Who We Are

Wondering about the talented souls who made this creation possible? Then please check out the bios that follow.

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The Editor/ the Creator

Arnie Cooper (The US) March 2007 marks Arnie Cooper’s 20th year teaching English as a Second Language. “I never imagined I’d stay with this career so long,” he says. How did he fight job burnout? The answer is simple. He just started another career—freelance writing—in 2000. “It keeps my life interesting and actually compliments my teaching.” Look for Arnie’s writing in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine, Dwell, Esquire and the Wall Street Journal.

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The Co-Creator

Logizomechanophobe (Nowhere) click here for info

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Around SB Writers

Lance Hwang(South Korea) “The Pacific Ocean, the Santa Ynez Mountains, students partying in Isla Vista, and elderly people strolling the beaches are all a part of the Santa Barbara experience. They don’t easily fit with each other, but that’s why Santa Barbara is an attractive city for me even though I like big cities,” Lance said. The 32-year-old electrical engineer wrote about Santa Barbara Harbor and hiking to Inspiration Point. He recommends that UCSB Extension students experience unique and unusual outdoor places.
— Read Lance’s articles – “Where Time Stands Still,” “Hinking in SB,” “Lorie F. Bartron”

Giuseppe Russo (Italy) If you’re sad and you need someone to make you happy don’t worry, I have an idea! I met him 24 years ago in Italy, and I swear that with him life is better. Giuseppe Russo was born in Napoli and grew up in Cortona, one of the most beautiful places in Tuscany. He attended university in Perugia, studying economics with a specialization in tourism. His weakness? Women and Italian soccer. And his quote: “I saw the whole world and knew people from each part of the planet.” Maybe he’ll tell this to his grandchildren one day.
— Read Giuseppe’s articles – “Shopping in SB,” “SB by Night,” “Lorie F. Bartron”

Yuko Takii (Japan) Travel lover Yuko Takii has come to Santa Barbara not only to study English but also enjoy the California life. She had never been outside of Japan before she came to Santa Barbara, so she felt it’s a kind of giant adventure. She really likes traveling either by herself or with friends. She traveled many places both in Japan and in the United States. Her big dream is to go across the United States by train, which she plans to do this year. She always says to friends “Let’s go somewhere!!”
— Read Yuko’s articles – “Amazing Islands,” “The Colorful City,” “Store for Bakery Lover”

Toko Ueta (Japan), an eternal kid, restarted thinking about how to turn the land of the living into a nicer place after coming to SB. She kicked off her mission by spreading the beauty of biking and introducing a local organization helping homeless cats in her articles. Toko says, “You can’t save the world, but you can try to make it better.”
— Read Toko’s articles – “A Bike Beginner’s Guide,” “ASAP for Felines”

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Beyond SB Writer

Claire Kim (South Korea) “I had always dreamed of going to Paris since I read a book about France when I was little. And this includes other European countries as well,” says Korean-born Garam Kim whom most of the students know as Claire. She’s also a university student who enjoys traveling and taking pictures with her digital camera. Garam is very interested in the culture of France so she studied French for one year and wants to return there. In fact, she’s going to apply as an exchange student to a Paris school of management next year.
— Read Claire’s articles – “French Café vs. Starbucks,” “Still Playing in My Heart”

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Culture Writers

Kwangsu An (South Korea) For Kwangsu An who ludicrously has no sense of direction, deciding the direction of the article wasn’t a hands-down matter. “Regardless of topics, determining how to explain and how much information to provide to unspecified people was quite a tough task for me.” Although she is proficient in Japanese, her 3 topics are about Korea. “I wanted to talk about my country as much as possible, because I am a person who loves Korea.”
— Read Kwangsu’s articles – “Choice 2007 & 2008!,” “The Value of Education,” “Beyond Asia,”

Mai Kawamoto (Japan) One Asian student, Mai, who has been in the US for eight months, used to feel inferior to other people except Asians. “I wasn’t confident giving my opinion in front of classmates, though other students didn’t seem to care about this.” According to Mai, the problem in Asian education is that “they don’t have enough discussion in class at school,” she says. “So there are many generations who are not used to giving their opinion.” However, now that she has had a lot of opportunities to speakl in front of other people, Mai is getting over the problem. And she’s gotten much better in English than before.
— Read Mai’s articles – “Culture Shock,” “How we live,” “Policy Differences”

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Current Events Writers

Teflah Alajmi (Kuwait) dreams to be one of the few ambassadors in Kuwait. Good grades are always what she needs to accomplish her goals in academic life. Based on her interest in political science and environmental issues, she wrote articles expressing her strong unbiased opinion. She believes “If you want to achieve something the beginning will be difficult, but at the end you will accomplish it “. She looks forward to using her American academic experience when she returns to her country to teach at Kuwait University. Every time you see her, you will find in her hand coffee fuelling her when she writes.
— Read Teflah’s articles – “Turkey and The E.U,” “Euro,” “Meet the Undersheriff”

Nouf Alenezi (Kuwait)‘s dream is to establish a Latin American Studies Department at kuwait university. Still she is passionate about any controversial issue like globalization. She discovered many people think globalization will encourage the world to be unified community. On the other hand,many people beleive globalization will contribute to the deterioration of the unique character of each individual society and culture. Nouf’s article focuses on the various dimensions of globalization, since it is an important issue.
— Read Nouf’s articles – “Friend or Foe?,” “Meet the Undersheriff”

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Special Correspondent

　Hong Liu (China)

— Read Hong’s article — “Population Control in China”

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The Other Staff

James Cheng (Taiwan)
Hyo Sun Choi (South Korea)
Young Kim (South Korea)
Sunny Lee (South Korea)

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Read articles – AROUND SB, BEYOND SB, CULTURE, CURRENT EVENTS
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