I don’t know much about comics. I never really read them, nor did anyone around me.    With that said, here are two novice notes on GB Tran’s beautiful book:    Drawing raises the stakes. In an interview with Jeanette…

The postings made me remember that I did a lecture on the use of trading cards during the Cold War and specifically to incite pro-Korean war sentiment in the USA. I just realised that it is a really subversive use…

I have never really thought about how much illustration and memoir work so well together before, but this book is a great example of how illustration can be a powerful vehicle for articulating emotion and memory. The juxtaposition between complex…

First, I had lots of trouble with the names.  After reading for about 30 pages, I decided to write down all the names on a piece of paper.  And, at that time, I discovered that at the front and at…

When I was in high school, at a school with a sizable Vietnamese-American population, my world history teacher assigned an essay on a post-colonial conflict of our choosing. He advised that, while many students may be interested in taking on…

I woke up this morning to Victoria’s comment, now read Sandy’s response, and feel like, “What else is there to say?” Thanks to you both! This was a gorgeous example of the form I love. The art and the use…

Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey is the first example of this writing genre that I have ever “read,” or better, experienced. My reflection will largely reflect on the use of images because this is the aspect that struck me most strongly…

This one was hard. Perhaps that’s why I’ve procrastinated and posted this so late. I remember Selena’s death vividly in my Junior year of High School. I cannot say I was a mega fan, but I was first exposed to…

Listening to this podcast, I was interested in the subject. By the life of Selena. She was killed when I was only two years old so her fame was before my time. Because the genre of her music is not…

I went in as cold as you could be: the podcast started and I heard the story of Maria Garcia—then the other shoe dropped. Selena: oh yeah, that sounds familiar. I was learning who Selena was: but this podcast isn’t…