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Takeaways:
- Beauty pageants have become a way to connect with family, friends, and culture.
- This type of competition can tear a community apart.
- It was great to hear Thanh Tan view these competitions as a "cultural pageant," since often times we see pageants as a way to objectify women.
Connections:
- I immediately thought about Oh, Saigon in terms of a community becoming teared apart. Although these pageants and war are complete distinct things, conflicts can cause tension.
- A personal connection I made towards this podcast is how many Filipina/x/os tend to care so much about pageants, such as Miss Universe.

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Takeaways:
- Pho has become an iconic dish towards the Vietnamese American community, causing Americans to want to try Vietnamese dishes.
- There are various ways people garnish and eat their pho. It was funny to hear that you can tell how a person is by how they order.
- Pho is constantly moving forward not only in Vietnam, but also in the United States! (i.e. "Pho-rrito")
Connections:
- In Hello, Vietnam, we saw how much the grandfather cared so much about his granddaughter's cake. Although the cake had a different significant meaning, I think this connects because food is an essential part of Asian culture.
- I also think this podcast relates to the short film "Bloodline" since both share the same message: food brings people together.

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3 takeaways
1. The history is taught differently depending on the country that regulates your education
2. America's imperialist and colonialist power extends to all of the diasporas in this country and can shift the way our communities remember and forget
3. Despite the Vietnam War being a 'good' American war, many Vietnamese in diaspora can not talk about the experience because it is so traumatizing and honestly, their experiences are often neglected by the mainstream.

Connection
This really reminds me of learning more about American history and its influence on the American public, especially in the ethnic studies classes I've taken at SFSU. America is not the ideal or the dream that is was thought to be, and while it is good to have pride in our accomplishments, we always need to criticize the wrongdoings and injustices

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3 takeaways
1. I think it's really interesting how the idea of nationhood and the meaning of a flag/symbol, while is socially constructed, it holds so much power in history, emotion, trauma, and identity.
2. The current flag that represents Vietnam has a very complicated connotation, especially for Southern Vietnamese and Vietnamese in diaspora
3. Although the war is over, we can never forget (like the theory that all wars are fought twice, once on the battlefield and second in memory)

Connection
This reminded me of the pictures from the Jan 6th insurrection where there was a southern Vietnamese flag at the capitol. Also, when I drive around Westminster sometimes, there are Trump flags right next to the southern Vietnamese flag. It is so confusing and contradictory how so many Vietnamese refugees are republican and side with Trump on many different legislative policies

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3 takeaways:
- beauty pageants are a way to show your culture and connect with friends and family
-  how an ao dai covers everything, but yet nothing is covered since its so form fitting
- when Than Tan said it was a cultural pageant instead of a pageant it showed how it was looking at the Vietnamese cultural ideas of the beauty standards instead of just beauty overall

While I personally can't connect to beauty pageants, I do understand the ideal Vietnamese cultural beauty standards. You have to be skinny, have lighter skin, have skin that is flawless, no pimples etc. whenever I look on instagram and social media pages of girls that are Vietnamese, I think to myself, why dont I look like that? but then also I think that I have my own unique characteristics, and I dont need to compare to the other girls.

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3 takeaways:
- all the different ways people name pho restaurants.
- how pho has become one of the "it" and "trendy" dishes here in the US
- there are many different ways of how people eat pho.

one connection I can make is to the film "bloodline" from the Viet filmiest. since in that film it showed how food is so connected to family and culture, like how pho is connected to many Vietnamese families, and how it is connected to the Vietnamese culture. Another connection I can make to pho is personal. For me, I have always loved pho. How my mom and my family makes it homemade, it feels like good food for the soul, because it is. And when the podcast talked about the different ways you can eat pho, for me I keep it simple most times, I add the encoutrements, then the hoisin and the sriracha.

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3 Takeaways:
1. The flag that represents Vietnam today reminds people of the trauma they went through and horrific memories. That specific flag has a negative connotation to it and causes backlash, specifically within those that supported South Vietnam, against others.
2. Everyone has their own flags and like the American flag and pledge, the Vietnamese community has the same right, both the southern and communist side. Although they have that right, it will continue to have backlash and cause pain within others.
3. Thanh talks about how it's more than facts, it's about emotion. It's more about the trauma and pain that refugees had. Even if things had happened years ago, that pain is still present now.

Connections:
1. When the podcast mentioned the picture hung up and the flag in one of the shops, it reminded me of a video we watched that did the same thing. This did, and still, causes uproar within the Vietnamese community.
2. Although people say the war is over and that we should move on, it will never be over because trauma and experience still lives in the people that escaped, the refugees. Even if we didn't experience it, there's intergenerational trauma that is passed down. We 1st generation children are experiencing the trauma for them in our own ways.

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3 Takeaways:
1. Beauty pageants can do both good and bad. While bringing you close to family, it can also create chaos within the family. It was interesting to hear how much hate the girl got after receiving the crown at the press conference.
2. "It is not a beauty pageant, it's a cultural pageant." This phrase hits because that is essentially what many beauty pageants are, even the MissUniverse pageant.
3. As fair as Thanh wants to be, it's difficult and she says that this system is objectifying. Even if the contestants are trying their best, everyone is affected.

Connections:
1. When Thanh mentioned how pageants can bring together or split families, it reminds me of the documentary, Oh, Saigon, because Doan's family became split. Although the experiences were drastically different, it reminded me about how events, whether big or small, can affect anyone.
2. This is more of a personal connection, but Vietnamese beauty standards are very biased in my opinion. We have created this image where no matter what size you are, you are beautiful, but in Vietnam, it's not that way. My mom talks about how if you cannot wear an ao dai, you don't fit the beauty standard. They are catered specifically towards skinner women and here definitely is a figure that many people follow.

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3 Takeaways:
1. Beauty pageants, for many of the contestants are a way to connect with friends, family, and culture.
2. Contrast to that beauty pageants also can cause a rift in the community because there is a chance for mistakes, and there may be an inability to speak Vietnamese.
3. Host acknowledges the damaging aspect of beauty pageants, saying that they tend to "objectify women" and put up a false image of what a woman should look like.
Connections:
1.  Beauty pageants are a bonding experience between the Vietnamese culture and the people, rather than a competition.
2. while it the idea of improving a lady and the community is a good message in the beauty pageant, it may not be the best idea because it can turn into comparisons of hoe pretty the girl is.

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3 Takeaways:
1. Vietnamese identity is very complex, there is no black or white way to look at it.
2. Americans tend to talk about the Vietnam War, not the country of Vietnam when the topic comes up.
3. There are people out there who are not connected to their identity, resulting in a disconnect with the community and feeling of not being Vietnamese enough.

2 connections:
1. The Sympathizer due to its protrayal of  a Vietnamese person being a spying for the communist in Vietnam. This connects with with the podcast because the host's father was considered a spy during the War.
2. Oh, Saigon: podcast host has not met family in Vietnam. In addition it shows the hidden pain the Vietnamese American community has gone through, seen through Dona's father refusing to visit Vietnam at the beginning of the documentary.

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Main Takeaways:
1) Pho has become one of the many "it" dishes in the United States.
2) Pho is an ever evolving dish, served in a variety of different styles like salads, spring rolls, deep fried, etc. I think this might be due part to the fact that Pho is such a universal dish in the sense that it's typically eaten any time during the day in Vietnam. At the end of the day, eat your Pho how you want.
3) Pho, and Vietnamese cuisine more broadly, can bridge the gap even between people whose ideologies are polar opposites.

Connections:
1) I was able to draw a connection to the film "Oh, Saigon" with this podcast episode because Andrea, one of the people Tan was talking to, touched upon how she bonded with her cousin over Pho, despite being an avid communist in his youth. Andrea also briefly touched upon how a split in familial relations was catalyzed due to different political ideologies, something Doan's family experience in "Oh, Saigon".
2) I was able to draw a connection to the short film "Bloodline" because we can see how powerful food really is when it comes to bonding with someone, despite any differences whether it be generational, ideological, etc.

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Takeaways:

- Pho has become an iconic dish that whenever is mentioned, people all around the globe know that it’s from Vietnam.

- There are multiple dishes made out of Pho. The original is mainly served in the US because most refugees come from the South. However, there are more dishes that have been added for people to experiment with.

- It is interesting how people talk about Pho as a subject to avoid political sensitivity in the past.

Connection

I can relate to when the lady said that Vietnamese that lives in Vietnam don’t spend time cooking Pho at home. The reason is that it takes so much time and effort to make a good bowl of Pho and nobody has time for that. A bowl of Pho in Vietnam costs about 2$ and for sure it will taste amazing. Pho that brought to the US has been re-make to fit not only for the Vietnamese but also different nationality and that’s why much Vietnamese living here spend time cooking Pho at home so it reminds them the taste of “home”.

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Takeaway:
- Pho has become the "it dish" for the Vietnamese/Vietnamese American community to thrive and be put on the map of American popular culture/white foodie gaze.
- The White chef trying to recreate and direct the Vietnamese food experience was typical of what I would expect from and major media source viewing Asian experiences as perhaps not worth the time to explore and execute properly.
- Pho will always stand at the forefront for Vietnamese American identity as both a connection to their heritage and as as catalyst for conversation to help propel the future for their identity as Vietnamese Americans.

Connections:
- I believed the idea pho that was mentioned throughout this podcast as a catalyst for striking conversations about appropriate food and culture with open minded people to correctly allow Vietnamese/Vietnamese American community to be shared to representation and knowledge.
-Understanding the heritage and the implications that you can eat and experience this Vietnamese dish that is unique to those of South Vietnamese refugees and immigrants. The connection to "Bloodlines" and how it a dish can create a bridge to Vietnamese American history and their changed experiences in America.

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Main Takeaways:
1) When most Americans think about Vietnam, the first thing that comes to mind is usually the war or cultural items (mainly cuisine) related to Vietnam rather than Vietnamese people. It doesn't help that popular media/Hollywood has framed the country through the lens of the war even several years later, possibly explaining why even some younger gen Americans tend to associate Vietnam with a war that ended nearly 50 years ago.
2) There still exists a dominant narrative in the U.S. in which the Vietnam War is usually presented; for most Vietnamese-Americans, the U.S. was the ultimate saving grace as they fled from their homeland out of fear of being prosecuted by the Northerners/Viet Cong: the ultimate enemy. While their might be some emotional truth to these stories, it's still a very one-sided narrative that doesn't fully capture the facts and complexities of the Vietnam War.
3) Some Vietnamese-Americans felt pressure to conceal their identity, especially when it comes to the older generation talking about to their children or grandchildren about their experiences. Furthermore, there's the idea that Vietnamese-Americans who were refugees of the war often leave a part of themselves behind.

Connections:
1) I was able to draw a connection to The Best We Could Do with this podcast episode because Tan briefly touched upon the idea that many Vietnamese-Americans that have lived through the war don't really like opening about their experiences. The whole premise of the graphic novel is for Thi Bui, the author, to learn about her parents' stories to gain a better understanding of them, who she is, and hopefully gain a stronger connection to Vietnam.
2) I was able to draw a connection to The Sympathizer since the book explores being in this gray area, with the protagonist analyzing the Vietnam War from both the Southern and Northern perspective. Tan touched upon the fact that the war isn't at all black-and-white, and that our understanding of the war will only expand if we hear out other narratives.

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Through the podcast I hear how the Vietnamese American identity is not clear cut, and is shaped through experiences that each and everyone goes through which differ. As well as how the Vietnamese experiences is always focused around the war and that is all. Not saying that the war was not important but the fact that it isn't the only thing that should identify us. Many of us only know war through media and through experiences other's tell us about. And learning how as an American you are told by society that to be American you need to forget your ethnicity which is ironic because as Vietnamese Americans we will never be American enough or Vietnamese enough. 2 connections are how Thi Bui's parents never felt at home in America and how their identities are different to other refugees. Both of them were fighting their own battles and were experiencing different things that shaped them. As well as how it relates to Oh, Saigon and how the father feels stuck in between feeling American in Vietnam and Vietnamese in America. He is in this limbo of not being accepted into the home that he was born into and not fitting into the home he was forced to live in.

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Throughout the podcast, we learn about Thanh and how she feels as though she has the missing piece in her life that can be filled by going to Vietnam. I can relate to this as an adoptee who at a young age would yearn to know who her "real" mother and father were. But as she talks, she understand that she belongs more in the U.S. Growing up, I feel more connected to the U.S. as I am a Vietnamese American. I think it would be great to visit the place I was born, but I don't necessarily think I will feel like I belong or feel like it's home. My experiences make me feel at home and I have so much here. The biggest connection was how she related to the dad in Oh, Saigon who wanted to visit his family that he left behind. But as he did, he understood how him leaving was him changing. He came back to be called Viet Kieu and how he was closing that semi open chapter in his life by having that closure. As well as it connects to The Best We Could Do as she is able to understand the struggles her parents were going through, and how she is learning from them to be a better parents for her child. She is happy after learning where her parents were going through and how she feels like she finally belongs to something important which is her son.

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Many Vietnamese people in America feel embarrassed of their heritage and feel the need to hide being Vietnamese is a sad reality that many people have to face. This could be seen in both second and first-generation Americans where having to adapt to American culture would help them find a job or "fit in".
It is sad to see that accusations are determined strictly by race and ethnicity. Thanh Tam's father was accused of having ties with the communist party and the discretion and harassment he faced.

It was sad to see that Thanh Nguyen never felt comfortable in his own country, due to the harassment and accusations of him being a communist spy.

The Sympathizer shows the side of a south Vietnamese spy, and the difficulty he faced as a spy.

Oh Saigon also showed the difficulty of having to adapt to new circumstances nad not feeling comfortable and being recognized as an "American"

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Growing up a first-generation American, I was fortunate enough to live in a country that was not war-torn. However, my parents were present in Vietnam during the Vietnam war and did everything they could to supply for their family and evade the conflict. The war left a sense of resentment for many Vietnamese people against America and many still hold grudges to this day. This goes both ways where American's hold resentment against the Vietnamese. This rose tension when the rumor spread that they may be communist spies in Olympia. Racial accusations were made solely on ethnicity and the preexisting tension between the two. Thanh Tan's father was accused of being a communist spy and for that fact alone, his family's well-being became a lot more difficult.

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3 takeaways:

1.  Pop culture phenomenon, cheap eats, and comfort food staple.
2. Pho is always moving forward in Vietnam
3. At the end of the day, eat Pho however you want to eat it.

2 connections:

1. This podcast connects with the Viet film festival "Bloodline" because of Pho's connection with Viet families. It shows the history of what Pho is. Also, having a conversation while eating Pho about Pho was in this podcast, and in "bloodline," it talks about how food spark conversation and brings people together. Also, it connects because cooking the dish makes a person feel associated with family and culture.
2. In The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui's parents were trying to find a job after moving. Their degrees did not work in the US, so since the father did not want hard labor, the wife did it instead to keep food for the family. Tan's parents wanted to open a restaurant for income in the podcast, so they learned how to make Thai food and opened a Vietnamese-owned Thai restaurant. They always had Pho on their menu. It connects because they are both trying to fit in society and finding ways to make money to support their family in the US.

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Insights
- How American Exceptionalism manifests in the immigrant psyche. Thanh Tan says that she assumed that she was better off in America than her family members in Vietnam, and made the assumption that when her uncle in Vietnam corresponded with her, that he was looking for “a ticket to America”. I have had the same thoughts about family members in the Philippines, thinking that when they reach out, they are looking for money or free stuff.

- How Tan navigates being a Viet Kieu in Vietnam. A very similar type of code switching happens when my mom goes to the Philippines—there are times when to act Filipino, and times to hide that you are American.

- How Tan and her friend share that Vietnamese food in America is different from Vietnamese food in Vietnam. I am very interested in exploring that exact difference in food-how Asian food has undergone change (due to colonization, immigration, meeting different dietary needs in different times and places, access to ingredients) to emerge as a uniquely Asian American cuisine.

Connections
- Relationship with second generation returning to Vietnam, as forms of resolution or healing. Present in Hello, Vietnam, TBWCD, Oh, Saigon

- The relationship Vietnamese people have with Viet Kieu, and how Viet Kieu have different navigation with identity as the diasporic community. Present in Hello, Vietnam, TBWCD, Oh, Saigon

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Insights

- How Americans, especially white Americans, view Asian and Asian American cuisines, and immigrant cuisines more broadly. Many times when people are explaining the virtues of pho, of General Tso’s chicken, of a taco truck specializing in birria, one of the first things said is that they are cheap. This association with immigrant food and affordability is an association with immigrants and poverty, and immigrant food with poor quality ingredients.

- The pivots or life changes that immigrants make to survive. Tan’s parents made Thai food instead of Vietnamese food in order to secure their location in a mall in Olympia.

- How immigrant food becomes popular in America. I find it interesting that in order to breakthrough to a wider (whiter) audience in the US, immigrant food has to be cosigned by whiteness, whether it be press by a large food outlet that has mostly white readership or white editors (think Bon Appetit magazine), awards by a food organization with a history of honoring mostly white chefs (think James Beard Foundation), or recognition by a white public figure (think Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, Martha Stewart, and newer food figures like Alison Roman, Molly Baz, etc.

Connections
- Also an insight of mine, I noticed the pivot that Tan’s parents made in opening a Thai restaurant instead of Vietnamese. In TBWCD specifically, Thi Bui’s parents’ degrees were not recognized in the US, so her mom worked in a factory assembling circuit boards.

- Andrea Nguyen explains the types of reformatting pho has undergone in America, like pho-rritos, pho beef banh mi dip, pho dumplings. These new ways to eat pho are a type of cultural shift that reminds me of the daughter in Hello, Vietnam, where she expresses her Vietnamese identity in different ways than her grandfather. Her cultural explorations represent something like a pho-rrito to me, and her grandfather being the more traditional of the two.

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3 Takeaways:
1. The complex and complicated identity in the Vietnamese go through. Not just simple black and white.
2. The importance of how Americans portrayed Vietnam by their movies and films. It talks about War and nothing else about Vietnam as a country.
3. Having to hide your identity from where you live is a takeaway because I have friends who do that. I see that they feel this sense of not belonging to any community.

2 connections:
1. I connected this podcast episode with our reading of The Sympathizer because it is about a Vietnamese person being a spy for the communist in Vietnam. The connection is with how the podcast's host father was considered a spy during the War.
2. I connected with this podcast with the film Oh, Saigon because the podcast narrator says she has not met her family because they live in Vietnam. Also, it feels like the Vietnamese American community has a lot of hidden pain. For example, in the film, the father still has the pain from the War, so he refuses to visit at the beginning of the documentary. Also, Doan got to meet her uncles that she did not get the chance to meet before leaving for America because the War split up their families.

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My 3 takeaways from this podcast were:
1) Uncovering the truth and changing your perspective is uncomfortable.
2) To move forward you must face the unspoken/hidden truth, or other things holding you back.
3) Black/white narratives of the war hide the truth about the Vietnamese refugee experience.

“Why do you feel that in your writing it’s important to explore different perspectives and more than one narrative?'

Viet Thanh Nguyen: ‘I look at my life as an American and as a Vietnamese, and I see that in these countries when there’s only one narrative, disaster follows for the people whose narratives are not included.”

“The ability to see any issue from both sides has been really important to me as a scholar and a writer, most human beings lack that capacity. What I would say to you or to anyone else who feels scared is to say that’s not a bad thing, being scared shows us that we’re confronting something we haven’t wanted to confront, that makes us scared because it could potentially unravel something we’ve taken for granted.”  - Viet Thanh Nguyen

I connected this podcast to The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, and the film Saigon USA. In Thi Bui’s novel the story is very much about learning family history, and her family’s perspective of the war and their experiences as refugees. Thi Bui wants to fully understand her family’s migration, and what happened to them in the homeland. Doing so allowed Thi Bui valuable knowledge about herself and family. The podcast also brought me back to Saigon USA and that scene in the film where they held a candle lit vigil for the lives lost during the war. The community’s strong reaction to the photo of Ho Chi Minh brought back the entire community’s memories and trauma from the war. It revealed that the community as a whole is still grieving and processing what happened during the war. It also reveals how crucial it is to remember the war when considering the Vietnamese American experience. Both of these examples from our course showed how growing/progression/healing is often uncomfortable and challenging like the podcast was explaining.

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My 3 main takeaways from this podcast were:
1) America’s perception of the war is biased
2) The Vietnamese diaspora’s perspective of the war is influenced by American ideals
3) The American war machine is fueled by the idea that Americans are always the “good guys"

“Because Americans lost, they’ve been very hesitant to explore it [the war] in depth. We are imprisoned by conventional wisdom about it that is so superficial, and so lacking in dimension, that nearly all the things you mentioned are just American-centric. And just tell our perspective.” – Ken Burns

America’s perception of the war is skewed. Like David mentioned in their post, I also grew up knowing very little about the complexities of the Vietnam War. What I knew about the war when I was much younger, especially as an outsider of the Vietnamese American community; was based off of American history books and random fictional movies. I think that most individuals do not dive deeper into the complexities of the war, because they do not feel compelled to. The American media/knowledge presented to me about the war easily convinced me to believe that the North Vietnamese were “evil”, while Americans came to Vietnam as “saviors”. These American versions of the war completely ignored Vietnam’s history of resistance against colonization and imperialism. As well as the experiences of the thousands of refugees who were violently displaced by the war.

“No one has the market on being good guy or bad guy.” – Lynn Novick

The American war machine is able to continue fueling itself through this idea that Americans are the “good guys”, while the “others” are bad. What happened in Vietnam and what is taught to Americans about the war is extremely whitewashed; and does not take into account the perspective of the Vietnamese both in the North and South. Prior to the “Vietnam War”, the Vietnamese had been fighting colonization and imperialism for a very long time. When it comes to American portrayals of war, we are constantly fed the idea that Americans are the “heroes” who were trying to “save” South Vietnam.

I connected this podcast to the article written by Vox from week 8/9 Support for Trump is Tearing Apart Vietnamese American Families, and the film Saigon USA. The article written by Vox discusses “… the strain of cultural and historical conservatism rooted in the refugee Vietnamese identity…” Trump’s nationalist and right-leaning policies were appealing to older generations of the Vietnamese American community due to their experiences of the war; which was influenced by America’s desire to “stop the spread” of Communism/Socialism. I also connected this podcast to the film Oh Saigon which centers around learning family history, trauma, perspectives, and other situations within the family caused by the war. The film revealed the complexities of Vietnamese refugee experiences and their connection to the homeland/war. The North and South were more intertwined than American media portrays it to be.

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Takeaways:
-It's very interesting to me to hear how Pho became to be what it is today. Where it originated, where it went next, and so on.
-I always wondering in Bon Apetit how they always had a white male to do ethnic foods. It never made any sense to me. I thought it was interesting how this podcast touched on that.
-I now will go to the nearest Vietnamese restaurant and order as many different types of Pho as I can possibly eat. I'm inspired.

Connections:
-I thought this podcast really touched on stereotypes regarding food. In America we have a lot of stereotypes based on lack of knowledge. We also talk about this in class how Vietnamese Americans are treated differently in some places of the U.S.
-Of course there's the connection to the film in class "Bloodline".

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Takeaways:
-The quote where they explain how when there is a country with only one narrative, disaster follows. I thought this was an impactful statement.
-In the United States we have to acknowledge that we are a diverse country with diverse opinions. It is worth it to take this into consideration.
-Constantly returning to the idea of victimization only encourages Vietnamese people to think of themselves as victims trapped in the past.

Connections:
-Being a victim trapped in the past only reminds me of the quote that all wars are fought twice. This really came to mind when hearing this.
-This podcast talks about being an outsider. I can't help but make the connection to this class when we talk about Vietnamese refugees and how they felt, and feel, when forced to leave a country they once called home.

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Takeaways:
-Some Vietnamese Americans like Tan believed that they were more superior than Vietnamese from Vietnam.
-Vietnamese love music. Life is more simple and slow in Vietnam. In the United States people are very busy and life is more fast paced in the cities.
-Average age of marriage in Vietnam is 22.
Many Vietnamese aunties try to set Tan up.
-Vietnam is still communist and wants to stay in power. They spy on people to stay in power. Vietnamese Americans should be careful about certain topics and associations from old Vietnam.

Connections:
-Many young Vietnamese Americans question their heritage and what their homeland was like.
-Tans parents had to escape from Vietnam by boat. Some people were imprisoned in reeducation camps and faced hardships because of their connections to south Vietnamese officer.

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Takeaways:
- Many documentaries, movies and stories come from the western perspective of the war. It was interesting that the American/Vietnam War was the first televised war.
- Although the Vietnam War was fought between the north and south Vietnamese, Communist Vietnam still does not recognize or acknowledge the deaths of the soldiers from the south.
- Vietnamese American parents do not speak about the war because they were on the losing side.

Connections:
Many Vietnamese American parents do not speak about the war and trauma because they want to move on from the horrific past.
Some Vietnamese want to go back to Vietnam but face difficulties to go back home.

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Takeaways:
Its sad to hear that Thanh's father was accused to be a "Viet Cong" spy by his own community. Being singled out by his own community shows the fear and pain that Vietnamese community still lives with.
Viet Thanh Nguyen mentions that Vietnamese refugees act as victims of the war and make it seem like they didn't have any part of the aftermath. He says that there is a moral responsibility to be accounted for, but many refugees doesn't see it that way.
At the end Thanh's interview with Viet Nguyen, he mentions that Vietnam history is what helped shape his grandparents and his parents today and that history lives within every Vietnamese descent born there or not. This insight of his resonates with me because although I have not been to my native land, I know that there is a piece of Nicaragua that lives within me today.
Connection:
Thanh's dad was accused of being a Viet Cong agent within his community. This relates to the passage in The Sympathizer, where the character falsely assumed one of the captains to be a spy. Although he could not prove that the captain was, the accusation still held up. That is how the community of Olympia, Washington probably felt about Thanh's dad, the fear of Viet Cong spies still exist within Vietnamese communities.
Another connection I found in this podcast is the part when the term "Viet Kieu" comes into existence. Viet Kieu meaning outsider, is how many Vietnamese American are referred to. This was also true when the character in Oh Saigon went to visit Vietnam the first time. She was referred as "Viet Kieu" as well. I don't think this should be a term for Vietnamese Americans, but I am sure that it will take years for this term to be non existent.

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Takeaways:
Thanh Tran felt like she was missing a piece of herself that she could find in Vietnam. I always think its interesting to hear this from people, I sometimes feel like there is a piece of me in Nicaragua although I've been to the motherland. I wonder if I would get a different feeling when I go there. Also the part where Thanh is getting pho is very authentic. I could feel what she meant by the slow pace process of the pho and just being able to enjoy the atmosphere. It was very warming. At the end of her trip Thanh realizes that she belongs in the United States. I think being first generation in America, you always wonder about the life you could of lived. I for one think about going to Nicaragua and experiencing everyday life and would I be accustomed too. I think now in this point of my life, I feel like my destiny is to be here in California just like Thanh realize her life is in  Seattle.
Connection:
After hearing this podcast, I see the connection with Oh Saigon. The character in Oh Saigon wanted closure for her family and herself. Just like Thanh, both wanted to feel their roots and learn about their native land.
Another connection I found is with the same film Oh Saigon. The dad in that film was hesitant to go back to Vietnam due to old communist views. That the government was always in control. it was interesting to hear that one of Thanh relative in the podcast felt the same way. When she was told to be careful in what Thanh would choose to report if she lived in Vietnam. The old pain from the war still lived within Thanh relatives and so forth with the dad from the film Oh Saigon.

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Takeaways:
-It's interesting to hear the history of pho, something that I love. Its interesting to hear that it started in north Vietnam and moved south, and since then it people added more stuff to it.
- It amazed me how there are are different types of pho. I have only eaten 3 different types of pho noodles but not any other types of pho. Its interesting to hear that it came be a deep fried, salad, etc types of pho.
- I was shocked hearing that the Bon appetit choose a white chef to explain how to eat pho. It doesn't fit well with the Vietnamese community that someone else is telling them how to eat their dish.
Connection:
-This reminds me of the multiple materials in our course of how a dish, item, or song reminds them of their homeland. It is so interesting to hear how heart felt it is for those who left their homeland. For example, in "Oh, Saigon". they've bond through to the homeland some way.
- Pho is one of my favorite dish overall and it brings me comfort knowing how much meaning it is to the Vietnamese. It connects with "Bloodlines", it proves how much a dish can change throughout their history.

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Takeaways:
- It was great to hear how the beauty pageant competition brings many families and friends together to connect through the culture.
- It was also interesting to hear her talk about how the competition can also tear the community apart. Through the pageants not having the ability to speak Vietnamese or mistaken the beauty pageant winner.
- I like how she said how many beauty pageants tends to "objectify women and create this false image of a perfect Vietnamese American woman." This does make us think this way but on a better note it brings together the community to connect to their culture.
Connections:
-Events like these brings family and friends together to connect to their culture. Experience like these are valuable to many of us to keep as a tradition.
-The idea of the event of finding the woman who can stand and improve for their culture is an amazing idea but it tends be 'how beautiful they are'.

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Takeaways:
- The story of having to take swimming lessons struck me because it is a perfect example of how Asian immigrant parents instill beliefs and values in their children because of the experiences and often traumas they experienced in their home countries and their immigration to America. Often times second generation Asian Americans can be frustrated or confused by the expectations of their parents because there is a lack of communication and understanding for the differences in their upbringings.
- It was saddening to hear about how many did not survive on the boats from Vietnam to America. It makes me think of my own family's struggles coming to America to start a new life and how risky and dangerous it must have been.
- Hearing about her father's interest in two of his past students struck me because it really puts into perspective how Asian American immigrants carry the memories and life of their past even after settling in America and growing accustomed to a new way of life.

Connections:
- This podcast episode reminds me of the film "Hello, Vietnam" because of the miscommunications between different generations of Asian American families. Like Thanh Tan, the granddaughter in "Hello, Vietnam" did not understand some of the choices made by her father and grandfather until she learned about their experiences coming to America from Vietnam after the war.

- It also reminds me of the documentary "Oh, Saigon" because they both tell stories of Vietnamese American women going back to Vietnam and reflecting on the lives of their parents in relation to their own.

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Takeaways:
- It is interesting to learn how certain Asian cuisines became more popular or mainstream in America before others. I did not know that Thai restaurants were common in America before Vietnamese restaurants were.
- As a Filipino American, I can relate to pho being more than a dish but a means of survival. Some Filipino dishes have become trendy and mainstream but I grew up eating them because it was cheap and easy to make to feed my family. I can also relate to how Vietnamese food is commonly seen as cheap eats when the quality and work are worth so much more. For a long time Filipino food was rarely respected as fine cuisine - the only Filipino restaurants I went to growing up were cheap, fast food. It does feel a little insulting because I know firsthand how much work and effort goes into making good quality Filipino food.
- The thing that stood out to me the most was the reference to Bon Apetit. Although this podcast was recorded in 2017, Bon Apetit's mishandling and appropriation of ethnic foods is still relevant today. I used to be a fan of Bon Apetit but I am glad they have been exposed for their racist and ignorant nature towards the information and recipes they publish.

Connections:
- I think this podcast relates to the film "Bloodline" when they discuss food being a way to bring people together and spark conversation about the culture and history of the food in relation to the people who eat it and make it.

- It also relates to the film because it highlights the fact that traditional dishes are always evolving, not only in America, but also in their native countries.

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My takeaways:

1. "A desperate man can do anything" (Ashley Nguyen). This podcast makes us reflect on how far a person is willing to sacrifice himself/herself to accomplish their goals. In other words, a person is willing to do anything to obtain a better life and to protect their family. This includes crossing the Pacific ocean where many people face dangerous situations in their journeys such as pirate attacks, starvation, and sea disasters.

2. People need to take advantage of their opportunities" (Ho Nguyen). Our ancestors (parents, and grandparents) made a huge effort to provide a better lifestyle to their ancestry (children and grandchildren) because they faced many dangerous situations when they crossed the pacific ocean to arrive in America. They experience food shortages and pirate attacks. One way to demonstrate gratitude to our ancestors is by taking advantage of the life opportunities in America.  For example, the second wave must attend college and have a career to improve their lifestyle. This shows that all the effort made by our ancestors (crossing the Pacific ocean) was worth it.

3. “The life of an Inmigrant is realistic with many difficult situations” (Barack Obama). This podcast explained the reality that many refugees faced. In other words, this podcast showed that refugee life brings many sacrifices and challenges. The life of an immigrant is not easy and we should respect immigrants more.

Connections:

-There is a huge link between this podcast and the documentary called Oh Saigon because these sources shared common aspects. For example, Oh Saigon stated that many South Vietnamese boat refugees were so not lucky because they did not survive their maritime journey. Many refugees died due to starvation, pirate attacks, and disease. On the other hand, this podcast also shared that many refugees died due to starvation and pirate attacks.

- Another huge link that this podcast shares with class material are refuge camps. For example, an article named Espiritu Refugee Camps stated that many Vietnamese refugees were taken to camps where they obtain charity services in foreign countries. Furthermore, this podcast also stated something similar because this podcast explains how many refugee boat people stayed in charity camps where they obtain food, medicine, and clean clothes. In other words, these two sources explained that many Vietnamese refugees managed to survive their boat journey due to due to peoples' kindness.

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My Takeaways:

1. "Humans are always attached to their heritage" (James Arthur ). Many people tend to feel patriotic and proud of their culture. After the fall of Saigon, many south Vietnamese people fled Vietnam and arrived in America where they enjoyed many privileges ( freedom, rights, and good social status.). However, many Vietnamese people felt empty because they wanted to learn more about their culture where they can socialize with their people and practice their cultural customs (languages, religions food).  In other words, many south Vietnamese decided to visit Vietnam to know their culture where they can feel comfortable and attached to the people.

2. "Family reunions are one of the most important situations in the world" (James Morgan). One of the most important reasons why many South Vietnamese people decided to visit Vietnam ( after 40 years and the fall of Saigon) was because many people wanted to reconcile with their families. Many families were separated and destroyed because not many South Vietnamese managed to flee Vietnam (At the end of the Vietnam War). Many people felt sad and depressed because they wanted to spend time with their family members. This is why many South Vietnamese people decided to visit Vietnam.

3. "Nostalgia is a wonderful thing" (Carmen Chao). Another important reason why many South Vietnamese people decided to visit Vietnam is that they wanted to feel nostalgic. Many South Vietnamese people missed South Vietnam when they fled their country to move to America. Many family and happy memories stayed in Vietnam when Vietnamese people moved to America. This means that they decided to visit Vietnam to remember their childhood and to remember their old life.

Connections:

- This podcast reminded me of an interesting documentary called Oh Saigon because both sources shared similar aspects. For example, this documentary explains the story of a refugee Vietnamese family that decided to visit Vietnam to feel close to their culture where they can act as Vietnamese people. Soemthing similar happened in this podcast.

- There is a close connection between the Oh Saigon documentary and this podcast. These two sources stated that one of the important reasons to visit Vietnam (After the fall of Saigon) is to reconcile with family members who were abandoned.

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Takeaways:
1. This quote of having to hide being Vietnamese in a mostly white population is something that some Asian have to go through. I am lucky to be in a city where there is a diverse population so I don't have to hide my identity.
2. How many things and issues have not been tackle in the Vietnamese American community.
3. Vietnamese identity and experiences are complicated and complex. It not just black and white

Connection
1. It connects with Viet Thanh Nguyen's book The Sympathizer how it challenges the black and white narratives that is about Vietnam and the Vietnam War.
2. It also connects with on other opinions that Viet Thanh Nguyen comments on several  articles he wrote on how the war will remain something in the history books and along with the Vietnamese people.

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Takeaway:
1. The unusual naming of Pho restaurant was something to get the American engage into the culture. This is something I always wonder why they are name.
2.Pho is currently evolving where Vietnamese American starts to experiment with Pho to create something new such as Pho dumpling, Pho burritos, and so on.
3.Pho or food is also a way to connect with relatives that have different political views since there are lot of things you can talk about food without going into politics.

Connection:
1. One of the guest said "good quiet asian" and it connects with the model minority myth. How this is something that kind of limits your opportunity to talk about stuff. How you are seen as successful and that you should not really get involve with things that may damage your that success.
2. It also connects with the film from the Viet film fest since it also talk about food. The difference is that this one is more about Pho while Bloodline was more about the cooking journey. But food is something Vietnamese connect with each other and how important it is.

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I really enjoyed this podcast because Pho is such an amazing dish that me and my family bond over. At dinner tables, we all look in awe whenever my mom makes Pho and serves my brothers, sisters, and relatives. People talk about how it's a dish best served when you're sick, and others say it's their favorite food in the world--it's amazing.

1) Americans engaging with Vietnamese cultures and bonding over food is a good thing. The podcast showed me that it's good for these establishments to have nice names with Pho puns; allowing Americans to laugh, eat, and understand our tradition gives us a greater connection to the people and land around us.
2) Vietnamese people pour their hearts and soul into their food dishes. Their time and energy should be equally reciprocated by consumers. The podcast brought up how Pho or some Asian dishes are considered cheap for good quality, almost like Asian food is "easy." Asian restaurants put a lot of time into making quality food for the working class, but they should also be able to up their prices in communities that can afford such dishes for the effort that goes into them.
3) I believe this goes for a lot of Vietnamese people: the podcast speaking about how Pho and Vietnamese dishes can be a way to bond no matter other conflicting perspectives and whatnot show how powerful food can be in connecting us no matter our differences. Bonding over food is a universal act.

Connections:
1) This reminded me of how the "Bloodline" video we watched in class, where food is a way to connect with others' culture, family, and history. It also showed how food is always changing, allowing us to see how food can be incorporated differently.
2) Connecting with "Bloodline," Oh, Saigon, and the mother wanting her children to know their Vietnamese language, food, and culture, connects deeply to the idea that food reminds us of where we are from and connects us to our "blood."

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Takeaways:
1) The podcast began with a story of not wanting to go to the swimming pool to learn how to swim; however, the importance of something so simple, such as being able to float and swim, was a technique that hundreds of Vietnamese people could have utilized to survive at sea if their boat capsized or they were left stranded in open seawater. It brings me back to a lot of the films we've watched/read in class where Vietnamese-Americans have many of the privileges and learnings that other countries did not have at the time. On a personal note, I remember my Mom would take my sister and me to the swimming pool to learn swimming lessons, and always make sure that we went and never took it for granted. I'm sure in her mind, she saw this as an opportunity for physical growth as well as survival techniques.
2) The podcast's main speaker and Christy talk deeply about their experience on the boat where the organizer of the escape, Christy's mom, and their sister did not survive after the boat capsized. Christy's father (the captain of the boat) was forced to not look for them, but instead lead his remaining survivors and children to the next boat because if they stayed, they'd be caught and imprisoned for attempting asylum in America. This story deeply resonated with me, as it's quite similar to my Father's escape story with his family. It's a long, long story, but the communists chasing them and their boat facing tremendously huge waves that almost knocked over the boat was a harrowing experience for him and his side of the family. They'd have to drink oil-water similar to Christy's experience. The sacrifices that the captain and the refugees have to take are so heartbreaking, and in some cases, necessary.
3) Hearing Christy talk about how their Mom and sister were the ones who didn't make it was very depressing. It reminded me of when my mom would talk about how her best friend died on the boat, and many others. This would be the same for my dad's experience on the boats. I think about how scary and unsure the ocean is, and the ones who couldn't survive and had a prolonged death of malnourishment and physical debilitation...

Connections:
1) The story of the main speaker and Christy returning to Vietnam in order to learn more about the past people they knew before leaving and what had happened during the difficult boat escape reminds me a lot about "Oh, Saigon," and the story of Van facing irresolutions and contractions with revisiting her history and Vietnam.
2) The story keeps reminding me of "Oh, Saigon," especially the captain of the boat having to make the hard decision of leaving his wife and youngest daughter to save the rest of the people on the boat. This reminds me of Van's parents' reasoning of having to leave Van and making a difficult decision.

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Takeaways:

-Every time when someone in the family was planning to visit Vietnam, we would all go buy medicine, food, toys, and clothes to give to our relatives there before going. We would always have to pay extra fees because of the overweight boxes and luggage. Thanh Tan mentions experiencing the same things when visiting her family in Vietnam.

-I resonated with Thanh Tan when she mentioned how going out for a bowl of Pho was always a go-to way to catch up with someone or hangout. When I used to live in Vietnam, I remember going to eat Pho before school almost every morning with my father.

-It was interesting to hear the two perspectives on the different types of lifestyles in Vietnam and America. Vietnam is more slow paced and simple, people are able to slow down appreciate the little things of life. In America, everything is very dense and packed. Being Vietnamese Americans, we’re able to tap into both of these viewpoints.

Connections:

-The film Oh Saigon, related to this podcast because Doan’s family in the film also experienced sending food, clothes and money back for their family, who were still living in Vietnam, to provide for them. Vietnamese people would look at those who immigrated to America as superior and they’re often called “Viet Kieu,” aka rich people because America is glorified in Vietnam’s eyes.

-Connecting to the film Hello Vietnam, it reminded me that the son of the grandfather had no time to rest even on his days off. He would have to work overtime to earn enough money to provide for his family. However in Vietnam, it is much easier to get a job, and it’s even easier if they knew you were from America. Life in Vietnam is much more calm, easy going, and cheap compared to the fast-paced lifestyle in America where people are too busy working to slow down and enjoy the little things of life.

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Takeaways:

-It was funny to hear how you can test your potential future partner by which bowl of Pho they order or even how they garnish their Pho.

-I agree that Pho is a healing food especially during the cold weather, but I love that Pho can always be appreciated and eaten during cold and even blazing hot weather.

-It’s cool that some Vietnamese families were able to open up their own restaurants and have Pho as their main dish to represent their home country. My family also wanted to open up a restaurant when they first came to America 20 years ago, but they were afraid Americans wouldn’t know how to enjoy Vietnamese cuisine so they didn’t go through with it.

Connections:

-This reminds me of the film Hello Vietnam and how the grandfather complained that there was barely any Viet food around, and he wasn’t used to eating American food in the Nursing home. Food is an important part of Vietnamese culture and identity. Before, it was very rare to go find a good Vietnamese restaurant that served good authentic Pho, but now it has thrived within America and Southeast Asian dining.

-Cooking a Vietnamese dish is such a blessing because it can help you feel connected to your family and your culture like in the Viet Fest film Bloodline, when the son was able to bond with and learn Vietnamese dishes from his parents. He is now an American restaurateur and has come to make his parents super proud.

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Ms. Tan was born and raised in the United States. She said the Pledge of Allegiance, celebrated the Fourth of July, and honored the American flag, just like any other all-American kid.
Washington state is home to around 70,000 Vietnamese-Americans. In cities with a sizable Vietnamese minority, such as Seattle, the flag may become a subject of controversy.
Looking back, she recalls the main assumption she began with every time she wrote about the South Vietnamese side or the flag issue: the South Vietnamese were the good guys, whereas the communists — and the flag that symbolized Vietnam — signified corruption, human rights violation, and evil.
One of the videos we watched in class, where the owner of a video store in Westminster, California's Little Saigon neighborhood displayed a large portrait of Ho Chi Minh and a North Vietnamese flag on his wall causing Hundreds of outraged Vietnamese refugees are for the fourth straight day protested outside a neighborhood video store. Hanging the Ho Chi Minh portrait and waving the communist flag provoked an outrage in Vietnamese community since they are both triggering a long history of controversy. Although the war is over, "We can never forget". The war is never gone in their minds because its consequences and losses were too harsh.

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This podcast investigates the roots of pho and how it has come to characterize Vietnamese in America. Pho is considered Vietnam's national dish but it wasn't that popular when Mr. Thanh Tan was growing up.
Pho is always my favorite comfort food and it's also seen as a bridge to introduce Vietnamese culture to Americans. According to this podcast, there's many ways how to eat your Pho and you have to find out your personal Pho style. I prefer to have a little hoisin sauce, siracha sauce and especially a slice of lemon in my Pho.
Pho is a dish that many Vietnamese in America were familiar with. Similarly to "Oh, Saigon," Doan's family insists on only speaking Vietnamese, and cooking Vietnamese food at home. Although living in a foreign nation, they always had a strong wish to return to their roots.
Pho is also seen as a means of communication and connection with families. Eating pho together provides an opportunity to chat with one another and strengthens family relationships. Just like in "Bloodline", I really admire how David embraces Vietnamese cuisine and use it as connection with his family, with people. Seeing them were in the kitchen together brings me the feeling of family intimacy. The movie is relatable to me since I also learned how to cook through my mom.

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Is the beauty pageant a good way to maintain and spread Vietnamese culture? No, I don't think so. I don't vote for any kinds of beauty pageants. I believe that the beauty pageant creates a beauty standard that adds more problems than the benefits it brings. For example, people will look at that beauty standard to judge women's beauty. It's not fair. Everyone deserves to be treated equally, and no beauty standard can be used to judge whether they are beautiful enough or not. The beauty pageants don't represent Vietnamese culture, except wearing Ao Dai.   

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Is the beauty pageant a good way to maintain and spread Vietnamese culture? No, I don't think so. I don't vote for any kinds of beauty pageants. I believe that the beauty pageant creates a beauty standard that adds more problems than the benefits it brings. For example, people will look at that beauty standard to judge women's beauty. It's not fair. Everyone deserves to be treated equally, and no beauty standard can be used to judge whether they are beautiful enough or not. The beauty pageants don't represent Vietnamese culture, except wearing Ao Dai.   

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"The war always seemed so removed from me, and my parents shielded us from the details of what they'd seen." Although the Vietnam war was ended in 1975, it still live in people memory--resulting in feeling deep resentment against communist. That's why when the rumor is widespread about communist spies, people immediately point their finger to those who are in suspicious list regardless of  figuring out the proofs. Thanh Tan's father was one of the victim since he was accused to be a communist spy--making the family life more challenging. 

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"The war always seemed so removed from me, and my parents shielded us from the details of what they'd seen." Although the Vietnam war was ended in 1975, it still live in people memory--resulting in feeling deep resentment against communist. That's why when the rumor is widespread about communist spies, people immediately point their finger to those who are in suspicious list regardless of  figuring out the proofs. Thanh Tan's father was one of the victim since he was accused to be a communist spy--making the family life more challenging. 

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Take aways:
-Pho is one of the most iconic Vietnamese foods, but I feel like there are so much more foods that don't get enough recognition because it's not "mainstream" and the same could be said about many other foods that have been insulted until they became popular.
-I though it was interesting to hear about how the dish originated from North Vietnam and once it moved down South that it became the pho that I am more familiar with because that's the kind of pho I've seen at restaurants or how my family eats it at home.
-I though it was interesting to hear how Andrea went to Vietnam in order to connect with the family over there, who was communist while her family wasn't. But they were able to connect with one another because pho or food in general acted as a buffer between them.

Connections:
-This reminds me of the video "Bloodlines" that we watched before because it shows how food is always changing. From people changing a dish into something else entirely to utilizing ingredients in a way that isn't commonly used in America but common in Vietnam.
-I feel like the part where Andrea connected with her family in Vietnam over pho could have also happened with Nam and his family in the documentary "Oh, Saigon" because though they might have different beliefs and opinions on certain matters there must've been something that they could've bonded through.

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Take aways:
- I thought that it was interesting to hear how the winner of the Vietnamese beauty pageant actually became more distant from the culture instead of closer, which is what she initially wanted, due to the backlash she received after the mistake.
-I could understand how the Thanh Tan feels for judging the girls in the competition, though it is her honest opinion to compare a person to one another does effect their mental state and how they see themselves.
-I liked how Thanh Tan said that it was a "cultural pageant" and they were judging on who fit the Vietnamese culture's ideals of beauty instead of the overall beauty of the girls themselves.

Connections:
-I thought the part of the podcast where the audience of the pageant were laughing at skits being played reminds me of how its almost a common thing to laugh or make fun of experiences that may have deeply hurt or affected people.
-Personally I never liked the Vietnamese beauty standards because I've always though of them as unrealistic because there is more than one "look" and each one is beautiful in their own ways, and one shouldn't be considered as more beautiful than the other. There was this one time where I grew out my hair in order to donate it and once I cut it a family friend of mine asked me to help convince her mom to let her cut her hair short too because her mom wanted her to have long hair. During the call with my friend's mom I heard her say that I wasn't beautiful anymore because I cut my hair, which was something that surprised me because I would have never expected her to say that.

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Takeaways:
- Pho is seen as a homey dish that ties into Vietnamese identity. As the past of the Vietnam war may be too hard to talk about, food in Vietnamese culture is also seen as a way to communicate and connect with your family.

- Andrea explains how we need more people involved to talk about food and culture. It’s important to spread information and techniques to keep Vietnamese culture alive. Connecting with our histories and teaching others about food is something everyone can talk about and share with each other.

- Pho has become more immersed in pop culture as different people consume it and make it, but it’s important to recognize and appreciate the history of the country and culture it came from. Pho has the freedom of being interpreted however wanted with saltier or sweeter broths, garnishes, or sauces - there is no right or wrong way to eat it.

Connections:
- Food represents identity in one's culture. In Oh Saigon, Doan’s mother talks about how even though she is growing up in America, she wanted Doan to grow up speaking Vietnamese, and cooking and eating Vietnamese food to stay true to her identity. It’s important to appreciate and embrace your cultural roots.

- Reminded me of the short film we watched in class, “Bloodline” from the Viet Film Fest, that showed how food from your culture can serve as a way to connect with your family and your history, as well as express your heritage to others.

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Takeaways:
- I resonated with Thanh Tan explaining the “hidden pain” within the Vietnamese community and how Vietnamese families often don't talk about the past, which has caused the children of Vietnamese refugees to lack knowledge in their parents’ lives and what they went through before coming to America. Rather, we were given a watered-down version of the story where our parents would encourage us to work hard to succeed in achieving the American dream to hopefully make our parents proud.

- When interviewed, Viet Thanh Nguyen explains the importance of how he never really felt at home growing up in America as a Vietnamese refugee. He felt like an American spy in his Vietnamese parents’ home, and felt like a Vietnamese spy in the outside American world.  I felt the same way growing up with Vietnamese refugee parents, like I was too American to be Vietnamese and too Vietnamese to be American. However, he adds that this ability to perceive issues from both standpoints is a significant capability that should be appreciated rather than feared.

- Vietnamese Americans treat themselves as victims because it denies the possibility that they were responsible for anything that happened during the war, and it fits into the heroic narrative that America has created out of the war, describing Vietnamese refugees as being rescued by America. However, this prevents the Vietnamese community from being able to view themselves as anything more than victims trapped by their pasts

Connections:
- Thang Nguyen says that all wars are fought twice. The hidden pain that has stuck with Vietnamese immigrants and carried into the next generation within their children proves this to be true. The unspoken stories of our parents’ pasts are never really talked about.

- Thanh Nguyen’s book The Sympathizer is told in the form of a confession made by a South Vietnamese spy, and how he is able to sympathize with both sides.

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It resonates with me hearing an American soldier say that, “we’re losing this war … we’ve been kicking people’s asses for so long, it’s time somebody kicks ours.” This is contrary to the “white washed” version of history that Ken Burns mentions when he says that, “because Americans lost the war, they’ve been very hesitant to explore it in depth, and the version of the Vietnam War we've had has been American-centric in its perspectives.” This is also the version of the Vietnam War that I was taught in high school. Fortunately, now I know better from taking this class that the Vietnam War is part of a long chain of American colonialism. This is stated by Le Espiritu’s in Militarized Refuge(es), “refuge and refugees result from US “military colonialism,” and by Viet Thanh Nguyen in “Just Memory, Nothing Ever Dies, “a war is linked to the nation’s previous wars and foreshadows future wars.”

In the interview, Ken Burns also states that it's important to tell the story through the people who live through the experiences as “war inevitably gets abstracted once you clear the lifespan of the veterans.” This is precisely the point made by Viet Thanh Nguyen in “Just Memory” as movies about the Vietnam War are colored by the views of the people in Hollywood.

Ken Burn’s real footage of the war on the show helps Ms. Thanh Tam to understand what her parents lived through and that was very visceral for her. I feel the same way as my father was a South Vietnamese soldier, having lived through all the horrors of the war.

And since the documentary shows interviews with the Viet Minh and Viet Cong, watching the documentary gives Ms. Thanh Tam a chance to learn different perspectives rather than just her father’s intense anti-Communist view that she was exposed to while growing up.

It also resonates with me that because of the Cold War, Ho Chi Minh is made into a bad guy, whereas as shown in the documentary, Uncle Ho once recited Thomas Jefferson. We forget that Ho was a liberator and the father of independence for Vietnam, freeing the country from its history of being colonized by the Chinese, the French, and finally the Americans through its military colonialism.

And the issue of inter-generational trauma as experienced by Ms Thanh Tam and her family echoes the “tensions and irresolutions” mentioned by Espiritu and amply felt by Thi Bui in her graphic novel.

This episode of the podcast is impactful to me.

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Americans eating pho is one of the ways they are introduced to Vietnamese culture. She is proud to have brought pho to America and that it has taken on a life of its own, appealing to non-Vietnamese Americans alike. There are many different ways to eat and garnish your pho, like whether or not you’re a bean sprout person or if you want to put hoisin sauce in your pho. Either way, the podcast explains that you have to find your own personal pho style.

The reason why American pho features garnishes like bean sprouts, thai basil, sriracha, and hoisin sauce is because most Vietnamese refugees come from South Vietnam where they prefer a sweeter, less salty pho than their northern counterparts. Similar to how the grandfather in “Hello, Vietnam” follows the customs of his homeland while in America, like honoring the dead, the refugees of Vietnam carry their customs with them as well, bringing the Southern Vietnamese pho with them to the states. Pho was something that was familiar to the Vietnamese living in America. Just like in, “Oh Saigon,” where Doan's family insists to only “speak Vietnamese and to cook Vietnamese food, and even marry a Vietnamese person” there was always a strong desire to go back to their roots, despite living in a new country.

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According to Ms. Thanh Tam, pho is one way of how Americans connect with Vietnamese culture. Pho is cool now but not when she grew up, she says. The Vietnamese Americans are proud that they owned pho and brought it to America.

I like pho very much, too. It’s comfort food for me and my parents. Like Madame in The Sympathizer, my mother’s pho is so delicious despite the fact that she never cooked it at home in Saigon. Nowadays, there are so many pho restaurants around; there is even one on campus at SFSU.

I enjoy the suggestion that taking a prospective spouse to eat pho is considered a way to check out a future partner.

I can understand why Pho is “survival, beyond identity, and a way to connect with family still in VN.”  Ms Thanh reports that some of her family members are in VN and are staunchly communist, but the two sides bonded over pho during her visit. Eating pho together during their visit was a chance to talk about family and food, and an opportunity to connect without talking politics. They avoided talking about the political divide because it would be too painful. I imagine that the characters in both the movie, Oh, Saigon and Hello Vietnam bonded with their Vietnamese families over pho as well.

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In the Viet Kieu episode, Ms. Thanh Tam reports that when asked what being Vietnamese Americans meant, the people in the community whom she interviewed often mentioned the Vietnam War, the hidden pain, the daily survival, the struggles, and the need to hide their Vietnamese identity when they were kids. She also indicates that most families don’t want to talk about the past to their children. Their advice usually are South VN is good, North VN is bad, US is the savior, be grateful to America, study and work hard to achieve the American dream. I can personally identify with this as these are the advice given to me by my parents. Such advice is the force behind the Vietnamese refugee community being considered “model minority” as written by the scholar, Ms. Espiritu in Toward a Critical Refugee Study: The Vietnamese Refugee Subject in US Scholarship.

The incidence in 2009 when Ms. Thanh Tam’s father was accused of being Viet Cong by the community parallels the experience of the video store owner accused of being Communist when he displayed a poster of Ho Chi Minh in his store along with the North Vietnam flag and was harassed and beaten by protesters.

When Ms Tam interviewed Viet Thanh Nguyen, the author indicated that he never felt at home in the country when he was a teenager, feeling as if he was an “American spy in the house and Vietnamese spy outside.” No wonder his most celebrated novel was about a double spy in They Sympathizer.

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Takeaway:
- Saluting and pledging allegiance to both an American and Vietnamese flag forged a connection between the cultures even though they were in America
- the Vietnamese red flag with the yellow star has such a negative effect on the community compared to the yellow flag with red stripes, each flag has a different meaning
- Holding the communist flag is another form of pride in your country even though others have a negative connotation to the it, the same goes for the yellow flag for others
Connection:
- posting the Ho Chi Minh image and waving the communist flag, caused an uproar in the Vietnamese culture because they are both triggering to the community on a cultural level
- Repeating "the war is over" The war is not completely over because it lives on In the lives of the people that it left without a home or away from their home

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Take aways:
- the Vietnamese beauty pageant reminds me of miss Chinatown that I grew up seeing in san Francisco parading through the streets, I think there's something similar to this in many cultures
- "I feel guilty to judge, but thats my job" I feel like the judging holds the standards higher and at the same time makes the definition fuzzy for what a Vietnamese woman is.
- "it's a culture pageant" This makes me feel as if we are dividing ourselves further within one culture instead of by culture, which Is in a sense extreme
Connections:
- at the end of the day this is a bonding experience between the culture so no matter what happens everything is worth the preparations
- changing their lunch because the food their mother made them looked gross and or smelled too strong so they ate lunchables to not seem so "fobby"