Tiger Mom’s Long-Distance Cub
The Wall Street Journal
When our kids go off to college, we want them to have the confidence, judgment and strength to take care of themselves. Even critics of my approach to parenting would probably concede that, after years of drilling and discipline, tiger cubs are good at focusing and getting their work done. If instilled early, these skills also help them to avoid the college-prep freak-out that traumatizes so many American families.
But one of the biggest knocks against tiger parenting is that it supposedly produces kids with no initiative or social skills. This might be true in China, where so much of the educational system is still harsh, authoritarian and based on rote learning. But it’s definitely not true in the West, where tiger parenting is done in the context of a society—or, in my case, in a home, thanks to my husband—that celebrates irreverence, independence, humor and thinking outside the box.
North Korea Condemns South Korea, Vows No Policy Changes
The Washington Post
“Taking this opportunity,” North Korea said, “we solemnly declare with confidence that the south Korean puppets and foolish politicians around the world should not expect any change from the DPRK,” or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
With its first formal policy message since the elevation of Kim Jong Eun as supreme leader, North Korea indicated that it will navigate this latest transition by relying on a familiar strategy, using outside enemies to keep its people united.
Mom gives Kidney to Save her Tot’s Life
The Orange County Register
Two and a half years later, the Chos drove from their Fullerton home to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. In one operating room, surgeons opened up Cherity. Next door, they cut into Cho. They removed her left kidney and put it inside Cherity.
For a second time, Cho gave life to her daughter.
Cherity, now 3 ½, is effervescent even while dragging around an IV pole that keeps her kidney hydrated and delivers anti-rejection medication.
“She’s a gift, a gift from God,” said Arnold Cho, 42. “She’s like a walking miracle.”
Lure of Chinese Tuition Squeezes Out Asian-American Students
San Francisco Chronicle
“I was shocked,” said Park, who also was rejected from four other UC schools, including the top-ranked campuses in Berkeley and Los Angeles, even with a 4.0 grade-point average and an SAT score above the UC San Diego average. “I took it terribly. I felt like I was doing well and I failed.”
The University of California system, rocked by budget cuts, is enrolling record numbers of out-of-state and international students, who pay almost twice that of in-state residents. Among those being squeezed out: high-achieving Asian-Americans, many of them children of immigrants, who for decades flocked to the state’s elite public colleges to move up the economic ladder.
Judge awards $17.8 Million to Family of Military Jet Crash Victims
CNN.com
The family of Don Yoon — who lost his wife, two young daughters, and mother-in-law — said it believed it was a “thoughtful, fair, and reasoned decision” by the judge, said Brian Panish, lead counsel for the family.
Relatives had sought $56 million from the federal government, but in the end were awarded $17.8 million.
“I think the judge was trying to send a message that family is important,” Panish said of the judgment ordered by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller.
Person of the Year: Kim Jong Eun
The Wall Street Journal
It seems incredible that our person of the year is someone that we know so little about, but Kim Jong Eun was the clear winner in a recent poll of the staff of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires in Seoul.
Of course, what makes him so important is the potential and power he now has rather than anything he has already done. One way of looking at it is that we’re acknowledging that the tubby 28-ish guy could be our winner again next year by an even bigger margin if he starts to bring change to North Korea.
Va. Tech Killer Cho’s Calculator for Sale, Renewing Debate on ‘Murderabilia’
The Washington Post
Seung Hui Cho’s calculator is also a rarity. Experts and murderabilia collectors say it is the first item with a connection to the gunman to be available for purchase in more than four years — since the first 48 hours after his mass murder. It is the only item of his on the market, experts say, at a time when Virginia Tech is back in national news after the December shooting death of a police officer in Blacksburg.
Soundtracks for a Year’s Last Parties
The New York Times
NOSAJ THING
Among the calmer characters coming out of Los Angeles’s fertile post-hip-hop underground, this producer balances thrust and reserve in his ambient glitch music. His 2009 album, “Drift” (Alpha Pup), is full of airy, elegiac music that sounds as if it belongs in a particularly meaningful video game.
Kim Jong Il look-alike Admits it May be Time to Hang up his Dark Glasses
MSNBC.com
South Korean shopkeeper Kim Young-Shik has been impersonating Kim Jong Il for over 15 years, making appearances in advertisements and at birthday parties and even singing at weddings.
NBC News’ Ian Williams visited the pot-bellied pseudo dictator at his shop in Seoul just over a year ago, when the signs were already looking ominous for his acting career. Now, he wistfully admits that it may be time to hang up his dark glasses, and for a younger man to step forward to play the role of the new “Great Leader”, Kim Jong Un.
12 reasons to visit Korea in 2012
CNNgo.com
2012, the year the world supposedly ends. All the more reason to visit Korea — the Land of Morning Calm — to soothe your terror before the world is destroyed by a meteorite.
And 2012 is also the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. And not only that, but it’s also the Year of the Black Dragon, which only comes once around every 60 years.
But there’s more than cool East Asian symbolism to make 2012 a great year for visiting Korea.
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