WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.320 align:middle line:84% And I'm going to shift gears and read some newer work. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:06.280 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:11.200 align:middle line:84% So as Aria mentioned, so I found my mother's English language 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:14.760 align:middle line:84% workbook from the '90s when she first came to the US and her 00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:17.800 align:middle line:84% notebook and her own notes as well. 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:19.515 align:middle line:84% So I've been playing around and trying 00:00:19.515 --> 00:00:21.640 align:middle line:84% to subvert and just experiment with the forms found 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:23.165 align:middle line:90% in those books. 00:00:23.165 --> 00:00:25.040 align:middle line:84% And also just thinking of my own relationship 00:00:25.040 --> 00:00:27.640 align:middle line:84% to English and Vietnamese like language 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:31.840 align:middle line:84% as a site of connection and dislocation. 00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:36.060 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to read a poem about discovering that workbook, 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:37.500 align:middle line:84% and I wanted to read some as well. 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:39.520 align:middle line:84% I have slides just because there are visual elements so I just 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.895 align:middle line:84% wanted you all to see some of it. 00:00:40.895 --> 00:00:44.630 align:middle line:90% And also, I'm a visual person. 00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:46.880 align:middle line:84% Discovering my mother's English language workbook from 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.640 align:middle line:84% the '90s titled Hooray for English. 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:51.160 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:51.160 --> 00:00:54.280 align:middle line:84% On the cover, a monkey steers a rocket ship. 00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:56.660 align:middle line:84% Inside, a blonde astronaut smiles, 00:00:56.660 --> 00:00:59.000 align:middle line:84% waved into space by an Asian family 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:01.900 align:middle line:84% Who I imagined lassoing the curve of the moon, 00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:04.300 align:middle line:90% the hard C of constellation. 00:01:04.300 --> 00:01:07.860 align:middle line:84% I watched my mother's path between past and future tense, 00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:10.980 align:middle line:84% waiting for her handwriting to soar, to arrive fully 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:13.100 align:middle line:90% formed and fluent. 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:15.380 align:middle line:84% Outside these pages, I struggled through years 00:01:15.380 --> 00:01:17.500 align:middle line:90% of basic Vietnamese. 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:19.520 align:middle line:84% My parents threatened me with language classes, 00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:21.020 align:middle line:90% but I was never worried. 00:01:21.020 --> 00:01:24.780 align:middle line:84% The Viet church far, their work hours long. 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:27.740 align:middle line:84% Those two springs my father drove me to CCD, 00:01:27.740 --> 00:01:30.540 align:middle line:84% He stayed in the car while I faked prayers and made 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:32.580 align:middle line:90% the sign of the cross. 00:01:32.580 --> 00:01:35.220 align:middle line:84% He read the papers with arms stretched wide, 00:01:35.220 --> 00:01:39.040 align:middle line:84% Trying to catch all the words, seat fully reclined. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:42.020 align:middle line:90% Newsprint lettering his dreams. 00:01:42.020 --> 00:01:44.580 align:middle line:84% After mass, I tapped his window gently, 00:01:44.580 --> 00:01:47.540 align:middle line:84% afraid to pull him back into this world. 00:01:47.540 --> 00:01:50.420 align:middle line:84% The sky poured forth the alphabet. 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:53.700 align:middle line:84% We spelled our futures on the fogged windshield. 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:56.540 align:middle line:84% Inside, on a dark shelf, a different life 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:58.600 align:middle line:90% quivered in my mother's throat. 00:01:58.600 --> 00:02:01.120 align:middle line:90% 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:03.190 align:middle line:90% Let's see if this works.