A Sample Column from The Korea Times

by Everette Busbee

y first trip to Korea was in 1986, on a grant to study the large brown traditional pottery known as "ong-gi." I returned in 1990 to teach pottery for a short summer course at Wonkwang University, and I stayed. Starting in 1993 and for about five years thereafter, I wrote a column for The Korea Times, Only the Morning is Calm. Although Korea is the "Land of the Morning Calm," that tranquility rarely extends past sunrise.

The subjects of my essays could be just about anything, and all but a dozen or so were concerned with some aspect of Korea: rice, the stock market, the historical connection between the pottery of Korea and Japan, or "international marriages." Although it was supposed to be a weekly column, keeping up that pace was difficult, and I wrote around 150 columns.