A Cup of Tea

[superdeath]

I'm sorry to hear that. What's the latest wrinkle?

I supposedly have a warrant out for my arrest ( due to coronavirus they arent actively going after people ) But i havent heard ANYTHING via mail/ect about it. Tried calling to find out what it would be for as im not aware of anything ive done that would be deserving of it.. But got told rather rudely over the phone that they wont say why. Tried calling lawyers office and havent gotten a call back for several days now. Would be just perfect to go to jail over something stupid and my job use that as a reason to try and fire me again.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

If anyone is interested, today is May 18th, the 40th anniversary of the May 18th Democratic Uprising here in my home city of Gwangju. 

I'm trying to write a good English language account of the Uprising, and today I published the first part, visible here.

[chumchu]

Well written! Easy to read, funny and engaging. Is it intended for your American history students you talked about before? If so, I think it hits the nail on the head.

If you intend for it to be read by an international audience you might consider the ways in which the article is written from an American perspective and see if you can broaden it. As a Swede it is clearly noticeable. I have a different view of the cold war and the motivations and actions of the United states.

Finally, a reading tip. An American journalist that has written a lot about Korea in general and the Gwangju Massacre especially is Tim Shorrock. I would recommend his work which can be found through the links on his website: http://timshorrock.com/2020/05/17/gwangju-presente/

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Well written! Easy to read, funny and engaging. Is it intended for your American history students you talked about before? If so, I think it hits the nail on the head.

If you intend for it to be read by an international audience you might consider the ways in which the article is written from an American perspective and see if you can broaden it. As a Swede it is clearly noticeable. I have a different view of the cold war and the motivations and actions of the United states.

Finally, a reading tip. An American journalist that has written a lot about Korea in general and the Gwangju Massacre especially is Tim Shorrock. I would recommend his work which can be found through the links on his website: http://timshorrock.com/2020/05/17/gwangju-presente/

Tim Shorrock's work has been indispensable in my own research! He crops up again and again in most of my sources. I spent this evening roaming around the 5.18 Memorial Plaza downtown (which was the heart of the uprising), which today has about a dozen museums surrounding it. In most of the English language sections, Shorrock pops up again. 

Thanks for your kind words on the writing. You're right, it is mostly intended for American audiences, and I have vague ambitions of using it in class in the future. One thing when I do write is that I have a bad habit of dipping between inside-view history (that is, how the participants perceived themselves) and outside-view history (how a historian would view them), without always making my own opinions clear, except when I'm snarking. 

I'd be curious to hear your views on the American-centric bits and how you'd broaden some of it for a more international audience. I live in my own biases and welcome an outside view, and I want the history to be as accessible as possible.

[chumchu]

I guessed you might have read Shorrock =) Whenever I find a good independent journalist I always want to share their work as they are becoming rare these days,.

"I'd be curious to hear your views on the American-centric bits and how you'd broaden some of it for a more international audience. I live in my own biases and welcome an outside view, and I want the history to be as accessible as possible".

That sounds like a fun conversation. I'll send you a PM.

[Alhambram]

If anyone is interested, today is May 18th, the 40th anniversary of the May 18th Democratic Uprising here in my home city of Gwangju. 

I'm trying to write a good English language account of the Uprising, and today I published the first part, visible here.

Very interesting to read! I never knew about Gwangju Uprising, and to state my curiousity I checked Korean history after 1945.
And yikes! I didn't expect so many massarces or brutal police or army crackdowns resulting in many deaths, not only around Korean war but it also kept on for long till 1980's.

It is as what you said in your website, it is inconventient to remember that US ally did murder hunderd civillans from western prespective which deemed Communist Russia and China as bigger danger at that time.
About Korea I did learn at school mostly or basically solely about Korean War which did results in partition between "good democratic" South Korea and "evil and cruel" communist North Korea.

For people in Netherlands Korea is sort of far away and history lessons are mostly eurocentric and South Korea mostly only appears in cold war period.
And Korea War is sometimes referred as "forgotten war", everyone rembemers WOII and Vietnam War but are suprised to learn how bloody Korean War was.
It probably also played a part in that 1945-1949 Netherlands was involved in violent Indonesian War of Indepence which was a bloody armed conflict where both sides committed act of extreme violence or worse.
That period is more imprinted in national memory of Netherlands as important incident shortly after WOII than Korean War.

[thestick]

I have say, Chevalier, I am impressed by your writing, one by how it's a great information/editorial blend in the way dusty history books or clickbait hit pieces aren't, and two, how you're so willing to put your thoughts on the line and throw them to the ravenous hordes of internet vigilantes.

Would it be acceptable to share a few spitball thoughts/responses via PM? Nothing vitriolic, just don't feel like making them public.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

Of course! Like I told chumchu, I am more aware than anyone of my own biases, and I always like to hear outside perspectives.

[Chevalier Mal Fet]

School started in person a few days ago here. Tons of restrictions, naturally - you can't enter the building without a mask, you have to stop and have your temperature taken and recorded by a fancy-ass camera, there are lines in the halls mandating social distance for the students, desks are placed 6 feet apart (good thing we have small classes!), and the lunchroom procedures...man, those are gonna need a whole post of their own.

It's intense, but I really like having live students again. Teaching to a video screen is not why I got into this profession.

[chumchu]

I have read up to part four now CMF, great storytelling. I eagerly await the next installment when you get the time.

I miss having students as well. I have been doing a bit of private tutoring this spring but it is on hiatus due to quarantine.