Dongkwan’s Advertising World

I hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving. I gotta say, I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before. But this Thanksgiving I did, and it a was a special one.

As I landed on the Freeport International Airport in the Grand Bahamas Island of the hundreds of Bahamiam islands, the first thing I recognized was the tall palm trees. Oh yes, I felt I was somewhere else. The last time I ever interacted with palm trees was back when I was in Tunisia. It’s been what… 15 years?

Soon I realized I saw myself becoming a child, back to my Tunisian days. The palm trees, the air breeze, and the hot tropical heat all made sense - I was alive. Yes, I had survived the years of complexity, where every day I lived to succeed tomorrow, and lived in buildings, with man made air-conditioners to kill off the nature’s warmth. But I realized that the city man I was, I’ve been living with the wrong habits. For once, I was able to return to a child, building castles in the sands, and enjoying the world of freedom where watching the sunset against the horizon was no longer an event. Ah, you should have been there.

So I get back, after a 2 year reunion with my mother and my aunt. As I left the international airport seeing my mother in tears, I realized something else. I’ve been too focused on my life not knowing how much my family missed me. And to my greater surprise was that I never had the closest thing to dropping a tear. I mean, did all that air-conditioner freeze up my 98% water-content in my body?

If you think you’re been too much a city-person, this winter, take your self to the beaches of the Bahamas. Take a week, and you’ll be rejuvenated with emotion, where you can be human again. Alive, in this world of complex matters.

P.S. One thing had me crying - all my pictures I took were lost due to a malfunction of my 8 month old digital camera. I’ll post ‘em when I fix ‘em.

In programming language, the first thing you learn is how to have your screen show “Hello World!”
How exciting!
Even more exciting is when you get to type “Goodbye World!”
Oh yeah, I’ll be leaving this world for a few days, as I’ve been called upon a mission.

Where to? In The Bahamas!

Unfortunately, it’s no romantic getaway. It’s my reunification with my mother, and my aunt who is currently being treated for cancer. Yeah, I haven’t seen them for quite a while, but that’s not why I’m going there.

I’m going there to say farewell to the world for a while.
I’ve been stuck under a fog of cigarettes day and night, with ink and pencil lead constantly pricking my nose. I’ve been seeing my grades go down the drain, hearing the imminence of my failure in landing a copywriting job. How good a vision can I get in such environments?

So I’m off, to get a better vision of creating cooler ads. Yes, await me my fellow readers (if there are any) - I’ll be back stuck under a fog of sand castles, with palm leaves and coconuts pricking my nose. I’ll be seeing dolphins go down the waves, hearing the imminence of my failure in landing a mediocre perspective.

So I said I’m going to the Bahamas. If you don’t see another post by me in the future, you know where to look for me. I’ll be the guy inscribing my name on your next romantic getaway beachfront.

I tell ya, this was totally unexpected, and I bet something unexpectedly exciting can happen to you this Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And save some leftovers for me. Goodbye World! - for a couple of days.

I tell people I lived in South Africa, and people ask if I had to ride lions.

Well, I did cuddle a baby lion once in a safari.

The truth is, South Africa is not much different than anywhere else in the world. Think of Europe, think of the United States, and think of all those cultures in a land far, far away from the rest of the world. That’s South Africa. A true multi-culture in a beatiful foreign land.

I love South Africa. Anyone who’s been there will fall in love. It’s really hard to explain why… Kind of like asking why you love your mother. Same concept, but South Africa never grows old - young and beautiful as it was before. And the people? You think violence in that country makes them ugly? Oh no, they are the nicest people on earth.

South Africa has a really unique culture. They have had people coming in from Europe, Asia, and of course, the natives in Africa. But what makes it so unique is that this eclectic population has brought about its own culture. Very different to the U.S. In the U.S., you’re an Asian even if you’ve lived here your entire life. You’re somebody, even though you are not. In South Africa, everyone in South Africa is South African. Yeah, you might say, that discrimination has been the worldwide issue there, but no South African separates themselves.

There’s really no need to write any more about this beautiful country, because I’d highly recommend that you visit this place at least once in your life time. You’ll know when you arrive at the airport, and smell the richness of the earth against an African sunset.

I was 7, and the only non-Korean phrase I knew was “How do you do.” And I landed up in Africa, where I thought I had to hunt deer for dinner. But, luckily not. As soon as I arrived, I could see that the country didn’t look so African. I mean, there was the Sahara Desert, but no jungles. The cool thing was, at the time, I had no clue that the world was so much different.

So to my amazement, I found that there were people who believed in other religions than I, and that people didn’t eat rice every day. The biggest shock was the fact that there were women wearing white robes which covered most of their faces. I remember watching mom wear a similar outfit for a play she performed on Christmas Eve at church. But, they weren’t my mom.

The life in Tunisia was… umm… not the best. I don’t remember any place but being in school. School was my only place to walk around without having other kids jump onto us making faces. Even in my own backyard, I’d see other children walk by throwing rocks at us. I don’t know why… Oh, I do know why. Because I was Asian. And they’d use their fingers to lengthen the size of their eyes horizontally. And they’d say the only English word they knew: “China China” Well, Mr. Smelly, I’m Korean dammit! I ignored them, but really deep inside, it was the first time that I faced the reality of discrimination of races. But hey… it was OK after a while. I mean, no one, no one on earth is equal. Nothing is fair. I learned this age 7. Great lesson. And I stll know this continues…

I was born in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. I lived there until I was 4 before going to Korea. In all seriousness, I have not one single memory of living in Argentina. And since leaving, I’ve never returned to my birth home. All I know are stories that my mother told me, that I could only speak Spanish at the time - until I went to Korea, where my change in tongue totally wiped out my memory of Argentina. But who remembers their first 4 years anyway?

I don’t remember anything, but I do have this… this… what do you call it… love? No love is too powerful, but it’s something real close to that… some sort of heavenly love. I love everything Argentinian. I love Diego Maradonna. I love Buenos Aires. I hated it when Argentina was having financial hardships. It’s just part of me, and as I was born there, if one wishes to touch on my naive, purest side, then simply mention Argentina.

Argentina. Si amigos, it’s my baby-side of life.

(I know it’s long, but you should read this till the end to know me…)

I’m sure you’re all wondering, who is this Dongkwan?

I would too. Every time I pick up a book to read, I always look for the brief bio about the author. For example, if I pick up a book on copywriting, I would want to read an author who’s worked in the ad industry for over 20 years at large well-known agencies. Unfortunately, most of the time, they’re written by some freelancer who’s had a lot of clients in a consulting business… whatever that means.

But this is me. And after reading my bio, if you’re a student or rookie like me, you may think that I’m not worth reading. I’d do the same, too. But if you’re a professional copywriter or a creative director or recruiter seeking new talent, then, you might think different. I don’t know who you are and where you come from, but I’d sure be interested. So let me know, if I interest you at all. You know, so we can get to know each other. (winks)

My name: Dongkwan Kim

I was born in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. That was some 25 years ago. I was baptized under the name Carlos Andres, and hence, my real name should be Carlos Andres Kim. But of course, as having Korean parents, I was given a Korean name, Dongkwan. But wait, in the west, they all have middle names. So I should really be named, Dongkwan Carlos Andres Kim. But Andres was actually named after a Korean Saint Dae-Gun Andrew Kim. To make things more clear, I should really be named Dongkwan Carlos Dae-Gun Andres Kim. Ah, but just call me Dongkwan. Or DK if you’d like.

So, after speaking only Spanish until the age of 4 (which my mother told me… I don’t remember speaking at all), I moved to Seoul, Korea - that’s South Korea. OK. So at age 4 of just learning to speak Spanish, I had to learn Korean. Ctrl-Alt-Del. Rebooted my system. So now I’m learning Korean, attending Taekwondo pre-school, and by age 7 I’ve just learned to speak Korean and learned how to kick some mellow butt with my black belt. But, I had to leave. I was too old for Seoul I guess.

My family and I ended up in the northern part of Africa, in a city named Tunis in Tunisia. What a name. Like the U.S. should change their name to Washingtonia. Or Korea to Seoulia. Or Brazil to Brasilia. (Oh wait a minute… Brasilia is the capital!) Any how, I ended up attending my first grade in Tunis. Decided not to attend an arab school, or french. I mean, imagine an asian boy speaking arab. That just doesn’t fit somehow! So I ended up attending The American Co-Operative School of Tunis/Tunisia. Everyone who memorized the school name was allowed to attend. In short, it was called A.C.S.T. Well, so I had to Ctrl-Alt-Del again. This time, to American English. So after 3 years of using a whole lot of body language and some basic words in English (”I eat apple”), I ended up having to leave Tunisia again.

Whereto now? Back to Korea. Even back in Korea, I moved around in two cities - Seoul, and a new suburb called Bundang. Whew. I was a fourth grader, and I was up til 4AM simply doing simple homework (”I eat more apple”). Just two years pass, and I’m packing my bag again. Actually, my mother. Now we’re headed to Africa once more. This time, to the most southern. Guess where? South Africa! I thought I’d be lionback-riding while dad’s hunting for waterbuffaloes in mom’s homemade jaguar leather skirts for my sister’s marriage on her 15th birthday. I was wrong. It was heaven established in heaven by heavenly people. I ended up attending a South African old-english-style ‘primary’ school in Pretoria, the capital city. It was called Waterkloof House Preparatory School, in short, W.H.P.S - pronounce, whipps. Ironically, the teachers didn’t have whips in their safari-uniform back pockets, but did have the strictest mouths. We had to call everyone “mam” or “sir” (We couldn’t say “yesiree” at any time). Well, after being at school at somewhat a resemblance to Roald Dahl’s novels, I graudated from Whipps, and went to Saint Alban’s College. Yeah baby, I was in college at age 15! But really, it’s just highschool. Oh, did I mention that since 5th grade at Whipps, I’ve been in an all-boys school? Yeah, and when I decided to go alone to the U.S. alone in my 9th grade, I ended up at a boys-school once again.

This time, in Washington, D.C. most prestigious school - Saint Albans School for boys. Somehow, it had the same name as in South Africa, except I went down from college to highschool. Anyhow, I was in the dorms, but learned a really good lesson - the U.S. isn’t called the land of freedom for no reason. After graduation in 2000, I came to Pittsburgh, PA, at Carnegie Mellon University. Major: Information Systems. Oh yes, having to do with computers, but no one can really define that major. I still can’t (It’s a system involving information of some sort). During that time, my parents landed up in Bucharest, Romania. So every break, I had to fly there. Amazingly, it’s the only airline I could still find smoking-allowed airplanes. And an international airport that’s full of smokes despite no-smoking signs everywhere. Yes, it was still in smokes from the aftermath of a totalitarian regime.

After a year or so, I left Carnegie Mellon and return to Korea. Why? To serve my nation. So that in case the North does come marching down, I can be on the frontier and guard my nation till death. I served the Army in the southern part of South Korea as a linguist - typing and translating field manuals. Never got to see anything really army-like, but still, it’s the freakin’ army. Once more I felt that the U.S. isn’t just a land of freedom, it’s a land of humanity.

Well, so I make my way back to Pittsburgh in the summer of ‘05, and suffer from some kind of… what do you call it… Don’t-Want-To-Meet-Other-People-For-The-Purpose-Of-Doing-Well-In-School-Syndrome. And soon that led to What-On-Earth-Am-I-Doing-Studying-Computers-Syndrome. I can type… real fast. I can build a computer. But I can’t code. I can’t do math. I can’t think in logical terms with numbers.

So the time came, when I needed to find myself a better life. “Better late than never”, was as new a term to me than ever. So I acted fast, before ‘later’ became ‘never’. I soon began to analyze myself (It’s really scary, so you should try it). Number 1, what am I good at? Typing fast, thinking outside-the-box, having weird ideas in my head, not going to bed due to visualizing random things in my head… So after a lot of reseach, I found this job - called a copywriter? Someone who copies other writers? Or someone in a law firm? Well, it was totally something else. Totally me!

So here I am now, taking 7 classes per quarter at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, majoring in Advertising. People around me would think, what a downgrade, as most haven’t heard of this school. My parents had a hard time adjusting to me too. But whatever. I had to change. And I fell in love instaneously. And knowing that I love advertising, nothing came in my way.

So this is me now, trying to land a job in a global ad agency, and trying everything to compete against… let’s see… compete against: english-natives, American citizens and greencard holders, portfolio school graduates, majors in literature and english and journalism, experienced workers, design and photography skilled students, and all A students. Well, that’s just for a Jr. Copywriter position in an ad agency. But I know I can do this. I can find a needle in a haystack, as long as I stay focused and motivated. And when love motivates you, oh man, you enjoy every little moment. And I know so, that given my weird life of travels (never mentioned all the other places I’ve visited have I?) and experiences, and my weird visualizing brain, I’m fit to create some super-duper-campaigns that you’ve never even thought of thinking about.

Me. I am Dongkwan.
You. You are the advertising world.
I love you. And you’ll love me.