There's a gap I kept noticing.
American news moves fast, and it assumes you already speak the language — not just English, but the cultural shorthand underneath it. The references, the history, the tone. If you grew up here, you absorb it without thinking. If you didn't, there's a gap — and it doesn't translate culturally the same way from one side to the other.
I've been watching my husband Jinguk navigate that gap for fifteen years.
He's Korean. He grew up in Seoul, moved to New York, and built a life here. His English is excellent. His grasp of Korean politics and culture is encyclopedic. But American things — tipping culture, the way local elections work, why a particular phrase suddenly shows up everywhere — those still catch him off guard sometimes.
So I explain. I've always been that bridge.
I'm Sumi. I'm an artist based in New York City and the Hudson Valley. I also make documentary-style videos on YouTube at @miguktv. And now I write here.
Decoding America exists because of that gap — and it does two things at once.
One: I want to help Jinguk, and people like him, navigate the new and sometimes strange world of building a life on unfamiliar turf. The news, the vocabulary, the cultural rules that nobody writes down.
Two: I want to help readers here in America see how American things actually land for someone coming from a completely different culture. How a word gets adopted. How a tradition reads from the outside. How Koreans — and others — take in, interpret, and sometimes puzzle over the things Americans take for granted.
Both directions. That's the bridge.
If that sounds useful — or just interesting — stick around.
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