Kimchi Mamas

Dari: The First Bilingual Anthology of LGBTQ Korean American Stories and Art

May is dear to me for several reasons: it is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and it is also Mental Health Awareness Month!  

In those veins, I present to you a book released today by the Dari Project, a New York-based all-volunteer consortium that aims to increase awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ people of Korean descent in Korean American communities.  They develop resources to share the experiences of LGBTQ Korean Americans, ranging from homophobia in their KA communities, coming out, building relationships with family, and membership in faith communities.

On May 2, the Dari Project will be unveiling a bilingual publication that contains a collection of personal stories written by LGBT Korean Americans. The book contains 25 personal essays covering a variety of themes -- coming out to immigrant parents, responding to homophobia/transphobia in the Korean church, organizing the community after a gay bashing in NYC's Koreatown, etc. The contributors live across the US and South Korea, and include a diverse array of identities within the Korean American community -- biracial Koreans, adoptees and trans people.

I love their name, because dari means both legs and bridge, and this anthology seeks to provide both: support for the LGBTQ community, and a way to bridge Korean Americans from different generations, ideologies, and languages.

Check out their gorgeous logo:

Copies of the book can be requested on the Dari Project's website.

h/t to my friend and heroine, Andy Marra

Book Review - Escape from Camp 14

Disclosure: I got a free copy of this book to review.

Escape from Camp 14 written by Blaine Harden tells the true story of how Shin Dong Hyuk broke out of a brutal labor camp in North Korea, eventually making his way to the USA. Complete with maps and drawings, Blaine makes it easy for the reader to picture this harrowing story. I heard Shin Dong Hyuk speak at an event in Stanford before so his story was not new to me. However, reading about the details made it so much more real.

Born inside Camp No. 14 Shin Dong Hyuk was the product of a marriage that was itself a form of reward, a reward reserved for prisoners who modeled "good" behavior such as snitching on fellow prisoners. He survived by doing whatever he could to secure food. He grew up to be the model snitch, not even thinking twice to snitch on his own family.

This book provides an accurate and horrifying look into North Korea's infamous labor camps. A hopeless world where humans become driven by hunger and hunger alone. Where affection does not exist. Yet even in such a bleak place, compassion comes at unexpected times.