Tag: Vietnamese American

Clearing the deck

In about ten days, the world will see an exodus of millions. Chinese New Year.

Workers and students on The Last Train Home.

First day of the New Year (Snake) will be dedicated to ancestors e.g. visiting their graves or wherever the family altar happens to be.

From then on, neighbors visiting neighbors, catching up on latest gossips.

Saigon is about to be emptied out. Students have just finished their exams.

Workers party on with co-workers while try to save up for their home-bound trips.

Companies pay out bonuses. Not nearly enough. Hard times.

Money from the common pot, just changing hands.

Even Vietnamese American from overseas try to find an envy seat on those East-bound flights.

Back in 1975, some of them got experience, but at the opposite direction.

This herd-like movement is as predictable as the Muslim and Hindu pilgrims.

However, their sons and daughters have changed. More adapting to city landscape  and playground, with more mobile phones and supermarkets.

Even clubbing, an urban phenomenon, now a common practice in second and third-tier towns.

Parents put up one last-ditch effort to hold on. Who want to be an empty-nester!

Where have their children gone? Eyes glued to the screen, racing against the machine (virtual combatant).

This is not the first time parents learn to let go.

But it’s the first generation of parents who fail to understand the force of modernity whose grips are so strong on their fast-growing children.

We used to place blames on cultic figures (Jim Jones) or gang leaders (Hearst syndrome) who gather and garner followers.

Now, who can prosecute animation and urbanization.

A force of change here,  an adoption there. Before you know it, kids are strangers in their own homes.

They want to connect as they used to. But have lost the keys.

Alienation and estrangement. Celluloid and chip set. Instruments of change, but also instruments of divide.

I am glad people still go home each year. Keep them sane. When seeing yourself in the faces of others of common genes set, you can’t help questioning yourself.

No one comes out a winner. It’s not a race. Modernity and machine just keep going unstoppable. Up to us to regulate our internal filters and rate of adoption.

Last Train Home. There might be both blessings and curses awaiting at the last stop. Ironically, the symbol is that of a snake, which keeps you guessing, and sweating at the edge of your seat.

Le Da – Tales of sorrow told by a Rock

My birth certificate shows my parents in their early 40’s.

No wonder my Dad’s taste for music was a bit off.

One of his favorites however stood the test of time: Le Da.

After all, it has something to do with the rock of ages.

It’s very sentimental (Rock solid yet soft when it comes to matter of the heart).

I gave it a try last night. Got a square 100 according to the karaoke machine.

My Dad must have sung through me.

The musical genes.

His generation experienced upheavals: revolution, uprootedness, and twice a refugee.

No wonder they were defined by and encoded their experience and emotion via music. A famous Vietnamese composer of my Dad’s time, Pham Duy, has just passed away.

Other singers (The Uptight) are making their way back to performing in Vietnam: new audience, new aspiration.

Something about a wandering soul seeking solace and wounded heart, soothing.

America has indeed been blessed with many talents from elsewhere.

The experience of America’s newest poet speaks well of this.

The American Century might be coming to an end, but in its place, the American Character barely blooms, blending best in class.

The style and confidence Viet Kieu singers (Vietnamese American) and filmmakers prove this point.

And before you know, you will find The Boat, The Book of Salt etc.. on Amazon book list.

It’s been since its inception that America embraces seekers and searchers.

It entertains doubts and encourages determination.

After all, it has elected not one term, but two terms, an American of exception.

Uniquely 21st century, he always has vacation in Hawaii, a half-way between East and West. There in the cliff, you will find some rocks, some tears and some tales of sorrow only rock could last long enough to tell.

My Dad would be passionate to join, if you give him the second mike. I wouldn’t bet on the score at the end though. Even me, I was just lucky last night.

Hyphenated Identity

Last month, during the height of the election campaign, I saw plenty of signage for local board seats. Many hybrid names (Vietnamese-American) which tell me two things: second-generation immigrants are now politically active, yet they still want to keep those last names, to serve as bridges to the old world.

Old World–New World.

I know both very well. I travel back and forth lately, observing, taking it all in.

The good, the bad and the ugly. Both sides now.

For example: here in the US, I drive by 24-hr Emergency Pet Clinic every day.

But I also know that a lot of people, not pets, are homeless (including the newly added Post-Sandy Tent City). The best piece on the American Dream went awry was already portrayed by Ben Kingsley in The House of Sand and Fog (Iranian big-shot bought an illegally repossessed house, just to end up losing his life along with it).

Meanwhile, in VN, everybody tries to move to the city centre, where there hardly are any space left unless a storm, almost as strong as Sandy, knocked down a few more trees.

The US got junk yards (industrial waste). Vietnam got grave yards (Agent Orange). Both got people “mooning” although for a very different reason.

Back to hybrid identity. So we came, we saw, and we campaign (not conquer).

Good for them.

John Nguyen, Joseph Cao etc…

May their descendants prosper in this land of milk and honey. When elected, don’t forget to put people above pet. I fear that by the time they drop those last names for let’s say Joseph Smith,  they will also have acquired a taste for fast cars and fast food.

And perhaps 24-hr gym, 24-hr Donut  Town and 24-hr Emergency Pet Clinic.

It all makes sense after living here for a while. But to any foreigner who has just arrived, America certainly is a peculiar place, worthy of year-long culture shock (this was verbatim from a Filippino immigrant whose lingerie line finally distributed by Target, making her a millionaire).

Before you know it, they pledge Allegiance to the Flag, and drop those hard-to-pronounce first names. Voila! We are all American. One Nation under God, withstand against all enemies, foreign or domestic (mostly foreign, so watch out. Adapt quickly and just say “to go” when asked: FOR HERE OR TO GO?).

Fragmented and segmented

Marketers have had a field day over the last few decades: market fragmented and segmented.

The former is a reality in our pluralistic society. The later, careful study and strategy to go after niche markets.

Microtrend covers this very topic: knitting, teen markets etc…as long as the niche constitutes 1% of the total mass market.

It’s a paradox: while American travel more, buy more online, and outsource more to overseas; foreigners who came FOB ended up clustering in Chinatown, Chicano town etc.. to  insulate themselves culturally.

In my neighborhood, the “turf” and territory have invisible boundaries: one supermarket got turned over from Korean to Chinese owner, both cater to Vietnamese-American.

Next block, you will find a Vietnamese restaurant, struggling to have walk-ins in the middle of a predominantly Hispanic strip mall.

Meanwhile, the “white” folks in mobile-home parks either too old to move away, or couldn’t decide to cash out during the real estate boom (mobile home here was worth more than a house elsewhere), hence missed out the bubble.

Talking about fragmentation.

Being a marketer, mindful of ethnic variety and overseas flavors, I have never stopped being amazed.

Underneath it all, everyone seems to enjoy a loss-leader hot dog at Costco, or Tu-Th Pop Eyes specials.

America and its lowest common denominators.

At the public park, I also notice Asian women still wear hats to avoid skin cancer. No more cone hats (which BTW, were most efficient per material used, heat-preventive and light-weight), but straw and trendy hats Victoria Secret models would wear for summer catalogue.

In short, the process and idea of Americanization is still going strong. New blood are being added daily, if not hourly (at major ports of entry).

But they seem to follow a certain set pattern of acculturation: first outwardly, then internally (bi-lingual households, interracial marriages etc..).

Segmentation divides a map into red/blue states, Southern White, Non-Hispanic White (European American) …Not as easy as just buying a Super Bowl ad, since digital media start taking an increasing larger share of the Ad pie.

In this close election, this point hit home, for the White House or the green house (another micro trend: home-grown organic fresh).

Strange shores

I reward myself with strong coffee after my morning exercise.

It had been a month before I found out that Cam Ly, a Vietnamese famous singer – with her signature song “Bo Ben La’ (strange shores) live in the house next to the alley where I had my coffee.

Strange shores, strange circumstances.

When in the US, I listened to that song, thinking about being a stranger selling sea shells at a  strange shore (tongue twister).  Now, sitting here, next to her house, stirs strange sensation.

Ironic! Fateful!

The Vietnamese diaspora has come to terms with itself.

It’s been almost 38 years to date.

More than enough to heal old wounds, start new life and families, or reinvent one’s self.

Some even had new names: Tommy (not Hilfiger), Cindy etc..

But strange names might not guarantee same results.

The women seem to adjust better in foreign environment (manicuring trade).

Male expats (immigrants in this case) have receded to the far corner of vices (gambling, alcohol and homelessness – including many GI‘s).

The hyphen generation (Vietnamese-American) have fared better: doctors, dentists and designers.

But the third generation will ask questions: why do I look the way I do (slanted eyes, but white inside. Banana generation).

They will Google the Vietnam War, google The Last Day of Saigon etc…

They will search and research.

What legacy? what is there to be proud of?

Stranded on strange shores, what are their heritage? When they visit Vietnam, it will be strange shore to them.

Meanwhile, a new generation of Vietnamese students here are preparing to study abroad. I saw their eagerness to learn “when do we have that tutoring session you mentioned the other day?”.

I like it.

Learn, baby learn.

You will need to log in 10,000 hours to master a new skill set.

English has 2 million vocab and counting.

Co-location and forms vs functions will exponentially increase that pool.

Learn baby learn.

Then share it with others.

Be the Master.

Be the Master of your universe.

Be back from strange shores and share the spoil.

Bo Ben La, Bo Ben La.

I miss that song already, even when the singer is living right next door.

Maybe I can make off with a  ticket to hear her at live concert. Let me see if my diplomatic skill still works here after living in strange shores for so long. ” Hi, I am your fan who has traveled really far to hear you. Can you sign here…woops, I don’t have a ticket to the show for you  to autograph”.

Keep dreaming. Bo Ben La..

Random meet

In Vietnam, don’t be surprised when you are placed  next to a complete stranger, who knows someone who knows your host.

It happened to me at Christmas party this year.

Next to me was a Vietnamese-American returning from multiple tours in Iraq.

He was here to fly his wife out. She had flown in as well, but from Australia.

Happy ending: he was back from the war zone while she from a former one.

The company she works for has agreed to transfer her to the US.

I was like NYT‘s Friedman, marvelled at how “flat” our world had become.

A teen-age girl at the table couldn’t help “omg”, “omg” “so you’re like in Hurt Locker?”

We were trying to break the ice waiting to be served when the spot light turned to our returning soldier. Rest of the night was “omg” etc…

I couldn’t help reflect on “the Deer Hunter” syndrome, and how drastic the change had been in our reception of veterans.

This story hasn’t taken into account how high-tech this war was as compared to Vietnam. Incidentally, I read a statistic that mentioned the average life expectancy for Vietnamese: 1960-40 years, 2010 – 73 years.

No wonder it’s jam-packed “scooter nation”.

When my fellow dinner guest left on his perhaps in-law scooter, I said “if you can make it in Iraq, you can ride in Vietnam”.

We were joking about his need to keep in shape after all the good foods.

One common ice-breaking tip is “who would you choose to be dinner guest.”

Some people mentioned Bill Gates, others, Kennedy.

My favorites would be Charlie Rose, since he can draw anyone out of his/her shelf.

Barbara Walters would be interesting if she stopped being a journalist, and just be a conversationalist.

I then would invite Elton John, George Harrison and John Lennon.

Let the party begin.

Random meeting but more enlightened towards the end of the dinner.

I realise one thing after last night: you might not agree with a policy (what Mass Destruction Weapon?) but you need to accept the person, soldier or civilian. We are all floating together (Christ Church in New Zealand got struck twice sitting on the ring of Fire) on the seabed and sitting around the table together.

Disagreement or agreement, we are fellow human beings, seekers of truth and beauty. And perhaps, for a moment there, he and I were both “viet-kieu” (you need a second helping there).

Random meet, but perhaps not quite random after all. Merry Christmas soldier boy!

Cafe sua da

Lately, articles about “banh mi” started to appear in the Bay area publications.

What should have accompanied those articles was Cafe sua da (Iced cafe-au-lait).

The coffee chamber sat on the cup. Hot water drips down, one drip at a time, on top of condensed milk.

Bitter and sweet, hot and cold.

It’s a night-and-day difference from coffee found sitting all burned up at a 7-11 near you.

Because of the long wait, friends start chatting.

So and so just got another divorce.

So and so is still alive.

The Brits got their tea from India. The French got their coffee from its former colonies, among them Vietnam.

Gotta have that coffee. You can hold the OJ.

“Cafe sua da” is found at practically every corner of Vietnam.

I found it in Dalat, at 4 AM, Hanoi at 1PM.

In Orange County, you can have it served by half-naked coctail waitresses.

Everything social seems to revolve around Cafe Sua Da.

Between the Banh Mi, Pho and Cafe Sua Da, you pretty much complete your hunt for Vietnamese export cuisine.

And the interesting thing about all three: you can order them at all hours in the day and anywhere from Bellaire (TX) to Bolsa (CA), from New Orleans to New York.

When cultures collide, there are gives and takes. In this case, Vietnamese contributions abroad have been mostly in manicuring,  cuisine ( as mentioned) and fashion (ao dai).

Last week, in the suburb of Washington  D.C, police moved in to make arrests at some coffee houses (charges false or true remain to be sorted out).

But one thing for sure, the crooked and straight both want their Cafe sua da.

I stopped by there once, jet-lagged and all, to find out I was their first customer. Traditionally, the first customer is supposed to usher in either luck or curse of the day (during Tet, it’s for the entire year).

So, to avoid this superstitious entrapment, I ordered my cup to go.

It did not come out right, because Cafe Sua Da is meant to be shared with chatty friends.

It’s a culture of coffee that Howard Shultz of Starbucks found fascinating during his visit to Italy. In the Vietnamese American case, it offers a half-way home at a Starbucks price, without the pretense of having your name scribbled on the  cup to be belled out later as if you were a regular. The difference between Cafe Sua Da and Cafe Starbucks was more pronounced during this downturn: Starbucks lost customers to McCafe, while Cafe Sua Da still holds, one drip at a time.

Cafe Au Lait has survived , transformed and migrated from North to South Vietnam, and from Southern Vietnam to Southern California. It’s still coffee, but the way it is served, sitting on top of the cup, has been the beverage of choice for many of us to start the day. When the coffee is right, everything seems to go all right from there. Now you know my hang-up and why I can’t stand the burned coffee smell at 7-11 or McDonald. Perhaps because of the way it is served there or the speed at which they collect your money. Yet who am I to ask for more, when for years, on campus, I could make do with vending machines. Those machines, I heard, now serve instant noodles. They said when you were hungry, your brain picks unhealthy food. Hungry or not, between instant noodles-vended coffee and Banh-Mi-and-Cafe- Sua- Da , I pick the later every time.

Our VHS future

Beta was more superior. Yet VHS won out.

The market (in this case, movies on tape) dictates the terms. At the present time, it wants all things mobile. In other words, our knowledge and skill set need an upgrade (But I thought technologically, Beta gave crisper resolution!?!! Sorry Sony.)

While on tour for his book “After Shock”, Robert Reich mentioned on Charlie Rose that despite Obama’s ability to synthesize every one’s opinion earlier in his campaign, he now fails to connect the dots i.e. to tell a narrative of America’s vanishing middle class.

Silicon Valley has reinvented itself once again, this time, into a Mecca of clean tech (just about time, because Chinese IT companies are forming clusters in TX to compete against India’s counterparts right in the heart of America) and mobile/cloud/social network (zynga-like). Between Detroit, Disney and Dell, America can still do it, with better choices and better counsels.

Again, the global market will decide winners in each group (VHS 2.0) and don’t be surprised if it might not be you, even when your mother thinks you are her most beautiful baby.

I have heard of re-engineering, reinvention, and recession. Then we came up with soft power, thought leadership and self branding.

Meanwhile, all attempts to dress up old concepts won’t mean a thing to the lady in Las Vegas outskirts who is the last on the block to stay in her house. Or the Lonely tenant in Miami condo high-rise.

I notice a significant drop in day laborers in Orange County. And I heard rumors that Vietnamese in CA now migrated en mass to Houston, where housing is more affordable, and unemployment rate lower (in the early 80’s, the movement was reverse due to Texas oil crisis). The story of Vietnamese immigrants in America is tied so much to the rise and fall of technology companies in the Bay areas (electronic and chip industries). As soon as those jobs got shipped overseas, America’s immigrants decide to go home (after Indian IT professionals who went home to India, or Vietnamese American applying for Intel recent facility in Vietnam). After all, the future belongs to automation or hybridized version therein.

It’s market demand which dictates supplies, including labor supplies. First shipping jobs overseas, then automating the marketing side of the equation. I have blogged about migration movement, automation and death of the salesman. In doing so,

I stumbled upon a narrative. It’s America’s. It’s the new America, whose future is staked upon its choice to go Beta or VHS, metaphorically speaking. And it has nothing to do with Beta’s superior resolution. As of this edit, it is facing a choice to arm to send boots to Syria. Soft or hard boiled? Since when it is easy to be King of the Hill? Good luck to those who “think out of the box”, instead of getting out of it altogether.

P.S. Fareed Zakaria‘s article on TIME featured “How to restore the American Dream”. At least, he listed a few pointers worth considering e.g. “benchmarks” which are take away from other countries’ policies. After all, other countries have tried to reverse engineer the American way of life for decades. Upon CNN 30th anniversary, I saw an ad for Singapore. When CNN started out in Atlanta, Ted Turner couldn’t even conceive its network celebration would be underwritten by Singapore, then an emerging country. One must wonder about its 40th, if there will still be a Cable News Network. What a struggle between television and telephony. The jury is still out for whoever can be on the go, with better softwares.

Continue reading Our VHS future

This gotta to stop!

Yesterday, I saw Monique Truong on the Poets-and-Writers cover.

The author of “the Book of Salt” was launching another title : “Bitter in the mouth”.

Meanwhile, I still am awaiting the shipment of “East eats West” by Andrew Lam.

What’s going on here? A Renaissance in publishing by Vietnamese-American authors?

Top of my head, I counted Hung Nguyen, co-author of Software Testing, Vu Pham, Impressive Impressions,

then Nam Le with The Boat, the Unwanted by Kien Nguyen, and Andrew Lam and Monique Truong. Not bad for first-generation immigrants.

Monique Truong & Andrew Lam Book Signing/Reading at VAALA Center, Santa Ana, Tue 9/21. Q&A moderated by Mariam Lam and Ky-Phong Tran. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Come get the autographs! : )

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/main/two-gifted-vietnamese-american/

I admire their tenacity ( I am sure each has to fight within his/her families about this ethnically unpopular career choice).

I look forward to someday reading the equivalent of Marguerite Duras’ L’Amant set in Sa Dec

or  Graham Green’s A Quiet American  set in Cho Lon.

Vietnam as a setting for historical romance should sell. After all, it dominated the news for more than a decade during its hey day,

and three and a half decades of post-war revisionism.

Vietnamese American writers offer unique perspectives i.e. passionate, feisty and observant (euphemism for bench sitting).

In Monique’s words ” I was forced to be different – when I grew up (in Vietnam),  everyone around me looked like me. There, in North Carolina, I was defined by my outward appearance etc….” She went on to Yale and Columbia – flirting  with a career in Law, just to settle down as a writer, and a good one (Nam Le took a similar turn).

When American culture looks back to this period, it will recognize what’s been buried among Wall Street post-mortem publications (Too Big to Fail),

or Terrorist war reportage (The Looming Tower).  Something has germinated in American soil, migrated en mass from overseas and found its footing just in time for e-release and e- commerce.

If I didn’t know better, I would say, “This gotta to stop. Nobody will buy or read your books”. But then, I sneaked up behind the cover in “surprise me” link on Amazon, and surprised I was. The quality was good, intriguing and en par. In other words, it passed muster and was quite palatable.

Products of  American free thinking and free enterprise (wasn’t this what Viet Education Fund and Fulbright scholarship are trying to promote?).

The Alphabet belongs to no one, and everyone.

We pay lip service to diversity and Lady of Liberty.

Now that they came, stayed and published, shouldn’t we celebrate that very thing called Americanism. Ironically, it’s the new comers that seem to discover it anew (5000 newly sworn-in citizens at Fenway Park on Sept 15th). Wait until you see the young filmmakers in action (Norwegian Wood).

This is to show that not all are model minorities i.e. majoring in math and engineering. Can risk takers (see Daring Swim) who risked their lives just to bring up children who play safe? Percentage wise, there will be some “rebels” among the pool. And their delayed version of counter-culture (against their primary cultural norm) fits the American entrepreneurs bill – whether it’s in law or arts. I am sure the publishers did their due diligence before releasing these titles.

Years ago, I browsed Asian-American literature and found only Chinese-American authors. Vietnamese-language magazines were sold along with Chinese cabbage and herbs.  I am proud to say that you now have more choices of AM books for research or pleasure reading. And third-generation Vietnamese American will be proud of their heritage when “googling” their ancestors’ pilgrimage in America, still land of the free the last time I checked.

Vietnamese meta language

She said No, but her body language said Yes.

He said Yes, but his other language said No.

How to figure it out? Context is key.

Mothers love you your entire life, but never said “I love you” directly.

Teachers who were mighty proud of their students’ achievement, but remained stern and strict behind thick glasses.

Harsh society? Hardly. But one needs to learn how to decode it.

One moment, the lover scolds you, then kisses you the next  second.

Enough to give Westerners a heart attack.

Do not react quickly. Just paraphrase and confirm your understanding. Use a third party for independent verification.

Vietnamese is an interlinked society, way before LinkedIn .

My friend recommended “Com Tam Bui Saigon“, an upscale version of blue-collar broken rice dish. So I found myself dining there.

Word-of-mouth. Trusting “Like”.

Hard to break in if you were an outsider. But once you untangled the knot (after finding out that everyone seems to be related to someone else: from being an in-law to being a distant relative), then you know you are dealing with collective self.

Things get done, but not on your timetable. It takes time to build trust.

Lots of toasting and testing.

People don’t give you deserved praises directly. Even when they do it indirectly, praises came across as having been dipped in vinegar. It keeps you humble. On this point, it’s best to let others sing your praise. Self-promotion belongs in the West.

By nature, it’s a communistic (and somewhat stoic) culture . The nail that stands out gets hammered down.  You can dance, you can shout, but only for  a minute before someone steps in to enforce the rule (I experienced this first hand during my senior year: sending out some guy to rent a base guitar, just to see the power got cut off when it was finally arrived). Recently, a club (Feeling) got inspected with search warrant for running past closing time. Nowhere do we see this conflict on display then at the Water Park, where kids are into action and adventure, while stoic adults sit watching in complete aloof and alienated. Unwanted pregnancy used to be top of the shame list.  Now, it is joined by out-of-closet gays, abortion, interracial marriage and old maids.

Yet Thai Tai, Dao Vinh Hung not only defy the rule, but thrive on it (the former even went so far as undergoing surgery in Thailand, and changing his title, from Mr to Ms).

Imagine Vietnam as a boat, with everyone on it.

Rationing the morale, and rationing the meal.

Take your turn to speak, but make sure group speak has the last say.

Consensus, compromise and often win-lose is the way to go (the winner would rationalize that his win is for the common good. Hence, “hieu” vs “tinh” or filial duty overrides personal self-gratification).

To understand Vietnamese meta language, one doesn’t need a dictionary. Just be ready for upfront loss to hope for eventual gain. And be careful what you wish for,  just like the nation itself which is still trying to win the peace in the midst of urbanization and modernization. It will need a whole set of new language to define itself just to keep pace.