Podcasts about vietnamese american

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!French Antiques Experience - Chateau de Brives: wendy-harrop.com/experiences-cart/p/antique-experience-franceCognac Jewellery School Foundations 2027: wendy-harrop.com/experiences-cart/p/cjs-foundation-2027Cognac Jewellery School Collections Week 2027: wendy-harrop.com/experiences-cart/p/cognac-jewellery-school-collections-2027In this episode, Wendy sits down with author and educator Thymai Dong-Sheehan to talk about identity, belonging, and the courage to tell your own story. Born in Vietnam and raised in the United States, Thymai grew up navigating two cultures while never feeling fully claimed by either. Years later, stepping away from her career to care for family left her grieving the loss of her worker identity, but it also gave her the space to pursue two dreams she had been saving for retirement: publishing The Beauties of My So-Called Asian Life and starting her own business. What emerged was an honest examination of the stories told about her, the parts of herself she had learned to minimize, and what it meant to finally decide that her experiences were valid and worth sharing.They explore: How Thymai moved from feeling caught between Vietnamese and American identities to embracing the full complexity of who she is  Why releasing the need to prove she belonged required vulnerability, spirituality, community, and self-forgiveness  How losing confidence after leaving her career led Thymai back to the inner work behind her larger vision for educational change This is a conversation about claiming the right to tell your own story, allowing every part of your identity to belong, and trusting what can emerge when an unexpected pause creates room for something new.Connect with Thymai:ThymaiDongSheehan.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tmaidongGet her book, The Beauties of My So-Called Asian Life: Vulnerability, Equity, Spirituality: amazon.com/Beauties-So-Called-Asian-Life-Vulnerability/dp/B0F7GSKHVN?tag=syty-20Referenced in this Episode:A Course in Miracles Links: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/acim-remind/id737568020https://www.amazon.com/Course-Miracles-Combined-Quality/dp/1883360242?tag=syty-20marianne.com/acim/Creative in Residence at the Phineas Wright House: app.flodesk.com/form/6995f2e1ae676cb64b2c5b37________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with Wendy:LinkedinInstagram: @wendy.harropFacebook: Phineas Wright HouseWebsite: Phineas Wright House PWH Farm StaysPWH Curated Experience and TravelInterested in being a guest on the show? Send your pitch to podcast@phineaswrighthouse.comPodcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Explore APSC's My Family Audio Series A story-driven 3-part audio project about Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian families doing everything possible to breathe with ease and live freely besides the people we love.  Created by the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and APEX Express, and hosted by writer and activist Michelle MiJung Kim, My Family seeks to answer many of the questions countless families in our communities are grappling with today. Mass deportation and family separation are fueled by isolation and silence. With My Family, we aim to dismantle both with stories full of heart, compassion, and an honest look at the tangled paths many of us take to reckon with the past, rebuild our lives, and make a new place home.  Our deep gratitude extends to all the community members who shared their stories with us, even while painful to recount. Their commitment to creating stronger, more informed communities is unparalleled.    My Family Ep. 1: How did we get here?  In our first episode, we talk to Roger Viet Chung to bring APSC's longstanding Restoring Our Original True Selves (ROOTS) program from inside San Quentin to listeners outside. Roger is faculty in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Laney College and a founder and faculty lead of Restoring our Communities (ROC), Laney College's program for formerly incarcerated students and justice involved juveniles. He previously served as the lead instructor and curriculum designers of ROOTS.  We also speak with NC, Pam, and T. NC was deported to Laos this past year. Pam was deported to Cambodia three years ago, and T was deported to Cambodia six years ago.  Music from episode 1, as well as related resources, can be found below in the show notes. If you are an impacted community member in California or have a family member who is directly impacted by detention and deportation, we encourage you to contact APSC at info@asianprisonersupport.com or our partners at New Light Wellness and the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants.   Music: Somleng Tro Khmer by Satiya, a Cambodian Australia singer and songwriter Pka Kompong Thom by Satiya   Resources: My Family Episode 1 discussion guide  APSC Data Report on Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Asians and Pacific Islanders Asian Law Caucus legal resources and video explainers for Southeast Asians facing deportation threats Eddy Zheng's story    Transcript Michelle MiJung Kim: [00:00:00] All across the United States, ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is terrorizing immigrant neighborhoods. Every time I scroll on social media, I see horrifying videos of children being ripped apart from their parents as they get shoved inside unmarked cars of ICE agents. You can hear the family's cries for help, children wailing, neighbors and protesters yelling at the abductors.   The scene is [00:01:00] pure chaos, swirling with desperation and fear. I notice I'm clenching my jaw as I imagine the trauma of the moment that will last a lifetime for these families. But the scene usually ends here, and not long after I scroll away, I'm met with another slew of videos of similar intensity. But what happens to the people after this painful moment?   What happens to the families after the protesters depart? What happens when their loved ones actually get detained, get deported? where do they go, and what happens to those who remain? I'm your host, Michelle MiJung Kim, and I'm partnering with the Asian Prisoner Support Committee and APEX Express to bring you stories from families who are grappling with the impossible choices amid the cruelty and horrors of mass detention and deportation, stories full of truth, understanding, and lived experiences that are too often hidden or silenced. [00:02:00]   Tony (pseudonym): Even though I don't have no family and I don't even have no family over there, and I don't even know nothing about Vietnam because I left the country when I was 10 years old.”   My dad raised all four of m- you know, me and my sibling all by himself. So just emotion and everything rush in, it's just like, you know, heartbreaking.   So every time, when my dad come to visit me, he always break down and cry because he just like, feel sad that his oldest son is gonna get shipped back to his country.   Pam (pseudonym): My son bought a car for me. He bought a car. He's like, “Mama, you're not getting deported. I got you a Honda Civic already. I got you a car. I got a place for you.” You know how, that affect me when your family member bought you stuff be thinking they'd be coming home?   Michelle MiJung Kim: [00:03:00] Every family threatened by ICE is different, with their unique traditions, memories, and inside jokes. But there are also fears and questions that every community being ripped apart shares, whether our families are Asian, Latino, Black, or Arab. For many Southeast Asians in the United States, there's one other thing in common.   Their families found refuge here in the '70s and '80s, fleeing unthinkable genocide and war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Most have loved ones who didn't survive. The ones who made it out, around one point one million, are the largest refugee community ever resettled in the United States. Upon arriving here, families were forced into impoverished and under-resourced neighborhoods.   Parents who just lived through war and genocide never got the mental and physical healthcare they critically needed. To survive poverty and attacks in their neighborhoods and schools, some youth turned to gangs and [00:04:00] crimes. After serving their time, they've since grown up, transformed, and found their ways to heal.   They are now mentors, parents, small business owners, homeowners, just everyday neighbors who, like most of us, take their kids to school and pick up groceries and call this country home. And yet, around sixteen thousand of these Southeast Asian community members are facing imminent deportation based on convictions from years, if not decades ago, and despite the fact that they already served their sentence.   Today, California is home to the largest Southeast Asian American population, followed by Texas, Washington, and Minnesota. And these families are seeking answers. How did we get here? What can we do to keep our family safe and together? And their friends and neighbors are asking questions, too. How can this be?   What can we do? That's where these stories come [00:05:00] in. We're taking a closer look at what happens to families after the headlines pass and the blaring noise quiets down. You'll hear directly from people who are living on all sides of this nightmare, all trying to do what's best for their kids, their parents, their loved ones.   Welcome to My Family.   As some listeners may know, the Asian Prisoner Support Committee based in Oakland, California, was born out of the campaign to support the San Quentin 3, Eddy Zheng, Viet Mike Ngo, and Rico Riemedio. The San Quentin 3 advocated for ethnic studies in the California State Prison, and in retaliation, the prison administration sent them to solitary confinement.   Out of that struggle, they started the Restoring Our Original True Selves, or ROOTS program at San Quentin, which the Asian [00:06:00] Prisoner Support Committee continues today, teaching hundreds of people under the motto, ” No history, no self. Know history, know self.” Together in ROOTS, community members incarcerated in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisons, or CDCR, learn immigrant and refugee histories, address intergenerational and inherited trauma, and build lifelong leadership and community skills.   Many ROOTS alumni are now mentors and counselors in California, while others are working in reentry, violence prevention, faith, and other community organizations across the state.   To kick off our first episode, we'll start with some context from Roger Viet Chung. Roger is faculty in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Laney College in Oakland, and founder and faculty lead of Restoring Our Communities, Laney's program for formerly incarcerated students and justice-involved youth.   He has served as the lead instructor and curriculum developer of the ROOTS in San [00:07:00] Quentin.   A content warning for our listeners that in today's episode we'll be discussing war and genocide, inherited trauma and self-hatred, depression, and family separation. Here's Roger.   Roger Viet Chung: My name is Roger Viet Chung. Uh, I'm from Oakland, California, and I currently work for Laney College. At Laney College I instruct in the Department of Ethnic Studies, a range of classes that range from Southeast Asian studies all the way to courses like race, gender, and sports.   In 2013, um, I had the honor and privilege of, supporting and facilitating a course for Asian Americans and others in San Quentin State Prison, and which launched me on a, a journey of understanding more about incarceration, the prison industrial complex, abolition, the way pipelines form. And since 2013, I've been deeply involved in figuring out how to work reentry, how to support those in custody, how to help people come home, how to help people on parole tell their stories.   Um, [00:08:00] and so since 2013, uh, I've been working for a program called Restoring Our Communities, which is a reentry program at Laney College, where we support the reentry of folks coming home from prison, jail, juvenile hall and help them explore their post-secondary pathways and dreams. In addition to that, I also run our Laney College, a satellite campus inside the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center, where, we work with, uh, young people who are interested in going to college, transferring to four-year universities, um, and, uh, reuniting with their families.   Uh, I'm a Vietnamese American. I was born in, uh, 1978 and, born in the United States, my proximity to incarceration and the entire carceral landscape you know, was pretty distant up until I went to graduate school. Uh, when I was in graduate school in, um, the early 2000s, I heard a story about a person named Eddy Zheng, who at that time was incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison.   We heard this story about how Eddy and two other folks were asking for ethnic studies programming at their [00:09:00] prison when there was a growing movement for education inside CDCR. Uh, we understood that, you know, that movement, um, you know, landed Eddy in solitary confinement, got him transferred, uh, to another prison.   And I think for me, that was my first moment where as an Asian American, I connected both with this idea that Asian Americans were doing time, but also you know, it intersected with my field of study, ethnic studies. And so, that was probably my first moment where I saw myself possibly in the work.   Michelle MiJung Kim: Before we come back to Roger, we had a chance to talk to Eddy Zheng about his fight for ethnic studies at San Quentin, the early days of APSC, and how he continues to support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated community members. Let's hear from Eddy   Eddy Zheng: Happy New Breath everyone. My name is Eddy Zheng.   The importance of ethnic studies, Asian American study, [00:10:00] is really focuses on the long tradition of the struggles, that many of the immigrants and refugees, the people who came to this country, uh, for multiple reasons, right? Some of them came voluntarily, and some of them came as refugee because the forced migration as a result of the United States' foreign policies, and then many of the push and pull challenges that came from other, uh, countries across the world.   The long tradition of, of that struggle really is a internal one, right? The internal struggle is finding a sense of belonging in a foreign country or in a country even though we may be born here sometimes, there's still this sense of being treated and being respected as an American versus a perpetual uh, foreigner.    And for many of the people who were impacted by the criminal legal system [00:11:00] and by this type of oppressive foreign policy and systemic racism oftentimes people don't necessarily get an opportunity to understand their culture and history that informs their identity. So therefore as even I was learning how to read and write and speak English and to eventually to become thinking critically I have experienced the power of when I was able to comprehend and articulate the connection that I have, right, with my ancestors and my culture and the history that informs my identity.   Immediately, I was able to, find confidence and find that sense of belonging that I was not alone, that there, there was a long lineage of the knowledge, The connected point to, not only who I am as an individual, but then who I am connected [00:12:00] to, the rest of the humanity, right?   I think when we talk about that lineage really ties back to the 1968 Third World Liberation Front, when students and people in the community, the activists that who stood up fighting for the opportunity to have curriculums and, or materials that really teaches a more well-rounded history around, the makeup of the United States of America, So the fight for the Asian American studies, women's studies, and global studies was very important, as it continue to 1969 in UC Berkeley, and then also later on in 1999, where students are also facing threats of having ethnic studies and Asian American studies eliminated, from the university curriculum, right?   So I have experienced all those lineage of struggles to fight for what the basic academic right, for people [00:13:00] to learn about each other's culture and history and how that historically has been continued to also trying to erase history. when I was in San Quentin State Prison, then once I was able to start to become a thinker, then I realized especially after September 11, the scapegoating of people of color, scapegoating of people that who came from other countries is perpetuated within the prison industrial complex, myself and three of my friends, we were advocating for, uh, the opportunity to be able to, uh, engage, in this process of, Asking to have Asian American studies or ethnic studies within the prison college program, And so that, that was when we signed a proposal, you know, advocating not only for the opportunity, to study, Asian American histories a- and cultures, but other people's culture and [00:14:00] histories at the same time, and then also honoring the prisoners' rights, right?   To choose, what we want to learn and how we participate in the decision-making process within the volunteer-ran college program in the San Quentin State Prison. The outcome was the three of my friends who signed the proposal you know, Mike Ngo Rico Riemedio we were, uh, put into solitary confinement uh, for signing that proposal.   And then my other friend that, who signed the proposal, Stephen Liebb, you know, even though he didn't go to solitary confinement, that he, but he was punished as a result of signing the proposal. That's when the forming of an unexpected Asian American movement, right, in the Bay Area, which is the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, where volunteers and activists that who have heard of the struggles, of the activism inside San Quentin advocas- in advocacy for Asian American studies, ethnic studies, and prisoners rights, that they [00:15:00] came together to support us, you know, inside the prison system.   And so it's very interesting in that, the dynamic, uh, between, we want you to, uh, learn and we wanna give you opportunity to learn, but then learning and applying what you learn comes at a price, that's where the importance of why ethnic studies of Asian Americans are important because it allow us to gain power, right? when we gain power of thinking, and critical thinking, then there's this fear from the, the people that, who have power and don't wanna share that power.   And so that's why it's very important. So fast-forward to post-incarceration after… first of all, I spent 11 months, uh, in solitary confinement as a result of that advocacy in San Quentin. And then later on, uh, when I was finally released after, uh, being incarcerated for 21 years, [00:16:00] I've never forgotten the importance of, creating more learning opportunities within the prison system for those that who are still incarcerated.   Around 2012, that's when we, you we meaning that, you know, that's when I me and members of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, we started thinking about how do we go inside the prison and create Asian American studies and ethnic studies program inside, We were able to went under you know, as volunteers, we were able to go into San Quentin State Prison to participate, uh, in in this program called, TRUST. I believe the acronym is, uh, Teaching Responsibility Utilizing Sociological Training, uh, which is designed to transform incarcerated men, uh, from social liabilities into assets, right?   So, Uh, while we were participating, we were able to get an opportunity to engage The participants who are [00:17:00] AAPIs to ask them if they are interested into creating a program where we're able to, learn about our culture and history, And they all agreed that it's important.   After about, like, almost like a year or more of kind of like a collaboration, brainstorming, and advocacy from within the prison, finally in 2013, I think that's when, we started the first cohort of the ROOTS program. The ROOTS acronym is Restoring Our Original True Selves, uh, which is, really came about as a result of the brainstorming of the prisoners, a lo- of many of the lifetime prisoners who were inside.    Because they felt that along the way they have lost themselves, right, as they were trying to find a sense of belonging.   So the goal is to, uh, use that as a way to heal intergenerational trauma that many of the prisoners experience when they came to the United States, and that ended up, making poor choices and then, [00:18:00] uh, involved in the criminal legal system.   that's when the first ROOTS program was started in 20, uh, 13. And then what is interesting was that when it started, I wasn't allowed to go in to participate in the program that I co-founded with the people inside, it wasn't, uh- Until the graduation of the first cohort of ROOTS, uh, that they allow me to go in to do a keynote speech, right? Because the participants inside, advocated saying that, “Hey, we would like Eddy to come in to be our keynote speaker at our graduation.”   And so that's when I was able to go in and really, experience this fruition of all the advocacy. seeing many of those leaders and participants graduating from the first year of the ROOTS program really solidified why an Asian American study is so important, right? It really focuses on, uh, for the participant to [00:19:00] learn about the connection the, to the ancestors and the culture and, and the history.   I mean, That sense of belonging they had lost along the way or for many was not able to learn in traditional economic environment, and then part of this is also even though the curriculum focused Asian American studies, but then it also connects to other people's colors of histories and how the intersection of that of that experience domestically, internationally, are connected to the same systems of oppression in, in that space.   I think what, what is also important is that once they were able to learn about their own culture and history, they inform their identity. They're able to also learn about other people's history, other people's culture that inform their identities. So immediately there's opportunity to, humanize each other And so that's why this is so important that we must engage in the collective learning [00:20:00] process that allow us the opportunity for collective healing. And when the collective learning, collective healing is invested and engaged in racial solidarity, that's how we can embark on this journey of collective liberation.   The ROOTS program is the first ever Asian American studies ethnic studies program in the history of the penal system, and then this continues on to today, right? since 2013.   Michelle MiJung Kim: That was Eddy Zheng. In 2017, Eddy founded the New Breath Foundation to help underserved frontline groups empower, heal, and change the lives of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community members with a focus on the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and those who have been impacted by immigration and criminal legal [00:21:00] systems.   Let's return to Roger and what stood out to him when he first started working in San Quentin.   Roger Viet Chung: I think when I first went into San Quentin State Prison in 2013, um, again, I mentioned I was born in 1978, and, um, you know, I looked across the room to people who were around my age, um, none of whom were actually born in the United States. And so I think there's this really interesting question that needs to be pursued around Southeast Asians, Asian Americans that have immigrated at a young age, you know, largely through, the pathways of war that make that experience so much different than a, an experience like my own, right?   Born here in the United States, but also different than my parents, who immigrated to the United States as adults. And so the 1.5 generation as we will frame it today, we're gonna be talking about Asian Americans, Southeast Asians, refugees, immigrants that came to the United States at a, a young age, you know, all the way up until their adolescence. We're looking at a population that has had significant experience with [00:22:00] social institutions like schools, uh, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools that their parents may not have.   This was a time in California where we began to see more prisons being built, more apparatuses designed to be able to figure out how to work with young people, mainly through the lens of punishment and deterrence.   And so I think the idea of coming into, a state like California during a political landscape where, punishment, prisons and tough on crime positions were being applied to both adults and young people is something to consider when we're thinking about the 1.5 generation, um, that has been incarcerated.   I think that as the 1.5 generation immigrated into the United States you know, through various refugee and immigration policies, you know, they're inheriting a context in California where they've already been criminalized and their pathways into, uh, juvenile halls, into county jails, and into state prisons are being mapped out, without them really even knowing.   In [00:23:00] ROOTS, um, which was an Asian Prisoner Support Committee sponsored program, everyone has an, a unique and individual story, but, you know, the more we learned about people's stories, there just seemed to be a lot of collective threads that, tied everyone together. so if we were to talk about the 1.5 generation, you know, like a common collective journey would be something like this, right?   You know, whether a person escaped from Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos a lot of the common stories were, young people were born in Southeast Asia during or at the tail end of the wars in Southeast Asia, and most of them were not part of the original refugee exodus, which mainly featured, the elite and the educated.   And so one of the collective stories has been that a lot of the 1.5 generation, who would have otherwise left at much younger ages or even been born in the United States were experiencing significant transitions in countries that, were returning from civil [00:24:00] war. a lot of that destruction and a lot of the, the trauma and those experiences, right, began right around there.   And when people began thinking about, exiting, these positions, whether it be for political or, or class-based reasons or both, one of the collective stories that we tended to hear very often was that young people were really able to visualize, remember, right, even today, a lot of violence, a lot of trauma, that, you know, really propelled their, either their escape or, their emigration Young people met, went to camps oftentimes.   If they left Vietnam, they were in the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong or Thailand. And if, you left Cambodia or you left Laos, you ended up in a variety of different forms of camps in Thailand awaiting for United Nations sponsorship. I think this is an important part of understanding the journey, because a lot of the one point five generation that became incarcerated were exposed to a variety of different traumas at [00:25:00] young ages that they still had kind of these vivid memories of.   And so as they, they left camps, you know, many stayed in camps for months, some even years. They were resettled into the United States, often in places that didn't have a lot of Asian Americans. And so at the time, United States refugee policy really asked all the states to share, right, some sort of, right, burden in resettling refugees.   And so a lot of the one point five generation that we met inside San Quentin, you know, their story in the United States didn't actually originate in California. Many of them were in Wisconsin or Ohio or Florida or Arkansas as their first stop into the United States before their parents did a secondary migration into a place that had more support, had a stronger ethnic community, um, and in some cases, right, just had, more protection against racial discrimination.   And so as parents, moved into ethnic communities and, and sought spaces that could protect themselves from racial [00:26:00] discrimination, the young students, right, the one point five generation didn't have, those same protections. And so many of them were enrolled into public schools, oftentimes schools that were underfunded and oftentimes schools that, uh, were in districts that had young people of color competing for resources.   When it came to that, that 1.5 generation, that journey into United States schools, was, I think, the beginning of understanding how to survive in a place where, a unique form of racial discrimination, a unique form, right, of class identity had to be navigated as they began their journeys in education, a lot of them feeling a lot of pressure to be, strong students in order to, you know, deliver their parents out of poverty. A lot of themes came up. One of the approaches that we took in the ROOTS program was looking at trauma.   We're not the first program to look at this, but I, I do think that it's a very important and interesting way to think about, [00:27:00] understanding the stories of people who are incarcerated. You know, oftentimes the, the narrative of people who are incarcerated is that they have committed an act that has traumatized another person, and therefore, right, their own trauma is something that we often either don't allow, ignore, or outright say, right?   “You don't deserve your own trauma because of the things that landed you in custody.” And so I think one of the projects that we really wanted to look at was to help people kind of, like, name their trauma, explore it, and, right, heal from it. And so when we thought about, the activities and the curriculum design, you know, we had people kind of, share stories of immigration, share stories of how, their parents came to name them, stuff like that.   And, you know, one humongous theme that came out in the ROOTS program was this idea of self-hatred and how much being in, right, the United States and being in places where you experience discrimination and you experience poverty led to really, really low concepts of [00:28:00] self and, , really resulted in, people, literally writing, right, reflections, saying things like, “I hated myself.   I hated how I looked,” right? “I hated my name.” Those are some of the themes that kind of were fleshed out as we explored the ROOTS program. And we wanted to take a look at, How that trauma not only would h-help people kind of understand their own trajectories more, but how that trauma could also be translated into, right, a more institutional form of advocacy for themselves and understanding how to do things like describe and explain, right, and be introspective about the things in their youth that led to, right, their incarceration.   Because one of the things we also noticed was that people were struggling to tell stories about their families because they didn't wanna bring shame, they didn't want to blame their families. And so, a lot of our 1.5 generation folks struggled with being able to tell a story to a parole board that kind of held their freedom in their hands.   And so being [00:29:00] able to have people tell their stories, right, to engage, right, some of the things that they experienced as traumatic, help them heal from those things, but also name them, , through ethnic studies concepts, through, history and through culture, was in a lot of ways, very freeing.   I think I'd be remiss to not mention that, you know, when we did programming inside ROOTS, there was a very, very, I think collective agreed upon, workshop that people inside wanted to do, and it was a workshop about gangs. Not just the criminalization of gangs and how gangs have become criminalized into the '90s, into the 2000s, but I think, incarcerated people, were really advocating around things like gang prevention. And so a lot of stories came out around, like, why people join gangs in the first place and, , it's not a brand-new story at all, but it was something that they wanted to explore and they were really, I think, very adamant about exploring among themselves.   And, you know, I think if you talk to incarcerated people, one of the things that they're so passionate about is [00:30:00] making sure their stories reach young people, which has also inspired me to go into juvenile hall to do a lot of work. But, one of the things that they wanted to develop, I think conceptually, was the idea of the migration to school-to-gang pipeline.   And, you know, whether or not the gang itself, should be conceptualized as, right, a protective, mechanism against racism, against bullying, against harassment, against exploitation. I mean, those are all things that we know, young people are looking for, as they join gangs, especially those that are immigrating from Southeast Asia or even, right, Latin America.   I think the folks inside were really, really adamant about making that connection and understanding that, not only their participation in gangs, but the criminalization of the gangs through that participation was one of the pathways that led them to places like juvenile hall, the California Youth Authority, the Division of Juvenile Justice.   I think the folks inside would, um, say that they need to be accountable to you know, the decisions that [00:31:00] they made and they wish that they were stronger about not making decisions to do things like join, criminal-based organizations. But, I think that there is a reality that, you know, there are a lot of social forces that, drove, that type of youth behavior.   And so, when we were in San Quentin, I think a lot of the folks were like, we need to improve this idea by, you know, understanding that, part of our journey has been, as 1.5 generation young people is , our responses to our trauma, our responses to racism, our responses to, disconnects between us and our families, particularly our parents, right, led us through a path, that was laden with policies that were designed to punish us.   You know, I think something that's really important that that I would wanna mention is, you know, the apparatuses that were designed to control and to rehabilitate and to correct youth, those apparatuses have been abolished because they didn't work.   And so when I think about the 1.5 generation that immigrated to the United States during a time of [00:32:00] heavy, heavy juvenile punishment, had they immigrated today, right, and, these systems not existing, you know, would they have done a significant time in state prison? You know, I don't know.   Would they been criminally adjudicated as adults? I don't know. And so I think that when we think about, you know, Asian Americans and Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders that are coming to the United States at a very specific time, specifically those guys we worked with in ROOTS, you know, history was just not on their side, and that's not something that individuals can control.   And so when we think about the situations that we're put in, I reflect on my own life about, you know, looking at people that look like me that were the same age as me and, just weren't born in the United States and had privileges like I did. You know, I think those are some of the things that, I would ask the community to reflect upon.   That, you know, we're looking at, such a traumatic and punished time in California and U.S. history to really kind of take, a broader approach and to be able to, you know, deconstruct some of the things that have happened to help understand the lives of people who, you know, are in ICE detention today   Michelle MiJung Kim: [00:33:00] That was Roger Viet Chung, faculty in Laney College's Department of Ethnic Studies and founder of Restoring Our Communities. This is APEX Express. We'll return after a short break. [00:34:00]   NC (pseudonym): We were refugees. It was because of the, the war, the secret war in Laos, I guess.   Michelle MiJung Kim: This is NC. He grew up in California after his parents' harrowing escape from war and persecution in Laos. He was incarcerated for 24 years as a result of a conviction when he was a young person. He earned parole last year in [00:35:00] 2025.   NC (pseudonym): You know, I don't know for sure, but I'm just going off what people say and what they tell me is because- we were refugees, and we were hunted, and, so we fled, and crossed the river into Thailand.   And from Thailand we were, um, we were sent to the US. That's it.   When my, when I came here, my dad says, ” Well, you gotta learn everything here, know the language and everything, because this is your country now.   You're gonna live here.” So that's, that's what he told me.   Things were tough because my parents don't know nothing about this country, so they don't, You know, it's help was very, I would say, I think the best word I can use is help was very narrow, because we had, like, an…   I had, like, an uncle who knew the language, and they would help my, dad and my mom. And then, um, my dad actually went to a vocational training school to learn how to do auto body, This was in when we were in, in Long Beach, but they [00:36:00] came over to, uh, Stockton to open up a, um, garage, you to fix cars and do auto body. Growing up it was just hard because, you know, we were, uh, always poor and we didn't know how to adjust to the c- you know, the community.   America is, like, totally different, 'cause we go to school and then we read, write, speak English, and then we don't, we don't do none of that inside the house. So there's kind of that culture clash where, you know, the parents wanna teach you something and then you go to school and you learn something else, and then you're s- you struggle with your, um, you know, everyday life because, those are two different things   I was basically working while I was in prison, taking a lot of self-help classes and, um, earning certifications and trying to better myself, um, learning job skills. So when I, parole, I can, become a productive member of society. So while I was in, also incarcerated, I was taking college courses, to try to, attain a [00:37:00] AA degree.   So I was doing a lot of that stuff while I was in prison programming. My plan was… when I got out, as far as for work I would just like any job will do, just as long as I got work, any job will do.   But the goal was to continue my education, get my, uh, degree in, um, sociology, try to to open up a, a place and to be, um, LCSW certified, a licensed clinical social worker so I can help people, just like how, um, when I was, um, incarcerated, I was talking to, um, an LCSW so they can like, help you when you get back from this environment to the streets to help you adjust. First of all, it's helping people, and a lot of people, when you come out and get out, there's really nothing, like nobody's… the way I see it is, like- I don't see a lot of help, you know?   I don't see a lot of help or any [00:38:00] help, in my community that I'm at. I figured that, you know what? More help or help is always good, and a lot of times people… While, while I was in, um, incarcerated, you know, incarceration does affect you, it, in a way, institutionalizes you and makes you think a certain way, act a certain way, be a certain way, and when you come out, you have to, like, try to adjust to, you know, the norms of, outside living.   When I was talking to my, um, social worker, she was giving me a lot of those pointers. So I was thinking, like, “Okay, you know what? This is something I could do.” I could help, you know, like, a youth who's been incarcerated or young people coming out or anybody of any ages from anywhere that has, um, cultural issues, You know, like, if they're coming from a different country and they're, they're coming to the US and they're having, like, cultural issues. it's just about transitioning from one place to another place.” when I paroled from prison and they told me that, I have a ICE hold, an immigration hold. And [00:39:00] then I wasn't sure, like, what that was, if it's happening or not. And then when they paroled me, uh, immigration came and picked me up and took me to a detention facility.    ICE came and picked me up at the prison and, um, I went to a detention facility in Bakersfield called Mesa Verde   Michelle MiJung Kim: We're gonna come back to NC and what he experienced at Mesa Verde on the next episode, and what happened after he was deported to Laos just four months ago. Right now, I want to introduce you to another community member, Pam. Pam also grew up in California. She was incarcerated for 16 years. Three years ago, she was detained by ICE and then deported to Cambodia   Pam (pseudonym): [00:40:00] So I'm gonna start it off when the day I find out that, um, I probably get deported in 2000… yeah, 2012. ICE came and see me, and they say, ” Well, we got you on record that, you know, you're on a list that you're gonna get deported when you parole.” So if I have any kind, like American citizen to prove that, you know, I can't parole, and this and that.   I was like, “Okay.” I really didn't pay attention. My mind was more like stuck. On that day, my mind was more like, “Wait, my attorney told me I'm not ever gonna get deported,” and it just, my mind is like wondering off, like, why is this happening now? So other than that, I started doing research. I just signed the paper.   I didn't even hear exactly what they told me because I, my mind's already like blow. So I just signed the paper. Didn't even know what I'm signing, so I just signed the paper like so they can leave me alone. I just [00:41:00] need to process something on my own.   When I finally process, I start doing research and…   But before I start doing research, I call my parent up and told them, “What's gonna happen?” And they, you know, and my parents tell me, “Just tell them you don't have a family over there. There's nobody over there that could support you, take care of you. You've been, uh, here in America all your life. There's nobody.   Nobody. So why they came and… why did someone send it to you, send you over there, and since you already did your time?” So it's some kinda- mixed feeling. It's a lot of mixed feeling as I can see there's a lot of hurt inside my family. I can see what they go through, and then I was like, “Okay, now just too much.”   So after I talk to my parent and then see how they feel about it, and I understand, and I do feel them, too.   And I do understand, and, um, ‘ cause I've never been really separate from my family that long until I got [00:42:00] locked up. So it's harder difficulty than anything. I don't even move away from my mom that far.   I live across the street. So it's hard for me to see that, I'm really, like, can't see my mom ever again. I started doing research for years and years and still, hoping that I could fight and why I'm in prison, but people keep on telling me, “You can't fight your case until you get through, um, the ICE detainer, and that's how you fight your case.”   And it's like, eh, I need to find a… You know, I started doing more research on the law library about ICE and, you know, about deportation, everything about the law. I did all that, but it's nothing that really helped me unless it's something against my life. So and I did more research about, like anything They say the only way you could get away from it is, like, something affects your life, something that danger you. It's like, it mean life or death. [00:43:00] But I even do research on that. They say if they stop the war in Cambodian… So it was hard. It was just a lot. It was just a lot of paperwork that I would have to go through and try to do the research and find out.   So I started talking to more about with my family about that, and then my dad say, “You know, I can see this is really stressing you out, and I can see that you're looking through a lot of stuff that don't help you to get out. But we still have hope that you're gonna come home to us.”   Michelle MiJung Kim:  Every person who shared their story with us talked about the family members and friends who supported them through these traumatic experiences, those who have stood with them in the darkest of times. Those relationships are what keeps people going, and it's no different for the person you're about to hear from, T.   T served his time in prison many years ago. After he got out of prison, he led a [00:44:00] full life. He got married, became a father, and grew in his career as a superintendent of a welding business, including jobs for the US Navy. And then one day, everything changed.   T (pseudonym): You know, I, I'd been reporting, uh, as scheduled, to the, you know, the ICE agent e- every, you know, I start out once a month, once every three months, once every six months, once every year.   And I, I, I've been reporting perfectly how they want. And then one day, you know, I, I came home and I went look at, check my mail and, there's a, a mail from them. So I opened the mail up and it tells me, the mail tells me they're gonna detain me. They give me a date to be there, and they say they're gonna detain me.   You know, I, and my, my heart just sank, you know. When I saw that letter- Mm … I'm like, “Oh my God.” And you know, I, I, it broke me down right there, standing over there by the mailbox. And then I told my wife and, , we [00:45:00] both, sat and, you know, did a little, a little crying.   And it's just like depressed knowing that they can, uh, detain me, that scheduled date that they gave me, yeah, it, it, it was tough. It's like a, a little… I think they gave us like a, a month or something. No, three weeks, half a month, something like that. it, it, it was tough 'cause I, I, me, me and my wife and my two daughter we, you know, we have family.   They, they okay, you know. yeah, I, I've checked in and, uh, they, they, they did detain me and, uh, of course my wife's all crying and, you know, my daughter, my, both my daughters young at that time. They're still young. They don't know what, what happened, you know. They asked my wife, “Hey, where's Dad?”   And you know, my, my wife didn't tell them what happened yet because they didn't, my wife didn't want them to, you know, worry. So my wife just told them, “Oh, you know, uh, your dad went to work. Maybe he'll be gone maybe a month or so.” She just don't want them to feel bad.   But yeah, my wife went through some stuff and trying to figure things out while I was in the detention center. and uh, [00:46:00] yeah, I got interview and got deported. and my wife, she was struggling at that time. She didn't work either because she's the, you know, she stayed home as a housewife, take the kids to school and stuff like that.   Michelle MiJung Kim: T's wife and daughter are now with him in Cambodia. He's currently serving as a staff member at New Light Wellness in Phnom Penh providing mental health and healing services to other people and families who are deported and separated   T (pseudonym): Yes. To me it's very important, to have someone to talk to 'cause when you're deported, uh, you, you already broken. you feel like you're a broken person, and, and sometime you don't know who to talk to because you're at a new, new place.   You don't really know no one, you know? And, uh, it, it, it's heartbreaking you trying to, uh, find someone to talk to. You, you feel like you're alone.   But at New Light, [00:47:00] we provide all that. You need someone to talk to, here. We, we, here you could pick one of our team here to talk to. You can go to the facility that we have over there and just talk to someone and just relax over there and just, you know, we, we have, always have someone there to help, talk about anything you want, to guide to bring closure, that, that's the thing, uh, about our team here.   We wanna make sure we have all that, everything Cause we understand, we understand, uh, being deported need someone to talk to, because that's what I, I did when, uh, the first couple years when I got deported here and I, I was so stressed out, and I don't know who to turn to, where to go.   Luckily, I found New Light, and I'm so glad, and I'm still with them now.   Deportation to me, I feel it is very cruel. It breaks families apart, and then it'll change the life and future of, your children. You know, it, it… Deportation, it, it's just a sad [00:48:00] word, it's just a sad word. It, it's just… It's like pain. It's a lot of pain, that word deportation.   It's a lot of pain. I mean, I, I… It, it's just… To me, it's just a lot of pain. It is just getting ripped off from your family, and affect everyone. It affect, you know, your brother and sister, your cousin, your niece, your nephew. You know, that's how, that's how I, I sees it,   Roger Viet Chung: Yeah, I think it's, um You know, I, I think it's important to, understand that, um, you know, deportation, isn't something that existed, since 1776, right?   Michelle MiJung Kim: That familiar voice is Roger, who you heard from earlier. Here's what he thinks about previously incarcerated people getting deported despite having already served their time.   Roger Viet Chung: And so I think when we kinda think about the logics of a [00:49:00] person who is serving a sentence and is being released by even authorities around in the carceral state and determining that they're not a threat to society, that they're no longer harmful to society, that they've done their rehabilitation in order to continue to contribute to, right, the nation and to their families and their communities, I think we have a very contradictory message where, you know, you actually have, a, a carceral apparatus naming a person as no longer a harm to society, but then, right, being deported.   And so when we think about these stories and, you know, I remember talking to a life term prisoner who has children who were born in the United States. And, he's going up to the parole board, and he has, an ICE hold. He has, you know, a mandatory deportation because of his conviction. He's asking the questions to himself, you know, “What do I do? do I fight to be released from prison? If that's the case, I might get taken to ICE custody right away and, [00:50:00] get my travel documents prepared to be deported. Or do I stay in prison so that my family can continue to see me in the United States, right?   And maybe, I don't do the types of things that are gonna win me my freedom in front of a parole board.” And I think those are the types of contradictions in the stories that I think illuminate the contradictions and, right, like, the problems with the way that we approach, deportation today.   There's, the idea of deportation, we often, I think because it's related to law, oftentimes, right, you know, our communities, see that as an objective or neutral phenomenon, that's always been that way. And so I think, when we try to get folks to kinda understand the ways that deportation and, you know, immigration policy, has been shaped, one of the things that I'll ask students, I remember being inside San Quentin, and I, I ask this of my Laney students all the time, you know, I ask them, “When was Immigration and Customs Enforcement founded?”, “What year was like the birth of what we understand now as ICE?” And, [00:51:00] students will guess, they'll guess, they'll guess, and maybe they'll look it up online, and they'll say, ” Oh, Roger, it's 2001.” Then I'll ask people, “Who's older, you or ICE?”   And most of the time, the people that I ask are older than ICE. And so I think one of the ways that we kind of approach this is, you know, by understanding that what's happening now is a, a very new and contemporary phenomenon immigration in its most brutal form, right? Or deportation in its most brutal form.   And I ask people, right, you know, “What was ICE called before it was called ICE?” There was an, a, an organization that existed before. And, you know, people will struggle a little bit, and then, you know, I'll say the initials, uh, INS. And then people will say, “What does that stand for?” INS stands for, uh, Immigration Naturalization Services.   And so you have this really significant institutional difference, just in the name itself around how a migrant is being treated and perceived. Right? On the one hand, right, you have enforcement through [00:52:00] ICE. But for the most part, right, immigration policy in the United States was not ICE. It was Naturalization Services, right?   It was about welcoming people to come to the United States, contribute, be taxpayers, right? And, become citizens, become naturalized. And so I think that's one of the ways that we begin thinking about how to deconstruct the idea that deportation is just a matter of law, it's a neutral idea, and that it's always existed in the form that it has.   And, you know, we know that the law that really is driving Asian American deportation or a- and other immigrant-based deportation today is a law that was designed in 1996. And so- The way that we see, right, immigration today is really kind of like a parcel, a very small piece of immigration history and deportation history for that matter in the United States.   And I think that's one way that I think helps people understand that you know, what we're seeing now is, a phenomenon that doesn't have to be what it is.   I'm lucky enough to be able to be [00:53:00] part of a post-secondary system that is, you know, one of the largest in the world and one of the most welcoming in the world.   I feel like part of my passion or my drive to keep going is I feel like there are some things that are still very much unexplored around this concept of re-entry. When I was in juvenile hall a couple of years ago, I met a young person who told me that he didn't have a good relationship with his dad.   His dad wasn't in his life. His dad has been in and out of prison and learned mostly about his dad through his sister, but began reconnecting with him a little bit. this young person had, a pretty significant conviction inside the juvenile hall which, like I mentioned earlier, which had it happened 10, 15 years ago, he would be in the California Youth Authority.   And, you know, he was telling me about his dad and, you know, there were so many things that felt like I knew him. He told me the job that his dad had, which was a very unique job [00:54:00] that is not very common. And I wrote who I thought his dad was on a piece of paper and I showed it to him and he said, “Yes, that's my dad.”   And so his dad, came to Laney College, um, joined the machining program after years in prison and got you know, a living wage job, in the steel industry, was able to buy a home and he was able to put his daughter through graduate school. but he never mentioned a son to me. And I left the hall that day and, I called him walking to my car and I said, “Hey, like, um, I think I met your son.   I didn't know you had one.” And he said, “Yeah, that's still a shameful part of my life that I'm, still trying to figure out.” And so I, I think that there's something that we're missing still. I think, you know, when in San Quentin we talked about, intergenerational trauma and the trauma that you can inherit from your parents and your parents' parents, and I think there's something here where, you know, we, we can engage both generations at [00:55:00] once to really kind of figure out some of this healing.   I feel like there's still something that, we as a team as a family and as a community are on the verge of understanding a little bit better and breaking those cycles.   Michelle MiJung Kim: I can't stop thinking about what T said about the word deportation. It's cruel. It's a painful word. It's a sad word that rips you off from your family. Many of our listeners are here because you believe a different world is possible, one that replaces isolation with kinship, trauma with repair, and loss with transformation.   You want a future full of families together and safe. That's the kind of future we at My Family want, too. Each story we share is not only a reminder about the violent systems that harm so many communities, but it's also a reminder of how much each of us is [00:56:00] needed in this fight for a more just and liberatory future.   There is so much pain and trauma in each person's story, there's also so much strength, resilience, and a steadfast belief in community and hope. I'm taking a deep breath as I reflect on these stories, and I invite you to do the same.   And if you're impacted by mass deportation and detention, there are organizations and advocates who can help you, from mental health and wellness to legal help and family support. In Northern California, where we are based, we encourage you to reach out to the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants, and New Light Wellness.   You'll [00:57:00] find links to these organizations in the show notes at kpfa.org/programs/APEX-express. The music in today's program is by Cambodian Australian singer and songwriter Satiya. We'll include links to his songs in the show notes, too.   We hope you'll join us for episodes two and three of My Family, where we'll deep dive into what happens when our family and neighbors are detained, and what happens when they are forced to move to a country they've never known. Thank you for joining, and we'll see you next time on My Family.   I'm your host, Michelle Mijung Kim, and this podcast is brought to you by APEX Express and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee. APEX Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam.   Have a great night.   [00:58:00]    The post APEX Express – 8.20.26 – My Family Ep. 1 appeared first on KPFA.

Bone Symphony—Poetry as Spiritual Practice: A Conversation with Michelle Phương Hồ Daniel and Yulee welcome Michelle Phương Hồ—a Vietnamese American poet based in New Haven and one of Daniel's former students at Fuller — for a conversation about her debut poetry collection, Bone Symphony (releasing October 13th, endorsed by Ocean Vuong). The conversation explores: How the book's title emerged from a single cacophonous poem weaving together her grandfather's experience in postwar Vietnamese reeducation camps, asylum testimony, and questions of public memory—and its resonance with Ezekiel's Valley of Dry Bones Why revision, for Michelle, is a spiritual practice—including the story of a poem addressed to "the enemy" that only became true once she recognized her own desire to win, rather than to love Her unconventional path into poetry: from a college Asian American writing collective, to narrative breaking down into fragments, to a formative writing class with poet Solmaz Sharif Why she believes she's writing to preserve a kind of remembering—drawing on a story about Vietnamese language surviving Chinese colonization through "a critical mass of rememberers" The necessity of leaving gaps in language—and why trying to fully explain grief or wonder can betray the experience itself Her unexpected, dramatic conversion story at a college church service in New Haven, after a season of spiritual searching that included a Buddhist meditation practice Navigating faith within a predominantly white Vineyard community—finding theological resonance in the integration of word and spirit, while wrestling with not fully belonging The poem "After Salvation" and the disorientation of being "rescued"—both as a refugee and as a Christian—without a clear roadmap for what comes next Writing prompts to borrow for your own journaling: Alexander Chee's "What don't you want to know?" and Bhanu Kapil's "Who is responsible for the suffering of your mother?" A reflective, generous conversation about poetry as a spiritual practice—and an invitation to anyone (poet or not) to bring more curiosity and surrender to their own writing and prayer life. Pre-order her book: https://boaeditions.org/book/bone-symphony/ Sign up to receive more updates from the AAC: https://aac.fuller.edu/newsletter/ If you appreciate the work we do at the Asian American Center at Fuller Seminary, please consider supporting us! Your monetary support sustains our vital work and expands Asian American research, leadership development, and pastoral formation for the Church in the year ahead. Donate here: fuller.edu/giveaac.

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, the Micah Mobilizers ask: What really is our American identity? Reflecting on an essay by the Pulitzer prize winning Vietnamese American writer Viet Thanh NguyenIn, they explore what it means for Christians to love their country without confusing it with the kingdom of God.Visit micahgroups.org to learn more about joining Micah Groups Online this fall. 

Join us as we discuss our June 2026 pick, The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo. A queer retelling of the classic American novel The Great Gatsby. Set in a magical alternate Jazz Age New York, this version is told through the perspective of Jordan Baker, a side character in the original text, re-imagined as a Vietnamese American adoptee who does her best to survive in a high society as an outsider while trying to stay afloat amongst the tempest that is Jay Gatsby's obsessive quest to acquire the love of her best friend Daisy.Books & Boba is a podcast dedicated to reading and featuring books by Asian and Asian American authorsSupport the Books & Boba Podcast by:Joining our Patreon to receive exclusive perksPurchasing books at our bookshopRocking our Books & Boba merchFollow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:InstagramTwitterGoodreadsFacebookThe Books & Boba July 2026 pick is Sunshine Nails by Mai NguyenThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode of the Pirate Studios Podcast, we're joined by Vi Diep, a genre-fluid DJ originally from San Diego, now based in Santa Ana.Vi talks about moving to New York at 18, falling in love with the city's music scene, and how that experience helped shape her creative identity. Rooted in electronic music, her sets move through house, UK garage, bass, trap and beyond, with a focus on keeping crowds surprised and fully locked in.We also get into her Vietnamese American upbringing, learning to say no to the wrong opportunities, the pressure of building a visible brand as a DJ, and why social media now feels like part of the job.Plus, Vi talks about opening for YDG at Nova in San Diego, playing Academy in Hollywood, her dream of playing EDC, and the recent moments that have made her feel like things are really starting to click.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight's APEX Express show is focused on food justice and Asian America. First, Host Miko Lee talks with artist Macy Tran about their work on food as a form of resistance, and then she speaks with researcher Dr. Milkie Vu around her work on food insecurity and Asian American communities.   Show TRANSCRIPT [00:00:00] Opening: Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express.   [00:00:30] Miko Lee: Welcome to Apex Express. I'm your host, Miko Lee, and tonight we're talking about food justice and Asian America. First, we talk with artist Macy Tran about their work on food as a form of resistance, and then we speak with researcher Dr. Milkie Vu around her work on food insecurity and Asian American communities. Join us tonight as we delve into food justice. Welcome to Apex Express, Macy Tran, I'm so happy to meet you.    [00:01:03] Macy Tran: I'm happy to meet you as well, Miko. Thanks for having me.   [00:01:06] Miko Lee: I just wanna start with the question I ask all of my guests, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?    [00:01:13] Macy Tran: I come from a legacy of powerful Vietnamese people who were born and raised in Vietnam and now are part of the diaspora in Minnesota. I come from food peoples and healers and chefs and creatives of all sorts who have learned how to make ends meet and to adapt and to work with what they have. I come from a long line of people who have loved through food and who have used food as a means of cultural preservation and education and survival, which has now been passed on to me. There's so much to say about who I come from. My grandparents have stories of survival and resilience throughout the American War in Vietnam. And it's only because of just their love and the decisions they've made on behalf of their love that I am here today. My parents own a restaurant in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Vietnamese restaurant called Pho 79/Caravelle That has a 40 plus year legacy of serving Chinese and Vietnamese food to the Minneapolis community. It started with my grandma's brother, and then it passed down to my grandma. And now my grandma has since passed and has passed it down to my father and my mother. And so I like to say that it's restaurant people who raised me. I grew up sleeping in the booths and all of the aunties, even though they weren't blood aunties were my aunties. Because our survival was just so foundationally just predicated on food and what we served and shared with others, and also what we ate at home and the celebrations that we would have both at the restaurant and at home. This is really what makes me.    [00:03:20] Miko Lee: Thank you for sharing. Do you wanna talk more about the legacy part?   [00:03:24] Macy Tran: I carry a legacy of peoples who really know the importance of food and the way we use food to care and support each other. Even in the most hard of times when my family was. On a boat with 200 other people and didn't know if they were going to survive when they kind of landed abroad. The shores of Indonesia, food has been with them throughout it all, and it is how I was raised to love and care for people. I see the ways that food is not just a means for sustenance, but also as joy, as creativity, as love, and I carry all of those, decisions and skills with me.    [00:04:19] Miko Lee: Thank you so much. I learned first about your book when I read a piece that you wrote for 18 million Rising, and I'm wondering if you could just talk about how that piece around food as a form of resistance, how did that come about?   [00:04:33] Macy Tran: I have a friend who works with 18 million Rising, and since the federal occupation in Minneapolis, I've been doing a lot of food justice organizing here. And it has been a way in which I have seen and expressed just the skills and love that I give to my community. I was just feeling compelled to give food. That was what I knew. In the past two months as my friends have been going out on the streets following ICE agents around legally observing, I have felt that my role in this movement is to feed frontline folks who are out doing the work and also feeding our community during a time in which it's very scary and difficult to leave your home without fear of being abducted. In Minneapolis we have created systems of, food resource sharing that have been really powerful to witness and experience and to get engaged with. And so one way that I've been doing it is I've been cooking community meals most Sundays, sometimes Saturdays that feed 200 plus people.   [00:05:47] I am providing delicious food for my friends who are out on the streets and coming home and hungry and cold. And I also helped facilitate and organize a food distribution at my parents' restaurant after the murder of Alex Preti I really wanted to not just be involved in like acting and responding to what was happening but as an artist, as a creative, I felt the need for also remembering and preserving and reflecting about what's been going on in Minneapolis. I kept being pulled in all these different directions and was organizing over here and supporting this community and doing this. And then when my friend reached out to me at 18 million Rising,. It was such a great opportunity for me to really reflect on my practice of food as resistance and food as justice. I've been a food writer in the Twin Cities for about the past three years. Food, events, I mostly cover restaurant stories and festivals and theater and all that sort of stuff in the BIPOC community here in the Twin Cities. And I realized writing this piece that this was the first time in a while, that I had written something actually for myself from my heart that was in my voice. Without an editor saying, no, you have to say it this way. No, we have to cut that part out. No, you use too many words here, and so I really took this piece as an opportunity to share what my life was like here in my own words and my own experiences. And just use it as a moment to really reflect and share the things that I'm learning and the way that I am practicing and using food as a bridge to healing and transformation during this time in which we are ripe for needing that.   [00:07:47] Miko Lee: Can you roll back a little bit and talk to me about how you got started as an organizer? What, when you first learned about social justice work and what pulled you in?   [00:07:56] Macy Tran: It definitely wasn't the way that I was raised. I was born in the us my parents were born in Vietnam and then came over to the US and they really raised me with the mentality of you just put your head down and you work hard and you don't really get involved. And like, yeah, you care for others, but mostly you care for your family. I was actually someone who was always butting heads with my family because I was like, do you not see all of these issues that are happening in the world? Like the issue, the systems that were implicated in. We have to care beyond just ourselves, and we would always butt heads about that.   [00:08:33] Miko Lee: At what age did that start?    [00:08:35] Macy Tran: Oh, probably when I was a teenager. around that time I was finding my voice. and it wasn't until college that I really started putting words and frameworks and theory into what I have already witnessed in my family and my community, which is just community care and the ways that facilitates justice and transformation I would say since college that I really started actively organizing primarily on campus. I went to a smaller liberal arts school. So organizing and just getting involved in our community in that way was pretty easy. And like after I graduated college, I spent five years in Southeast Asia, one year in Vietnam, and then four years in Thailand where I was primarily working at the intersections of education and refugee justice and environmental justice. I got to meet all sorts of organizers and activists from across the region who have taught me. Really everything, a lot of what I know about organizing and what it means to show up specifically within a Southeast Asian context and how to use kind of my feet in both worlds, both my American political identity and my Southeast Asian political identity.   [00:09:59] And to merge those for the better and for my community. So I would say that. I've always had a big heart ever since I was little. And actually my parents were always like, you are too trusting. You people are gonna take advantage of you in the world. And I was like, I just wanna live in this world with so much love. And the way that they taught me to do that was. Through food and through reliability and just what it means to show up consistently for my people. And so in some ways it was all baked into me, even though they might not see that and they might not have raised me in that way. I see the ways in which they have sacrificed for love and nourished their families through food and made incredibly scary risks for the freedom of their family and for their people, and for a new life. And I just feel like I'm walking in their footsteps, doing the same even if they might not feel that way.    [00:11:09] Miko Lee: So did you have to talk your family and the restaurant into getting involved in the food support work for activists in Minnesota?   [00:11:18] Macy Tran: it wasn't a challenging conversation to have and I was surprised by that.    [00:11:22] Miko Lee: Oh, great.    [00:11:23] Macy Tran: Um, yeah, my parents have been, actually, this is the most politically active and vocal I have seen them. It's really incredible. I would say that for a lot of actually the Vietnamese community that I've been witnessing in Minneapolis, like they're saying things that I never thought that they would say. They're putting analysis like what together? The Vietnamese community is, I would say, skews at least the older generation, I should say. The older generation of Viet folks skews pretty right wing, conservative Republican, Trump supporting. And I'm just seeing dissent for the first time. It's not always like that explicit, but it is, I would say in the past what I've seen is just like. When kind of rightwing or more Republican opinions come up, if people disagree with that, it's just like you're just quiet. But now I'm seeing a way in which like people are responding, commenting on social media, like posting publicly about it. It's just been really, really powerful. When I first started organizing in response to the federal occupation, my parents were really quite worried and they did not want me to get involved. And they didn't really understand why I felt compelled to do this. And then when Alex Prety was murdered, I. It was actually my auntie, my mom's youngest sister that brought up the idea of a food distribution because she was feeling like I just wanna do something and like, what is an avenue in which we can do something? Well, we have this restaurant. Mm-hmm. And so she proposed it to my parents first, which Oh    [00:13:05] Miko Lee: wow.   [00:13:06] Macy Tran: Love, shout out to her because    [00:13:09] Miko Lee: Thank you, auntie.    [00:13:10] Macy Tran: She did right. She did the hard work for me. I think I would've been a little more hesitant or would've taken a little bit more time to just process, like how to go about asking them, because there's just a different power dynamic there. Sure. But because my auntie is more of a peer mm-hmm. And she had this idea and she has also worked at the restaurant mm-hmm. For many, many years of her life. I think it really spoke to my parents and I think it really was a moment for them to connect the ways that this restaurant is so important to not only our family and how we show up in community, but also to our community in Minneapolis. Mm-hmm. I have traveled all across the world and have met people who have eaten at Pho 79 and have told me stories of getting engaged there, of getting a tattoo of the, like restaurant on their, on their arm. The, the logo. Yeah, the logo. It's crazy, you know, like people, and I've also heard generations of families like growing up on my parents' food. Mm-hmm. As we share food with people and they support our business, it's only because of our community that we've been able to survive this far you know?. My parents came to Minnesota with nothing, and it's only because of the kindness of other Minnesotans and other Vietnamese Minnesotans that we were able to get anywhere.   [00:14:35] In this moment they saw that and they saw that. We can, we have these resources. This won't be hard for us. We have everything here that we need. This is the channel in which we can work in. And yeah, they were just ready to do it. I think also my parents were ready to take a risk because the business was not doing well, we weren't, there were not people coming out to eat. Everyone was scared to go out to eat. People were not really spending money. And this was really ever since the pandemic and the way that has impacted the restaurant industry and particularly immigrant businesses, and then also the George Floyd uprisings and the way that just the, violence and also the transformation that happened to the street that we were on Eat Street. It just really changed the ways people saw that corridor, that business corridor. And it was a really big business impact. And so my dad was just, I think, in a place where he was really willing to take a risk and a stand for what he believed in. And my mom as well. As a way to also just like. Really be present in community and show that, hey, like we are out here and we believe in loving our community and seeing the ways that people are showing up for our community as and for our business as well. And honestly, since the food distribution business has been steady and I think. My parents are, I mean, they're definitely feeling relieved, but I'm just feeling so grateful that they stood on their values, you know, and they stood grounded in that. And as a result, like the community is reciprocating. and that is such a beautiful thing that I don't, I think my dad took a risk not knowing what would happen, because more exposure is not always good. And I've been telling him that, you know, especially with the Vietnamese community being, of, of his genera generation being more right wing and more conservative. He recognizes that and he recognizes that we had to do something. So I feel so proud of them for just being really chill and okay, and actually impassioned and compelled to do something.   [00:16:57] Miko Lee: It sounds like it brought you a little bit closer with your family too.    [00:17:00] Macy Tran: Definitely. Definitely did. Yeah. I feel like me and my family have never really been able to sit at a table and talk about politics and what's going on in the world without one of us just like getting activated or feeling defensive or not seeing each other. It is a terrible thing what has happened and what continues to happen in our city, under federal occupation and so much beauty and creativity and love has come from it. And I even feel that at the most micro scale between me and my parents.    [00:17:39] Miko Lee: Can you, share with us that are not located in Minnesota, what the experience is like of this federal occupation on a day to day? Like, we're talking today on March 2nd, and I say that because our world, everything's changing every day and this is gonna air on a separate day. So I wanna name that. So right now, what is it like when you're just walking through the streets in downtown Minneapolis ?   [00:18:01] Macy Tran: Yeah. It's interesting because when you ask me this, I think about my experience like a month ago and how different it was and it felt to walk around a month ago compared to now. A month ago. It. I was seeing a neighbor on every corner of major streets, like looking for ice. You know, I was seeing car caravans, honking and following ICE agents. It's interesting 'cause like I actually just had a friend visit from Milwaukee and. She was nervous about ice. She's Asian American as well, and she was like, should I be scared? What's actually going on? And I told her, actually, yes, what's going on is scary and violent. And I feel so safe because I am meeting neighbors I have never met before. I'm making small talk with people who are just. Out on the streets walking their dog in a way that they would not normally, I'm talking to business owners, we're talking about the impacts of this occupation. Everywhere I go, there were eyes and that felt really powerful and strong. And now that operation Metro Surge is technically over they are supposed to be withdrawing ICE agents from the city. I would say there is definitely a decrease in the number of ICE agents in our city. Activity is much slower. However I would say out in the suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, they are seeing action and enforcement from ICE agents. That is. Either at the, kind of the same amount that we were receiving or escalated. The concentration is higher out in the suburbs And so even though things were quieter in the city, they were elsewhere. And    [00:19:57] Miko Lee: yeah, I just saw videos this morning of protesters that were peacefully marching that just got tackled. Actually by Minnesota Sheriff's department working in conjunction with ice. I know every state in every region is a little bit different. But I thought that was something that Governor Waltz was working on right?    [00:20:15] Macy Tran: So actually the city ordinance that you are talking about is actually on a Minneapolis City level. So that was a decision made by Mayor Fray. Oh, that's only city. So it's only MPD, Minneapolis Police Department, who is not supposed to assist in, federal and right. Federal enforcement. However, on a county level, that's different. I see. So sheriffs might be working with, I know it's like, so complic, what a mess complicated. I    [00:20:41] Miko Lee: know. This is the same, I mean, this is the same everywhere, right? Mm-hmm. It's all broken down. Okay. So, so I think I hear you saying that ICE has kind of moved on with the targeted big city approach and they're going out into the suburbs instead. Is that right?    [00:20:57] Macy Tran: Yes. There are still protestors, and observers going every day to the Whipple building. The Whipple building is where ICE agents are coming from, and so they have definitely recorded a decrease in the number of ICE vehicles. So the volume isn't as high, but the cars are still coming and we're still seeing enforcement and violence in our neighborhoods. Just the other day, just a few streets down, a person was abducted in our neighborhood in Minneapolis. And because the volume isn't as high, they're not as easily able to track. And so they're working a lot more under the radar. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And their tactics have become just a lot more. Under the radar as well. In the early days in January, it was really easy to identify ICE out-of-state license plate, tinted windows. Big vehicles like super easy. Nowadays they're putting like coexist bumper stickers and little things on their dashboards and like, you know, driving little sedans and it's definitely not as easy and they're moving a lot more covertly. And because Operation Metro Surge has technically decreased and because many of our frontline activists have been working at this for months and are getting tired. Mm-hmm. There is a really interesting transition period happening here. Mm-hmm. Where I think we're all trying to align on what is the next.   [00:22:31] What's the next step? Mm-hmm. How? How are we, what is the best way to move given that this is the way that ICE is operating now? Yeah,    [00:22:40] Miko Lee: right. Just    [00:22:41] Macy Tran: under reflection. Mm-hmm.    [00:22:42] Miko Lee: Under such sneaky circumstances, like what they recently did in New York at Columbia, showing up at Columbia University with a missing child picture of a little kid. And that's how they got entry into the dorms, which is so wrong to terrible get a student. So that's actually illegal to like misrepresent being a police officer when they're not, they're a nice officer and    [00:23:05] Macy Tran: mm-hmm.    [00:23:06] Miko Lee: Showing a photo, I mean, it's so awful.    [00:23:08] Macy Tran: Mm-hmm.    [00:23:09] Miko Lee: I'm wondering how people that don't live in Minnesota can get involved.   [00:23:14] Macy Tran: Hmm. The, greatest frontier currently that is in need of support is rent support. There are, probably hundreds of maybe thousands of people who are likely at risk of eviction in the Twin Cities, because they have not been able to work for the past two months without fear of being abducted. We're calling on Governor Waltz for an eviction moratorium, which would prevent folks from being evicted. Governor Waltz is the only person who really has jurisdiction to implement an immediate rental moratorium, and he's done that before during the pandemic, and so we're trying to make arguments that this is. A state of emergency people are like not able, they weren't able to work. Like people are going to get evicted putting calls to his office, sending emails. So that's one way to get involved from abroad, uh, or not abroad outside of Minnesota, but also abroad if you're abroad And listening to this. The other way was, is that there's a lot of hyper-local organizing that is happening within Minneapolis that I can speak to every. Neighborhood and corner, I feel like, of Minneapolis is being accounted for usually by a team of just volunteer mutual aid groups who are fundraising for rent, who are fundraising for groceries who are fundraising for utilities.   [00:24:45] And these are all like live fundraising pages on the internet. And if you have even just 10, $20 to spare to help a Minneapolis resident, um, not get evicted in the next month. Um, every dollar matters. In this moment, rent is due. Soon, we're just at the beginning of March. And if folks aren't able to pay rent now and they haven't been able to pay rent in the last couple of months, like this is only going to have a snowball effect. We cannot risk vulnerable neighbors migrants, immigrants being, like more of them being unhoused at this moment. We already in our city have so many unhoused people who are not being cared for by our city officials, who are having their encampments being taken down and who are already not receiving adequate support. Our system cannot handle an influx of more unhoused people and we can prevent this. I would say that is kind of the biggest frontier at the moment in terms of what I'm seeing organizing on the ground.    [00:26:01] Miko Lee: Would you have links that you could share with us definitely for rent support. That would be really great if, and I'll definitely, I'll add them to the Apex Express show notes so folks that wanna get involved can contribute and help support community. You wrote in your piece about books, lovely books and podcasts and things that inspired you, which I always love hearing about those things. And one of the books you wrote about was Rice and Baguette, A History of Food in Vietnam. Can you talk a little bit about it, how it deepened your understanding of food legacies and resistance?    [00:26:33] Macy Tran: Mm So I read that book while I was living in Vietnam actually. So it was really cool for me to, what I love about that book, it's a little like academic. I will say that it is a food history like you are reading history, you know, it's a little bit like dense at some points, um, for    [00:26:49] Miko Lee: the real foodie audience.    [00:26:51] Macy Tran: For real. I'm like, if, yeah, exactly. And luckily that's me. I was into it. What I loved about it were, the legends, like there were some what I, so in Vietnam when I was living there, something that I loved and was learning more was that like Vietnamese people have so many legends about folk legends about food, like the origins of the watermelon,, the origins of our bunte cake, which is the cake that we eat, the sticky rice cake we eat during, lunar New Year. There are so many Food origin stories that I just did not grow up being raised on. And so, this book talked about some of like, how did pho even get started, you know, is pho even truly Vietnamese? It's, that's a debate I'm not gonna have right now. But. I loved just hearing the greater context in which all of this existed, especially not growing up with those stories and being,    [00:27:55] Miko Lee: Hey, wait, what is the origin of watermelon?    [00:27:58] Macy Tran: So it's this like funny little. Story where, this prince essentially gets banished to an island with his wife. And then on this random island, he finds this like incredible fruit, the watermelon, and he's like, whoa, this is so delicious. I want I must show this to the people back at home, but they won't have me because I'm banished. And then he basically floats the watermelon back to the mainland and they find it and they're like, oh my gosh, this is so incredible. We must, invite this man back to the mainland.    [00:28:38] Miko Lee: How did they know it was from him? Did he like carve his name in the watermelon?    [00:28:43] Macy Tran: I don't know. It's actually been a while since I've heard this story, so I could be just like. You know, I don't know all the details. That's    [00:28:50] Miko Lee: okay. That's always better anyway.   [00:28:53] Macy Tran: just stories like that. I love to hear them. I also learned about what it was like to eat and cook during foreign occupation when, oh, you know, the French were colonizers mm-hmm. When the Chinese were colonizers. Mm-hmm. And just the incredible Vietnamese food ways that emerged from those periods of colonization. Mm-hmm. They were both brutal and violent and also full of adaptation and creativity and survival foods. And so the book just talked about all of that, and I just love knowing those stories that help me know the ways in which our people have been able to survive for this long and are now free under, foreign  occupation.    [00:29:40] Miko Lee: Speaking of, you mentioned creativity and adaptability, and you are a multihyphenate person, as an artist, as an organizer, as a writer, as a visual artist, collage maker, I'm wondering how your artistry impacts your organizing and vice versa. How do they speak to each other? How do they influence each other?    [00:30:01] Macy Tran: Hmm. I am someone who, when there is an issue or a problem that arises, I'm often just confronting it with what can I do? What can I like feasibly do? How can I show up? And I think my artistic practices actually help me slow down. Even the ways that I can show up in community and do things in community, I'm very responsive. I'm always like, okay let's do a thing. Let's organize it. Let's get our hands dirty. I am out there, I am organizing people, you know, like tangibly. And I think the ways that my artistic practices partner with that is that my artistic practices help me reflect and remember and deepen and find spiritual grounding and purpose. my art is a way that I bridge conversations with my ancestors and I bridge what it means to know myself and be a person, a community member, a Vietnamese American daughter in this moment, right? And it reminds me of the skills that I have and wanna bring to the world. It also helps me create different narratives for understanding what's happening and. For finding creative solutions and for collaborating with others. So I think I would honestly be so burnt out and exhausted and sad if it were not for my artistic practices. I think it's because of my artistic practices that I find energy, that I find belonging, that I find meaning in the work that I'm doing.    [00:31:51] Miko Lee: I love that answer. Can you share, because you brought this up, can you share about a conversation or an interaction you've had with an ancestor and how that's influenced you recently?   [00:32:03] Macy Tran: Hmm. That's such a great question. I'm going to tie this answer into Lunar New Year because, lunar New Year is a time in which our material world and the spiritual world really can converge in a meaningful way, at least for me. And every year when I celebrate Lunar New Year, I will do something different. I deepen my practices. I just kind of deepen what I know about. Folk tradition and ancestor worship. And every year I learned new things and I wanna try new things. And so this year was the first year that I built a public altar space in my living room. Usually I just have it in my bedroom or in a small corner of my home somewhere that's like usually private. But I built like. It wasn't like a tiny little altar, like it was big, you know, like I had photos of all my relatives on there. I had flowers, I had five kinds of fruits. I had, you know, little, every time I ate a meal, I was putting a meal aside for my family to eat with me. And, Some cultures you don't eat the food that you leave on the altar, but in my family we do. And the reason for that is because we get to become one with our ancestors. We get to embody what our ancestors are and eat as well and their spirits, and so this past Lunar New Year, I actually threw a, I had celebrations on both sides of the family. And then I organized a new year party for my chosen family who came from all walks of life. And the prompt for the party, it was a potluck. The prompt for the potluck was cook something or bring something that your ancestors would be just delighted to eat on the altar. And so we    [00:34:00] Miko Lee: love that.    [00:34:01] Macy Tran: Oh yeah. It was so sweet. People came out with their best work, I should say, like the food was fantastic. Our ancestors were eating well, and I was sitting there. And this altar was full of tiny little plates of food, beautiful flowers. I also asked people to bring pictures, photos of their ancestors or people that they wanna honor. Incense were lit. The room was filled with incense smoke, and I was just, there was a moment where I was just, kinda in the corner of the room just watching, you know, and I had a feeling like, wow, all of our ancestors are hanging out right now. Not only are me and my chosen family, you know, building a community and belonging for ourselves but also like. I could have never, and probably they could have never predicted that my friend's like Jewish grandpa was hanging out with my Vietnamese grandmother and grandfather, you know, or yeah, my friends like grandparents from Antigua are now hanging out with like my family members and it's, it was just a moment where I just felt not just the joy.   [00:35:16] And love in the space of connecting with my real, like my friends in that moment. But also just the miraculousness of what it meant to hold all of our ancestors in that space. And so, after that I ended up writing a piece on my substack, actually as a letter to my ancestors. I, I kept the altar up for a week, a week and a half. And on the last day I was ready to take it down and move it back upstairs into my room. But on the last day, I thought, I'm gonna light the incense one more time. And have my ancestors in the space as I write this piece to them. There were so many things I wanted to say to them. And also at the same time, I felt like as I was writing, they were saying things to me, this is what I have to teach you in this moment, is kind of what they were saying to me. This is like, this is what it's like to celebrate that under occupation. This is what it was like when we thought it wasn't even possible to celebrate Tet. Like we had literally nothing but rice and water and yet we still did, and my grandma recently passed a I mean, it's not so recent anymore, but it's been just over a year now. And she was like, One of the first like major deaths of the elder generation in my family. And Tet was the time that I could commune with her and share love with her. And, I could just feel her presence in the space and I would even, memories felt like a way that she was talking to me. The memory of just the crackle of her sesame balls, like she made the best sesame balls. They were like. Thin and crispy and fluffy, but also like so like they were not skimping on the mung bean on the inside. It was fantastic. So I'm just like, I haven't had a sesame ball from her in over a year, but I can remember how it tastes and feels, and my mouth and that memory itself is a message from her. To remember what has fed me through so many years, and how important it is to just remember the, not only just the foods that we eat, but the people that have loved that food into existence. And now me, you know,    [00:37:38] Miko Lee: have you made it the dish, the sesame balls.    [00:37:43] Macy Tran: I actually have her recipe books, so I planned to I just didn't have time, this past Tet, but me and my brother were going to, and then I think we decided we wanted to do it on just like on a lower key day, like instead of like in the midst of just like so much family celebration, there was so much to prepare and we were like, let's just plan a low key weekend where it's just me and you and there's no timeline and we don't have to get this anywhere and they don't have to be perfect. Like    [00:38:14] Miko Lee: that sounds lovely. So it's personal and it's family and Exactly. And if for a one year anniversary, death anniversary is coming up, that might be a great time to honor her.    [00:38:22] Macy Tran: Exactly. Exactly.    [00:38:24] Miko Lee: I'm wondering what was like some standout dishes from that lovely event to you?    [00:38:29] Macy Tran: Ooh. I mean, I will talk about the dish I made.   [00:38:33] Miko Lee: Okay.    [00:38:36] Macy Tran: Which I thought was fantastic and I think my friends also thought were delicious. Was delicious. Um, but a dish that is commonly eaten during the lunar new year for Vietnamese people is a tit ka, which is a caramelized, braised pork belly. This caramelized, braised pork was stewing for probably three hours. Wow. And so, yeah, and I used coconut water with it. I didn't like, straight up coconut water and it    [00:39:04] Miko Lee: no Coca-Cola.    [00:39:06] Macy Tran: No Coca-Cola not in this one. And I just made a huge, huge pot and it was basically almost all gone by the end of the night. So that was like a really good feeling. Um, my brother made an incredible duck heart lap. He works at Diane's Place, actually, it's a famous Hmong restaurant in Minneapolis. And they processed duck on the menu. And so he had like access to all these duck organs and he made an incredible loup that he brought to the party. And my, one of my little sisters, Iris, she's Puerto Rican and she made like tostones, like fried plantains and then she also made Puerto Rican rice, and she, she made like three or four dishes. So like, people really went above and beyond for their ancestors. I could really, I mean, it was probably like 20 people who came to this party, so there were so many dishes and they were all. So good. So I, I don't wanna, once I get into it, I'm gonna go into it, so I'm not gonna chat your ear off.    [00:40:13] Miko Lee: Sounds lovely. Sounds yummy. Mm-hmm. And my last question is, I'm wondering what manifestation for the year of the horse you have for yourself.    [00:40:23] Macy Tran: The 18 million rising essay that I wrote came, it was right before the lunar new year that it got published. And it came during a time where I was already thinking a lot about my creative practice and how in, in relationship my creative practice in relationship with also the ways that I organize and the ways that I cook and, organize around food. And when this opportunity for this essay emerged and just the way it has been received has been such an honor, like, because I haven't written for myself, you know, in so long and like really with my own voice I just didn't realize that people were going to resonate with it so much and find like an invitation to engage in food justice themselves and their own ancestry. And also the ways that it made them think about food and their relationship to food. And it was such a blessing for me to receive that resonance from people, you know, and to receive, just the stories that I've heard and the way it spoke to them. And I felt like that has been a blessing for me to just really expand my creative practice and be more public with it. I'm like, dang, if this little thing that I wrote impacted people in the way that they think about the world, like. I have so many more ideas I wanna share and like be in partnership with others about.   [00:41:57] And I just launched my Substack, right after the Lunar New Year and I was like, all right, you're the fire horse. Let's freaking go. I am ready, I am running. So, I just wanna be creating so much and like act manifesting and actualizing a lot of the dreams that I have, my creative dreams that I have continued to put on the back burner. Things about hosting supper clubs and doing more work around my parents' restaurant, like helping them create narrative around the restaurant and sharing our restaurant story with people. And just using my words and experiences as a way to connect with the world and also be open to the ways that people wanna connect with me. So that's kind of the ways that I'm, I'm seeing this year unfold already, and it's already started with a bang. I also wanna add that year of the fire horse for me is just a lot about movement and progress. And so in this sense movement, I think of social movements and the ways that social this particular social movement against ICE in our city will fundamentally. Impact us for the next lunar year. It happened right at the beginning of the lunar New Year and it's going to have deep effects into the year, and we will forever be changed by this. And I am so excited to see the ways in which we harness this energy for transformation, for care into something that's really meaningful.   [00:43:37] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining us on Apex Express. It was a delight to talk with you.    [00:43:42] Macy Tran: Thank you, Miko. This was so great. Thanks for having me.   [00:43:45] Miko Lee: Next up, listen to researcher professor, Dr. Milkie Vu, speak on her exploration on Asian Americans and food insecurities. Welcome, Dr. Milkie Vu, assistant professor at Northwestern. Welcome so much to Apex Express.    [00:44:04] Dr. Milkie Vu: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here.    [00:44:07] Miko Lee: Dr. Milkie is a mixed methods researcher focusing on community engagement and health issues, and I'm excited to talk with you today. I wanna start by first asking the question that I ask all of my guests, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?   [00:44:24] Dr. Milkie Vu: My people are the Vietnamese community, and when I think of my people, the first word that comes to my mind is resilience. I was raised in Vietnam. I speak Vietnamese fluently and I embrace my culture very deeply. I carry the memory of my parents and grandparents who have lived to colonization multiple world. And the challenge of post-war poverty and the ability to, endure all these hardship is the legacy that I bring with me and in my day to day life it acts as a personal life of hope for me and then professionally in the. Work that I do is really a foundation and it drives my dedication and commitment to working on health solution with Asian American and immigrant communities who have similar stories of hardship, but also perseverance.   [00:45:19] Miko Lee: Thank you so much. I really appreciate how your background has informed the work that you're doing, and I wonder if you could talk a little bit more about this study, this scoping review on food insecurity among Asian Americans. Can you one first start off by breaking down what a scoping review is.   [00:45:37] Dr. Milkie Vu: Yeah, I'm happy to talk about that. So a scoping review is essentially a methodology that we use to be able to summarize existing scientific literature and try to understand how this literature. Answer research questions that we have.   [00:45:56] Miko Lee: Can you tell me what inspired this study?    [00:45:59] Dr. Milkie Vu: I've done community engaged research with, Asian American population for over a decade. In doing so, I have come to realize , as an anecdotal evidence, how food insecurity is a issue in the community. And yet that's very little that has been, done in terms of research or policy that target this problem., So for example, the US Department of Agriculture, will publish annually a report on food insecurity in America and it will include several, racial and ethnic populations, but Asian Americans are frequently ommitted from that report. So, you know, at the national level, that data doesn't exist, which then, makes it very difficult to understand what is the severity of the problem and what are some of the solutions that could be done to address them. So that's why we were interested in doing a deeper dive into summarizing the literature too be able to see what has been done about this problem and what are some of the barriers that exist, towards food security for community members, and what are some of the literature gaps? Our review was published in 2024 was the first scientific review of the literature on food insecurity among Asian Americans.    [00:47:27] Miko Lee: And what did your study uncover?    [00:47:31] Dr. Milkie Vu: We documented several important findings. There is a lack of existing data on this problem. Due to this myth of Asian Americans being the model minority. Assuming that Asian Americans are uniformly successful socioeconomically and thus not experiencing, any challenge including food insecurity. One of the things that we found is the importance of data disaggregation and looking at food insecurity in different Asian origin groups. We found that food insecurity really varied. So for example, if you look at some groups like Japanese Americans, we found the prevalence of between two to 11% of the population reporting food insecurity. But then if you look at some of the Southeast Asian groups, for example, Filipinos or Hmong American or Vietnamese, the rates are much higher. So the studies that we found report, between eight to 41% of food insecurity and among Filipino population. Close to 48% for more Hmong American, and then between 14 or 28% for Vietnamese Americans, so much higher than the rates for other groups.   [00:48:48] Data Dion is important and there shouldn't be this grouping of different Asian groups in research because then it really erased like the struggles specific communities with food insecurity. I think the other finding that was really important is looking at more systemic or structural barriers that prevent people from being food secure. Our review found that limited English proficiency is a important driver of food insecurity. The lack of appropriate language services, whether that's food pantry or for things like snap navigation. These could be important target point infusion policy or interventions that could help address food insecurity, community members. We also look at a couple of qualitative studies that found really interesting things. So for example, even when Asian American community members do use food assistance programs like snap, the benefits are often not sufficient. And they have a negative experience. There's also fear of how that might negatively impact the immigration status or application. Those are important barriers that should be acknowledge.   [00:50:08] Miko Lee: Some of these numbers are so high. You mentioned 48% with Hmong folks with, it's just so surprising, and I wonder if there's a sense of the why some of these communities have a higher food insecurity than others.    [00:50:21] Dr. Milkie Vu: Yeah, one of the things that we did point out in the conclusion was the need for just more studies focusing on these, smaller Asian groups or smaller Asian population that are done in like the appropriate language to be. From some of the experience I've had, part of it is probably shaped by, the historical conditions to which some of these, communities might have come to the us. For example, thinking about my community Vietnamese, coming to America as refugees, fleeing persecution or free fleeing war and how that, historical conditions might create structural and socioeconomic challenge in Britain, in the community. I am also curious about is the availability of service and program that are linguistically appropriate or, providing culturally relevant food for these communities. So those are important points that we can hypothesize, but obviously more research is needed to understand, the root cause of these challenge and how to address them.   [00:51:28] Miko Lee: And were you focused on specific regions or this was national?    [00:51:34] Dr. Milkie Vu: I'm really glad that you asked about this. So the review itself is, summarizing all published literature focusing on Asian Americans. All of the studies take place in the us. A lot of the, studies probably focus on data that are from the coast. So either on Asian American, on the east coast or the west coast. , But we looked at the study like from a nationwide angle and I'm also happy to talk about some of the new committee organizations in Chicago looking at food insecurity and community-based solutions to address that among Asian Americans. Part of the motivation for the follow-up study was just thinking about the lack of data focusing on the Midwest or Chicago where I live.    [00:52:20] Miko Lee: Please, I'd love to hear more about that . [00:52:23] Dr. Milkie Vu: The COVID pandemic, had brought a lot challenges for food insecurity. For people nationwide in general, but then for Asian American, there's also this, so what I call like the double, almost like a double pandemic, like the waves of entire Asian violence and hate crimes. And so thinking about how that impact food insecurity in general among, Asian American community members. About two years ago, we interviewed around, 13 organizations in Chicago. All of them are either community based organizations, social services or food pantry, working with, primarily with Asian American community members, from diverse groups: korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, south Asian, Mongolian, et cetera throughout Chicago. And the question that we asked them was, thinking about what programs they have offered during the COVID pandemic that aim at reducing food insecurity among community members. How did they implement this program? Who are some of the vulnerable populations served by the program? How did the pandemic as far as anti-Asian racism impact the program organization? That was the first study that looked at how community organization in Chicago help address this issue of insecurity on this, the COVID pandemic.   [00:53:57] Miko Lee: And so what is the next step for this study or what is the next piece that you're working on as connected to this?    [00:54:05] Dr. Milkie Vu: Yeah. Think about the role of the community organization as grassroots organizations that work from the ground up , as opposed to more top down program structure. They're doing a lot of the heavy lifting to help community members address food insecurity, because they know the community very well. They are able to provide the in language service that community members need. They're also trusted by community members. So a lot of the time,, certain populations especially say if those with limited their English proficiency or, more newly arrived immigrants, might feel more comfortable going here as opposed to going to this organization as opposed to, another one that are more generic and don't have the staff that speak the right language. I think the other thing is, staff with the similar cultural backgrounds are able to understand. There was one quote from the study that I did in Chicago. That stuck with me. When we tell them you could go to the food bank, the American food is not quite tailored to their taste. So they will get a big chunk of cheese and they will be like, what is this? Nobody wants to eat this. Again, thinking about the role of committee organization as so important in knowing the language, knowing the cultural preferences. And then just thinking of ways that we can further support, the programs and operations that they do. This is a really challenging time for nonprofits, social service organization, both in terms of providing food as well as other social service to Asian American and immigrant communities. How can research from a place like, researchers, from academia like me, are able to partner with them to further the service that they do and be able to find the funding that support them and community members. I think that's the important step for me.   [00:56:02] Miko Lee: Dr. Vu, how can folks find out more about your work?    [00:56:06] Dr. Milkie Vu: Yeah, In order to understand more about the work that we do, so we have a website, for our lab that frequently include, you know, like our current projects as well as publications. So you can go to site, so SI ts.northwestern.edu/vu group. and you'll be able to find more information about the research that we published. We've also recently, in the beginning of the year start, to find ways to disseminate research on social media. So we also have a Facebook group for our lab that disseminates our research findings as well as include information about the community members and partners Other trainees in the lab that make this work possible. The labs Facebook group is at facebook.com/maybe give research. and then you can always reach out to me via my email milkie.vu@northwestern.edu So I'm glad to connect with people who have similar research interests or would like to learn more about the work that we do.   [00:57:06] Miko Lee: Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your information about your important work that you're doing on research with Asian American community. Appreciate hearing from you.    [00:57:15] Dr. Milkie Vu: Thank you so much.   [00:57:18] Miko Lee: Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about our show and our guests tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preti Mangala-Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by me Miko Lee, and edited by Ayame Keane-Lee. Have a great night.   The post APEX Express – 6.4.26 – Food Justice appeared first on KPFA.

It's Friday, May 15th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Vietnamese Communists arrest four Christians On May 12th, Vietnamese Communist authorities arrested four clergy and lay leaders accused of sharing documentation of human rights abuses online, reports Christian Solidarity Worldwide. The group was also indicted for associating with Dr Nguyễn Đình Thắng, the president of Boat People SOS, a Vietnamese-American human rights group, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in absentia in April on false terrorism charges for his alleged role in the 2023 Dak Lak uprising.  While two of the four were released, the others remain behind bars. Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You, [God], are with me; Your rod and staff, they comfort me.” China's Jinping warns Trump about Taiwan On May 14th, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned U.S. President Donald Trump that the two countries could clash over Taiwan if the issue was not handled properly, reports the Associated Press. The exchange at a highly anticipated summit in Beijing underscored just how far apart Trump and Jinping remain on thorny issues, including the war in Iran, trade disputes and Washington's relations with Taiwan, which is self-ruled but which China claims as part of its territory. The pair met for about two hours behind closed doors at the Great Hall of the People after an elaborate welcome ceremony featuring booming cannons, a band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and China's national anthem, and hundreds of school children waving flowers and American and Chinese flags. President Trump's opening remarks were optimistic. TRUMP: “President Xi, I want to thank you very much. We've had a fantastic relationship. We've gotten along. When there were difficulties, we worked it out. I would call you, and you would call me, and whenever we had a problem, people don't know, whenever we had a problem, we worked it out very quickly. “I have such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it's true. I only say the truth. “And I just want to say on behalf of all of the great delegation that we have. We have the greatest businessmen. Every single one of them. We asked the top 30 in the world. Every single one of them said, ‘Yes,' and they look forward to trade and doing business. It's going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf. It's an honor to be with you. “It's an honor to be your friend. The relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before.” Trump's pick for Federal Reserve Chairman confirmed President Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve won Senate confirmation on May 13th, just in time to officially take over as the leader of the central bank, reports National Public Radio. Trump is hoping Kevin Warsh can lead the Fed into much lower interest rates — but the president could be frustrated by persistent inflation. Warsh was confirmed on a 54-45 vote, mostly along party lines. Prior to the vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, spoke from the Senate floor and shared an overview of Kevin Warsh's biography and questioned why the Democrats have objected to his nomination. THUNE: “He credits his knowledge of the real economy to growing up in upstate New York, where his dad ran a children's clothing store and manufacturing company. From Shaker High School, he went on to Stanford University and then Harvard Law School. He then started a career on Wall Street, but he shifted to public service, joining the Bush administration's economic policy team in 2002. “Four years later, President Bush nominated him to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. At age 35, Kevin Warsh was unanimously confirmed here in the Senate and became the youngest governor in the history of the Federal Reserve. Being the youngest person to take a seat in the Federal Reserve's boardroom is impressive enough, but Kevin Warsh didn't just take a seat. He was a key player during the time he was on the board. “Kevin Warsh seems to have just the profile of a Federal Reserve Chairman, yet Democrats oppose his nomination. For the first time in its history, the Banking Committee reported out a nominee for Fed chairman on a party line vote because every single Democrat opposed Mr. Warsh's nomination, and actually only one Democrat was even present for the vote. “The other 10 Democrats on the Banking Committee didn't even bother to show up for it. I wish I could say I'm surprised, but this is just how bad Trump Derangement Syndrome has gotten on the other side of the aisle. Democrats won't say so, but that's what it is.” Kevin Warsh has argued there's room to lower rates, but he also promised to use his own judgment in setting monetary policy — and not to take orders from the White House. Warsh denied charges from Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts that he would be Trump's "sock puppet." Warsh will replace Jerome Powell, who has led the Fed since 2018. Although Trump appointed Powell to the job, he has relentlessly criticized the outgoing Fed chairman for not moving more aggressively to lower borrowing costs. Powell's term as chairman ends today. In a break with tradition, Powell will remain on the Fed's governing board for a period of time after stepping down as chairman. That's unusual since Fed chairs typically leave the central bank when their term as the head is done. But Powell is determined to safeguard the institution from political pressure. He has vowed to keep a low profile and not overshadow Warsh. But Powell will continue to have a vote on the 12-member committee that sets interest rates. Missionary John Vassar commissioned as evangelist And finally, on May 15, 1850, John Vassar—often referred to as "Uncle" John—was formally commissioned as an evangelist for the American Tract Society of New York. Following a distinct conversion experience at the age of 28, Vassar left his family's prominent brewing business in Poughkeepsie, New York, to dedicate his life to soul-winning.  As an agent for the American Tract Society, he traveled extensively, selling and distributing Christian literature. Known for his intense earnestness, he was described as a "living fire" who would ask everyone he met about their relationship with Christ. He became one of the most powerful personal evangelists of the 19th century.  Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” Later in John Vassar's career, in 1863, he was commissioned to work among soldiers during the Civil War. Upon being captured, he famously asked Confederate General Jeb Stuart, "General, do you love Jesus?" Close And that's The Worldview on this Friday, May 15th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Today's storyteller Steven Ho grew up in a strict Vietnamese-American household where the stakes were always high. He felt an overwhelming pressure to walk the straight line set before him — a line of overachieving and excellence. As Steven grew up, he encountered places and circumstances that catapulted him into a deep curiosity and affection for the world around him. Steven began to wonder if there might be more than he could have ever expected, waiting for him outside the lines.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Khnh L and Alisha Nguyen will present on their research exploring the history, development, and impact of Vietnamese dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in five U.S. states with significant Vietnamese populations. Using a multiple-case study approach, this project examined how these programs support heritage language preservation and the raciolinguistic identity development of Vietnamese students, particularly in the context of refugee resettlement after the Vietnam War. The study also addresses the gap in scholarship on Vietnamese American education, language, and cultural integration in the U.S. education system.

When she was 15 years old, Lulu Gribbin lost her right leg and left hand in a shark attack. Now, at 17, the teenager is helping to prevent the next attack by fighting to mandate emergency alerts after an unprovoked shark attack. Nicole Valdes reports. College enrollment has been declining over the past decade and many institutions are struggling financially. At least 16 colleges and campuses announced their closures in 2025. CBS News contributor Roland Fryer explains what it means for students. Dr. Florence Comite, a leading expert in longevity, says your genes are not your destiny and you can even reverse biological aging with the right tools and information. She speaks with "CBS Mornings" about the key to longevity and the tests she recommends to assess your current and future health. You can purchase Dr. Florence Comite's book, "Invincible" here: (https://amzn.to/4d9OOws). CBS earns commission from Amazon. "Tracker" star Justin Hartley reveals how he feels about the upcoming finale of the third season of the show. He also discusses his wife making appearances in the series and the best advice he's received in the industry. Astronaut and activist Amanda Nguyen, who became the first Vietnamese American woman in space, talks about her decision to bring the hospital band from her sexual assault with her on last year's Blue Origin flight, helping other survivors and her memoir. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cassandra Bautista, Rachel Huerta, Zoe Ly Sen & Andrea Wilson visit the KSQD studio with host Farnaz Fatemi to talk about the 44th annual In Celebration of the MUSE in Santa Cruz County. Hear some heart-stopping poems this hour! .....And, in addition to talking about this special event, each of the four commanding voices share their experiences with poetry and writing poems. Join us for an episode with these upcoming poets!Cassandra Bautista: Mexican-American poet from Los Angeles who recently moved to Santa Cruz to pursue Literature at UCSC. They are enamored by the way poetry weaves soul into its verse, capable of holding the essence of existence. Cassandra works in co-creation with life to reveal personal truths through writing, sharing experiences of migration, womanhood, magic, queerness, or just straight up living. They write for liberation and for any heart who may resonate with their poems.Rachel Huerta is an English major at Cabrillo College (transferring to Westmont College); she currently works as an English/Spanish tutor. Rachel served as an inaugural Youth Poet Laureate for the City of Watsonville (2023-2025), and her portfolio consists mostly of poetry and half-finished novels. She was once a featured speaker alongside Dolores Huerta – no relation, only wishful thinking. You can find her work in the Porter Gulch Review and Journal X.Zoe Ly Sen is a queer Vietnamese-American writer and painter. Their favorite color is forest green and their favorite painter is Francis Bacon. If they were a Pokémon they would be dragon-fairy type because they are their own greatest strength and weakness. Their life aspirations are going back to Vietnam as a teacher, also finding a warm place to rest their head. They believe in empowering indigenous youth to heal mother earth from settler-colonial violence. They want to live to see Palestine, Sudan, and Hawai'i be free.Andrea Wilson has lived and worked in Santa Cruz County for over 20 years but is originally from Massachusetts. They joined the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz about 15 years ago and volunteers at forays and events, including the Fungus Fair every January. Andrea graduated from Cabrillo, June 2025, with a degree in English. Their pieces can be found published in Cabrillo Watsonville's Journal X.

Today we're talking with Jen Miller, journalist, author of five books, and the reporter and co-producer behind Blood Will Tell, a new limited series podcast from Wondery and Campside Media.Jen's work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many other esteemed publications. She holds both an MFA in fiction and a master's in journalism from Columbia. She's also spent the last decade running the Senior Media Fellows Program at the American Immigration Council, helping over a thousand people tell their own immigration stories in their own words. The story that brought her to us today started with a Washington Post assignment about Shakespeare being used as therapy in prisons and ended with her down a rabbit hole that led to the creation of Blood Will Tell. The podcast overs the true story of 18-year-old Anh and Trung, Vietnamese-American identical twin brothers in San Jose, California and a birthday party that turned fatal.Follow: Blood Will TellJennifer Miller

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 14! With Dennis V. Tran. Dennis is a Vietnamese American storyteller, disability advocate, and inclusion strategist whose work focuses on neurodiversity, mental health, and accessibility—particularly within Asian American communities.  Dennis identifies as queer, partially blind, and neurodivergent, and he uses his lived experiences to advocate for more inclusive systems in media, workplaces, and public health. Something we think everyone should be supportive of. Among the interesting facts about Dennis is that he was a late-identified autistic ADHDer.  Dennis has developed autism resource toolkits used by more than 70 affiliates of the Autism Society of America, consulted on inclusive media representation—including helping develop an autistic character for the children's show Blue's Clues & You! Dennis writes and speaks widely about disability justice, neurodiversity, and the intersections of identity, culture, and mental health in the Vietnamese American and broader Asian American communities.   To learn more about Dennis Tran and his work, you can visit dennisvtran.com , connect with him on LinkedIn @dennisvtran, or follow him on IG @denvtran. Enjoy the Conversation! If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or our links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Send us Fan MailT.D. Tran, also known as Thuy Dan Tran, is the Yelp Community Director for the San Gabriel Valley, where she helps connect people, spotlight local businesses, and celebrate the depth and diversity of SGV. She has become a recognizable force in the region through community building, local partnerships, and curated experiences that bring residents and business owners together in meaningful ways. Yelp's own community coverage credits TD with leading SGV focused events and local features, while outside profiles highlight her passion for helping people discover what makes a community feel alive. In this conversation, TD shares how her path into community work was shaped by her upbringing as a first generation Vietnamese American raised in Wisconsin. In an interview profile, she explains that community programs played a major role in her childhood and helped shape her understanding of support, belonging, and opportunity. She also points to her family's restaurant roots and her love for gathering people as key influences behind the work she does today. A major part of TD's impact in the San Gabriel Valley has been her leadership within Yelp's local ecosystem. Public coverage shows her tied to SGV food and culture features, local campaigns, and business centered events, while a 2023 event listing identified her as Yelp's Senior Community Manager for San Gabriel Valley. Those roles reflect the same core mission: creating visibility for small businesses, building trust with locals, and making it easier for people to engage with the region in a more personal way. This episode is for anyone interested in community building, local business support, event production, food culture, and the stories that shape the San Gabriel Valley. TD Tran brings a thoughtful perspective on what it means to build real connections, champion neighborhood identity, and create spaces where people feel seen, welcomed, and inspired to participate. _______________Music CreditsIntroEuphoria in the San Gabriel Valley, Yone OGStingerScarlet Fire (Sting), Otis McDonald, YouTube Audio LibraryOutroEuphoria in the San Gabriel Valley, Yone OG__________________My SGV Podcast:Website: www.mysgv.netNewsletter: Beyond the MicPatreon: MySGV Podcastinfo@sgvmasterkey.com

Derek Champagne interviews Quang X. Pham. Quang is a biotech executive, war veteran, author, speaker, and community leader with a remarkable journey shaped by resilience, service, and entrepreneurship. He made history as the first Vietnamese American to earn naval aviator wings in the Marine Corps and lead an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq.His inspiring American underdog journey, told in first person, is unlike any other. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Quang and his family fled as refugees when he was 10, while his father, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot,remained and was imprisoned for more than a decade. After earning a degree from UCLA, Quang served seven years on active duty, flying CH-46 helicopters in the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, and the Reserves. Following his military career, Quang transitioned into business, founding multiple pharmaceutical companies. In 2000, he launched MyDrugRep.com (which became LathianSystems), an innovative online platform for physician marketing engagements, which was later acquired. In 2015, he founded Espero Pharmaceuticals and Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals. His leadership and entrepreneurial success earned him the Florida EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018. Today Quang serves as Chairman and CEO, Cadrenal Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CVKD).Quang is also the author of the award-winning father-son memoir, A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam (Penguin Random House), and his new book, Underdog Nation: Zero In on Effort and Results for Success (Forbes Books).Committed to giving back, Quang has served on the boards of private companies, veterancharities and educational organizations. He lives in Florida with his family, continuing tolead and inspire.Order Quang's new book here: https://quangxpham.com/books/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Sharing a special episode this week from a new podcast called Blood Will Tell. When a birthday party in suburban San Jose turns deadly, 18-year-old identical twins are arrested for suspected murder. One brother spends nearly two years in jail before the truth comes out: authorities locked up the wrong twin. How could one brother let his twin take the fall? And why would the other sacrifice his freedom for a crime he didn’t commit? Blood Will Tell is a modern-day saga of Shakespearean proportions, following Vietnamese-American brothers whose unbreakable bond is tested by silence, sacrifice, and an unthinkable choice. In this episode, after a drunken fight at a birthday party turns deadly, police narrow in on two suspects — identical twin brothers, Trung and Anh. But when an eye witness mistakes the brothers for each other in a lineup, one brother must make a heartbreaking sacrifice. Listen to more episodes of Blood Will Tell at https://wondery.com/shows/blood-will-tell/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the internet was born from the labor of a handful of white male entrepreneurs, recovering the uncredited and unpaid contributions of women of color. Focusing on three key inflection points in computing—the microchip era of the 1960s and '70s, the rise of social media in the 2000s, and A.I.-fueled virtual reality in the 2020s—Dr. Nakamura illuminates these women's instrumental roles in building new technologies and making them coherent to users. From the Navajo women who manufactured the first semiconductor circuits in New Mexico to Tila Tequila, the queer Vietnamese American refugee who became the first true internet influencer in the MySpace age, to Black virtual reality creators, Dr. Nakamura highlights how women's gendered and racialized identities have uniquely positioned them to mediate the development and proliferation of new technologies. She exposes how these women have been structurally excluded from racial capitalism's benefits while their labor is considered as exploitable and inexhaustible as that of machines. Confronting this injustice, she focuses our attention on their work, which undergirds and makes possible the platforms ingrained in our daily lives. Arguing for both recognition and material compensation for these women's labor, The Inattention Economy is a powerful counterhistory of Silicon Valley and a persuasive call to imagine a different kind of internet. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Welcome back to Crawlspace. In this new episode, Tim Pilleri & Lance Reenstierna are joined by new friend of the show, Jennifer Miller. Jennifer is a writer, reporter and a co-producer of Blood Will Tell, a limited series podcast from Audible/Campside Media. Blood Will Tell follows the story of Vietnamese-American identical twins Trung and Anh. After a fatal San Jose party fight, the wrong brother is imprisoned, exploring themes of silence, loyalty, and a dramatic "twin swap". Jennifer Miller unravels the story in this deeply reported, six-episode narrative podcast. Listen to Blood Will Tell: https://open.spotify.com/show/6idy6Kz7jWIXd9tPX2N1Pu https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/blood-will-tell/id1848382288 Check out everything Jennifer Miller has going on: https://www.byjennifermiller.com/ Follow Jennifer: https://www.facebook.com/byJenniferMiller Check out Quince: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://quince.com/MISSING⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The music for Crawlspace was produced by David Flajnik. Listen to his music here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.pond5.com/artist/bigdsound.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Crawlspace: IG:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. TT:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/Crawlspacepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/crawlspacepod.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/7iSnqnCf27NODdz0pJ1GvJ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/crawlspace⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crawlspace-true-crime-mysteries/id1187326340⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Missing: IG:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/MissingCSM/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. TT:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@missingcsm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. FB:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. X:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/MissingCSM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Spotify:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://open.spotify.com/show/0yRXkJrZC85otfT7oXMcri⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Youtube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/missingcsm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Apple:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/missing/id1006974447⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Private Investigations For the Missing Please donate if you can: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://investigationsforthemissing.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://piftm.org/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/PIFortheMissing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/PIFortheMissing/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/investigationsforthemissing/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Check out our entire network at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://crawlspace-media.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we're sharing something a little different in the feed: an episode of the podcast Blood Will Tell. Blood Will Tell chronicles the aftermath of a birthday party in suburban San Jose that turned deadly. Two 18-year-olds were arrested for suspicion of murder. One brother spent nearly two years in jail before the truth came out: Authorities locked up the wrong twin. How could one brother let his twin take the fall? And why would the other sacrifice his freedom for a crime that he didn't commit? Blood Will Tell is a modern-day saga following Vietnamese-American brothers whose unbreakable bond is tested by silence, sacrifice, and an unthinkable choice. You can find more episodes of Blood Will Tell at wondery.com/shows/blood-will-tell. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Sharing a special episode this week from a new podcast called Blood Will Tell. When a birthday party in suburban San Jose turns deadly, 18-year-old identical twins are arrested for suspected murder. One brother spends nearly two years in jail before the truth comes out: authorities locked up the wrong twin. How could one brother let his twin take the fall? And why would the other sacrifice his freedom for a crime he didn't commit? Blood Will Tell is a modern-day saga of Shakespearean proportions, following Vietnamese-American brothers whose unbreakable bond is tested by silence, sacrifice, and an unthinkable choice.  In this episode, after a drunken fight at a birthday party turns deadly, police narrow in on two suspects — identical twin brothers, Trung and Anh. But when an eyewitness mistakes the brothers for each other in a lineup, one brother must make a heartbreaking sacrifice. Listen to more episodes of Blood Will Tell at https://wondery.com/shows/blood-will-tell/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Personal Development Trailblazers Podcast! In today's episode, we're talking about how to develop emotional mastery so you can lead your life, your relationships, and your family with strength and presence.Minhdoan Ngo is a Marine Corps veteran, Vietnamese American, and real estate investor turned wellness retreat co-founder and host. From the outside, he looked successful. He had built a solid career in the military, made his mark in real estate, and served as an operations manager.But inside, he felt lost.When he was 13, his father passed away from cancer, and it left a deep void in his life. Without him, Minhdoan found himself searching for guidance, looking to coaches, bosses, and teachers to fill that role and provide direction. Despite his achievements, he carried an inner weight he didn't fully understand for years. He pushed forward, but always felt something was missing.His family's journey through mental health struggles showed him firsthand how powerful it can be to hold space for people to be open, vulnerable, and seen. That realization led him to his true calling: creating and holding space where others could find the healing he had once searched so desperately for.Today, Minhdoan creates a safe and nurturing environment for guests to explore deep self-discovery and healing. Through a holistic approach that blends somatic exercises, mindfulness practices, and cultural sensitivity, he empowers people to reconnect with themselves, release old wounds, and begin a new path with clarity and peace.Connect with Minhdoan Here: https://www.instagram.com/minhdoan.ngo/https://www.youtube.com/@MinhdoanNgo-CHhttps://www.contagioushealer.com/===================================If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends.Thanks for watching the Personal Development Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com.Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers. QUICK LINKS: APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-applicationDIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/

Remastered edition: re‑edited and shortened for clarity and pace.A cargo aircraft built for tanks, not toddlers. A city collapsing in April 1975. And a young Air Force medic from Flint who boarded anyway.In this Radio Free Flint interview, Flint‑born Air Force hero Sgt. Phillip Wise recounts the harrowing crash of an Air Force transport plane loaded with hundreds of orphaned Vietnamese‑American babies, his survival in the cargo hold, and his decades‑long quest to honor the lost and the rescued.Wise traces his journey from Flint Southwestern High School to the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a senior medical technician on aeromedical missions across Southeast Asia. When President Gerald Ford authorized Operation Babylift to evacuate Vietnamese orphans, Wise's unit transitioned from the DC-9 Nightingale to the massive C-5A Galaxy to move hundreds of children in a single flight.Fifteen minutes after takeoff from Saigon, the rear cargo doors failed. The aircraft rapidly decompressed. Hydraulics were crippled. The crew fought to return to Tan Son Nhut Air Base before the C-5A crash-landed in rice fields outside the city.The disaster became one of the most devastating aviation accidents of the Vietnam War.Wise survived the cargo compartment impact and later received the Airman's Medal for heroism. He reflects on rescue efforts, months of recovery, reunions with now-adult adoptees, and the complicated legacy of Operation Babylift—heroism, loss, identity, and the ethics of wartime evacuation.This is a firsthand account of the 1975 Operation Babylift crash, told by a Michigan veteran who lived through one of the final tragedies of the Vietnam War.Sgt. Wise wrote the book "Fragile Delivery: Operation Babylift" which sheds light on the Boeing C-5A crash. His writing sheds light on the doomed flight, the brave men and women involved in Operation Babylift, and one man's story of near-impossible survival in the horrifying shadow of death as the plane split violently apart in swampy rice paddies.Sgt Wise was the only crew on the cargo area of the plane to survive the tragic plane crash. Wise told the Flint Journal, "The doctors thought I would be a vegetable. They thought I wouldn't be able to see out of my left eye or to walk,” the Flint resident and decorated veteran said. “I came through with 20-20 vision. I became a mailman. I missed one day in 13 years."The U.S. Air Force bestowed upon Phillip Wise a medal for his heroism for his part in the military operation to rescue these children.  Phillip Wise is part of a veterans group Peaceful Warriors who speak across Michigan and the US about their role in helpThe Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

Xin chào, Sabaidee, and hello everyone! Welcome back to another episode of the Thip Khao Podcast. I'm Jewelry Pouna Keodara, an Advocacy Ambassador from IL, and Peachey Peace Fellow with Legacies of War.Today, I'm truly honored to welcome Terry Vo, Metro Council Member for District 17 in Nashville, Tennessee.Terry is not only an incredible leader but also someone whose story carries so much heart. As the proud daughter of Vietnamese refugees, her journey speaks to resilience, compassion, and the power of community.Terry Vo is the District 17 Metro Council member and Partnerships Director for API Middle TN. The first Vietnamese American elected to Metro Council, Terry champions inclusive, integrity-driven solutions for Nashville. A dedicated advocate for social change, she is the founding Immigrant Caucus Chair and serves on the Friends of Fort Negley Board of Directors and GUIDER Advisory Board for the Nashville Predators. Raised by Vietnamese immigrants in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Terry holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Arkansas and a master's in governance and public policy from the University of Queensland. In her global career, she has worked across nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors, building bilateral relations between U.S. and Japan and connecting Tennesseans to affordable internet. She is a US Japan Foundation Program Fellow and proud alumna of Leadership Middle Tennessee, Leadership Tennessee, and the US Global Leaders Coalition's Next Gen Global Leaders Network Class of 2024. She was recently named the Nashville Emerging Leaders Award Government and Public Affairs recipient! In her free time, she enjoys traveling, gardening, and the Beautiful Bookworms Book Club.Thank you all, dear friends,  for tuning into Thip Khao Talk brought to you by our Innovators Sponsors Akin Gump and Article 22. Please continue to listen and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The theme music used in this podcast are by the Lao Jazzanova Band from Vientiane, Laos. Learn more about Legacies of War: https://www.legaciesofwar.org/

Thuy Reed is a Vietnamese American author whose life was shaped by war, loss, displacement, and resilience. Born in a small village in Vietnam during the war, she witnessed firsthand the devastation inflicted on families and communities, including the death of her brother, who was killed by a sniper at the age of 21. She left Vietnam as a young woman, believing she would return, only to have South Vietnam fall months later, permanently altering the course of her life. After immigrating to the United States, she navigated profound cultural shifts, built a new life, raised a family, and transformed her painful experiences into a lifelong commitment to peace, civic responsibility, and honoring the true cost of freedom. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, Thuy Reed shares how her experiences motivated her to write Dear America: From Vietnam with Love, a memoir written as both a personal reflection and a message to her adopted country. She discusses her 12-year effort to help lift the U.S. trade embargo on Vietnam, her deep concerns about political violence and civic disengagement, and her belief that democracy requires education, participation, and accountability. Through her story, she emphasizes that war leaves generational wounds, violence does not win hearts or minds, and freedom must be protected through informed action rather than fear. The key takeaways center on valuing democracy, rejecting violence, staying engaged, and remembering the human cost behind political decisions. Quotes: “I do not like war, because the bullet that killed a boy on the battlefield went straight into his mother's heart.” “You cannot win hearts and minds with guns and bullets. You cannot.” “This is America. If you want change, you work hard, you vote, and you stay engaged. You do not tear it down.” “I love America with all my heart, because this is where everything that is me and mine is found.” Resources: Follow Thuy Reed on Facebook Grab Dear America: From Vietnam with Love on Amazon. Learn more about Thuy Reed and her story.

In April 2005, Ha Smith, a prominent Vietnamese-American fortune teller, and her adult daughter, Anita Vo, were found brutally murdered in Smith's home. They had been beaten and stabbed. The killer had stolen cash, jewelry, and credit cards, and poured white paint over the victims' heads and hands, a detail that initially led police to consider that it had been a ritualistic killing. It would take weeks and a cross country manhunt to uncover the truth. Fam, THIS. ONE. IS. WILD. Find and watch "In Ice Cold Blood: Miss Fortune" on Peacock WE'RE ON YOUTUBE - Want to view the episodes and not just listen?  Check our new video feed to see full video episodes starting today. CLICK HERE TO WATCH AND SUBSCRIBE! OUR MERCH STORE IS BACK - AND ON SALE!  Missed out on the merch drops earlier this year?  From now until the end of the year, you can grab all of our remaining stock of merchandise for 30% off!  Shop now!! LOOKING FOR MORE TCO? On our Patreon feed, you'll find over 400 FULL AD-FREE BONUS episodes to BINGE RIGHT NOW, including our episode-by-episode coverage of popular documentary series like Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God, LulaRich, and The Curious Case of Natalia Grace; classics like The Jinx, Making A Murderer, and The Staircase; and well-known cases like The Menendez Murders, Casey Anthony: American Murder Mystery, and The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and so many more! Episode Sponsors: Function - Own your health for $365 a year - a dollar a day!  Visit www.functionhealth.com/TCO or use gift code TCO25 for a $25 credit towards your membership. Chewy - Every pet deserves a wish come true. Send your pet's wish to www.Chewy.com/ChewyClaus and it might become a reality. Plus, your wish means Chewy will donate five meals to pets in need. Zbiotics - Try PreAlcohol before drinking and wake up feeling great the next day. Head to www.ZBiotics.com/TCO and use the code TCO at checkout for 15% off. DripDrop - Doctor-developed hydration that works faster than water alone. Use promo code TCO at www.dripdrop.com for 20% off your first order! Ritual - Ritual's Essential for Women 18+ is a multivitamin you can actually trust. Get 25% off your first month at www.Ritual.com/TCO Join the TCO Community! Follow True Crime Obsessed on Instagram and TikTok, and join us on Facebook at the True Crime Obsessed Podcast Discussion Group!  AND INTRODUCING THE NEW TCO DISCORD CHANNEL AS WELL!!!

In this episode – recorded live at the 2025 Writers Conference – I have an intimate conversation, in front of 1500 people, with the novelist and poet Ocean Vuong. When he was two years old, in 1990, Ocean immigrated with his family from Vietnam. They settled in East Hartford, CT, seven relatives sharing a one-bedroom apartment. His mother worked at a nail salon. When Ocean learned to read at 11, he became the first literate member of his family. Then he became the first to attend college, eventually earning an MFA in writing from NYU. In 2016, he published his debut poetry collection, “Night Sky with Exit Wounds,” which drew immediate attention and acclaim. In 2019, his first autobiographical novel, “On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous,” written in the form of letters from a Vietnamese American son to his mother, became a bestseller and led to his being awarded a MacArthur Genius grant. By every outward sign, he had seemingly achieved the American Dream as a writer. Then his mother, who'd never been able to read his books, died of cancer. Another celebrated poetry collection, “Time is a Mother,” followed. And now we have Ocean's magnificent second novel, “The Emperor of Gladness.” Photo credit – Tom Hines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Networks of bots - automated social media accounts - have been found to be targeting European elections including, in the last year, those in Moldova, Poland and Germany. But could their real intention be to tie up news organisations with fact-checking? Damien Sharkov from BBC Monitoring has been looking at how they operate. Earlier this year, news reports circulated online that a Vietnamese-American scientist called Anh Duong had a hand in creating the bombs used by America in its June airstrikes on Iran. Those reports turned out to be untrue, but Thuong Le from BBC Vietnamese has the real story of the chemical engineer known as 'the Bomb Lady.'In India, pigeons are a much-loved part of city life for many, but a health risk for some.Sumedha Pal has the story. Presenter: Faranak Amidi Producers: Laura Thomas and Caroline FergusonPhoto: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich

Film screening and Q&A with director Naja Pham Lockwood and panelists; building community and healing through food with Bay Area Vietnamese chefs and restaurateurs. Join us for a film screening of On Healing Land, Birds Perch, a documentary by Naja Pham Lockwood, a Vietnamese-born filmmaker, which explores the continuing aftershocks of the Vietnam War from the perspectives of both sides of the war: North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese, including Vietnamese Americans alive today. The story is told through the iconic Pulitzer-Prize-winning photo by Associated Press photojournalist Eddie Adams of South Vietnamese General Loan executing Viet Cong Captain Lem two days after the 1968 Tet Offensive. Interviewees include the daughter of General Loan, the children of Captain Lem, and the son of the family who was allegedly killed by Captain Lem and his men. All share the intense emotions this photo continues to elicit and the impact it has had on their lives. The interviewees hold widely differing views, but the film poignantly portrays what they all have in common: the lasting trauma from the war. The Commonwealth Club of California is a nonprofit public forum; we welcome donations made during registration to support the production of our programming. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs.   This program contains EXPLICIT language. Organizer: George Hammond   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. This is the recording of our second live public event, which recently took place in London. Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino are joined on stage by special guest Ocean Vuong, Vietnamese American poet, essayist, and novelist. Their conversation explores the themes of joy, togetherness, and cultivating courage in the face of hardship and suffering; the role of language, narrative, and technology in shaping modern experiences of suffering and joy; intergenerational trauma; and more. All three share personal experiences and insights about finding meaning and community amidst individual and collective challenges. Ocean recollects the way that, growing up in a community impacted by the opioid crisis, Buddhism and the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh provided solace and a path to understanding suffering, while Brother Phap Huu reflects on his journey to become a Zen Buddhist monk, and the role of kindness, fearlessness, and vulnerability in his practice. The discussion culminates with a chant offered by Ocean as a message of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/   And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resources Ocean Vuong https://www.oceanvuong.com Being with Busyness: Zen Ways to Transform Overwhelm and Burnouthttps://www.parallax.org/product/being-with-busyness/ Calm in the Storm: Zen Ways to Cultivate Stability in an Anxious Worldhttps://www.parallax.org/product/calm-in-the-storm/ Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing W. S. Merwinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._S._Merwin Harry Beecher Stowehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe  Tom Brokawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brokaw Duḥkhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du%E1%B8%A5kha Ford Model Thttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T The Dhammapadahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhammapada Anaphorahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphora_(rhetoric) Schadenfreudehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude ‘Bright Morning Star'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Morning_Star ‘The Five Earth Touchings'https://plumvillage.org/key-practice-texts/the-five-earth-touchings Quotes “When drinking water, remember the source.” “On the last day of the world / I would want to plant a tree / what for / not for the fruit […] / I want the tree that stands / in the earth for the first time / with the sun already / going down” – from ‘Place' by W.S. Merwin. “Being a Vietnamese person in the diaspora, for many of us, the temple or the church or what have you is the place where we hear Vietnamese at the longest unbroken duration. Whereas someone native to Vietnam would hear it all the time. So, to this day, the Vietnamese language, to me, elicits this collective desire to heal and understand suffering. And it’s very specific to the immigrant. It’s what I call a third culture: there’s nothing like it in the homeland; there’s nothing like it in the assimilated American ethos. But there’s this special place that displacement and violence created.” “In Plum Village, when I first entered, I was 13 years old, and I touched a kind of kindness that I’d never touched before. And I asked myself whether I could be a kind person. I think I’m good; I think I’m going to have a career of offering smiles.” “I invite us, as a collective, to invoke this peace that we can bring in our hearts and into the world at this moment. Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness. I send my heart along with the sound of this bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.” “Just a smile can save someone’s life.” “Technology was supposed to bring us together. This is the promise of the Enlightenment. But it’s interesting that all technological movements or renaissances are controlled by the wealthy and the elites. So what I’m interested in, as a writer, as a teacher, is that so much of our world is about material resources and narrative. And this is why I tell my students, ‘They shame you for being a poet, for being a writer: “Oh, you’re doing this liberal arts, naval-gazing, decadent thing, dreaming”' – but the politicians and the elites are poets too. The greatest political speech is the anaphora. Walt Whitman used it as a catalog, but you hear it: ‘We will heal the working class, we will heal the great divide, I will solve, we will heal this country’s heart, we will heal the middle class.' And that's why the anaphora is so useful: because it doesn’t have to explain itself.” “All those in power are also poets. They’re manipulating meaning, but for votes, for profit, for power, towards fascism. And no wonder the system is designed to make you ashamed to be an artist. It’s so interesting, isn’t it, that, in the art world, we’re often asked to be humble, to be grateful for a seat at the table; to perform humility. And I think humility is good; as a Buddhist, I believe in it, but there is a discrepancy here: we never tell people on Wall Street to be humble. You never hear someone say, ‘You know what, we killed it last quarter, so let’s tone it down and be grateful that we have a seat at the economic table.'” “Kindness is more difficult now than ever because I think kindness is something that is deeply dependent on our proximity to suffering. It’s harder for us to comprehend suffering, now. Schadenfreude is in our hands and it’s always easier to see. We’ve normalized suffering so much that we’ve been disassociated from it.” “We speak about inclusiveness and equanimity in Buddhism, but we’re not equal. Some of us are born in places where we have more privileges: in a particular race, in a particular situation, in a particular year. But what is equal is, as human beings, we’re all going to grow old, we’re all going to get sick, we’re all going to have to let go of what we think is permanent. And we’re going to learn to live deeply in the present moment.” “Sadness becomes not just a feeling, but knowledge. So think about sadness as knowledge, as potential, and that anger even has an aftermath. And you realize that the aftermath of anger is care.” “The big trouble with masculinity is that we are not given the ability or the permission to feel and be vulnerable – but we are encouraged to have absolute agency. It’s incredible. It’s a perfect storm of violence: ‘Don’t feel, don’t interrogate, and don’t be vulnerable. But, meanwhile, go get ‘em, buddy.'” “Under our greatest fear is our greatest strength.” “Camus says that writing itself is optimism, because it’s suffering shared. Even if you write about the darkest things, it is optimistic because someone else will recognize it. And recognition is a democratic ideal, because it means that one feeling could then be taken and collaborated with.” “It’s really hard to convince people to go to war, historically. You need a lot of text, you need a lot of airwaves, you need a lot of speeches to convince people to go to war – but it's very easy to convince people to stop war. Very easy for people to stop armament. Difficult for folks who are in control to keep it up, but if you ask the general population, ‘Do you want peace?', it’s quick. So that gives me a little hope.” “In fast food is a kind of sinister beauty, because it’s an industrialized promise of absolute replication of fulfillment – and yet it’s a kind of poison as well. It’s like the ultimate democratic ideal, sadly: we can’t have equality, income equality, or healthcare, but we can all eat McDonald’s French fries, and, whether you’re a billionaire or a houseless person, it will taste the same. Likewise with Coca-Cola, etc. In a way it’s the sinister capaciousness of the American dream: you can all feel the same thing while you’re all slowly dying.”

Author Jamie Jo Hoang has written a pair of companion books, My Father the Panda Killer and My Mother the Mermaid Chaser. They explore the Vietnamese American experience through the eyes of American-born teenagers and their refugee parents. They are fictional, but history "adjacent" for many children of immigrants. Also joining me on this episode is returning guest, licensed clinical social worker, Allison Ly, who came on episode #129 last year. I had a feeling Allison would love these books, and I was right! Get Jamie's book, My Mother the Mermaid Chaser, wherever you get books. Follow her on social media @heyjamiereads.  And follow Allison @heyallisonly and check out her website www.heyallisonly.com , where you can also find her podcast, Empowered with Immigrant Parents.  You can let us know your thoughts at: infatuasianpodcast@gmail.com, or via direct message on Instagram and Facebook @infatuasianpodcast  Please follow us wherever you get your podcasts.  We would love your ratings and reviews over at Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Our Theme: “Super Happy J-Pop Fun-Time” by Prismic Studios was arranged and performed by Invictus Quartet in Melbourne, Australia #asianpodcast #asian #asianamerican #infatuasian #iinfatuasianpodcast #aapi #veryasian #asianamericanpodcaster #representationmatters

Host Jason Blitman talks to author Lily King about her newest novel, Heart the Lover. Conversation highlights include:

Tina Snow Le is a Vietnamese-American graphic designer and music selector based in  Brooklyn, NY. Her artistic practice is rooted in self-evolution, exploring themes of vulnerability, spirituality, and community. I met Tina at forecast, a concept space in Brooklyn that explores utility and design through a curated mix of independent brands where I was serving up Matsar.Tina has creatively led brands in design such as Nike and Spotify and has provided sounds for spaces we love such as Lichen, Rodeo, Eavesdrop, and The Lot Radio.Please welcome Tina Snow Le to Wear Many Hats.⁠⁠instagram.com/tinasnowleinstagram.com/signaturecuts__⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/wearmanyhatswmh⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/rashadrastam⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rashadrastam.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wearmanyhats.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this special episode, contemporary artists Hoa Dung Clerget and Duong Thuy Nguyen, and gallerist Sarah Le Quang Sang, join EMPIRE LINES live, exploring the legacies of French and British colonialism in East Asia, fifty years since the end of the Vietnam War, through the series, If They Survive, They are Refugees (2024).Marking 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War, Only Your Name (2025) is a group exhibition featuring works by artists of Vietnamese descent: Hoa Dung Clerget, Vicky Đỗ, and Duong Thuy Nguyen. The exhibition follows the journey of Vietnamese people migrating to the UK from 1975 onwards, preserving history through a Vietnamese lens and reflecting on the contemporary diaspora.In this special episode, recorded live at SLQS Gallery in London, gallerist Sarah Le Quang Song discusses the particular location of the exhibition, close to Hackney's Kingsland Road, also known as the ‘Pho Mile', where many Vietnamese families settled from the late 1970s. We discuss the title, which draws from On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (2019), a novel by Ocean Vuong, written in the form of a letter from a Vietnamese American son to his illiterate mother.Duong Thuy Nguyen describes the process of making their embossed aluminium and wax sculptures, which reinterpret Joan Wakelin's photographs of Vietnamese refugees held in Hong Kong detention centres and refugee camps, now held in the collections of the V&A in London. Hoa Dung Clerget presents installations and sculptural works that consider the labour and lives of immigrant women through Nail Art subculture, distorting stereotypical and fetishised portrayals of Asian women. Drawing on their work, Chinoiserie (2025), Hoa shares examples of orientalism in East Asian art and education systems. Plus, we discuss Vicky Đỗ's documentary films, revisiting the history of Vietnamese refugees arriving in Hong Kong.This episode was recorded live as part of the public programme for Only Your Name, an exhibition at SLQS Gallery in London, in July 2025.For more information, visit: instagram.com/p/DLhGFqCIhNA/Womb of Fire 2025, curated by Tuong Linh, opens in Hanoi in October 2025, and tours to Ho Chi Minh City until January 2026.Interspecies Entanglements, curated by Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp, is at the SLQS Screening Room online until February 2026. Damaris Athene is at SLQS Gallery in London from 10 October 2025.PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.Follow EMPIRE LINES on Instagram: instagram.com/empirelinespodcastSupport EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines

“I ask them to sing with maximum efficiency, accessing their singer's formant, and from there, we'll ask for specific sounds. Sometimes conductors get stuck asking them to blend, to listen. When we do that, it's like giving them an 8-pack of Crayola and asking them to color. Instead, we start the rehearsal with a 64-pack and then throughout the rehearsal we might pick out the light blue #2 to color that section of the music. They're able to access the full breadth of their vocal powers in the rehearsal.”Francis Cathlina, D.M.A. (he/him) is a Vietnamese-American conductor and educator, renowned for his innovative approach to choral music. His concerts invite audiences into a world where choral artistry becomes a powerful storytelling medium.Dr. Cathlina is currently the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Memphis, where he received the 2025 Dean's Award for Creative Achievement. He oversees the Choral Area, leads the MM/DMA Choral Conducting program, and conducts the University Singers.A two-time GRAMMY-nominated educator, Dr. Cathlina draws deeply from his Eastern heritage. His work reflects a commitment to excellence and collaboration. In 2025, he will serve on the conducting faculty for Brazil's FIMUS Festival and work in the Philippines as part of ACDA's International Conductors Exchange Program. Early recognition came from the Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA), which named him a “Young Director of Distinction.”Cathlina's teaching philosophy centers on developing masterful technicians, expressive communicators, and thoughtful citizens. Under his direction, the UofM University Singers have been invited to perform for national conferences. Recent engagements involve All-State choirs in Mississippi and Kentucky, the International Mu Phi Convention Chorus, and a Carnegie Hall debut. Dr. Cathlina's research focuses on choral tone and conducting gesture. He has presented over 69 sessions worldwide. He is published in international journals. In 2025, he served as the Headliner for the Ohio and Alabama choral conferences. In 2023, he co-led Conducting Masterclasses in Greece with the University of Macedonia and Ionian University.Dr. Cathlina earned a DMA in conducting with a vocal pedagogy cognate from the University of North Texas, an MM from Michigan State University, and a BME from Baylor University. Before his doctorate, he taught in Texas public schools. Beyond the podium, Dr. Cathlina is an avid pickleball player. He, his husband Kyle, and their dog Coco call Memphis, Tennessee, their home. To get in touch with Francis, you can find him on Instagram (@francis.cathlina) or Facebook (@franciscathlina), on his website (franciscathlina.com), or via email: franciscathlina@gmail.com.Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

Quang X. Pham is a biotech executive, war veteran, author, speaker, and community leader with a remarkable journey shaped by resilience, service, and entrepreneurship. He made history as the first Vietnamese American to earn naval aviator's wings in the Marine Corps and lead an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. How can someone starting as an underdog in this country (this area, this company) succeed? Why did you join the Marines, and what did you learn from your service? How did you overcome the business and personal obstacles in your life? What did you do to prepare for the leaps in your life, from the Marines to business, from entrepreneur to author, back to entrepreneur, from startup to IPO, and back to author? Why is it hard for Americans to understand/accept the high cost of prescription drugs? Quang Pham Quang X. Pham is a biotech executive, war veteran, author, speaker, and community leader with a remarkable journey shaped by resilience, service, and entrepreneurship. He made history as the first Vietnamese American to earn naval aviator's wings in the Marine Corps and lead an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. His inspiring American underdog journey, told in first person, is unlike any other. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Quang and his family fled as refugees when he was 10, while his father, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot, remained and was imprisoned for more than a decade. After earning a degree from UCLA, Quang served seven years on active duty, flying CH-46 helicopters in the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, and in the Reserves. Following his military career, Quang transitioned into business, founding multiple pharmaceutical companies. In 2000, he launched MyDrugRep.com (which became Lathian Systems), an innovative online platform for physician marketing engagements, which was later acquired. In 2015, he founded Espero Pharmaceuticals and Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals. His leadership and entrepreneurial success earned him the Florida EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018. Today, Quang serves as Chairman and CEO of Cadrenal Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CVKD). Quang is also the author of the award-winning father-son memoir, A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam (Penguin Random House, 2005), as well as his new book, Underdog Nation: Unleash Your Inner Underdog by Starting with Success. Committed to giving back, Quang has served on the boards of private companies, veteran charities, and educational organizations. He lives in Florida with his family, continuing to lead and inspire. Excellent Executive Coaching Podcast If you have enjoyed this episode, subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. We would love for you to leave a review. The EEC podcasts are sponsored by MKB Excellent Executive Coaching that helps you get from where you are to where you want to be with customized leadership and coaching development programs. MKB Excellent Executive Coaching offers leadership development programs to generate action, learning, and change that is aligned with your authentic self and values. Transform your dreams into reality and invest in yourself by scheduling a discovery session with Dr. Katrina Burrus, MCC to reach your goals. Your host is Dr. Katrina Burrus, MCC, founder and general manager of Excellent Executive Coaching a company that specializes in leadership development.

Send us a textIn today's episode, I'm honored to chat with Le Ly Hayslip, internationally known Vietnamese-American author, philanthropist, peace activist, and speaker. Le Ly grew up in central Vietnam during the American-Vietnam War and later authored two bestselling memoirs, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace. Her story of resilience inspired Oliver Stone's 1993 film Heaven & Earth. Beyond her writing, she founded two humanitarian organizations—East Meets West Foundation and Global Village Foundation—dedicated to rebuilding Vietnam through education, medical care, and essential resources.Episode Highlights:Her upbringing in a rice-farming family of 6 children in central Vietnam, living under the pressures of both American forces and the Viet Cong.The importance of protecting family gravesites and places of worship as a way of preserving identity and tradition.Why her book cannot be published in Vietnam, and how Oliver Stone's film adaptation offers another way to experience her story.How returning to Vietnam in the 1980s inspired her lifelong humanitarian work.Her invitation to visit the beauty of Vietnam, where she leads trips in both the spring and fall.✨ Le Ly also shared with me about the upcoming Global Village Foundation Awards Gala to celebrate 30 years of U.S. & Vietnam diplomatic relations at the  on 11/15/25. You can find more information on the Global Village Foundation website. Le Ly's story is one of survival, forgiveness, and hope. As she says, “We cannot change the past. But if each of us stands up to change the world, we will change the world.”Connect with Le Ly:WebsiteGlobal Village FoundationInstagramShow NotesSome links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.Books and authors mentioned in the episode:Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East by Baird T. SpaldingMany Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. WeissRamtha: The White Book by RamthaBook FlightOn the Ho Chi Minh Trail by Sherry BuchananPerfect Spy by Larry BermanDancing in the Light by Shirley MacLaine

Derek Champagne interviews Quang X. Pham. Quang is a biotech executive, war veteran, author, speaker, and community leader with a remarkable journey shaped by resilience, service, and entrepreneurship. He made history as the first Vietnamese American to earn naval aviator wings in the Marine Corps and lead an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq.His inspiring American underdog journey, told in first person, is unlike any other. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Quang and his family fled as refugees when he was 10, while his father, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot,remained and was imprisoned for more than a decade. After earning a degree from UCLA, Quang served seven years on active duty, flying CH-46 helicopters in the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, and the Reserves. Following his military career, Quang transitioned into business, founding multiple pharmaceutical companies. In 2000, he launched MyDrugRep.com (which became LathianSystems), an innovative online platform for physician marketing engagements, which was later acquired. In 2015, he founded Espero Pharmaceuticals and Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals. His leadership and entrepreneurial success earned him the Florida EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018. Today Quang serves as Chairman and CEO, Cadrenal Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CVKD).Quang is also the author of the award-winning father-son memoir, A Sense of Duty: Our Journe y from Vietnam (Penguin Random House), and his new book, Underdog Nation: Zero In on Effort and Results for Success (Forbes Books).Committed to giving back, Quang has served on the boards of private companies, veterancharities and educational organizations. He lives in Florida with his family, continuing tolead and inspire.Order Quang's new book here: https://quangxpham.com/books/Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

Today's guest is Lauren Tran, the owner and pastry chef behind Bánh by Lauren, the popular Vietnamese-American and French-inspired bakery in New York City's Chinatown. Lauren's menu is a love letter to tradition, family, and flavor with delicious treats like lychee raspberry macarons, steamed rice cakes, and pandan coconut chiffon cake. Lauren joins host Jessie Sheehan to share how she turned a pandemic pop-up into one of the city's most buzzed-about bakeries, the pie contest that helped launch her career, and how her childhood in Seattle, fine-dining training, and Vietnamese roots shape every recipe she creates. Then, the duo walk through Lauren's recipe for her signature Pandan Honeycomb Cake (bánh bò nuớng in Vietnamese).Thank you to Nordic Ware and California Prunes for their support. Jubilee L.A. tickets are on sale now!Join our Summer Tastemaker Tour waitlistGet The Power IssueVisit cherrybombe.com for subscriptions, show transcripts, and tickets to upcoming events.More on Lauren: Instagram, Bánh by Lauren websiteMore on Jessie: Instagram, “Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes” cookbook

We're so excited to share part two of our conversation with Aimee Phan, author of The Lost Queen! If you caught part one, you already know how rich and thoughtful this discussion is. In this episode, we dive deeper into how retellings like The Lost Queen can help students see that stories aren't set in stone—and that they have the freedom to make stories their own. Aimee shares how the creative process can empower young writers to take risks, explore identity, and find their voice.We also talk about the evolution of Vietnamese American literature, how to pair The Lost Queen with other powerful texts, and the deep impact that simple words of encouragement can have on a student's life. If you're looking for book recs, classroom inspiration, or just a reminder of the power of storytelling, this episode is for you.Resources:Camp BNTThe Lost Queen, by Aimee PhanAimee's WebsiteFollow Aimee on Instagram @aimeephanwritesSHOW NOTES: https://www.bravenewteaching.com/home/episode263"Send us a message - please include your contact information so we can chat soon!"Get your FREE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs gateway lesson: shop.bravenewteaching.com/cloudyCheck out Curriculum Rehab here!Support the show

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 26, 2025 is: commemorate • kuh-MEM-uh-rayt • verb Something, such as a plaque, statue, or parade, is said to commemorate an event, person, etc. when it serves as a memorial; it exists or is done in order to recall the event or person. A person or group commemorates an event, person, etc. by doing something special in order to remember and honor that event or person. // The plaque commemorates the battle that took place here 200 years ago. // Each year on this date we commemorate our ancestors with a special ceremony. See the entry > Examples: “Over the past year, members of the Vietnamese community have hosted a series of 50 events to commemorate the 50 years since they arrived in New Orleans. They have ranged from cooking classes and festivals to art shows and panel discussions. Last week, more than 500 Vietnamese Americans from across the United States gathered for the 50th reunion of former residents of the fishing region, Phuoc Tinh, located in Vietnam.” — Sophia Germer, The New Orleans Advocate, 11 Apr. 2025 Did you know? When you remember something, you are mindful of it. And you are especially mindful when you commemorate something, formalizing your remembrance by doing something special, such as attending a parade or taking part in a ceremony. It's appropriate, therefore, that commemorate and other related memory-associated words (including memorable, memorial, remember, and memory itself) come from the Latin root memor, meaning “mindful.” English speakers have been marking the memory of important events with commemorate since the late 16th century.

At the January 6th Capitol insurrection, rioters waved Confederate, MAGA, and Trump-as-Rambo flags. Easy to miss without knowing the design was a bright yellow flag with three red stripes — the flag of South Vietnam.There were actually several confounding international flags present at the Capitol riot that day: the Canadian, Indian, South Korean flags, all were spotted somewhere in the mayhem. But what was peculiar about the Vietnamese flag being there was that it's not technically the flag of Vietnam but the Republic of Vietnam, a country that no longer exists. And what this flag stands for (or should stand for) remains a really contentious issue for the Vietnamese American community.This episode originally aired in 2021.Changing Stripes Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.