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Our blogs are original pieces contributed by our team, program advocates and podcast listeners. We invite you to share your personal journals, creative writing or artwork that sheds light on our diaspora stories and experiences. If you would like to contribute, please submit here.
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Tracy Dong
Jul 10, 2023
2 Years, 2 Weeks, 2 Hours
My parents spent most of their adulthood escaping terror, living under governmental oppression, and hanging on to their lives. There was no
Paulina Vo
Apr 3, 2023
Fish Sauce
My sister was proud,
because her house didn’t smell like fish sauce.
I lived with her so I did too,
because we both knew,
kids in school
Alison Hong Nguyen Lihalakha
Nov 22, 2022
Cinnamon Spaghetti
Thanksgiving is here, and every year on this holiday, I think back to my childhood when I saw on television and in magazines the incredible
Brian Hoang
Feb 1, 2022
The Year of the Tiger Through Art
Most of the Asian art I saw in pop culture or art class growing up was Japanese and Chinese. At the time, I generalized it and just thought
Elwing Suong Gonzalez
Jan 19, 2022
My People
Growing up mixed-race in a Vietnamese refugee family in Los Angeles in the era of "Vietnam" = Vietnam War, the legacies of the war,...
Brandon Nguyen
Sep 14, 2021
Việt Kiều: foreigner in a familiar country
The word việt kiều means “Overseas Vietnamese” according to Google Translate, but the word carries so many layered connotations depending on
Phoung-Cac Nguyễn
Jul 27, 2021
Say My Name
I hadn’t fully grasped it until most recently, but my identity has always been amorphous. When I came of age in Southern California,
Kwinnie Lê
Jul 14, 2021
a father's passport
my father does not know me by my name / from that moment on / all was forgotten / I watch him burn his passport / headfirst into fire / male
Jackie Reed
Jan 12, 2021
A Rough Transition Into A New Year
Like many Americans last week, I watched thousands of rioters invade the Capitol building and shred us of our nation’s dignity. As an...
Jenn Nguyen
Nov 17, 2020
Lessons of Intergenerational Trauma
Anger helped raise me. As a child, I felt my dad was always angry. He has propelled into a yelling fit over dirty cups in the kitchen sink,
Jackie Reed
Oct 28, 2020
Wishful Thinking
The Vietnamese zodiac is a repeating 12-year cycle based on the lunar calendar. The Vietnamese zodiac resembles the Chinese zodiac, but...
Wind Meets West
Oct 20, 2020
A Future Outside My Parents' Imagination
It's December in New York City, it’s cold in the Uber coming home from Williamsburg at 5am. I drank too much again, cigarettes and alcohol..
Tracey Nguyen Mang
Oct 13, 2020
Happy Birthday to Us
Two years ago, on Oct 10, 2018 I published my first podcast episode 'Prelude', a ten minute soliloquy of what it was like growing up ...
Tracey Nguyen Mang
Sep 22, 2020
Thank You 2020 Ambassadors
As our 2020 Ambassador Program comes to a close for the year, we want to thank this amazing group. They joined our team at the height of the
Meghan Coyle
Sep 1, 2020
Immigrants (and their children), we get the job done
I’ve had as many jobs as most people twice my age. In fifth grade, I started walking my neighbor’s dog every day for $10 a week. At the...
Cuong Quy Huynh
Aug 25, 2020
From Refugee Camps of Malaysia
In September of 1979, my family and I left the refugee camps of Malaysia to travel to the airport...How lucky I felt to be leaving...
jhoang0352
Aug 18, 2020
Pride
I also think about the hard times endured, such as instances of racism and trying to find my place in a majority white organization.
Valerie Nguyen
Aug 11, 2020
What is in a Name?
I hated my last name “Nguyễn.” In grade school and even in college, my name was butchered and no one made the effort to ask me...
Bella
Jul 3, 2020
Independence and Identity during the Black Lives Matter Movement
Today, 244 years later, with the Fourth of July only a few days away tears are falling down my face as I type - I am sad. I am disappointed.
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