1F O L D M A R K S

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Cosmos bipinnatus

Annual Type

Asteraceae Family

Declared invasive by the

United States Southeast Exotic Pest Plant Council

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3F O L D M A R K S

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Taken May 4th 2014

at Barclay Apartments

in Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA.

A series of shots taken

of two potted Cosmos.

5F O L D M A R K S

C R O P M A R K S

B L E E D M A R K S

caroline parc

There have been so far three major events in my twenty years of existence that have each involved an encounter with purple Cosmos.Visiting my grandmother’s womb shaped grave in South Korea at age 7. I can see patches of cosmos airily dancing around the grassy mound on its top left corner as I walk around and around. My mother wipes a picture frame before setting it back down onto the shelf. I look to see a portrait of my grandmother with dried, pressed Cosmos placed at the bottom left corner of the frame. I am 9.

At age 20 I embark on a project, seeking to celebrate the independent, yet loyal women of Korean descent and to examine their emancipation from certain social and cultural ideals. So began my search and what other way to guide and direct my research than looking back at the women of my own bloodline?

A divide between my family stories and independently extracted information, Emancipation is about women and the evolution of the shifts they make in presumed societal roles from generation to generation. My studies unfolded in the most organic way, leading me from the library reserves to the heart of Koreatown. Along the way I come to certain realizations about the identity I carry.

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Adopting Cosmos as the motif imagery of my

exploration has provided a balanced pool of

information pertaining to the subject of this

book. Strong-stemmed and highly adaptable

to its growing environments, the Cosmos has

come to symbolize to me the strong women of

my family. I find it appropriate to interweave

Cosmos into the book as it has already done

so within my life span.

7F O L D M A R K S

C R O P M A R K S

B L E E D M A R K S

caroline parc

Preservation of a Cosmos Flower

DAY1

DAY2

DAY3

DAY 4

DAY5

DAY6

DAY7

DAY8

DAY9

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9F O L D M A R K S

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11F O L D M A R K S

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13F O L D M A R K S

C R O P M A R K S

B L E E D M A R K S

Stella Soon-Hi Koh

Imjung Kwuon

Maeun Koch’u

Kyong-Ae Price

Kathy Kim

Brenda Paik Sunoo

Kyung-Ja Lee

Hyun Yi Kang

Y. Chang

Serena Choi

Sandy Lee

Young Soon Han

Yanny Rhee

Nataly Kim

Young Kim

Sookhee Choe Kim

Bong Hwan Kim

East to AmericaElaine H. Kim and Eui-Young Yu

Selected contributers from East to America,a collection of candid oral histories from a wide cross section of Korean Americans

14

Segments from Y. Chang’s “House of Haesun”

Warm and vulnerable-looking, Y. Chang [pseudonym] has wide-set eyes and an almost luscious

smile. She wears her feelings on her face as she speaks, almost without pausing, about her life. She

has a remarkable memory for exact dates and figures as well as for the taste of certain foods under

certain circumstances. Born in P’yongyang in northern Korea in 1941, Chang has lived in Los

Angeles since 1967. Her phenomenal success in small business has been considerably slowed be a

combination of factors, including economic recession and the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.

I never saw my mother have a happy moment with my father. I told myself that if I ever married, I

would devote my life to my husband and to make the marriage happy. That’s how I treated mr. Song.

I lived my life for him, but he treated me as if I were nothing.

For some reason, I still keep the crystal wedding ring he gave me. But he had taken out our chonse

[rent deposit lump-sum money]. I was six and a half months pregnant, and he told me to sell our

Remington typewriter at the market and abort my baby. I did as he told me to; I got $120 for the

typewriter, and then I went to a clinc to abort the baby. Two days later, he left. I remember the

date—it was June 9, 1966, one year and two days after our wedding. I couldn’t even go to the

airport because I was still weak from the abortion.

Ten months later, on March 15, 1967, I joined him with our two-year-old son. He was studying at

Claremonth College. I started at a sewing factory in downtown Los Angeles, and in the afternoons I

was a maid, cooking and cleaning the rooms at the Oriental Students’ Center. I earned $100 a week

from the sewing factory and $40 a week from the Students’ Center, plus two meals a day.

At that time, there was only one Korean restaurant in Los Angeles, Korea House on Jefferson

Boulevard near Western. There was one grocery store, on 35th and Normandie, called Oriental

Food. There were several Korean churches.

Jenny was born in January 1968 at the L.A. County General Hospital. Mr. Song was taking his final

examinations. I checked myself in at around 7:00 A.M., and my daughter was born at 11:00 A.M.

Suddenly, I remembered little Dennis. I had to leave him in the car in the parking lot while I went

in to give birth. I didn’t have the money to pay $115 a night for the hospital stay, so they said I could

leave, but they were required to keep the newborn baby at least twenty-four hours. So I walked out

of the hospital myself and went to the car. Dennis was drenched with sweat, as if he had just taken a

shower.

When I arrived home that evening, the seven other Korean students at the Claremont Graduate

School were gathered at our place to congratulate my husband about our new baby. He didn’t want

them to know that we couldn’t afford the money for me to stay in the hospital, so he made me hide

in the filthy garage until they left. It was winter, and I was shivering with cold. Finally, I fainted.

E A S T T O A M E R I C A : K O R E A N A M E R I C A N L I F E S T O R I E S

15F O L D M A R K S

C R O P M A R K S

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caroline parc

Altogether, before I started working steadily at the machine shop, I had about thirty different jobs:

I milked cows on a farm, packed eggs at a chicken ranch, ironed in a laundry, fed horses, sewed

hangbags, all sorts of things. All the checks went directly to Mr. Song. He handled the money. He

gave me an allowance for housekeeping expenses. Every morning, I made his lunch, dropped off his

children at a baby-sitter’s in Chino, and went to work. Then I came home and cooked dinner for the

family.

I cried so much because of him. He never gave me a dollar. I would not have dared to divorce him

if I hadn’t been on the Garment Association board. Working on the board, I discovered my ability. I

realized that no one could match my ideas. At home I was nothing, but on the board, I accomplished

important things and gained confidence. I realized that I could stand by myself.

After 1976, I never responded to his rages. I just ignored him. I didn’t deal with him for six years. It

was difficult, but I waited until Bernard started high school. Then one morning, I just disappeared. I

went to see a lawyer for an annulment and had the papers mailed to him. I didn’t take anything. He

gave away everything that had belonged to me; I don’t even have my high school diploma. He didn’t

even give me my own photographs.

I remarried in 1987.

I am learning so much. I don’t care about material possessions. The only thing I want to do is get to

know some good people.

E A S T T O A M E R I C A : K O R E A N A M E R I C A N L I F E S T O R I E S

16

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Vestibulum hendrerit hendrerit ipsum, vitae consequat est volutpat at. Sed suscipit laoreet elementum. Nunc malesuada nibh porttitor, sagittis eros at, interdum mauris. Nam convallis suscipit sollicitudin. Cras fermentum ut justo nec ornare. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.

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17F O L D M A R K S

C R O P M A R K S

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caroline parc

“Grandmother”

Graphite and Prismacolor on paper, digital

Caroline Saerom Park

2014

18

“Mother”

Graphite and Prismacolor on paper, digital

Caroline Saerom Park

2014

19F O L D M A R K S

C R O P M A R K S

B L E E D M A R K S

“Daughter”

Graphite and Prismacolor on paper, digital

Caroline Saerom Park

2014

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