The Muscle Memory of Democracy: Gwangju, Minnesota, and the Work That Follows

This is the companion episode to this week’s newsletter, but it goes deeper into what I couldn’t fully hold on the page.

I talk about what “Gwangju” means in the Korean nervous system, why certain places become stages for power, and why democracy rarely moves forward on autopilot.

I also reflect on Korea’s exhausting cycle of backsliding and accountability, and why Minnesota, right now, looks like a community refusing to normalize coercion through real civic follow-through.

If you have been feeling tired, cynical, or numb lately, I made this episode with you in mind.
It is also a small reminder I keep returning to: power is borrowed, not owned.

I shared a few lines from this week’s podcast script on Bluesky while I was still drafting it, half unsure if the words would land the way I hoped. A reader responded with this hand-lettered note, turning one sentence into something you can literally carry. Thank you for reading, listening, and meeting my words with your own.