Cast and crew

Featured here is the baby in Ghostbusters 2, then and now. Cast? an added member of the Ghostbuster team. Crew? Those who did the animation and special effects.

We are never an island. In fact it’s a series of Hello and Goodbye to an ensemble of folks. There were at minimum 4 when I was born: nurse, my mom, my sister and my cousin. My cousin has passed away. Her husband a M.I.A. Ranger at the end of the Vietnam War. She, an un-consoled widow, died without closures regarding husband’s whereabout.

Our lives as films, would not be whole without cast and crew. My film started in a shared maternity ward with other moms and babies.

Then the fun started. Traffic, dust, accident, in-fighting, power-grab, religious strife, ideological struggle, espionage, colonial interests and proxy hot war. I of course did not process all while “ inside the movie “ except for memories of flooding and fighting, thieves and bullies, demonstration and assassination.

My recollection was a bit hazy: the burning monk I eye-witnessed had his flame and flash (Malcolm Browne photo) at 10 AM. I had it down in long-term memory as happened around noon. We all came of age in fear of sudden turn of event: the Diem’s brothers, the Kennedy’s brothers, the Generals and those plain-clothed C.I.A. ‘S who yanked me and my friend out of the long visa applicant line at the embassy on the days leading to April 30, 1975.

Daddy, x-army turned salesman, punched a condescending co-worker who insulted him in French ( both were Vietnamese). Friends in school had higher-ranked fathers in our militarized society. A friend’s mom , wet-market food vendor- filled our plates for free. Kindness and cruelty co-existed. Smokes get in our eyes (tear gas and sudden departure)..

Arrived from the opposite end of Ellis Island, to augment and update the American immigrant experience, we were light in luggage and high in hope. Even when landed on our feet to face the unknown, I never forgot my friends, my father and my fellow men still back there.Among whom that cousin who I finally got around to visit a quarter of a century later. Sitting on the beach, same spot where I had my last – or thought as last – glimpse of home, I experienced quite an alt- reality.

The crew was the 7th fleet US Navy. Many fellow sojourners- have passed on. Their passing taught me about the business of life. So, I keep on Learning by living. Learning by leaving , learning by letting go and by losing that which I cannot keep. Biologically we were wired for survival: breastfeeding and baby food. Then adulthood takes hold, that’s when the table turns: we are responsible for all the ill and good in our world. Without charity I am nothing as in a Pauline line.

No more burning monks and burning drafts. Today, just us, immigrants from a different shore. Facing the music and mirror. Our turn at the “self-evident” Truth. That all men are created equal. As I was saying, the cast and crew – in my case a group of Science Professors at Penn State- gave me a karmic nudge. When something strange happened, who are you going to call? Like that baby in Ghostbusters 2, I was thrusted into a boiling pan right out of the ward with just a few trusted faces.

Yet, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. It’s gear for next gig. One cannot appreciate enough those helping hands along the way: point A (childhood) to point B (adulthood). It takes cast and crew (even in Ghostbusters 2) to live a life in full.

Thank you all.