My Korean-American Life

  In two days, my husband and I will celebrate thirty years of marriage. Thirty years doesn't feel like a number; it feels like fabric—layered, varied, some of it worn thin, but all of it continuous. To mark the time, I decided to make us matching vests, sewn from scraps of mosi, Korean ramie, I had collected over the years. It seemed the right thing to do with my hands while I was thinking about time. Mosi is an ancient, delicate textile, traditionally woven from the fibers of the Boehmeria nivea plant through a painstakingly laborious process. It is the fabric of Korean ceremony and grief, reflecting the full range of a life. Patchwork, to me, is an optimistic art form, one that begins from the assumption that even damaged cloth contains good cloth. As I arranged the pieces, I cut away sections that were frayed or worn thin, like the years of illness or misunderstanding that I would rather remove. The remaining good cloth, combined with other good cloth, can make something whole...

  Last evening I attended a student-led fashion show at George Washington University called Metamorphosis — a secondhand fashion event where every garment on the runway had been thrifted, altered, or repurposed. The show was joyful and inventive, a celebration of what clothing can become when imagination replaces consumption. Woven through the evening was something more meaningful: a presentation by GoodWeave International , a nonprofit founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi, dedicated since 1994 to ending child and forced labor in global supply chains. Thirty years of work. Eleven thousand two hundred and fifty children freed. One hundred and ten thousand given access to education. Numbers that should not have to exist. I left the show unable to stop thinking about the distance — the enormous, mostly invisible distance — between a garment on a runway and the hands that made it. "We Workers Are Also Human" In November 1970, a twenty-two-year-old Korean garme...

  The slow craft of foraging offers a unique satisfaction: the ability to turn an environmental problem into a culinary and artistic solution. Garlic Mustard ( Alliaria petiolata ) is the perfect example. While it is often maligned as a persistent invader of North American woodlands, this biennial herb is actually a nutritional powerhouse and a versatile medium for the fiber artist. 🌿 Health Benefits Garlic mustard isn’t just a flavor enhancer; it’s a high-yield investment in your health. Historically used in Europe to treat gangrene and ulcers, its modern profile is equally impressive: Vitamin Density: It is exceptionally high in Vitamins A, C, and E , often surpassing common garden greens like spinach or kale. Mineral Rich: It provides significant amounts of zinc, magnesium, and iron . Heart Health: Like many members of the mustard family, it contains omega-3 fatty acids and glucosinolates, which are linked to cardiovascular support and anti-inflammatory properties. Detoxifi...