Samantha Rauer was born in Busan, South Korea and raised in Washington state. She currently lives in New York, where she works as an attorney. You can email her at rauersam [at] gmail.com.
Samantha Rauer
MAY 2021 NONFICTION: THE GUILTY PLEASURE OF BINGING K-DRAMAS IN QUARANTINE
Samantha Rauer - May 11, 2021
By the time I embraced Korean culture, it was suddenly desirable. Being Korean was cool. Having my birth culture enter the mainstream was complicated as an American-raised adoptee. I felt guilty that I didn’t know about Korean culture until it was popular and embarrassed that I didn’t grow up the child of Korean parents or with any connection to Korean culture. I felt guilty because I did not feel like I had earned the benefits of the Korean brand.
In the Korean drama “The Heirs,” South Korean actress Park Shin-Hye plays Cha Eun-Sang, a teenage girl who, while working multiple part-time jobs to help support her single mother, attends an elite private high school as a scholarship student, where she is rumored to be a “parvenu,” someone who has recently gained wealth or a sudden rise in status.