#dec 5 2016

[inabluedr3am]

yaaaaas

[loonathearchivez]

이달의소녀탐구 #34 (LOONA TV #34)

[asianamsmakingmusic]

OUT OF THE MARGINS :: Michael Nhat

Sometimes you can be Vietnamese and still not be Vietnamese enough. But, in truth, the diaspora yields many stories, many formulations of heritage and parentage--not all of which lead back to traceable roots, or the recognizably sorrowful sentiment often associated with separation from family or cultural loss. This extra November post for Out of the Margins makes space for one of those voices. Michael Nhat is a rapper and poet, a voice rendered from a genuine periphery, a displaced of the displaced. And he speaks/sings boldly from this indeterminate diasporic space.

“I Am To Us What Blacks Are To Africa” by Michael Nhat

As (f)ar as I’m concerned, I’m a prototype for us in the future cause I don’t write or know my own culture kind of like Africa is to black Americans yeah they laugh at ya If you go back to the – motherland I didn’t plan an upbringing with a white man I understand my mom didn’t want me Women starting families don’t give away their babies so maybe; I’m mixed (and my) Mom got raped by Americans; with No intent to raise me or save me I was fucking found by a river like crazy So if you hate me – because I wasn’t taught what you was Guess what it don’t matter cause your oppressors Are mine too, I don’t receive lesser racism than you – They see a gook No matter what I speak or do or consume or eat cause I’m an immigrant And a refugee from the war you never hear us when stories of struggle are brought up in Hollywood They focus on slavery and Latinos cause they could not feel sympathy cause they don’t know we suffer They bury that with accents and yellow fever lovers You motherfuckers don’t give us respect So when I turn to my own they look at me like heck he ain’t really Asian, much less Vietnamese How do you think that makes me feel? Alone really I’m building something for us because I care about us too bad you don’t feel the same I’m an asset to the game

–

There was a war in Vietnam four decades ago. Hundreds of villages were bombed, leaving innocent people without homes, jobs, or food for themselves – let alone their children. Thousands of these children, many of whom were born as the result of rape by or prostitution to soldiers from the invading army, were taken in by families in other countries.

Michael Nhat is one of them. Found abandoned in a basket near the Soc Trang Aka Khanh Hung delta, he was adopted by an Iowan couple and has grown into a powerhouse of a rapper with primal, vivacious beats to accompany his raspy, world-weary voice. He’s on a warpath to put hip hop on a different bearing.

This post is part of diaCRITICS’ Vietnamese American Literary Series, OUT OF THE MARGINS, launched in 2015-16. The series curates literary work from poets, writers and artists of Vietnamese-American and Vietnamese diasporic experience. Our mission is to create an inclusive, diverse, provocative, ongoing space for voices and visions from this community, thus bringing them out of the margins. Dao Strom is the series editor and curator.

[citysouthnorth]

Eunice knows that she shouldn’t be caught reading this book, but can’t stop herself.  It’s that good.  

Savage's signature sultry style brings us a red-headed Irish horsewoman, her English gentleman lover, and a passionate, lawless Spaniard. Their adventures take many a twist and turn on the way to a surprise ending in this stirring romantic adventure story. Read book HERE.

(“Bandit Love” by Juanita Savage was published in 1931, so maybe she received an advanced reading copy.)

[waxahatchee]

idk i feel?? really bad? i was officially diagnosed with PTSD today but my trauma doesn’t compare to what other people have gone through? I haven’t seen people die, I wasn’t abused or hurt directly. my whole story of being traumatized and how i wound up with the diagnosis is so convoluted and twisted into my gender identity and transition. it’s so confusing and doesn’t make much sense. at the core of it all i was hurt and terrified and everything was completely out of my control and i thought i was going to die soon, but. nothing like other people have gone through. i feel so relieved to have the diagnosis so i know im not making it all up but still? i just feel shitty idk