May 13th, 2007
About
After spending a year teaching English in Korea, I came back to the United States with 30 hours of digital video I had recorded, and several notebooks filled with journal entries I had written about my experience in the country.
That Summer, I spent 8 hours/day teaching myself how to edit video so I could spin all the raw footage from my trip into something that people might want to watch. The final work is called Miguk.
I developed Drift Reality as a platform so people from around the world would be able to view Miguk, and a digital version of my travel journal. Over the past four years, I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel around the world, and have always attempted to document my thoughts and vision in Drift Reality.
A little about myself: I was born in Washington, DC, to a Persian mother and a Korean father and I grew up between DC and Cleveland, Ohio. I graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in English and Music, and spent a
year studying English literature at Kings’ College London.
I’ve been working for an Internet media firm for the past four years, where I’ve gotten to manage media development projects for groups like the National Iranian American Council and the Club of Madrid.
In the Fall of 2006, I headed to the London School of Economics to pursue my MSc in media and communications. While in London, I developed a Web site and brand strategy for the Advertising, Marketing, and PR Society; developed a Wiki for the media and communications department; and completed a dissertation on social media.
Jiyan-
Stumbled across your website as I do time to time. Just wanted to say hi and see how you were doing. Do you still talk to Ken? Well, I just finished nursing school and am working for a plastic surgeon in La Jolla. It’s the first job that I actually like going to. Oh bye the way this is Alicia, the evil redhead you met about six years ago. Anyways, I hope that all is going well for you and if you get a minute shoot me back an e-mail. Talk to you later.
Alicia
Hey there! Of course I remember you. Isn’t ‘evil redhead’ a redundant statement? Hahaha - I crack myself up. You were a crack-up! Anyway, I’m glad things are going well in good ‘ol SD.
Hi Jiyan ~ I’m sure you have no idea who I am but I used to play basketball with you during pick-up games at the old gym in Balboa Park, San Diego. Anyhow, in looking for something about the gym in Balboa, I came across your original Drift Reality site (even before the one that is now referred to as the “old” site). I read through many of your writings and was inspired to get back into writing, something I had long neglected and forgotten. You even posted a very rough piece of mine, “Beautiful” (looking back, the piece itself wasn’t so beautiful as it could have been more focused). The point I am so slowly getting to is that I did stick with the writing and have published a book through Schiffer Publishing called “Chicago Ghosts” (ISBN: 9780764327421) due out this October (2007), and am working on another book on Southern IL ghosts for next year. Of course writing about ghost stories is not a very literary start to a writing career but I’m hoping the mere fact that I am published will open up doors to other opportunities with larger publishing houses willing to publish works of more substantial literary and social importance. I thought I’d share this update because through your writing and videos, your words really touched me in such a way that I wanted to set my own voice free, and I am now a very big step closer to sharing that voice with others on a much larger scale. 너를 감사하십시요
Rachel,
Of course I remember you, and your writing as well. I can’t believe you have a book coming out in October! That is incredibly impressive and I can’t wait to read it - thank you for reconnecting and sharing your story with me.
Jiyan
Thanks for the plug Jiyan. You’re very kind.
Lilian Garcia…
Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts…..
Jessie…
Love the blog. Ive dugg you in my digg account for future reading!…