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bernard Rowan

Thinking about Gaza

I studied at the University of Chicago and took a course on comparative politics. David Laitin, now at Stanford, noted the purpose of political science in the 20th century was to understand how the monstrosity of Nazi Germany arose. This concerned the international war and the domestic context for Nazism’s origins and existence.

2023-11-26 16:35

Korean ethnocentrism and Ihn

For the longest time, I’ve considered the idea of adoption and its wonder. In particular, I think about how “outsiders” become “insiders” through adoption. Adoptions happen for many reasons. It can occur necessarily or accidentally or neither. Many movies in one way or another tell the story of someone who experiences adoption by a culture or social institution in particular. The form of adoption may vary. Humanity uses adoption to exceed its normal or particular boundaries, usually for the better. Adoption may set a precedent more widely practiced by others.

2023-11-09 16:35

Northern lights and Korea

This month I visited Iceland for the first time. It's a wonderful place of varied cultures, including the Vikings, and marvelous for viewing nature’s beauty and grandeur across the seasons. My wife and I tasted delicious seafood, lamb and other things. We enjoyed a dip in the Blue Lagoon and another geothermal spa. The people are uniformly welcoming and tolerant of lost foreigners. My wife and I rode horses there. We thought about life, our love and family, and the future.

2023-10-29 16:45

Freedom and fatigue

Democracy isn’t a simpler way of government. Compared with authoritarian and autocratic forms, it's more demanding. There will be fatigue. This is dangerous since democracy needs an engine of innovation and change as well. It's also dangerous since the forces of reaction and anti-freedom look for democracy’s underbelly through fatigue. The polarization between what I term the Alliances for Freedom and Autocracy wants further scrutiny.

2023-10-15 16:35

Autumn is coming!

As we enter the latter half of September, I hope fall is coming soon to Korea. I remember my visits and sabbatical there and the lovely season. The Northern Hemisphere continues to devolve into a subtropical zone, absent climate policies on a global scale. Fall remains a welcome respite from the tumult of weather crises in late summer. In all of that, I'm thinking of dried persimmons, apples, Yangsuri, and Bulguk Temple.

2023-09-17 16:35

The pivot continues

Back in the Barack Obama era, the phrase “pivot to Asia” began to find currency. Washington's elite, and a good many of the non-elite, recognized the rise of China and her growing assertiveness in the Asian region

2023-09-04 16:35

K-pop and fandom

The Korean wave or hallyu is a deepening trend in Korean civilization. Korean performers on television and in music lead the wave. Recently, I've learned about various kinds of idolizing and obsessive fans: “sasaeng” fans, anti-fans and “stan” fans. I also found Koreaboo.com's explanation of K-pop fan types from “pyramids” to “liquid types.” I've honestly never seen the breadth and depth of self-identification and complexity that characterizes present-day fandom around K-pop. Now that I'm older, it strikes me all as a bit silly, until I remember my own youthful fandom.

2023-08-20 16:35

For the late Mr. Moonbin

The other day while watching YouTube on my TV, I saw videos of some K-pop stars. Among them were several of the late Moonbin, and Sanha, dressed in purple and dancing to a song that seems popular recently.

2023-08-07 16:35

The wonder of self-publishing

Recently, I completed work on a short biography of my maternal grandfather, Louis David Socey, Sr. My mother, Mary Anne Socey Rowan, wrote the book in honor of his life. Daddy Lou, as we grandchildren called him, was a self-made lawyer. He left home younger than an adult to join the U.S. Calvary. He went on to be an early member of the Fingerprinting Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Later he was an agent and Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He served in many places throughout the United States. He chased Pretty Boy Floyd and other crimina...

2023-07-23 16:35

A leader for Korean democracy

Democracy is hard work, all the time. When colonists came to America, many sought a New Jerusalem, a beachhead on the third rock from the Sun against monarchical ambition, religious warfare and discrimination and servitude.

2023-07-10 16:35

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