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Alright, so we’re here with Trung Doan. Um and, I guess my—so how this interview will work is, it’s kind of just like I’ll ask questions; I have a formatted list of questions. But if you want to like ask—if you

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want to answer any questions that I’m not asking, feel free to just interject. It’s really like informal. So I’ll just start out: what are some of your childhood memories in Vietnam, and how did that change once you arrived in

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the United States? Um my childhood memories in Vietnam were, as a child, they were always fond memories. I had a very fortunate childhood. Uh our family was uh pretty well off.

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And then we lost everything, and my childhood memories still didn’t change. You learn to appreciate everything when you’re a child, and none of that really changed, and I don’t think that changed because I moved here.

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I think it changed because as you get older, you see more of what the ugliness of life is—if you want to consider it that— so when I got here, the perspective just changed, responsibility grows, and so as you, as

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you mature and grow into a young adult, you begin to see more and more of the things that could be better about life, and so I think that changed. Okay. So how was it, you know ‘cause I read that you moved to the United States when you were

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ten. That’s kind of just the age when you still remember things, but—so it’s old enough so that you remember, but still young enough, how was that—how was that when you moved here? Um you know, it’s easy. For me, it was a pretty easy transition.

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When you’re that age, you make the best of what you have. And…and I really thought it was a wonderful age to make the transition, because we adapted—I adapted—pretty quickly.

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At that age learning the new language was pretty easy, in my mind. Um for my older siblings, it was a little bit more difficult for them to learn the language, but when you’re that young,

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it’s really—I don’t remember it being difficult. What was difficult is I remember is the friends, or the lack thereof, when you just get here. They’ve been raised a certain way, and I’ve been raised a certain way, and

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when you do that and you come into an environment where you’re very different from everyone else, uh they’re fearful of you, you’re fearful of them, and the acceptance level from both sides is something that kids have to

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work through. But it didn’t take us very long, and I grew up with two best friends. A guy named Craig Millam was a Caucasian guy. And uh and another guy named Gregory Baptiste, who was a

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black guy. And the three of us were the best of friends for years, because we learned how to appreciate each other and live through our differences. And I didn’t realize that Greg was black or Craig was white until I

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was well into my young adult life. That’s when I realized it. That’s great. Okay. Um so what were your first impressions of America, when you first arrived

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here? Uh it was terrible. We came from a refugee camp in Malaysia, having lived there for eight months. And you know, you leave Vietnam under circumstance of war, and you’re fleeing away from a country that was in

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disrepair, with the hope of getting to something much better in America. You know, the image that was painted, whether by someone else or by myself, was that America is the place where everything is beautiful. The people

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are beautiful, the homes are beautiful, the places are all beautiful, there is nothing bad about America. Well, we moved um, we migrate—we migrated to a very small town in Louisiana called Abbeville, Louisiana, and

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we got there right about seven, eight o’clock on April 15th was when we got to the States. And we got into a small airport in Lafayette, and then we drove from there to

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Abbeville, and Abbeville had a few stop lights, a couple stop signs, and it wasn’t very beautiful, and so it was a huge disappointment of what America really is, from an, from an image standpoint.

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You know what was funny is that—so we watched a video in class, and it was this uh—I think she was Vietnamese, she was talking about she had always seen the movies, and in the movies, Americans are all blonde, and they all have blue eyes, and she thought all of her neighbors would be blonde haired,

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blue eyed. And she said, ‘When I got to America, I thought I was living in Mexico.’ Yeah, no, that’s probably very true. We moved into a town where it was predominately white: 70% white, 30% black.

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And we lived in a neighborhood where it was all mostly white people. And so it wasn’t much the people. Now the great thing about moving to Abbeville was my father spoke a little bit of French. My

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neighbors, they all spoke French, because they were Creole. And they couldn’t communicate in Vietnamese, nor could they communicate in English, but they found a common way to communicate through French. And

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that’s how they conversed, and that was really good to see. We couldn’t have moved anywhere else in the States, that other people might have— that our neighbors would have known how to speak French. Only in southern

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Louisiana. That’s great. Um so how did you celebrate holidays, birthdays, and special events in Vietnam? How was that different once you moved to the United States? In Vietnam, the biggest holiday obviously is the Lunar uh New Year,

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which is celebrated. And it moves around, but it’s normally at the end of uh of January, beginning of February, is the Lunar New Year. And that’s a huge um that’s a huge holiday.

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People prepare for it just like we do Christmas here. Um but then what happens is that you take off for weeks on end. Two to three weeks for the holidays, or for the Lunar New Year.

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And that was the holiday that I remember, and kids always got money from the adults, and it was the beginning of the New Year, and so therefore you get money from the adults, and so as a child you look forward to that. And it’s always very festive, and regardless of you, or

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whatever social class you belong to, you celebrate New Year the same way. Uh and you always wear new clothes, and you always invited friends and neighbors into your home, and, and you know for a couple of weeks during the year, you kind

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of take away all of the material things that you do have or don’t have and forget about them, and you celebrate the New Year together. So in the village that we lived in, it was wonderful. Uh when we got here to the States, we still celebrate the Lunar New

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Year. Um not as big as we used to, but we’ve adapted to celebrating the holidays of the States. So Christmas is a pretty big deal at our house. Um so we celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving and all of the American

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holidays, and uh we celebrate Easter. So it’s, it’s uh it’s very different now. We have a lot more holidays to celebrate here. In Vietnam the only one I remember as a child was, was uh the

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Lunar New Year, which was called Tết, T-E-T. Um so I see that you moved back to Saigon for a year, from 1999-2000. Uh so what was that experience

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like, and what prompted you to move back? Um I had gotten out of graduate school, and I had moved to the northwest, and I was living there. Kind of got bored working, and so I thought, well, I need to do something new.

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And uh I applied to the Fulbright Fellowship, and I was granted the fellowship, and so I was granted a sum of money to go do independent research, and I selected to go to Vietnam.

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And I went back with the training and education in architecture, and I wanted to learn how to develop projects in third-world countries. And so that’s, that was the focus of why I went back. I ended up having a great time; I met my wife there… and uh

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completely life-changing experience. Okay, so your wife actually had been to the United States before? No, no. I met her when I moved back in 1999. That’s how I met my wife. That’s great.

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So what was it like for her to come to the United States at a later age? You know, I, I think certainly more sheltered than it was for us when we came here, because I think the Vietnamese community had already set up certain ways of doing things, and they

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were more readily available to help. They had experienced what they had gone through back in the mid-70s to the early-80s. And so when my wife came over, she came over and she was completely sheltered by my

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family quickly, so the transition for her was probably from a materialistic side of it, and a struggle side of it, probably wasn’t bad. The side of it that I think was very shocking is that the way of life in Vietnam,

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uh people don’t live with a lot. But the one thing that they live without that we all live with here is they live with very minimal stress.

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Here in the States we live with a tremendous amount of stress, regardless of uh of uh of what social class or status you belong to, you all have the different types of stress that you deal with.

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You know, if you have money, then you worry about the money that you do have or losing the money that you have. If you don’t have the money, then you worry about how you’re going to make your next dollars.

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And so in this culture, I find that it’s a very stressful culture because people are driven to succeed. And in Vietnam, since that opportunity wasn’t there, people just kind of live day- by-day, happy with what they have.

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Great. Um so what kinds of expectations did your parents have of you growing up? Oh, typical of any Asian family. You know, we were always—my siblings and I—I come from a family of

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ten kids, and we were always very good students. Um so the expectation was that you go to school, and you do well, and nothing—anything less than that would be unacceptable. And the idea was uh you go to school, and

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you become an engineer, an architect, or an attorney, things that people in Vietnam would uh you know, would make money doing. It’s tangible; it’s something that you can tie your future to.

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And so going into an artistic field like architecture to my parents was something which was just crazy: ‘What are you going to do? How are you going to make a living?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I just know that I enjoy it, and until I stop

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loving what I do, I’ll worry about that. But as long as I love what I do, I’m sure we’ll find a way to make money to live, and we don’t need much to live on.’ And I’ve always lived with that philosophy. And you know my parents were

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always very open to it. My father, when I was twelve, said, ‘This life is going to be whatever you make of it.’ And it’s not going to benefit him, it’s going to benefit me. ‘So whatever decision you decide to make, you do it,

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you do it well, and you work hard at it, whether you want to be a mechanic, or whether you want to be a doctor, or whether you want to be an architect, you just go do it.’ Um and that was something that I grew up appreciating, that my parents really—thought they kind of wanted me to do

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things that could that could have uh have financial independence in the future, and all of that was fine, and I think that’s pretty normal of any parent, that you want your kids to go into a field that’s easy to get a job.

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I don’t think they ever thought that I would own my own business in architecture someday. I think they always thought I would work for someone. And it was easier to get a job as an engineer or as a doctor than it is

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to you know to get a job as an architect, I guess is what they were thinking. Going off of that, what kinds of expectations do you have of your own children, and do you think that they’ll follow in your path, or do you have different expectations of them?

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Um you know I um I certainly have very high expectations for my kids. Um you know if they wanted to become an architect or whatever it is, whether they follow in my footsteps is not that important to me.

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What’s important to me is that I really love what I do in life. If I were to hit the lottery and have a billion dollars, I’d still do exactly what I do today. I wouldn’t change a thing.

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I want my kids to have that same privilege, to be able to do what they love to do. I do expect them to do well in school. I do expect them to excel at whatever

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they do, and give it their best. And um take whatever God has given them in terms of gifts and talent, and utilize it, don’t abuse it. And um you know that’s probably it.

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Have fun living life, do what you want to do, do what you love to do. And in the process of it, as long as what you do doesn’t harm others, but it helps others, I’m pretty sure they’ll find something that’s going to suit them and suits their interests. And you know and, and live

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happy. Great. Um so you consider yourself more of an American, a Vietnamese, an American Vietnamese, a Houstonian, how would you identify yourself?

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Like what labels would you use? Um, you know I’m probably to the traditional Vietnamese; they probably view me as an American. To an American, they probably view me as a Vietnamese person. I do live two um two very different images.

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In my professional work, I deal with uh 99% of my clients are all American, Caucasian. Not many Asian clients that I have. There’s a few that I have.

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Um but I deal, I deal with the English language a lot more than I deal with the Vietnamese language, to a point where we’re trying to teach our kids Vietnamese, but they’re getting— we’re getting pushbacks, my wife and I are, because they’re a lot more comfortable—she’s

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shaking her head, Linh is shaking her head—she’s a lot more comfortable speaking English than she is in Vietnamese. But we really don’t like that, we’d like for her to hopefully learn how to speak Vietnamese. And they normally don’t

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speak much English until they start school. Um but how do I view myself? I think I view myself as an individual. Uh and I don’t notice much if I walk

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into a room full of Caucasians or non-Asians, I don’t quickly say, ‘Oh, I’m the only Asian.’ And vice-versa, I don’t walk into a room full of Asians and say, ‘Oh, I’m one of

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the Asians that’s in here.’ I just kind of—it doesn’t, it doesn’t I don’t—I guess I never really see myself in the mirror as whether I’m Asian, or American, or Vietnamese, or I don’t see it that way.

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I don’t know if that’s what you were looking for in terms of an answer, but that’s, that’s kind of how I feel. Okay, that’s great. So kind of going off of what you just said, are there any traditions that you’ve tried to

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maintain in terms of passing on to your children? And you mentioned the language component. Sure Are there any types of Vietnamese customs that you really want your kids to keep? You know, uh some of it is with our faith.

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I was born—my wife and I was born and raised Catholic, and we are practicing Catholics uh today, very involved in our church. We send our kids to the Catholic school at the church that we go and attend.

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And uh one of the things that we do is we pray every night. So from a faith perspective, that’s one of the things that we really would like for our kids to grow up with, to grow up and have

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Christ at the center of their life, and as long as that happens, we believe that, that um there’s not much that we can’t overcome. From a, from a tradition standpoint, for the Vietnamese, we still celebrate Tết.

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Um we still um, we still like for our children to be very close to our family. And so their best friends are their cousins, and they see each other all the time, and they’re ecstatic when they see each other.

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We think that the family unit is something that’s very important, and if you get that right, and if they live a life where they’re surrounded by loved ones, um you know I think that eventually they’re going to feel— you know,

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they’re going to stumble in life. They’re going to get into things that it’s really great to have someone there to help you, uh whether that is a friend, or a cousin, or a relative, or someone within the family. We do that. Um you know one of the things that

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we practice, that we still celebrate during Tết, is that the younger siblings, if you are married, you give gifts to your older siblings, and that’s what something that we still do. And so all of my older siblings who are married,

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um every year, my family will prepare gifts for them, and we give it to them during Tết. And that’s something that um that we do, and I’d like to see my kids do that when they get older. Um I’d like, you know I’d like toum, I’d like to see my children treat each other—as you know,

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if Linh is the second, she has an older brother, and her older brother is eighteen months older than her, and she has a younger brother, she calls her brother ‘my older brother Luc.’ Not just ‘Luc.’ You know, just like you call your dad

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‘my dad or mom,’ or ‘Auntie this’ or ‘Auntie that,’ I want them to continue that. I don’t want them to just think that their loved ones or their older siblings are just another person by name.

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Um I think, I think that part of the thing that’s really unique about the Asian culture is yes, it’s great to be friends with your kids, but you got to be a parent first, then you can be a friend with them.

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I have nothing against being friends with your kids, but I do have a problem with uh parents that only want to be friends with their kids and forget the part about being a parent. And so we, we—that’s something that we like to instill in them.

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So I read that you moved to Houston specifically to be closer to your family, to be closer to your home. I saw that five of your siblings are actually in Houston. Um so what kinds of kinship networks do you have going

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around? I guess, what do you think of the Asian social network in Houston? Um let’s start with my family. Okay. We see each other at least once a week. So we gather, um and that’s all my siblings and their kids.

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Here in Houston, I’m the only boy in Houston, so the house that we gather would be at my house. So we get together all the time and hang out, whatever opportunity that might be. Um, you know this afternoon we’re going to get

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together at my nephew’s house, eat some crawfish. And on Sunday we’re going to go over to my sister’s house for a birthday party. Uh if they didn’t have a birthday party on Sunday, we probably would gather at my house,

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so we could celebrate Easter together. And so it’s always a weekly event that you hang out at each other’s home, and that’s normally on a Sunday. Uh the community here in Houston, I think

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is um—the community that I celebrate the most with would be the church that we go to. I’m obviously very involved from a standpoint of the Asian Chamber and some other organizations within the community, and I see those folks

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once or twice a month. And um but I think we’re very introverted and focused on our family, and so I don’t um—I spend a lot of my free time with my family, and I like it, I enjoy it.

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When I’m not at work, I’m very focused on my kids and my family, and that’s kind of how things are done at the Doan family. Okay great. Um so I know that you founded RED Studio Architects.

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Studio RED. Studio RED, I’m sorry. Um and so I think—I don’t know; do you think it’s unusual for an Asian to found their own type of business?

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You know, I think it probably is. There are a few Asian architectural companies here in Houston. Um first, to find a Vietnamese in architecture is a rare thing.

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Um and when I founded Studio RED, I was very fortunate. I was working for another firm. I was going to go through the traditional route of finding—of starting my own firm and building it up from nothing to something, but I

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had a friend who was my boss at the time, and then a few others that I was working with at a much larger firm, that decided to leave at the same time that I was about to leave, and I said hey, why don’t we go across the street and start our own firm and

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service our clients and design the projects that we want to. I’d always dreamt about it in school, why don’t we do that and see what happens? And so we decided, there were four of us that started the

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firm, uh and then we asked seven others to come join us at the same time. And we were—we started with ten, eleven people, and we grew into a forty- person architectural firm—which is not just being an Asian

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or Vietnamese business owner in the design industry, just for any architectural service industry to get to that size quickly is very difficult. It takes firms

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years to get to that point. And we were just blessed and fortunate. So yeah, I think it’s something that you don’t see happen very often in the design industry.

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Okay great. Um so can you tell me a little bit more—can you tell me a little bit more about how you met your wife um in Vietnam? I guess did it—was that ever

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an issue in terms of moving to the United States and coming, coming all the way here? Um I don’t know if it was ever an issue. We always viewed it as an opportunity.

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The way that I—to answer the first part of your question, the way I met my wife is I was living in Saigon, and I uh was very good friends with her uncle, and at the time my wife was a sophomore in college,

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and she was living with her uncle, going to school in Saigon, and I was living there, and so coming down to his home a lot, and that’s how I met my wife. And we kind of fell in love, and when

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my time was done in Vietnam, I moved back to Houston because of family. And then uh my wife and I decided that we ought to go ahead and get married, and went through the process. I knew it would be a tough transition for her, but she viewed it as an opportunity.

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And you know at the time I had lost a lot of my ability to speak Vietnamese, and uh and there are certain things about the Vietnamese culture that I was very dull about, in terms of being aware

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or knowing exactly how things worked. And my wife, on the other side, she knew those things pretty well. And so I needed to work on my Vietnamese; she needed to work on her English, and so we helped each other.

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So, so we really got along well because I think the things that I was weak in, she was—she had strength in, and vice versa. And so it worked out great for us. Okay great. Um can you describe your neighborhood for me?

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In terms of your children’s schools, what you looked for in their schools? Uh where I live now is the only place I’ve ever lived in Houston. Uh we live in Sharpstown, which once

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was a great neighborhood. It’s viewed by many now as the dark side of Houston. Um I think it’s still a wonderful neighborhood and I like it a lot. When I moved into our neighborhood, 80% of my neighbors were

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original owners of their home, uh and they were all mostly Anglo that were sort of retirement age. Since then 20% of my neighbors now are original owners. 80, you know the rest have either moved out or passed away,

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and so there’s been this great transition within our neighborhood, of families that are either of, of other descents or have moved here through immigration, and—but I really enjoy that because I kind of see what they’re going

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through, the same as what we went through twenty years ago, thirty years ago. Uh I love the neighborhood. I love the fact that there are more kids in our neighborhood now. We’re very protective of our neighborhood.

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So when we see strangers in our neighborhood, we like to stop and say hello, and make sure that they know where they are and get to know them, and if they’re lost, we show them how to get out of our neighborhood. Uh and so we like it, and the church that we go to is right down the street.

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Um and the school is right next to the church, and our favorite restaurants are all within a quarter mile of our house. And so we really have adapted and enjoy living in that neighborhood.

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And when, you know—if my kids had to pick, they probably wouldn’t want to move anywhere. They love that neighborhood; they love their school. And uh right now my wife and I are very content there and we enjoy it.

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It’s great. I like it; it’s a very modest home in a modest community. And uh for us it’s very good. We thought about moving to a neighborhood with perhaps better schools, uh and we’ve decided for now not to do that.

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Uh we think that there’s certain values that that neighborhood has provided to our family, that we owe to pay it back somehow. So we like it; we like our neighborhood a lot. We, we hang out

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in front of our house in the streets all the time riding bikes, rollerblading, playing baseball, basketball, whatever it might be. We, we, we, we do spend a lot of our time outside. Our kids like it; I like it, and so right now we’re

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just very happy to be there. Okay, so would you say you really appreciate the diversity within your neighborhood? Absolutely. And it’s not the diversity so much as, you know to me, whether it’s a black family, or an Asian

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family, or a Caucasian family, or a family that’s just moved from Russia, I mean to me that’s great. Because I think that part of it is fun. What’s more fun though, is the background that they bring, and the experience that

00:27:53.910 - 00:28:07.070

they have that my kids can somehow learn from. And I think that’s, that’s important because one of the things that benefitted me when I was growing up moving into this country is, is uh learning from people that weren’t like me.

00:28:08.420 - 00:28:24.890

You know, if I was growing up with people that were just like me, I probably would have learned different things than if than I did growing up with friends that weren’t like me at all, had a completely different upbringing, different family values, different faiths.

00:28:25.510 - 00:28:42.250

And so I, I’ve always have appreciated that, and so I think that’s part of the reason that’s why we still like our neighborhood quite a bit. I know you mentioned you have sort of considered sending your kids to a different school. Um would you

00:28:42.250 - 00:28:53.010

ever consider a private school? They do go to a private school now. Oh they do? Yeah, they go to a Catholic school now. Okay. Uh so are you

00:28:53.580 - 00:29:05.520

civically engaged? I don’t know how to say it, politically… Involved? Yeah. You know, I stay away from the political side of it. There’s uh I serve on—I belong to and I serve on four

00:29:05.520 - 00:29:20.960

different boards, and they all do different things for me. Uh one of the um—one of the boards that um—one of the organizations that I belong to and uh have served on the board for the past three years, I’m going to be the

00:29:21.020 - 00:29:38.610

president of that organization’s chapter uh next year, is the Rotary. The Rotary is an international organization that focuses on service, and serving others. And so the Rotary provides me with the ability to give

00:29:38.680 - 00:29:54.040

back to the community the way that I have received from the community when I moved here, ‘cause when I came here, organizations like the Salvation Army, the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus, they all lent a helping

00:29:54.080 - 00:30:09.510

hand. So the Rotary really allows me to do that. Um I also belong to a professional business organization called the Entrepreneurial Organization, which you know is a global organization as well, and there are 8,000

00:30:09.510 - 00:30:23.750

members around the world. In Houston we have uh we have143 of us now, and it’s a wonderful organization that allows business owners to get together and help each other in ways of

00:30:23.790 - 00:30:36.040

running and operating their business through experience sharing. It’s not an organization set up to say ‘Hey, this is what you should do and how you should do it.’ But it’s an organization that’s set up of business people that have

00:30:36.380 - 00:30:48.560

similar challenges and opportunity that share their experience. And when you share experience, if you can learn from it and normally you always do, then you can learn from it, and all of the businesses are very diverse in

00:30:48.560 - 00:30:59.550

the business types. And in my particular forum, which is made up of eight of us, um we all have very different businesses. And our ethnic backgrounds is very diverse.

00:30:59.550 - 00:31:15.950

We have a gentleman from Germany, we have um myself who’s an Asian, we got a gentleman of Italian descent, and we have an African American gentleman. And so it’s a very diverse group, and we really enjoy each other, and we benefit greatly from each other.

00:31:15.950 - 00:31:28.920

And then um I serve obviously on the Asian Chamber of Commerce, which is an organization that, that uh promotes economic development and business within the Asian community here in Houston, as well as overseas.

00:31:29.790 - 00:31:39.440

And then this year I started serving on the board of AAMA , which is an organization that helps the at-risk community, and um has a school, the George I.

00:31:39.540 - 00:31:51.130

Sanchez School, that has 700 kids and is uh serving children and kids and families, um giving them a second chance. And so the school itself

00:31:51.190 - 00:32:05.170

has, you go to school and you see um Mom and Dad might be in class, they might be a sophomore or a junior or a freshman in high school, and they might have been teen parents and their kids are in the daycare center in the

00:32:05.170 - 00:32:22.420

school. And so that’s another way I think to participate and help children that, that has gone through or are going through some of the things that I might have gone through when I was that age. And so between those things, and those four organizations and my church, I can, I can,

00:32:22.760 - 00:32:38.520

you know I can keep myself pretty busy, and just enough time to allow a good balance in life of doing business, uh community involvement, and then family. And so as long as I can keep those three things pretty

00:32:38.560 - 00:32:52.560

balanced, I think, I think I’ll be real happy doing what I do. Okay great. So you mentioned you keep that, that balance of three: business, community, and your family. Do you think that’s not necessarily unique to you, but do you think that that is

00:32:52.640 - 00:33:05.310

applicable to most Asians in the Houston community, or would you say that’s a little bit different? Uh I’m going to show my bias here. I think one of the things about America that is so fantastic that a lot of

00:33:05.900 - 00:33:20.840

uh not just Asians, but a lot of immigrants overlook, um, America is the only country on this planet that has a very philanthropic culture. Um it’s very difficult to find anywhere else.

00:33:22.480 - 00:33:36.170

And so I think, I think the American culture is fantastic about doing well, and giving back part of your wealth, your time, talent, and resources back to the community to better your community.

00:33:37.000 - 00:33:49.930

So I think, I think that’s an American culture that’s unique to this country. Um in the Asian culture, I don’t think as a culture we’ve caught up to that. I think um I think the Asian

00:33:49.950 - 00:34:05.040

culture is much better about going out and, and hoarding and getting things, and not releasing things and not giving back to the community. Um and I think there’s a smaller amount that understands that concept and

00:34:05.040 - 00:34:17.510

appreciates that concept. And I think at some point, though I think that the overall Asian community will understand that more. Um as the next generation begins to adapt that more, I think you’re going to see more

00:34:17.590 - 00:34:32.280

Asians involved in civic uh duties and social responsibilities, because we all have our responsibility to give back. And, and uh I’ve heard this once and I’ll never forget it— you know, to be a great leader, not only are you

00:34:32.280 - 00:34:46.560

supposed to do real well in business, you’re supposed to do real well in civic involvement, too. And, and that’s something I think the Asian community still needs to do work on and improve in that area.

00:34:46.560 - 00:34:58.980

Okay so I guess what makes you see things differently? Because you sound exactly like my mom. My mom says this a lot too, to me. So I guess what has influenced you to take more of a civic type of mindset?

00:34:59.790 - 00:35:17.240

Because I was on the receiving side of it growing up with very little moving into this country. And I also see you know I also see um uh…I also see…others that are friends of mine, or parents of friends of mine, who

00:35:17.290 - 00:35:26.800

devotes a lot of time in giving back to the community. Um and I think that’s admirable. I just think it just creates a wonderful balance.

00:35:27.440 - 00:35:46.400

Uh I think one of the reasons, the benefit that I have, is that, is that I see clients, and I see friends do it, and I question, I question myself, why am I not doing it? And so ever since I’ve been more involved in the community, I just feel happier. Uh you know, it’s great to um…you know it’s great to do

00:35:46.400 - 00:36:01.930

well for yourself, but I think when you, when you can extend a hand and help others and help in the calls of what the community uh goals are, I just think it’s a gratifying um feeling that you get in the gut of your stomach

00:36:02.390 - 00:36:18.430

there that until you go through it, uh it’s hard to explain. But once you have experienced it, you just want to experience it more and more and more. And so right now, I really try to keep a balance of um giving

00:36:18.500 - 00:36:33.540

30% of my time uh in my civic involvement. Okay great. Um so I was wondering, so even as I’m only nineteen, but I’ve been in some situations where

00:36:33.820 - 00:36:46.390

I’ve felt less comfortable in school just because of a remark that was made to me, or something about my Asian identity, or something has happened. I was wondering if anything like that has ever happened to

00:36:46.480 - 00:37:02.060

you, either in school or in the workplace. Absolutely. You know, I went to a Catholic high school, where for the first eighteen months I was the only non-white in the school.

00:37:03.160 - 00:37:18.600

Only. And you know kids are kids. Um we are who we are, and you’re fearful of things that you don’t know, and you’re uncomfortable with things that are very different from you. Um I

00:37:18.600 - 00:37:33.210

never have let that bother me. Because I always think that— because I myself have the same discriminating personality towards things I don’t know—and so I just think that if you put yourself in others’ shoes, um I think

00:37:33.210 - 00:37:48.380

99.9% of people out there are good people. Um they’re only considered as, as not so good people when they make bad judgments. And if you allow people to have the opportunity to get to know you, um

00:37:48.930 - 00:38:03.850

they’re all good people. Uh and I always use it as an opportunity to share your life experience with someone. Um and you know I’ve never felt— it had never felt um—and so you know what do you

00:38:03.870 - 00:38:12.730

have to lose? If people see you a little differently, that’s okay. You probably are. But it’s a good thing; it’s not a bad thing.

00:38:13.370 - 00:38:26.820

Um I see people differently. Um but you know, if, if you just take the time and invest the time in getting to know someone, or allowing someone to know you, I just think that eventually, they won’t realize that

00:38:27.230 - 00:38:38.760

you’re Asian, or you’re American, or you’re African, or you’re Hispanic, whatever it might be. People just won’t. Before you know it, none of those things really matter anymore.

00:38:38.780 - 00:38:52.650

Color of your hair is, is, is black, and color of your hair is brown, and color of my hair is black going gray. And you know none of those things matter. I’m just happy I have hair! You know and

00:38:52.650 - 00:39:04.560

so I think everybody faced it, I certainly faced it. I never, I never once let that be a bother, by any stretch. I just thought it was part of growing up.

00:39:05.440 - 00:39:21.130

And if really people that really had an issue with it, and they wouldn’t overcome it, it was a problem they had to deal with and not me. Okay. Has one—has anything ever happened like that in your adult life, or has that been more in a school

00:39:21.130 - 00:39:32.150

setting? Oh, in my adult life, too. I mean, it’s, it’s unavoidable. It probably happens more as an adult. Um people

00:39:32.150 - 00:39:44.200

might see you and think that hey, you’re a great guy, and they shake your hand, and then you notice certain things that they do, or things that they don’t do. And—but you know, so what?

00:39:46.270 - 00:39:58.420

If I think they’re good people, I’ll continue to do business with them. If I think that they’re not good people, um I, I won’t. And because there’s a lot of good people out there, let’s find the good ones and do

00:39:58.440 - 00:40:12.630

business with the good people. Because I think it’s very hard to make a deal with uh—to make a successful business deal with a bad person. And so if I detect that, that someone is like that, I will try to

00:40:12.630 - 00:40:23.610

avoid it. Um and that’s in business and in our social life, it’s— you know, there’s a lot of people out there. We can select and choose who we hang out with. And if we detect

00:40:23.680 - 00:40:35.280

that certain people won’t be good for our family, we just don’t. We just stay away from them. Okay. That’s great. So can you let me know about what your greatest disappointment is, and on the flip

00:40:35.280 - 00:40:48.870

side of that, what your greatest success would be? My greatest disappointment. Um my dad passed away when I was uh seventeen years old. And my mother

00:40:49.050 - 00:41:05.530

passed away when I was twenty-nine years old. Um I was the first in my family to graduate from college. Um and even by the time my mother had passed away, we still as a family, we, we, we didn’t have a lot to offer

00:41:05.930 - 00:41:20.120

them. And so I think we never got to a point where we were able to offer our parents um things that they offered us growing up. And I wish they would have lived a little bit longer to enjoy their grandchildren, and enjoy the

00:41:20.220 - 00:41:35.370

successes that, that their kids have uh have been blessed with. Um, um I mean that’s—I don’t know if that’s a disappointment, I wish that they would have been here, but you know if uh—it might be because of their

00:41:35.420 - 00:41:47.700

passing that they prayed for us and keep their eyes on us that we’ve been very successful and been blessed. So I don’t know if it’s a disappointment, uh more so the things that I wish that they would still be here.

00:41:47.730 - 00:42:02.040

Um things I’ve been blessed with are my kids and my wife and my family. Um you know it had completely changed my life, and I’m very passionate about what I

00:42:02.070 - 00:42:18.420

do in architecture and my profession, but I am more passionate about my children and my family, and that has been the greatest blessing and, and, and success in my life. And all of the other things, like the fellowship and successes in school, and getting

00:42:18.450 - 00:42:34.110

a great education, all of those things matters, but you know if I had to name anything, it would be my kids and my wife. Great. Um so would you consider your kids and your family to be your greatest success? Absolutely, yeah.

00:42:34.870 - 00:42:47.480

Absolutely, without a doubt. Okay. Great, um so I know, you know, just sort of touching on the fact that you won the Fulbright, um would you say—that kind of touches back on the question that I asked earlier about

00:42:48.640 - 00:43:06.420

how—the Fulbright is a more civic type of fellowship. Um would you say—how would you encourage more Asians to start applying for these types of things? Um I think that, I think that it’s um—I,

00:43:07.720 - 00:43:25.990

I, I’m a believer that people learn more when they travel and when they get to experience other cultures. And I believe that if you send an individual to travel for four years to different cultures, versus having that same individual sit in a university,

00:43:26.800 - 00:43:39.880

by the end of the four years, I think that the person that has traveled would have learned more than the person sitting in the uni—university. Because I think that when you see things in action, and experience things, I mean

00:43:39.980 - 00:43:50.530

ultimately, what’s going to matter? I mean, I don’t remember any of the formulas that I’ve learned in calculus. I don’t remember any of the formulas that I’ve learned in physics class.

00:43:51.210 - 00:44:07.340

I don’t. They were fantastic to learn at the time; I don’t remember it. The one thing I do remember is an experience of how I saw a mother rear her son in Vietnam in a space that was three feet wide by ten feet deep.

00:44:09.110 - 00:44:23.300

The experience of how I saw a family live in two hundred square feet all their lives, and it was a gap between two houses, and they were going to raise their kids and send them through school and give them an upbringing; that was just unbelievable.

00:44:24.310 - 00:44:33.340

You don’t forget those things. And, and you know, in my mind, that experience that I saw would have never happened if I would have not been in Vietnam at that time

00:44:33.340 - 00:44:48.220

and not been at that neighborhood at that time. Now that’s something I will never forget, and that is something that I will always use to help rear my kids and help others in my family and others that I have the fortune of

00:44:48.680 - 00:45:04.240

coming across with, and to me that’s, that’s something that’s wonderful. And the Fulbright, yeah, it’s a very prestigious award I’ve gotten, and to be a Fulbright Scholar. But I think, I think what is more memorable with

00:45:04.840 - 00:45:20.630

that experience is the ability to see and experience life in Vietnam of others that will always be with me. And, and I always think of that as, you know, yeah, E = MC2, I remember that. But there’s a lot of formulas that I

00:45:20.630 - 00:45:31.960

don’t remember, but you know, these experiences that, that I saw in Vietnam, I will never forget. Okay. Great. So you mentioned travel is really important to you, kind of want to carry that over to your children.

00:45:33.700 - 00:45:49.280

Have you brought your children back to Vietnam with you? Yes, we have. My kids have been—let’s see, we’ve been to Canada a couple times. Um we’ve been to Vietnam. Um we have traveled to a lot of the different

00:45:49.620 - 00:46:00.730

states here in America. We always take a trip once a year. We travel to our family home in, in Louisiana quite a bit. And we love to travel.

00:46:01.010 - 00:46:15.110

Um and you know I just think that’s something I still enjoy, my wife still enjoys. And my kids love to travel, and to us we will make the best of any opportunity of time that we have.

00:46:15.160 - 00:46:28.160

And we’ll turn, we’ll turn a one-day trip into something really fun. I’ve taken them to the Modern Art Museum and the Kimmel Art Museum in Dallas and Fort Worth, and they’ve

00:46:28.160 - 00:46:40.370

enjoyed it, the things that we do. So we love to travel as a family. Okay so I guess one of the questions I had is that, I went to Taiwan a couple of summers ago, and the

00:46:40.430 - 00:46:53.550

people that I talked to would say, ‘Oh, you’re obviously not from here, because you speak with an accent.’ Which I don’t, but okay. But um have you ever gotten that, or have your kids ever gotten that, just because you

00:46:53.550 - 00:47:06.720

haven’t been in Vietnam for a while? Yeah, people detect it. I mean, there’s no hiding the fact that you’re an expat when you go to Vietnam. Um you dress differently, you use— whether you have an accent or not, it’s

00:47:07.120 - 00:47:21.300

probably not, not the indicator. But the way you use words to explain things. You know as an expat, you use different words and terms. And you know the culture there has progressed, and when you go for thirty years

00:47:21.350 - 00:47:36.150

and you come back and you still use the words that your parents are used to using before the war to explain things, they’re going to know. Um you know the way you dress, the way you carry yourself, um we have

00:47:36.910 - 00:47:50.830

learned—you and I—have learned how to, how to be very American. Whether you like it or not, or believe in it or not, that’s true. And you don’t forget, you just don’t go to another culture and say, ‘Oh, by the way, the way I carry myself as an

00:47:50.830 - 00:48:02.520

American, I’m going to stop that now because I’m not an American anymore.’ It’s just who you are now, and people detect it. And it’s not a bad thing. I’ve never been offended by it, because

00:48:02.790 - 00:48:18.830

they’re right. ‘You’re not from here.’ Of course I’m not . Uh you know, so yeah, we’ve been faced with it, but no big deal. Okay. Great. Okay so my next question is more about going back to the policy and politics side of

00:48:18.940 - 00:48:34.880

it. Um what did you think of U.S. policy during and after the war? Um I think that I was very young at the time. Um you know, war doesn’t benefit anyone.

00:48:35.910 - 00:48:53.820

And in the process of war, a lot of people gets hurt. And you can come back and look at different explanations of why things happened, and the reality is that it did happen. A lot of people got hurt. Uh a country went into disrepair.

00:48:56.000 - 00:49:10.130

It’s tragic. Uh the Americans lost a lot of loved ones; Vietnamese lost a lot of loved ones. A lot of people got hurt, a lot of people died, and it’s unfortunate that it happened.

00:49:10.970 - 00:49:25.470

Uh and I think that—I think that one of the things that I see as a benefit coming out of all of it is that think about all of the Vietnamese, the immigrants that have fled Vietnam, and most of those immigrants, or many of

00:49:25.470 - 00:49:39.760

these immigrants, have found success elsewhere. Um given them an opportunity that perhaps they would have never gotten if they were still in Vietnam. Um there are a lot of people in Vietnam still living in poverty, but there are a

00:49:39.760 - 00:49:51.090

lot of people that are very successful now. Um I think that—I think that the policies that the U.S.—the Open Trade Agreement that the U.S. had reopened back to Vietnam, is a wonderful thing.

00:49:52.190 - 00:50:05.130

Um and I think that, I think that Vietnam still has a lot of room for improvements, and so do we, as an American culture, we still have a lot of room for improvement. So I don’t get hung up on a lot of that.

00:50:06.350 - 00:50:18.550

And in my mind, I just think that, you know, water under the bridge. Let’s move on and make the best of life. And um I love Vietnam; it’s my home country.

00:50:19.290 - 00:50:34.270

Uh but I’m an American now. I love this country um a lot, with all my heart. And this country has given me an opportunity that no one else has ever given me. Uh and so I’m indebted to this country, and that’s the

00:50:34.300 - 00:50:50.910

way it’s going to be. Okay. Great. Um so would you mind describing your three best friends here in Houston? My three best friends. Yeah. Just kind of their backgrounds, um their ethnicities, their professions.

00:50:51.590 - 00:51:10.370

Okay. Um one of my best friends is actually a college roommate of mine that now lives in Houston. I don’t get to see him much anymore. Um but we’re you know—unfortunately, we only see each other uh

00:51:11.210 - 00:51:28.280

at gatherings where a friend of the family have gotten married or someone has passed away, that’s how I see him. Um and he’s Vietnamese. Um uh been, been you know there,

00:51:28.360 - 00:51:45.320

there…since I’m so close to my family, I have acquaintances, but I don’t have best friends. Um there’s certain friends that I have like, like there’s a guy in my EO group that shares the same faith as I do, and uh

00:51:45.740 - 00:51:59.490

Mitch just a really good friend of mine. I consider him to be a good friend; a person that I can run to for things that there aren’t many people I can run to for.

00:52:00.000 - 00:52:18.140

Um so I consider Mitch to be a very good friend of mine. Um other than that, I, I you know—my partner, my business partner is another guy. He’s seventeen years my senior; I view him as a friend,

00:52:18.140 - 00:52:32.460

as a mentor. Um he’s another person that I go to quite a bit if there’s ever a need to. We run a business together, and we have a lot to, to share with each other, and

00:52:33.150 - 00:52:47.790

his wife—he and his wife have always been there for my wife and I, and we’re very close to them. So those are the three that I can think of here in Houston, that, that lives here in Houston that probably I would consider my best friends.

00:52:50.160 - 00:53:04.120

Okay. And now sort of just a broader question, how do you think that being an immigrant has sort of impacted your outlook, in terms of your perspective, the things you want your kids to do and know? Um. I think it has everything to do with it, because I think, I think when you come—you

00:53:05.000 - 00:53:16.600

know, when you work yourself up from absolutely nothing, um you notice how tough the fall is going to be. But you also realize that you’ve been down there, and it ain’t that bad.

00:53:18.610 - 00:53:35.080

And uh and you protect your kids in ways that you may not want them to have to experience some of the things that you did, that you had to go through. But some of the things I had to go through made me who I am today. So it’s always good to be able to dig back and remember certain

00:53:35.170 - 00:53:49.580

challenges. And not that my kids have to go through the same challenges, but at least they understand that. Um I think that as an immigrant, the perspective is this. Um America is a land of opportunity.

00:53:50.000 - 00:54:06.600

We probably have heard that a thousand times. Um and the way that I would share with my kids, and my children is this. America has everything to offer, so anything that you want to do in America, you can do.

00:54:08.360 - 00:54:21.690

Make sure that you pick something that you love. Make sure you pick something that you enjoy, and you’re going to pick something that’s you’re going to do in life that’s going to benefit other people other than yourself. And as long as they do

00:54:21.720 - 00:54:35.480

that, they’ll be very happy. Right, honey? Agree? No. No? You will someday, I hope. You want to add anything?

00:54:36.070 - 00:54:48.910

No. No? Okay. Okay. That’s great. Um so you mentioned you sort of hit rock bottom. What would you have considered rock bottom to be? I know like I read you had that job peeling crawfish for.

00:54:49.400 - 00:55:04.850

Oh, that wasn’t. Rock bottom is when you get to the States, and for the first two weeks, we had zero money to our name. We only owned the clothes on our backs. And my father, my two older brothers, and my sister,

00:55:05.450 - 00:55:16.350

there was five of us, all stuffed inside of a middle bedroom of a mobile home. And that’s how we—that’s our first two weeks of life were in America.

00:55:17.710 - 00:55:32.000

Then moving out to get a place, there was a new place where it was infested with rodents, where if you’re not careful with where you walk, you can fall through the house at any time. And the house was so unstable to live in that not long after we moved out, they

00:55:32.100 - 00:55:46.540

bulldozed it. And so you know, that’s a—that’s a pretty eye-opening experience as to what life has to offer here in the States. And uh you know, you learn quickly to work yourself out of that situation.

00:55:47.240 - 00:55:59.140

Uh not you know—growing up in Vietnam, kids are very creative because they’re forced to design their own toys and make their own toys. You couldn’t go to the store and pick something that you wanted.

00:55:59.910 - 00:56:12.640

And so I grew up making my own toys. When kids had, when kids had money to buy toys, I made toys, and it was great. Because what do you learn from buying a toy?

00:56:13.250 - 00:56:26.720

Very little. What do you learn from making a toy? How to cut your finger, how not to cut your finger, how certain species of wood are easier to carve than others. Um you know, so we, we made toys and we raised

00:56:27.850 - 00:56:39.560

animals. You learn things that you don’t learn when you just go buy things. And so that was, that was—at the end it was great. At the time I enjoyed it, but didn’t realize the benefit of it.

00:56:40.200 - 00:56:50.590

Looking back now, I think it’s a great benefit. That’s why when my kids want to—when they want to have a pet, or they want to have something, I normally say yes, my wife normally says no.

00:56:51.200 - 00:57:03.350

Because I want them to experience, of you know how do you take care of an ant? How does an ant live? How do you take care of a guinea pig? Ant? Guinea pig! And you know they have to take care of their guinea pigs.

00:57:03.370 - 00:57:15.540

And you know, then so, learning how to care for something else. We make things with them all the time. Guinea pig. So as long as they have an interest, we’ll, we’ll uh let them do it.

00:57:16.750 - 00:57:29.110

Okay, great um I remember you saying at the very beginning of the interview that you felt like you had a really fortunate childhood. Would you say that you were more just in terms of support fortunate or financial support? Oh, financially and support.

00:57:29.860 - 00:57:47.720

My parents loved us with everything that they have and had. And you know, we were fortunate because Dad and Mom made a great living. We benefited from them. We were one of the first families, if not the first in our little

00:57:47.720 - 00:57:58.720

village to get a color TV, or to get a TV. And we, we just had—I remember a great upbringing, and so fortunate. But I think the things that we were fortunate about the most, and

00:57:58.720 - 00:58:14.850

the things I remember most, is just being loved, and having a great family support structure. Okay and then sort of going off of what you were talking about your kids, and trying to offer them as many opportunities as possible, um would you mind letting me know what kinds of

00:58:14.890 - 00:58:24.340

extracurriculars they’re involved in? Yeah, I try to get my kids involved. My son plays sports. My daughter did last year.

00:58:25.260 - 00:58:36.440

Um we probably—we always like to keep them busy with something outside of just school. And then during the summer we normally just sign them up to do different things too.

00:58:37.370 - 00:58:49.540

Uh one of the things I would like to start doing with my kids is to, when I do go volunteer for different things, is to have them come. I—when I have time, just like this interview, I take my kids with me.

00:58:49.680 - 00:59:01.770

I take them to work all the time when they’re off. So you know, it’s just I like hanging out with them, and hopefully this little one here will learn from all this at some point in her life. Right?

00:59:02.110 - 00:59:16.210

. Right now she’s giggling. . Do you have anything to share? Just giggling? That’s okay . At least she finds it

00:59:16.300 - 00:59:29.020

amusing. Linh, I think Catherine wants to continue with her interview. Okay. Thank you.

00:59:29.020 - 00:59:40.100

Um so do you think that you know like, ‘cause I remember, it’s sort of—I don’t know how to phrase this question. But, my older sister is five years older. When my sister was growing up, my mom made

00:59:40.100 - 00:59:52.000

her do math problems. And then my mom got over that by the time I was that age to do math problems. Do you think that—like how is that whole model minority stereotype going to, do you see that continuing or-?

00:59:53.720 - 01:00:10.440

I don’t, I don’t know. I think there’s something in between, and there’s this new book out there that’s raised a lot of eyebrows called the Tiger Mom, and uh and people view Asian families as being that.

01:00:10.700 - 01:00:24.500

I don’t know how true of an interpretation that is. Certainly people in my generation, in my mind, it’s great that my kids learn math and I want them to learn math. But, but uh I would much rather take them to a museum and

01:00:25.640 - 01:00:39.040

do something together, and—or hang out and let’s go attack an ant pile and see what it’s made of and get bitten and see what it feels like, and go catch some bugs. You know, to me, that’s memories that you

01:00:39.070 - 01:00:49.740

create that is hard to forget. You’re going to live with those memories. And that’s what life’s all about, in a way, it’s not about…you know, like I told you before.

01:00:50.140 - 01:01:13.440

The things I learned in calculus, the formulas I don’t remember much of it at all. Um okay great. So how…um what was college like for you, um in terms of both paying for college and

01:01:14.100 - 01:01:31.000

getting to college, and your family support system in college? You know, when I was uh when I was growing up, I did not know the difference, and I didn’t have anyone in my family to share with me that when you go to college, there’s different levels of

01:01:31.060 - 01:01:46.050

colleges. There’s good colleges, there’s great colleges, and there are the best colleges. And it reflects on how much money you have to pay. You know, and so I went to an undergraduate school, in my mind, the best

01:01:46.050 - 01:02:02.340

college I could have gone to. A small little school in Lafayette called U of Lafayette. And I was—my family was poor, and so I had some financial aid. And I bore a bunch of money going through college, and I had a great

01:02:02.340 - 01:02:14.730

time. Half of the money that I bore was for college, and the other half was bore to travel, because I love to travel. And so when we got out of school, I owed some money and I knew this money was going to pay it off.

01:02:15.750 - 01:02:28.650

Um but you know I, I think that the colleges, whether it’s a great college or just an average college, I think what’s more important is how much the individual put into it.

01:02:28.650 - 01:02:42.490

Because you can go to a fantastic school, but if you’re not going to pour your heart and soul into it, your experience is not going to be worth as much as a student that goes to an average school and pours everything into it.

01:02:43.240 - 01:02:56.790

It’s going to be much more meaningful for them, and I think they’re going to walk away with something much better. And did I wish that I would have had parents that knew more, that could have illustrated to me that hey, here’s how things kind of work, yeah, I would have,

01:02:56.830 - 01:03:12.400

that would’ve been great. But uh hindsight is twenty-twenty. What I want to do for my children is to aspire to let them know, that you know, here’s how the structure works. Here’s what the things are available.

01:03:13.170 - 01:03:21.500

Am I going to give my kids everything? Absolutely not. I’m going to help them with things that I can, but they’re going to have to make it themselves. You want to go to college?

01:03:21.580 - 01:03:34.520

Great. You’re going to go, you’re going to pay for it. If you graduate, and I’m able to help you pay for it, I can help you. But other than that, you’re, you’re going to make it on your own. And that’s kind of the way I see it.

01:03:35.070 - 01:03:48.460

And so I had a great— I was always a very good student. College for me was very easy. Um I graduated in the top of my class in college, in undergraduate.

01:03:49.190 - 01:04:00.890

And when I went to get my Master’s, I think I made one B through the course of my whole Master’s program. It was always natural for me, ‘cause I enjoyed it. I would have probably been a career student if somebody would have supported me,

01:04:01.790 - 01:04:15.570

because I really truly enjoyed it. I never had to study uh in college. I wouldn’t—I would see my fellow classmates just sweat tears studying

01:04:15.750 - 01:04:34.350

day after day to—and I would look at it and I’d skim and say, ‘Oh I get it.’ You know, it was never difficult for me. Uh and, and because of that, I really enjoyed it. Um so I guess, what kinds of food do you serve at

01:04:37.450 - 01:04:53.950

home, in terms of…? We eat very traditional food, for our day-to-day basis. Uh my kids probably— and they eat everything we eat. Um one of the things—one of our favorite things to eat is sun-dried fish, doesn’t sound very appetizing, but

01:04:54.320 - 01:05:04.800

it’s very good. My mom likes it. It’s very good for you, and it’s—we eat it all the time. And we make vegetable soup almost every day, some kind of vegetable made into a soup.

01:05:05.740 - 01:05:19.540

Um and then we eat a lot of rice at home. And when we do eat meat, it’s normally a small serving of salty meat of some sort. But we’ve grown to enjoy steaks and burgers and

01:05:20.200 - 01:05:34.980

things like that, and we make spaghetti from time to time. But 80% of the time it’s all very traditional food, Vietnamese food. And then we venture out and cook American and Italian, whatever else we like to enjoy,

01:05:35.070 - 01:05:49.930

fajitas. So we try—when it comes to grilling, it’s my job. My wife does most of the cooking. She knows how to cook the traditional Vietnamese food, and I don’t. I just enjoy eating it. But um but that’s what you see.

01:05:50.000 - 01:06:02.180

When we have guests, we do something a little special, you know because Vietnamese food, it’s very diverse. Average meal will take us thirty minutes to forty-five minutes to prepare, but there are certain things that could take up

01:06:02.180 - 01:06:17.330

hours. So when we have—we’re used to entertaining a lot of people, because we’re a big family. We always…for me to feed forty people is not hard. Uh so I do it with barbeque or, or with boiling

01:06:17.910 - 01:06:28.400

crawfish or seafood. My wife cooks soups and noodle soups. And then you know—but it’s—we have a big family; everybody jumps in to help.

01:06:28.520 - 01:06:44.300

And it’s uh you know, most of the time, it’s all traditional food. Okay. Would you say that you ever, I guess kind of incorporate American elements? So for example, at Thanksgiving, my mom always makes a turkey. But instead of cornbread stuffing, she always stuffs it with

01:06:44.570 - 01:06:59.400

sticky rice. Uh do you ever do that? Uh you know I grew up in southern Louisiana, so Cajun food is a big deal for us. And so you will find sometime, especially for me, uh I will mix Cajun

01:07:00.090 - 01:07:14.550

and Asian food together all the time. Um you know I, I—not many people do this, but I boil my crawfish with orange juice. Not many people do that. Uh we, we cook our

01:07:14.590 - 01:07:30.360

turkeys not grilling the turkey or baking the turkey, but we cook like we cook brisket, you know uh smothered, which is the Cajun way that we’ve learned. And you know turkey normally is a very dry meat, and

01:07:31.530 - 01:07:44.760

we don’t like to eat dry things. We like to eat things that are moist. Um and so yeah we, we, we experiment. Okay, that’s great. Uh let’s see, do you have any

01:07:45.180 - 01:08:07.460

family heirlooms or mementos that you—I guess maybe your parents might have brought from Vietnam? Just fond memories. Um…oh do you think that it’s important for your kids, I guess—do you see your kids

01:08:07.510 - 01:08:19.940

maintaining—or would you want your kids to have a very American identity going to school? Or how—what do you want your kids to see themselves as? I want them to be comfortable in their own skin.

01:08:20.440 - 01:08:35.250

I want them to be comfortable with their faith. I want them to be comfortable with who they are, more so than whether they’re Asian or American. Or—they’re Americans. They just happen to have brown eyes and dark hair.

01:08:36.320 - 01:08:50.560

Uh so as long as they’re comfortable with their faith, comfortable in their own skin and their abilities, anything else to me is not that relevant. Okay. How has your faith changed throughout your life?

01:08:50.560 - 01:09:06.390

Do you think it’s gotten stronger because you’re an immigrant or-? I think, I think it’s gotten stronger not because I’m an immigrant, I think it’s gotten stronger because as I mature as an adult I appreciate the blessings of God much more than

01:09:07.010 - 01:09:15.810

I used to. Um you know I went through a cycle that most people go through with their faith where they challenge and question God and question their beliefs.

01:09:17.040 - 01:09:31.390

At some point you even believe that you’re smarter than God, uh that ‘wait a minute, I can do that.’ Or you begin to question things like did he really create that? Or you know ‘I can do this alone, I don’t need God.’

01:09:32.560 - 01:09:46.730

We go through phases like that. I think the more I know, the more I realize the less I know, and that you know walking with Him is a lot easier than walking without Him, because sometime you may need him to pick you

01:09:46.730 - 01:10:03.350

up. Okay. Great. Um so I guess has, has there—have there been um I guess Asian networks that have helped you find a job, find a home, um relocate?

01:10:03.350 - 01:10:16.500

I noticed that you’ve lived in multiple different places in the United States. Have there been people who have helped you through that? Not, not, yeah, there’s been people, but not Asians. I think I’m, I’m very, I;m very quick to adapt.

01:10:17.670 - 01:10:30.170

I love new things and new places, and so I don’t hesitate to jump right in and see what’s happening. But no, I have never used services like that, Asian services like that.

01:10:31.050 - 01:10:50.080

Okay. Um how would you say Houston differs from, I noticed you lived in Seattle um and you know, Louisiana, how does Houston differ, and the Houston Asian community in particular? Oh, I think the Asian community here um has a force that doesn’t exist in many other places in this

01:10:51.180 - 01:11:05.070

country. I think the second largest congregation of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam is here in Houston. Um and Houston is a diverse community. It’s something that’s just fascinating to me.

01:11:05.130 - 01:11:20.150

And I, and I think that because of that, the Asian community here, there’s public officials and elected politicians. There are Asians here, um that they reflect the true image of the Vietnamese Asian community.

01:11:20.820 - 01:11:35.550

Maybe not. Um but there’s still time for improvements. Um I think that there’s the Asian network here, and Asian businesses here thrive. You go you know up and down Bellaire Boulevard, and whether you

01:11:35.860 - 01:11:50.270

like the aesthetics of the boulevard or not, you, you appreciate what is there. You appreciate the fact that there’s six or seven different grocery stores or supermarkets that you can go into and find things that you normally would never find

01:11:50.270 - 01:12:03.430

anywhere else. You appreciate the mom and pops uh grocery stores and seafood stores that we get our groceries and seafood from. You appreciate these hole-in-the-wall restaurants that if you weren’t Asian or

01:12:03.940 - 01:12:16.280

Vietnamese, you wouldn’t know where they were. Um and you know to be able to walk in and hear three or four different languages, Asian languages, and you’re standing right in the middle of Houston.

01:12:16.800 - 01:12:32.390

I mean, that’s fascinating. And to me, that’s just awesome. And since the Vietnamese community has been here for thirty, since ’75, so you know for thirty- seven years now, there are certain restaurants and,

01:12:33.170 - 01:12:47.590

and grocery stores and business locations that are becoming landmark. One of those is Mai’s Restaurant. You know, great, wonderful restaurant to go eat, they’ve been there for many, many years, it’s just a wonderful place.

01:12:49.290 - 01:13:02.300

Yeah, I love the fact that I can wake up in the morning on a Sunday morning or a Saturday morning and literally walk to get dim sum with my kids. Or late at night with my wife, go get a bowl of noodles.

01:13:03.910 - 01:13:19.140

I can’t do that in Abbeville, Louisiana. I hadn’t been able to do that when I was living in Seattle. So yeah that part of it is awesome. Okay, great. Do you think it’s—I don’t know the right word, but do you think it’s

01:13:19.200 - 01:13:32.850

comforting I guess to go walk into a Vietnamese restaurant? I know my mom, I live in Philadelphia, it’s not—we live in the suburbs, it’s very white. And so whenever my mom goes into the Chinese grocery store there, uh she’s

01:13:32.870 - 01:13:42.690

from Taiwan. She’s always really excited to speak Mandarin with the shop owner. Do you get that way too? No, I mean we speak Vietnamese at home, so it’s not like I have to go to the grocery

01:13:42.690 - 01:13:52.820

store to speak Vietnamese. Now I know this, when we just moved to this country, there’s a pilgrimage, a Catholic pilgrimage that we all take to Carthage, Missouri.

01:13:53.770 - 01:14:05.150

And now last year they had over 100,000 in attendance. And it was at the beginning. And to people that lived in remote areas where there wasn’t a congregation of Vietnamese, people

01:14:05.150 - 01:14:21.060

loved to go just so they get the chance to see people they hadn’t seen before, meet people, that or, or reunite with people they thought had died through the process of migrating here. And so that part is great, so I see what

01:14:21.080 - 01:14:35.650

you’re saying. Living here in Houston everything is so accessible. And because my family is so big and our network is so big, that I never really—I don’t ever desire or go look for opportunities to speak Vietnamese,

01:14:36.420 - 01:14:50.530

because I never feel deprived of them. And so I uh, I, I think for us that’s kind of how I see it. But I see where you’re coming from where you live, in a different part of the country where there’s

01:14:50.570 - 01:15:03.560

not a huge congregation of Asians, and that you have to drive twenty miles or two hours to get to an Asian grocery store. I see how people just get excited to be able to speak your language, because you haven’t been able to

01:15:03.560 - 01:15:18.750

say much in the past year, because you know…I see that. We experienced some, some of that when we were growing up. What are you doing, Linh? Playing with my band.

01:15:20.710 - 01:15:31.900

Are you interrupting Catherine? Will you apologize to Catherine? Sorry. Thank you. Um so do you watch any types of, or do you follow Vietnamese news or media?

01:15:33.220 - 01:15:46.680

No, I’m, I’m terrible at following news other than sports news. Um I don’t. I don’t watch a lot of news. I don’t—I uh I love to listen to NPR, but

01:15:47.590 - 01:16:03.590

that’s about my share of news-gathering that I have . My wife watches the Vietnamese news station, and, and uh but I don’t. I don’t. How does your wife connect with um her relatives back home? Oh, she’s on the phone with them.

01:16:04.510 - 01:16:20.920

Now with Skype and the ability to get on her iPhone, be able to see her parents, it’s much easier. When she just moved here it was more difficult, because you only had a phone, and you had to buy a calling card, and the service wasn’t great, and so half of your

01:16:20.940 - 01:16:33.490

phones get dropped, and half of the things that you said never get heard, but now it’s really easy. Was she homesick at the beginning, when she couldn’t see them through Skype? Yeah, she probably was, I mean anybody would be.

01:16:34.390 - 01:16:46.490

But she had a lot to look forward to here, you know how to adapt to this new life here with a husband, a new husband and his big family. And so we’re pretty

01:16:46.490 - 01:16:58.710

laidback as a family, so she never felt, I don’t think she ever felt a lot of pressure, but yeah of course I’m sure she was homesick. How does language work in your home? So is it you speak Vietnamese and your children speak English

01:16:58.750 - 01:17:09.090

back, or how, how does that dynamic work? It’s all of those things. My wife is very good about speaking Vietnamese to our kids. Um I find

01:17:09.090 - 01:17:23.880

myself speaking more English to them. And I—we have, we had a rule, but we don’t follow it very closely; we need to. We need to follow this rule, which is once we get home, we speak Vietnamese.

01:17:25.290 - 01:17:37.210

And uh our kids of course, they are reluctant to do it, but I think we need to get back on that track; what do you think, Linh? No. Yeah, I think we should. Okay.

01:17:37.240 - 01:17:52.570

Um what was your children’s first language? Vietnamese. So did they start learning English once they got to school? School, yeah . My oldest, my son, he—until he was four years

01:17:52.570 - 01:18:01.000

old, spoke very little uh Vietnamese—I mean English. And his Vietnamese was great. And then of course once he started school, he

01:18:01.260 - 01:18:14.830

speak—he spoke English, and then she started learning from him. So she started speaking English before she went to school. And of course, you know we do allow our kids to watch way too much television, and so they

01:18:14.910 - 01:18:28.780

learn from television as well. Uh so yeah, we still have a lot of work to do as parents. So why is retaining the Vietnamese language so important?

01:18:30.720 - 01:18:44.940

Well, you know I don’t know if it’s important, because I think it’s um—I just want my kids to speak another language. I think this whole culture is getting to a point where if you speak one language, you’re going

01:18:45.060 - 01:18:56.890

to become illiterate. And I think it’s uh—by the time they get to adulthood, I think every one of their friends is going to speak two, three, four languages.

01:18:57.670 - 01:19:07.940

Uh we see that in Europe. It’s very uncommon to find someone that only speaks one language. And uh with the diverse population that we have here, think about it.

01:19:09.110 - 01:19:20.960

Everywhere we go now with the public system, it’s English, Vietnamese, and Spanish in Houston, right? Now how cool would it be for them to be able to read all three languages?

01:19:22.280 - 01:19:36.530

Even though they will probably pick English, but to be able to do that, you know, I think that’s pretty cool. I also think that when they’re—when they speak more languages— I don’t know if you—you speak Chinese,

01:19:36.940 - 01:19:51.680

obviously. There’s certain things that I can express in English that I can’t in Vietnamese. And there’s certain things that I express in Vietnamese that I can’t express in English. There’s certain expressions that you make in one language that you can’t do in the

01:19:51.730 - 01:20:06.450

other language, period. And so the more languages they speak, I think the more that will allow them to express themselves. I really haven’t thought about it, but that’s true. And so I just like them to speak more than one language.

01:20:08.890 - 01:20:19.440

That’s great. And sorry I’m always backtracking. My mind is always going in different places. But I just thought of a good question. Okay. And it was um: my roommate freshman year was actually an Asian international

01:20:19.510 - 01:20:29.140

student from China. Um I guess we kind of had a culture shock—difference. Did you ever feel that way with your wife? I mean I know you’re married, but…

01:20:29.140 - 01:20:41.160

Um no. I don’t think so. I mean I uh—no. I don’t think my wife and I have ever had a situation like that.

01:20:42.330 - 01:20:57.370

One, one of the things that we—yeah, I guess we do. It—for some reason, because her parents live so far away from us, I have not gotten close to her parents the way that she has gotten real close to my family, because she

01:20:57.370 - 01:21:16.200

lives here. And you know every New Year, you’re supposed to wish your elders your prosperity and health and good luck. And uh she always wants me to talk to her parents. Well, she doesn’t know this.

01:21:16.260 - 01:21:31.790

I always tell her, ‘Honey, if you tell your parents those things, you’re representing me. And, you got it covered.’ You know? And I think the reason why I don’t do it is because I think I have a discomfort of talking to her family, to her parents.

01:21:32.570 - 01:21:45.590

Not that I don’t like them, I like them fine. I don’t see them that much, and I just, I need to work on that. And so my wife and I, always around the New Year time, I’m always, hey. And she gets tired of it, to say, ‘Hey, talk to

01:21:45.690 - 01:21:57.660

my parents.’ She wants me to initiate it and say ‘Hey, can you call your parents so I can wish them a happy new year?’ And I want to make it a point this coming New Year, to make my wife happy. Okay, that’s great.

01:21:57.660 - 01:22:09.950

Um do you have any questions? Um I had questions pop up during the interview, but I can’t really think of anything right now. Do you want to backtrack at all? I’ve been backtracking this

01:22:18.760 - 01:22:32.840

entire time. No, I don’t have anything. Okay. Are there any memories that you wanted to share that I didn’t get to? Memories… Childhood… Oh, um it’s been a great life.

01:22:36.660 - 01:22:50.110

Couldn’t have asked for you know anything better. Uh just feel very fortunate and blessed. Looking forward to hopefully another forty-two years of life, and experiencing kids growing up,

01:22:51.870 - 01:23:07.030

experiencing them maturing to young individuals and adults, and having challenges that everybody goes through and learning how to cope with them. Um yeah, I just think it’s been wonderful.

01:23:08.410 - 01:23:20.340

Okay, great. Final question. What do you want your legacy to be? Oh, my god. Uh from a professional perspective or? You know, I, I—what do I

01:23:20.790 - 01:23:32.780

want my… you know if uh—let me, let me rephrase that question. I think I have a better answer, I can answer it a little bit better. What do I want people to remember me by?

01:23:32.780 - 01:23:47.980

Um I want my kids to say that ‘My father was a loving father, caring and always had time for us. Uh taught us about the good and the bad, how to

01:23:48.050 - 01:24:02.230

always go out and choose and make good decisions.’ Um for my wife, ‘A loyal individual, husband that was always there whether he agreed with

01:24:02.320 - 01:24:18.790

me or not, but was always there, and was always the cornerstone of our family.’ Um for my nieces and nephews and siblings, it’s uh—you know I made a difference in their lives. For that fact, for my wife and my kids too,

01:24:19.490 - 01:24:33.800

that I’ve made a difference in a little way in their life. And for the community, um as an individual that gave back, as an individual that made you know

01:24:35.090 - 01:24:50.620

the place that we live in a little bit better. And for my work uh in architecture is hopefully leave behind some good memories and some spaces that I would have designed that people would walk into and appreciate and say, ‘Hmm, if it

01:24:50.640 - 01:25:02.250

wasn’t for Trung, we would have never had this to experience.’ So I don’t know if I answered your question or not. That’s great. Okay, well I guess that’s it. Thank you. Yeah.

01:25:02.980 - 01:25:03.410

Good job.