When the Seeds of Youth Flower:
From Childhood to 2020
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
What do our narrators remember of their past? What feelings of longing are left in their hearts when they think of their home country? And especially with the turmoil of this past calendar year, how do they cling onto these idyllic memories for reproduction of that joy?
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Our narrators carry remnants of their history in their feelings and actions around recent events, even when they may not be aware of the past's influence on their present experiences. We hope to capture the values that our narrators formed during their early years, and how these thoughts have been maintained or transformed as our narrators experienced changes such as frequent migration, financial difficulty, family conflict, and social injustices.
Let us move backwards in time and meet our narrators in their childhood memories.
Kang-min Lee
Kang-min grew up during the 60s and 70s in South Korea, when the country was still very poor and recovering from war. At the time, they were receiving help in the form of donations from the United States. Towards the end of this video, he talks about how he and his school friends would marvel at any American-made item, and whether the item be a tiny pen or pair of shoes, they were all believed to be the best. This widespread regard of the United States as a superior nation that could help South Korea was a view that distinctly shaped Kang-min’s childhood, and he, along with others from his time, carried on this perspective long after South Korea had progressed economically.
Ann Rubin
Born in 1971, Ann spent all of her childhood in Tokyo, Japan. A child born to an American soldier, and a wealthy traditional Japanese mother, Ann stood out immediately in her little suburb in Tokyo. She recalls being explicitly aware of how different she looked. A detail one might not expect is in a community of straight Black hair, Ann's frizzy, puffy hair followed her wherever she went. This branding is something Ann has come to terms with, and even looks back upon fondly because it gave her the opportunity to go to an international school. Her parents sent her to an international school, a school with children from all over the world of all different identities, this "mixing bowl" is where Ann found her home.
Myung Hwang
As Myung reflects on her childhood in South Korea, she shares her experience living through the Korean War as a five-year-old. Her memories of the War have had a strong imprint on her life, long after its end. She speaks about the trauma with which her generation was afflicted and how its reach continues into the present. While the War has left her wary of potential military conflicts beyond the Korean peninsula and caused her to live with ever-lurking fear, the experience has also informed her approach to life at large. Myung also touches on her love for storytelling as well as her fond recollections of her grandmother. In fact, her formative relationship with her grandma as a child also came to shape her own relationship with her granddaughter later on.