stepphenwolf

It was raining hard and long last night brought back to the memory of Saigon in the raining season. Saigon has only two seasons: raining season and sunny season. Saigon does not have Autumn or Winter. Saigon winter the golden sun shines brightly. Saigon autumn is full of rain-storm. But Saigon has fallen leaves in spring time. April comes, star flowers and leaves along the streets start to fall. The clouds slowly come to Saigon and the heat reluctantly relaxes its sweltering choke hold on the air. It is the time of change. High above the rainy season flows across the sky in waves of rain, and I can feel the cooling effects of the approaching storm. My nose quickly smells the burnt of ozone of lighting and thunder rolls slashing the blaken clouds that dump untold trillion of raindrops, and I love it all. The rains are coming early this year. Unusually Saigon doesn't recieve its first rain until late May or early June, but no matter when it comes, the rainy season is...

Since the day I went to live in America, many times I saw the pictures of American families gathered around the dinner praying and thank for the good luck they are entitled.  At first, I thought that was their religious, then I realized that was beyond the religious belief and and became a cultural identity . An identity reminds people not to forget the source , not forget the difficult days of our ancestors and to sympathy with the less fortunate people, the immigrants who came to America to breathe free.  As the lofty words carved into the base of the Statue of  Liberty in New York City   "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" The Statue of Liberty may be the most recognizable statue in the world and is an icon of freedom and opportunity for immigrants to the U.S.   Thanks G...

Steve the Dog loves to go to the Dog Park. As he is lying in his bed and dreaming, he hears his friend Wayne pick up his set of keys. His ears perk up, he yawns happily and he wonders if he will get to go for a ride and go to his favorite place, The Dog Park. As he gets up from his slumber, he stretches from his head to his slightly curved tail. As he lifts his tail and lowers his head to point to his friend, Wayne He is smiling, hoping to be able to tell if he is going for a ride. He watches Wayne and sees that he is grabbing the leash from the wall. He is going! He is going! He is so excited he begins to jump in circles and spins round and round. Faster and faster he goes, until Wayne puts his leash on his collar. He is wide awake and ready to go see his friends. As he runs to the car, he can barely stop from smiling. He loves to ride in the car because he can see all the cars going by and people walking down the street. Steve loves to be around people. He loves to be pe...

Can you look deep into my eyes, and tell me what do you see ? Am I just another throw away life, with all this hurt built up inside of me ? Can you look deep into my fear, and do you see my pain ? Am I just another tortured soul, used by this sadist for his scientific gains ? Can you look deep into my short life, and will I die on the first try ? Am I just another of the " lucky " ones, to be blinded by the suturing of my eyes ? I do not ask to be here. I was once alive and free. Now just a horrific experiment, born with no eyes for me to see. I do not ask to stay here. I am caged and I am maimed. Found out there are others like me, who will soon be forced to face the same. I do not ask for you to think, of whose this twisted mind. Found out torture is allowed, if you say it is for all mankind. Soon the research will end, and my freedom realized. Finally the day I have longed for ....... The day I am euthanazied.   Wayne K...

By David Farley   The cab driver stopped on the bustling boulevard Pho Hue and pointed at a mishmash of incongruent four and five-story buildings across the street. I hopped out and dodged buzzing motorbikes and exhaust-belching cars, trying to get from curb to curb. Then I spotted it: Banh Mi Pho Hue (118 Phố Huế; 84-4-3822-5009), the no-frills sandwich shop named for the Hanoi street on which it sits. Nearly everyone I’d asked had said Banh Mi Pho Hue served the tastiest banh mi in Hanoi. But the family that’s run the shop since 1974 has a reputation for closing it whenever the cooks run out of ingredients. So when I arrived at 7pm on a Saturday and found it still open, I was delighted. Life in Hanoi. (Hoang Dinh Nam/Getty) Translated simply as “wheat,” the banh mi is a delicious and ever-varying combination of deli-style pork, pate and veggies (think carrots, cilantro, cucumber, etc), stuffed into a soft and crunchy French baguette. Regional variati...

my little daughter recommends "Mẹ, this book is so good.  You might find something related." Inside Out & Back Again is a verse novel by Thanhha Lai.  The book was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and one of the two Newbery Honors. Wikipedia   From the author's childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this novel is the child's-eye view of family and immigration.  Based on the author's own childhood and written in free-verse poems, this unforgettable story captures a fierce girl's struggles to find her place in her family, in her new home, and in the world. Things are changing in Hà's world, as the Vietnam War comes closer and closer to her home in Saigon. When Saigon falls in 1975, Hà and her family are forced to flee on a navy ship and, after spending months in refugee camps, end up moving to Alabama. There, Hà struggles to deal wit...