‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet’Rudyard KiplingOn first arriving here in Korea five years ago, that old adage of Rudyard Kipling’s seemed to have a certain ring of truth about it: everything in the East, at least in regards to Korea, seemed to run contrary to the western mores I was so accustomed to in Ireland and elsewhere. The language barrier was the first obvious obstacle to confront the innocent abroad, but there were other traits that ran contrary to my own thinking. For one thing, the squatting on the floor of a restaurant over dinner or the fact that
Well, not really, but the guy sitting next to me was from that state. If truth be told, I detest KFC in much the same way as I despise McDonald’s. Fast food chains are right up there with Wal-Mart and Exxon as symptoms of what's wrong with this planet, corporate giants who exploit their workers, customers, and the earth’s natural resources in the name of commercial gain. However, I’m not going to get into a diatribe on the evils of capitalism here. No, instead I’d rather turn to an altogether more pleasant topic, baseball, beer, and BBQ.Over the summer months, after several seasons of trying a
I love hearing about success stories. How did Richard Branson earn his first million? How did Steven Spielberg come to make movies? How did the Beatles first meet? We can’t all be as successful as the likes of them, of course, but no matter what our interests, hopes, and dreams are, we can all gain inspiration from not just the successes of others, but also from the mistakes they learnt from and the set-backs that didn’t set them back.It’s hard to believe it’s only been ten years since the first Harry Potter book was published. From obscurity and financial insecurity to a fortune eclipsing the
My decision had been made. It was the late, crisp autumn of 2001. Two heavy suitcases glared at me from the dim light of the hallway. The tags attached to them, small white pockets of truth set against an apathetic dark mass, contained the following inscription: STEPHEN McGUCKIN; DESTINATION: SOUTH KOREA.These very words filled me with an uncanny feeling of excitement and fear, a feeling best described as the sensation of some unseen anchor tugging firmly upon the sinews of my heart, making breathing a slow, labored process. Indeed, my decision had been made. Deep breath. For the next year, my
On March 22, the 3C (Campus-wide Communication Culture) campaign started. This campaign has the goals to improve the feeling of belonging to the community, increase communication between students and the university, and increase studying efficiency. Keimyung University began this campaign with several open spaces on campus, mutual understanding among the Keimyung family, and activities for the student community.The university wants students to communicate, so the university made communication spaces in some colleges’ lobbies. We checked the campaign’s progress and if the campaign has been effe
End of the World Predicted at Meditation LectureOn April 19, a lecture organized by the meditation group Brahma Kumaris (BK) was held on the second floor of Bauer Hall. The lecture, entitled "From the Inside Out - A Silent Revolution,” was conducted by Australian BK member Lee James and translated into Korean by fellow BK member Professor Ryu Jeong-hee from the Graduate School of Interpretation and Translation, who also organized and promoted the event. Mr. James was visiting Korea on a tourist visa when he gave the lecture.In the email invitation sent to Korean professors, Mr. James was descr
As society has developed, many people complain of a feeling of alienation and a loss of a sense of identity. Furthermore, it increases the poor in spirit. At this point, what should we do? We can solve it by having volunteer activities. It makes a better society by sharing love with each other. The culture of giving is spreading all over the world. More and more people are donating their time to serve as volunteers. However, there also are students who haven’t volunteered. They say, “I really want to but I have no time,” “I don’t know what I should do,” and “It looks difficult.” Although you m
Editorial note: This lecture, organized and sponsored by the Keimyung Graduate School of Early Childhood Education and the Daegu & Gyeongbuk Division of Korean Society for Early Childhood Education, was given by Dr. Daniel J. Walsh (Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on Oct. 23 at Hengso Museum. The Gazette carries the lecture in three parts.The Language of the Simple Things of LifeThe philosopher Richard Rorty (1989) once asked the eloquently simple question, “Who are we?” When he asked this question, he was referring to countries in Europe during the World