Introduction to this blog

This summer, there are two things that I devote myself to: my mother and writing. Luckily for me, in many ways, they're inseparable. My mother is the first bad-ass feminist that I know (blog coming soon). And yet there’s so much more about her that I don’t know. Now that my semester in DC is over, I am crawling back to my mother’s care. For at least half of my summer, I want to grow under her love, nurture, and poetic deliverance.  At the same time, I want to take care of my mother more than ever: She who has given me so much, the moment that she decided I shall be born when everyone else protested to when she surrendered her Vietnamese passport in exchange for the future of her two daughters. There is a Vietnamese proverb: KHÔNG CÓ GÌ BẰNG CƠM VỚI CÁ, KHÔNG CÓ GÌ BẰNG MÁ VỚI CON, which means “there is nothing compared to rice and fish, just like there is nothing compared to the mother and her child..” Likewise, my mother and I are complementary of each other, and together, we continue to feed each other spiritually and physically.

Secondly, I seek to build myself a fortress by blogging. Writing has always a powerful tool for healing for me. It enables me to process, reflect, and transform my thoughts, often chaotic and noisy, into coherent and powerful written experiences. From third grade (when I first came to the US) to high school, I've had about 20 diaries and since college, more than 8 blog sites. I admit, the numbers raise a point about my inconsistent and sporadic nature with writing. However, it also means that I’m a writing addict and relapses are frequent.
This site is a space for me to voice in and record my thoughts as a 22-year old woman living the summer before she graduates from college. Many blogs will be in English, but there will be ones in Spanish.I will cover just about anything that occupies my mind and disturbs my sleep.

As an amateur writer, although I feel insignificant to make claims of impact, I hope that by occupying the border-free online world, my words can reach others who need to hear a voice that resonates with their perception and experience. Yet my blog is not meant to liberate or heal anyone but me. I don't have that right, credential, or responsibility. My blog is a point of reference for cultural, political, and intellectual reconsideration. I hope to trigger a smile, a nod, a uh-oh, even flared nostrils and furrowed brows because disagreement is okay and even good.
Once again, I write purely because it liberates me. It empowers me. Una representación tanto como una prescripción, la escritura me tranquiliza. When I am writing, I breathe in stillness and deep. I close my eyes and feel myself floating on my back in the ocean, face and body absorbing rays of sunlight.
If you're reading this, you too are body floating in the ocean, I hope you will find ways navigate the storm.