Catapult Extra

TinyLetter of the Month: Alvin Park, aspirin and honey

“And there is han . . . this Korean idea of constant injustices born from constant conquering.”

Each month we feature a new TinyLetter writer, chat with them about their newsletter, and republish one (or in this case, two) of their recent issues. This month’s TinyLetter author is Alvin Park, a Korean American writer, associate fiction editor at Little Fiction, and pretty cool guy.

Previously in this series: Sarah Mirk, Brandon Taylor, Teri Vlassopoulos. If you would like to recommend a TinyLetter to us (your own, or someone else’s), leave a comment below!

i

s kimchi is the bar against which I measure all kimchi. I don’t know if her recipe is even the best, but it’s what I know. In a way, I’m just tasting for familiarity, for the levels of flavor I experienced as a kid until I was an adult. Though there’s also just bad kimchi. If you are in Portland, do not get the kimchi from the Namu food truck. It is the worst I’ve ever had.

ii

A chat with Alvin Park about aspirin and honey:

  • Brandon Taylor’s Virgin Wool is a constant gift of beauty. It’s honestly some of the best writing I’ve ever read. If he ever collected these letters into a book, I would be all over it.
  • ’s still growing combines nonfiction and poetry to just really lay it all out there. Super vulnerable, honest, relatable.