own backyard” (Korea), where Korean women are suffering in the same ways, but this time, not by Japanese hands.

And here’s another reason why these women are amazing. They do exactly that. They stand in solidarity with Korean (and now also Filipina) women who were coerced to work in the 기치촌 (US military camptowns) in Korea. They fight with these women, they understand the connection between their issue and what is happening in Korea today. One of the 기치촌 survivors actually spoke at the 1,000th protest. Our House of Sharing International Outreach Team will be holding a workshop today with Duraebang (a shelter for Filipina women trafficked into Korea), translated by yours truly. More info on that event: http://www.facebook.com/events/181888128565648/

Finally, I want to say of the estimated 200,000 women who were forced to work as sex slaves in “comfort stations” during WWII, approximately 150,000 were Korean women but only 234 South Korean registered officially as survivors.

Of those 234, only 63 are still living. Japan must resolve this issue, but they are literally hoping that the issue will die away with the Halmonis.

Reblog because I am crying in the office.

peaceshannon: The 1,000th Wednesday Protest. There was a lot...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:17:05 +0900

peaceshannon:

The 1,000th Wednesday Protest.

There was a lot of ridiculous behavior displayed by the media at the 1,000th protest that got me super angry, but I’ll write about that in another post.

For now, I just want to write about how inspiring, passionate, and courageous these women are (my favorite Halmoni, Pak Ok-seon Halmoni can be seen in the top photo wearing a blue scarf).

They are in their 80’s and 90’s and they have been demonstrating in front of the Japanese Embassy every fucking week for 20 years. In the rain, in the snow, in the heat, in the wind, without fail. They’ve faced social stigma, being called whores and prostitutes, they’ve been asked by their families to not go public but they go out there EVERY FUCKING WEEK.

And they do it because they want the world to know what happened to them, what’s still happening in wars all across the globe, what’s happening across national borders, what’s happening in school campuses, churches, and pretty much every corner of this goddamn planet.

And that is sexual violence against women.

And when you ask them why they’re out there every week, they’ll tell you that yes, they want their apology from the Japanese government - they want someone to look them in the face and say yes, it happened and I. am. sorry. But they’ll also tell you that they’re out there because they don’t want what happened to them to happen to a single other woman, ever again.

And that, is fucking powerful people.