From the Editor

Welcome to a new month and a new issue of the Gwangju News! The spring month. The month of “April showers [that] bring May flowers.” These words, whose origin date back centuries to a 1610 poem, have never been more appropriate: We need an abundance of April showers this spring to replenish our city’s rapidly depleting water supply. Let us conserve our remaining water this spring so that we have some remaining for the summer.

As for the April issue of the Gwangju News, we hope to shower you with interesting, informative, and intriguing articles for your reading pleasure. This is an odd-numbered year, 2023, and this means that this “city of art” will be opening another Gwangju Biennale this spring. For our cover feature, Gwangju News had the opportunity to interview one of the Biennale’s premiere artists, Anne Duk Hee Jordan, who is certain to dazzle with her moving, grooving, jaw-dropping installations that are her trademark.

Our second feature is a shower of bittersweet tears accompanying the story of a tiger. “Bitter” in that this tiger was basically abandoned in a cage in Seoul, and “sweet” in that Gwangju has come to its rescue. Another feature this month is an interview with the only Dutch researcher in Gwangju, Jan te Nijenhuis. Read about the intriguing intelligence research that he in doing [Windmills, Tulips, and Kimchi]. And for our People in the Arts column, this issue features the art of Heo Dal-yong, the great nephew of revered Gwangju artist Heo Baek-ryeon.

Our Travel section introduces the sights, smells, and tastes of Gwangju’s Sangmu District. Lost in Honam introduces some little-known sights of Sunchang County. And From Abroad takes us to Thailand for a visit of the country’s elephants. All three are items you will want to put on your bucket list.

In our Teaching and Learning section, Language Teaching discusses the possible impact of ChatGPT. Montessori Education discusses the importance of Practical Life. And the Everyday Korean lesson is all about “the greener grass on the other side.”

There’s so much more of interest in our Community and our Culture and Arts sections: uneconomical water consumption, uneconomical apartment purchasing, marathon running, fun things to do in Gwangju, making dubu cubes, and pondering April’s holidays. Don’t miss our monthly book review, our cartoon, and our crossword puzzle.

Stay Covid safe, be water conscious, and enjoy the Gwangju News!

David E. Shaffer 

Editor-in-Chief

Gwangju News