jtecco

Archives can tell us where someone lived, what work they did, when they appeared in a newspaper, or how an institution recorded their name. But archives do not always tell us who someone was. They rarely capture the sound of a family story, the feeling of belonging in a neighborhood, or the grief carried after a life was misremembered Courtesy Hamilton County Auditor's website As a Korean American adoptee, my history was held by the archive before I could hold it myself. Institutions authored...

On a cold November day, a little boy was found outside Suwon’s South Gate. The records are unclear about the exact location of the South Gate, though it is believed to refer to Paldalmun Gate. Between fragmented records and the uneven traces of memory, it has been difficult to fully recover that little boy’s story. That little boy was me. Janganmun Gate Suwon, a city just south of Seoul in Gyeonggi-do, is rich with history. It is also a place shaped by destruction, rebuilding, and resilience...

Part 1 published on March 1, 2026. After an hour of focused skimming through the Cincinnati Court Index, I finally came across the case I was looking for. courtesy Cincinnati Public Library The Court Index is organized by date. On the first page, there’s a broad overview of what moved through the court—everything from property resolutions to what I’m investigating: first-degree murder. I started there, hopeful that the main page for the day would give me something, anything that pointed to...