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A note on July 4

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I still have faith in our American experiment. To a desperate eye, yes, it could look grim. The U.S. is among the world’s richest nations, but American infants are three times more likely to die than in 19 similar OECD… Read More ›

Saturday is Dec. 7

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This Saturday is Dec. 7. Seventy-eight years ago, on Dec. 7, 1941, Japan showed the world what it could do. Here are seven key takeaways from the U.S.-Japan Pacific War (1941-1945) and from the grand rise & fall of Japan… Read More ›

24 Alternatives to Boracay

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–sorted by Philippine region in ascending population— (i.e., the places with the fewest people, and, therefore, most likely the poorest infrastructure and the hardest to get to, are at the top of this list) Caraga Region (pop. 2.6 million) –Siargao… Read More ›

Kim Seungok (김승옥): two short story book reviews

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Like a hyacinth that bursts into bloom and then fades, Kim Seungok (b. 1941) wrote more than 10 short stories, essays, screenplays and novellas between the ages of 21 and 25, between 1962 and 1966. His stories burst to fame at the time from the pages of Seoul’s newspapers and literary magazines, and most of his works are still read today. Kim led a wave of early and mid-1960s authors who were fed up with the prior dictator’s arrogance and nervous about the new dictator’s tightening grip. He wrote about rapid urbanization and the realities of living in these rapidly growing new cities. He wrote about how the human fits in between the city and the countryside, the modern and the past.