the climax

there's only 3 weeks of school left (3rd week being finals) and everything is piling on in every class. group projects, essays, tests, BS! 

and then for some reason, i signed myself up for a features story. 1000 words. i might as well replace it with one good picture. haha... ha... ha...

i guess i wanted to do it because it's the last issue of the semester and it's probably going to be my last newspaper ever. cheryl, the student trustee at mt. sac wanted the mountaineer to do a story on halmuhnee and she only speaks korean, so i just jumped at it. 

halmuhnee is one of the several recycling ladies on campus. she goes around trash bins to pick up water bottles, soda bottles and any other recyclable things. there's another lady who has been at mt. sac for longer than she, for about ten year according to dr. maynard. but halmuhnee gets all the attention and knows a lot more people. anyway, i got to actually sit down and talk to her. 

there is so much to say about her, but i'll make it brief. she has 2 daughters here in US and a son in korea. she lives with her younger daughter's family in an apartment just down the street from mt. sac. they have been here since 2 years ago but her son-in-law cannot get a job, so she's helping out by bringing in some supplemental income. her daughter calls her 'guhji' which means homeless. the rest of her family though, is supportive. she said her granddaughters are very thankful and they do very well in school. one of her granddaughters actually attends mt. sac. But she told her granddaughter to not say 'hi' when she sees her because it will be embarrassing. my heart breaks.

omg so sad. she used to go to mountains and rock climb in korea! now she has to dig through trash. oh, the absurdities of life. 

i wish i can say more, but i gotta save the juice for the actual story. the issue is coming out.. during finals week?! i'm not sure. but wait for it... i'll make it a good one.