Posted: October 10th, 2011
Filed Under: BLOG , Back Issues , FEATURED ARTICLE , October 2011
Pastor Gage Jung, founder of Hipster Church in Queens, New York, is reimagining worship to make it exciting and relevant for a new generation.
story by David “Rek” Lee
photographs by Minnow Park
Gage Jung is a victim of cyber-bullying.
He tells me about it between bites of Margherita slices at South Brooklyn Pizza, his tattooed forearms on display as he reaches for napkins. When he gets up to grab a Coke, he stands over 6 feet tall. He doesn’t strike me as the victim type.
But ever since his church was featured in the New York Daily News, he’s become the target of anonymous hate mail. His critics question his focus on Flushing, an area in Queens where churches sit elbow to elbow, and Hipster Church, the arresting label he chooses to call his movement. Mean-spirited as they are, their concerns are understandable even by his own admission. So it’s a discussion he’s willing to have, if only they would listen.
I tried to attend the monthly service, twice, once at the Queens Crossing mall in the heart of Flushing and, a second time, at the summer-appropriate Flushing Meadows Park, next to Citi Field baseball stadium; both plans were thwarted by miscommunication and bad weather. From what I read in the Daily News, it sounded like a good time: “Congregants use a Bible app on iPhones … participants listen to indie rockers like MGMT and Arcade Fire and chat over donuts.” It might sound contrived to some, but the forward-thinkingness doesn’t end with snacks and tech savviness.
Jung is rethinking worship by using slightly modified secular songs and even incorporating raps into praise. He’s challenging the established model of regurgitating sermons throughout the day with plans to dedicate whole services to non-believers. Think less eternal damnation talk and more of a Q-and-A approach.
“People need to feel like they can express themselves without being judged,” he explains. “That’s a challenging environment, but it can be done.” Continue Reading »
A Korean restaurant in New York has received a star rating from the Michelin Guide, making it the first Korean restaurant in America to receive the prestigious distinction, according to the Chosun Ilbo.
Michelin awarded Danji one star out of three in its annual guide which was released on Wednesday.
The restaurant, located in Hell’s Kitchen rather than near “Korea Way” near 32nd and Broadway, was founded by Korean American chef Hooni Kim.
Previously, the only Korea restaurant to appear on the guide’s radar was Sorabol in Hong Kong, which received a fork rating one notch below a star rating. Danji is exclusive and only has enough seating for 36 people. It was praised earlier by the New York Times as offering “only joy” and has become popular with long waiting lines a common sight.
Danji’s menu offers traditional Korean dishes as well as fusion fare such as the bulgogi slider.
Head chef Kim was born in South Korea but moved to the States when he was 10 years old.
Designin’ in the Rain
An innovative idea by a young architect could transform the streets of New York City.
by Christine Kim
Like a scene from a movie, it all started with a rainy day. Two years ago, Young-Hwan Choi, then an architecture student at the University of Pennsylvania, was walking down the street with an umbrella over his head. Upon entering one of the city’s sidewalk sheds, he looked up at the overarching structure that made his umbrella unnecessary and thought about how the two shared similar functions.
At that moment, Choi knew he had a winning idea. In fact, his Urban Umbrella creation would go on to snatch top honors at New York City’s first urbanSHED International Design Competition. The contest, sponsored by the city in partnership with private firms and organizations, invited designers to create an attractive, safe and sustainable sidewalk shed to replace the existing, rather unappealing wooden scaffolding that dot the city. Out of 164 submissions from designers in 28 countries, Choi was announced the winner in January 2010, and his working prototype was recently unveiled. Continue Reading »
The author took this photo in the financial district of New York on Sept. 11, 2001. An unknown person scrawled the date on the hood of a car covered in ash.
It’s the strangest thing to walk down a pitch-black Wall Street in inch-deep ash. Seeing shoes littering the empty streets, abandoned roach coaches with a complete stock of donuts and bagels, and each car lining the sidewalk completely covered in ash with the back window blown out. Picking up charred pieces of paper that have people’s Traveler’s Group account statements.
I wrote that for KoreAm as an apple-cheeked Columbia School of Journalism student. Ten years later, I still remember the day vividly. My roommate woke me up to the news, and my first assumption was that a small Cessna-type aircraft must have crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, but as the events unfolded, my horror grew.
Calls from friends and family across the country poured in and, just before the phone networks became overwhelmed, I received a call from my father, former publisher of the Korea Times of San Francisco. After confirming I was OK, he urged me to head downtown to witness the events firsthand. What?! Me? I was only a student, I thought. After much hemming and hawing, my dad basically said, “Get your ass down there!”
Dutiful son complied and, since the subway system was shut down, I began walking the more than 120 blocks to Lower Manhattan. All day I walked and saw horrified faces moving in the opposite direction. At Canal Street near Chinatown, police barricades blocked my path, but I bypassed them by taking a roundabout route along the East River. I made it to the financial district at dusk and surveyed the carnage. It was a ghost town. A war zone. It reeked of smoke and felt like death. It was here where I pocketed two charred financial statements for posterity. Continue Reading »
by Aruna Lee of New America Media
“Ten years is an epoch, but our hearts remain as black as charcoal,” a teary-eyed Sung-soon Kang said as she recalled the tragic events of 9/11 and the death of her only son. The 70-year-old and her husband, Pil-soon, 73, added that September is a particularly difficult month for them.
Jun-koo Kang had a fever on Sept. 11, 2001, his mother told the Korean-language Korea Daily in New York, which profiled the pair as part of the paper’s reporting on the upcoming 10-year anniversary of 9/11. “But he went to work anyway, because of his strong work ethic. I wish I could have stopped him.”
Instead, the 34-year-old Kang became one of 21 Koreans killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center, which claimed upwards of 3,000 lives. His death forms part of a larger narrative of loss and change that has permanently altered the Korean community in New York, with continued challenges lingering amid signs of hope. Continue Reading »
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Featured Event
It’s the new year, and Yim Jae Beum is coming to town! After a sold-out show in Los Angeles last October, he is coming back to hold two U.S. concerts for the 2012 Lunar New Year. Everyone already knows this man can sing! He’s got an impressive resume, debuting as a rock singer back in 1986, releasing Korean classics, such as “For You,” and most recently, joining and winning first place twice on the MBC show, “I am a Singer.”
Seattle and New Jersey, get ready! We are happy to announce that we will be giving away TWO (2) pairs of tickets! read more
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