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‘The Mountains Sing” A Song Of Many Voices
THÚY ĐINH The Mountains Sing by Que Mai Phan Nguyen Hardcover, 352 pages In The Mountains Sing, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai has created a luminous, complex family narrative that spans nearly a century of Vietnamese history, from the French colonial period through the communist Viet Minh’s rise to power, the separation between North and South Vietnam, the Vietnam War, all the way to the present day. Told alternately by Diệu Lan, born in 1920, and her granddaughter Hương, born in 1960, the novel resembles a choral performance with multiple voices. Diệu Lan is the family matriarch — bereft of father, husband, brother, and eldest son due to war and occupation, she weathers…
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Everything We Learned From Mary Trump’s Book
By Matt Stieb New York Magaizne So much for the suppression effort: Despite a lawsuit from the president’s brother claiming that Mary Trump’s new book violates a non-disclosure provision from 2001, details from Too Much and Never Enough poured out prior to its publication on July 14. While former national security adviser John Bolton’s recent book dives into the failures of the president’s time in office, Trump’s niece brings her focus closer to home, examining how their notoriously toxic family dynamic may have resulted in some of his less-than-admirable character traits. And unlike Bolton, Mary Trump’s volume — which sold an astounding 950,000 copies on its first day — isn’t…
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America’s death gap
America’s death gap By David LeonhardtNew York Times Daily NewsSept 1,2020 A memorial in Washington last week for those who died from the coronavirus.Olivier Douliery/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Here’s a jarring thought experiment: If the United States had done merely an average job of fighting the coronavirus — if the U.S. accounted for the same share of virus deaths as it did global population — how many fewer Americans would have died? The answer: about 145,000. That’s a large majority of the country’s 183,000 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths. No other country looks as bad by this measure. The U.S. accounts for 4 percent of the world’s population, and for 22…
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In the Rose Garden, Melania Trump tried her best
In the Rose Garden, Melania Trump tried her best. But a weed’s a weed. Her well-delivered remarks can’t change President Trump’s divisive words and actions over the past four years. By Joan Vennochi Globe Columnist, August 26, 2020 After redesigning the White House Rose Garden, Melania Trump tried redesigning her husband. But a weed is a weed, no matter how much you water it. In a Rose Garden speech on night two of the Republican National Convention, Melania Trump recognized the roots of racial strife in this country and tried to strike a chord of national unity. But even his wife’s well-delivered remarks can’t change President Trump’s divisive words and actions over…
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Trump pushes racial division, flouts virus rules at Rushmore
Trump pushes racial division, flouts virus rules at Rushmore STEPHEN GROVES and DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press July 2, 2020 1:11 1:12 Trump sows division at Mount Rushmore speech as U.S. grapples with crises MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL, S.D. (AP) — At the foot of Mount Rushmore on the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump made a direct appeal to disaffected white voters four months before Election Day, accusing protesters who have pushed for racial justice of engaging in a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history.” The president dug further into American divisions Friday, offering a discordant tone to an electorate battered by a pandemic and wounded by racial injustice following…
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Asian Americans Are Still Caught in the Trap of the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype
Asian Americans Are Still Caught in the Trap of the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype. And It Creates Inequality for All Viet Thanh Nguyen The face of Tou Thao haunts me. The Hmong-American police officer stood with his back turned to Derek Chauvin, his partner, as Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds and murdered him. In the video that I saw, Tou Thao is in the foreground and Chauvin is partly visible in the background, George Floyd’s head pressed to the ground. Bystanders beg Tou Thao to do something, because George Floyd was not moving, and as he himself said, he could not breathe. The face…
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Vietnam schoolgirl creates art from the chaos of the coronavirus
Vietnam schoolgirl creates art from the chaos of the coronavirus Thinh Nguyen Reuters•June 11, 2020 A Vietnamese school girl draws paintings about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Hanoi By Thinh Nguyen HANOI (Reuters) – Stuck at home with school suspended, Nguyen Doi Chung Anh made the most of a lockdown in Vietnam by using art to demonstrate tragedy, resilience and chaos in the world’s battle against the coronavirus. The work of 10-year-old Chung Anh shows how events unfolded globally, depicting the devastation with drawings of the coronavirus attacking landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben and the Leaning Tower of Pisa as it spread through Europe,…
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9th century sandstone Shiva Linga discovered in Vietnam
A team from the Archaeological Survey of India have announced the discovery of a monolithic sandstone Shiva Linga dating from around the 9th century AD in the Quảng Nam province, Vietnam. The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency attached to the Ministry of Culture that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural monuments. The discovery was made during a conservation project at Mỹ Sơn, an archaeological site consisting of Hindu temples constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the Kings of Champa, an Indianised kingdom of the Cham people. The Mỹ Sơn temple complex is regarded as one of…
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After the fall of Saigon: When Washington did the right thing for refugees
After the fall of Saigon: When Washington did the right thing for refugees Updated January 28, 2016 at 2:27 pm When the United States pulled out of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, many of their South Vietnamese allies fled. The Seattle Times editorial board praises former Gov. Dan Evans’ move to welcome the refugees to Washington state. By The Seattle Times editorial board The Seattle Times FORTY years ago, the people of Washington state came to the aid of thousands of Southeast Asian refugees fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries. Gratitude is an important value for the Vietnamese. An oft-quoted adage is: “Eat the fruit, remember who planted the…
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Vietnamese-owned nail salons donate thousands of masks, gloves, more to hospitals
Vietnamese-owned nail salons donate thousands of masks, gloves, more to hospitals When Huy Nguyen closed his nail salon in Mobile, Alabama, two weeks ago in response to the coronavirus pandemic, he donated all of the protective equipment in his inventory — a few hundred masks and eight boxes of gloves. Nguyen, an owner of Top Nails 2, wasn’t alone. Prompted by a Facebook request from a local Vietnamese pharmacist, dozens of other Vietnamese salon owners in Mobile came together and contributed more than 134,000 gloves and 23,000 masks to a nearby hospital. Nguyen later called friends who own salons in other cities and encouraged them to do the same. “Fighting…
