here are two recent articles i wrote about komos for the gaysian supersite, fridae.com. (and yes, i realize i've lost the ability to write coherently. yes, i'm worried.)
10 yrs of korea queer culture festival
your complete guide to koko trannies
(translations by the king!)
here's a video of various design projects (including the previous post's bridge) seoul city has embarked on, via my kbs show, seoul scene.
there's a cool, brooklyn based-mag called theme that explores global asian culture. i had wanted to write for them but felt like my clips n tears books wasn't in order yet (that's "tears" as in rhymes with "pears" not "peers." damn homonyms.)
but jesus sensed my sloth so lo and behold i get an email from their editor who was in search of someone to interview and write an article about the very lovely choi hyun-mi (최현미). her family escaped from north korea in 2004, and three years later (at 17) she became the world boxing association's women's featherweight champion.
she's polite and confident, charming and socially agile. talking with her can feel like sparring. she's unafraid of eye contact and physically leans forward while filling silences with verbal jabs. during our interview, as i regained my wits she'd retreat with a playful compliment and a sweet smile.
anyhow, she's a perfect example of someone you want to succeed. it probably ain't kosher to post the article until it's published. but until theme's april/may issue comes out, here's a link to an nyt profile of her from last fall.
while lucky was sleeping, i hadn't totally divorced myself from blogging. for work purposes, in september i created a travel and culture blog called www.DiscoveringKorea.com, which just happens to be the name of my paltry radio show on kbs. it's funny what happens when your blog doesn't talk obsessively about homosexuality and pretend interns who die in your refrigerator...
like job offers!
some of y'all will no doubt recognize the new blog's precursor- yup, it was nice day's very own "field trip" posts. so if you liked the soko travel shiz, head o'er yonder cuz from here on out, my nice day is out with the travel content in pursuit of full-time campy ramblin'.
hey y'all. wow. 2 months without posts. who knew?
on another note, i'm pitching an expanded travel show for kbs world radio. it's all about traveling in korea. the expanded show would include a q+a section.
so, i'd be grateful if any of you have travel-related questions about korea that i could air on the show. better yet, if you could send me an audio clip of you asking it, that would be fun. plus, the strange brew that listens to us via shortwave radios and npr stations at 3 am could hear your pretty voice.
if you're so inclined:
1. state your name and location ("hello, i'm mary lee from mexico" or "i'm mary magdalena lee-morales from 562 rua des noches, tijuana, mexico" works, too)
2. state your question.
3. send me the mp3 file.
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
a change of pace for this week's discovering korea... if you like puppets or peaches, why not take a break this month and check out one of korea's late summer festivals? (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
abby, hoon and i took 3-days to explore gorgeous gangwon province. day 1 was spent in the mountains, day 2 was spent on the beach, and day three was spent investigating the weird (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
abby, hoon and i took 3-days to explore gorgeous gangwon province. day 1 was spent in the mountains. day 2 was spent on the beach (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
last week, abby, hoon and i took a road trip in gangwon province. we spent a day in the mountains, a day at the beach and a day hugging giant penises. this is a retrospective on day 1 (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
today we hop on seoul metro and go west to the port city of incheon: the city that's striving to be the gateway to northeast asia (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
summertime in korea often means heading to the very popular haeundae beach off the port city of busan. but if sitting elbow to elbow with 200,000 other beach goers doesn’t sound like your kind of summer ritual, check out lovely beomeo temple and nearby geungjeong fortress (read it here).
also, english service received a nice listener comment made all the more nice since i've become skeptical that anyone listens to any of kbs world's expensive programming. (yes, this is the first and only complimentary e-mail my program has received to date!)
Greetings KBS Friends,he loves my maps!!
We don't have "Monsoon Season" here in Maryland, but it is officially summer now, so "happy summer" to you all in Seoul! I'm writing with a couple of comments and questions. First off, my compliments to Matt Kelley on his "Discovering Korea" segment. I've been particularly enjoying his series on Korea's mountains. I'm an avid hiker (as it sounds like many in Korea are) and his descriptions and photos of the locations make me want to take to the trails of Korea's parks. The maps showing the location of Matt's "tour spots" are also very helpful. I don't know if or when I'll have an opportunity to visit those locations, but I'm enjoying being a "virtual tourist" along with Matt. By the way, I was wondering if Korea has a National Park Service (or the equivalent) with information on Korea's parks in English...
-Jeff from Maryland
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
from baekdu mountain on north korea’s border with china to mount halla on jeju island, korea is home to thousands of magnificent peaks. for the final installment of our three-part series of the peninsula's highest places, we head to its smallest national park, wolchul mountain national park in south jeolla province (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
just 20 kilometers north of the colorful city of daegu is beautiful palgong mountain. this peak, whose ridges are said to stretch out like an eagle’s wings, are dotted with a number of historic buddhist temples. this week, part two of a three-part look at korea's magnificent mountains. (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
korea is one of the world's most mountainous places. just minutes from seoul is the grand bukhan mountain. this week, we kick-off a three-part exploration of korea's highest places.(read it here).
note: (obviously i taped these shows prior to my homeward bound vacance) my friends in kbs' internet dept. actually took some time with my images this time! notice the rounded edges and curved "photo album" look? hey!? sure, they typically post my show late and mangle my hangul translations, but i love our awkward relationship.
this is another article i wrote for fridae.com, a gay asian website. you can see it here or just read it below.
New "Coming Out" Television Series Airs in South Korea
Recently, late night television viewers in South Korea may have seen something unexpected: a same-sex kiss. An advertisement on the cable channel TvN quickly shifts between a smartly dressed man and woman as they appear to race towards each other. But rather than meeting, the woman briskly exits the frame while the man stops abruptly to kiss his waiting male lover. The ad was created to generate interest in South Korea's first television talk show series about homosexuality, called, Coming Out.
The 12-episode series debuted on April 14 and is aired at midnight. The show includes dramatic profiles of people who have come out to family, friends and coworkers with advice proffered by co-hosts Hong Seok-cheon and Jung Kyung-soon. Hong is a 37-year-old actor who was dropped from a popular television show after becoming the nation's first “out” actor in 2000. After several-years off-air, Hong's entertainment career has slowly restarted.
At a press conference held on April 7, Hong told reporters that when he first heard about the project, he thought it was “crazy” for Koreans to out themselves on national television. Based on his painful personal experiences, he said he sympathises with young Koreans who remain in the closet. “I don't advise people to come out because I know it is a hard decision. But as for myself, I have never been happier. I don't have to lie to myself any more.”
Hong's co-host Jung, who is heterosexual, told reporters she was happy to participate. At the outset, she said that she encouraged producers to focus on people’s humanity. She told reporters, “So many minorities are being discriminated against [in Korea]. Korean society needs more programs like this.”
The series' producer, Choi Seung-jun, feels that the project has helped him to empathise with the struggles faced by many queer Koreans. He told reporters: “Five percent of Korea's population is considered homosexual, but who knows if the number is higher? These people who are living with us right now and the suffering they go through is unimaginable.”
South Korea's Human Rights Commission Celebrates the "Six-Coloured Rainbow"
This spring, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea produced an animation series titled, A Different Story of Two Persons: The Six-Coloured Rainbow. The programs hope to promote diversity and fight discrimination by highlighting the experiences of marginalised groups in Korean society. The disabled, women, mixed heritage families and sexual minorities are profiled in the six-part series, which was released for public distribution on April 17. The animation film, Cover Up, was created by Park Yong-Jae, and addresses the pervasive discrimination faced by homosexuals in Korea.
Last fall, the Commission made news when draft legislation for a historic non-discrimination bill created with their input generated controversy. South Korea's powerful conservative Christian lobby persuaded the Ministry of Justice to remove protections for gays, lesbians and six other groups, prompting Korean queers to mobilise. Protests from Korean and international gay rights groups helped table the proposed legislation for further review. The draft bill has stalled under the conservative administration of South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak.
Koreans Celebrate 9th Annual Korea Queer Culture Festival
This past weekend, the 9th annual Korea Queer Culture Festival (KQCF) kicked-off with a parade in Seoul's Jongno district. The 15-day festival, which is South Korea's equivalent to other pride events around the world, is sponsored by Art Council Korea, the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, and LGBT Korea. Although modest in scale when compared to many other summer pride festivals, the KQCF has become a popular event for Koreans and foreigners living in the Greater Seoul area.
An estimated 300 participants took advantage of gorgeous spring weather and gathered at Berlin Plaza along the Cheonggye Stream. Approximately one dozen booths offered information about local organisations and LGBT publications. Special events included a performance by the Korean transgender activist group, Jirungyi, and an exhibition by the Youth Sexual Minority Community group, Rateen. A Korean folk music troupe comprised of gays and lesbians also performed. The evening concluded with a "Queer Scandal" after party at Club Reball in Itaewon. KQCF 2008 will wrap up June 4-8 with screenings for the Seoul LGBT Film Festival (SeLFF).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
this week, the last stop of our three-part exploration of south jeolla province takes us to the southernmost tip of the korean peninsula (read it here).
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
this week, part two of a three-part exploration of south jeolla province takes us to the beautiful green tea plantations of boseong (read it here).
last week i had the opportunity to work on the tv side of kbs for the first time. no, i didn't get to anchor the news... just editing and voice-over work for the morning news program. as usual first days can be a little hectic, but the change of pace was nice.
oh, and guess what, while wandering around incheon a coupla weekends back, i finally turned my camera's time stamp function off (see above). for a while i thought the added info was nice, but sometimes it spoilt the mood. time to try something new.
transcript from my kbs world radio show, discovering korea.
this week, we kick off a three-part exploration of south jeolla province with a pilgrimage to the city of hampyeong, and what is perhaps the world's largest collection of dead butterflies (read it here).
