Boat Baby: An Immigrant Story, an American Story

Posted on April 14, 2025 by moonbridgebooks

The other day I attended an author talk at our wonderful library featuring news correspondent Vicky Nguyen speaking about Boat Baby, her new memoir, now a NYT bestseller. “Boat people” escaped South Vietnam after the takeover of the communist party after the Vietnam War. (April marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon). They were refugees undertaking a dangerous journey by sea, in whatever boats that would take them, to escape a war-torn country, surveillance, and persecution, and they landed (if they were lucky) in nearby Asian countries. Many perished from overloaded boats, storms, or pirates. This reminds me of all the refugees desperately crossing the Mediterranean in more recent years. Of other migrants risking their lives, carrying almost nothing, to escape wars and terrible conditions in their own countries.

St. Louis news anchor-reporter Michelle Li on the left, news correspondent-author Vicky Nguyen on the right

Many of the boat people came out of the refugee camps due to being sponsored by American families who opened their hearts to help them adapt to the US. Open minds, open hearts make the world a better place, and helped Nguyen realize a successful life here. She stressed the value of community, when people supported each other as she felt supported. This seems to be missing these days as people have become insular and closed to anyone not like themselves.

Nguyen said that as an investigative reporter who has to do a lot of research, she focuses on listening to people and not judging; she wants to hear their stories, to know why they think and behave as they do. She sees the humanity in others who may look and think very differently than she does, and she offers this as a way for all of us to see each other—not as enemies but fellow humans. So difficult in these extremely divisive times. Reading memoirs, though is a way to hear the experiences of others and hopefully build empathy and understanding.

While working on her memoir, Nguyen discovered stories of her parents she had never heard before. Listening to their fascinating stories was a beautiful experience. “We can reflect and learn from the past,” and we can even realize things about ourselves, why we are the way we are. In the US, especially, most families have immigrant stories, other family stories of sacrifice and hardship for a better life for their children. Get those stories if and while you can.

(I didn’t actually know who Vicky Nguyen was since I only watch local TV news, but I do know our well-loved local news anchor-reporter Michelle Li of the Very Asian Foundation who facilitated the discussion with Ms. Nguyen. Between the two of them, they attracted a very large audience!)

Other Vietnamese refugee memoirs:

Of Monkey Bridges and Banh Mi Sandwiches: From Saigon to Texas by Oanh Ngo Usadi

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui

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National Poetry Month: Reminder, poetry can be memoir

Posted on April 6, 2025 by moonbridgebooks

For anyone who likes to write poems, know that you can create a memoir using poems. You can write about your life using poems. Or, you can simply include poems in your memoir or lifewriting, mixing them in with prose. A poem is a piece of your heart that you can leave to your children and their children. More than text, a poem is a deep reflection of your thoughts and feelings and can be stunningly meaningful and beautiful and really tell who you are as a person. Few words can say so much, expose so much.

I have written poems since high school. I have written poems about my husband, my children, my mother and father, and even about pets. I have written poems during difficult times and about what has affected me in the world. Since I’ve finally finished publishing the stories of all my and my husband’s parents, it’s time for me to write my stories, and I will be including many poems.

Examples of memoirs with poems:

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Threads of My Life by Mina Kirby

When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance by Joan Baez

I Am Maria by Maria Shriver

Previous blogpost: Poetry Can Be Lifewriting 4/7/2024

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Women’s History Month – and you

Posted on March 9, 2025 by moonbridgebooks

March is Women’s History Month, a time set aside to commemorate women who are – or should be – a part of history to be remembered. Women worldwide have long been relegated to the sidelines, as the invisible people who take care of children and husbands so the men can be free to have careers and do great things. In many countries this is still the case. International Women’s Day during this month remembers all women, and especially their hard won rights to vote, to be independent and have careers, to not be discriminated against or abused. Women are still speaking out about injustices and can’t easily be ignored anymore.

We read and learn about women who have stood strong and accomplished much, and their stories are important to tell. But I also think every woman’s story is important to tell. Older women especially have come through tough times in history, working hard at home to feed and care for their families amid old ways, some working in fields or doing odd jobs to earn extra money. My mother-in-law remembers outhouses, no electricity, and picking cotton as a small child. Some women cared for multiple children alone and in poverty, after a husband died or abandoned the family – of course, this happens today, too. Women’s work was hard and never-ending then and women had to be strong.

Many women do the brunt of caring for home and families while working jobs outside the home. Mothers can’t stop when they’re sick or exhausted. Most of society’s caregivers are women as nurses or aides for the homebound or in nursing homes, or they care for elderly parents—often while caring for their own young children. Women also are the volunteers that work to support nonprofit community services, or for the church or schools.

During this month of celebrating women, take time to read and learn about women who have accomplished much despite obstacles—so many memoirs, biographies, and documentaries are out there about famous women. Celebrate the lives of the women in your life, including yourself if you are a woman reading this. Learn the stories of mothers and grandmothers and let your children know them. I encourage life writing to save the stories for now and future generations. These stories save history, culture, and society. After I published my mother’s stories of living through WWII in Japan, a woman in her senior living community approached her and said her granddaughter had recently called her to say she had read the most wonderful book – and it was her grandmother’s memoir.

Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine by Olivia Campbell.

The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of WWII by Maj. Gen. Mari K. Eder

Wife, Mother, Spy: An Extraordinary Life Filled With Ordinary Days by Ann Butler

Becoming Katharine Graham (Washington Post fame) documentary

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