# data[].attributes.body
The three takeaways from this podcast were:
-Beauty pageants like these create a "false image" of a perfect Vietnamese American woman.
-Even though it is said to judge so much more than the outer appearance, the speaker mentioned how the talents were so difficult to judge as they were vastly different and all were good so the judgment had to be done based on the stage presence, confidence, elegance etc.
- Sometimes losing these events make one feel like they are not enough.
Two connections would be:
- Similar to model minority, women competing there are competing to be a model Vietnamese women.
- Another would be even though they are a beauty pageant they are still trying to preserve their culture and heritage which is a good statement.

# data[].attributes.body
3 Takeaways:
- After the events of the war, it was really sad how survivors had to immigrate without their loved ones
- Clearly after the war, most people in Vietnam needed to leave due to the uncertainties of their homeland
- Immigrating to the US was sort of risky due to the chances of poverty and how economics may force them out

Connections:
- Some connections I had listening to this podcast was how my family moved to United States to Vietnam. My mom was born in Vietnam just after the war had ended so she doesn't remember actually living there but she did remember how many people were in the boat that went to the US. This shows how many people wanted to leave Vietnam and how the podcast explained how many people felt safer leaving.

# data[].attributes.body
3 takeaways:

- Vietnameses tried so hard and even when it cost their whole life, they would still accept that risky path to be living in the US and if they knew how to swim, their chance of surviving would be higher.

- They believed living in the US would be so much better than living in Vietnam.

- Survivors had to live with the loss of family members and it was painful when they recalled those terrifying memories.

Connections:

- My father once told me about crossing the ocean of Vietnamese. He told me that if someone was blessed, he/she would survive and if not, they would never be found. It all depends on their fate and luck. People did that because they wanted to have a better life. They wanted to pursue the American Dream because it was the land of freedom and opportunities. This thinking has been passing through generations and up until now, people still believe the US is one of the best countries to live in and even better than Vietnam.

- When I was in Vietnam, my English teacher told me about a similar story of her friend who tried to escape Vietnam. He was on a small boat along with a few other people and then a big storm came and destroyed their boat in the middle of the sea. He managed to grab a piece of wood from the boat and used it to float until the foreign bigger boat fished him up and brought him back to their country. About those people who were on that boat with him, they all went separate ways after that big storm. But I hope that they managed to survive and got fished by other big boats.

# data[].attributes.body
Takeaways:

I have personally never heard of cultural beauty pageants like this before, so one of my takeaways is that despite having the label of being a cultural beauty pageant, it still has its flaws just as normal pageants do.

Although this pageant is supposed to showcase inner and outer beauty within Vietnamese culture, as the narrator mentioned, these women are striving to be perfect embodiments of their culture, rather than embracing who they are with their vulnerabilities and imperfections.

Even though beauty pageants such as this one can be harmful, I understand why cultural beauty pageants would be a thing as they described this as a connection to their parents’ cultures (specifically towards the second generation participants).

Connections:

One connection that I made is through reading the article ‘The Best We Could Do’: Thi Bui Honors Family’s Immigration Story in Debut Graphic Novel, and how Thi Bui emphasizes portraying the characters as humans, rather than immigrants. Although  most of these participants are probably second generation or later, I thought it connected to the pageants because they were covering their aspects that made them human by showing their perfect side during the competitions.

Another connection I made, again related to Thi Bui’s graphic novel, Thi Bui delves deep into the immigrant and refugee experience, mentions that Bui mentions feeling “the weight of your parents’ past,” which I thought related to the pageant participants and their reasoning for participating in the first place. They wanted to hold their parents’ cultures closer to them through these pageants as they want to rid that weight of the past and appreciate what they have in America.

# data[].attributes.body
3 insights/takeaways:
- Despite Americans mispronouncing the word “pho,” pho is one one the ways that Americans engage with Vietnamese culture.
- Pho can be eaten in any way. There’s no wrong way to eat pho. They said, about eating pho, “it’s a very personal thing.” I think this is interesting because people often question how to eat certain cultural foods, in fear of disrespecting the culture of origin.
- Pho is still evolving. There’s always new pho concepts, both in Vietnam and America. And I like the idea of saying “our culture is lively and cool, and not old and dead.”

2 connections:
- I also think it’s interesting that they called pho a “hipster food” as pho has now been integrated into hiphop songs, eating contests, jewelry etc. I like that America has accepted the culture and adopted it to encourage a greater spread of the culture. This can be compared to 88rising, because they are cool whenever they receive recognition, it makes me proud to be Asian.
- They also called pho “cool now,” but it wasn’t always like this. A concept that we have talked about in class is that Asian food (and culture) isn’t always accepted in America. Sometimes, our food is taken as “smelly” and undesirable, which can make us feel ashamed of our culture.

# data[].attributes.body
3 Takeaways:
-The so-called beauty pageants are actually "cultural pageants" that tell others what being a "perfect" Vietnamese woman is.
-The pageants are a place where it leads you to believe that the "perfect" woman listens to their parents and has to be beautiful on the inside and outside. It is kind of like crowd mentality where you go with the flow of how others think and believe.
-The image of being a "perfect" Vietnamese woman from the pageants can be demoralizing to women, especially for those who don't speak or know the language well. Or, they don't know the culture well too. This can lead to confidence issues and isolation of their own cultural background.
2 Connections:
-The podcast spoke about many of the pageant attendees were refugees and I thought there was a connection with the book "The Best We Could Do" by Thi Bui as they are trying to fit into American society.
-I also connected this podcast to "Asian American Feminist Collective Zine Issue 2: Solidarity, Politicizing, Talking Back" as the cultural pageant is not always a bad thing. Many women there could also empower other women as they talk amongst themselves and share their experiences.

# data[].attributes.body
3 takeaway: Pho is one of the ways American engage with Vietnamese culture. There are way too many people that mispronounce the work Pho. And that Pho didn't start off popular and yet got so popular that people started doing different things with Pho, just because it's popular.

2 connections is how Pho wasn't popular back then but now is popular since like how K-pop and squid games are popular now in America, even though they weren't in the past. And Pho is something that is constantly evolving and changing, just like the way we learn about different cultures.

# data[].attributes.body
My 3 key takeaways from listening to this podcast are that southern and northern style pho can be eaten in different ways, pho is a staple dish to the Vietnamese community, and how people put their own twist in pho. 2 connections that I have is that they talk about reasons why pho is cheap to make it more approachable for everyone from different cultures being able to share. And to make it affordable for people who don’t have the money like that. Another connection is how food from different culture make a strong connection with families and other cultures.

# data[].attributes.body
3 takeaways:

1.  Refugees had an obligation to send back medicine and clothes from the US to Vietnam for their families living there.
2. Vietnamese Food in Vietnam is different than Vietnamese food in the US.
3. Jackfruit is very beloved in Vietnam

2 connections:
1. Is when she talked about Bao Nguyen's relocation to Vietnam because living in America was stressful. It connects because we talked about a film director in class who directed the 30 for 30 be water documentary. He started to get more jobs for filming because he came from America and shows a representation for Asian filmmakers.
2. Another class connection would be the reconcile between the second generation and their homeland. In the reading, the TBWCD highlights how Thi Bui felt trying to understand memories of what it was like growing up. But it showed how she gains a better understanding of her parents and their relationship with Vietnam through these chapters.

# data[].attributes.body
"Living the American Dream" through out our study of Asian American Activism and its history, a prevalent theme has been chasing after the American dream or living the American dream. In this podcast, Thanh Tan talks about how she believed that she was living the American dream, and in a way, this made her feel like she was better than the people who were in Vietnam. I have noticed, at least in Filipino Americans, that this is a thought many of them have. I can't speak for all Asian Americans, but there is an essence of superiority when people from the Philippines learn that you are from America. I think in a way, this is influenced by imperialism and the idea that "America is great, they are here to influence the East." While imperialism and colonialism may seem like a lifetime ago, it still has left lasting scars in the countries that they affected. And I think Thanh Tan bringing up the idea that the belief of living in America and living the American dream makes you feel like you're better than the people back home proves these lasting impacts. Thanh Tan talks about how the Vietnamese Americans provide a lot for their families back in Vietnam. I think that this is a common story for many Asian Americans who have immigrated to the US to help their families. By 'living the American dream' Asian Americans are able to provide for their families back in Asia.
"There are times when it benefits me to act more American and there are times when it benefits me to be more Vietnamese"  This quote from the podcast shows the ideas of assimilation and how it is a survival tactic for many Asian Americans. Moving to a new country with a completely different culture is so difficult. Sometimes the easiest way to survive is to assimilate and adopt the new culture at the cost of your own; this idea is true for many Asian Americans in the past and up until now. However, as we move towards a more inclusive society, we want to move past the idea of "this or that".  In the podcast, Thanh Tan talks about how she thinks how different her life would have been if she grew up in Vietnam like her parents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Sometimes I also think this way and think about how different my life would have been has I stayed in the Philippines and grown up and lived my life there. I wonder if other Asian Americans also think about that. While I am so thankful for all of my achievements and experiences here in America, I wonder what it would have been like growing up with my cousins and being able to spend everyday with them. Sometimes, it feels like I missed out on getting closer with my family to be able to chase the 'American Dream'.

# data[].attributes.body
My takeaways are that even though these are “culture pageants,” the contestants and even the people who watch these pageants may create this false image of the “perfect woman'' and develop confidence issues. These pageants end up being really subjective and they objectify women, judging them on their walk, the way they dress, how they carry themselves, etc. These pageants could cause more of a divide in the community instead of building up the community. I can connect these takeaways to “How the Philippines’ colonial legacy weighs on Filipino American mental health” because of how negative comments play a part in how we view ourselves. Also TBWCD because many of the contestants' families were refugees.

# data[].attributes.body
One of my takeaways from the podcast was that beauty pageants sometimes makes a girl question her self esteem instead of uplifting each other because of how the contestants are objectified. I also realized that instead of focusing on the culture, essence and purpose of the pageants, it is most likely raising the standards of the society about how a female should act, talk and dress. I also think that girls who participates in pageants were asked by their parents or their mentors to exemplify a certain personality or image instead of just being theirselves. I can relate this podcast by connecting how most of them were refugees just like those who are in book (The Best We Could Do). I also noticed that the candidates heard about the history & culture of their identity as Vietnamese through their parents which led them to recognizing their traditions, language and more about themselves like what Thi Bui had narrated from the book as well.

# data[].attributes.body
3 takeaways are  some restaurants have puns as their sign to interact with Americans in a way. And people made all sorts of things relating to Pho like rapping about it, made Pho jewelry, etc. and more Asian food got more popular

2 connections is how Pho became so popular  back then just like how K-pop and squid game is popular now. And another connection I have with this podcast is I like to eat a lot of Asian food.

# data[].attributes.body
Three takeaways from the Pho podcast is that the name of the restaurant helps Americans get to know the asian culture better, Asian food has become popular. An example from the podcast is when they were rapping about Pho which is a vietnamese food, and people started to write about the history of asian foods to better educate the people who are interested in learning more about asian culture. One of the connections I have with this podcast is how other people judged what I was eating for lunch during school. For example I was eating korean seaweed soup for lunch and people were saying it looks nasty but it actually tastes really good. Another connection I have with this podcast is Asian culture has become popular and more people are interested in kpop, korean drama, korean food, etc.

# data[].attributes.body
3 Takeaways from this podcast is that suddenly Asian food became popular, restaurants had to make corny names in order to get more people to eat there, and how Pho is food but it means much more to the Vietnamese community. 2 connections from this episode I have is how back then Asian food was not as popular and people would make fun of it. Another connection I have is how I can connect with both of my races with food since I am Japanese and Filipino.