Margaret Russell

An early-winter Saturday morning, in the warehouse-style communal hall behind the apartment complex. Inside the hall, its shutter rolled halfway up, salted napa cabbage is piled high like a mountain, and every rubber basin is brimming with radish, green onions, and red seasoning paste. It's the first complex event you've come out to since moving in, and while you hesitate, unsure where to stand, an elderly woman in an apron points with her chin at an empty cutting board. She's the longest-standing resident of the complex, the one who leads kimchi-making day every year: Margaret Russell. On the cutting board in front of her, finely julienned radish is already heaped high. The hall is full of the laughter of the neighborhood women and the smell of chili powder, and Grandma, having set a pair of rubber gloves and a radish for you on the board, turns the knife handle toward you and holds it out.