We Present

03/11/2020

First love getting younger; positive or negative outcome?

We've all seen it in the movies, the scene in which the man runs up to the woman saying that she is his first love and that he will always love her. The scene always seem to end with happy tears or a romantic kiss.
The word 'first love' evokes various emotions to many people. Some people end up happily ever after with their first love, but in most cases, first loves tend to fail. Either way, just by thinking of their first love, people go back in time, recovering distant memories. It is needless to say that first love has a very special meaning for everyone.
However, some people question what 'first love' really is. Is it someone who taught you what love is for the first time? Is it your first crush? Is it your first boyfriend? From first date to first kiss, everyone tends to have different standards on what or who their first love is.
The definition for 'first love' gets more complicated every day, as the average age of teenagers' first relationship is getting younger and younger. Even elementary school children have experience of being in a relationship, and by the time teens turn 16, it is hard to find a teen who has never gone out on a date before.
Although there are some teenage relationships that last long and are considered serious, most of these younger relationships are often carefree. Teenagers who are less experienced but free from burden of having to get married soon jump into relationships more easily in comparison to adults. This may be the merit of teenage relationship, but it can also be problematic.
First, teenagers are supposed to be focusing on their school work and preparation for their future. Not all, but most teens get distracted when they date. Moreover, a lot of people find it hard to concentrate on something or even socialize when they go through a harsh breakup. Some people say that adolescents who have sensitive emotions should not be exposed to such dramatic emotions.
Secondly, teenagers do not have the ability to take responsibility of their own actions. Being in a relations puts people in a position where they have to spend a lot more money than they usually would. A date or gifts for the partner costs money. Although adults can earn the money themselves and deserve to use their money for whatever purpose they want, students have no way of making money. So many of them use their parents' money or even try to earn money in an illegal way.
The positive vibe that love can not be ignored, and teenagers have every right to date who they like. However it is important to not jump into emotionally draining relationships too easily, and be careful not to spend too much money.

02/11/2020

Tyranny pt. 1

Hello, it’s me again Willow Ryoo! Today I’m going to teach you all a bit about history. Not just any history, of course (as history is a subject I do relatively poorly on), but the history of a certain aspect of modern capitalism; the minimum wage.
Introduced towards the end of the 18th century, the minimum wage as a concept was intended to give even workers at even small restaurants a chance to raise a family on their own but is now just enough to survive, or even less. But I digress slightly.
Capitalism is undoubtedly a superior economic system for fast, short term economical growth for the privileged. In fact, productivity has risen to over 240% on average in only America, and the worth of all items and money has gone up. For each 40-hour work week, this means that a corporation is making 56 hours of extra profits. But if you adjust for inflation, the minimum wage has gone down in America since 1968. This might sound crazy, where would all the extra money be going?
Well let me give you an extra bit of information that might answer your curiosity: in America, the price of housing is threefold what it once was, and the wages of an average CEO has gone up by OVER 900% since the late 1970s.
You see, a common misconception is that capitalism is a system where work is compensated. That would be socialism (which I will explain a bit more about in a later installation). The existence of a free market isn’t capitalist either, free markets exist in most economic systems, save for controlled economies. Capitalism is simply a system where pre-owned capital is compensated with more capital. The one single goal of capitalism is to make the rich richer.
Modern day capitalism is quite literally wage slavery, yet the same people being exploited by capitalists say that capitalism is the best economical system. I hope this post has gotten you thinking about what really is the best, because no one in the world deserves to earn 50,000 more than others.

-Willow Ryoo

02/11/2020

Corruption Rising Up the Surface; What Are the Roles of a Civic Group?
Written by Seojin Lee

A civic group is an organization that provides services to its community. It is operated exclusively for educational and charitable purposes, meaning its net earnings should be devoted to charitable, educational, recreational or social welfare purposes. We perceive that this definition is what civic groups are, and decide to contribute to the groups with this perception in mind. The money we donate to the ones publicized who are in need is donated because we believe it will actually be used for them. This is our status quo. Civic groups in return should give us verification of this presumption deemed to be true so that we would gladly trust them. The cases of the ‘House of Sharing’ and the ‘Korean Council,’ however, were embroiled in controversy.
Kim Dae-won and six other staffers accused the ‘House of Sharing’ for mistreating the survivors of the Japanese military’s wartime s*xual slavery and mishandling donations. The whistleblowers stated that the house is not a professional elderly care facility, but merely a free nursing home run by donations with no welfare. Two people hired by the ‘House of Sharing’ were accused to have been monopolizing the managing of the organization for the past 20 years, making the victims’ pay expenses out of their own pocketbooks. Having some 6 billion won in donations and 7 billion won in assets and real estate, the two would have used the donations for the Jogye Order of Korea Buddhism’s elderly care projects instead of the “comfort women” if their misdeeds remained unnoticed. For reference, 8 of the 11 member boards of the ‘House of Sharing’ are Buddhist monks.
The ‘Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan’ also faces various allegations about its finances. In a press conference on May 7, “comfort woman” Lee Yong-soo questioned how the group used to handle donations, saying little was spent for her and the other victims. Surprisingly, a similar suspicion was raised 16 years ago.
On March 13, 2004, a group of 13 “comfort women” including Shim Mi-ja had filed an injunction against the ‘Korean Council’ and the ‘House of Sharing’ with the Seoul Western District Court. They first raised doubts about six women with questionable identities from China, who seemed to have been paid a large sum of money to maintain the weekly Wednesday rallies for panhandling purposes. They secondly requested that the groups would not use their painful past experiences in videos and pamphlets without their permission for profit. Shin Hye-soo and Song Hyun-seob, the head of the ‘Korean Council’ and ‘House of Sharing’ respectively, were accused for the same reason. The victims also raised complaints that they could not receive compensation through the ‘Asian Women’s Fund’ established by Japan due to the civic groups’ opposition. They claimed that the civic group leaders were only aiming for wealth and honor, not helping diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan. Their suit, however, was dismissed by the court on May 25, 2005, for the reason that the organizations gave more support than violation.
With that now being re-examined, former head of the ‘Korean Council’ Yoon Mee-hyang was accused of accounting fraud by a civic group on May 11 and is being probed. Yoon faced accusations of conducting a comparably overpriced 750-million-won purchase of a two-story house in Anseong in 2013 for a center to the victims, moreover reselling the house for 420 million won a year after. Accusations about how Yoon managed to purchase her apartment in Suwon were also raised, as she had bought the house with cash around 200 million won in auction. Yoon explained that the house in Anseong was an alternative for property in Mapo and cost more expenses due to construction fees. Yoon also said that she had sold her previous apartment to purchase the one in Suwon. However, it turned out that Yoon had sold her previous apartment in January 2013, after her purchase in 2012. Nevertheless, Yoon made clear that she has no intention of stepping down as a lawmaker-elect, as she was elected a proportional representative of the Citizen Party.
The ‘House of Sharing’ and the ‘Korean Council’ hadn’t come up to our expectations. A civic group is required tangible activities that would prove their expenses to receive a big deal of donations. The transparency of a civic group’s finances improves the group’s social image and as a result, lets the society gain affirmative enhancements. These two groups did not fully share how they managed their donations. What’s more, they used the donations for purposes other than the ones they had promised – the sources of their expenditure wasn’t added; areas changed entirely. The groups are deemed to have deceived our faith, and therefore face wrath towards them. The ‘House of Sharing’ and ‘Korean Council’ aren’t the only groups with issues though.
For instance, during an earthquake relief activity in Haiti in 2011, members of ‘Oxfam’ had required the local s*xual relations for money and aid. This brutal s*x trafficking scandal erupted in 2018. The problem does not exist in only a few groups. There are statistics stating that about 2000 s*xual abuse and exploitation were made for 12 years in the UN during aid. Problematic activists consist only a minority of all groups, but lead to a decline in the credibility of organizations. ‘Oxfam’ had faced about 7000 sponsors canceling their regular donations in just 10 days after its scandal. This makes groups tend to hide corruption. This is a vicious cycle. Although the dark aspects of all kinds of corruption are sadly prevalent among most of the civic groups, disclosure of these may become a steppingstone to establishing proper guidelines. Probes of ‘Oxfam’ had led to significant progress in the ethics guidelines and system reorganization.
I therefore conclude that we would also make adjustments of current policies toward civic groups. Policies about the transparency of groups and moral principles groups should follow should be properly established. News about mishandling donations for the “comfort women” is enough. Citizens should be concerned about how civil groups actually work. Civil organizations should feel responsible for their identity and promises and fulfill the duties of the status quo. The nation should spare no effort in managing civic groups. This is a task that everyone should take to eliminate the corruptions that have been revealed belatedly.

02/11/2020

Trump’s race bating campaign will fail
Written by Jiwoo Kang

Now days in USA, racial campaign raise that is economic crisis from unemployment one of the largest social justice movements in US. In US, regularly occur racist protests take place. Also, many citizen participated and lots of sports team have staged a historic strike because of racism. Probably George Floyd’s incident will one of the largest movement in US history. Actually, Trump’s purpose is to promote Black’s low-income housing and housing desegregation in suburbs. Also, he abolished Obama-era rules because he want draw White voters. Even, vice-president candidate from the Democratic Party blamed him for ignoring citizens although COVID-19 are around. People demanded that Black also to be treated as humans, but the White House didn’t solve this problem typical tens of millions of unemployed and racial injustice crisis so people think Trump’s campaign pledges will fail.
The article said Trump’s race-baiting campaign will fail. Also, the previous issue regarding George Floyd’s death is race discrimination. George Floyd is a black man, while the police was a white man. Their difference was only skin color, because of that George Floyd was dead. I think the white should be blamed for every part of issue. If that issue occurs in Korea, white people would have gotten big punishment. In USA, even the president discriminates against black people. I want to know why Trump likes racial discrimination. Trump’s policy was different with my opinion. I think president should accept all the people who are in that country for national development. Like this I expects Trump didn’t have many supporters in upcoming general election so he try to implement many policies. Also, I wonder whether citizens follow his policy if Trump governs like that, I would not follow his policy because of his racial discrimination. In other article said California passed the first law to consider reparations for slavery. Also, Newsom acknowledged that Black Californian’s and people of color in the state face “discrimination and disadvantages”. The idea of reparation for slavery has been in and out of political conversations since the end of the Civil War but none of us take responsible who living current. I agree that saying California passed the first law to consider reparation for slavery, so I think Trump should change his mind for his country development.
Through this incident, I became interested in anti-racism organizations and I hope that even if Trump is elected again in this general election, he would abolish the apartheid policy. I made a pledge once again, not to look at black man from a strange perspective even if I happened to meet him on the street.

02/11/2020

For Women’s History Month, a look at gender gains – and gaps – in the U.S.
Written by Soeun Jeon

Over the preceding half-century, women have strengthened their position in the labor force and expanded their economic standing by advancing into more lucrative works. But their location of industry in some fields have recently decreased, and gender gaps last among leading members in government and companies.

Women have made an immense achievement in the labor force, and the main reason is an educational achievement. Among adults ages 25 to 64, women are now more likely than men to have a four-year college degree. However, the rise declined. Predictions from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the share of women in the labor force will remain less than half in the next few decades.

Women’s role as family breadwinners has skyrocketed in the preceding few decades. Despite this increase in women’s financial supports, many adults still think that the ability to support a family financially is important for men, while only a few of them find it important for women.

Working-age women’s participation in the labor force had been increasing, and one of the reasons that led to this increase is the share of mothers in the workforce. However, the growth started to cease in 2000, and the rate remained stable.

Due to the progress in women’s participation in more lucrative businesses such as managerial positions, the wages for women increased and the gender pay gap narrowed. Still, women’s earnings lag those of men’s. Also, 25% of female workers say that they have earned less than a male worker who does the same job, compared with 5% of male workers who say they have earned less than female workers.

Women still lag among leading members in business and government. There are only 20% of female members in members of Congress and about a quarter of state parliament members. Many say that higher standards and responsibility to prove themselves are acquired to women more than men. Also, working women are more likely to face gender discrimination than working men do.

Public opinion is divided over the issue of gender equality. There are various opinions about whether society has achieved enough gender equality and whether the efforts on this front have been right. Although men and women have different views about the progress that the country has made, various opinions should be taken into account for narrowing the gender gap.

Reading this article reminded me of , a book I have read before. In the book, the Main character Jiyeong perceives that there are countless gender issues that our society was getting through, and she and her surrounding people undergo some of them. They all try to take their rights and freedoms which should have always been theirs- back, but most of the time they fail to gain what they wanted and be forced to give upshot they have. Her colleague quits being a chief in the company, feeling that the heads of the company prefer men workers than her and there will not be any more promotion for her. Jiyeong loves her work and wants to keep her job, but it was she who should retire and care for the baby, not her husband. Despite these situations, there are still a lot of people who have prejudices related to gender and there are countless gender discriminations that are happening today. The first time I read this book, I realized that the gender gap remains in the company, and some of then may take a toll on my works in the future. I sincerely hoped that gender discrimination be eliminated as soon as possible, and our world gets closer to equal society.

02/11/2020

Even A Worm Will Turn
Written by Seoyeon Son

What are we all studying for? Why are we working our asses off, depriving ourselves from sleep, skipping meals just to get this tiny detail on the presentation right, and think time for ourselves is wasteful? People say doing what you love to do is the right choice, but I doubt the kids in school will actually say they “like” to study. So what are we working for— what is the invisible, vague goal at the endless marathon of life?

Maybe it’s because you want to make a change in the world. You study hard, go to a good school, elevate your social status, all that typical “elite” course. You could be so passionate about your urge to change the world that you think all this hard work is a necessity. I certainly thought so too. I always thought the only ones capable of actually influencing the world are the ones sitting on high chairs, that the workers were only a step of making all of this come true.

I watched a movie today that inspired me in a way I never thought it would before. The movie was called “Samjin Company TOEIC English Group”, and it was a great movie to watch— humor, emotion, good storyline, all that. But this isn’t the point. The point was that it showed how a bunch of “nobodies” managed to bring about change in one of the biggest companies there is.

Our society has a pyramid of social classes. There are few, but extremely powerful executives who have dominant power over the people on the lower parts of the pyramid, the ones who have to obey despite of their personal or even universal beliefs just to maintain their jobs and support their loved ones, including themselves. When people manage to make their way up to the top, their past as a worker immediately vanishes. Suddenly, their initial goal of making the world into a better place disappears and their greed is the most urgent matter of all, and it doesn’t matter who and what is sacrificed during the process to fulfill that extravagant need. The people on the relatively lower part of the pyramid, however, still grasp onto the need of society. They still remember the whole reason they started to work in the first place— to benefit somebody in a better way. But we endure all the inequality, mistreatment, and insults to climb up the high mountain, the peak of social status, to “change the world”.

The funny thing about a pyramid is that, the lower bottom is the most essential part. It is the part that keeps the whole structure sturdy, and it takes up most of the part. The reason why individuals on the lower side of the pyramid have less power as individuals compared to the people is because although there is an equivalent amount of power on each stage, there are more people to distribute to. In other words, if people actually cooperated with each other, there would be more than enough power to throw off the unjustifiable authority of the minor, privileged people.

We’re so used to living in a competition based society that we think other people who are at the similar status with me are competitors and not companions. Funny, thinking how they both start with ‘com-‘ which derived from the Latin word meaning ‘joint, mutual’ but take on a very different approach on ‘how’. If we managed to turn our heads to the right a little, we would see the person standing beside me is another way we could head towards our goal. And if that turning-of-head act goes on and on, we could eventually gather enough power to throw off injustice in the capitalistic society where we think our superiors are some sort of dictators.

We say to go for what you want to do. A lot of us want this world to be a better place, and a lot are working HARD to do so. But why wait for what you want to do? It is nonsense to say ‘because I don’t have enough power’. This kind of thinking means you don’t really want good for the world, you want good for yourself. Gather people of the same mindset, and work together to achieve want you want. Get rid of gender pay gaps. Get rid of racial discrimination and police brutality. Get rid of excessive government interventions and claim your rightful freedom. Don’t take all the ignorance and hurtful insults in. Don’t endure all the unfairness in the world under the pathetic excuse that ‘this is all part of the process’. No one should have to go through that prejudice and injustice. Lead the society to go for what you, not your parents, not your school, not your friends, not any external factors around you, but you want and make the world into a better place even by the tiniest bit. Because going for what you truly want, regardless of wealth or social status, is what I would call a nice world.

11/09/2020

Deviation from the binaries: What is non-binary? Part 3: Different non-binary people.

There are many ways to be a girl. You can be a trans girl or a cis girl, a masculine girl or a feminine girl. Similarly, there are many different types of non-binary people, non-binary is simply an umbrella term used to describe any gender that isn’t boy or girl.
The first one I will talk about is demigender. Demigender people are either demigirls or demiboys. They are people who don’t fully identify as either binary gender, but partially identify as one gender. Most use non-binary pronouns, as well as she/her or he/him.
The next one I will talk about is genderfluid. Everyone’s gender is technically fluid and susceptible to change, but gender fluid people’s gender changes frequently. Sometimes they’re a girl, sometimes they’re a boy, and sometimes they’re neither! It’s a good idea to ask them which pronoun they want at the moment, or just always use singular non-binary pronouns to describe them.
Just like aromantic people who don’t experience romantic attraction and as*xual people who don’t experience s*xual attraction, the “a-“ suffix, meaning lack of something, is also used with gender. Agender people don’t identify as any gender and are genderless. They will usually always prefer non-binary pronouns.
The last gender I combared to aromantic and as*xual people; this gender I’ll compare to biromantic and bis*xual people. Bigender people identify as both a girl and a boy simultaneously. Some use non-binary pronouns, others use all pronouns! It’s always a good idea to ask someone their preferred pronoun first.
Xenogenders also exist. Xenogender people don’t identify as any other gender, but don’t feel agender either. Usually autistic, identifying as xenogender is thought to come from a disconnection between the body and mind, which most transgender people already experience. It’s another gender just as valid as yours and should be respected.
I’ve talked a lot about non-binary pronouns. The most common non-binary pronoun used in English is singular they/their/them. If you didn’t know already, they/their/them has been a pronoun used for both singular and plural people since shakespearean English and is grammatically correct to use. Some other pronouns used by some non-binary people are ey/eir/em and xe/xeir/xem. Other pronouns also exist, and you should always respect the identities of others.
“IT” IS NOT A NON-BINARY PRONOUN YOU CAN USE FOR A HUMAN, AND IT IS TRANSPHOBIC TO DEGRADE ANYONE NOT CIS BY CALLING THEM LESS THAN HUMAN.
Non-binary people of all types are also under no obligation to adhere to traditional gender presentation, just like the rest of us. Everyone can present as masculine, feminine, or as androgynous as they like.
Most of you reading this probably don’t understand everything I’m explaining. That’s ok. Most of you are cisgender, and I don’t expect you to fully grasp the concept of not identifying to your assigned gender at birth. But that doesn’t mean other people also never not identify as their assigned gender at birth. And if you ever meet a non-binary person, it’s important to see them as a fellow human with equal rights and respect them. I’m telling you this because the South Korean educational curriculum has the wrong priorities in order and doesn’t explain any of this during s*x education. I believe everyone should know that non-binary people exist, that you might meet one someday, and how to respect the gender identity and gender presentation of non-binary people.

By Willow Ryoo

01/09/2020

Deviation from the binaries: What is non-binary? Part 2: You could be non-binary too!

Last time I have explained and proven that gender isn’t binary and, thus, there are deviations from the two most common genders, boy and girl. Today I will be discussing more about who non-binary people are, instead of proving and validating their existence like last time.
All non-binary people are transgender. This is because even inters*x people are categorized into either male or female at birth judging by their ge***alia and some are forced to go through non-consensual ge***al mutilation at birth just so doctors can categorize their gender. So being non-binary would mean that you are a different gender than what the doctors thought you were at birth, making you transgender.
Like trans people, most non-binary people experience varying levels of gender dysphoria. Like trans people, some non-binary people don’t experience any gender dysphoria at all. What makes you non-binary isn’t your ge***als, chromosomes, or dysphoria. Even if your current perceived gender doesn’t make you sad, if you think your life would be happier identifying as a non-binary gender, that makes you non-binary!
Let’s compare gender to a cake at a party (yum, yum)! There is chocolate cake, and there is strawberry cake. But there are also less popular flavors, like pistachio or green tea cake. Someone at the party hands you a plate of chocolate cake. Now, you don’t hate chocolate cake, but your favorite flavor of cake is pistachio and you’re excited to see that it is available, albeit slightly further away. You politely refuse the chocolate cake and head for the pistachio cake. Then you enjoy the cake and the party!
When eating cake, you choose the cake that you like the most, not the cake that you don’t hate. This is how gender identity works as well.
Non-binary people usually feel disconnected and uncomfortable with their assigned gender at birth, but also don’t find the idea of identifying as the opposite gender appealing either. They use the pronouns they/them as or xe/xyr or more, as opposed to she/her or he/him. If they have gender dysphoria the fact that their body has certain features deemed masculine or feminine, or that their voice pitch is high or low can give them depression that eventually leads to suicidal thoughts if not treated. But this is only a relatively minor problem that non-binary people face, and we’ll talk about the more serious problems next time.
The reason gender dysphoria is a relatively minor problem is because there is a cure for it; transitioning! The mental health of the majority of non-binary people average out similarly to cisgender people (people who are their assigned gender at birth) once they and the people around them are able to see them for who they truly are. Let’s work towards a world where this is an option for most, if not all people.

By willowdrakon, Willow Ryoo

Transitioning is the best way to cure gender dysphoria, source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/

Gender dysphoria is a term that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological s*x and their gender identity.

01/09/2020

Another Step Closer to Human Extinction

We say there is a difference between book-smart and street-smart. Which are humans? Some people may say both-- after all, we did invent machines that practically go against the nature of law. We are building 50-story skyscrapers and machines that take people up to the stratosphere. We established a network that allows us to Skype a friend on the other side of the world in a mere few seconds. At this point, it seems justifiable to say humans are all kinds of smart. But I tend to think in the exact opposite-- humans are not any kind of smart.

The famous book, Silent Spring’ is considered to be the 20th century’s most influential book in the environmental industry. This book explains about the excessive human use of DDT, which is one of the most frequently used pesticides even until today, and its environmental impacts. Needless to say, this book altered my environmental consciousness and the little things we deem to be harmless (or most of the time just ignore). But of course me and my aggressively extensive cogitation led me to think about another considerable factor.

The warning of the misuse of pesticides made me think about the correlation between human development and the environment. This is actually something we are currently learning about in school, which is probably why it popped into my head in the first place. It is inevitable that nature gets a little harmed on the way to human flourishing. But how much of damage is considered to be justifiable? Which of the two should be prioritized, human prosperity or Mother Nature?

Of course, the best would be to meet the two halfway. This looks like a simple answer to come up with, considering the fact that I came up with this in literally two seconds. But if an average student such as I could come up with this simple formula, why can’t the big shots who are actually influential and have power in the global society today come up with this? The answer is, they can; they merely decide to ignore it.

The reason why I said humans are no kind of smart is because they can only see what they can see immediately. Sure, money may seem to be the only value and nature is someone else’s problem, hopefully the future generation’s. To the capitalists right now, nature is only a tool that will lead them to the road of success. The majesty of nature holds infinite possibilities, which is compelling to the people. It is just so majestic that it blinds the people of moral values and responsibilities toward the environment and makes people focus only on the wealth it may bring them.

So once they have achieved their fame, it only seems sensible that they will finally regain sanity and work to recover for the damage they have caused. But as the foolish beings we are, our needs are never satisfied. Once the people have clarified nature does indeed bring them money, people only explore more ways to exploit nature. During that process, the pollution caused is accelerated more than ever. Most people think of only global warming to be a problem, which may be true, but is considered to be controversial in my last post. But there are so many other environmental problems caused by human activities, especially corporates. Wastewater is sent to bodies of water without being purified which is basically like mass genocide to the ecosystem in the water. The elimination of habitats such as deforestation are being executed for hamburgers. Hamburgers. Really? Does a Big Mac really have that much value to cruelly wipe out 46% of trees globally? There are ways to exist harmonically with nature, even through the most basic ways of proper water purification and waste management will help significantly. But people are neglecting those not even alternatives, but defined processes for ‘even more money’.

And who do you think those consequences are going to come back to? Everyone, especially those people who are smart enough to conquer over 80% of the world’s wealth should easily know that it is none other than humanity who are going to suffer from the disastrous aftermath. They simply choose to stay ignorant, for their immediate luxury. I am not saying we should all go vegetarian or something, nor am I opposing human development. All I am saying is that demolishing the environment is eventually another way of bringing human extinction closer to reality.

Written by Seoyeon Son