Lou Correa vs. Janet Nguyen for OC Supervisor?

There are a lot of rumors within the Vietnamese-American community in Little Saigon about the upcoming 2012 race for the First District OC Supervisor seat currently occupied by Supervisor Janet Nguyen.  An often mentioned contender for the seat  is the current State Senator Lou Correa.  With Nguyen receiving strong support from the community and being an incumbent, the conventional wisdom is that this is an unlikely matchup.

Couple weeks ago, Viet Herald Daily sat down with Lou Correa and the subject was brought up.  The interview was done by the reporter Doan Trong.  Here is an excerpt as translated into English:

VH:  Earlier this year in an article in  the OC Regiter, columnist Martin Wisckol disclosed that you are fundraising in Sacramento to potentially run again for the "1st district supervisorial" in 2012.   Would you care to comment on the speculation since your state senate term doesn't end until 2014?

Correa: My fundraing in Sacramento is for the attorney general of California in the future. That is the seat that I am aiming for and not any other position at the moment.

VH: If in the future, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez leaves her 47th district seat, Are you ready to replace her for that position?

Correa: In politics, anything can happen. However, as I just mentioned,  I would like to be able to run for the AG seat after my term is over.

VH:  Is it safe to say that your name will not appear on the list of candidacy for either congressional or OC supervisor race in 2012?

Correa:  It is safe to say for now that my next political campaign will be for the AG position.

A Conversation on Vietnamese American Literature

Bridging Cultures  & Generations:

A Conversation on Vietnamese American Literature

Saturday, May 7  3-5 p.m.



Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

Second floor, Rooms 225-229

150 East San Fernando Street

San José




FEATURING AWARD-WINNING & CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED AUTHORS:



Angie Chau, Quiet As They Come

Andrew Lam, East Eats West

Isabelle Pelaud, This Is All I Choose to Tell


The San Francisco Chronicle described ANGIE CHAU'S Quiet As They Come as "a powerful mix of tragedy and kindness, of miscommunications and all-too-painful empathy, which bound together are a resonating homage to many an immigrant." She was born in Vietnam and now lives in Eddie Money's former studio in Oakland.


ANDREW LAM is a writer and a co-founder of New America Media. Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora has won the Pen American "Beyond the Margins" Award in 2006, and was short-listed for "Asian American Literature Award."East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres was published in October 2010 and listed as top ten indie books by Shelf Unbound Magazine.


ISABELLE PELAUD is associate professor in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and author of This Is All I Choose To Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN).

Survey on Court Administration in Viet Nam

Request for Proposals


Research Team to conduct Survey on Court Administration in Viet Nam

United Nations Development Programme- Vietnam

Full RFP for this and other activities at the link below.

www.undp.org.vn/get-involved/undp-opportunities/current-tender-opportunities/?contentId=0&languageId=1


UNDP Viet Nam seeks proposals from individual consultants and consulting firms/institutions/organization for a Research Team to conduct Survey on Court Administration in Viet Nam, under the Project “Strengthening Access to Justice and Protection of Rights in Viet Nam”.

The overall objective of this survey is to describe and capture a detailed and comprehensive picture of court administration in Viet Nam.

The key objectives of the survey are:


2.1. To assess normative framework of court governance and administration (including the reviews of Party’s policy, guidance and legal normative documents) and identify the gaps and shortcomings in practice

2.2. To examine the practical situation in which independence and impartiality of the court and judges are enhanced or undermined

2.3. To provide new data aggregated from available and independent sources and to possible extent to capture the impacts and changes in court governance and administration as resulted from the newly extended jurisdiction of district courts over the past few years

2.4. Drawing on the overall assessment of court administration (both from normative and reality perspectives), to identify key factors which appear significant in relation to enhancing (or undermining) the impartiality, accountability and independence of judicial decision-making, and to provide evidence-based recommendations for enhancement of independence of court and judges in adjudication


Submission deadline: February 11, 2011; 5:00 pm Hanoi time (UTC/GMT +7 hours)

New Year Celebration in The Bay Area - The Year of Cat

There are different New Year Celebration events in the Bay Area organized by various community groups during the last week of January and first week of February.  All will attract thousands of people.  With the economy rebounding,  the community is excited and ready to celebrate big to bring in the new year and getting rid of the old.  To everyone,  A Happy and Prosperous Year of the Cat!

Diasporic Vietnamese Artist Network Fund Raiser - January 14 in SF

Here is an excerpt of the event as posted on DVAN Website - http://diacritics.org/2011/01/06/dvan-holiday-fundraiser-silent-auction/

"....So hopefully you all know that diaCRITICS is part of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network. Our mission is to promote the arts of the Vietnamese at home and abroad. For the second time, we are hosting a holiday fundraiser at Andrew Lam’s condo complex in San Francisco. Last year we raised a big chunk of money, due to the generosity of our supporters. We had some music, some author readings, a lot of good wine and food, and a silent auction of some very nice artwork. So more of the same this year, EXCEPT:



We have a reading and book signing by Andrew Lam and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, for Andrew’s not-as-new book East Eats West and Isabelle’s brand-new book this is all i choose to tell.: History and hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature, with proceeds benefitting DVAN.

We announce a project that’s been well under way, our Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora anthology of literature and art. Unfortunately, a book with high-quality art images is expensive to produce, and this is one big reason for the fundraiser–to raise crucial funds to subsidize this important book, the first of its kind. The anthology is done. We just need some extra money for printing! Meet several of the authors, who’ll be reading that evening.



Even if you don’t have a lot of money to give, we hope you have $10. That’s the price of admission, and you can eat all you want and listen to all the readings and hobnob with the authors.
......And once you’re there, if you can’t afford the silent auction, or a book by Andrew or Isabelle ($20), we know you can afford to have a drink–a few bucks for a glass of wine, which you’ll actually enjoy. The wine is not from Trader Joe’s or Costco or Safeway, but from a pretty darn good source who’s cutting us a deal for some very nice bottles.



So please help spread the world for a good cause. We’ll see you on January 14.

Scholarship Programs For Vietnam

The San Francisco Foundation (SFF)

Multicultural Fellowships 2011-2013:

Arts and Culture, Civic Engagement, and Community Health
http://www.sff.org/programs/multicultural-fellowship-program
Deadline - January 20, 2011.

Compensation: $46,000-$50,000 annually


Special Information Sessions at 225 Bush Street, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94104.

Jan 11, 2011 – 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.



Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF)
Fellowship program

Visiting Scholar Program

U.S. Faculty Scholar Program
http://www.vef.gov/

Deadline: Various depending on programs Feb 7 – April 10, 2011
Compensation: Various financial support.



The Institute for Vietnamese Culture & Education (IVCE)

Vietnam Teaching Assistantship (ViTA)
Vietnam Education Development (VED)

http://www.ivce.org/

Deadline: various

Compensation: stipend for housing



Friends of Hue Foundation (FHF)

The VASF Cultural Bridges Fellowship (Summer 2011)


http://www.vietscholarships.org/fellowships.html#

Deadline: Jan 17, 2011

Compensation: $2500 - travel expense and stipend

Ly Tong and His Trial

Ly Tong and his infamous attack on a popular Vietnamese singer Dam Vinh Hung with pepper spray is  but all forgotten in the community for now.  The only thing in the news are from Ly Tong and his constant email to various Web forums boasting about his action to attack the singer as a just cause to defeat the communist propaganda against the overseas Vietnamese community.   He currently is being shunned from the community for his outrageous and over-the-top claims for many things.

This is a quite a turn about for just 2-3 months ago, he was being embraced by every Vietnamese-American politician running for office, including State Assemblyman Van Tran and Wesminster councilmember Ta Tri Duc.

He is on trial for 2 felony charges and the court date is set for 2/28/2011.  His team of  lawyers has resigned since they could not stand his self-delusion and blatant purpose of  making a mockery out of the justice system by planning to turn the trial into his own personal political forum as a one man anti-communist superhero.  

Ly Tong is seeing himself as an anti-communist martyr.  He has publicly said many times that he rather serves time in jail to make a point.  LSI is not a legal expert but the conventional wisdom is that for such an unstable defendant, the court might want to consider him as an insane person.