Emotional

Seoul International Marathon came and went. On the night before, Sofi and I decided to run only the first ten kilometres – which, conveniently, would deliver us straight to the doorstep of a local Starbucks :-) Given the chronic lack of sleep, this proved to be a wise decision: we got a taste of the Korean marathon experience without any of the subsequent physical pain.

And now, little more than ten days later, I find myself back in the United States for two conferences together with Anna and Eddie. The first, the annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, has long been a favourite of mine, taking me over the years from Portland to Las Vegas. This year it convenes at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood, allowing for a short escape to the Getty Center.

Yesterday morning I chaired a panel on “markets and morals”, and later presented my “Modernity as a Runway” paper (still under review, despite having been submitted almost a year ago). Both sessions went well, yet today I had a less triumphant moment, once again finding myself in that familiar, slightly lonely defence of progressive politics.

As before, I tend to become more emotional than is strategically helpful. After all, it is unrealistic to think that one can persuade others about a fundamentally different understanding of politics, history, and the future of human civilization in the space of two minutes. And yet, simply staying quiet – accepting the prevailing academic nihilism – also seems wrong. My worry, however, is that in pushing back I end up making my own position a disservice.

3x Okinawa

Run to Starbucks

Seoul (International Marathon)

Although I have been living in Seoul for almost two years now, I realized that I have written almost nothing about the city here on Rawls & Me. Like Korea in general, I guess part of this has to do with the very normality of the city. Despite being one of the largest cities in the world with a metropolitan area of more 25 million people, everyday life in Anna's and my little bubble up here in Imundong feels more like a small college town with its local cafés, pseudo-Italian bistrosm and students everywhere. Were it not for the occasional train bringing oil up to the front, the heavy military helicopters circling above from time to time or for all the students dressed in uniform, one would even be excused for forgetting that we are less than 100 km away from the most militarized zone on the planet.

As for the wider city, I hope to be able give a full account in two weeks when I plan to run Seoul International Marathon with Sofi who is coming over from Sweden. Or, should I say, I planned to run that marathon. Suffering from severe sleep deprivation and general baby apocalypse, I think I should be happy if I manage to finish half of those 42 kilometres… But of course, I will give it a shot and I promise to keep you posted about the result.