The Obama Story

All elementary school English teachers must make a visit to the local English Zone twice a year. This entails hanging out with a group of kids in different simulated environments, and having the same scripted discourse with each and every single one of them. I finished my time there last semester thinking - on account my co teacher telling me so - that I would never have to bare this torture again. That was nothing but a cruel tease. I did have to return, and it was just as mind-numbingly tedious as the first time. However, there was one thing that kept this recent experience at least a little exciting: The Obama Story.

I discovered The Obama Story almost immediately on my first day back. There it lay, quietly calling to me amongst all the other banal preparatory English texts. 'Could this be real?' I thought. 'No way!' But sure enough, it was everything I imagined it could be. A Korean-American author and Korean illustrator had basically put together a graphic novel depicting Barack Obama's life. It is amazing. Just imagine taking someone's very real life and putting it through some sort of anime playdough-shaper. In this case, we have the magical gift to life known as The Obama Story.

Here is the cover and some selected pages to whet your appetite.






(notice this is where he meets Michelle...)

Does the President or any of his people know this exists? I've seen a lot of things in Korea, but this ranks way up there in almost all categories... hilarity, ridiculousness, awkwardness, etc etc...

(Do yourself a favor and zoom in on that text if you can't read it. Korea!)