Ear Connections

Thanksgiving Dinner @ Uncle John's 11.22.18 Today is Thanksgiving, day of giving thanks. I'm not sure how I feel about Thanksgiving (maybe a B tier holiday for me), but I do have quite a few Thanksgiving stories I've amassed over the years since I've been back in the US.  For some reason Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle John's, featuring Dr. Samuel (photo below), from four years ago was the first memory of Thanksgiving that came to mind. Uncle John (photo above) is not actually anybody's uncle (or at least, definitely not mine). His name is Hyukman Kwon (권혁만), and he and his wife Maria are proud residents of Palisades Park, New Jersey (for over twenty years now). As with all connections, the way my family met Uncle John was through my grandparents. My paternal grandparents met Uncle John at a church in Seoul (명동성당), and my parents reached out to him when we moved to New Jersey. In Korean, we call Uncle John 요한아저씨, which almost literally means Mr. John — John comes f...

This is a momentous event in the history of mankind. Shine Kyuho Lee is starting a blog. Cue thunderous applause and trumpet celebrations.  The way I made this blog was simpler than I could have imagined. I just made a Blogger account and created a new blog. The original name of the blog was going to be One Piece by Day , because this blog was meant to be a space for me to store my thoughts and ideas — a piece of myself — a day. I've actually always wanted to try blogging ever since I read Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half , a graphic blog later turned into a book. Maybe these pictures look familiar: But I ended up choosing In the Middle of a Name  because I can already see myself falling off and not posting every day. I'd be trying to make a promise I can't keep, and there's nothing worse than a guy who makes promises he can't keep (coming from somewhere who has never showed up to an appointment on time).  In the Middle of a Name  captures the way I often feel...