Not ready for the harvest

It's 2019.09.01 on the lunar calendar today.

I forgot to tell you about an important lunar calendar event last newsletter! I didn't remember myself that lunar August hosts one of the two biggest holidays—Chuseok aka Korean Thanksgiving. I realized it was Chuseok when I saw a post online on Friday the 13th and I felt like I had forgotten Christmas or something. How could I forget?! ... but how could I remember? In Korea, most everyone takes a few days off to travel to see family, with Spam gift sets and outrageously priced boxes of fruits, but not much happens here other than more songpyeon (type of rice cake) being sold.

I wish you a belated happy Chuseok nonetheless. Personally, I'm not yet ready for harvest as I'm still sowing seeds for what's to come. In a month, I'll likely have a couple podcasts and lyric videos to share.

I went through a frozen pizza phase and have been spending more time than ever driving—across town for teaching artist work. Other than having to leave the house by 6:30am, the long commute hasn't felt too bad so far as it gives me time to think and listen to the radio, but I feel pooped at the end of each day. I hope to get a handle on it soon.

Teaching Artistry

I said I wanted in-person work related to arts advocacy because I was feeling bored and drained working alone remotely so I got my wish and now I see over 500 students weekly! Many of them are very young kids, adorable but germy, and I've had to spend weekends recuperating from a persistent cold. Each week is getting easier though (based on a two-week analysis 😛).

The image above is a glitch that occurred while editing a video. I've been preparing the numerous blog posts and videos I'll be sharing in the next couple months but it's more of a fill-in-the-blank situation for now: I have rough outlines constructed to fill in with source materials I've gathered. Starting on either Wednesday or Friday, I'll be posting weekly on

joycekwon.com/blog

(nothing there yet though other than a post on finding a

gayageum teacher in LA

), so please take a look in a week.

In Case You Missed It

JAZZ TOILET

is a blog I kept from 2011 to 2014 and one day hope to bring back as a podcast or video series. It's a documentation of toilets in jazz clubs in NYC but also my life then and it never fails to crack me up when I read it and remember friends and musicians I adored and recall the absurd hubris of my twenties.

Currently listening to KUSC 🎧I also listen to KJZZ and KPCC, and occasionally KCRW, but the classical station has been my go-to in my regular commute. I love to hear baroque music in the early morning and have grown accustomed to the hosts' soothing voices.