Once again I spent an August week at Camp Sejong, a Korean culture camp
in New Jersey, my fifth time as the Creative Writing teacher. It was such a pleasure to be back in this remarkable, multi-age Korean American community of staff, teachers (including a 13-member delegation from Ewha University in Seoul), teen and young adult counselors (including many former campers), and campers from age 7 to 15.
This year
the theme was Life Cycles, with a particular focus on the first and 60th
birthdays. In writing sessions, we brainstormed about birthdays, birthdays and adoption (about half the
campers are adopted; the other half from 2nd-generation Korean American
families), and Korean birthdays.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVHp6OBQpRjnFYxjH8sSgKkCiDJiJGV8SGEghM8eR1q0OqvZetluDNwSzhSCWgP8OIfH-cg7llky9higsxU2ueDqvKUsbA96-XlduxKNe2WjK1tlsd1l9aWD2IGVnN46DfLpdoAO3hHov/s320/SaraMeejkt.jpeg)
Then we constructed tol go-im - first birthday towers or pillars...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0b7kK5mek7jSBoEMR_YhwbdCMFJ7OEJXZKvfIjzPnj2uTElW5SE92yLmLoFEJ6QtT5s_RIj-ekIg9TSUdpQvjSwsnWps5WXKLMBb4lSNuDPcOC8tmbWrPpfM1JlD04CllTYZCGPaNprKT/s1600/get-attachment.jpg)
Campers chose whatever they wanted to include - significant events, people, trips, things they learned, school, connections to Korea, and other aspects of their lives. Each stripe represented a year and each completed pillar the story of a life.
4 comments:
Loved reading about Camp. I've always loved the beautiful red cover for this book....it drew my eye at the library....even before I knew you were the illustrator! And as always I SO enjoy your column in the Bulletin!
Thanks, Alison!
Annie, you might have read this post already?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-harvey/dear-parents-of-white-children_b_3719818.html
Yes, thanks, Melissa, I did see it. Excellent piece. I really like the idea of assigning a racial biography.
The comments alone are proof of the need for what she has to say.
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