백지장도 맞들면 낫다
Baekjijangdo matdeulmyeon natda
“It’s better to lift together, even if it’s just a piece of paper.”
—Korean Proverb
T here has been a longstanding tradition in small Korean villages of pumasi, the pooling of labor to benefit the community. Farming families used pumasi for large-scale productions such as the harvest of rice, and the annual preparation of kimchi by the village women. This custom employed by our ancestors, one of helping each other for the collective good, was utilized to bring Mixed Korean: Our Stories to fruition.
Writers, artists, editors, designers, funders, advisors, and believers are a part of the village that helped make this anthology possible. In the old days, pumasi was practiced amongst participants who were either related or knew each other’s family history. Though many of the contributors have never met, we are family who share a heritage that connects us back to a peninsula seeped in sorrow and hardship but also hope, determination, and resilience. Some of us were born during the Korean War, others arrived in the world during less turbulent times when there was still little acceptance of mixed people.
Many of us were raised in adoptive families, some grew up with biological parents and siblings, a few can remember making the leap from living with blood relatives to being situated with unrelated people who became family. However, as mixed Koreans, our commonalities are many. Most of us considered ourselves oddities as children, we didn’t look Korean enough, black enough, white enough, or other enough to be fully accepted by a group. We searched through classrooms, the media, and crowds seeking blended faces that looked like ours, rarely finding any resemblance. But now we have found each other, and although we are unique individuals, there is a camaraderie that we share.
We have tremendous gratitude for our anthology village that came together to bring this book to life. First and foremost, we thank Thomas Park Clement for underwriting all of the publishing costs. His generous funding of a variety of projects in the Korean American and Korean Adoptee communities, has touched the lives of many.
An enormous thank you to artist Stefanie Blandon (aka Jacky Lee) who imagined the amazing cover art, then formed her vision with tender paint strokes. Her remarkable creation is everything we could have hoped for and more.
We are grateful to HJ Lee of KoreanAmericanStory.org for helping to publicize the project and for his organization’s recognition of mixed Koreans as a vital part of Korean society. Thank you to Joel Peterson, he not only wrote a story, but also composed an essay about the importance of the project that was used to entice others to contribute.
We appreciate Dawn Tomlinson’s assistance during the early stages of the project, and we are glad that Kate Cho and Sora Kim-Russell, both of whom provided translation assistance and Korean language and culture expertise, stepped up to volunteer when we needed them. Another thank you to Sora Kim-Russell, and also to Mary-Kim Arnold, for editing. Sora and Mary-Kim reviewed stories, corrected grammar, spelling, and flow, while carefully preserving the voices of the authors.
We are grateful to scholar and professor Su-Je Gage, who wove her personal perspective with her academic knowledge, to produce a beautifully crafted foreword that provides context and purpose for the anthology. Author Matt Knight provided perspective in regards to contracts, and we appreciate the time he devoted to helping us with this endeavor.
A very special kamsahamnida to Eugenia Kim. We honestly don’t know what we would have done without her. Eugenia joined us to help with editing because she believed in the importance of the anthology. Once on board, whenever a new need arose, she offered her skills as writer, interviewer, and designer, spending countless hours laying out the book in InDesign. Eugenia has expertise in many subject areas, but above and beyond her professional skills, she was always warm, kind, and encouraging. She was a true gift to this project.
Lastly, we want to thank everyone who contributed a piece to this collection. Some have established careers as writers, novelists, and poets, a few are aspiring to become published authors, others are novices writing their stories for the first time. As it is with pumasi, the work of each member is considered equally important in achieving the final goal. Mixed Koreans: Our Stories would not be possible without your generosity. It takes bravery to divulge our narratives to the world. We hope in the telling of our stories, that we will empower others with the courage to share their own.
Katherine Kim
Editor-in-Chief
Cerrissa Kim
Managing Editor