Published by the Gwangju International Center since 2001
The revolving door is currently opening on the month of September, allowing in a cooling breeze unfamiliar to the sultry summer. Heralding this cooling are the seasonal terms of White Dew (백로, Sept. 8) and the Onset of Autumn (추분, Sept. 23), and we must not forget the biggest autumnal holiday of all: Chuseok (추석, Sept. 9–12). Coordinating with these seasonal temps, the Gwangju News offers you a “cool” issue of information and enjoyment for the entire month.
We welcome you to the August issue of the Gwangju News. Our devoted and unrelenting staff has again worked its magic through the sultry summer sunshine to produce for our readership another “hot” issue.
For this issue of Lost in Gwangju, I’ve spent a great deal of my recent free time doing an amateur corpus analysis of messages I found scrawled on the walls of a dozen or so “punishment rooms” (징벌실) within the now-shuttered Gwangju Prison in Munheung-dong. There’s nothing academic about my analysis, and my methodology is spotty, but I think the messages I’ve found nevertheless hold deep value: They lay bare many of the thoughts and emotions that the human spirit conjures up while locked away in a solitary cage.
It’s July, it’s already our seventh issue of the Gwangju News for 2022, and it’s hard to believe that the year is already half over. July signals the beginning of warm and sunny summer weather, school vacations, and vacation trips, which are now more easily possible with the abating of Covid. So, whether you are relaxing in a long chair on a sandy beach or in an armchair in the air-conditioned comfort of your home, we provide you with a new issue of the Gwangju News for your July reading.
As the daylight hours get distinctively longer and the thermometer’s mercury climbs upward, we have become acutely aware of the changing of the seasons. The sixth month of the year ushers in not only the season of outdoor picnics, travel, and vacations but, very importantly, the June issue of the Gwangju News!
May is here! We’re now in the heart of spring with its warm and super pleasant weather, some call it the “family month,” as it boasts of numerous family-related commemorative days. Children’s Day (어린이 날) is on May 5, and Parents’ Day (어버이 날) is on May 8. There’s Teachers’ Day (스승이 날) on the May 15, Coming of Age Day (성년의 날) on the 16th for everyone turning 19 in 2022, and Husband and Wife’s Day is on the 21st. Another day of celebration on May 8 this year is Buddha’s Birthday (석가탄신일) with its countless, brightly colored lanterns gracing Korea’s innumerable temples and surrounding areas.
It’s April! No foolin’! The first of this month (Manu-jeol, in Korean), is not this year a time for the tricks and pranks and gaiety that usually accompany the day – not with the horrid nightmare that has unfolded in Ukraine.
As always, stay Covid smart, stay Covid safe, be Covid protected, and enjoy the Gwangju News.
