In Motion

Finding a Home

Inspirational story in the LA Times about a girl that's going from skid row to Harvard:

As long as she can remember, Khadijah has floated from shelters to motels to armories along the West Coast with her mother. She has attended 12 schools in 12 years; lived out of garbage bags among pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Every morning, she upheld her dignity, making sure she didn't smell or look disheveled.

On the streets, she learned how to hunt for their next meal, plot the next bus route and help choose a secure place to sleep -- survival skills she applied with passion to her education.

Only a few mentors and Harvard officials know her background. She never wanted other students to know her secret -- not until her plane left for the East Coast hours after her Friday evening graduation.

Photography & Surfing

BBC captures a monster barrel in the waters off Pohnpei, Caroline Islands, Micronesia.  Gorgeous. Powerful. Humbling.

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NY Time Op-Ed

Rich Hawkins, a buddy of mine from law school, co-wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times titled A Deep Bench.  The piece encourages President Obama to select someone that has experience as a federal district court judge to replace Justice Souter. 

Pretty cool Rich!  

Need Inspiration?

From Zen Habits--30 places to turn to for inspiration.

Changing North Korea?

For anyone even remotely interested in how to change North Korea this Newsweek article by Andrei Lankov is a must read.  For my money, Lankov is the top NK scholar out there. 

Duke B-ball Player + Duke Law = Jay Bilas

I grew up watching Jay Bilas commenting on NCAA B-ball.  I didn't find out until a few days ago that he is also a practicing lawyer.  Jay Bilas firm profile here.  I wonder what he thinks is more exciting, the Final Four or filing motions? :) 

Metro Koreatown Poster

Apparently, Metro (formally the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority) has recently unveiled new posters depicting different Los Angeles neighborhoods.  I absolutely love the Koreatown poster (full size here).  Hap tip to Streetsblog.  I do miss LA.

   

Filling Out the Dash

I read a short article a few days ago reporting the departure of senior J.P. Morgan banker John Chrin, who is leaving to go teach at his alma mater, Lehigh University.  I found the last paragraph particularly poignant.    

Chrin, like many investment bankers, wondered when it would be time to leave the game. His “life is too short” revelation came around Christmas, when an uncle died of a heart attack. He was particularly struck at the funeral in hearing of life presented as a journey between two points: life and death, with a dash in between. He wanted to fill out that dash, he says.

Dartmouth Names Jim Yong Kim President

Dr. Jim Yong Kim announced as President of Dartmouth College.

Dr. Kim, who will be the first Asian-American to head an Ivy League institution, will take up the    post in July, succeeding James Wright, 69, who has been president of Dartmouth for 11 years.

Dr. Kim has lived an interesting life, partly captured in the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains.

Dr. Kim, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, immigrated with his family to the United States at age 5. He grew up in Muscatine, Iowa, where his was one of only two Asian families. He attended Muscatine High School, where he was valedictorian, president of his class and quarterback of the football team. He then went to Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1981.

Since the 1980s, Dr. Kim’s career has been entwined with that of Paul Farmer, his medical school friend and the subject of Tracy Kidder’s popular book “Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.”

Together, they started Partners in Health, a nonprofit organization that focused on drug-resistant  tuberculosis, first in Haiti and then in other countries, and helped drive down the cost of medication so that treatment could be widely available.

Introduction of Dr. Kim at Dartmouth

Books: December 2008 - February 2009

Managed to read some interesting books recently.  Wish I could read more but life has been a bit hectic.  Hoping to have some more time to read, write, and relax during the spring.  

December 2008-February 2009

1) Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (insightful and thought-provoking, typical Gladwell)

2) The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw

3) When Genius Failed:  The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein

4) The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason

5) The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee (met her recently)

6) The Architecture of Happiness by Alain De Botten (a favorite author)

7) Memory Power by Scott Hagwood