Amanda Gorman tweets:

One parent could get my poetry banned from classrooms. And yet one country can’t ban assault rifles from massacring them.

I am practicing to let go of things that are out of my control. I am letting go of my worries and I am just taking things easy. I don’t know what the consequences will be, but I am feeling less stressed.

After 12 years of taking the helm of the website, I am letting it go. I am getting paid to maintain it and that’s it. I don’t have to own it. I don’t have to take full responsibility for it. I don’t know where I will end up, but I will navigate my way through.

I thought being a parent gets easier as the kids get older, but it is the opposite. I have to let them do their own things. Instead of worrying, I need to focus on getting them to the point where they don’t need me anymore. My job as a parent is to become obsolete.

I am also learning to let go of everything else unnecessary in my life. Let go of the messes, the dramas, the gossips, the politics, the comparisons, the envies, the jealousies, the greedies, and the negativities.

In her latest Netflix special, Wanda Sykes jokes about her French wife, their twins, racism, politics, covid, and, surprisingly, a whole lot of dicks. Sykes is indeed an entertainer and she is doing an excellent job at it. She landed a punchline on Florida and its governor: “If you want to protect the kids, ban assault weapons. That’s what killing the kids, not the books.” If you want a good laugh, stream it on Netflix.

Don’t look at me anymore, my love
The youthful flower had faded
The virginal fragrance’s already gone.
Don’t look at me, don’t look at me anymore, my love
The eyelids had closed, the lips’s forgotten its smile
You must’ve already forgotten me
The autumn moon broke into two halves
The birds flying in a distant, misty world…
Should I see you, should I see you or not?
If someone would just send words for me,
“That the once vibrant flower’s now forlorn
Sleepless nights on cold pillow.”

If there’s some lifetime for us to love each other
Then please seek for me in a future life
When the youthful flower hasn’t yet bloomed
When youthful love does not yet know fear

If we have ever loved each other
Then please wipe away all your distress
Where are you now, my love?
Where are you now, my love?

Don’t look at me anymore, my love
We already parted our own separate ways
We’d already forgotten one another
Still looking, still looking at me for what, my love
The tears’d poured for a singing voice that passed away
Don’t look at me anymore, my love!

Translated by Vương Thanh

Kiếp nào có yêu nhau

Đừng nhìn em nữa anh ơi
Hoa xanh đã phai rồi
Hương trinh đã tan rồi
Đừng nhìn em, đừng nhìn em nữa anh ơi
Đôi mi đã buông xuôi, môi răng đã quên cười.
Hẳn người thôi đã quên ta
Trăng Thu gẫy đôi bờ
Chim bay xứ xa mờ.
Gặp người chăng, gặp người chăng, nhắn cho ta
Hoa xanh đã bơ vơ đêm sâu gối ơ thờ.

Kiếp nào có yêu nhau
Thì xin tìm đến mai sau
Hoa xanh khi chưa nở
Tình xanh khi chưa lo sợ

Bao giờ có yêu nhau
Thì xin gạt hết thương đau
Anh đâu anh đâu rồi?
Anh đâu anh đâu rồi?

Đừng nhìn nhau nữa anh ơi
Xa nhau đã xa rồi, quên nhau đã quên rồi
Còn nhìn chi, còn nhìn chi nữa anh ơi
Nước mắt đã buông rơi theo tiếng hát qua đời
Đừng nhìn nhau nữa… anh ơi!

Minh Đức Hoài Trinh

Let’s keep it real. There is no diversity in an environment runs by white men, white privileges, and conservation agenda. Any promotion of diversity is just for marketing purpose. Death of diversity.

I updated all my photo galleries with the browser’s built-in loading="lazy" attribute:

<img src="image.png" loading="lazy" alt="">

Learn more at web.dev. I didn’t realize lazy loading has been widely supported in the browsers; therefore, I am a bit late. I love it when browsers implement elements like this so we don’t have to rely on JavaScript to do the job.

I spent my beautiful morning commute with the Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins. The clarity and dexterity from his tenor backed up by the crisp drumming from Shelly Manne and the bass thumbing from Ray Brown brightened my day on the opening “I’m an Old Cowhand.” The following track, his emotional reinterpretation of “Solitude” almost made me weep. The vibe continued throughout the box-set collection.

Seth Godin is a voracious blogger. He keeps his prose short and to the point. The Practice reads more like a collection of his blog posts randomly slapped together. I am 60 pages in and calling it quit. I just can’t retain any information from the book; therefore, I just can’t finish it. I am not sure why I had it on my Amazon wishlist when it just came out in 2020. Three years later, I picked up a copy in the library to give it a try. I removed it from my wishlist.

My house by the bridge over the water
You come visit me one day
Many forest birds flock together,
All over the spring harbor.
Pairs of wings fluttering white,
Singing in quiet delight:
U ú ù u ú
The cherry branch glistens with sunshine
The birds singing song of love and affection
Their voices resonating in the far distance
U ú ù u ú
Feeling ecstatic with the season’s spirit and its fragrance.

Helping each other onto the hill’s steep path
We see the birds envying our words of love
On reaching here, we both hesitantly stop
Your eyes like the shape of a boat reflecting in the water
Your dress swaying in the caressing breeze of the spring harbor.

A vast mist covers the hills and mountains
O The brown sails on the sea waves in the far horizon…
The orioles singing,
The swallows entering the clouds,
Those away from their hometowns,
Their hearts filled with nostalgia…

My house feels empty and I, disoriented
When you’re away from me one evening
The water harbor’s deserted,
But your lovely face and figure
Still reflected in the water.

Pairs of birds in the sunshine
quietly sing a lullaby
U ú ù u ú
Like the teardrops of the season, the leaves are falling
The birds twitter sounds of longing,
Their voices resonating in the far distance.
U ú ù u ú
Where’s the season’s spirit returning to?

He departed years ago on a rainy and windy day
Today, with wandering feet, he returns to this place
Here, the horizon’s filled with hills and mountains and clouds
The willow trees and their swaying leaves over the river,
the golden sunshine and the clear water,
welcome, and wash the dust-covered shirt
of the spring harbor’s visitor.

Translated by Vương Thanh

Bến xuân

Nhà tôi bên chiếc cầu soi nước
em đến tôi một lần
bao lũ chim rừng họp đàn
trên khắp bến xuân
từng đôi rung cánh trắng
khe khẽ ca
U ú ù u ú
Cành đào rung nắng chan hòa
chim ca thương mến
chim ngân xa
U ú ù u ú
Hồn mùa ngây ngất trầm vương

Dìu nhau theo dốc mới
nơi ven đồi
còn thấy chim ghen lời âu yếm
đến đây chân bước cùng ngập ngừng
mắt em như dáng thuyền soi nước
tà áo em rung trong gió nhẹ thẹn thùng ngoài bến xuân

Sương mênh mông che lấp kín non xanh
ôi cánh buồm nâu
còn trên lớp sóng xuân
ai tha hương nghe
ríu rít oanh ca
cánh nhạn vào mây thiết tha
lưu luyến tình vừa qua

Nhà tôi sao vẫn còn ngơ ngác
em vắng tôi một chiều
bến nước tiêu điều còn hằn in nét đáng yêu

từng đôi chim trong nắng
khe khẽ ru
U ú ù u ú
Lệ mùa rơi lá chan hòa
chim reo thương nhớ
chim ngân xa
U ú ù u ú
Hồn mùa ngây ngất về đâu

Người đi theo mưa gió xa muôn trùng
lần bước phiêu du về chốn cũ
tới đây mây núi đồi chập chùng
liễu dương tơ tóc vàng
trong nắng
gội áo phong sương
du khách còn ngại
ngùng nhìn bến xuân
Bèo dạt mây trôi

Văn Cao & Phạm Duy

Mason News:

Born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1945, Duong earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Law from the University of Saigon in 1966. She started her career working for the Ministry of Social Welfare before joining IBM in 1968, where she worked until she escaped from the communist government in 1975. She came to the United States with just $30 in her pocket.

Congratulations, Ms. Dương