Personal Narrative: Vietnamese Buddhist Center

As we close out the 43rd game of the season, the Phillies drop to 15-28. As the pitching woes continue, it's tough to look on the bright side. It's understandable for the fans to be anxious, but it's all apart of the rebuild. I'm here to tell you to R-E-L-A-X. The team is still incredibly young and in the process of getting back to October. Maikel Franco is struggling a bit at the plate. Picking up the slack in the lineup is Tommy Joseph, who has been on absolute tear through the month of May. Cesar Hernandez has cooled off a bit but still playing some good ball. What can't I say about Aaron Altherr? He's everything you can ask for right now and then some. One thing you can look forward to is one of the most exciting

I come from a Chinese-Vietnamese background. Though I do not have Vietnamese blood in me, my parents were born and raised in Vietnam; just like how I was born and raised in America. I grew up with the privilege of learning many languages such as Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and even a bit of French. I grew up eating may different things such as dim sum, hot pot, Hong shao niu rou, and more. Growing up as a Chinese-Vietnamese-American was very confusing. I was a living contradiction. My family said one thing, yet American society said another. In Vietnam, I wasn't seen as a "true Asian" and in America, I wasn't viewed as a "true American". It was very frustrating, but as I grew up and learned about the world and myself, I am willing to

The conference panel I attended was for Dr. Thuy Vo Dang, regarding Vietnamese American identity and the role of archives in shaping epistemology. The speaker mentioned several points regarding how the archive allowed for members of Vietnamese descent to offer their narrative, and essentially give perspective to a community that had inherently omitted and censored itself. It is interesting to have found out that at one point in time, the Vietnamese identity was primarily focused on the Vietnam War, and the Vietnamese were primarily associated with labels such as victims or enemies. From the presentation I learned that the Vietnamese American community identity changed as they adopted a new mentality that stems from them being refugee. The media back then and even today in regards to the Vietnam war had generalized and simplifying the act of being a refugee and being displaced into the US. Vietnamese refugees were characterized as being indebted to the US, and grateful. In addition, the action of becoming a refugee and escaping to the United States were commonly described by various sources to have done so in desperate, cramped, and out of their control. This description appears to have

As a proud second generation Vietnamese American, I proudly associate myself with my Catholic Vietnamese community. Like all members in my group, we are indoctrinated with the typical immigrant values of perseverance, freedom, and respect for others and our cultural identity. The church that binds us together, Our Lady of Lavang, is the center where most of the Catholic Vietnamese Community gathers all over West Michigan. Since the 1st grade, I went through the Church's school program every Sunday to learn about Christian moral values, Vietnamese traditions, and language. These lessons has heavily influenced my outlook on life, enabling me to use faith to build confidence with myself, maintain integrity, and to love and respect every individual.

No one can control what family they are born into nor what struggles are destined for them in the future. By the age of nine, my parents could no longer help me with my homework, rather they could only offer a few words of encouragement. The language barrier and cultural clash we experienced as a family put me at a disadvantage compared to other children my age.

Over the years you’ll learn hatred is not born within you, but adapted. You would want to take the pressure that evolves with others, unfortunately without a doubt you are going to meet an obstacle that could potentially take you within the waves. If the obstacle were to overcome you may be broken down into depression or perhaps you won’t resist and conquer with aggression. Peace isn’t given, nor is it easily obtained. Peace still hasn’t shown its existence to the world, but it’s yet to come and show its tranquility that is beyond the capacity of our imagination. As I have fallen, failure has shown its superiority against me, despite my efforts towards the world I yet still can not find the way to build the Utopia everyone could desired and

I was born and raised in Texas where everything is Texas sized and everyone says y'all. I am an Asian American whose parents both came from Vietnam at a young age. I was soon to be molded and developed by them and my community to where I became culturally diverse. I was moved along schools which helped me build character. I also have developed into a very athletic and intelligent person due to all my friends and family helping me to reach this state.

So when he told me that the end of the war would be a peaceful and glorious time I believed him with all my heart. And so did everyone else. But as time has gone on I’ve learned that to only be halfway true.

I’m Vietnamese, but I cannot speak the language. Both of my grandparents are immigrants who came to Vietnam after the war. My dad was born in Vietnam and my mother was born in Louisiana. All of them speaks fluent Vietnamese, but only my mother speaks English. Growing up, it became harder and harder for me to communicate with my family in a sense that they did not know what I was saying and vice versa. Granted, I went to a Vietnamese school when I was younger but later dropped out once my family became busy with life.

I was stricken down by a poisoned cow and left my family on October 5, 1818. I have chosen to roam as an apparition to watch over my son, Abraham, as a shadow he unaware of. All phantoms appear differently as each has a different reason to roam. Those that need to remind the living of the past will appear as how they died. I am only a spectator so I need not appear at all. I simply wanted to see what happened to my son after I died too young. However, my country is changing and my boy is at the front of war.

Since people adapt to culture through learning by observing and imitating, those who grow up in a society have values and beliefs being shaped by that society’s culture. A Vietnamese who grows up in Vietnam would have assumption, behaviors different from a Vietnamese who grows up in United State. Being raised and grown up in Vietnam, I’m also being shaped by our own culture, and have some of biases that may affect my perception. For example, United State seems to be very open-minded about one-night stand, as long as it has the acceptance of both parties, but for a person who was being raised up in a traditional culture like Vietnamese, this kind of things are unaccepted. We are taught to always treasuring ourselves and sexual practice should

For me, stepping out my “bubble” was never something I found difficult. Growing up with foreign parents and being trilingual myself, I was always exposed to their cultures, not just my own. But for this project, I felt stuck because I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go. I’d eaten at all the bizarre restaurants in my neighborhood, and I’d also left the borough many times too. My inspiration came from my daily walk to school. Each day, before heading down to the subway station, I pass by a Buddhist temple, The Eastern States Buddhist Temple. I’ve walked by this temple everyday for almost 10 years of my life, and I’ve always been curious as to what was happens inside. Located on Mott Street in the heart Chinatown, this temple is quite small

Today, Sunday, Sept. 6th, 2015, Walking in the Spiritual light that glows from within and without. We never miss the light until we don't have it. Last week my drive was refinished and we were told that we could not use it for three days, so we had to detour through the field to get behind our house to park. It was late when we returned home the first evening and the light that always lights up our backyard had blown a GFI and was out. It was just a few feet to the GFI, but in the dark it seemed like two miles away. We were used to the light from a distance, yet when it wasn't there the darkness made a powerful change. The next morning we went out to get into a vehicle parked in the backyard and we were not able to do so. While rolling up the

Phuong Nguyen passed away peacefully in her sleep at just 22. Despite living such a short life, she packed a lot of living into it. She did a lot of moving around in her teen years. But like most young adults her age, she went to college, had a part time job, up till the automobile accident that caused her to part this world and her loving family.

To say my faith life has been completely revamped in the last year would be an understatement. I had views and ideas about faith that seem somewhat vile to me know with the experiences I’ve had. From just lectures to the retreats my spiritual side has gone from that of a holiday catholic to a Campus Ministry Student. From little things to big ethic topics I’ve changed in a multitude of ways, my Spiritual Autobiography looks like looks like someone else wrote it compared to any year before it. I think faith is one of the most important aspects of our life and it took me until last year to realize it.