Hot off the press: The November issue of KoreAm!
Korean Americans have one of the highest uninsured rates in the United States. In the November issue of KoreAm, reporter Kathleen Wentz explores why and uncovers how the health care reform debate could literally change our lives. The issue also features other fascinating stories, including comedian Amy Anderon’s take on motherhood and the lives of the young and unemployed. Flip through the pages yourself. The magazine lands in mailboxes around Nov. 15.
Related Articles
One More Shot
The Great Recession has led many young adults to move back in with their parents. But for actress-comedian Kat Ahn, it was her parents who moved in with her. And that was just the beginning.
story by Kat Ahn
photographs by Luke Inki Cho
THE CALL.
“Kat … Mom and Dad are coming to L.A.,” my brother tells me in an angrier-than-normal tone. “For how long?” I ask, thinking they’re coming for a visit.
“They’re broke, and they’re moving in with us,” he says. This is news that would obviously be devastating to average 20-somethings, but for my brother and me it wasn’t exactly shocking.
Throughout our lives, our parents had run various businesses in Philadelphia, from a hoagie-and-cheesesteak shop to a hip-hop clothing store. This led to interesting stories, but sporadic income. Money was a source of constant struggle in our family.
As a child, I remember how difficult it was to watch my parents work, especially at the hip-hop clothing store. I loved the loud N.W.A. and Biggie that would blare through the speakers, but I didn’t love watching my parents get disrespected by their customers, a regular occurrence. I quickly learned that the most important things in life were financial stability and money. Because that meant that you’d have no problems or worries, right? Or so I thought.
So I went to NYU to study journalism and economics. But I soon found myself unhappy. I’d always wanted to pursue acting and writing, but would always hear the voice in my head saying, “Um … do you really want to be a starving artist?”
Apparently I did. Fast forward to 2007, and I was in L.A., chasing the dream of being an actress and writer, living with my brother, an aspiring producer. After struggling for a little bit, I had just started booking acting gigs. I had finished my first feature film script. I had actually started to like living in the dry heat of L.A. I felt close to having my weekends back, when I would no longer have to ask, “Hi. My name is Kat, and I’ll be your waitress for the evening. Can I get you anything?” Things were looking up.
And that’s when the call came. My father’s last venture—an attempt to take a Putt-Putt mini-golf park franchise to South Korea—had failed, and my parents had lost everything. So they were moving to Los Angeles.
…
Champion, At Last
After earning his first PGA title last month, Kevin Na shares thoughts on a hard-won victory that’s been a decade in the making.
by Timothy Yoo
He created a minor stir with his then-controversial decision to drop out of high school to pursue a professional golf career at the age of 17. And last April at the Texas Open, he became a target for ribbing on ESPN’s SportsCenter, and nearly a million YouTube views, when he carded a 16 at the par-4 ninth hole, the worst single-hole score since the PGA Tour started keeping records.
But now Kevin Na can call himself a PGA tournament winner. The eight-year veteran of the pro tour captured the title at the 2011 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Oct. 2. KoreAm caught up with the now-28-year-old to chat about his breakthrough win and how his career has evolved over the years.
Congratulations, Kevin. Obviously, the big news is your first PGA Tour victory. Can you describe what if felt like to get that win?
It feels great, since it was something that I had been working hard my whole life to get. I was a little nervous because I had been close several times, but for some reason, I was very confident that I would pull through this time.
Before winning this tournament, you had been knocking on the door. You were in contention at the Northern Trust Open back in February, and you had a fantastic top-10 result at the PGA Championship in August. Do you think you have turned a corner with your golf game?
…
The Scholar Rocker
Jeff Schroeder, the guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins, gives us the inside scoop on the resurgent band, drops hints about the forthcoming album and explains how a Ph.D. in literature fits into the picture.
story by Oliver Saria
photographs by Jeff Liu
Jeff Schroeder is no James Iha, the original guitarist for The Smashing Pumpkins. He’s better. Yeah, I said it. He can actually hang musically with Billy Corgan, the tortured genius behind the Pumpkins’ signature guitar- heavy sound. Other ways Jeff isn’t James: Jeff isn’t Japanese American. He’s biracial—Korean and Caucasian. Jeff didn’t drop out of college like James; in fact, he’s finishing his Ph.D. in comparative literature at UCLA. And Jeff, unlike James, is actually on speaking terms with Billy.
I stress their differences to make a larger point: This ain’t the ’90s anymore. And it would behoove fans to remember that, if they happen to catch the band on their 12-city U.S. warm-up tour this fall in preparation for what promises to be a busy 2012 for the reinvigorated band, packed with more tour dates, reissues of their past catalog and a brand new album, Oceania. Be forewarned, though, the Pumpkins aren’t interested in reliving the past.
“We’re not going to be a ’90s retro nostalgia band,” Jeff insists. “We have no desire to do that. We’ve been offered tours with other ’90s bands. We just honestly feel like it’s the kiss of death. Once you’ve done that, you’ve accepted that your moment in the present is over, and all you can do is recreate people’s past fantasies.”
Oddly enough, Jeff was one of those people. As a teenager growing up in Orange County, California, in the early 1990s, he, like many of his peers, loved The Smashing Pumpkins, one of that decade’ s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands.
…
Photo credit: Jeff Liu
We featured Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder in the November issue of KoreAm. Aside from recording music and touring with the band, Jeff is also finishing his graduate studies in comparative literature at UCLA.
He took time out of his busy schedule to share some of his favorite avant-garde Asian American works of fiction and poetry.
Crossings by Chuang Hua (1968)
Crossings is one of the earliest works of Asian American experimental writing and is the only novel Hua published. Influenced by William Faulkner, Virginia Woolfe and Marcel Proust, it chronicles the protagonist’s numerous travels across borders of both space and time. I’ve read Crossings many times, and with each reading, I discover new themes. I find this book important because it provides a necessary artistic representation of hyphenated identity that is different from the more sociological bent of other forms of scholarly writing.
Dictée (1982) and Exilée/ Temps Morts (2009) by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha
Upon its publication in 1982, Dictée was overlooked by the mainstream literary press and scholars of Asian American literature. The book—which mixes poetry, fiction, historical writing and visual art to explore the themes of war, immigration and transnational identity— experienced a renaissance in the mid-‘90s and today is considered the most well-known work of avant-garde Asian American writing. Exilée/Temps Morts is a more recent collection of the late Cha’s out-of-print writings. Her passages on the acquisition of new language, explorations of the Korean War and interest in the French avant-garde strongly connect with my interests.
…
Now He’s Cookin’
From picky eater to winner of the James Beard Award, chef Corey Lee is scaling the culinary heights.
Story and photographs by Vivien Kim Thorp
In some ways, Corey Lee could be seen as your typical 30-something bachelor. He works hard, lives alone and keeps no perishables in his fridge (only beverages, and mostly alcohol at that). He doesn’t bother taking his shoes off when he gets home and hasn’t made breakfast in 10 years.
But then Lee, who turns 34 at the end of this year, had a James Beard Award under his belt by the time he was 28. He’s worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in the U.S. and Europe, co-authored a book with Thomas Keller, and served for more than four years as chef de cuisine at Keller’s world-renowned French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. Now, Lee is the chef and owner of his own restaurant, Benu, which opened in San Francisco in August of 2010.
Benu was given two stars by the prestigious Michelin restaurant guide on Oct. 25. It’s a major victory for the chef.
“It’s a huge honor, and the whole thing feels a bit surreal,” Lee says. “You just do what you feel is best and hope Michelin recognizes that. But that was yesterday, and today we are already going about our work like nothing happened.”
Housed in an elegant brick building in the SoMa district, a simple silver sign features the restaurant’s name, which means “phoenix” in Egyptian. Lee picked the name as much for its meaning and sound, as for its hard-to-determine origins. The restaurant’s facade boasts large windows where passersby can stare into the bright and busy kitchen. Here, sous vide machines (which utilize a method that combines the steady heat of poaching and an airtight seal) bubble up perfectly poached sea cucumbers, and staff members meticulously slice duck flesh and patiently weigh dumpling skins, a pair at a time.
…
GET A YEAR OF 
FOR ONLY $28!
FOR ONLY $28!
Featured Event
One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
LINKS
Featuring Recent Posts Wordpress Widget development by YD
