Throwback Thursday: Tears On My Pillow

Cry me a river...

(The author, waiting to be pepper-gassed at Yonsei University, in Seoul, 1987)

A number of factors go into choosing which classic 5 a.m. Stories to rerun on Throwback Thursdays.

It’s very complicated.

To qualify, a story must be one year old, or pretty close to it. Today’s story first ran on May 5, 2024.

It must be one that I felt good about the first time around.

It must be one that readers didn’t mercilessly lampoon the first time around.

If possible, it should contain a large photo of me looking like King Doofus.

Today’s rerun, I’m a Seoul Man, checks all those boxes, and features a wacky shot of me wearing a gas mask, in Seoul, South Korea, in 1987.

The mask wasn’t a fashion accessory, it was a necessity, with pepper gas wafting through the very parts of the city where we needed to be to cover the news. The story relates, with some humor, my experiences with tear gas, including the night it was delivered through the air conditioning into my hotel room.

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As always, I will be back this Sunday with a brand-new 5 a.m. Story. This one could change your life.

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