2020.01.08 20:22
2020 세계는? -2
“Space Oddity 2020--looking around Korea, Rest of the world
조 중행
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New conflict in Iran, Zionism, North Korea issue, China-US trade war, human
greed to environmental suicide, another industrial revolution ongoing,
decreasing happiness index both in US & Korea, and the “Moon clan in Blue
House”--as 2020 dawns here in Korea, I see fundamental struggles continue
between countries, political parties, religions, and will continue.
I feel helpless.
And yet, in the year 2020 like any years in the past, we will laugh, we weep, we
hope, we fear, we live, we love, we woo, (aka Ella W.Wilcox poem-1910).
As for me, live life as humanely as possible, hopefully not bring any tears-to any eye.
A new book is open. What would be in there for me , on Dec 31,2020?
Time will tell. And life goes on.
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"This is Major Tom to Ground Control I'm stepping through the door And I'm floating in a most peculiar way And the stars look very different today For here Am I sitting in a tin can Planet Earth is blue And there's nothing I can do
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows ----… In 1969--David Bowie(1947-2016)
---그러나
"산은 산대로 첩첩 쌓이고
물은 물대로 모여 가듯이
나무는 나무끼리
짐승은 짐승끼리
우리도 우리끼리
봄을 기다리며 살아가는 것이다." --------신석정 의 대춘부(待春賦) 중에서
West Eastern Divan Orchestra & Bareboim-Said Academy
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prepared by J H Choh(class of 1969)
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2020.01.08 23:25
2020.01.09 06:16
Oh, yes, oh, yes, Dr. Choh, I see you uploaded ‘West-Eastern Divan Orchestra & Barenboim-Said Academy’
to make me ecstatic! I am sure you know the background of Daniel Barenboim as well as Edward Said
but I wonder how and why you chose this video as one of two title songs!?
I happened to have keen interests on Edward Said through late ’90 since he was one of quite vocal
pro-Palestine supporters/writers among the literary group here in the U.S. sharing exactly the same resentment
to Israeli/Zionism I have. I am NOT a politician but through my personal trips to Arab countries for over
two decades I became a staunch supporter of the ‘ousted’ Palestinians to come back to their homeland
and Edward Said was also well known as such vocal critics together with quite a few liberal(?) Jews,
sharing the sympathy to another diaspora of Palestinians caused by the Jews, themselves.
Indeed, I read Edward Said had such a hard time not only physically- he suffered from chronic
lymphocytic leukemia if I remember correctly for many years before he died in early 2,000 –
but also professionally as a professor of literature at Columbia University due to his vocal criticism
to Zionism/Israeli giving open support on Palestinians.
Nevertheless, I recall he was one of the pioneers in the academic field of ‘postcolonial studies’
of the English and Comparative Literature, to study the cultural legacy of ‘colonialism and imperialism’
to which I was 100% bound/fascinated following my first encounter/knowledge through the trip
to Ghana in 1960 when I was the first year of the med school to attend WAY(World Assembly of Youth)
to represent South Korea - WAY was then the biggest U.N. supporting non-political group sponsored
by the neutral countries led by Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt-.
Such ‘Postcolonialism’ as the academic study focused on the human consequences of the control
and exploitation of colonized people and their lands, like Palestine I was so interested.
Naturally, I was fascinated with Edward Said, Jerusalem born, Palestinian American, giving a public
criticism of U.S. policy together with Israel and the Arab countries, especially on the political
and cultural policies of Muslim/Arab countries, and kept track on him till he passed away in 2003,
heard his death right before I left Korea to be back home to the U.S.,- I believe he was a few years older
than me- and also such controversial ‘the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra’ he founded
with Daniel Barenboim to help Palestinians in Seville, Spain.
So, I am very happy someone like you ticked me to bring his reminiscence through this website, Dr. Choh.
Happy New Year!
BB Lee
P.S. I have very limited knowledge on Barenboim as a pianist but more as the husband of Jacqueline Du Pre
who remains in my heart with the 1st Movement of Elgar's Cello Concerto with London Philharmonic
and Daniel Barenboim conducting and also Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor
with London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim conducting; I still keep their recordings
in the LP disc in my study room. Nevertheless, her untimely death by multiple sclerosis made me feel so sad
that I spared the time to join to Prof. Paolo Zamboni of Univ Ferrara/Italy to investigate the role
of truncular venous malformation to cause the chronic cerebral venous insufficiency (CCSVI)
as precipitating cause of MS - see the attachment-.
2020.01.10 16:00
** ” We are living better now than 5,000 years ago.”----
I am not sure if we can make such conclusive statements, Dr. Ohn. I guess it all depends on how you look at life.
If you see Pompeii the archeological area, as a snapshot of ancient Roman city life, many of them seem to
have had good happy lives. If you read about what is written on the clay tablets from Mesopotamia,
they lived like us today in many aspects. They did not have the cars or computers or modern medical care
but laughing, weeping, wooing, loving, studying, practicing calligraphy----were all parts of their lives.
For those, who were” in the valley” people of Machu Picchu or Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, or people
in N.K or Gaza strips today, ---to me “valley “ means “being killed”.by others---and all sorts of human suffering.
**Dr. Lee ---Since I read some of the writings of Edward Said in the ’90s, I think I have a better humanistic
understanding of the suffering of the Palestinians on the West Bank & Gaza. These days I do not like
“Madame Butterfly” or“Miss Saigon, as much as before and question me on and off about validity/motivation
of polite disdain for oriental culture in some western writings and even some eastern writings.
I hope the friendship between Said-Barenboim finds a firm place in history to accomplish the unfinished mission
of Nobel Peace prize bestowed upon Yasser Arafat, Shimon Perez, Yitzak Rabin. (1994)
My occasional visits to the Middle East, as well as exposure to the patients from the region, allowed me first hand
exposure of fantastic Islamic arts(Doha Museum of Islamic Arts & UAE museums) and cultural disparity
that needs to be digested for proper medical care of GCC patients. What is the so-called “Patient-Centered
Medical Care” for 80-year-old Arabic lady going for a heart surgery, whose son requests absolutely not to explain
about surgery and tell her “she is going for a small test” or an Arabic lady who completely delegates
any consent form(decision) to her husband.
Realizing backwardness of their nomadic culture, lack of democracy, lack of women’s rights, how much
are we entitled to impose “Western Guidelines” to them in medical care or in other areas?
Your comments of World Assembly of Youth and Nehru----, the Paper on the Venous Anomaly---
all amazing accomplishments. Reading the paper, I learned a lot about venous malformations and anomaly,
which I encountered occasionally during my active years.
There was a time in my younger years when I was immersed in Nehru’s autobiography, especially stories
during the Indian independence movement and building a new country and so on--.
Last but not least--- memory of D.Barenboim and J.Du Pre couple. For old times sake, from the old discs
I used to have-----
2020.01.12 07:40
Good to know you are also interested in Palestinian issue like me, Dr. Choh. I reckon it is quite natural to feel that way with normal human brain with the empathy, not like Idiot Trump whose brain maturation was arrested at the level of age of 4 years with no capacity to create the sense of ‘empathy’. Anyhow, Barenboim must have same feeling/sympathy as a normal human being though he is an Israeli (I believe he was born in Argentina).
Thank you to share your own experience in the Middle East as well.
Warm regards,
BB Lee
P.S. So you also have Luigi Boccherini's Cello Concerto No. 9 in B-flat Major on old LP! Indeed, I agonize with what to do with these LP collections near to 3,000 which occupies one entire wall/bookshelf in my library/study room together with tons of old photos. Kids belonging to the CD generation don't appreciate these old LPs as I do and have their own interests! Sadly,they might take same path of my father's collection of old carbon music records over three thousands, which was donated to some salvage group by my mother since we will have no chance to take care of them from here in the U.S.
We are living better now than 5,000 years ago. Humans have been progressively living better, but
the road to the present day has had numerous peaks and valleys. Some were living on the upward
slope toward the peak, others on the down slope. Some were at the peak, others were at the bottom
of the valley. People who were passed away before us did not know where they were, but they
certainly did their best to live better. So do we. All I can do is to do my best and hope for the best.