Kimberly Pariyavanh

ASA 2, A03

Blog #7

1 November 2015

Response to “Creating Identity, Defining Culture, and Making History from an Art Exhibit: ‘Unfinished Story: A Tribute to My Mothers’”

            This article reminded me about my own parents and their identities. As I am getting older and trying to understand my own identity as a Laotian-American, I sometimes feel that my parents may not understand what I am going through. After reading this article, it brought up thoughts of what my parents went through with their own identities as Laotians and how did it merge with the American culture; something that was unfamiliar. My parents and oldest brother immigrated to the United States from Laos around the 1990s. My parents and I do not talk about politics or their personal opinions on other topics often, probably because I do not know the words in their native tongue to have a proper discussion. I wonder if they ever saw protesting on the news and ever wanted to join or if it became an issue to discuss among their friends whenever they got together for lunch on Sundays. I also wonder what their relationship is like with their home country, Laos. Do they still feel connected? Did they feel a clash of identities as they started to become accustomed to the life in the United States? I hope to have these questions answered someday.

Question: Is Chau Huyunh still known to be an infamous person within that particular Vietnamese-American community?