C hu Hong works with his wife selling Banh Mi in district 4 in a hem next to my apartment complex. This morning he made a banh mi thit nguoi (cold cuts baguette sandwich) and fried me an egg to add to the filling. It was delicious and cost 75c, would have been about 60c, but […]
Humans of District 4 Read More »
2016 was… a sad year of losses. In music, in civility and grace, in sanity. 2017, may you be just a little bit kinder to this world. The flip side of this gruesome year in politics and the arts, is that I had a chance on my year off to be with family. I was able to hang with
The sabbatical year, half way finished Read More »
Absurd, crazy stories of love in the new Saigon provide inspiration for this short story: The Viet Kieu Casanova. This is a section of that story: Section 1: The Shopkeeper This Viet Kieu comes into my cafe and store usually three, four times a week. He’s in his 30s I think, and he brings with him
The Viet Kieu Casanova – a short story Read More »
I n my childhood, Saigon’s district 4 was dangerous, full of crime and violence. At least that’s what everyone tells me, from friends to family; I was too young to know much about it. My family lived on the other side of district 1, in Binh Thanh. District 4 happens to also be the area undergoing
Humans of Saigon’s district 4 Read More »
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
Conversation with uber drivers 3: Vinh, experienced taxi driver Read More »
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
Conversations with uber drivers 2: motorbike driver Sang Read More »
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
Four Voices from the Diaspora Read More »
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
The apocalypse is here, may it be short-lived Read More »
Some thoughts about my country as I get ready to leave it on a 16 hours flight, in the midst of a crazy week of elections: This has been the absolute craziest month in politics I’ve witnessed, and I was here in the states, certifiably depressed, for the Gore/Bush and Supreme Court debacle. I honestly don’t know what’ll happen
Thoughts on American politics, sports, and culture as I depart Read More »
T he last time that I voted on site was the election of 2004, and I voted for John Kerry. My state agreed with me, but it wouldn’t be enough. Bush took the overall electoral map, which looked overwhelmingly red after the election finished. The day after that election, my students looked like they had been put
Some thoughts while waiting in line to vote Read More »