Climate Action in your area

 So I ran across this video of Blackpink at Buckingham palace in 2023. Intrigued I googled why. 

Turns out King Charles III presented them Honorary MBEs for, wait for it, their work in the environmental field.

Real.ly? I googled further. 

The initial results were people pointing out the obvious contradiction of their work and the environment. Then I found this:

“BLACKPINK was appointed as Advocates for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in 2020 and has been delivering powerful messages to the world ever since.”

I had no idea.  Maybe I’m not a Blink afterall.  Or maybe I could be an investigative Blink, like what concretely was done? 

And then I found this about YG, their parent company:

“As part of this initiative, YG Entertainment will offset the electricity consumption from BLACKPINK’s Seoul and London stops on their upcoming world tour using Peace-Renewable Energy Credits (P-RECs) generated by an IOM-managed solar plant in South Sudan and issued by Energy Peace Partners.”

So I actually don’t know what this means but it’s something like this.

I wasn’t able to find out how much they spent but I found this.   

 

Based on their [BORN PINK] FINALE IN SEOUL, 6,000 tons of emissions for a two day event.  Of the 6,000, 239 tons was from energy consumption.  

According to Energy Peace Partners, an average P-REC costs $45.  1 P-REC equals 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of verified renewable energy.

How many megawatts is 239 tons of emissions? According to this website:

2,300 kilowatt-hours emits one ton of CO2e

2,300 kilowatt-hours converted to megawatt-hour:

0,0023 megawatt-hour = 1 ton of C02e

0.5497 megawatt-hour = 239 tons of C02e (two days concerts in Seoul)

0.5497 megawatt-hour * 2 (London + Séoul, both 2 day events) = 1.0994 megawatt-hour

1.0994 megawatt-hour = 1 P-REC

1 P-REC =  $45

So… to offset the estimated electricity consumption from BLACKPINK’s Seoul and London dates, they are going to buy one P-REC that costs $45? 

Someone check my math. 

Teddy bear

So if you were to ask me who my favorite Blackpink member is I’d say, Teddy. 

Blink:  Who is your favorite Black member?

Me: Teddy. 

Blink:  [blink, blink]

Me:  [heartshape with my hands]

Haha.  No seriously.  Teddy is their producer/songwriter.  He appears in “Light up the sky” as the mysterious guy wearing the mask you see at the beginning. 

Teddy is of my generation, born in Korea in 1978 and then moved to the east coast United States (holla) when he was young, then moved back to Korea in his adult years to be part of the kpop group 1TYM (one time, one time, two time, two time ) which came out with their first album in 1998, On Time for Your Mind.  So yeah you see the 90s influence. 

I listened to K-pop in the 90s but not 1TYM.  What was popular was H.O.T (Candy, anyone?).  

At the time K-pop wasn’t mainstream.  My Asian friends and I listened to it along with the mainstream stuff like Nirvana, Cranberries, No Doubt, Green Day, Coolio, TLC, 311, Atlantis Morissette, Spice Girls. 

Ah the Spice Girls.  Came out in the ‘94 when I was in highschool.  I remember everyone was asked which Spice Girl they were when the question came to me, I would say Sporty Spice probably because she was a brunette and the most modestly dressed.  The truth was, I wasn’t represented by any of them but when you have to pick, you do. 

Blackpink did Wannabe at their show in London.  Whether they are mainstream is debatable but H.O.T. would not have played to an audience of 70,000 strong in Wembly, London that’s for sure.  

Blink

Bruh

So I was in earshot of my nieces slamming each other:

Niece 1 [puts on sunglasses].

Niece 2:  You look like an aunt.  

Niece 1:  Well you look like mom’s sister.  

Thanks girls, thanks. 

Rhonda

So I recently interviewed Rhoda Scott for an Oral History project.  After numerous responseless email attempts I decided to call her.  I figured that nobody answers their phones and that I could quickly call her and leave a message.  She picked up on the first ring. 

Caught off guard I introduced myself and told her about the Oral History project. 

“So would you be interested in the project Rhonda?” I said. 

“It’s Rhoda.” she replied, rightfully.

“Oh sorry of course…” I said hoping she wouldn’t hang up on me, “Would you be interested in the project Rhoda”? 

“I would be willing.” she said. 

So obviously we were up to a good start.  I managed to schedule a zoom meeting feeling very intimidated.  What had I gotten myself into?  I didn’t know anything about jazz.  To mitigate my ignorance I spent hours googling her and realized what a big f-in deal she was. 

On the day of the interview I called her beforehand to prep.  I let her know that the zoom meeting would cut off after 40 minutes but that we could continue with a new link. 

“Or maybe we can keep it under 40 minutes.” she replied.   

Yes of course.

Just stick to the questions, I said to myself before the call, and don’t, I repeat, don’t call her Rhonda. It’s Rhoda. Rho-da. Rho-da. Rho-da.

I repeated her name in my head as I connected until the screen pulled up and there she was, sitting in what appears to be her kitchen, waiting expectantly.  

She was lovely.  This amazing woman that came to France on the SS France in ‘68. A woman that, as a jazz icon, questions what is jazz, and in her 70s got a masters in jazz history to find out. 

"The final outcome is that jazz is like different families. Because you have a lot of different styles of jazz, but you have to accept the families of jazz because you cannot say, this is not jazz. This is not jazz because improvisation is considered the main point of jazz.".  

After having spoken with her I think Rhoda is jazz itself.  Undefineable, improvising along the way, resulting in something beautiful that unfolds.  

Oh yes and if you’re wondering I did accidently call her Rhonda, but just once, towards the end. 

Damn it.  

Late

So I’m not sure when I started to realize my parents had their own lives outside of me.  I think it was much later, after I had my own kids.  I realized my kids thought I was only there for them when actually I had my own life and intended to keep it that way.  When I applied this to my parents a lot of things about my childhood made more sense.  

I remember one time after our swimming lessons my mom was suppose to pick is up but she wasn’t there.  After waiting for a while my sister called my dad to come pick is up.  My mom arrived shortly after and go mad at us for calling our dad.  I remember being mad at mom for not being where she was suppose to be.  She was suppose to pick is up and she didn’t.  She was suppose to be there, and she wasn’t.  We were right to call our dad, why was she mad?  We were the ones who had the right to be mad, not her.  

When my daughter was eight years old I dropped her off at her theater class and went to cancel my metro pass.  I walked because taking the metro meant I had to use my pass and I couldn’t do that because I was canceling it.  I had calculated that I had time but then I forgot I was in France and things take forever.  I remember the moment when I realized that I might be late for pick up.  It was when I was standing in line.  As I considered abandoning, it was my turn.  

I was hopeful. I could make it! 

I didn’t.  They lady had computer problems, my account was weird, whatever.  Long story short I was late, about 10 minutes to pick up my daughter.  When I got there she wasn’t in the waiting area so I knocked on the door of the class.  

“You’re late” the teacher said when she opened the door with my daughter waiting in the sidelines of the class.   

“Sorry, problems with the metro” I replied meekly. Everyone stared as my daughter walked towards me.  She was mad.

So was I.  I wanted a break.  I was never late.  Just this one time.  And it was only ten minutes. 

I remembered my mom in this moment.  How she was late and nobody was cutting her any breaks.  I wish we had. 

I also remembered my little mad self.  My daughter was equally mad.  I understood.

From then on before class she would say “Promise you’ll be here five minutes before the end of class.  Promise!”.  

I did, and I was.