This episode is about holding my 10th Asian American Art Club meeting! We talked about having integrity as artists, while living in a capitalist society. We talked about artists’ relationships with money. We talked about the value of art and the lack of compensation artists receive and are expected to receive for their labor.

This episode is about 삼일절. I wrote this piece on March 1, 2022:

Today is 삼일 운동 (Samil Undong), also known as 삼일절 (Samiljeol), the Mansae Demonstrations, the March First Movement, and Independence Movement Day. In Korean history, this day marks one of the first public displays of Korean resistance against Japan’s brutal colonization of Korea, between 1910 and 1945.

103 years ago, on March 1, 1919, 33 independence activists signed the Declaration of Independence at a small restaurant in Seoul, that was read out loud by independence activist, 정재용 (Jung Jae-Yong). Hundreds and thousands of Koreans gathered in Seoul to listen to the Declaration of Independence and protest against Japanese occupation, colonization, and forced assimilation. The March First Movement inspired 2 million people to join the fight for freedom and sparked over 1,500 spontaneous nonviolent rallies, parades, and demonstrations, all across the country and the world, extending to China, Manchuria, Japan, and the United States. These peaceful protests lasted for six weeks.

In addition to activists, Korean women, students, and farmers joined the nonviolent protests to try to secure their country’s independence. The March First Movement was the first step towards Korea’s eventual independence in 1945. It was also the catalyst for other nonviolent independence movements, like the May Fourth Movement against imperialism in China, and Gandhi’s peaceful protests against British colonization in India.

In the two months following the March First Movement, 7,500 people were killed, 16,000 people were injured, and 47,000 people were arrested by Japanese authorities. 경성감옥 (Gyeongsong Gamok), also known as Seudaemun Prison, located in central Seoul, serves as a sobering memorial to the thousands of activists that were imprisoned and tortured there, in the struggle for Korean independence.

17-year-old independence activist leader, 유관순 (Yu Gwan-Sun), who was tortured to death at Seodaemun Prison, said this:

“Even if my fingernails are torn out, my nose and ears are ripped apart, and my legs and arms are crushed, this physical pain does not compare to the pain of losing my nation. My only remorse is not being able to do more than dedicating my life to my country.”

This episode is about talking to my best friend Andrew, and how sometimes our friends can see us more clearly than we can see ourselves. He said, “You’re a person whose reputation precedes you.” I need to remember this.

This episode is about the difficulty of recovering from our trip to Virginia, 엄마 apologizing to me about being overly critical, and the surprising grief that comes with my relationship with 엄마 changing, even if it's for the better.

Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/jieunandgreg.

This episode is about talking to one of my closest friends, Sonny Van. In this episode, I talk about the history of our 12-year friendship. We met in August 2012, when I was 23 and Sonny was 26. We lived in the intern house for 3 months together, we lived in a van and slept in people's homes for 10 weeks together, we were the Northeast Nomads together, we traveled across the country together. We lived some of our best days together, and I will always love him and our teammate, Justin. Greg and I would likely never have met without Liberty in North Korea.

Support the Podcast:⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/jieunandgreg/membership

This episode is about our 6th Asian American Art Club meeting! We talked about authenticity, identity, outcasts, cool versus not cool, Jupiter as Virginia, New York as the moon, myself as Earth, and the gravity between both places as our relationships, plexiglass people on conveyor belts and multifaceted gems floating in space. MY BRAIN ALWAYS FEELS SO EXPANSIVE AT THESE MEETINGS!

Support the Podcast:⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/jieunandgreg/membership

This episode is about the immense pain that Virginia holds for me, the immense difficulty of visiting 아빠's grave at the cemetery, the concept of delayed grief, and how pregnancy both compounded my grief and distracted me from my grief.

Support the Podcast:⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/jieunandgreg/membership

This episode is about all of my feelings catching up to me after coming back to New York from Virginia. Grief whiplash is a term I came up with to describe experiencing delayed feelings of grief from back-to-back triggers, like holidays. My morning walks are my daily meditation. As a Complex-PTSD survivor, it's imperative to get back into my body.

Become a Patron of the Podcast:⁠https://www.patreon.com/jieunandgreg/membership

This episode is about the stress I feel about missing my Friday episode, and it's mostly a reflection of that day. This episode is about the Asian American Art Club meeting I hosted over Google Meet where we talked about our dreams. This episode is about how dreams change as we grow, and they also stay the same. This episode is about the difficulty of holding onto our dreams throughout all that life throws at us.

Become a Patron of the Podcast:https://www.patreon.com/jieunandgreg/membership