01Personal Essay
Reflections on Romans
I must keep the Ten Commandments. I must be morally mature. I must have deep faith. Otherwise, I am a bad person, a filthy person, someone who deserves to be abandoned—as a human being, a fr…
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YOONCHAN WRITES / WRITING
Essays & Prose
Thoughts on identity, faith, memory, and the quiet details of everyday life.
20 Writings
Essays
11 pieces02Personal Essay
Every Day Is a Grain of Sand
“Perhaps the moments we encounter most often make the most beautiful subjects. The things so familiar that we simply pass them by, the things that have occupied a corner of our hearts withou…
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The Chief End of Me
Paradoxically, the more descriptors I accumulate to define myself, the more the person I call “I” becomes obscured. Seemingly unaware of this, people struggle to expand their sense of self b…
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Dreaming of Everyday Life
My nights are nothing but black. Unlike other people, I have no memories of the hours between lying down in bed at night and rubbing my eyes awake in the morning. Because I rarely remember m…
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Making Gimbap at Nineteen
When was the last time I rolled kimbap?
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The Child Who Hated Vacations
Ever since I was little, I have hated school vacations.
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When Life Weighs Like the Atmosphere
According to my mother, I used to score a perfect 100 on every spelling test I took as a child. I seem to remember missing a perfect score at least once, but apparently, in my mother's memor…
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My Eternal Home
"My eternal home, to which I shall one day return,
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In a Single Hamburger
These days, I have been ordering hamburgers quite often.
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Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
Film: Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019) Director: Richard Linklater Starring: Cate Blanchett
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Reflections on Shame
May My Wings Grow Again
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9 pieces12Short Reflection
December 15, 2022
A photograph I took in Canada. I walked past this road every day on my way to and from school, yet one day I realized I had never taken a picture of it. I happened to have my camera with me,…
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October 12, 2022
Banff, Canada. What an extraordinary privilege to visit one of the most beautiful destinations in the world. I could never have captured its grandeur with my camera, so I tried at least to c…
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August 23, 2022
Kakawa Camp, Canada. Only a few days after arriving, I went straight off to camp. I played with abandon. I was so happy. Swimming, archery, gaga ball, hiking—oh, it was wonderful. There was…
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August 11, 2024
I had a really difficult time in China. I think I was already exhausted back then. I spent entire days feeling irritable, entertaining negative thoughts, and even struggling with some self-h…
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September 3, 2025
There was a pencil case that came with the schoolbag I received as a gift when I started elementary school. If I remember correctly, I continued using it for about another year after enterin…
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September 9, 2025
Happiness can be found in a single sweet red-bean bun and a carton of soy milk. It is there in eating the bread I brought in the morning after exercising; in studying while chatting with fri…
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Untitled Reflection I
How complacently do we live? There is no growth, no progress, no evolution. We do not move forward. Blinded by immediate happiness, we keep looking at the trees instead of the forest. But th…
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Untitled Reflection II
I have come to realize anew how indifferent I have been to the world. How little have I loved it? Perhaps it is because I am already so full of myself.
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Untitled Reflection III
I want to be that kind of person.
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