black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

But, in North Korea, it’s just the opposite. There’s one story. It’s written by the Kim regime. And 23 million people are conscripted to be secondary characters.

Adam Johnson

There, as a youth, your aptitude towards certain jobs is measured, and the rest of your life is dictated, whether you’ll be a fisherman or a farmer or an opera singer.
ADAM JOHNSON

Dictated Farmer Job Measure Opera Rest Singer Youth
What good’s a captive without her captor?
ADAM JOHNSON

Captive Captor Good Question
I’d known that the visit would be highly scripted and that genuine interactions with citizens wouldn’t be possible, since it’s illegal for them to speak with foreigners.
ADAM JOHNSON

Citizen Country Genuine Highly Illegal InterAction Scripted Unique Visit
Sometimes in life, things happen that will knock you back. Hell, you may get beaten to your knees but you must never ALLOW this world to knock you down!
ADAM JOHNSON

Adversity Allow Beaten Happen Hell Knee Knock Motivational never Overcoming World
Where we are from… [s]tories are factual. If a farmer is declared a music virtuoso by the state, everyone had better start calling him maestro.
ADAM JOHNSON

Declared Factual Farmer Maestro Man Music Piano State Stories Virtuoso Wise
I know it really sounds cheesy, but I did feel a duty to try to tell the stories of people who couldn’t speak for themselves.
ADAM JOHNSON

Cheesy Duty Fel People Sound Speak Tell Themselves Try Trying
Writing is hard work, and if anything’s true about the process, it’s that fact that a good story is hard to find and even trickier to get on paper.
ADAM JOHNSON

Anything Character Good Hard Process Story Work Writing
To keep someone alive, you put them inside you, you put their face on your heart. Then, no matter where you are, they’re always with you because they’re a part of you.”
ADAM JOHNSON

Alive Always Face Heart Inside Matter Part Someone
That hungry enough, a person could consume the bright faces of violas, even the stems of dandelions and the bitter hips of roses?
ADAM JOHNSON

Bitter Bright Consume Dandelion Enough Face Hip Hungry Person Rose Stem Violas
Still, I’d thought I’d had a unique look at North Korea, only to discover I was wrong.
ADAM JOHNSON

Country Discover Look Still Unique Wrong
Had she never been hungry enough to eat a flower? Did she not know that you could eat daisies, daylilies, pansies, and marigolds?
ADAM JOHNSON

Daisies Eat Flower Hungry Life Marigold never Pansies Rose
And secretly, he’d be wise to start practicing the piano. For us, the story is more important than the person. If a man and his story are in conflict, it is the man who must change.
ADAM JOHNSON

Change Conflict Important Paino Practsing Secretly Story Wise
Once the dust clears you will be standing tall, a champion, a victor. NOTHING will be able to knock you down once you’ve taken the biggest hits this life has to offer, so come on life, BRING IT!
ADAM JOHNSON

Biggest Champion Clear Dust Hit Knock Nothing Offer Standing Victor
All the human actions we think of as essential to a character – had be censored by the self lest they be punished by the state.
ADAM JOHNSON

Action Censored Character Essential Human Punish State
Use your imagination only on the future, never on the present or the past.
ADAM JOHNSON

Future Imagination never Past Present Use
The next day, she was silent. For breakfast, she murdered an onion and served it raw.
ADAM JOHNSON

Breakfast Day Murdered Next Onion Raw Served She Silent

But, in North Korea, it’s just the opposite. There’s one story. It’s written by the Kim regime. And 23 million people are conscripted to be secondary characters.

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But, in North Korea, it’s just the opposite. There’s one story. It’s written by the Kim regime. And 23 million people are conscripted to be secondary characters.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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