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messy notes of what Thuan has told me (Thuan is pronounced like Juan)

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What was departure like?

it wasn't like a graceful goodbye like waving off to your friends and family in a titanic movie

secret plan to depart; no goodbyes/very rushed

secret exits to avoid getting shot at by communist

mom told him its his chance to escape, discreetly

What was it like on the boat?

surrounded by strangers

isolated; no friend/family until later

size of boat: fishing boat size

overcrowded and tight space

Your situation + emotions on the boat?

• cold ass temperature

• no water and not enough food

• seasickness

• isolating feeling; all you see is the vast ocean

• strong waves with storms

• desperate for sign of hope (land) any sign of other ships, military ships, any rescue but tiny chance

• life or death situation; life depended on diesel fuel for boat to run

What was the duration of being at sea?

• escaped during the winter (uncommon and obviously not ideal)

• it took 3 weeks on the boat (unfortunately 1 extra week) compared to an average of 2 weeks when escaping in spring/summer

• no communication from family; no FAX to family until you make it to destination. family back home don't know whether you're dead or alive. Thuan has a younger brother named Thuan too, because family thought my dad did not make it.

What was a silver lining?

• Unlucky about political policies between Vietnam & China in 1979.

• China deport Vietnamese refugees in the late 1970s and early 1980s; led to re-education camp or concentration once deported

Where did you find refuge?

• Hong Kong. 2 years?

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Vietnamese Boat People From the Late 1970s to Early 1980s

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Vietnamese Boat People From the Late 1970s to Early 1980s

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30 Incredible Photographs That Capture Brutal Life of Vietnamese Boat People From the Late 1970s to Early 1980s

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Vietnamese boat people refers to refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship after the Vietnam War, especially during 1978 and 1979, but cont…

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Exodus of Vietnamese war refugees from Vietnam aboard packed ships- by Tiffany Chung

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Exodus of Vietnamese war refugees from Vietnam aboard packed ships- by Tiffany Chung

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The Magic Fish is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel written and illustrated by Trung Le Nguyen. The novel tells the story of Tiến Phong, a second generation American Vietnamese teenager, who helps his mother learn English through fairy tales while struggling to tell her about his sexuality.

Nguyen's debut graphic novel was published in 2020 by Random House Graphic, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Nguyen was nominated for an Eisner Award for his work, and the book was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award, GLAAD Media Award and Lambda Literary Award.

The book is separated into three fairytales with the main story about a son and his mother woven through.

Tiến Phong, a young Vietnamese boy born in America , practices English with his mother Helen, or of her vietnamese name Hiến, by reading fairytales together. The first fairytales is Tattercoats, it tells the story of a young girl whose father sold to an old mythical man from the sea and she decides to run away. She ends up hired at a castle as a kitchen errand boy and forms a relationship with the prince of the castle as both his best friend, when she is working, and as a woman, through balls. It is a pretty straightforward english tale with some vietnamese influence mostly in the visual. In the main story, Tiến struggles to come out as gay to his friend, Julian, who he has a crush on, and his parents, fearing the cultural difference of vietnamese culture. His mom tries to reach her mother and she learns of her worsening health. Helen feals a lot of guilt for not being there to support her mom and her family in Vietnam. This leads her to remember her immigration journey with her husband. This section ends with Helen receiving a phonecall announcing her mother's death.

Helen leaves for Vietnam alone to deal with the death of her mother leaving Tiến and her husband in the United States. The second fairytale is told by one of Helen aunt's. It's a vietnamese tale by the name of Tấm Cám unfolding in the '50s. It shares a lot of similarity with Cendrillon. It follows the tale of a young girl bullied by her step-mother and step-sister, treated as an servant after her father death. One day, the girl finds a talking fish in her fountain and befriends it quite quikly. The step-mother, bothered by the girl sudden positive mood change, investigates and discovers the fish. The step-mother invites the young girl to eat with her and reveals the food was made with the girl's only friend, the talking fish. Words come to the household that a wealthy young merchant is looking for a wife. The step-mother forces the yound girl to divide rice all night to stop her from going to the ball, but, with the help of a talking bird and the spirit of her fish, she comes to the ball all dressed up and catch the merchant eyes. She forgets one of her slipper and the merchant finds her with it, saves her from her step-mother and marries her. The story doesn't end there. On the anniversary of her father's death, the girl visites her old household and gets killed by her jealous step-mother. The step-mother burries her under her tree in the house and fakes concern when the merchant come searching for his missing wife. Grieving, the mechant dreams of a tree and his wife and when he wakes up his wife is back by his side. The step-mother is fuming. The tale ends with the talking bird deceits the step-sister into killing herself and deceits the step-mother into eating her daughter. In the main story, Helen talks about her struggles with her identity as an vietnamese, feeling like she is loosing her language. She achieves some kind of peace after her aunt tale's. At the same time, Tiến clash at school and antagonizes his friends. He ends up making up with both his best friends, Julian and Claire, at the school's ball and comes out to Julian. Julian tells him that he already knew and that he himself is not gay and they laugh together. The teachers notices the boys closeness. Tiến gets an intervention at school. A priest and his teacher push him to keep his sexuality hiden to not break his mom's heart. Helen comes back to the United States.

Helen notices Tiến seems to keep something from her and so she starts the third fairytale, a retelling of the little mermaid. A young mermaid saves an human named Brandon and sacrifies her voice for feet that hurts everytime she walks on them to go into the human world. Over there, she meets Brandon again and she meets Bertie a dancer that sparks this passion in her. In the main story, Helen gets called to school to have a meeting with the priest about Tiến. They come back home in silence and Helen keep telling the tale. The mermaid gets chosen as the lead dancer with Bertie as the other lead. The mermaid gets jealous of the close relationship between Bertie and Brandon. After the dance recital, Brandon asks to speak with Bertie. All of the mermaid's sister have sold their hair for a chance for their sister. If the little mermaid kills Brandon than she can be a mermaid. As she seemingly choose no to, Bertie comes back. Bertie says that Brandon asked her to marry him but that she hopes to be with someone else, a girl. The mermaid says yes and they kiss. Back to Tiến and his mother, he is crying and she tells him that she loves him and that she wants to seem him grow up no matter what.

One aspect noted by reviewers in Trung Le Nguyen's graphic novel is the use of different colors to "distinguish each story line." Kirkus Reviews called it "a road map for readers", with the three colors being used to highlight whether the current panel is "set in the present, the past, or within the fairy tale." Nguyen uses the color red for panels in the present, yellow for those in the past, and purple for panels representing fairy tales, filling the panels with those colors.

The story told in The Magic Fish is partially based on the author's life. Nguyen was born in a refugee camp and moved to the United States with his parents, where they learned English together, which included reading fairy tales. Throughout Nguyen's graphic novel, three fairy tales are shared by the main characters. The first two tales told in The Magic Fish are " Cinderella" stories, and were chosen by the author to highlight the different backgrounds of the son and mother characters. The third fairy tale is Hans Christian Andersen's " The Little Mermaid".

The Magic Fish received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, which noted Trung Le Nguyen's skill at mixing Vietnamese and Westerns fairy tales in his story, while connecting that to the main character's "struggle over coming out." The reviewer also praises the art, saying Le Nguyen's "clever use of color smooths the way for the sophisticated embedding of stories within a story", the technique which is used to highlight "the complex dynamics between first-generation and second-generation family members." Terry Hong, reviewing for The Booklist, called it a "homage to the infinite power of storytelling." A review published on Good Comics for Kids called the story "impeccable" and praised Nguyen's art style.

In a review for The Horn Book Magazine, Jerry Dear calls The Magic Fish an "imaginative graphic novel", and noted Nguyen's use of "[p]astel shades of red, brown, and purple" to change between the various stories being told in parallel. Publishers Weekly also praised the author's use of different colors to signify a different layer of reality, and ended the review by saying "Nguyen's poignant debut captures the perspectives of, and essence of the bond between, a parent and child". The New York Times published a review by Jen Wang, in which she calls Nguyen "a gifted storyteller". Wang proceeds to explain how the author uses the medium of graphic novels and fairy tales to emphasize different emotions, such as "romance or melancholy", and cultures, and finalizes her review by calling the novel "especially inventive."

Nguyen was nominated for an Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category for his work in The Magic Fish and won the 2021 Harvey Award for Book of the Year. Additionally, the novel was shortlisted for the Best Comic/Graphic Novel category of the British Fantasy Awards, the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book and the 33rd Lambda Literary Awards for Young Adult Literature. The Italian translation, Magic fish. Le storie del pesce magico, won the 2023 Romics Award for Best Children's Book and was a finalist for the 2022 Mare di Libri Awards. The French translation was a Youth Selection at the 2023 Angoulême International Comics Festival.

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The Magic Fish is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel written and illustrated by Trung Le Nguyen. The novel tells the story of Tiến Phong, a second generation American Vietnamese teenager, who helps his mother learn English through fairy tales while struggling to tell her about his sexuality.

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MOLLY MENDOZA / ARTIST / SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Comic Commemorates the Tragic Story of the Vietnamese “Boat People”

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Comic Commemorates the Tragic Story of the Vietnamese “Boat People”

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Interactive Comic Commemorates the Tragic Story of the Vietnamese “Boat People”

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For the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, artist Matt Huynh — the son of Vietnamese boat people — adapted the award-winning story “The Boat” into an interactive comic.

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The Boat People Drawing by viviene silvera

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The Boat People Drawing by viviene silvera

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Viviane Silvera

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Building owned by Winnipeg businessman displays tribute to refugees | CBC News

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A portrayal of the Vietnamese Boat People’s perilous journey to Canada now graces the side of a Winnipeg building owned by one of the men in the mural.

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Lacquer is a type of finish or coating used to protect and enhance the appearance of various surfaces. It can be used on wood, metal, and other materials. Here are some key points about lacquer:

Traditional Lacquer: Traditional lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum) native to East Asia. When applied, it dries to form a hard, glossy finish. This type of lacquer has been used for thousands of years in countries like China and Japan for both decorative and practical purposes.

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lacquer material in traditional viet. paintings

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lacquer material in traditional viet. paintings

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compare and contrasting two perspectives

perspective 1: dad (Thuan)

perspective 2: his sister (Nhan, pronounced like Yan)

Why?

Thuan's perspective is more intensifying, brutal, and difficult.

Yan's perspective is the opposite, lessening, mild, calm.

My thoughts:

I don't know why that is, even though they were on the same boat. It could have been the age difference.

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1. their portraits - to give the perspectives/anecdotes a face.

2. the ocean and boat

3. the emotions?

under construction

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black and white ink

if have time, add color.

watercolor would be cool in the future.

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visit Nhan and collect her anecdotal info

then plan out sketching

start sketching

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The term "Vietnamese boat people" refers to the large number of Vietnamese refugees who fled Vietnam by sea following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

The reasons for fleeing varied but included fear of persecution by the communist government, economic hardship, and the desire for freedom and better living conditions.

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2-3 pages

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I love how the fish animals are animated because it reminds me of Life of Pi movie glowing water scene

https://youtu.be/rfVW1hZFMbc?si=cSImtLl1YHRQdR3-

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LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS | Inside the Animation: Fish Night | Netflix

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Journey to Freedom (or Journey of Hope?): A South Vietnamese Perspective on the Boat People Experience

1. Intro

brief overview of boat ppl

cause of mass migration

personal connection

2. Departure

• decision to leave

• preparation & farewells

3. Journey

• troubles in the sea

• survival stories

4. Arrival

• destination countries/refuge

• acceptance of refugees

• reception & resettlement

5. Challenges & Adaptation

• adjusting to a new life

• overcoming obstacles/assimilation

6. Impact

• legacy of boat people

• personal reflections from family

7. Conclusion

• summarizing the journey

• lessons learned

• why i chose to share this?