​​​​​​​I have a friend who works at a vegan restaurant as a chef. His restaurant sells Hawaiian pizza and mint chocolate icecream, all without the dairy and meat and whatever includes animal-derived ingredients. Frankly speaking, I’ve never been to his restaurant, but he tells me about incidents at

​​​​​​​The first time I met my wife, I had just arrived as an exchange student from Germany at her university, UC San Diego. She asked what I studied, and when I replied her face took a slightly repulsed expression. As a physics major I had seen that look before and many times since. This response t

Sometimes, we become passionate for something in an unexpected way, just like the movie The Hobbit: An unexpected journey. This was exactly what happened to me during the long and stressful quarantine. It may seem paradoxical to get interested in something in such a difficult and hopeless time. But

Before I came to Seoul, my hometown was New York City, and I still pay attention to news from New York. These days the news makes me sad—not only is there the COVID-19 problem, but, also, New York seems to be experiencing an outbreak of gun murders and crime.This surprises me. Though New York, as Am

From stranger to savior. This is what philosophy is to me before and after the spring of 2020. The prejudice is that philosophy is an abstract farfletched topic. The prejudice is that philosophical pupils are those nested in their own cocoon, reading and thinking despite day or night. My personal jo

When I was trained as a psychoanalyst in the United States, a young man who was Korean American contacted me to see if he could receive analysis. I made an appointment with him over the phone and I gave him the address of my counseling office. I had never met him before. He appeared at the appointed

​​​​​​​You know how everyone’s always saying seize the moment?I don’t know…I kind of think it's the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes usBoyhood (2014)Living in 21st century basically means living in a world that pressures you to pursue extreme efficiency. As a Korean high schooler,

I have lived in South Korea for a total of nearly 20 years. In that span of time I have seen many changes occur here; both physically and culturally. I have experienced the best of Korea’s long and rich culture and occasionally the dark side of a supposedly homogeneous society; one that at times shu

It was seven months ago. On one of these crisp autumn days, I found out I was admitted to Ewha Womans University. I remember letting out a scream of joy—my mind was just filled with excitement and eagerness to start a new adventure, to enter into a new chapter of my life. Little did I know that I wo

I am staying in Sydney on my half-year study leave, which used to be called “sabbatical”. The notion of staying idle on sabbatical is from a bygone era. Relieved of teaching this semester, I have been doing research and recharging myself for the coming semesters. When people ask me what I am doing h

It is hard to answer. Then, how about this question, ‘who do you think you are’? Please don’t answer like “My name is ~” or “I am living in ~”. Answer the question that I asked in the way who you’re as you think yourself. Though people are asked to answer in that way, most people, if not all, are pr

Five years ago, when I first came to work at Ewha, most of what I knew about Korea was from books. I was born in the United States to Korean immigrant parents and had never lived in Korea before long-term. When I told my grandfather that I had been hired to teach courses on Korean society, he found

For me, this semester is an exceptional experience in personal as well as professional respect. I decided to come to EWHA, because this is particularly valuable to broaden my cultural horizon, that means to dive in the Korean traditions, way of living and the academic system. As our universities hav

No matter with whom we talk these days, we are bound to talk about COVID-19, aka the coronavirus. It’s on the news, it’s in our conversation, it’s constantly on our minds. Although the situation is starting to get better in South Korea, the crisis is still very serious in many Western countries. The

What do you see on the road when you drive from Gyeonggi-do to Seoul? A sign that says “Welcome to Seoul,” of course. What do you see when you walk onto the Ewha campus? A sign that says, “Please refrain from unauthorized entry,” plus a bunch of icons with big red lines drawn over them.I don’t know

Are you living the life you dreamed of?Everyone has at least a vague feeling or image of how they want to live. This is what you may call a “dream.” This dream may be something from succeeding in a diet, to what you want to achieve in your future career. Usually, we assume this dream to come true la

A television series named ‘I Live Alone’ aimed to broadcast common interests among those who live alone. It gained huge popularity amongst oneperson households.Recently, the number of people living alone increased drastically and is expected to grow. The companies are trying to figure out the causes

If someone asks my favorite word, I would answer ‘Valiant’ without any hesitation. Being ‘valiant’ means to act with bravery or boldness when things are difficult and the situation gives no cause for hope. Curiously, the meaning of this brief word has worked as a strong driving force for me to get b

What is the status of U.S. diplomacy toward North Korea? The problem with the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore was that it did not achieve sufficient denuclearization commitments to empower working-level implementation. The problem with the Hanoi summit was that it failed to realize sanctions relief an

‘How many likes will I get this time?’ I would ask myself every time I post my drawing on Instagram. It has been about one year since I actively used Instagram as a platform to share my art. However, this question, which captured and stressed me out all along, never failed to make me feel uneasy abo