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Ley Lines

1ST ISSUE JUNE 2021

FOR MY LOVELY FAMILY that taught me to love my Vietnamese self, even when the rest of the world loved it not

Editor's Note

by Helen Dang-Vu

Vegetable Soup

by Ryan Dang e I Learn

an by Jason Tr

Res

pec t Yo ur ... Stud ent s? by M

ei Tam

Little Saigon

by Lam Dang

Affinity

by Lucy Skrypzak

Editor's Note I am Helen Dang-Vu, a Vietnamese American. At the age of 12, I started to learn Vietnamese Mixed Martial Arts. At the age of 14, I started attending an all-Vietnamese Girl Scouts Troop. At the age of 18, I started taking Asian American Studies courses at UCLA. All the while, since before I remember, I frequented Little Saigon with my family on weekends to eat Vietnamese cuisine, to celebrate Vietnamese festivals, and to support Vietnamese small businesses. Since my youth and still today, I found and continue to find myself surrounded by and immersed in Vietnamese history, culture, and people. In each Vietnamese community I encounter and engage with, I see something. I see children eating what their parents ate back in Vietnam, wearing what their parents wore back in Vietnam, speaking what their parents spoke back in Vietnam, celebrating what their parents celebrated back in Vietnam, and so on! I see a ley line, linking these communities to their mother country through the practice and preservation of storytelling and traditions. But I also I see the strained relationship of immigrant parents with their American-born children, the imposition and insult of Asian standards and stereotypes, and the consequences of the model minority myth. My question to Vietnamese Americans and all Asian Americans is this: how have your interactions with your communities shaped your perspective of society and your place in the United States?

Ley lines : A definition he t d n u o r sa e r u t c rld o u r w t s e l h t a c f i ns o istor o i h g t e c r e n n i . n o a o t t c r n i e t c a d h e t t p a nd tap ines l a e , y b l y d n g e r a s e c o n ee upp and s m d o e s e r t a y a r s r r e n t a a n c c e c s y n e e o Ley lin n h i c l T s i y y es. , le g n y i r l r e o y n e e e l h t t o t d a n h n e l t a o , r t s c r r o e a s t l world,. I i s r sim nce inte a a s r e h i t n e i i l h w t e s s f e aim ies o nitie I r u t , m n n o u m i where th o o t c c a blic the s as u o e p i t t i s i d l n h r u t o m r fo om he w e c t n m c s i a a s n c o n i h r r t e c e e h a t e m s e s A s n I sa an ica i e r s n i e A L m f y o A o e t L y n n i g a g i r s n p e i A a s n t o e t o ch the can n I s e . r n connec e e a g h c i a w r t i e e Am l her s ar n a e i r a t i i u s n t l A u u e c m her om c w their c i d n n h a t e d y. e t r t a t a h s r t e t c t n n s e e a c con heir t e r h to sugg a t i s w e r t ltu rac u e c t d n i n d a n s to a t people c e n n o to c y g r e n e that

Vegetable Soup In elementary school, I learned that America is a melting pot in which a vast variety of cultures blend together. I took that lesson with a grain of salt since, at that age, I saw little of the world outside of my home and my school. Later, I learned otherwise. I became a Boy Scout in Troop 1004, an all-Vietnamese troop also referred to as Lien Doan Bach Dang Giang. Being in Vietnamese scouting enabled me to understand and appreciate my Vietnamese culture as a Vietnamese American. To celebrate holidays, the troop hosts events in which we take part in our traditions. For instance, during Lunar New Year, we dress up in ao dai, or traditional Vietnamese attire for men and women. We enjoy some Vietnamese cuisine, perform skits based on Vietnamese folklore, dance traditional Vietnamese dances, sing Vietnamese songs, and of course, receive our lucky red envelopes. For the Moon Festival, we meet at Mile Square Park near my house to tell stories and perform skits, look at the moon until late at night, and then light lanterns to walk around the park with. To be honest, had I not been in Vietnamese scouting, I would have only done these types of activities with my family and never in front of the public to avoid the inevitable stares I would receive from non-Asians. Celebrating the Lunar New Year or the Moon Festival with my friends from scouting, who share my Vietnamese descent, made me feel comfortable with my culture and made me love it even more.

- Ryan Dang Joining this troop showed me that, in some cases, instead of a melting pot, America is more like a soup, like the soup with chunks of vegetables still floating around in it. The vegetables can represent Asian American communities, not only Lien Doan Bach Dang Giang but also Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Koreatown, and so on, that maintain their distinct shapes instead of becoming simply another part of something else, namely the soup called America. In this soup, these vegetables, although different, complement each other and provide the perfect balance. And that soup is my favorite soup.

I LEARNED. - Jason Tran -

The Vietnamese Student Association at UCSD is my home away from home. In my second year, I became an intern for VSA and became very involved in the program. I attended all events, assisted in meetings, and created a welcoming environment for general members. Through this experience, I developed a network of friends and professional skills, and most importantly, I came to terms with and understood my culture better than ever before. I shadowed the Community Culture Chair and took on tasks that buried me deep in my culture. My most memorable project, among many, was a Letter Writing Workshop that I helped spearhead. Through each letter, I read, saw, and felt the struggles that Asian Americans face at the large, political scale … Black April … the model minority myth … the surge in antiAsian violence … and everything else. Through each letter, I learned. These talks, which became interventions of a sort, opened my eyes to and reshaped my perception of my culture. I am lucky, privileged, to have been raised in a predominantly Vietnamese area. I never became a victim of anti-Asian violence. I never even became a victim of serious anti-Asian sentiment of any kind. The homogeneity of my home shielded me from and blinded me to anti-Asian discrimination. But through my community at UCSD, I learned.

I learned about others who shared my story and my culture. I learned of the various sides to and perspectives of Asian American identity. I learned about the struggles I related to and the struggles I did not relate to, the ones I neither faced nor felt. I learned to appreciate the supportive community that raised me so that I never needed to worry about racism, so that I could connect with my culture and my people without reserve. Now, as a candidate for the VSA Community Culture Chair, I am eager to give back to my home away from home, here at UCSD, and to the Asian American community altogether.

Respect your . . . students ? - Mei Tam -

There is a saying that sends shivers down my spine… not good shivers mind you. I can imagine it now. With a hand on a hip, a finger wagging in front of my face, a person older and taller, trying to intimidate me by sternly scolding, “RESPECT YOUR ELDERS.” This imagery seems to represent Asian American culture, and I definitely internalized this phrase, saying, mindset, motto, whatever you want to call it, whether I realized it or not. Because of this saying, growing up, I always looked in front of me, and only in front of me. Somewhere along the way, “respect your elders” became synonymous with invalidating those younger than me. As I became hungrier for knowledge and justice, I started to explore what being an Asian American activist meant for me. In high school, activism took the form of looking up people and videos and talking to the few Asian American teachers at my school. When I transitioned into college, activism took the form of submerging myself in Asian American Studies classes and going to community spaces outside of college. While I am not trying to discredit my efforts of learning, I started to realize that I was just shifting from one echo chamber to another. Higher education is very much a bubble, and I did not fully realize that until I had conversations with family members. They looked at me in confusion as I threw words they have never heard, and I started to realize that knowing a bunch of fancy words did not matter if the target audience does not understand what is being said. So, as a change of pace, I decided to volunteer at AAMPLIFY, a non-profit that aimed to teach Asian American youths about social justice and civil engagement. This opportunity has changed how I view what a viable source of information looks like. Through talking with the high school students in the programs, I began to realize how cynical, elitist, and even narrow-minded my thinking was.

There was no one conversation that gave me a eureka moment. But rather, it was the build up of conversations in which I was just constantly surprised by the depth and also the vast knowledge that these kids had within them. We once talked about how to advertise and make voting more accessible to the Asian American community. I remember sitting there in awe as ideas kept being thrown out and the allotted 20 minute activity turned into an hour long discussion. Even though they did not use the words that are circulated within academia, they were having the same conversations that I would have in my Asian American Studies courses. Because of their lack of exposure to the academic scene, they were even able to bring new perspectives to a variety of social justice topics. Sometimes, I get caught in my own head. The Asian American community has a weird fixation on titles and what is considered as “legitimate.” We are always trying to pursue things that are in front of us and holding onto the words of those who are older and more accomplished than us, only to forget that knowledge is not linear. Knowledge comes from all around us, and thanks to the kids I worked with, I have come to learn that it is important to respect and learn from your students.

Little Saigon - Lam Dang -

I escaped from Vietnam in 1991. I came to the United States in my 20s. I was young. I could not speak English. I was separated from my friends and I only had half of my family with me. I was homesick. Now, I have Little Saigon near my house, just a ten minute drive actually. Little Saigon? All Vietnamese. All Vietnamese businesses. All Vietnamese stores. All Vietnamese restaurants. Speak Vietnamese only. Looks like my Saigon in Vietnam. Little Saigon? I go there two times a week. I go to the supermarket to buy some things. My wife often makes me pick up bánh phở or another bag of rice, and I might pick up a lottery ticket there too. I go to the cafes to meet with my friends to watch soccer. We used to play soccer together when we still lived in Vietnam. I go to the restaurants with my family, my wife and my children. The food here is really good.

In Little Saigon, I am surrounded by my Vietnamese people. Through these Vietnamese communities, my wife and I preserve our Vietnamese culture and introduced it to our children. We celebrate Têt ́ and wore our áo dài. We taught our children to chúc têt ́ to recieve lì xì. We celebrate the Moon Festival. We tell the story of the lady on the moon, and our children make lanterns. We celebrate the Flower Festival and the Night Markets. They are smaller than but similar to the ones in Vietnam, and my children like to pick out flowers for my wife and food for themselves.

When I first found Little Saigon, I thought, "Oh, this is great!" Without it, I would have been so homesick, so lonely. I still miss my life in Vietnam, but I miss it less. But I needed Little Saigon back then but not so much now. I needed Little Saigon to transition, but now, I am used to the United States. I can speak English. I have my friends and my family. I have a home, and I have a job. Recently, I am more concerned about anti-Asian sentiment surrounding Little Saigon, and I am scared. When a Vietnamese person does something bad, I am blamed too. When something bad happens to a Vietnamese person, I think something bad will happen to me next because I am Vietnamese. I am scared of being known only as "a Vietnamese". I have lived in this country for thirty years, but people do not see me as Vietnamese American. They still see me as a foreigner, as someone on the outside, and they will never accept me as one of their own because I am "too Asian". Now, because I am scared, I believe it is better to live not too far but also not to close to Little Saigon. But I am still thankful for it.

Affinity - Lucy Skrypzak -

At the end of the day, these Asian American communities are ley lines with unanticipated potential. They can teach and confuse, include and exclude, and do both good and bad. Their beauty is in the eye of their beholder, and their influence is infinite.

special thanks to Ryan Dang Jason Tran Mei Tam Lam Dang and Lucy Skrypzak for their submissions