NCVA eREPORTER - November 1, 2005

The National Congress of Vietnamese Americans' NCVA eReporter is a regular email newsletter containing information on grant/funding opportunities, events/forums/conferences, available internships and news items pertinent to the Vietnamese American and Asian Pacific American communities.

In this NCVA eReporter:

EVENTS

• DOL’s Opportunity Conference on Nov 9, 2005
• 2005 Gala Fund-Raising Dinner: Trafficking of Vietnamese Women and Children – Nov 11, 2005
• CAPAVA Education Forum “Here We Are; Hear Our Voices” – Nov 16, 2005

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

• Cluster Leadership of the HRSA Health Disparities Collaborative Grant
• California Council for the Humanities Announces California Story Fund Guidelines, Special Consideration for Hurricane Katrina-Related Projects
• Balance Bar Offers Individual/Team Grants and Community Grants
• United States Golf Association Offers Funding for Projects to Make Golf More Accessible
• Call for Grant Applications New Voices National Fellowship
• Bush Clinton Katrina Fund Provides Disaster Relief
• Toyota USA Foundation Grants for K-12 Math and Science Education
• Brookdale Foundation: Relatives as Surrogate Parents Program
• Grants for Social Justice Litigation
• Food Lion Charitable Foundation Supports Community Programs
• Learn and Serve America Community-Based Grant Program
• Learn and Serve America School-Based Grant Program
• Learn and Serve America Higher Education Grant Program

JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

• Harvard Scholarships for Families with Income Below $40,000
• City Project Director

TIPS/RESOURCES

• Find the Lowest Gas Prices
• Marketing:  Don't resist telling your story
• Independent Sector Checklist for Accountability

NEWS

• Logo Contest - Vietnamese American Heritage Project at the Smithsonian Institution (Announcement)
• Sale of Viet Mercury Troubles Bay Area Vietnamese (New America Media)
• UN refugee agency takes in 54 Vietnamese Montagnards in Cambodia (Agence France Presse)
• US commission wants Vietnam to remain in religious rights blacklist (Agence France Presse)
• U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Visits Orange County (Orange County Register)
• Asian-Americans debunk stereotypes (Salt Lake Tribune)
• SEARAC Appoints New Board Chair (Press Release)
• Minority communities fear they will lose political clout (Associated Press)
• Generations under one roof (Indianapolis Star)

Speaker and Panelists for "Here We Are; Hear Our Voices"

• Ginny Gong, Keynote speaker, National Organization of Chinese Americans, President
• Kathleen Leos, Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition
• Joe Tijerina, Minority Community Outreach Coordinator, National Education Association
• Vicky Phung, Student, Annandale High School
• Li-Lin Sun, Counselor, Kilmer Middle School
• Kurt Waters, Social Studies Chairman, Centreville High School
• Nguyen Ngoc Bich, Chairman of the Board of the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans
• Asheesh Misra, Social Studies teacher, Marshall High School
• My Lan Tran, Virginia Asian Business Assistance Board
• Kevin North, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Fairfax County Public Schools
• Aaron Kwon, student, Mountain View Alt. High School

We hope you can join us on November 16th and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Ting-Yi Oei
President
Coalition of Asian and Pacific Americans of Virginia

(http://www.capava.org)

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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

CLUSTER LEADERSHIP OF THE HRSA HEALTH DISPARITIES COLLABORATIVE GRANT

WHO: Public and private, non-profit entities that are working throughout their State or region with health centers and/or other community-based providers with missions and governance structures similar to that of health centers.

WHAT: The purpose of this funding opportunity is to provide cluster-level leadership for Health Disparities Collaboratives (HDC) training and technical assistance to health centers and to other community-based providers partnering with health centers in the HDC.

WHEN: Applications are due November 15, 2005.

AWARD AMOUNT: Anticipating five awards totaling $6,589,000.

CONTACT: Cicely Nelson at (301) 594-4496 or cnelson@hrsa.gov

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT:
(http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/HHS/HRSA/GAC/HRSA-06-061/listing.html)

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CALIFORNIA COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES ANNOUNCES CALIFORNIA STORY FUND GUIDELINES, SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR HURRICANE KATRINA-RELATED PROJECTS

Deadline: December 1, 2005

The California Story Fund is one of the grant programs of California Stories (http://www.californiastories.org), the California Council for the Humanities' (http://www.calhum.org) statewide initiative that seeks to strengthen California communities through story-based public humanities projects.

Through $7,500 grants awarded regularly through a competitive process, the California Story Fund supports public humanities programs that bring to light compelling stories from California's diverse communities and provide opportunities for collective reflection and discussion.

For the December 1, 2005 deadline only, the council has announced a special request for proposals for projects that document the stories of Gulf Coast residents evacuated to California in the aftermath of Hurricane  Katrina and make use of the humanities in exploring those stories. Such proposals may request funds up to $15,000.

Projects must be sponsored by a California not-for-profit organization or municipal/state agency. At least one humanities expert  must be involved in the design and implementation of the project. California Story Fund projects should have a total project budget of not more than $30,000; for Hurricane Katrina-related projects the total budget can be up to $50,000.

An application will be available on the council's Web site on November 1, 2005.

(http://www.calhum.org/guidelines/guidelines_ca_story.htm)

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BALANCE BAR OFFERS INDIVIDUAL/TEAM GRANTS AND COMMUNITY GRANTS

Deadline: Various

As part of its commitment to helping people enjoy a healthy active lifestyle, the Balance Bar Food Company (http://www.balance.com) offers grants to help individuals, teams, and community organizations pursue their goals.

Balance Bar Individual/Team Grants provide financial support to enthusiasts and amateur athletes who passionately pursue activities that enrich their lives. Individuals and teams can apply for a grant amount ranging from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $10,000. (Deadline: March 15, 2006.)

Balance Bar Community Grants provide financial support to enable communities and organizations to passionately pursue physical activities that enrich their lives. The grant must be dedicated to a project that will provide organization members, as well as community residents, with opportunities to lead healthy, active lifestyles. Organizations with 501(c)(3) status can apply for a grant amount ranging from a minimum of $1,000 to a maximum of $25,000. (Deadline: August 30, 2006.)

(http://www.balance.com/grants/default.aspx)

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UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION OFFERS FUNDING FOR PROJECTS TO MAKE GOLF MORE ACCESSIBLE

Deadline: January 20, 2006

Since 1997, the United States Golf Association (http://www.usga.org/) has been awarding grants through its "For the Good of the Game" Grants Program in an effort to make golf more affordable and accessible.

Through this effort, the USGA supports organizations that use the game and its life lessons as a vehicle to improve the quality of life for individuals and for society in general. This ten-year, $50 million dollar initiative has focused on positively impacting economically disadvantaged youth and individuals with disabilities through instructional programming and golf facility construction projects. Additionally, the USGA supports the introduction of youth to the game and to the golf industry through caddying and other work-based programs.

The USGA will consider funding requests for the following items: golf course and practice range access; golf instruction; golf equipment, including adaptive golf equipment for individuals with disabilities; transportation; and construction costs for alternative, beginner-friendly golf courses and golf facilities in areas where there are obstacles to affordable access to the game

All grant recipients must have tax-exempt status.

(http://www.usga.org/aboutus/foundation/grants/philosophies_guidelines.html)

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CALL FOR GRANT APPLICATIONS NEW VOICES NATIONAL FELLOWSHIP

AED Announces Next Competition for 12 New Grant Awards to Support Nonprofits and Promising New Leaders Committed to Social Justice and Peace. Sponsored fields of work include: *Human Rights *HIV/AIDS *Migrant and Refugee Rights *Racial Justice *Reproductive Rights *Women's Rights

The two-year grants, worth about $100,000, offer support for salary, fringe benefits, financial assistance, leadership training, mentoring, and a professional development account for a promising new leader. The applying nonprofit and its prospective Fellow prepare an application together as a team. Grant applications and eligibility criteria are now available from the New Voices web site at www.aed.org/newvoices

The deadline is February 13, 2006.

For additional information or to join the program mailing list, please contact by e-mail at newvoice@aed.org, by phone at  202-884-8051, by fax at (202) 884-8407, or by mail at: New Voices/AED 1825 Connecticut Ave, N.W.Suite 744Washington, DC 20009

Natalia M. López
Deputy Director
Academy for Educational Development
New Voices National Fellowship Program
1825 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 884-8607 (ph)
(202) 884-8407 (fx)
nlopez@aed.org

(http://www.aed.org/newvoices)

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BUSH CLINTON KATRINA FUND PROVIDES DISASTER RELIEF

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, former Presidents Bush and Clinton established the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to provide relief and rebuilding resources to help the victims of this disaster. The Fund welcomes proposals from community organizations and state and local governments supporting initiatives that fill in the gaps and unmet needs of families and communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. Requests are reviewed on a rolling basis.

(http://bushclintonkatrinafund.kintera.org/grants)

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TOYOTA USA FOUNDATION GRANTS FOR K-12 MATH AND SCIENCE EDUCATION

The Toyota USA Foundation is committed to improving the quality of K-12 education by supporting innovative programs that improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science. Priority is given to systemic math and science programs that are broad in scope and incorporate interdisciplinary curricula, "real-world" classroom applications and high student expectations. Grants are made to accredited higher education institutions, community colleges and vocational or trade schools, and to nonprofit organizations engaged in pre-collegiate math and/or science education. K-12 public and private schools may not directly apply to the Foundation. Applications are accepted throughout the year.

(http://www.toyota.com/foundation)

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BROOKDALE FOUNDATION: RELATIVES AS SURROGATE PARENTS PROGRAM

The Brookdale Foundation focuses on the needs and challenges of America's elderly population. The Foundation’s Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) is designed to encourage and promote the creation or expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of surrogate parenting, due to the inability of parents to do so. The program awards seed grants of $10,000 over a two-year period to local agencies that provide services to relative caregivers and to state agencies that address the issue of relatives as surrogate parents. The application deadline for local agencies is January 12, 2006 and the deadline for state agencies is February 9, 2006.

(http://www.brookdalefoundation.org/relativesasparents.htm)

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GRANTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE LITIGATION

The Impact Fund awards grants to nonprofit legal firms, private attorneys and/or small law firms who seek to advance social justice in the areas of civil and human rights, social and environmental justice, and poverty law. The Fund makes grants of up to $25,000 to pay for out-of-pocket costs and expenses of substantial class action and impact cases. The Fund is particularly interested in requests addressing systemic deprivations of constitutional or statutory rights in the following areas: post-9/11 cases involving denial of rights under the guise of “Homeland Security;" criminal justice and immigration; and education access and equity. The next deadline for pre-applications is November 14, 2005; proposals are due November 22, 2005.

(http://www.impactfund.org)

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FOOD LION CHARITABLE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

The Food Lion Charitable Foundation provides support for nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the communities in the Eastern U.S. served by Food Lion stores. (Visit the company's website at www.foodlion.com to access the "Store Locator.") The Foundation's general grantmaking categories include primary and secondary education, feeding the hungry, and local charitable organizations. Preference is given to organizations that involve company employees. Grant requests are accepted at any time and are reviewed quarterly.

(http://charitablefoundation.foodlion.org/)

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LEARN AND SERVE AMERICA COMMUNITY-BASED GRANT PROGRAMS

The purpose of this grant competition is to promote the development and sustainability of high-quality community-based service-learning programs in youth-serving community organizations across the nation.

(http://www.learnandserve.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa_detail.asp?tbl_nofa_id=18)

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LEARN AND SERVE AMERICA SCHOOL-BASED GRANT PROGRAMS

The purpose of these grants is to involve young people between the ages five and seventeen in service-learning projects that simultaneously support student development and meet community needs in areas such as the environment, education, public safety, and other human needs.

(http://www.learnandserve.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa_detail.asp?tbl_nofa_id=17)

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LEARN AND SERVE AMERICA HIGHER EDUCATION GRANT PROGRAMS

The purpose of these grants is to expand participation in community service and service-learning by supporting innovative community service programs carried out through institutions of higher education that act as civic institutions to meet the human, educational, environmental, or public safety needs of neighboring communities.

(http://www.learnandserve.gov/for_organizations/funding/nofa_detail.asp?tbl_nofa_id=19)

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JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

HARVARD SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FAMILIES WITH INCOME BELOW $40,000

Harvard is offering free tuition for students that have a family income below $40,000. If you are a mentor or have nieces and nephews who might be interested, please give them this information. If you know any one/family earning less than $40K with a brilliant child near ready for college, please pass this along.

In making the announcement, Harvard's president Lawrence H. Summers said, "When only 10 percent of the students in Elite higher education come from families in the lower half of the income distribution, we are not doing enough."

"If you know of a family earning less than $40,000 a year with an honor student graduating from high school soon, Harvard University wants to pay the tuition."

From now on undergraduate students from low-income families can go to Harvard for free...no tuition and no student loans! To find out more about Harvard offering free tuition for families making less than $40,000 a year call the school's financial aid office at (617) 384-8213 or visit Harvard's financial aid web site at:

(http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/hfai/)

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CITY PROJECT DIRECTOR

KCCD Mission
KCCD is a non-profit faith-based organization, which serves as a bridge between the Asian American Community and the greater community at large in connecting and creating private and public collaborations. Our mission is to maximize the capacity of Asian American faith-based organizations and other community non-profits to remove the cultural, language and economic barriers by increasing their access to resources and funds in order to assist low income individuals and revitalize neighborhoods.

City Project Director Job Definition
The City Project Director (CPD) is responsible for the development and establishment of the Korean Churches For Community Development Youth Workforce Program (KCCDYWP) sub-grant project. This is part of the $5 million grant from U.S. Department of Labor to assist at-risk and adjudicated youth and young adults. The CPD will implement and coordinate project activities, and build capacity of the project and its sub-grantees to ensure successful project outcome. The CPD is also responsible for implementing, and supervising organizational and program activities.  The CPD will coordinate and monitor operational activities as related to program and staff working with local faith and community based organizations.

Distinguishing Characteristics
The City Project Director is a management position, which functions as a member of the supervisory staff and reports to the Director of Operations. The classification is distinguished from other positions by the responsibility of providing capacity building and the activities for local KCCDYWP sub-grantees and local community agencies such as the Local Workforce Investment Board, Juvenile Justice Agency and other agency personnel involved in the local implementation, capacity building, coordination and monitoring of the KCCDYWP grant program.

Essential Functions
*  Serves as liaison between KCCD and KCCDYWP sub-grantees. Maintain open and continuous communication with agency representatives, the community, general public and other interested parties via phone, e-mail and through correspondence as directed by the Operations Director.
*  Represents KCCD on committees and panels as assigned and represents KCCD at public meetings and makes public presentations.
*  Plans, organizes and coordinates the activities of personnel involved in the development and implementation of KCCDYWP grant program.
*  Coordinates and/or participates in meetings with representatives from other agencies or community representatives.
*  Develops program policies and operating procedures, and coordinates implementation under the direction of the Director of Operations.
*  Contributes to the development of polices, procedures, personnel protocols, staff development, fiscal and other business matters.
*  Analyzes program requirements and objectives to ensure program compliance.
*  Assesses program priorities and objectives and makes action recommendations to the Director of Operations.
*  Provides capacity building activities such as training and technical assistance to ensure successful performance measures for sub-grantees.
*  Monitors sub-grantees for contract compliance.
*  Advises or makes recommendations on the problems presented by sub-grantees to provide guidance and direction to ensure successful project outcome.
*  Compiles and prepares general reports on program activities, outcomes and overall program performance and disseminates related reports.
*  Reviews correspondence, reports and other materials and relate to appropriate staff.
*  Develops local KCCDYWP grant program manual including documents and general instructions on policies and procedures and presentations.
*  Coordinates and/or develops special events to promote the KCCDYWP program, which include developing flyers and/or other collateral materials, and other related activities.
*  Utilizes a personal computer and various software including case management.

Other Functions
Perform other duties of similar nature or level as required.

Employment Standards
Graduation from an accredited college or university with a BA or BS degree in Sociology, Business, Management, Public or Business Administration, or in other relevant field.  Three years of experience supervising staff that serve youth and/or families of underserved populations in a community/faith based or human services environment or two years of responsible supervisory experience.  An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to obtain the necessary knowledge and skill to successfully perform the essential duties of the job may be considered.

Additional Requirements:
Possession of a valid State issued driver¡¯s license at the time of appointment is required.

Knowledge of: relationships between local, state and federal governments, public interest groups and private enterprise as they affect and interact with the non-profit sector; knowledge of faith based social and workforce development service providers, the principles of public administration, organization, and management; methods of performing complex administrative, organizational and procedural analyses; training and technical assistance; organizational and functional structure of faith and community based organizations; computer applications.

Ability to: independently research, analyze and make effective recommendations on programmatic, practices, procedures and problems; research, compile and analyze statistical and other data; write reports in a logical, comprehensive, concise manner; prioritize workload efficiently, without direct instruction, to meet deadlines under changing conditions; exercise initiative; facilitate, coordinate and negotiate between staff members of different organizations, departments and offices; acquire subject matter expertise in grant program and special projects; initiate and develop efficient, cost-effective policies; prepare reports and present ideas orally and in writing; win and maintain confidence and cooperation of others and establish and maintain effective work teams.  Ability to speak Korean is highly desirable.

Skill in:  Implementing new programs, using a computer and related software applications, handling multiple tasks simultaneously, conducting research, preparing reports, communicating both orally and in writing sufficient to exchange or convey information and to receive work direction.

Knowledge of Korean culture desired, or at minimum knowledge of working with underserved populations.  Experience working with faith based organizations desired. Bilingual English/Korean a plus.

Salary: Depending on Experience

To Apply
Please call (213) 984-4243 or email kccdonline@yahoo.com with your resume and salary history.

For more information visit our website at http://www.KCCD3300.org

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TIPS/RESOURCES

FIND THE LOWEST GAS PRICES

Just plug in your zip code and it tells you which gas stations have the cheapest prices (and the highest) on gas in your zip code area.

It's updated every evening.

(http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx)

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MARKETING – DON’T RESIST TELLING YOUR STORY

Despite, or maybe because of, the good intentions in the nonprofit sector, there can be a feeling of resistance to marketing.

In his book Marketing Management for Nonprofit Organizations, Adrian Sargeant acknowledges this resistance, but he offers suggestions to help overcome a feeling that marketing is not worthy of those in nonprofit work.

Sargeant calls marketing both a concept and a function. As a concept, marketing is a philosophy that places the customer at the center of everything. As a function, it involves research, design of new services and the pricing, distribution and promotion of them. Further, he looks at the typical objections to marketing and presents answers to them.

Marketing invades an individual's privacy. Poorly planned and executed campaigns may target individuals who want to be left alone, but nonprofits are reaching out to people anyway, and they should be refining their targeting.

Marketing lowers perceived quality. This confuses marketing with plain advertising. And there is no reason to think that marketing an organization would result in a drop in quality.

Marketing is immoral. Manipulation is what is immoral, and a sell-at-any-cost mentality can be self-defeating. Organizations that market make it clear who their target groups are, and they focus on supplying services to clients.

Marketing will stifle innovation. There is a danger that an organization will go astray by trying to match its services to a perceived customer profile. There is no reason to think that marketing will necessarily drive an organization away from its mission.

(http://www.nptimes.com/enews/tips/marketing.html)

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INDEPENDENT SECTOR CHECKLIST FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

The Checklist for Accountability, developed by the Independent Sector, outlines actions every charitable organization can take to strengthen transparency and accountability. Because creating an accountable organization is an ongoing process, board and staff members should review recommended practices regularly and adjust their rules, methods and communications as needed. The steps listed in the Checklist will help every charitable organization reassure its stakeholders of its commitment to upholding the public trust vital to earning support and fulfilling its mission.

(http://www.independentsector.org/issues/accountability/Checklist/index.html)

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NEWS

LOGO CONTEST – VIETNAMESE AMERICAN HERITAGE PROJECT AT THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

For the Vietnamese American Heritage Project at the Smithsonian Institution, the D. C. Working Group, which is assisting the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, is sponsoring a logo design competition for the creation of a logo for the Vietnamese American Heritage Project (VAHP). VAHP is a project by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program that covers 30 years of Vietnamese American culture and history. The exhibit part of the project will open in late 2006 and tour the country for three years. For more information, please visit www.apa.si.edu/vietam

VAHP aspires to embrace, foster, understand and promote the Vietnamese American experience. This project will honor the history of survival, sacrifice, and rich experiences of Vietnamese Americans.

The winning entry will receive national recognition on the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program website, will be publicized in Vietnamese American newspapers, receive a framed copy of their winning entry and corporate sponsor gift bag.

LOGO CRITERIA
* An original design.
* Logo is viewable as color and as black and white
* Can be a design with or without words.
* Contestants may submit more than one entry.
* Individual or team entries will be accepted.
* Winner must sign over copyright to the Smithsonian Institution but will be credited for the design on their web site.

SUGGESTIONS
* An effective logo that will withstand the test of time.
* Resonate with various audiences--not just Vietnamese Americans--but the world class audience of the Smithsonian Institution.
*  Incorporate images that stimulate the visual and cognitive elements.
* Be a scaleable version so the logo can be used for the website, letterhead, posters, flyers, etc.
* Incorporate imagery related to Vietnamese American life, culture, experience.

DATES & DEADLINES
* Logo entry must be postmarked or emailed on or before Monday, November 21, 2005. Email to tthuynvy@gmail.com or deliver to 5112 Connecticut Ave #204, Washington, DC 20008. Include your name, email address and phone number.
* The D.C. Working Group will select three finalists and submit them to the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program and they will make the final selection of the winning entry. All entries will be acknowledged.
* Winning entry will be announced on December 19, 2005.
* All decisions are final.

(http://www.apa.si.edu/vietam)

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October 26, 2005

SALE OF VIET MERCURY TROUBLES BAY AREA VIETNAMESE

Andrew Lam
News Report/Analysis, New America Media

Editor's Note: The sale of a news weekly once deemed a promising partnership between mainstream media and an ethnic community could leave Vietnamese in Silicon Valley without an important news source. Some community members believe money from Vietnam is behind the sale.

SAN FRANCISCO--Unlike some ethnic enclaves, the Vietnamese-American community in Santa Clara county, Calif., does not lack for news in its own language. If anything, the community can access more news than a mainstream population reading in English only.

Three Vietnamese daily newspapers, half a dozen weeklies and several monthly magazines cater to a Vietnamese-American population of 125,000, not to mention radio and television programs and an array of Web sites. The largest of the weeklies, Viet Mercury, was owned by the San Jose Mercury News, which has a bureau in Hanoi and shared its content with its English daily, adding a wealth of original information, in a non-advocacy role, into the mix.

As one longtime Vietnamese reader in San Jose put it recently, "You read the Viet Merc and the San Jose Mercury News for information. You read community papers to know where the community stands on the issues and when to protest."

That unique mix of editorial missions may be ending, however, as the San Jose Mercury News recently sold its Vietnamese-language weekly. Viet Mercury has reportedly been bought by Jim Nguyen, a former sales employee of the weekly who now heads a group of Vietnamese-American businessmen. Its last issue will be Nov. 11.

In an Oct. 21 press release announcing the sale, San Jose Mercury News Publisher George Riggs said that "buyers from the Vietnamese community" will "continue to serve the Vietnamese-reading community with the No.1-read publication in that language." The Mercury News simultaneously announced the closure of its nine-year-old Spanish weekly Nuevo Mundo.

Publishing since 1999, Viet Mercury was distributed free and had a circulation of 35,000. It began with great promises in the heyday of dot-com money, and was in the eyes of many media observers a new kind of marriage between mainstream and ethnic press -- one perceived to be lucrative, and a trend.

Back then it made sense. The majority of the Vietnamese-Americans in Silicon Valley are still first-generation immigrants. Though most are functional English speakers, many prefer to read in their own language. Many also have achieved financial success, owning real estate and small businesses.

"Santa Clara county's Vietnamese community is a major market, with an estimated buying power of 1.8 billion," wrote the Mercury News in 1999 as it launched the Viet Mercury. "Growing in size and buying power, this is a valuable audience for any advertiser."

That was before dot-com failures and before 9/11. After the high-tech bubble burst and the economy swooned, advertising revenue plummeted. Competition among ethnic media grew fiercer. While other Vietnamese-language newspapers were operating on the cheap, often out of small offices and with part-time employees, Viet Mercury had a large staff under high union rates. With those high production costs, it lost money.

Yet the weekly arguably had much higher professional standards than others in its field. One case in point was the story of Bich Cau Thi Tran, a Vietnamese woman shot dead in her own kitchen by a San Jose policeman on July 13, 2003, as she held a vegetable peeler that resembled a knife. From July 14, 2003, to August 30, 2003, the Mercury News ran 29 stories on the incident, and Viet Mercury published 16. Cali Today, a five-times-a-week paper, produced 12. Seven different reporters covered the Tran case for both the Mercury News and the Viet Mercury, three of whom were Vietnamese-Americans. None of the Vietnamese-owned papers could match such firepower and professional standards.

But such an operation became unsustainable when the economy worsened.

"With Americans, commerce is No. 1," Nam Nguyen, editor and publisher of Cali Today, whose Vietnamese readership spans the Bay Area as well Sacramento, recently told the Orange County-based Nguoi Viet newspaper. "But with Vietnamese, even if you operate at a loss, you still try to run the paper because your community still needs a voice."

In a sea of community-based newspapers, however, the Viet Mercury's voice was unique, defining its role as providing "objective" information. It tended to cover stories "down the middle," as De Tran, soon-to-be former publisher of the Viet Mercury, once explained. It left the role of advocacy to others.

Nguyen Qui Duc, host of "Pacific Time," a syndicated weekly radio program on KQED in San Francisco, says he hopes the new owners of the Viet Mercury will maintain the objectivity and balanced reporting that the original owners cultivated. The new paper "can be an advocate of the community -- which is the normal role of newspapers in ethnic or minority communities -- but it need not abandon quality or fall into the trap of running only articles that don't raise eyebrows," Duc says. The Vietnamese community, he says, has matured and will not support anything less.

Quynh Thi, executive editor of Vietnam Daily in San Jose, said that when Viet Mercury first launched she worried about competition, but soon found it operated in a different universe. "We're a daily, they're a weekly. Our advertisers are also different, more community-based. Many of the Viet Merc's are big corporations."

But she added that the community is very curious about the sale. "What everyone is talking about now is who are these investors? No one seems to have come forward," she says.

One Vietnamese journalist in San Jose who would only speak anonymously repeated a growing rumor in the community: that "money from Vietnam is behind the sale." In recent years, various Vietnamese citizens have bought businesses and real estate in California. Jim Nguyen, the journalist noted, had a hand in bringing San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh together as sister cities a few years back. Could he have brought Vietnamese money to the United States to buy media as well?

As of this writing, Jim Nguyen has agreed to a later interview to respond to all the rumors. The community, in the meantime, is watching closely the evolution of the weekly.

PNS editor Andrew Lam is author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" (Heyday Books, 2005).

(http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=69e47c249bf5181a85c19e1dd6ba9004)

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October 27, 2005

UN REFUGEE AGENCY TAKES IN 54 VIETNAMESE MONTAGNARDS IN CAMBODIA

Agence France Presse

PHNOM PENH - The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has taken 54 Vietnamese Montagnards seeking asylum into its care in Cambodia, the largest group since August, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Hundreds from the mostly Christian ethnic minority group have been fleeing into Cambodia from Vietnam's troubled Central Highlands since April 2004, with many claiming they have lost their land or been persecuted for their religion.

"On Monday and Tuesday we picked up 45 people and on Wednesday, yesterday, we picked up nine," UNHCR spokeswoman Deborah Backus told AFP by telephone from northeastern Ratanakiri province, where they were found.

She said the group included 11 children, as well as single mothers who said their husbands were in Phnom Penh or resettled in a third country, and teenage boys who claimed that Vietnamese authorities had taken their family's land.

"Not all of their land, but a lot, so they can't sustain themselves with their families anymore," she said.

The group also included several people who came simply because other people in their village had decided to come, she added.

The last batch of Vietnamese Montagnards were brought into care in August after 21 of them made the arduous trek through malaria-infested jungles into Cambodia.

In 2005 alone, 243 refugees have had their asylum claims accepted and been resettled, mostly in the United States, as well as Finland and Canada. Sixteen Montagnards left for Canada on Monday.

Aside from the 54 in Ratanakiri who would begin being transported to the capital this week, another 298 Montagnards were now under UNHCR care, Backus said.

Cambodia's interior ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said claims for asylum would be granted based on interviews with UNHCR, and that rejected asylum seekers would be returned to Vietnam.

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October 27, 2005

US COMMISSION WANTS VIETNAM TO REMAIN IN RELIGIOUS RIGHTS BACKLIST

Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON - A US Congress-mandated commission has asked the State Department to retain Vietnam in a blacklist of religious rights violators.

Vietnam should be maintained as a "country of particular concern" in the department's annual religious freedom report," the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said at a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.

The report is due to be released soon.

"We have been encouraged by the Vietnam government's promises over the past year to improve conditions for its ethnic and religious monorities, but we remain disappointed that promises have not yet been translated into positive change," said Michael Cromartie, the commission's chairman.

"Though there have been some releases of prominent religious prisoners, recent events suggest that repression of the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief continues," he said.

Cromartie said although the State Department entered into an "agreement" with Vietnam in May this year for the communist state to implement religious reforms and consider releasing prisoners to avoid more stringent actions, there had been little concerted action.

"The actions taken thus far to carry out the aforementioned agreement only signal promises of improvement and not actual measurable progress," he said.

"Restrictions on all religious groups continue, but pressure recently has been the most acute on the Mennonites, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, ethnic minority and "house church" Protestants, and the Hoa-Hao Buddhists," he added.

Vo Van Ai, the Paris-based spokesman for the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, told the hearing that the group remained a "major target of repression in Vietnam."

After almost three decades in detention, the group's patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, 87, and his deputy Thich Quang Do, 76, "are still prisoners in their monasteries simply for their peaceful advocacy of religious freedom and human rights," he said.

About half of the 80 million Vietnamese are Buddhists.

Huoang Henry Lee of the National Hoa Hao Buddhist Association said Vietnam detained in August 12 Hoa Hao Buddhists for demanding greater religious freedom. One of them died after self-immolation to protest the action while many others were jailed.

Christopher Smith, the Republican Representative for New Jersey, said one of those jailed was Vo Vanh Thanh Liem, who had "courageously" testified in a US Congressional hearing on human rights last June.

"Whatever the purported charges, these actions can only be interpreted as a deliberate retaliation for his cooperation with the House of Representatives," Smith said.

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October 28, 2005

Asian Perspective: Missing local color
U.S. AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM VISITS ORANGE COUNTY

ANH DO
ASIAN AFFAIRS, Register columnist, anhdo_2000@yahoo.com

For the hundreds of thousands of immigrants rising up against communism, there's only one image to cling to: the flag of their beloved South Vietnam, the flag with three red stripes, splashed across a sunburst yellow.

They wave it boldly in the wind in Little Saigon.

And had the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam come there Thursday, during his first visit to Orange County, he might have learned just how strong those colors are.

Michael Marine, just over a year into his post, talked about topic after topic at different venues on a daylong tour, stopping at UC Irvine, a town hall meeting in Newport Beach and finally a dinner in Anaheim.

On avian flu, he warned that it's crucial for the government in Hanoi to spend – as it is doing – $33 million to vaccinate poultry to try to prevent a global pandemic.

On HIV and AIDS, he noted that Vietnam is one of 15 priority countries chosen by President George W. Bush for emergency assistance, receiving $27 million this year and $33 million next year.

On the relationship between the United States and its old enemy, he said: "Very few countries have fought against each other" the way these two have fought each other and still work together, calling it "a model we should be able to duplicate elsewhere."

"It's not just the work of embassies and officials that can build bridges," said Marine, polished and prepared.

He urged his listeners to see the Vietnam of today, the Vietnam where he has toured 25 of 64 provinces, "not the Vietnam people have a tendency to focus on of 35 years ago.

I could easily follow his comments – until he tackled religious freedom.

"There are definitely individuals who are suffering," he said. "But the vast majority of Vietnamese are able to practice their religion freely," adding that 20 million people practice their beliefs weekly "without interference."

"What do you mean?" I ask him, when given 15 minutes to chat one on one.

Catholics, Buddhists and Protestants are allowed to worship, he said.

But in one of the most repressive societies on Earth, he sees a lack of seminaries and new churches.

He also sees hope: for increased trade, increased investment, increased cultural exchanges.

Speaking to university students and staff, he said it is U.S. policy "that we recognize the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. We recognize their flag, not the other flag, and I don't believe it's helpful for that flag to receive official recognition."

To my countrymen this is an emblem that tens of thousands have died for – that many still would die for. An emblem that supporters in the cities of Garden Grove and Westminster have pushed to pass ordinances allowing Vietnamese-Americans to fly at official gatherings.

"In your home or your place of business, you have every right to fly whatever flag you want," Marine acknowledged.

"I recognize and sympathize with their pain," he said of the individuals scarred by war, who refuse to embrace any flag that doesn't belong to the home they left behind.

But Marine said it's not constructive to rally "around a symbol of a government of the past."

The ambassador's visit had been planned for more than two months by the Vietnam Education Foundation, whose board chairman is Frank Jao, widely known as the "godfather" of Little Saigon.

Yet Marine drove by Little Saigon. He explained that he was unsure whether going to the area would fit with his goal of talking with community leaders and answering their questions. He didn't mix with the masses.

If he had rubbed shoulders with them, perhaps he might have understood. Better.

This column on Asian communities and cultures appears every other Friday in Local. Please contact Do at: nvdailynews@gmail.com.

(http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_738081.php)

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October 28, 2005

ASIAN-AMERICANS DEBUNK STEREOTYPES
U. forum: The student panel is part of Asian American Awareness 2005 at the university

By Jennifer W. Sanchez
The Salt Lake Tribune 

Michelle Lee is used to the stares and whispers.

At 6 feet 4 inches, that's usually the reaction the 19-year-old gets from strangers. She's taller than her mother, father and most of her friends.

Lee, a University of Utah sophomore, says she hates the stereotypes that Asians are short or tall people should play basketball. She's Chinese-American and is a swimmer.

"I'm proud to be tall and Asian," she says. "It makes me unique."

Lee was one of five U. students who talked about Asian-American stereotypes during an hourlong panel Thursday on campus.

The student panel is part of Asian American Awareness 2005, a series of events from Oct. 21 through Nov. 10, focusing on Asian-American issues.

Sylvia Nunez, a U. business junior, says she doesn't like it when people automatically assume she's not American because she "looks like a minority."

"When people ask me, 'What are you?' I say, 'I'm a girl. I'm American,' '' she told the audience of 15 people.

Her mother is from Laos, located between Thailand and Vietnam, and speaks Lao. Her father is from El Salvador and speaks Spanish. Nunez doesn't speak either language and considers herself Laotian-American because that's the culture she knows best.

"We were born in America, so that makes me American," she says.

Dana Ngo, a U. pharmacy junior, moved with her family from Vietnam to Utah when she was 5 years old.

Growing up in West Valley City, she says her parents always taught her about her Vietnamese roots at home but she also had to learn how to be American at school.

"It was difficult to balance both," says Ngo, vice president of the university's Asian American Student Association.

In society, students say the most common Asian-American stereotype that drives them crazy is being the studious "model minority."

"They think we're all smart and good in math," Lee says. "Sometimes, people say, 'Oh, they got that job or got good grades because it's easy for Asians' - instead of saying they worked hard."

Students say teachers sometimes overlook Asian Americans who might be having problems in school because those students are supposed to be the smart ones. Asians and Pacific Islanders make up about 4 percent of the university's 30,000 students, according to school records.

"It can be stressful," says Nunez, the student association's president. "What if you don't excel in school, or you're not good in math, or your family doesn't have a high income or fancy car?"

Still, students say there are even stereotypes among Asian Americans. Asian Americans who don't know or deny their culture, traditions or language are called "twinkies" or "bananas" - meaning, they are yellow (Asian) on the outside and white on the inside.

“You look like an Asian, but you act white," Nunez says.

For Paul Fisk, who's Anglo and a quarter Japanese, discovering his Asian roots is crucial.

Fisk says his dad was born and raised in the Midwest, but he was not allowed to speak Japanese and told he needed to be American.

Fisk, a 24-year-old graduate student, says he wants to learn more about his Japanese culture and "who I am," starting with the history of Japanese Americans.

"Now, I'm just trying to find everything we lost," he says.

If you go
Here is a list of events for Asian American Awareness 2005:

* Tuesday: Asian American Issues Across Diverse Subjects, a faculty panel. Noon to 1 p.m. University of Utah, Olpin Union, West Ballroom. Free

* Nov. 7: Seams of Color, a fashion show, noon, University of Utah, Olpin Union, Saltair Room. Free

* Nov. 10: Book signing by Eric Liu, author of The Accidental Asian and Guiding Lights: The People Who Lead Us Toward Our Purpose in Life, 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. University Bookstore, 270 S. 1500 East. Free; Also, Passing it on: Race, Culture and Education. Keynote speaker: Author Eric Liu. 6:30 p.m., Salt Lake Main Library, Fourth Floor Auditorium, 210 E. 400 South. Free.

For information about the events above, call 581-5206.

(http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3159326)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, October 28, 2005

CONTACT:
Doua Thor, (202) 667-4690, doua@searac.org

SEARAC APPOINTS NEW BOARD CHAIR

In September 2005, SEARAC appointed a new board chair - Mrs. Phitsamay Sychitkokhong Uy.  Mrs. Sychitkokhong Uy comes to SEARAC with a wealth of community experiences.  Early on in her career, she began working with Southeast Asian American teachers in California.  She has since worked with the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth, National Coalition of Advocates for Students, and the Anti-Defamation League.  Phitsamay's board experiences include serving on the Asian American Resource Workshop, the Chea Uy Trust Fund, and the Institute for Asian American Studies.  She currently works as a researcher at the Education Development Center and as the Solicits Editor for the Harvard Educational Review while finishing her Ed.D at Harvard University.

SEARAC's out-going board chair, Bouy Te has this to say about Mrs. Sychitkokhong Uy, "Phitsamay will be an invigorating leader to SEARAC.  She has the skills and determination needed to advocate for the Southeast Asian community and move forward SEARAC's mission.  Overall, she brings a fresh perspective connecting current Southeast Asian American leaders to those of the next generation."  Mrs. Sychitkokhong Uy will serve a two-year term, which began October 1, 2005.

In existence for over 26 years, SEARAC is a national organization advancing the interests of Cambodian (http://www.searac.org/cambref.html), Laotian (http://www.searac.org/laoref.html), and Vietnamese (http://www.searac.org/vietref.html) Americans through leadership development, capacity building, and community empowerment. SEARAC serves as a coalition-builder and leader, carries out action-oriented research projects, and strengthens the capacity of community-based organizations such as mutual assistance associations (MAAs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs). SEARAC also fosters civic engagement among Southeast Asian Americans, and represents the communities at the national level in Washington, DC.

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(http://www.searac.org)

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October 30, 2005

MINORITY COMMUNITIES FEAR THEY WILL LOSE POLITICAL CLOUT

By Steve Lawrence
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO - Voters in an area of Orange County known as Little Saigon played a key role last year in electing the first Vietnamese-American to serve in the California Legislature.

But some advocacy groups worry that the Asian voters who helped elect Assemblyman Van Tran, like minorities in other communities, could lose that type of clout if Californians approve Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure on Nov. 8.

"We support reform, but it has to be the right reform," said Eugene Lee, an attorney for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a civil rights organization that serves the Asian and Pacific Islander community. "We think that Proposition 77 is a misguided attempt at reform that will make a bad process even worse."

The proposition, one of eight on the special election ballot, would remove the Legislature's power to draw legislative and congressional districts and give those duties to a panel of three retired judges.

The former judges, known as special masters, would be required to draw compact districts that divide cities and counties as little as possible.

A current requirement that district lines respect geographic regions would be dropped, eliminating an argument for maintaining so-called "communities of interest" based on race or other factors.

The revised standards could end up dividing minority areas such as Little Saigon that are spread across more than one city.

"If it separates communities, their needs are going to get diluted ...," said Mary Anne Foo, executive director of the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance. "Because it's aggregated right now in one area, it's much easier for their needs to be listened to."

Not all minority organizations are opposed to Prop. 77, however. Nativo Lopez, a Democratic activist-turned Green Party member who heads the Mexican American Political Association, said its changes would create a better system than exists today.

"What we currently have now is the fox in the chicken coop," he said.

Lawmakers drew lines after the 2000 census to protect incumbents and the interests of the two major political parties "to the detriment of the electorate generally and Latinos specifically," he said.

Schwarzenegger has argued for reforming the way districts are drawn as a way to increase competition for open seats and bring more moderate lawmakers to Sacramento. To make his point, he notes the November 2004 election, when not a single one of the 153 state legislative and congressional seats up for grabs changed party hands.

Tran, a 40-year-old Republican attorney from Garden Grove, also supports Prop. 77. He said the state's Asian-Pacific Islander communities were shortchanged after the 2000 census "by political bosses more concerned with party politics."

"Even my district was gerrymandered to have less API voters to make it more Republican," he said.

Little Saigon, which includes parts of Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley and a slice of Santa Ana, is mostly in the 68th Assembly District now, Foo said.

In June 2004, strong support among Little Saigon's Vietnamese Americans, who made up 15 percent of the voters in the 68th District, enabled Tran to defeat fellow Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes for the GOP nomination, according to the "California Target Book," which analyzes legislative and congressional races.

Winning the primary assured Tran of victory in November in the heavily Republican district.

Similar situations exist elsewhere in California, including San Francisco, where the 12th Assembly District stretches across the San Mateo County line to take in Daly City and create the most heavily Asian district in the state.

There are other minority communities in the eastern San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles region that could be harmed by Prop. 77's requirements, opponents say.

The initiative also requires the judges to attempt to draw new districts for next year's June primary, reducing a process that normally takes several months into a few weeks so they can meet a series of pre-election deadlines.

That leaves little time for minority communities and others to lobby the judges to protect their interests, said John Trasvina, senior vice president for law and policy with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The judges are "going to need a crash course in geography and diversity to really understand communities of interest," he said. "Californians don't necessarily follow geographic lines."

Ted Costa, the political activist who launched the Prop. 77 campaign, said the complaint that the former judges will have little time to get public input before drawing lines for 2006 raises "a good, legitimate concern."

But he said the current districts are "so repugnant they should not be used again."

"If someone feels there's a community of interest that crosses three cities, they should let the masters know about that," he said.

Lawmakers did a "good but not perfect" job of protecting minority group interests in drawing the current districts, said Bruce Cain, a redistricting expert who heads the Institute for Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.

"The Latino elected officials thought it was a pretty good plan," he said.

California's 53-member delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives includes two Asians, four blacks and eight Latinos. The 120-seat Legislature includes seven Asians, six blacks and 28 Latinos.

Even so, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund challenged the 2001 redistricting under the federal Voting Rights Act. The group claimed that lawmakers drew four congressional districts and two state Senate districts to protect white incumbents from Latino challengers.

A federal appeals court rejected the lawsuit, saying the districts didn't violate minority rights because the ability of Latino candidates to attract white votes had improved.

How the courts would rule in lawsuits challenging lines drawn under Prop. 77 is uncertain, Cain said. The courts have cracked down on drawing districts only to maximize the clout of minority groups, but going too far the other way also can draw judicial objections, he said.

"What's the right level for compactness? Who can say?" he said. "Similarly ... if you try to do a plan which absolutely minimizes the number of city and county splits, you could end up diminishing minority representation."

Prop. 77 also has the potential of reducing the number of minority lawmakers because the judges could not consider where members of the Legislature or Congress live in deciding where to draw district lines.

That could result in two or more legislators or members of Congress living in the same district and running against each other for re-election.

Asian communities such as Little Saigon could have trouble proving a redistricting plan violated federal requirements, Cain said.

To win a court case under the Voting Rights Act, members of a minority community would have to prove that they constituted a cohesive political group and a majority of voters in a "reasonably compact area." They also would have to show that voters of other backgrounds wouldn't support their candidates, Cain said.

"Because Asian candidates tend to get votes from the white community and don't have levels of population concentration that equal 50 percent, it's very hard for them to win in voting rights cases," he said. "The brutally frank answer is that the Voting Rights Act probably won't protect Little Saigon."

(http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/13035493.htm)

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October 31, 2005

GENERATIONS UNDER ONE ROOF
Vietnamese tradition fades as children adopt Western values

By Truong Phuoc Khanh
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Like generations before them in Vietnam, the Truong clan -- grandparents, parents and children -- lived under one roof in America, carrying forth a cherished custom borne from the twin bonds of duty and love.

So when Truong Dinh Tai married about five years ago, he brought his bride, Duong My-Loan, to live in that same home. His mother cooked for the family and mixed herbal remedies; his father dispensed wisdom and tended the garden. Soon, there were babies, and the extended family grew to six in the five-bedroom compound in South San Jose, Calif.

At 80, Truong Dinh Suu's role as patriarch, head of family, has never changed.

"Technically, legally, I would be head of household," said Tai, an electronics technician. "But by culture and tradition, parents are first. They are above me."

Tai, 37, is among the oldest of the first batch of Vietnamese-Americans born or raised in the United States in the three decades since the fall of Saigon. For him, the extended family is natural and beautiful. But for the newly maturing generation in line behind him, filial obligation is no longer an expectation but a question mark. The choices 1.2 million Vietnamese-Americans make will determine whether the custom of extended family survives.

The Western practice of young people leaving the core family is "almost the antithesis of the Asian" cultures, said social psychologist Susan Newman. "The expectation" of Asian parents, Newman said, "is you will come home, live with us and raise your children here."

But the high rate of co-habitation among Vietnamese, sociologists say, will fall over time just as it did for immigrant Italians, Irish and Jews. As those cultures spent more time in America, they embraced the Western notions of adulthood and independence: What about my place, my space, my time?

Americanized children of Vietnamese immigrants "still have some ideas of themselves as Vietnamese," said Carl Bankston, co-author of "Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States." "But more and more, the connection seems tenuous."

Huong Nguyen, 22, born in Denver and raised in California, may be an example of the opposite end of the spectrum. "I've been told I'm pretty white-washed as a Vietnamese," she said.

Raised to be an independent thinker, Nguyen feels free to find a good job, find a good mate and to savor life as a fully independent adult without parental encumbrance.

"It's my time to have my own family," said Nguyen, who still lives at home with her parents in San Jose but is plotting an exit soon. "It's my next step in life, and I'd want to experience that for myself. It's my chance."

Nguyen's friend, Phi Tran, 23, is looking for a middle ground.

In a couple of months, Tran hopes to accept a job offer to serve in the U.S. Air Force as a nurse for three years. She has not yet informed her parents.

The San Jose State University graduate plans to take a test later this month for her nursing license. She has lived in the United States for half of her life. Social and outgoing, Tran sports a tattoo and occasionally red hair.

"I'm not the traditional Vietnamese girl," she said. "I do my own crazy things."

Yet, in the same conversation, Tran stated matter-of-factly: "My parents are planning to live with me. They told me they get along with me."

Torn between her plans to travel and her desire to please, Tran has been preparing for "the conversation" with her parents, who live in Southern California.

"It was always assumed I'd be around," Tran said. "It's going to be a big change. They're going to be upset."

The talk with Tran's parents could be excruciating, said Newman, who wrote "Nobody's Baby Now: Reinventing Your Adult Relationship with Your Mother and Father."

"Those conversations are quite difficult, because you know this is not something your parents want," Newman said, "and all children, I don't care from what culture they are, grow up wanting to please their parents."

Like any other fresh-out-of-college twentysomething, Tran says, "I don't know what I'm looking for." But like an increasing number of young Asians, she is determined to take her turn and make the personal journey.

The compromise that many seem to be making is either moving in with or bringing their parents to live with them in their later, frailer years.

Copyright 2005 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved

(http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051031/LIVING/510310315)

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About NCVA
Founded in 1986, the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community advocacy organization working to advance the cause of Vietnamese Americans in a plural but united America – e pluribus unum – by participating actively and fully as civic minded citizens engaged in the areas of education, culture and civil liberties.

Copyright material is distributed without profit or payment for research and educational purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107