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Monthly Archives: November 2016

Kiet, whose brother was a refugee: conversations with uber drivers, part 4

23 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by itsaphanlife in Conversations with uber drivers

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vietnamrefugees2.jpg

Kiet, whose brother escaped the country in 1987
Chevrolet Spark. 58 minutes. 8.5 km.

Kiet (not his real name) is a 48 years old driver who has driven a taxi for twenty four years. We were stuck in horrendous traffic going from the airport back to my flat, and he told me his life story, from his attempt to escape the country in the years that my family did, to his time in the army. He is easily excitable, emphatic with his gestures, a rapid conversationalist. I honestly couldn’t follow all that he said.

Below is a bit of Kiet’s story that I’ve composed as well as I can from memory:

S

o you, little brother, left the country in 86? Me too, I tried to leave multiple times.  My little brother and I tried to escape together, then I kept trying on my own after he made it.

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Conversation with uber drivers 3: Vinh, experienced taxi driver

18 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by itsaphanlife in Conversations with uber drivers

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V
inh is about my age, (which meant that both of us awkwardly called each other “older brother” for the duration of the chat) with an 8 year old kid and a family to raise. I took a twenty five minutes long ride to the airport in his Honda City. It was early in the morning and he had driven since 5 AM. He drives daily until late at night, but was glad to chat with me.

How long have you driven an uber Anh?

14 years.

Oh that’s longer than how long I’ve taught. I’ve taught for 12 years.

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Conversations with uber drivers 2: motorbike driver Sang

16 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by itsaphanlife in Conversations with uber drivers

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Read an earlier posting on uber driver conversations here.

Sang drove me from district 4 to district 2, a total distance of 8.3 km. He drove a Yamaha Exciter 150, and he had a real helmet for me to wear (this is not always the case for motorbike drivers in Saigon. My anecdotal experience is it’s been about 50, 50 for getting a real helmet vs. fake). The conversation is translated from Vietnamese to English to the best of my admittedly limited ability.

Cost: 37,000 VND. 1.5 USD.
Time: 20 minutes. half of it in tough traffic.
Rated: 5/5 for the conversation, timely pickup, smooth ride, sense of direction.

How long have you driven a motorbike for a living, em (little brother)?

Just one month now, anh (older brother).

And you do this full time?

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Four Voices from the Diaspora

12 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by itsaphanlife in Books and Films: reviews

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These days, when the plight of refugees so often make the news, the Vietnamese diaspora seems to be experiencing a literary renaissance. Foremost is the celebration of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, with its deserved Pulitzer Prize for fiction (read my review here).

Alongside Nguyen, we have Nam Le’s collection of stories The Boat, Qui Nguyen’s new play Vietgone, Ocean Vuong’s poetry collection, all appearing in the last year or so. Are there suddenly more assured voices, or is it that the reading public has become more interested in the stories offered by the Vietnamese diaspora?

It might be a combination of both. Narratives written by immigrants have always spoken to the transient lives of people in the world, but it is just now that we see a mature collection of thoughts regarding the people who left Vietnam for even more uncertain lives abroad. The stories of the displaced, or those with multinational identities, are stories that speak to us of these particular times. The first refugees and their children, uprooted by America’s bloodiest war, seem especially able to speak of this displacement, of describing the shifting, tenuous foundations of home, of war’s wounds and shrapnel that rests embedded in the psyches of one’s offspring, years after its conclusion. The more the earth beneath us shifts, the more we listen to such voices.

The recommended works below by writers from the Vietnamese diaspora encompass four major genres: the personal essay, short story, poetry, and play. They all share fragmentation, loss, and a longing for home as recurring themes.

vietgone01.jpg

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The apocalypse is here, may it be short-lived

09 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by itsaphanlife in America

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Well, America, I thought you were just curious with those dystopian films and tv shows you loved to watch: zombie plagues, Nazis winning WWII, a post nuclear disaster earth. It wasn’t just curiosity, though. You really wanted to see it all blow up. And so here we are, observing our elected prime snake oil salesman ascending unimpeded to the presidency. These are the dark days of Joffrey Baratheon, let’s not kid ourselves. The man we’ve placed at the helm of the mightiest military industrial machine is megalomaniacal, thin skinned, with no actual, actionable policy to speak of, unless they be disastrous ones. He will react, and he will react horribly, to the smallest slight, to perceived challenges and criticism.

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Still life with 4 books I read in America over this long winter break (vertical) and 4 books I bought there to bring back to Vietnam (horizontal). Loved Bliss Montage, All That's Left Unsaid, and many of the stories in Afterparties, liked/appreciated Useful Phrases for Immigrants. Wrote a longer review of All That's Left Unsaid that'll be on @weare_dvan soon. Trekking round Manhattan #bigapple New York City continues to be the best city for reuniting with old friends. #nyc #brooklyn Trekking around Boston, Harvard, Boston Commons, and showing my wife my old hometown in winter. I actually missed feeling this level of cold! #winterinboston Fun with our niece Alanna on our last days in Florida. Can't wait to have our own...we think... #funwithbabies Beach hopping and night market shopping around Sarasota and Venice, Florida #beachesoflorida In spite of the fact that Trump and Desantis both reside in this state, Florida's been A-OK with us! #florida #summerinwinter Back in America. For this visit, our family has expanded by two! #floridayrusocold #florida

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