so, i have been in the midst of holiday shopping for a few weeks now. i like giving lots of fitting gifts, including jewelry, housewares, and most importantly, books. this year, i found a series of really interesting self-experimental books. the one i'm most interested in buying for myself is keri smith's how to be an explorer of the world: portable life museum. keri smith has made a lot of wild, amazing books, such as the following:
wreck this journal
living out loud
mess: the manual of accidents and mistakes
basically, these are books that take an atypical approach to "books." so awesome. her books seem to encourage people to take an inquiry stance on life and on normative notions of how to live (and how to read/interact with books).
the introduction of mess states, "warning: do not try to make something beautiful. do not throw this book out when you dislike a page. do not play it safe. do not worry about legibility. do have fun. do get dirty. do try something you've never tried before." i'm pretty sure that's life advice disguising itself as book advice. in other words, life is the most important text... something like that.
anyway, i'm tempted to get myself how to be an explorer of the world for the holidays. it's a research/fieldwork workbook on life. one of the book's "rules" is to "start with whatever makes you feel a twinge of excitement." that makes me excited.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
books i want to read
about midway into every semester, swamped with work, i get the "what else is out there" itch. despite that i've got so much reading to do, i can't help but peak at things not related to my immediate coursework or research. i end up taking breaks from homework to indulge in some amazon window shopping, scoping out interesting texts, reading introductions and first chapters, and longing for more. here are some books that have caught my interest this month (mostly having to do with north korean life, as told by north korean refugees and their allies):
escaping north korea: defiance and hope in the world's most repressive country by mike kim
this book is written by a korean american who has helped to operate the north korean underground railroad (maybe there is more than one...), which stretches from pyong yang all the way to thailand and helps north korean refugees escape north korea through china and make their way to relative safety. kim also documents the lives of north korean refugees living in china, as well as the torture, human trafficking, and famine that has and continues to plague those living in and escaping north korea.
nothing to envy: ordinary lives in north korea by barbara demick
this book is written by an NYT writer who has spent many years living and working in south korea, china, israel, and other countries. she documents the lives of six north korean "defectors," but writes in a beautiful narrative style (i def checked out the first 20-30 pgs on amazon... so good) that fuses the everyday human experience with the historical and political contexts of north korea to kind of show the peculiarly nuanced ways that the ideologies of the dictatorship infiltrate every aspect of daily life and identity, including people's ability to trust their own judgment, act on their natural feelings (such as love), and build close relationships with community and family members.
this is paradise!: my north korean childhood by hyok kang and philippe grangereau
this book is about hyok kang, who was born in north korea and lived there until age 13 (in 1998), when he and his family escaped to south korea. he writes about his and his family's experiences, about the famine that wiped out most of his classmates, and about the disappearances and executions of community members that he and his family witnessed. this might be the most important book of the three, since it is written by a north korean "defector" about his own life. i can't help but notice that i'm the same age as kang... that he has lived lifetimes and had experienced things at 13 that i couldn't have imagined.
in case you're interested, all three books are available at the penn library. i kind of want to pick up kang's book myself, but i've got school reading to do! i'll save these for december.
escaping north korea: defiance and hope in the world's most repressive country by mike kim
this book is written by a korean american who has helped to operate the north korean underground railroad (maybe there is more than one...), which stretches from pyong yang all the way to thailand and helps north korean refugees escape north korea through china and make their way to relative safety. kim also documents the lives of north korean refugees living in china, as well as the torture, human trafficking, and famine that has and continues to plague those living in and escaping north korea.
nothing to envy: ordinary lives in north korea by barbara demick
this book is written by an NYT writer who has spent many years living and working in south korea, china, israel, and other countries. she documents the lives of six north korean "defectors," but writes in a beautiful narrative style (i def checked out the first 20-30 pgs on amazon... so good) that fuses the everyday human experience with the historical and political contexts of north korea to kind of show the peculiarly nuanced ways that the ideologies of the dictatorship infiltrate every aspect of daily life and identity, including people's ability to trust their own judgment, act on their natural feelings (such as love), and build close relationships with community and family members.
this is paradise!: my north korean childhood by hyok kang and philippe grangereau
this book is about hyok kang, who was born in north korea and lived there until age 13 (in 1998), when he and his family escaped to south korea. he writes about his and his family's experiences, about the famine that wiped out most of his classmates, and about the disappearances and executions of community members that he and his family witnessed. this might be the most important book of the three, since it is written by a north korean "defector" about his own life. i can't help but notice that i'm the same age as kang... that he has lived lifetimes and had experienced things at 13 that i couldn't have imagined.
in case you're interested, all three books are available at the penn library. i kind of want to pick up kang's book myself, but i've got school reading to do! i'll save these for december.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
GSEcret
last year, with a group of GSE students, i participated in a project called GSEcret. the goal was to get GSE's staff, students, and faculty talking about issues of race and racism in the academy. GSE folks were asked to submit anonymous postcards regarding their experiences with race and racism; these postcards were presented as an exhibit in the spring, and we gave some workshops around them to help keep conversations going.
starting last week and over the next year, GSEcret is going to be posting a postcard per week on its blog: penngsecret.blogspot.com/. the GSEcret project encourages everyone (both GSE folks and non-GSE folks) to use the comments section on the blog to take up, question, comment on, etc the issues that come up in these postcards.
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