A Beautiful Death: cover essay by Peter Daszak on Spring Has Gone

Last year, I participated in the art competition at the EcoHealth 2010 Conference. So very gratefully I received the first prize and Spring Has Gone was to be published on the cover of EcoHealth Journal. The publish was delayed for awhile then I kind of forgot to check on it this year.

When I all of a sudden remembered and went back to their site to check, contents were updated and seemed to have been already published. That wasn't the most exciting part yet. When I clicked to read the cover essay by Peter Daszak, A Beautiful Death, then read it, I just sat there for awhile, motionless. It was a quiet and calm, yet very very beautiful and strong writing and very deep thoughts in it.

Most artists make art because they have something to say. Something they are eager to tell others. Something they desire to express. However, it is not easy for artists to meet the audiences who catch what artists wanted to say. And that is OK. That is the beauty of art- numerous way of interpretation. In the mean time, it is even rarer for artists to meet an audience who could interpret and express even much better than what artists did. In that sense, I feel like I am the luckiest artist.

I am very grateful and thankful how beautifully and profoundly Peter Daszak interpreted my art and delivered it through the precise and beautiful words.

If I am to write in the future, as I have always been wishing, I wish to be able to deliver the message as beautifully as he did.

Check out Peter Daszak's essay here.
And more of the journal here.

See You Soon!

Jiyoon, flying high, at the beach, NJ. March, 2011

It is quite a bit surprising to realize that I have lived in New York for almost 5 years now.

When I first visited New York, it was February 2001. Already 10 years ago. I was vising my sister in Boston and I just took a bus for 5 hours to spend 5 days in New York. I enjoyed the visit very much, but I did never think that I would live in New York. It was an exciting city to visit and spend some holiday time, but not so great to live in, I thought.

But here I am. Already 5 years. When I think about how fast time flew away, I guess I would be saying that it has been 10 years any time soon.

I cannot say I love New York very much, but I like it. I learned what to love about it. I have never felt I am settled well and I always have this tiny bit of anxiety about where to go and what to do next. At the same time, however, it is also a bit of consolation that I don't have to be settled. I can move around freely and do what I like to do. Could be distressing in some way but could be exciting in another way.

New York is a city of immigration. A lot of people come and go. come to live and leave to live. You kind of have to get used to your good friends' constant leaving. I actually have been quite lucky that it didn't happen too often to me. However, one of my closest friends went back to Korea this week. It was a lot of hassle to sort out and pack her five years of accumulation into two giant bags and get her on the flight! Many friends gathered a night before in her apartment, chatted away, packed, threw things away, cleaned, slept, ate and chatted again. Next morning, another frantic hours of chatting, packing, trashing and cleaning, then we were all off to go to the airport.

Thankfully, we all were too tired to cry. Also we kind of believed that she would be coming back quite soon. Maybe surprisingly soon and we are gonna say "already back?"

I hope she would be back soon because I'm moving to the neighborhood close to the noodle shop she loved. In addition, she is looking at me all the time anyway on the wall right over my work desk. She gave me her self portrait for my birthday. How sweet is that!



Her web portfolio, www.LadyGeeral.com would be opening soon. She has the funniest ideas and how she executes them is brilliant. As much as I look forward to seeing her new website, I am not quite sure when it's going to open. She does take her time...Well, she flew for 24 hours stopping by in Beijing for 12 hours, so who could blame her. :)

Happy Birthday To My Friend

There is a Korean term "In-bok" which means luck to have a number of very good people around. I know I do have that In-bok. Sometimes I wonder what I did so well to have all these good friends around me.

In March, two of those wonderful friends around me have their birthdays, quite close to each other. When I turned my Yoshitomo Nara calendar (a present from another good friend when we went to Nara's exhibition at Asia Society in New York last year!) at the beginning of March, I couldn't help smiling. This month's picture suited so perfect one of the friends who has a birthday this month! The impression of the girl in the picture just reminded me of her. They do not exactly look alike, but I just couldn't help thinking she looked like her!!

So now I get to think about her quite often whenever I look at the calendar.

Today is her birthday.
We have been friends for 11 years and we have been living in different continents for 5 years now. Smart, thoughtful, caring, adventurous girl. Always very awake.
She hosted me so warmly during my stay with her in Tokyo last year, I felt I truly rested after a long, long, long period of tiring years and months.

When Saint-Exupery dedicated his book, THE LITTLE PRINCE, to his friend Leon Werth in France during the year of WWII, he said the reason of the dedication was because his friend "needs to be comforted."

I wish I had something that I could help comfort my friend like Saint-Exupery did because she also needs to be comforted. Though she might not be in a state to celebrate her birthday and have a good time, I hope that she feels her families' and friends' care and love. And I also hope that the affection and concern are not only towards her, but also towards the community and people she cares and worries about very much. I hope this would comfort her even just a tiny bit.

Happy Birthday, my dear friend.