Noreen's Friends of Danang and Vietnam Blog

Magnum Spokesperson for the Education Center!

2009-02-08T08:22:00.002-05:00

Tom Selleck (of "Magnum, PI" fame) has joined the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund as their national spokesperson for the education center to be built at the Wall. You can read the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund press release here. And there's information about the education center here.

Group of Pittsburgh leaders to visit Vietnam

2009-02-04T06:24:00.000-05:00

A group of business and community leaders from Pittsburgh is headed to Vietnam in mid-February. Read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story by Ron DaParma here. WDUQ News also had the story on air this morning and has a blog post about it on their blog.

Macadamia Nuts at 21 West

2009-01-31T09:54:00.001-05:00

0136.jpg
Originally uploaded by noreen_ellen

I'm going through photos today, as a way to delay the inevitable--digging my car out from under nearly a week's worth of ice and snow. I found this photo from Memorial Day, 2004. That's me holding the macadamia nuts near my dad's name. Thanks to Patty and Jimmy Kuroiwa for making it such a special weekend for me...and of course for the macadamia nuts!

Friends of Danang events and projects

2009-01-30T18:15:00.003-05:00

I can't wait for the next Friends of Danang meeting. It's on Thursday, February 12 at 7pm at Enrico Biscotti. We'll be making plans for our Vietnamese Dinner on April 26. It's a fundraiser for the school we are building--we're partnered with a group of veterans from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines and the Vietnam Children's Fund. Our commitment to the school project is $50,000 and we are currently over the $30,000 mark! The dinner is a great event--lots of fun to plan and to work--our friend Thanh and her family do a fantastic job with planning the menu and preparing the food. I am looking forward to spending time with them doing whatever prep work they allow me to do. In past years, I've learned to slice lotus root and for our Vietnamese luncheon in November I learned how to peel some very large shrimp.

In addition to the school, we're hoping to provide a source of clean water for the school's children. The school will be located in the Danang area of Vietnam, and clean water is a major issue (especially for children!) in that part of the world.

We are hoping to have the funds in place to have the school ready for a dedication ceremony in the spring of 2010.

Vietnam stories

2009-01-03T16:45:00.005-05:00

Last week, I attended a memorial service for a former coworker and a great guy, Joe Fahy. You can read his news obituary here. Joe died the day before Christmas Eve, and after the service a woman I know told me that she got up on Christmas Eve and walked down the stairs and her Christmas tree lights were on. She is convinced that Joe had something to do with it. My gift from Joe is the story he worked on with me, about my dad. Joe was able to get parts of the story I was unable to get myself because of his empathy and focus and attention to detail.

I was trying to explain some of this to one of Joe's sons when he said, "You must have been really close to your dad." And I told him, I never knew my dad. And I told him I wanted him to know that even though I didn't know his dad all that well, I wanted him to know that he made a positive difference in my life.

So it seems oddly coincidental to me that a week after Joe's memorial service, I ended up meeting a writer and an actor from the TV series "The Ghost Whisperer" at a book signing. I wouldn't have known about the event if it hadn't been for my friend Jean. I got to talk to the writer and actor about the episode about the soldier who was killed in Vietnam. and the son who never knew his soldier father. I wanted them to know from the perspective of a daughter who lost her father in the war, they handled it very well. And that I was in New Hampshire, with another daughter who lost her father in the war, when we turned on the TV and there it was--the pilot episode.

I found the episode in parts on YouTube. Here's a link to the last segment of the episode.

That episode was one of many things that confirmed for me that I needed to go to Vietnam, and I did go for the first time about six months after seeing that.

Since "The Ghost Whisperer" people asked me if I'd read a certain book about a woman who lost her dad in the war in the Cu Chi Tunnels, I know I need to find the book and read it. (Dummy me...I should have just stayed in the bookstore and found it there.)

And I think I know just the place on Polish Hill where I can read it.

Justice for All

2008-10-19T19:35:00.003-04:00

Okay, okay, okay...I admit it, I've been bad about updating this blog. I've been fairly busy of late with once again taking a course at Pitt in addition to working full-time and staying active with Friends of Danang. I was also recently part of a panel discussion at La Roche College, called Reconciliation and Healing: Remembering Vietnam. I met some amazing people there...you can see some of them in the photos that are posted here. The Vietnamese women told very powerful, moving stories about their own challenges due to Agent Orange exposure, and what they're trying to do to help others who are also afflicted...including those not yet born, since the birth defects caused by Agent Orange exposure have not stopped. This is due to a variety of factors: the big one is that the US military left tons of the stuff behind, and didn't clean it up.

Basically, we're still killing and maiming Vietnamese people some 33 years after the fall of Saigon.

There's more about the Agent Orange campaign here.

Creating a new blog, and keeping this one going

2008-07-20T17:45:00.003-04:00

I'm working on creating a separate blog for Friends of Danang. My hope is to eventually get more personal writing on here again (including my personal views on our Friends of Danang projects). But maybe more importantly, I want Friends of Danang as an organization to have its own blog, hopefully with many members doing the blogging. It's my idea, so I'll get it started. You can see the very early work on it at friendsofdanang.blogspot.com.

Rocky Bleier and Jan Scruggs in the Post-Gazette

2008-07-15T06:30:00.002-04:00

There's also a story in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the Rocky Bleier/Jan Scruggs visit to Pittsburgh to talk about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center

2008-07-15T06:19:00.001-04:00

KDKA TV's Jon Delano has a story about Rocky Bleier, Jan Scruggs and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center.
You can view it here.

Vietnamese reporters

2008-07-14T06:20:00.003-04:00

Here's a story from Thanh Nien Daily about the "smart reporters" and their favorites to win Miss Universe.

Miss Universe Pageant in Vietnam

2008-07-13T22:03:00.003-04:00

There's an AP story on the International Herald Tribune site about Vietnam hosting tonight's Miss Universe pageant. You can read it here. I love this quote from Miss Vietnam:

"I want to introduce my country and my culture and our history to everybody," said Nguyen Thuy Lam, whose traditional costume is a Vietnamese ao dai, a colorful silk pantsuit. "I feel very confident when I wear the ao dai. I wish everyone would wear it and feel confident too."

I need an ao dai. And I need to go back to pick out the silk and have one made. Or two or three.

DC Dragonflies

2008-07-01T19:28:00.003-04:00

I just got a text message from Aunt Debbie, my dad's little sister. She's in DC, with Uncle David, at the Wall, with the dragonflies! I haven't written about it in awhile, but I have this thing with dragonflies...little spirits is sort of how I think of them....and since Father's Day 2005 I have seen them each time I've been to the Wall. (Which, unfortunately, has not been often lately.) And I've had TONS of dragonfly sightings in Vietnam.

Dragonfly sightings are hard to prove. Dragonflies are difficult to photograph when they're happily darting about.

More on small ways to make big differences

2008-06-23T06:01:00.004-04:00

At a recent Friends of Danang meeting, a guest mentioned the book "Three Cups of Tea," which tells the story of how Greg Mortenson started building schools in remote regions in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I haven't read it yet, but I know I need to--especially when I started searching for penny fundraisers and found Mortenson's Pennies for Peace.

And another small thing making a big difference: at least one of the Friends of Danang members supports Kiva, a site where you can make tiny loans (microloans) to entrepreneurs in developing countries. You can learn more about the lenders here.

Selling the next dream

2008-06-22T12:53:00.002-04:00

I've been brainstorming over the past week or so for fundraisers for the next Friends of Danang project. We have yet to work out the details, but we're hoping to build an elementary school which will have a clean water component.

Can you even imagine a school without clean water? They exist all over the world...and there are many in Vietnam, especially in older, deteriorating school buildings which need to be replaced. The way I see it, if there are two things the children in Vietnam need access to, it's education and clean water. So the idea here is to provide both.

And now I'm trying to figure out how to sell that idea to others. I really want to step out of the mindset of staying in the safe, predictable, we-do-this-every-year fundraisers. I'd like to get kids involved...I want as many people as possible to be able to say, hey, I helped to do something really cool for kids in Vietnam.

Right now I'm thinking of pennies (or just coins in general) as a fundraiser, because I love the idea of how something small can lead to something big. Not just big in terms of the financial goals of this project (we're talking probably about $150k-$175k over a 20-month timeframe), but in terms of what a big difference this new school can make for each kid who goes there.

Spiral Foundation update

2008-06-22T12:12:00.002-04:00

My Spiral Foundation order arrived the other day, and the items are nicely made, and definitely different. I really like the small bowl made of telephone wire:

Happy Shopping!

2008-06-14T08:36:00.004-04:00

East Meets West Foundation is of the nonprofit organizations that Friends of Danang has worked with. Our most recent project with them was the Hoi Yen Bridge.
East Meets West has many projects ongoing in Vietnam, and many of the projects involve providing health care. East Meets West is partnering with S.P.I.R.A.L. (Spinning Potential Into Resources and Love) Foundation to generate aid from within Vietnam, in the form of handcrafted items.
I had been looking for a way in which I could buy handcrafted Vietnamese items like scarves and handbags and notecards from my home here in the States. And to find items that benefit East Meets West--that's a big plus! I know they do great work.
You can learn more about the East Meets West/S.P.I.R.A.L. partnership here.
Or, you can shop from here.

It's hot!

2008-06-06T18:48:00.002-04:00

We're having an unusually hot stretch of weather here in Pittsburgh. It's Vietnam hot, but not quite, for a few reasons. One, it's not as humid here. (Really.) Two, in Pittsburgh we're approaching that time of the year when we have our longest hours of daylight, from approximately 5:30 a.m. until 9:15 p.m. or so. Vietnam doesn't have such long hours of daylight (nor such long hours of darkness) because they are much closer to the Equator than we are. Three, because Vietnam is so much closer to the Equator, the sun felt a lot more intense than it does here.

What does feel about the same: standing on a street corner with no shade while cars and buses pass by on the asphalt street. Ew!

Speaking of asphalt, the city has been working on repaving my street, and I need to go fetch my car, which is parked several blocks away, outside of the repaving zone. I'm a little worried about my car tires melting to the street once I get it here, so I'll probably head out and find some place to sit outside with a friend or two and drink cold beverages. And that's just like Vietnam.

sad news

2008-06-01T08:43:00.003-04:00

My grandmother passed away peacefully in her sleep early on Thursday morning. Things have been hectic, and I haven't been feeling well. I would love to go back to sleep, but I can't even crawl into my own bed because my mom and my stepdad took over my bedroom. But I did manage to upload a photo to my grandma's guest book this morning. The photo won't be up right away--it could take up to 24 hours--and that's because someone at Legacy.com will review it first. Now if only I could get into my own bathroom, this morning wouldn't be so bad.

A new arrival!

2008-05-26T19:46:00.003-04:00

Big Ben Currie (weighing in at 8 1/2 pounds at arrival on Friday night) is home with big brother Jake, big sister Samantha, dad Jeff and mom Kerry, my cousin:

Everyone is doing fine. Mom and Ben came home yesterday, and today they were emailing photos. Can't wait to see them in person!

It was great to have some good news this weekend, especially since my grandma isn't doing well.

Go Penguins!

2008-05-22T05:47:00.004-04:00

The Pittsburgh Penguins (our National Hockey League team here in Pittsburgh) is going to the Stanley Cup Finals! To celebrate, I made this miniature Stanley Cup trophy for the tiny toy dinosaur who lives on my desk:

If you are unfamiliar with ice hockey, imagine soccer, but played on ice, on a smaller playing field, with fewer players. And the Stanley Cup is like the World Series--a best-of-seven series, won by the first team to win seven games. Ice hockey has Canadian origins, but it's pretty popular here in this part of the U.S. Both Pittsburgh and Detroit are fairly close to Canada, only you can get to Canada from Detroit in about two minutes. From Pittsburgh, it's about a four-hour drive to go by car, although it only takes about half that time to get to the shores of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes forming the border between the U.S. and Canada.

I doubt that many people in Vietnam have ever heard of hockey, or Detroit, or Pittsburgh. I was often asked, "US?" or "what country?", and then was asked "which state?" and when I would reply "Pennsylvania," the person asking me would look confused. I eventually figured out that it was easiest to say I wasn't far from New York or Washington, except not on the ocean. And after answering yes to "Does it snow there?" I'd be asked, "Which months?"After hearing me recite, '"November, December, January, February, March, sometimes April," I know the person would be wondering how anybody lives there. I wonder that myself. Ice hockey--at the professional level--is played indoors, and we haven't had snow since April

I'll be watching the Stanley Cup Finals somewhere, on a television. I have no idea if the Stanley Cup Finals will make it onto any television sets in Vietnam outside of the ones in the hotels which have some American networks (like ESPN, which, as far as I know, is not carrying the games). There were plenty of soccer games on television in Vietnam--at least in our hotel rooms. Soccer is huge in Vietnam.

Another Grandma update

2008-05-19T21:29:00.002-04:00

My grandma was admitted this morning to a hospital (thankfully, a different one this time). I was there this evening and made sure she was resting comfortably in bed before I headed home. She's going to have at least one test tomorrow, and she's still on her IV antibiotics and is wearing a device that's keeping an eye on her heart function. And while I was there she told the nurse and the nursing assistant that I'm her granddaughter and I've been to Vietnam twice, and I go with a group who does good deeds there.

She asked me tonight, "Is the food really that good there?" and I told her yes, it is.

Enter to win trip to Vietnam!

2008-05-19T21:27:00.002-04:00

I was just at Jimmy and Celia's, and we saw a promo on the Travel Channel where you can go online to enter to win a trip to Vietnam. The promotion runs through the end of May. Sign up--and if you win, take me with you!

Grandma update

2008-05-17T09:16:00.003-04:00

A quick update on my grandmother: she's now back to the skilled nursing facility where she's lived for the past year. She's much happier there. And I'm much happier now that she's no longer in the hospital.
I've been working on printing photos from my trip so that I can take them with me when I go to visit. My grandma was constantly talking about my trip before I left, and I'm sure there are many people there who are curious about how the trip was. (And kudos for Father Augustine for telling her that there is no safe place in this world and that I'd be fine.)

Interview with Stephane Gauger

2008-05-16T05:34:00.002-04:00

The other day I read an interview with "Owl and the Sparrow" director Stephane Gauger. It discusses the film, Gauger's own story and Vietnamese society.

Gauger was born in Vietnam and came to the U.S. with his family when he was five years old. His mother is Vietnamese and his father was American.

I point that out because people have asked me, did you see any American babies over there? I always want to tell people that you can't define "American" by race or appearance, and two, they must be thinking of babies born to American soldiers and Vietnamese women during the war. In which case they'd be around my age, and I'm approaching 40.

So it's that level of a lack of understanding of present-day Vietnam that would make this film a completely different thing for most Americans than it would for me (an non-Vietnamese American who has traveled to Vietnam twice), and different still for Vietnamese Americans, and even more different for the Vietnamese in Vietnam.

But that could be what's brilliant about centering this film on characters who are children. They're much easier to relate to than adults are. There is also an elephant in the film, and he seems to me to be very easy to understand--his body language is just like that of the elephants who live at the Pittsburgh Zoo. (And yes, I talk to animals just like the people in the film do.)

Owl and the Sparrow

2008-05-11T21:39:00.002-04:00

If you know me well, then you know I can't stand most movies and don't bother watching them. I get bored with them. The stories are too predictable, usually, and as a writer and a visual person I end up cringing and wanting to redo everything I'm watching and hearing.

Today I saw a movie I loved: Owl and the Sparrow. It was in Vietnamese with English subtitles, and it was easy to understand without having to read much (that's a tribute to the acting and the cinematography). And it captured Saigon at night beautifully, in ways I never could with my little digital still/movie camera that I had with me in Vietnam.

The bad news: Owl and the Sparrow was only showing here for one day as part of the Silk Screen Film Festival. The good news: You can watch the trailer here.

Silk Screen Film Festival

2008-05-10T15:48:00.002-04:00

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, you might be interested in the Silk Screen Film Festival, which opened last night. It showcases films from several Asian countries. Tomorrow (Mother's Day), a film from Vietnam, Owl and the Sparrow, is showing at 3pm at the Regent Square Theater on South Braddock Avenue. I'll be there with a few friends, promoting Friends of Danang and Roger Costello's book, Faces and Places: Vietnam, in the lobby before the showing of the film.

Bridges and donors

2008-05-08T17:58:00.002-04:00

I probably think about death more than the average person. Part of that may be because I lost my dad when I was an infant. Part of it also may be because my job involves organ transplants, and knowing that when someone dies they can save another person's life. (Or save many lives, depending on the circumstances.)

I've had the organ donor designation on my driver's license as long as I can remember--probably since I first got my license when I was 16. At that time my mom worked in the labs that ran the tests on the drugs that allow organ transplants to work. In a way, those drugs, called immunosuppressants, are the bridge between an organ donor and the recipient.

For a lot of reasons I thought it was appropriate to work on raising the money to build the Hoi Yen Bridge. Bridges are great connectors of people and of places and carry so much symbolism. I knew this bridge would make the walk to school both shorter and safer for the children in the area. But I don't think I realized until I got there that they would seem so happy about it!

It was really great to meet them and to know that I've been able to make a positive impact in their lives...the bridge is really just the mechanism put into place to allow all sorts of good things to happen for them. (I'm hoping.)

And if I died tomorrow, I know I wouldn't die feeling like I hadn't accomplished anything. I'd just want to tell people to keep contributing to causes like this--because it feels great, and children (and all people) matter.

Remembering Scott Fertig

2008-05-08T08:51:00.003-04:00

I woke up this morning and checked the news, as I always do, and was shocked to find a news obituary on Scott Fertig, someone I knew in high school. He was (it's so strange using the word "was", so past tense) one of the most talented, hard working, sweetest people I've ever known. We met in the ninth grade at a Saturday art class at the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in Pittsburgh. Then for the following three years, we were both enrolled in the Saturday Pre-College Art Program at Carnegie Mellon. I probably learned as much from studying his work as I did from any of my professors. Scott had such focus and attention to detail and this fascination with things, and what was great was that he shared that. He used to point out things, teaching me how to see with an artist's eyes.
I'd often wondered what happened to him after high school. I haven't seen him since seeing him back in the College of Fine Arts building at Carnegie Mellon in 1985. But a few years ago I found he had a web site, and I just went back to look at that. Then I found his blogs.
I never knew until looking at his web site that he created the mural in the Strip District near the 16th Street Bridge. I've always loved that mural, and I'm finding some comfort in knowing it's there.

Complications

2008-05-06T19:18:00.002-04:00

I haven't been able to find much time (or time to think) over the past two and a half weeks. My grandmother (an 84-year-old with a complicated medical history which includes the removal of her thyroid, one kidney and her gallbladder, the replacement of a hip, and the addition of a shunt in her skull to drain fluid into her abdomen, and congestive heart failure) has been a patient at local hospital here in Pittsburgh.

She was admitted with shortness of breath, and even though the swelling of her abdomen was enough to look like she was in the last trimester of a pregnancy, tests weren't run on her abdomen until several days later. And what they thought was the cause of that problem now might not be--since that was resolved, and her abdomen is swelling again. She's seen doctors from her primary care practice, a cardiologist, an infectious disease specialist (because now she has a blood infection), and (we think) a hematologist/medical oncologist.

This is very frustrating for me because I work in a hospital, in administration in a surgery department, and when I talk to my work friends they seem frustrated about this, too...mostly for the lack of figuring out what's wrong and anything being done to treat it. Although they work in a specialty that wouldn't be beneficial to my grandmother at this point, they do serve patients who are very complicated medically (and surgically), and from observing them I have a good idea about how things should work..only in this case they're not working so well.

And I'm looking at the clock and I should be at the hospital, and I need to take out the trash.

At least I'm not a chicken

2008-04-28T18:35:00.002-04:00

Yep, those are chickens on the back of this bike, on the road from the Mekong Delta to Saigon:

Unleashing my inner Evel Knievel

2008-04-23T20:27:00.006-04:00

My cousin Gene took this photo of me when we were leaving Hoa Bac School in Nam Yen: I was the first of many of us to hitch a ride from one of the teachers at the school. Getting there by van had been a slow, rough ride, so I was thrilled (and a little nervous) about going back to the party offices, where our bus was parked, on the back of a motorbike:

I sent a link to the photo to Uncle David and made some remark like hey, I haven't been on the back of a bike since 1975.
He corrected me--it was the *front* of a bike. His bike:

And I think I was wrong on the year, too. That had to be 1973 or maybe 1974, and back then one of my favorite toys was this crank-up Evel Knievel motorcycle. (I can remember making little Barbie-doll size Evel crash his motorcycle in my grandparents' living room. I was probably inspired by Evel's televised stunts.)

What is with me not wearing a helmet? I can't say for the older photo, but there is now a helmet law in Vietnam for the drivers (and possibly all adults), but there were no extra helmets around. I was stupid, though, for not wearing a hat in that sun. Got a little sunburn on my scalp that my hairdresser noticed when I got home.

I wish I'd taken photos or video on that ride through the rice paddies and down some meandering neighborhood path, but I was too afraid I'd drop my camera.

Household appliances and computers

2008-04-18T21:30:00.003-04:00

I'm having a rough day with household appliances and computers. Tonight, my vacuum cleaner died, and I went online, read some product reviews, headed out to Best Buy, and came home and assembled my new bagless super-duper metallic red vacuum cleaner. It ate my cat's fishing wand toy before I had a chance to get it out of the path of destruction.

All day at work, I had problems with Microsoft Outlook. The IT support guys said I was one of many employees moved to a new server, which had two drives, one of which failed. (Try scheduling meetings when it takes ten minutes to change an Outlook calendar item!)

And now tonight, I was going to post a few photos here on Blogger, and the photo uploading isn't working.

When we were in Vietnam and had problems with irons, coffee makers and Internet access, I kept pointing out that we were in a developing country. But why didn't I remember that these things happen in the so-called developed world, too? It all makes me want to unplug everything, take my cat under my arm and go sleep under the full moon, somewhere where it's not allergy season for me, and somewhere where it won't go down to 48 degrees Fahrenheit tonight.

But instead I'll crawl under the covers of my bed (in my carpeted bedroom) and dream about being back in Vietnam. That's what I've been doing every night since I've been back in Pittsburgh.

Photos and video clips

2008-04-13T19:55:00.002-04:00

I've been spending so much time at my computer working on my photos that I've given myself a headache and a sore shoulder. I have some video clips on YouTube.And I've started uploading and organizing photos on my Flickr account.

The weather here--cloudy and rainy and cold--is making me miss Vietnam very much.

Schoolgirls at Hoa Son School

2008-04-12T16:44:00.002-04:00

Friends of Danang built the Hoa Son School ten years ago, and here's a photo of four of the school's students:

The school's principal hopes that one day some of the students will attend college in the U.S.

Bridge dedication

2008-04-09T15:07:00.007-04:00

I think this boy was trying to get my attention...he got it!

Cyclo ride in Saigon

2008-04-09T07:08:00.001-04:00

Here's a video from my 2006 trip, a cyclo ride in Saigon:

Cyclos will be leaving the streets of Saigon in a few months...so that was my first and last ride.

We're home!

2008-04-08T21:50:00.003-04:00

We landed in Pittsburgh at 6pm. I went with my mom to Tram's Kitchen to get some shrimp fresh spring rolls and some fried wontons and vermicelli. I talked to the waiter there and he said his friend's bookshop in Hoi An is near the Japanese Bridge. I must have walked past it...something to look for when I go through my photos.

Hotel California

2008-04-08T07:13:00.003-04:00

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Hacienda, close to LAX and I'm expecting the Eagles to show up at any minute--this place has this funky old LA motel vibe--but it was great to get a little sleep. We missed our connection in LAX last night and EVA Air put us up for the night.
I'm not sure who is going to wake up but I have my vouchers and I'm ready to get some food in the diner...maybe look around for some aging rock stars.
EVA has been wonderful with all of this, but my encounter with a US Airways ticketing agent yesterday was horrible. After that I was happy *not* to get not a flight.
We are flying to Philly and then to Pittsburgh and if all goes as planned (who knows with US Airways) we should be in Pittsburgh at 5:20 this evening.

We made it to Taipei!

2008-04-07T09:04:00.002-04:00

This is the first chance I've had to get to a computer in awhile. We're in the Taipei airport and Chinese is the default language on this computer. I couldn't figure out how to log into Yahoo! Mail, so I got to Blogger and once I signed in I got my interface in English. Yippee!
We have two hours and twenty minutes before we board our long flight to Los Angeles. We had a nearly empty flight from Saigon to Taipei, and I had an entire middle row in EVA Elite Class to myself. What luxury! We were on a Boeing 777 and I have the same seat assignment on this next flight, so I'm assuming it's the same aircraft.
We had arrived in Saigon yesterday and went on a wild shopping trip to the market, and last night we had dinner once again at 13. The place is wacky, to say the least...I'll explain more later. Then after dinner I did a bit more shopping (I couldn't help it...I walked past a store loaded with dragonfly things), and then a bunch of us headed up the MBar on the top floor of the Majestic, our hotel.
This morning after breakfast I tried to get a massage, but they were booked, so I went to the salon and had a facial massage and a facial and a reflexology treatment before I got ready for our long flight.
We've been dwindling, as several of our trip mates have taken side trips, and one, Tom Fallon, left Saigon on an earlier flight. Thanh stayed behind in Saigon, so now I'm in charge of rounding up my other eight travelers. We have a two-hour connection time at LAX, which is going to be crazy...we have to get off of the flight, go pull our bags (which are checked through to Pittsburgh), go through customs, put our bags back on the conveyor, and then walk down to the next terminal to check in at US Airways.
As of right now, we're all on the red eye to Charlotte. We're scheduled to get into Charlotte at 6:17am, and then we board a little before 8am, and arrive in Pittsburgh at 9:40am.
At this point, I don't mind that extra flight, because it means my mom won't have to wake up way too early only to have us sit through rush hour traffic from the airport into Pittsburgh.
As far as rounding everyone up when we're running low on sleep....that will be a challenge. I'm going to change into slightly warmer clothes before the long flight (it's warm here in the airport and it was hot in Saigon, though the new Tan Son Nhut is a beautiful airport with air conditioning, but the sun beating into the windows there is pretty intense.)
The nice thing about these later Saigon to LAX flights (as opposed to my trip two years ago) is that we watched the sun set before landing in Taipei, and it should be dark most of the way over...we're leaving Taipei a few minutes before midnight local time and we arrive in LA at 8 or so in the evening.
Gene is trying to charge his laptop somewhere in this terminal...I've seen him sitting on the floor in two different places now. I told him to settle up with the room charges that he needs to get me a Hello Kitty shirt here at the shop in the airport, but we'll see if he'll ever put his computer away. He's been computing away in every airport so far...even the Danang airport has wireless internet now.
We're in need of water (at least I am!) so I'm going to go chug a few $2 bottles of water in the next two hours. I've gotten pretty good at noticing when I'm dehydrated. In Vietnam it's hard to keep up with replacing the water that's sweating out of us!

A day of relaxation and retail therapy

2008-04-05T07:16:00.003-04:00

I just checked the weather, and the sun's gone down and the temperature is 81 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat index of 87. And I'm at the beach and we're getting an ocean breeze...I feel like I need a sweater. Guess I'm adapting to the climate!
The humidity is so intense here that any sort of paper is soft.

I had a great day--slept until I woke up at 7:17am, showered and dressed, had a delicious bowl of pho (this time I added some chili peppers) and strong black coffee. I followed that up with some sushi and fresh pineapple and mango. Then I picked up my custom-made silk clothes from Thang Loi, the shop we went to a few days ago. After I dropped those off in my room, I came back to the lobby to meet with my Vietnamese friend whom I met on the last trip. He invited me to come back for a longer visit in Danang and to spend time with his family. (When I told him I took a cooking class at the Rex, he offered to have his wife teach me how to make Vietnamese food.)

Then it was off to shopping again in Hoi An, and we went to Yaly (you can find both that store and Thang Loi on the internet). It was amazing...silk lanterns were $4 (I skipped those because even when they were folded were about the size of a foldable umbrella and suitcase space is an issue). I picked up some pearls for my friend Nancy, bought a few small gifts for some of my other friends, and bought some two-toned silk. It was $6 a meter, and I'm sure each meter could be made into three scarves, so that was a bargain in American terms, but still expensive in Vietnamese terms.

Then I packed (tomorrow we leave for Saigon), went to the beach, and then got an orange soda at the poolside bar. Off to dinner shortly...bye for now!

Bridge Dedication Day

2008-04-04T04:48:00.002-04:00

We're back from the bridge dedication. It went very well! The lighting was wonderful and I took lots of photos. (Not just of people, but also of dogs and water buffalo...I am sure they will use the bridge too.)

On the way to the dedication, I sat next to East Meets West Foundation's director of large construction projects. We talked a lot about the needs here, and about how inflation combined with the demand for construction materials is making it very difficult to complete certain types of projects. Our bridge, for example, would have run us 40% more than it did when we committed to the project. He emphasized the need for public health education and clean water projects (in homes, rather than people having to go to wells) and the need for Western-style toilets in homes in rural areas.

In case you're wondering why there is a need for clean water and improvement of public health conditions in Vietnam: The party office had a flush toilet. The medical clinic had a squat toilet. And Hoa Son School has buckets.

On a happy note: I got to hitch a ride on the back of a teacher's motorbike today after we went to another school near the Hoi Yen Bridge. It was a great ride! The path was no wider than most American sidewalks. I would have gotten my camera out but I didn't want to drop it into a rice paddy.

And at the bridge dedication, I picked up a rock for Jimmy. That's all the shopping I've done today, save for a wide brim floppy hat with a chin strap...I need that here. Even after two applications of SPF 50 sunscreen, I can feel my face and my arms burning. I keep changing the part in my hair but I'm sure my scalp is fried.

Schools and medical clinics

2008-04-03T18:50:00.002-04:00

Hello from the Furama Resort! After a wonderful but long, hot day yesterday we arrived at the Furama. I hopped in the shower, got dressed for dinner, and by the time everyone gathered in the lobby at 6:30, I realized I was very tired and not at all hungry. I stayed behind thinking I'd get some ironing done, and all I ended up doing was drinking lots of Orangina and bottled water, eating a few PowerBars and some fruit, and sleeping. I woke up early enough to get showered and dressed in time for sunrise on the beach, and I took a few photos and headed here to the business center. The Furama breakfast buffet opens in seven minutes and I am looking forward to coffee and pho and fresh fruit before we leave at 6:40am for the bridge dedication.

I'm using a Dell right now, which is a much nicer computer than any of the other hotels had. Computers here are more expensive than they are back home. And speaking of, we stopped at this roadside cafe yesterday and I peeked into the internet cafe. Imagine a National Geographic photo of exotic-looking people and colors, and then this long, dark room filled with people sitting at computer kiosks. Bizarre.

I took lots of photos there and at Hoa Son School. I even got a few video clips there. Still photos don't do these kids justice.

We also stopped at an OB/GYN medical clinic and they have four midwives there--no doctors. We'd asked some questions through a translator, and one of their big health problems is liver cancer. I talked with a translator who told me that hepatitis can lead to liver cancer (which is correct; I know that from work), and he said that they now have vaccines for Hepatitis A and B. One was offered free of charge, and the other people have to pay to get--I'm not sure which was which--but he also was aware of Hepatitis C.

He asked for me if they ever have had any doctors from the U.S. visit there, and the director's reply was "Not yet". It made me happy that she didn't say no.

How much tiger prawns can I eat?

2008-04-02T17:42:00.002-04:00

It's 4:41am here, and I really should go back to bed, but I'm enjoying the quiet here in the Sandy Beach Resort lobby. I had an incredible day yesterday. We had lunch with Foreign Affairs at a seafood restaurant on My Khe Beach (we called in China Beach but it sounds like Vietnam wants to rebrand it). The pictures I took don't do the place justice. It's the most beautiful beach I've ever seen.

Later, we went to Marble Mountain and climbed the mountain (150 or so steps which were each about 10 inches high). The view up there was incredible, and the pagoda reminded me very much of the one I saw in Hue. Climbing down was tough--the steps are stone and I had to take each step carefully--and then I did a quick, like two-minute, shopping trip into the Marble Mountain workshop. Two white happy Buddhas, $15.

Then it was off to Hoi An, and I spent an hour and a half in the Thang Loi silk workshop. I picked up a few clothing items off the rack, and I had two skirts, a top and a jacket made. I bought silk for Celia, and I picked up a couple of other little things.

I knew there was something I had to get--I was having a brain cramp--and the shop was pushing me out of there (I think it was closing time) and I realized later that I forgot to get silk there for my friend Sami. I'll have other opportunities, but sheesh, I could kick myself!

We went to another China Beach restaurant for dinner. I had so many tiger prawns yesterday, really big ones, that I might turn into one.

George and I had a few drinks last night in this bar at the hotel...got to see young Filipinos do some covers of Blondie and Bob Marley.

Our warm Danang welcome

2008-04-01T23:29:00.002-04:00

Friendly, but hot as well...it's hot and humid here!

We're at the Sandy Beach Resort and in an hour we're going to lunch with the wonderful people from the Danang Ministry of Foreign Affaris. Their director is a veteran who is from Tam Ky, and he said that his mother died in the US hospital in Chu Lai--the same hospital where my dad died. I'm sure we'll talk during lunch. I need to check into my room and iron. George has told me that my dress is too dressy for "smart casual".

We're now going to wear polo shirts for the bridge dedication, so no wearing a dress out there. (Bummer!)

Cooking Class

2008-04-01T02:28:00.002-04:00

I went with one of my new travelmate friends to a cooking class today at the Rex Hotel. We made Vietnamese pancakes filled with ground meat, shrimp, julienned white onions, green onions and mushrooms. We also made the dipping sauce: fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, julienned chili pepper, minced garlic and water. It was very much like making pierogies, only rather than boil them first, we fried them. They were great! We had them for lunch with lettuce, Thai basil and cilantro. Lunch also included rice, sour soup, fish cooked in soy sauce and some Vietnamese version of fried greens. I'm stuffed once again! (This was after a breakfast of seafood soup--no pho here today--and fresh fruit, grilled salmon and cheese. I can't pass up the French cheeses here!)

In a few minutes, we're off to the hotel salon to get our nails done. We have to leave very early tomorrow morning for a 6am flight to Danang. I have one bag packed, several shopping bags of things that will be stored here at the Majestic (we come back here our last night).

Cousin Gene just walked in. He says he wondered around and got lost for an hour after coming out of a different door of the Rex (after trying to get to the casino which was supposed to be opened but wasn't.)

Gotta run!

Internet adventures

2008-03-31T21:45:00.004-04:00

Good morning! Gene and I are in the lobby. He's using his laptop down here because in our room, he'd lose his wireless connection every few minutes. Down here in the lobby's business center, I had the staff try to get the Internet to connect on two different PCs (I think it's a network problem but I don't know how I would explain that--their English is limited). They were gracious enough to let me use the PC at the business center desk, and a few minutes ago an Australian man stopped in. I told him I didn't work here and he cracked up. (Okay, perhaps the fact that I'm not Asian and not dressed in a black and gold tunic dress screams tourist.)

Just like many other things here, the computers at first appear to be new and top-of-the-line. (The flat-screen monitors are nice.) But the PCs are big old towers in some knock-off brand, running Windows XP in English.

On this PC, there's an icon for Yahoo! Messenger on the bottom left. Yahoo! Messenger is very popular here in Vietnam, and someone here has the PC logged in. Parts of the interface for it are in Vietnamese, but much is in English. And then some things on here (like Blogger) came up with the page title in French because a previous user hadn't logged out. (Bienvenue! Creez votre blog maintenant!)

Yahoo! Messenger just popped up an alert that Hang Luu is now online.

I haven't learned much Vietnamese so far, but I now remember that the word for chicken is Ga. I can't wait until I find an internet connection strong enough to be able to upload some photos. I have some pictures of Ga and some video clips of a Vietnamese band covering Besame Mucho and Hotel California. Never expected to hear anything in Spanish here, though I'm sure at this point I could understand both French and Spanich...it's much more familiar to me than Vietnamese is.

Sad News

2008-03-31T06:35:00.002-04:00

My dad's Army company medic died: here is more information from Dave Nesbitt, who also served with them in A 1/502, 101st Airborne Division:

James 'Doc' Feliciano died Sunday morning, March 30, 2008 at home in Liverpool, NY. His wife Bernie said he was sitting in his recliner and was resting comfortably when he passed away in his sleep about 2:30 a.m. Doc, born May 19, 1948, in Utica, NY, would have been 60 years old on his next birthday.

Visitation will be at the Farone & Son Funeral Home, 1500 Park St., Syracuse, NY 13208 on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 from 4 to 7 p.m. Phone: (315) 422-1911

Mass is Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at the Emmaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 259 East Onondaga St., Syracuse, NY 13202 beginning at 9:30 a.m. Phone: (315) 422-4177

In lieu of flowers, Bernie requests donations honoring Doc be made to the 101st Airborne Division Vietnam Veterans organization, PO Box 7150, Sumter, SC 29150-1001.

In my discussion with Bernie I asked her if she would mind if contributors made donations to the 1/502 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and she agreed that was OK. Doc was a committee member for this memorial fund and had been raising funds for several years to erect a monument to those of the 1/502 who made the supreme sacrifice in Vietnam. If you would like to donate to the memorial fund, please use the following information:
Make donations payable to the 1/502 VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND and mail to:
Memorial Fund
Attn: Wally Morrow
W 5527 Rustic Lane
Appleton, WI 54915-9393

Contributions to 1/502 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and/or to 101st Airborne Division Vietnam Veterans are tax deductible in accordance with IRS Code 501(c)(3).

Bernie also wanted to know if anyone from the 101st who was planning to attend services wanted to serve as a pallbearer. Anyone attending on Wednesday willing to serve in this capacity, please let me know as soon as possible.

Doc is survived by his wife Bernie and five children; Jeffrey 19, Alexis 18, Jonah 17, James 16 and Ruth 11. Please remember them in your prayers.

I'm so dizzy

2008-03-31T06:20:00.002-04:00

We returned to the Majestic about twenty minutes ago, and I'm still dizzy from the traffic. Even after two Dramamines. I'm feeling motionsick while sitting here trying to look at the monitor.
I should have some great photos from the back seat of a van coming back from My Tho to Saigon. I took some video, too, but as the traffic got heavier as we got closer to Saigon, I couldn't look through the viewfinder anymore. I was way too dizzy.

We're in Saigon

2008-03-30T11:11:00.002-04:00

We had a long day...as soon as we got to our hotel in Saigon, it was in the shower and then off to Cu Chi. Then it was off to dinner and a few of us went to the hotel rooftop bar. Things are going well, except please keep Tony in your prayers...will explain more on that later.

It's 10:13pm Saigon time. Good night!

Hello Taipei!

2008-03-29T19:35:00.003-04:00

We're in the international airport in Taipei...a much nicer and more civilized place than LAX. Our flight was delayed, so Thanh worked her magic and we're now on a different flight to Saigon, upgraded to Evergreen Deluxe class, and we're only going to arrive two hours later than planned.

But the best part? We're departing from gate C3, which just happens to be the EVA Air Hello Kitty gate! I'm going to run over there and take lots of pictures. I might do a little shopping, too, since I don't know if we'll have time here on the way back.

Airport Gates

2008-03-28T18:20:00.002-04:00

While we were waiting at our gate in Pittsburgh, I heard from someone's phone ringer or iPod or something a Guns 'n Roses song...I swear my dad likes to use Axl Rose to torture me.

Now, we're in Charlotte waiting at the gate for our Los Angeles flight, and a young woman traveling alone plopped down next to me and Gene. She's got a dragonfly tattoo on the top of one of her feet. (She's wearing ballet flats so I was able to see it.) Sam warned me to watch out for the dragonflies!

Our aircraft is on the way from the hangar, and the flight then has to have a security check because it's the aircraft's first flight of the day. Our departure time is now listed as an hour later than we expected, but this just means a shorter layover in LA. US Airways oversold the flight, and they're offering free round trips anywhere they fly for anyone who takes a bump, but we can't, because we leave LA tonight.

Thanh's brother is going to meet us in LA and bring us some Vietnamese hoagies.

Almost time to leave!

2008-03-28T09:35:00.002-04:00

Now that my electricity is back for the second time this morning, I figured I'd check Gene's blog and whip up a quick post here. I meant to sleep in this morning, but at a quarter to six, the street lights went out, along with electricity to the neighborhood. I set an alarm on my cell phone and tried to go back to sleep. But this was no morning to worry about oversleeping. I crawled out of bed at seven, and shortly after the electricity came back. I was in the middle of writing a long email to a friend when poof! there went the electricity again. I decided to get into some warm clothes so that I could move the car closer to the house when the electricity came back.
I'm going to hit the Publish Post button and hop in the shower and hope the electricity doesn't go out again.

Just one more thing: I think Mom and my cat, Misha, are going to have a fabulous time. They sat at my little kitchen table this morning (each in their own chair) and Mom shared her Cheerios with him.

Mom's here!

2008-03-26T21:08:00.003-04:00

My mom arrived in Pittsburgh late this afternoon. A group of us went to Tram's Kitchen for dinner. Tomorrow (Thursday) night the family is headed to Church Brew Works. Friends are welcome too, of course. Just keep in mind I can't have too many beers because I'm not going to fly across 12 time zones with a hangover.

A dress and a motorbike

2008-03-25T21:46:00.002-04:00

Just when I thought I had my travel wardrobe figured out...I found out tonight we have to dress up for the bridge dedication. I had an extra dress packed, but without a jacket, my arms stand a good chance of sunburn (SPF 50 is only going to help to a point). I made another shopping trip and found a linen blend jacket for $20. But I'm trying to envision myself on a motorbike, in a dress, with sandals and a jacket and a backpack, and probably one of those conical hats the women wear in the rice paddies. Those hats have adjustable chin straps, so they'll stay on while I'm on a motorbike (unlike my floppy hat, which doesn't have a chin strap).

I should just unpack what I bought and have a traditional Vietnamese tunic dress with pants, an ao dai, made, while I'm there, and wear that. I'm starting to see the practicality of that outfit...one can ride a bike while wearing it.

My arms are tired, and I haven't flown yet

2008-03-24T22:53:00.002-04:00

I just packed. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm sick of thinking about it. Maybe because tomorrow night I'd like to do at least a little bit of apartment cleanup before my mom gets here on Wednesday. (She hasn't been here since she helped me move in last summer.) Maybe I was worried I had too many clothes set aside to pack.

Okay, well I did have too many clothes set aside. But I have this fear of one of my bags disappearing, so I decided I'd distribute gifts, clothes and toiletry items (including SPF 50 sunscreen and a fancy insect repellant from REI) over the two suitcases. Problem was, I had to attempt to distribute the weight as well, and the smaller, much better made small suitcase is heavy when it's empty. The big one (a cheaper model of the same brand) is a lighter weight bag, but the fabric got pretty banged up on the last trip. Part of me wishes I'd bought the better made bag in the larger size, but the weight would be an issue. Still, I'm not sure how long this bag will survive.

Enough fretting about the actual bags. They're packed now, complete with a small photo album with photos from my last trip, so I can show my friend in Danang that I made it out to the cemetery in Tra My. I have another photo album with pictures of my dad, and a few of my mom and stepdad and the veterans who served with my dad and my stepdad. (This is a long story, but my stepdad served with my dad in Vietnam.)

We'll be meeting some Vietnamese vets there. (I am wondering if they call themselves American vets, since they called it the American war, and we call our veterans Vietnam vets.) I don't know how curious they'll be about the photos, but I figured I should bring them.

I am taking no books, no iPod, no portable DVD player, no laptop, no cell phone. I am taking a swimsuit, and a floppy hat, and Power Bars, two dresses made in Vietnam (one purchased at Target, the other at Dress Barn), lots of t-shirts and tank tops and khakis and lots of underthings. (I have this fear of being photographed with dignitaries and forgetting to wear a slip, and having the sun be at such an angle that I end up looking...well...like a total idiot.)

I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of ironing once I get there. Not to worry, our hotels not only have irons and ironing boards (yes, in a developing country, they have that) but we also have air conditioning, in-room coffee makers, TV and mini bars.

Kids Building Hope

2008-03-23T20:35:00.002-04:00

There's another group of some friends who will cross our paths during our trip to Vietnam. That's the Kids Building Hope group. It's pretty amazing to me, but a group of American kids raised tens of thousands of dollars to build a school in Vietnam.
Gene and I will miss their school dedication because we decided instead to spend a day in Saigon. I may be trying to be in two places at one time on that day, thanks to Gene's laptop, our hotel's wireless internet and the Kids Building Hope blog. You can read it here.

A Hawaiian tribute

2008-03-17T22:26:00.004-04:00

While I'm in the thick of laundry and packing and trip planning, here's a nice tribute to my dad written by my friend Jimmy Kuroiwa on the Hawaii Reporter. Mahalo, Jimmy, and I hope I'm spelling that correctly.

I have a stepdad!

2008-03-01T17:53:00.002-05:00

My mom and Freddy were married yesterday in a very small ceremony (even I wasn't there) at their home in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. My mom called me this morning and said she just realized it's been almost 40 years since her first wedding.

I went to visit her mom today at the nursing home where she lives, and she asked me, how long has your dad been dead? (I just love how blunt old people are.) Thirty-nine years, I told her.

Freddy was a friend of my dad's, and I'm sure my dad would be happy that my mom and Freddy are together now, and I'm happy about it, too. It's just a very strange story, how it all happened, one that led not only to this but to my dad finally being posthumously awarded his Silver Star.

Providence

2008-02-25T19:28:00.002-05:00

Ever have one of those days when everything seems to be out of whack, only to realize (once you get to Plan B or C or Z) that you're right where you're supposed to be? I had one of those last night, when I went to the latest Mass I knew of--the 6pm at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland. There was a special ceremony for students of local colleges who are going on service trips over their spring breaks, which, despite the weather here, is starting within the next week or two, depending on the college.

I'm amazed and fascinated by young people who make those trips--it was a rare thing back when I was in college way back when, and as the bishop pointed out, wasn't even on the radar when he was their age.

He also spoke about a woman and her daughter who asked to join him for dinner one night at the local McDonald's, and how he had no idea at the time of the significance of his decision to allow them to join him. (It was the woman who asked, and he wasn't particularly in the mood for company, but agreed.) It turned out to be a turning point in the life of the woman and her daughter, but he didn't learn that until years later.

Tonight I had a rare and wonderful thing happen--a bus home showed up just as I was leaving work, and I had enough time (just barely!) to catch that bus. On the bus was a young woman who'd endured with me one of those long, cold nights waiting for that bus to show up. She said she'd just been thinking about me and hoped I'd catch that bus, and that we'd be so happy to get home on time. Which is exactly what happened. But what made me pay attention to the situation wasn't so much her saying that, but that when she was on her cell phone (at the intersection facing St. Paul Cathedral) she spoke of someone named Noreen. Not me, but I rarely run across anyone who knows anyone named Noreen.

So now I'm thinking about the bishop, and McDonald's, and about being nice to people I don't know all that well...and how I'm going on this (sort of) service trip soon, not all that different, maybe, from what those college students are doing. Now if I could only figure out how to get college students to go on a service trip to Vietnam.

Bridges and Chilly Weather

2008-02-19T20:05:00.002-05:00

Near where I work, a major bridge--it handles over 20,000 cars per day--is closed while inspectors try to figure out why one of the approach ramps dropped eight inches about a week and a half ago. This unexpected closure combined with an in-progress construction project (right now at a stage where yes, another bridge is closed) is wreaking havoc on commuting.

Tonight the traffic was worse than usual, and I waited an hour in 20-degree weather for my bus. I wasn't alone, though, and met two other commuters waiting for the same bus.

I received news this week that the Hoi Yen Bridge, in Vietnam, is nearing completion. I'll be there with Friends of Danang for the bridge dedication. The people in these villages have dealt with economic hardship and one village was cut off from the larger village during the rainy season, which can last up to four months. I can understand their joy about a bridge opening. They've asked us to bring light jackets for them, since they've been having unusually cold weather in that part of the world. Standing for an hour in the cold tonight was a good reminder of the importance of having adequate outerwear.

Winter's Angels

2008-02-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

It's cold here in February. I should be used to it, but nothing makes Vietnam sound better to me right now than the promise of leaving sub-zero wind chills behind. Today, I was frozen out of my house. The moisture on the inside of my screen door and melted, and then froze, at the bottom of the door. I had to kick off the ice, and yank at the door handle, hoping that the glass panels didn't come tumbling out onto me in the process.

Once I got inside, and thawed a bit, I headed to the grocery store, and hoped my car would start again once I left the store. And--my friend Star would appreciate this--what came on the radio while I was in the car? One of Star's song cues, "Calling All Angels." (Star and I are convinced that our dads mess with our car radios.) When I left the store, I got into the car just before some big scary guy walked towards me, and I locked the doors and turned the ignition. The car started right up! And in my rear-view mirror, I watched said big scary guy walk through the parking lot. I would have been flipped out had my car not started.

Thanks, Angels!

I heard an odd string of songs on the car radio on Saturday just before my uncle called me to tell me he'd locked himself out of the house. I'd been planning on driving to the grocery store then, but something kept me from going...I was just driving around the East End laughing at the radio. And good thing, because I was about five minutes from the house when he'd called, and it was freeze-your-nostrils cold outside.

What would Angelina wear?

2008-02-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

This week I've had a few dear friends tell me they're praying for me and my upcoming trip. I'm not worrying about dying--maybe because I work in a hospital and death is never very far from me there. I'm worrying a little bit about the traffic, and the weather, but I can't control any of those things.

My main worry right now is clothing. On my first trip, I wasn't aware that the Vietnamese people would look so professional and proper, even in the heat and humidity. I felt very American in my t-shirts and cropped pants on the last trip. This time, I have been buying nicer tops on the 75% off clearance rack at Target. Since spring clothing is out now, I might have time to snag a few sale skirts before it's time to pack. Shorts are out, for both cultural and practical reasons--I have very white legs that mosquitoes might love.

I've made up in my head this Angelina Jolie standard: not just on the idea of looking good in tropical weather, but on the idea of the whole goodwill ambassador thing. Like, I'll be meeting diplomats. But not Brad Pitt (which is okay, because I'm just not into him.)

Talking with my neighbors

2008-02-06T18:43:00.000-05:00

Last night I spoke for about 30 seconds at the monthly Polish Hill Civic Association meeting. I was there at the invitation of my cousin, PHCA president Terry Doloughty. I talked about Friends of Danang, and my upcoming trip, and of donations I'm accepting (school supplies, gum, candy, toothbrushes, toothpaste, pony tail holders) for the children I'll meet there. My Polish Hill neighbor Mark Knobil was on the last trip with me, filming the WQED documentary "In Country: A Vietnam Story", and it was great to see Mark with the lovely Catherine last night. And I got to see many of the neighbors I've known my whole life, and talk with them about the trip. Someone mentioned the TV series "Northern Exposure" last night, and that little Alaskan town is a lot like Polish Hill. Quirky, inhabited by interesting people, a little isolated--even though we're in a medium-sized city. And speaking of Mark, he's got photos from Polish Hill, Vietnam, and much of the rest of the world on his Flickr site.

I'm going back!

2008-02-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready for my second trip to Vietnam with Friends of Danang. We depart on Friday, March 28, 2008. My cousin Gene is joining me on this trip. Gene's blog is here. He writes mostly about poker, but I have a feeling we'll both be doing a lot of writing on this trip.

Gene lost his uncle (my dad) in the Vietnam War, and earlier today I was talking to Shelby, the wife of my cousin Jim. Jim's dad is my dad's big brother, and Jim's mom served as a nurse in Vietnam. Shelby mentioned that Jim would be interested in going to Vietnam, except he couldn't put his mother through that. (And dad, too, I'm thinking.)

I debated that a great deal before I made the decision to go to Vietnam two years ago. I had no idea what it would do to my mom. I think she did okay with it, and I was able to stay in contact through this blog and through a midway-through-the-trip phone call. (Phone calls are difficult, with the 12-hour time difference, and expensive, something like a dollar a minute from the hotel.)

As for my going back, my mom and her fiance donated money for me to buy gifts for the children I'll see on this trip. They're a huge reason for my decision to return. There are other, more selfish reasons, as well, like the weather, and the food, and the shopping. And being able to go without a documentary crew following me around at least part of the time. Granted, they were great, but I felt like I was playing the role of "the daughter"--and I know I wasn't then, and never will be, representative of all of us daughters and sons who lost our dads in the war. We are just as different from each other as Vietnam veterans are from each other, all with our own stories, opinions and sometimes very raw emotions. And that's true not just of Americans but of the Vietnamese people as well.

This time, I'm going to be my sometimes goofy, sometimes serious self. I'm going to be Gene's cousin. (Hopefully I will behave better than I did back when we were sharing a playpen.) And I will still be "the daughter," one who is excited to know I'm going back to a place that, when I think back to being there before, seems like home.

This week a lot of the Vietnamese Americans I know are making the trip back to Vietnam for Tet, the lunar new year, a time to return home and spend time with their families, and to honor their ancestors. This also happens to be a difficult time of the year for my "little sister" Star, who started a blog of her own. You can read it here.

I hope some day Star, and my "little brother" Peter, might want to go to Vietnam with me. But even if that isn't a part of their journeys, I wish them the peace that I've somehow found--I still don't know exactly how it happened with me, but going to Vietnam definitely played a big role in it. (I think it was the children there.)

Memorial Day and dragonflies

2007-05-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

In a break from what has become my Washington, D.C. Memorial Day tradition, I stayed in Pittsburgh for the weekend. I attended a Memorial Day event at Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, next to the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. I got to spend a little time with my veteran friend Chris Moore (standing, in the left in the photo) and some other local veterans.

After the service for the local casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan, including a reading of a the names--we've had so many casualties in Western Pennsylvania--I drove through Schenley Park and Greenfield to Calvary Cemetery in Hazelwood. I took flowers to my dad's grave site, and I burned incense I bought in Vietnam, the same kind that we burned in the veterans cemetery in Tra Mi district in Quang Nam province.

My friend Samantha was in DC at the time, sending me text messages that the dragonflies were at the ceremony at the Wall. I waited for the dragonflies to show up at the cemetery. They never came.
Then today, after work, while I was standing at my bus stop on Fifth Avenue in Oakland, a dragonfly flew past me, heading towards the hospital.

Ladybug at the Wall

2007-05-27T08:57:00.000-04:00

My friends Samantha and Darlene are in Washington, DC this Memorial Day weekend. Sam's like me--her dad died in the Vietnam War. But she's also like me in other ways, too, as is Darlene, and I'm really missing hanging out with them this weekend. My grandma's in the hospital, so I felt it was best I stay here.

Sam sent me a picture phone photo from the Wall yesterday:

More on the book signing and Sen. Kerry

2007-05-14T05:25:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I said I'd be back to write about the John Kerry/Teresa Heinz Kerry book event on Saturday. It's habit, writing about book events, since that was a part of nearly every writing class I've taken at Pitt.

And this was an event with lots to write about.

Hearing it wasn't always easy, since the sound system wasn't so hot. Sen. Kerry took the cordless microphone and decided to try talking about halfway back from the stage, at the intersection of a wide book aisle. I was on the opposite end of that intersection, and I ended up with a much better seat than I would have if they'd stayed on the stage. I just wish I'd had my camera with me.

The book is about environmental challenges, and I could especially relate to the things Teresa said, about women being exposed to more chemicals, generally, than men--we have more contact with cleaning products and we put more chemicals on our skin (cosmetics, hair care products, face and body care products). Teresa talked about the possible link between those chemicals and the increased incidence of cancer in women.

Sen. Kerry talked about the environment, about how toxic wastes are dumped into rivers, killing fish or at the least rendering them too dangerous for humans to eat. I thought about my trip to Vietnam last year, and the environmental disaster of the Mekong and Perfume rivers. First the defoliants, like Agent Orange, and then the unregulated and heavy use of fertilizers to try to get things to grow there again. Both rivers are reportedly dead. Sen. Kerry also talked about pollution and coal plants, and my mind flashed back to this little town we passed through in northern Vietnam, a coal town where everything was covered in black dust. I remember people on the trip pointing out the windows and saying, hey, this must be how Pittsburgh used to look. It had been horrible--the bus driver had to turn off the air conditioning to stop pulling in the air from outside, but even so, we could smell it. It's the smell that I remember from my childhood, not a pleasant one, not one I can easily describe. It's a little like the smell of hot asphalt being rolled onto a road surface.

After the talk, I got into the book signing line and managed to get in a few words with Sen. Kerry:

Me: "My dad was killed in Vietnam..."
JK: (his face changed dramatically): "I'm so, so sorry. What year?"
(I have had vets ask me this question many times, as I can see the wheels turning in their minds, maybe wondering if they were in Vietnam at the same time as my dad.)
Me: "1969. I just wanted to say thank-you for the speech you gave on Veterans Day 2002 at the Wall, the one about Paul Wolfendale's Silver Star. You made me believe I could get my dad's Silver Star. And I did!"
JK (looking a little bewildered): "How did you know about that speech?"
Me: "I was there."

I couldn't hold up the line, but I would have loved to have talked more...it didn't seem right to bring up Vietnam and then have to drop it that quickly. That 2002 speech really did inspire me to get my dad's records straightened out.

There's a blog entry and comments on the event at johnkerry.com. The posts there link to photos and blog entries on other sites. I'm at the very left edge of the first crowd shot photo here.

I'm back, and so are the dragonflies

2007-05-12T16:42:00.000-04:00

Before I pulled out of the Waterworks parking lot this morning, I saw one, and then two, dragonflies buzz in front of my car.

It was not yet ten, and the sun was already blazing, and the inside of the car was oven-like. I'd parked in a vast sea of asphalt about three blocks deep and ten blocks long. No place for dragonflies, unless they'd come from the shores of the Allegheny River, on the other side of Freeport Road and the train tracks.

I've given up overthinking these things. I just feel them, and the dragonflies made me happy.

I'd gotten an e-mail on Thursday that Senator John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, would be speaking at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble on Saturday at 2pm, and then signing copies of their new book "This Moment on Earth." Free tickets would be available at the store at 9am. Since I've just finished a Nonfiction 2 class, and this was a nonfiction book, I decided to go. And I thought it'd be interesting, and fun. At 9:03 this morning, I pulled into the Waterworks parking lot, and walked over to join the line outside of the entrance.

Once I made it inside, I had a wrist band placed on my arm, the kind made of synthetic paper that amusement parks used. I had a number on it, 353, so I checked out the arrangement of reserved seats in one of the wider main aisles in the store, and I was on the end of a row, at the intersection with another wide aisle. Perfect! I thought. I didn't want to feel squished like I had when I'd been stuck mid-row at the South Side Works' Joseph-Beth Booksellers when my Nonfiction 1 professor Lee Gutkind had his reading and signing of his book "Almost Human."

I picked up two copies of "This Moment on Earth" (the signing limit was two copies), got a coffee and an oatmeal cookie at Panera Bread, and then walked to my car--and saw the dragonflies.

I'll post about the Kerry/Heinz Kerry book event a little later. Time to go to a birthday shindig.

Music and Grocery Stories

2007-01-31T22:22:00.000-05:00

I've been busying myself with writing this semester. (Eventually I will post some of that work here, I'm thinking.) Tonight, in a fit of cabin fever, I drove to Whole Foods in East Liberty, about a fifteen-mile drive from my--God help me!--suburban apartment. I'm growing more and more tired of not being in the city, where just about everyone I know lives. I heard the goofiest stuff on the radio on the way there, including The Cars and, once I got to Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield, Stevie Wonder.

Once I walked into Whole FoodsI had no idea what I was in there for, other than body lotion, so I picked up some vegetable soup base, a grapefruit, a frozen Indian entree, some arborio rice for making risotto--but I couldn't find the dried porcini mushrooms I needed. I wasn't too concerned. I was enjoying the music. I heard things in there that I haven't heard in years, like "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star. I was in my happy place.

I rounded the salad bar and saw a tall, familiar-looking man. He was a poet, I was sure, who was at a poems for peace event I went to last year. Then I was convinced he was Chevon Troutman, who'd played basketball for Pitt. I strolled my cart around to the desserts across from the salad bar, and I heard him say, "In Country: A Vietnam Story." And I knew! He worked on the music. And I jumped right into that conversation. He was talking to a woman who works at WQED, Jocelyn Hough, who is one of those people that knows so many of the same people I do, but I hadn't met her. Until tonight.

They mentioned that "In Country" is re-airing on WQED in February. And that I should shop there more often. And move back into the 'hood.

Here are the air dates I found on another web site--I hope they're right, and it'd be a good idea to double-check with wqed.org in a few weeks:

In Country: A Vietnam Story, Thursday, February 22 at 8pm; Friday, February 23 at 10pm, Saturday, February 24 at 1am; and Sunday, February 25 at 3pm.
In this encore airing, WQED's Chris Moore returns to Vietnam for the first time since serving during the Vietnam conflict in this moving documentary. Chris is joined by his two closest friends - Andrew Boone and Leroy Perry - as well as a humanitarian group of Vietnam veterans. Together they rediscover a country and its people last seen through the harsh lens of war.

On TV again

2007-01-12T05:38:00.000-05:00

Last night we had a Friends of Danang meeting at Thanh's house in Bloomfield. I got to meet the beautiful baby girl Thanh's niece Tuyet was carrying on our trip last March. She's a baby with black hair and huge rosy cheeks and dimples on her wrists and big, dark eyes and a huge smile. I remember Tuyet's gauzy maternity tops and thinking how gutsy she was for traveling that far and being out in that heat. But that's Tuyet's home, Vietnam, and last night when I talked to the baby I told her how she was on that trip with us.

While we were talking, someone came downstairs and said that we were on TV just then. "In Country: A Vietnam Story" has been re-airing on WQED--I had no idea it was on last night. I just checked the schedule and it will be re-airing one more time: this weekend late late Saturday (actually Sunday at 1am) on Pittsburgh station WQED Multimedia Channel 13.

It should be getting picked up by other public television stations across the country on a station-by-station basis. (It won't be on a PBS series, but will be put on a satellite feed where public stations can view it and decide if they want to air it.)

Just a photo

2007-01-08T05:25:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to write, really. I'm going through one of those phases where I'm having a hard time getting words out. So here's a photo of Freddy and Mom:

The best Christmas gift of all

2006-12-27T18:15:00.000-05:00

Freddy popped the big question on Christmas Eve. And my mom said yes. But before that, Freddy called and asked me and my grandmother if it would be okay. We said of course it would!

I did actually get some nice things for Christmas this year, but that was by far the best.

Christmas letters

2006-12-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

I've been busy, like everyone else, with the hustle and bustle of holiday preparation. The bus route on my way home, with three lanes of traffic in each direction and lots of malls, has in a sea of brake lights.

This morning, I had a message in my inbox--an unexpected one from a man I hadn't heard from before, who'd served with my dad. That has happened on a few occasions, but this one contained very clear memories of what he'd heard had happened on July 8, 1969 to their company. He'd been wounded prior to that, and was recovering in the "tent city" in Tam Ky. He's struggled with that, but I'm happy for his sake that he wasn't out there in the foothills where the ambush took place.

A few days ago I received a Christmas letter from the wife of another man who served with my dad, and I was saddened to learn that their oldest son is in Iraq, again. (I don't want to start counting the number of times he's been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan over the past five years and three months, or trying to imagine what that family has been through.)

Please keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers this holiday season, and remember that the effects of war aren't over once the troops come home.

Endings, and beginnings

2006-12-11T19:42:00.000-05:00

It's been a time of endings and beginnings for me. I've been wrapping up my fall semester's assignments and attending software training sessions and an all-day orientation for my new position in transplant surgery administration.

In the past week and a half, Bill Clinton's visited Vietnam and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visited Fallingwater. And I've had no time to blog about it. Doesn't matter.

What does matter: in a fluke that I can only describe as divine On Demand intervention, my friend Melissa managed to not just get "Unknown Soldier" to show up on her TV, but managed to tape it as well. We watched it last weekend with Melissa's friend Debbie while we sat around and talked and tried to figure out how to order pizza.

Really, we're not that dumb. But, we did have a wind storm the night before, which had rendered lots of places without phone service and electricity. The pizza shop down the road had a phone number that kept going to voice mail, so we couldn't figure out if they had power or not.

We eventually gave up and called another place, closer to where I live, and lucky for us they delivered that far. (It's not actually far. Just another zip code and another township.)

I watched "Unknown Soldier" again after that, from the tape, and every time I watch it I notice something different that I like, though the Vietnamese children seem to be growing more and more interesting...there's a lot going on with those joyful little faces. They, more than anything else, make me want to go back.

John Hulme's documentary

2006-11-29T06:07:00.000-05:00

It's almost the end of the semester. I have a ton of work to do between now and December 8. Before I forget to mention it, I wanted to post this: John Hulme's documentary "Unknown Soldier: Searching for a Father" is re-airing on HBO2 on December 11, 17 and 21. It will also be on HBO on Demand, from what I can tell.

I love this documentary--John's story in many ways parallels my own. John's dad's name is on the same panel of the Wall as my dad's name. They were killed within 10 days of each other. Like me, John is an only child, and we grew up in the same era. He's a few months younger than I am. But beyond that, I love "Unknown Soldier" for other things: the music, the cinematography, and especially the beginning--but I won't give that away. You'll need to watch for yourself.

And if anybody out there who has HBO2 or HBO on Demand and can pop in a VHS tape and tape this for me, I would much appreciate that. It's not yet available on DVD, and the one VHS I had of this is either lost in the Post-Gazette building or is in Vietnam. Don't ask.

Thanks!

Americans in Vietnam

2006-11-25T09:14:00.000-05:00

This morning I read part of an official statement on President Bush's visit to Vietnam, issued in Hanoi. As I'd expect, it's boring, and really doesn't say much of anything.

I think it's far more interesting that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie paid a suprise visit to Ho Chi Minh City on Thanksgiving Day.

Here's a fairly serious story from Australia's Herald-Sun: Brad and Angelina Tour Vietnam
and a brief story and a decent photo on CNN.com.

Vietnam is primarily a nation of young people--so they are very forward-looking. (And who can blame them, considering their country has such a sad recent past?) They have not had a lot of freedom of expression. Now that they are starting to get a sense of the outside world, I worry that maybe they have a collective inferiority complex--or maybe it's just that they are trying to find their own voice. They seem to be studying American culture, or, at least, American fashion and entertainment.

I think a lot of young Vietnamese are familiar with American movies, and could recognize American movie stars--except American young people rarely show up in Vietnam, and I bet American movie stars never do.

The fact that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie showed up and didn't get taken around the city in some limo with dark-tinted windows, but acted just like the Vietnamese, zipping around town on a motorbike, seems so cool to me. Adventurous. Crazy, maybe. Brave, even.

I hope that young Vietnamese people look at those photos of Brad and Angelina and think wow, they're cool. And maybe we're pretty cool, too. I mean, these movie stars showed up here and acted like us. Heck, they even looked like us, a little, carrying a package while riding with no helmets. (Note Angelina didn't wear a spaghetti-strap tank top, which would have been at least midly inappropriate.)

The Accidental Buddhist

2006-11-22T18:57:00.000-05:00

I've been reading "The Accidental Buddhist" by Dinty W. Moore. I met him rather accidentally at a party a couple of weeks ago, trying to make my way to the coat rack of a party at a writers' conference. My professor had stopped me to ask where I'd gotten the conference sticker I was wearing, and Dinty asked him, "Who's she?"

Of all of the writers there, Moore was the only one I'd heard of before my course's book selections were listed. Years ago, I'd started reading "The Accidental Buddhist" and had gotten sidetracked by something--I can't recall what--but in those days, I had a hard time keeping my nose in any book to completion.

I'm reading it again (the long commute I have by bus comes in handy), and this time, I'm going to finish it.

So much of the book makes sense now that I've been to Vietnam, things that wouldn't have made sense before. Like knowing what it's like to just sit. (I had to do that for hours upon hours on planes and buses on that trip.)

I'd made it through that trip without taking any reading material, in part because I'd wanted to travel light but mostly because I want to focus on the present, to take in every bit of the now that I could. I remember two kids in a Radio Shack, when I was foreign plug power adaptors, being freaked out when they asked if I were taking an iPod on the trip and I told them no.

One of the reasons I want to go back to Vietnam is to do that same thing again--to disconnect from the millions of distractions of life in an American city (and suburb) and to just look and listen and sit. Or attempt to cross the street in Saigon again, which is something that requires complete focus and faith that the other beings won't try to squash me like a bug.

The damage done in Da Nang in words and video

2006-11-19T09:07:00.000-05:00

In Vietnam, old foes take aim at war's toxic legacy, a November 13, 2006 piece by Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post Foreign Service about environmental toxins in Vietnam includes two very done video clips by Travis Fox.

Writers are writers

2006-11-18T22:45:00.000-05:00

Here's a Guardian story about Vietnamese author Bao Ninh. He uses himself to create a protagonist in thinly veiled fiction in his first book, which was wildly successful. And then he sits on a second book because he's worried, I think, that it won't live up to his first book.

I was at a writing conference last weekend and this sounds like the sort of scenario I would have heard there.

Saturday afternoon at Kerry's

2006-11-18T22:14:00.000-05:00

As soon as I walked in the door of my cousin Kerry's house, her young son, Jake, asked me, "Where is Phuong?"

Phuong had been with me the last time I'd been to their house, for a 4th of July party. Jake still talks about Phuong all of the time.

"She's back home, in Vietnam," I told Jake. I could tell by the look on his face I wasn't getting very far.

"She lives far, far way," I then said. "It's so far that it's already night time there."

Jake and I talked about Phuong off and on all afternoon. I told him it would take a whole day and night to get to her house if we got onto a plane. I told him it was so very far that I couldn't call her on my cell phone. (I suppose I could, if I'd had her number there, but it would have been the middle of the night.

I picked up some Chinese food for lunch that Kerry ordered from a place called A Wok in Heaven. It was good, and Jake and Samantha decided to have some rice with us. After lunch, I put on the Vietnam documentary tape.

"I want to show you where Phoung lives," I told Jake.

"I want to see Phuong. Is Phuong on here?" He asked.

"No," I said.

"Why not?" Jake asks good questions.

"Well, because she must have been at work," I said. That didn't make much sense, but I didn't know how to explain that back when I was in Vietnam, in March, I didn't yet know Phuong, and I really may have seen her at one of the food places we passed on our cyclo ride. Or she may have been at work. Probably not, since it was a Saturday when I was in Hanoi.

I thought about telling Jake how Phuong was busy covering the APEC conference and President Bush's visit, but I knew that wouldn't matter to him, or to any kid Jake's age.

"I miss Phuong," Jake kept saying. He told me he wants to go visit her. I told him I'd give his mom her e-mail address, and they can write to her.

Here's a photo of Phuong and Jake from that 4th of July party:

Veterans Day breakfast

2006-11-18T08:42:00.000-05:00

Friends of Danang Jewelry Show

2006-11-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

California designer Debbie Corr is displaying her hand-crafted, reasonably priced jewelry on Sunday, November 19 from 10am-4pm at the Chatham Hall clubhouse. It's in Chatham Village at 655 Pennridge Road, in the Mount Washington section of Pittsburgh. I attended last year and bought some beautiful jewelry for Christmas presents and birthday presents. Debbie is a talented, generous woman who will donate her profits on Sunday to Friends of Danang.

From McArdle Roadway and Grandview Avenue: Take Merrimac Avenue to right turn on Virginia Avenue, Left on Bigham Street (at the top of the hill), then bear left onto Pennridge Road to Chatham Hall.

If you're in the area and you've never seen Chatham Village and the beautiful Chatham Hall clubhouse, now's your chance. There will be refreshments and some comfy chairs and some great people to hang out with, too.

A sad anniversary

2006-11-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

I'd mentioned in the documentary that I'd had other friends who lost their fathers in Vietnam who'd traveled there. Today is the 41st anniversary of the day my friend Cammie lost her father, and her mom, Barbara, lost her husband. Jack Geoghegan was a second lieutenant in the 1st Cavalry Division, and a father, and a husband, and a son. He was portrayed in the movie We Were Soldiers. Barbara and Cammie were portrayed, too. Sometimes my mom and I wonder what that must be like for them, but I also know that it was important to include the families in the story, because they are a part of it. I know that when I decided to be a part of the documentary I thought about the decisions Barbara and Cammie must have made to be involved with the movie, and everything that went along with it.

Mom's back in Florida

2006-11-15T19:46:00.000-05:00

My mom made it safely back to Florida yesterday, only to be stuck inside most of the day because of heavy winds and rain and a tornado watch. You can check out the National Weather Service conditions and forecast here.

I had my nonfiction class last night, which went pretty well, and then this morning I had a mysterious PPPoE problem with my DSL, which, after the usual round of emails and phone calls it takes to get to a person, I got a solution to try when I got home. And when I did get home the problem had mysteriously corrected itself.

My next paper is due on Monday night, so it's going to be hard for me to write much here this week, as much as I want to--there is so much I need to add. I'm going to post a few short things and then head out to buy cat food before there's a mutiny in my apartment.

Column about "In Country"

2006-11-12T19:25:00.000-05:00

My friend Scott Beveridge has a column in today's Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter: An ugly reminder of an ugly war.

The puppets weren't home

2006-11-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

After the screening of "In Country" at WQED, we made a visit to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Comcast on Demand

2006-11-11T06:01:00.000-05:00

If you live in the Pittsburgh area and have Comcast on Demand, you may be able to still catch Thursday night's OnQ (though only for a few more days), and the documentary. I don't have Comcast on Demand so don't ask me how it works--I have no idea.

Happy Veterans Day

2006-11-11T05:52:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving in an hour or so to go to a Veterans Day breakfast. I've been reading the morning papers (online, of course), and found these Veterans Day stories.

WQED's 'In Country' tells story of return to Vietnam from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Military brides-to-be get ration of free gowns from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Soul Soldiers

2006-11-10T05:38:00.000-05:00

Post-Gazette staff writer Marylynne Pitz has a story today on the Post-Gazette web site about Soul Soldiers. The exhibit opens tomorrow and runs through October 2007 at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center in the Strip District.

Ready in 5, 4, 3...

2006-11-09T22:45:00.000-05:00

Here's me on the set of OnQ with Minette Seate just before airtime tonight:

Thanks to Joyce for snapping this for me!

Screening party

2006-11-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

Last night my mom and I were at the WQED Multimedia studios to see a screening of the documentary, "In Country: A Vietnam Story." We were there with about a hundred and fifty other people, and it was interesting for me not just to see the documentary on a big screen, but to hear how the group reacted to it.

The highlight of my evening was getting to talk with Minette Seate's mom, and it was fantastic to see Andrew Boone again. (I'll see him tonight, when he'll be on the panel with me on OnQ.)

Here's a photo of my mom chatting with Mr. Boone:

Wait til you see him in the documentary. He's great!

TV Times

2006-11-08T05:54:00.000-05:00

Just to clarify, here are the dates and times for what's airing on WQED TV (all airing locally in Pittsburgh--this is not on national PBS at this time):
Thursday, 11/9/06: 7:30pm-8pm, OnQ news magazine on Vietnam
Thursday, 11/9/06: 8pm-9pm, Vietnam documentary
Thursday, 11/9/06, 10pm-11pm, Vietnam documentary (rebroadcast)
Friday, 11/10/06: midnight-12:30am, OnQ (rebroadcast)
Friday, 11/10/06: 12:30pm-1pm, OnQ (rebroadcast)
Sunday, 11/12/06: 4pm-5pm: Vietnam documentary (rebroadcast)

OnQ appearance

2006-11-07T05:36:00.000-05:00

I'll be on WQED's news magazine show, OnQ, on Thursday, November 9. It repeats that night at midnight, and again on November 10 from 12:30pm-1pm. Here's the info from WQED:

THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 9
Cover Story: In Country: A Vietnam Story - OnQ previews this WQED-TV documentary.

Also Tonight: "In Country" producers and participants discuss their involvement in the documentary. OnQ host Chris Moore, who produced "In Country," welcomes co-producer Minette Seate, Tony Accamando and Noreen Doloughty of Friends of Danang and Vietnam veteran Andrew Boone.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette preview story

2006-11-05T08:53:00.000-05:00

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette preview story on the documentary is on the cover of the Post-Gazette's TV Week this week, and it's online, too. Former coworker of mine Rob Owen was kind enough to include a mention of me and that I'm a former Post-Gazette employee.

It feels weird knowing that Rob may have seen this thing before I have. And it doesn't feel weird because he's a TV editor, it feels weird because he's somebody I know.

Here's another Dino DiStefano photo, from a van moving through the countryside in northern Vietnam:

WQED's press release

2006-11-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

The WQED press release on the Vietnam documentary includes some photos and a video clip--which is similar but not identical to the preview clip that ran on WQED in July.

Here's one of the photos, Dino's shot from a moving cyclo in Saigon:

Payback for stealing bottles

2006-11-02T20:01:00.000-05:00

Continuing on the theme of cousins on my dad's side of the family: Back when my cousin Gene and I were babies, he was the quiet, meek one, and I was a few months older and a whole lot louder and more aggressive. Aunt Debbie claims I used to steal Gene's bottle, until finally he slugged me. But I can't remember.

What I do know is that yesterday I was flipping through the latest issue of Pittsburgh magazine (the issue with new mayor Luke Ravenstahl on the cover, and featuring Pittsburgh's 40 under 40), seeing what was in there about the Vietnam documentary. A story, but no mention of me, and I'm nowhere to be seen in the photos. Then I flip to the beginning of the issue and find a story about blogs, and right there in the collage of screen shots is my cousin Gene's poker blog.

I got out my cell phone and called him from the bus.

"Gene," I said to him, "You stole my issue of Pittsburgh magazine. I was supposed to be in here!"

Gene laughed and went on to tell me this story about how he'd been in Aruba, and Chico Harlan from the Post-Gazette wrote a story including Gene...only, by the new "courtesy title" rule shoved down the throats of PG copy editors, he's "Mr. Bromberg."

Mr. Bromberg wasted no time in getting that Pittsburgh magazine piece online on his blog. He didn't even credit me for tipping him off to it...Mean Gene is living up to his name. I'm entertaining thoughts of wrestling beer bottles out of his hands on Thanksgiving.

Our newest family member

2006-10-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

Aiden Ryan Doloughty with his dad, my cousin Jimmy (named after my dad): Aiden was born on October 27, 2006: eight pounds, three ounces, 21 inches. Mom Shelby is (I hope!) resting. She was in labor for quite a long time.

An American prisoner

2006-10-27T05:47:00.000-04:00

From today's Washington Post: A Prisoner of Global Impact: American Held in Vietnam Complicates U.S. Trade Ties. So many Vietnamese-Americans return to visit Vietnam that it must have a positive economic impact in Vietnam. I can't help but wonder if this is discouraging Vietnamese-Americans from visiting Vietnam, and if it is, my guess is that those who would suffer most (economically and otherwise) are the family members of Vietnamese-Americans who still live in Vietnam.

But what really scares me here is the idea of George Bush going into Vietnam and trying to free a prisoner.

Minette's Vietnam Adventure

2006-10-25T20:49:00.000-04:00

Check out WQED Multimedia producer Minette Seate's Vietnam Adventure travel diary.

The Tillmans

2006-10-25T05:57:00.000-04:00

I was reading washingtonpost.com a few days ago and found an AP article mentioning a piece Pat Tillman's brother, Kevin Tillman, wrote for truthdig.com. So I went to that site and read it, and it stuck with me. (That's a difficult thing for commentary to do for me these days, especially since I'm taking this nonfiction class.)

A few minutes ago I went to my friend Karen Spears Zacharias's blog to see what she's been writing lately. And what's there? A post with the Kevin Tillman piece. You can read it on Karen's blog, here. Like me, Karen knows first-hand what it's like living in a family of a soldier who's been killed during a war. So does Kevin Tillman.