Author Talk: A Conversation with Elondra Birchfield author of Purple Hearts: Maya’s Journey With BTS We all have an origin story of how we started our journey as fans of K-pop and Korean culture. For some, it was a way to connect to a culture and community that we were already familiar with. The journey … More A Journey into Becoming ARMY and Beyond
Starting in the United States in 1999 and adapted globally over time, every year June is recognized in most parts of the world as Pride Month. For those of you not familiar, Pride is a global celebration and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community. However, Pride is not as widely celebrated in some countries. If it … More Korea and Pride: Queer Culture in the Background
아니요! 만지지 마세요! No! Please Don’t Touch!” This may be one of the first phases in Korean that some Black foreigners learn while spending any type of time in South Korea. Whether you are there for a week or two as a tourist, there for a few months as a foreign exchange student or have … More The Unicorn in a Foreign Land: The Black Experience in South Korea
Back in January, I was scrolling through my Instagram, and I see a post by one of my favorite Black American comics Kevin Fredericks (KevOnStage) and to my surprise there was a clip of the recent Korean pop group Got7’s fan-meet concert Nestfest. The caption on the clip says, “He’s not a Delta.” Confused, I … More Here We Go Again: Korean Entertainment Lack of Awareness
*Disclaimer- parts of this article briefly mentions thoughts of or attempts at suicide. If this may be triggering, please proceed with caution. * Since getting into anime a few years ago the biggest debate I have seen on nerd spaces is this long and drawn-out discussion about watching anime through subtitles (Subs) or through English … More Dubs vs Subs: How Language Dubbing Can Take Away the Experience and Intentions of Korean Media
Stopping the Repeat of History On December 3rd, 2024, at approximately 10:30 PM KST South Korean President Yoon Sik Yeol announced on national television that he was enacting his Presidental power and placing the country into martial law. Merriam Webster Dictionary describes martial law as the law administered by military forces that is invoked by a … More “What about my oppa?” K-Pop Fans Concerns During South Korea’s Brief Period of Martial Law
On July 12th I had the opportunity to finally check off an item on my music bucket list and see Korean R&B artist and Voice Korea 2020 winner Kim Ji-Hyun, better known as G Soul (aka Golden). I discovered his beautiful soulful voice in 2018, when I was going through my Korean R&B journey. Out … More Soul From Seoul: The Underappreciated Genre of Korean R&B
I had the chance to go to a sold out exhibition called Korea Cubically Imagined that was organized and sponsored by Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) https://www.kocca.kr/en/main.do. The KOCCA is a governmental agency that oversees and coordinates the promotion of the Korean content industry, was established in May 2009 by integrating five related organizations, including … More Korea Cubically Imagined
Roughly two months ago I saw a heated debate about the newly elected South Korean President Yoon Seok Youl on Twitter. Many Korean Americans and native Koreans alike were disheartened and disappointed in the outcome of the 2022 election. Yoon’s campaign, who is a part of the conservative People Power Party, was plagued by controversy … More An Americans view of the Inauguration of South Korean President Yoon Seok Youl
Recently I had a friend ask me about the name of this blog, The Melanin Ajumma, and why I had chosen such a name. Being Black American, she understood the melanin part of the name, but not being familiar with Korean Culture, she had no idea the reasoning behind Ajumma. It then hit me, that … More Why do I call myself the Melanin Ajumma?
The Melanin Ajumma 