Việt Thanh Nguyễn has been condemned as ill-educated for his anti-ICE protest sign: “Đụ Má. Đụ Đá.” I am not going to defend his use of Vietnamese, but his writing in English is insightful and powerful. Being stuck in the snowstorm, I hunkered down to finish reading To Save and to Destroy. In six essays for the Norton Lectures, Việt Thanh Nguyễn delves into his own self-exploitation and self-exploration, in which he claims, “Both are crucial to the act of writing, which I think always involves a confrontation with one’s self, even if one writes about others.”

In his essays, he explores the nuances of the term “Asian American” in a profound way that I hadn’t thought of before. I thought about the following passage quite a bit as he rightly points out:

Here as elsewhere, we foreground our success stories, which are inextricable from our sob stories. We are valedictorians, salutatorians, celebrities, influencers, actors, chefs, politicians, writers. We are your doctors, radiologists, internists, optometrists, dentists, pharmacists, nurses. We take your blood pressure, give you injections, empty your bedpans. We look into each and every part of you. We tutor you in math and play your classical music. We kneel at your feet to do your pedicures. We dry-clean your clothes. We introduced you to acupuncture and yoga and martial arts, but we have been so successful in these endeavors that we probably no longer teach you yoga or martial arts, since you like to teach them yourselves. We gave you an incredible array of spices, flavors, and dishes without which your lives, diets, and palates would be much blander. We design your microchips and program your code. We become the objects of your fantasies and desires. We smile and reassure you. We serve as your excuses to end affirmative action. We are your friendly competition. Until we are too much competition.

Now that is quite an assessment of Asian Americans and I am glad that he’s writing as the voices of others: “Among my kind is the Vietnamese, the Asian, the minoritized, the racialized, the colonized, the hybrid, the hyphenated, the refugee, the displaced, the artist, the writer, the smart ass, the bastard, the sympathizer, and the committed.”

In addition to being a writer, Việt Thanh Nguyễn is a prolific reader. He reveals:

…I set out to educate myself in my adolescence by reading Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, Dumas, Twain, Hardy, the Brontës, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Steinbeck, among many others who needed no first names. Reading everything from the minor to the major entertained and enlightened me, not just illuminating my mind but rendering me weightless, making me easy to transport, as if fired by a rocket, into distant worlds.

Those who called Việt Thanh Nguyễn “mất dạy” should read this book. I am glad that he speaks his mind for himself or others since he has the platform as a writer in the world of literature.

I just gave my professional site a typographic update for 2026.

For a while, I had been wanting to use the NaN Holo family, designed by Luke Prowse, Jean-Baptiste Morizot, and Fátima Lázaro, but I couldn’t find the right fit. I particularly love NaN Holo Mono, but it is a challenge to set as body text. As I was making some minor updates on my own site, donnytruong.com, I decided to just go for it.

Monospaced typefaces were designed for coding, but I wanted to try them for body copy and my site was the perfect place to experiment. After messing around with NaN Holo Mono, I started to like the way it reads as paragraph text.

For large headings, however, the black mono weight took up way too much space; therefore, I went with the compressed black weight and it swells.

The NaN Holo family doesn’t come with italics. I use small caps for emphasis instead. In addition, I had always wanted to style my links with underlined small caps so I went ahead and implemented it.

On the homepage, I removed my photo. It is definitely personable to have a photo on a professional site, but I don’t have any good ones of myself.

I hope you enjoy the new change. Check out donnytruong.com.

Từ mùa đông năm trước đến nay, tôi đã dạy tư trượt ván trên tuyết khoảng cả chục thằng từ 4 đến 8 tuổi. Chưa dạy đứa cháu gái nào cả. Hơn nữa, chỉ dạy tư cho con Mỹ trắng, mà không có Á châu hoặc da màu. Theo tôi nghĩ thì chỉ có Mỹ trắng mới chịu bỏ ra gần $500 để cho mỗi đứa con của họ học riêng. Tuy họ cũng biết trượt nhưng họ chịu đầu tư cho huấn luyện viên dạy. Tôi cũng dạy cho vài đứa trẻ Việt con của bạn bè và người thân. Tôi chứng kiến được tư cách giữa hai bên khác nhau nên viết lại những gì tôi thấy để rút kinh nghiệm.

Với con Mỹ trắng, tụi nhỏ rất tự lập và kiên trì. Có lần tôi dạy thằng nhóc 4 tuổi. Nó tự vác chiếc ván và tự mình xỏ giày vào bindings. Chỉ có lúc găng tay bị tuyết không xỏ vào được và đôi tay lạnh cúm nó mới nhờ tôi giúp dùm. Tôi nói gì nó nghe nhưng làm theo thì hên xui. Nó trượt té. Khỏi cần tôi hỏi nó tự nói, “Tôi không sao cả”. Tôi cười nói, “Không sao là tốt rồi. Đứng lên trượt tiếp đi cậu”. Thế là nó tự đứng lên trượt tiếp. Cha mẹ nó đứng đằng xa theo dõi. Không biết có xót ruột hay không nhưng cuối giờ học ông ba nhét cho tôi tờ $50 và khen tôi dạy tuyệt vời. Tôi cảm ơn ông và nói, “Không, ông mới là người dạy con tuyệt vời. Nó mới 4 tuổi mà chịu khó và kiên trì hơn 2 tiếng đồng hồ”. Ông khiêm tốn trả lời, “Nó có hai thằng anh lớn nên nó rất cứng rắn”.

Có lần tôi dạy thằng bé 7 tuổi cũng Mỹ trắng. Trượt té lên té xuống nên nó dường nhưng muốn bỏ cuộc. Tôi nói với nó, “Cậu trượt rất khá nhưng môn thể thao này không dễ. Ba mẹ của cậu đã bỏ ra rất nhiều tiền để tôi dạy cậu. Cậu phải cố gắng lên”. Nó cũng lắng nghe. Tôi nói với nó, “Cũng tới giờ giải lao, chúng ta vào trong, ăn snacks, uống miếng nước, rồi trượt tiếp”. Sau khi ăn uống xong, tôi định đi bỏ rác sẵn bỏ luôn cho nó nhưng tôi dừng lại chờ xem nó sẽ làm gì. Nó ăn uống xong, tự động đi đổ rác, đi nhà vệ sinh, rửa tay, rồi nói với tôi, “Tôi đã sẵn sàng trượt tiếp”.

Khi dạy con Việt Nam, ván nó nhờ tôi vác và giày nhờ tôi xỏ. Dĩ nhiên là tôi chỉ hướng dẫn bọn nó thôi và bảo nó phải tự làm lấy. Lỡ có chuyện gì xảy ra thì tụi nó tự tháo giày ra được. Theo như tôi đã từng chứng kiến, con Việt ở nhà mọi chuyện là do cha mẹ làm hết từ A đến Z. Ăn cũng có ba mẹ dọn sẵn lên bàn. Ăn xong cũng có ba mẹ dọn dẹp. Thậm chí có đứa được ba mẹ đút từng muỗng. Còn có đứa không chịu ăn hết, mẹ đẩy đồ thừa cho ba ăn. Đi trượt tuyết cũng có ba mẹ bận đồ mang giày cho. Được ba mẹ chăm bẵm từng li từng tí nên bọn nhỏ thiếu sự tự lập và thiếu luôn sự tự tin. Chưa trượt đã nói, “Tôi không thể làm được”. Tôi nói, “Cậu chưa thử đã nói không làm được”. Khi trượt té thì muốn bỏ cuộc không có kiên nhẫn để tiếp tục.

Riêng cá nhân tôi cũng không chiều chuộng con cái. Không phải tôi không thương con hoặc tôi lười biếng không muốn làm mọi thứ cho con. Tôi muốn bọn nó tự giác một tí không phải mỗi chuyện lớn nhỏ mình phải làm cho nó. Chính bản thân tôi ngày xưa cũng được mẹ quá nuông chiều. Ăn uống có mẹ lo chu đáo không cần phải biết làm gì. Khi mới nhận được việc làm xa phải mướn chỗ ở riêng, tôi không biết nấu nồi cơm điện và không biết chiên trứng ra sao. Tôi không muốn bọn nhỏ thiếu những kỹ năng căn bản trong cuộc sống như tôi khi bọn nó tự sống riêng.

Giờ đây không cần phải đợi sau này ra đời rồi tụi nó mới biết khổ khi không có cha mẹ làm cho. Chỉ cần cho bọn nó học trượt ván trên tuyết là biết ngay.

Thật vui và cảm động khi đọc bài viết của cháu Nguyễn Nhựt Trường với tựa đề, “Chú Donny có một trang web xịn!”

Lúc tung ra phiên bản thứ hai của luận án Vietnamese Typography, tôi mới thêm vào phần mẫu (samples) để những nhà thiết kế chữ có thể thấy chữ Việt được sắp xếp ra sao.

Lúc đầu tôi chỉ thiết kế chừng vài mẫu thôi nhưng càng lúc tôi càng cảm hứng làm thêm nhiều trang khác nhau. Như lời cháu viết, tôi không chỉ muốn “tôn vinh” chữ Việt mà còn muốn tôn vinh văn hóa và văn học Việt.

Tôi không nghĩ nhiều người xem nên chỉ âm thầm thiết kế để thỏa mãn chính mình. Khi nhận được tin nhắn động viên của Nhựt Trường, tôi cảm nhận được rằng cháu hiểu được mục đích của tôi từ bấy lâu nay. Tôi cảm ơn cháu.

I am a skiaholic. Damn right, I just coined a new word and I am not ashamed to admit that I am a skiaholic. This season, I already spent 27 days skiing, snowboarding, and teaching. I think about that white powder all the time. I don’t want to hit it. I just want to shred it.

As a skiaholic, I always try to get my fix. Waiting for the weekends to come is getting way too long. I need to get on the slopes more often. Liberty resort is closest to my house and its hours of operation are the longest. On Monday to Wednesday, Liberty opens until 8:00 pm. On Thursday, it opens until 9:00 pm. I have been tempted to hit the slopes after work even just for a few hours, but I also have responsibilities and obligations at home.

I didn’t mind skiing or snowboarding alone, but I would feel guilty without my family. Unfortunately, my wife isn’t into skiing. Fortunately, three out of my four boys still enjoy skiing and snowboarding. Spending time with them on the slopes had been my most-treasured moments.

Being a skiaholic is a good thing. It is definitely better than being an alcoholic. In fact, I have been giving up drinking to prevent getting gout. If I got a flare up, I would be out of commission for two to three weeks. I couldn’t take that risk.

Being a skiaholic is good for my physical health. I am out in the cold moving for hours. My body is getting used to the cold. I don’t get sick. I feel stronger. Being a skiaholic is also great for my mental health. Because I am so focused on skiing and snowboarding, I don’t pay attention to all the negativities around me.

Before ski season began, I was miserable. I was carrying loads of personal issues. I couldn’t control my own emotions. My wife sat me down and told me that I needed therapy. I agreed. I was a mess and I would seek out a therapist. On second thought, why would I pay a stranger to hear me vent about my personal issues? I could do that on my blog for free. I also knew that once ski season started, I would be just fine.

Taking on the seasonal job as a Ski & Ride instructor allows me to be more social. I talk to many guests. I interact with a group of passionate ski and snowboard instructors. Even when I was not working, I was skiing, snowboarding, and talking to strangers on the chairlift. All I had to ask was, “How is your day?” Then we would kick off a 5-minute conversation or not. Some people don’t like to talk and I respect that.

Being a skiaholic definitely improves my quality of life. And the best part of being a skiaholic is almost free. There’s nothing to whine or complain about being a skiaholic. I am going to say it proud and loud: “I am a fucking skiaholic.”

Nguyễn Ngọc Tư is a littérateur of short stories who has a distinctive style of capturing the language of Southern Vietnamese, particularly in the Mekong Delta. Her stories are often heavy on social issues and injustices. After reading her collection of short stories in Đong tấm lòng, I decided to pull a few of my personal favorites to create a Vietnamese typographic sample. The main text is set in Hahmlet, designed by Minjoo Ham and Mark Frömberg. For the title cover, I chose Smooch, designed by Robert Leuschke. Special thanks to Nhựt Trường for requesting me to create a sample page for Nguyễn Ngọc Tư and for recommending me to read Đong tấm lòng. Check out “Giữa người với người”.

After stepping aside for 5 weeks, I was back in my warm and cozy office at Scalia Law School as Director of Design & Web Services. I needed some catching up to do, but my colleagues had done an exceptional job of holding down the fort while I was away on snowy mountains skiing, snowboarding, or teaching. While my office job works my brain, my outdoor job works my body.

I spent my evenings driving my kids to their activities or tuning up skis and snowboards for customers. Then I spent some late nights working on freelance web design and development. If I had no client work, I would work on my self-initiated projects. I worked with my wife on HaH! Chili. She made our product. I made all of our marketing materials from our website to the bottle label to social media promotions.

I advised type designers on Vietnamese diacritics. When I didn’t have any gigs, I churned out Vietnamese typographic samples. I keep myself busy. I consider myself a hustler, but my wife thinks I have ADHD. I brushed her off at first, but I had been thinking about what she said. She might be right. I couldn’t shut down my brain to sleep until I exhausted my body and mind.

I haven’t been able to stay still. My state of mind has always been in constant elevation. In retrospect, it all started with my professional career working in the web industry. Being a web designer and developer, I have to constantly come up with new designs and keep up with the latest technologies. Then it spread over to my personal developments. I read to improve my knowledge. I blog to improve my writing. I ski, snowboard, and skate to improve my physical and mental health. I always feel the need to improve myself with whatever I am involved in. I don’t need to make tremendous improvements overnight. I practice my techniques and hone my skills one day at a time. As long as I am better today than yesterday, I am improving. I play the long-term game.

Maybe I am overdoing it, but I don’t think that’s ADHD. I think of it as a self investment.

I am excited to announce the launch of a landing page for my passionate work as a ski & ride instructor at Whitetail Resort, which is part of Vail Resorts.

I want to share a bit about my journey to skiing and snowboarding. I also want to share my coaching progressions for both sports so guests will know what they will learn from me.

For the design, I had to go with the jacket blue. For all Vail instructors, blue is the color of our uniforms. For typesetting, I had to go with Roslindale, designed by David Jonathan Ross.

Check out my new site, book a lesson, and come ski or ride with me.

Right off the first line on the opening track, “On With the Show,” Celeste sings, “And so… Got a feeling I should go.” Her gruff voice and articulate phrasing sound just like Billie Holiday. The piano plays behind her throughout with an occasional bass and subtle strings following her. She turns up an octave on the bridge: “There’s the swell of strings, the choir in constant rage / It’s the pit that sets the time, but we never see them play.” Damn!

On “Keep Smiling,” a strumming guitar accompanies her while the lust orchestra backs her up. Again she channels Lady Day in phrasing fascinating lyrics: “Curved at the edges, first in a frown / Held like the truth is there in my mouth.”

On the title track, “Woman of Faces,” the piano accompanies her as she sings, “She is a woman of all faces / Works so hard just to be replaced with / Who really cares what she’s made of?” The tune progresses into swelling and hypnotizing orchestration.

Most of the recordings on this album has an orchestra element except for “Could Be Machine,” which has a wild drum machine. The chorus has a child-like melody in which her voice fights against the marching drums, “Could be laughing right now, could be laughing right now / Could we be machine? Could we be machine?”

I had been listening to Woman of Faces every time I hit the road early in the morning when the sun was still down, but it could have been fantastic to enjoy at night with a glass of whiskey. I tried not to drink much these days so I could focus on skiing and snowboarding. If my gout flares up, I am done.

Thank you for your requests and pre-orders on our HaH! Chili Sauce. While waiting for our HaH! Chilimaster to make a new batch, we invite you to check out our HaH! updated website. We added a photo gallery to the site. We also created a fun YouTube playlist of Donny Trương (that’s me) enjoying his food with HaH! Chili Sauce.