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I teach Great Books and history at Pepperdine University

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Elevating Trịnh Công Sơn studies: Part 2

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Elevating Trịnh Công Sơn studies: Part 1

On April 18, I had the pleasure of participating in the day-long conference about Digitizing Vietnam (DVN) at Columbia University. John Phan, its executive director, and other DVN folks did a terrific job putting it together. The focus was digital humanities and AI regarding the present and future of Vietnam studies. By the end of the day, I wasn’t alone in feeling the vibes that this project was…

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The challenge of studying the history of Asian American Catholics

In New York City for a conference on Vietnam studies, I took the training northward after the conference and spent a working day at the Maryknoll Mission Archives (MMA). My purpose was to take a preliminary look at some documents about Asian American Catholics, mostly during the twenty-year period that followed the Second World War and preceded the Immigration and Nationality Act of…

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Vietnam studies at AAS 2026 in Vancouver, BC

This is the first annual AAS conference in Canada since 2017 (Toronto), and the first ever in Vancouver. The following information comes from the AAS online program. Several panels are exclusively on Vietnam studies, and they appear in full below, and in blue. Otherwise, first is the session’s title then information about the presentation (whose number indicates its order on the panel) and the…

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Sue Hudacek RIP

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St. Louis Jesuits: the peak of their music

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The journey continues: My experience of early promotion to full professor

This is a follow-up to a post from five years ago, when I was promoted to associate professor with tenure. In September 2024, I applied for accelerated promotion to full professor and got it. My experience isn’t representative of American academia since it may be different at other institutions, especially R1 (which mine isn’t). That said, I hope this post offers a few insights and pointers about…

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Five recent history articles albeit not in Vietnam Studies

Books in history (and, more generally, the humanities) are held in much higher regard than articles, and it’s part of my job to read a lot of then, But I prefer reading articles over books. One reason is that articles allow for a feel about subject matters beyond your field. Another reason is that it doesn’t take as much time to read them as you do books. (AI, of course, may eventually change all…

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Five recent articles on Vietnam studies + one podcast

Previous posts on “recent articles” include one from 2016 and two from 2019. This one is on the following articles: Ryan Wolfson-Ford, “The Partitioning of Laos: Lost Voices from both sides of the Mekong River in 1893 and the creation of modern Laos,” The Journal of Lao Studies, vol. 8 (December 2024): 1-21. Duong Van Bien, “The Global Catholic Missionary Societies and the Spread of Marian…

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The greatest Vietnamese Christmas album

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Commute listening: Mahler's first five symphonies

Several years ago, Pierre Long Tang, then a Pepperdine faculty, told me with a touch of despair that undergraduates couldn’t listen to Bruckner because his symphonies are too complex and too long for their attention span. I’d imagine they felt somewhat the same about Mahler. We live in an age of minuets and scherzos apt for TikTok, not oratorios and concertos. And certainly not symphonies from…

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Pat Costello RIP

It has happened twice. In winter 2008 I drove from South Bend to the Twin Cities for a few days visiting my family. I learned that Art Spring, the founder and former director of the honors program at my alma mater, had died. His funeral took place on the same day that I learned about it, and it was too late to drive up to St. Cloud. I learned the news from Joe Tadie, who added that Pat Costello,…

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Using ChatGPT in my classes: Part 1

I didn’t think a lot about the uses and misuses of AI during 2024-2025, but they were somewhat in the back of my mind. Then a month ago, I decided to use AI (mostly ChatGPT) in my classes during this semester (mostly Great Books I with first-year students). I am happy to report that so far, it has gone well enough. Continue reading Using ChatGPT in my classes: Part 1

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The first Vietnamese American cover band

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Two murders of 4 persons each in their sleep 37 years apart

A coincidence of two horrifying events occurred this month. On July 16, a Wednesday, it was announced in Minnesota that David Brom would be released to a halfway work house after 37 years of incarceration. Brom had been convicted of murdering his parents and two younger siblings in the early hours of February 18, 1987 while they were sleeping. He was 16 at the time of the familicides, and was…

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Two surprises during a visit of the LBJ Library

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The most Romeo-and-Juliet song in Vietnamese music

That is, in Western-style music and not traditional music. There are many tragic stories in cải lương. For example, Chuyện Tình Lan và Điệp has been compared to the story of Shakespeare. I’ve never found the romance of Lan and Điệp to be remotely like Romeo and Juliet, and vice versa, but it’s another discussion for another time. Continue reading The most Romeo-and-Juliet song in Vietnamese music

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