life rattle show no. 1253

Presented on THURSDAY, april 25, 2013

Hosted by John Dunford

featuring

"The Power of a Toonie"
"Valentine Roses Event"
and
"Text Message"

by Grace Jooyun Lee

tonight's Show

Tonight, on Life Rattle Number 1253, we present three more stories by new Life Rattle writer Grace Jooyun Lee.

Grace Jooyun Lee was born in Seoul, Korea, on her mother’s twenty-eight birthday in 1983. She was exposed to the world of the performing arts early in life by her mother, a professional dancer. Since then, Grace has dreamed of a career in the performing and creative arts.

At the age of thirteen, she and her family moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she was involved in school and community theatre productions, various dance recitals, madrigal choir and as a flutist in her high school orchestra. Grace had her first conflict with her family when she moved to Toronto to attend university. Her plan to pursue a career in acting was forcefully stopped by her father, a physician. Under her father’s direction, she transferred from the Erindale Theatre program to the biology program. This made her miserable, and she questioned by why people so strongly believe in the stereotype of the poor artist, and that the only stable jobs were in the fields of science.

Grace tried to add some art to her life. After she choreographed a dance for an Italian play performed by the UTM Italian language students in 2005, she withdrew from school and moved back to Seoul. There, she made her living through stage acting and teaching English.

In 2011, Grace Jooyun Lee returned to school, this time taking courses she desired—creative writing and social geography. She hopes to continue her career in acting and writing.

Grace Jooyun Lee’s writing is candid, her voice frank and authentic. She is unafraid to show her thoughts and feelings. Tonight’s three stories take place in three different countries – Canada, the United States and Korea.

In tonight’s first story, "Power of a Toonie," our narrator is a young girl on a road trip with her family when her little brother tries to show, in his own way, that he’s now a man.

In our second story, "Valentine Roses Event," Grace agrees to volunteer for her church and discovers it isn’t the genteel Valentine’s Day event she had expected.

Tonight's final story, "Text Message," sees Grace and two friends take off for a birthday celebration when she receives devastating family news that will change her life forever.