the crime to disguise some of these
buildings 469 storeys high zoom into the
very center of Seoul there’s a tiny area
where apartments haven’t taken over it
kind of looks like Godzilla’s footprint
here in the heart of Seoul surrounded by
cement arms stretching upwards sit a
hundred year old traditional houses
called hanoks they’re one-story high and
the locals call this area island of
hanoks
those oldest neighborhood and this is
zooming krauser this is my childhood
home I remember the day when we moved
into this house my parents and my two
younger brothers I was 11 it was a big
deal for us because my parents that
worked very hard to save for a down
payment
we might get made my mom for the first
time it was love at first sight but they
were penniless on their wedding day my
dad had no wedding ring my maternal
grandma must have been like and you call
yourself my son-in-law
she ran out and bought one of those
cheap rings from a street vendor instead
of a real wedding band to seal the deal
true love doesn’t cost much for my
parents it cost $1 what a bargain so my
parents had no time to take us places
had no energy to tell us bedtime stories
yet barely had time to go to the
bathroom because they wanted there were
three of us to work hard to so we could
become successful that men no toys no TV
no fun activities pretty much most
favorite things I could buy KitKat one
those were off-limits but one thing that
I could not stop was drawing one day my
dad copy drawing
he said stop wasting time and study so I
had to study study study study study
study study and when I wasn’t studying
I didn’t just study even harder I
mentioned that I need to study a lot so
I pretended to study while imagining and
making up stories in my head and drawing
in secret the background that looks like
the background in my room that looks
like a prison bars is a rice paper door
a good thing about rice paper door is
that you could hear any noise coming
from outside if I heard somebody coming
I was stopped touring and highly
evidence I didn’t want to get caught
touring again I became a ninja artist
luckily there are other people living in
my Hanul total strangers who became our
residents our family used only three
rooms out of ten there was also a big
deal for us because we had never left in
more than two rooms but for this house
since I was the oldest child I bullied
my way into my own bedroom the rest of
the rooms were rented to other families
some families rented two rooms but most
families had rented just one they would
live in these rooms for three to three
to four years we were like one big
community in a single house I know how
sturdy is it at NPO but it was a typical
housing situation for many Koreans back
then before apartment buildings started
rising so house in the constant presence
of others living under one roof my roof
there are multiple stories going on in
my one story huh no every family had a
story they didn’t tell them they’d show
them it was like living in a
never-ending reality show I was blown
out on my own confinement too
the only experiences of others and to
see the world through their eyes once to
Grandpa’s Davina living in my hand all
fought over a pair of Underpants
both had owned identical ones apparently
I never knew how much people love their
underwear until I met these two grandpas
one claimed that the other grandpa had
taken his parrot hung in the laundry
line he pointed at this distinctive mark
a permanent stain or his pants
that’s my stain normally a person would
deny any type of bus stain on their
underwear but this grandpa identifying
himself with it the other one pastor
deserves tightly and ignored him the
accusing birth grandpa he said I’d
rather talk to a deaf cow until their
ego a single mother who ran a noodle
shop lived with her teenage son my own
brothers and I called him big brother we
would linger around waiting for him to
fleece the comic books about tech on the
robot he rented from a comic book rental
store it’s the weekly run otherwise the
only time that we could get into comics
or the occasional Sundays when we skip
church and use the or frequent mom gave
us too when comic books ourselves it was
my first business venture with a great
return on investment but risky reading a
comic book was also considered wasting
time the big brother never told my mom
about it I’ve thought his support
a bus driver lived with his girlfriend
for three years and moved out two years
later the police showed up at our door
to investigate his girlfriend had left
him and he has studied gambling any
about $10,000 from a group of gangsters
and the gang threatened to kill him if
he didn’t pay them back so he kidnapped
a college student prevents them
and ended up killing her they could have
never happened in my house because there
are always people around
it was odd to hear such terrible news of
him I remembered him as a nice quiet man
I felt his disappear we had a couple of
single women in their twenties they
worked at a ujong a female entertainment
house they often were this beautiful
Korean traditional dresses to go to work
they’re so elegant and they always
smiled at me one of them had come from a
poor war farm and sent her family money
every month it was later she invited me
my mom to her new house she about she
had bought by saving diligently
I thought her pride one grandma told her
scary stories the real horror was that
the stories had really happened she said
the streets of Seoul were filled with
corpses during the Korean world that
women sprawled on their backs
dead men lie on their stomach and in the
summertime hosts will appear in their
bodies within a week she’ll go on with
her eyewitness details of how the human
body decomposed was like her memory was
getting sharper and she aged I felt her
another grandma had Alzheimer’s one
night she went around and around the
same narrow alley either she was lost or
she was out on patrol protecting our
neighborhood anyway our next-door
neighbor brought her back to us
years later when I visited home from the
US should not only recognized me but she
took out ten dollar bill all wrinkled up
I’m up from a pocket and gave it to me
to welcome me back I was like thank you
ninja grandma
I felt back home zoom out of Seoul I
told my parents I was going to the u.s.
to study I put myself in an article in
New York City I had completed my ninja
school finally I could draw freely I
became a children’s book writer and
illustrator when my first book came out
my parents thought I had become an
artist overnight they couldn’t believe
it so I drew something quickly to show
off my brother was impressed that’s a
nice car you drew I was like no it’s
grandma my dad asked me to read my book
aloud he dozed off while I was reading I
told him not every children’s book story
is at that time story he asked me how I
wrote the story little didn’t know that
the residence in my hand had taught me
three key things for storytelling over
the years one in every story the
character face is a problem just like
all of us at our house had a lot of
problems too we don’t know how the story
will end just like our lives we all tell
stories with our lies in the way we live
but none of us knows what will happen
tomorrow our lives are a mystery story 3
no character stands alone yes
a great character grows to a strong
horse but the character needs help
through those hard times even a hero
needs others to be a hero even the
artist as a child I was not allowed to
make art freely but the community in my
hand opened up a pathway for flexible
thinking my house faster natural
interaction
that allowed my subconscious mind to
explore the diversity of emotions and
thoughts we share much joy sorrow
brokenness and resilience being aware of
each other’s gain and pain made us more
able to go on and we saw what was
special in each other it not only help
me cultivate empathy but it also
increased my individual creative
capacity all emotions are relational
emotional emotional intuition is
critical in the creative creative
process because these emotional prompts
are often associated with high levels of
energy and they feel creativity we think
that the creative types are solitary
individuals racking their brains in
their caves like dr. Seuss Easter Grinch
yes
spending time in my own head was
important in the process yes intrinsic
motivation drove me to create but the
extrinsic motivators can further
reinforce in a drives the
interconnectedness of people in my
hollow inspire me to tell and draw from
the heart and share with the world
outside of the island of Hallows John
Donne wrote 400 years ago no man is an
island entire of itself it leaves us the
power of a community in the flow of life
with that community we cannot actualize
or realize our innate potential gifts
and passions and in turn give it back to
the world which is really our greatest
community to be human is to be creative
Express and understand and connect that
is the heart of creativity that is also
the spirit of community wherever you
find your own story thank you you