Dr. Joy Garcia Tiên is my life-long mentor. I got to know Dr. Tiên through the Upward Bound program way back when I was in seventh or eighth grade. Upward Bound was the pre-college program that gave kids from low-income families an opportunity to pursue a higher education. By providing summer college courses, campus visitations, and job shadows with professionals in different fields, the Upward Bound program prepared children with limited access to educational resources a path to a better future. Through her kindness, compassion, and mentorship, Dr. Tiên had played an essential role in getting many of us, particularly Vietnamese-American children of immigrants, to where we are today.

Two weeks ago, I met up with Dr. Tiên for the first time in over twenty years. Even though we haven’t met face to face, Dr. Tiên has always been in contact to see how I was doing. She understood what it was like losing a mother and offered advice to help me pull through the darkest days of my life. When we were catching up about the good old time, in a windy evening at my mother’s resting place, Dr. Tiên mentioned that she is working on her own coaching and consulting endeavor called Educational Partnerships for Success. Helping kids to success has always been her passion for over 30 years; therefore, this project is near and dear to her heart. I offered to help with her website. Dr. Tiên only had two requirements: the ability to update the content herself and a blog component to share her writing. To meet her needs, WordPress is the obvious solution.

Since Dr. Tiên already purchased the domain name, we just needed to get the hosting through the same company. Domain.com’s hosting package offers SSL certificate and WordPress installation with a click of a button. I hope these features become standards for many hosting companies if they don’t have them already. Once WordPress was installed, I activated its Twenty Ninety theme. This theme offered a clean, simple design that would work well for Dr. Tiên’s website. To make it personal, I created a child theme to add the logo at the top, change the colors to match the branding, and reset the typography. For headings, I chose Fraunces, designed by Phaedra Charles and Flavia Zimbardi, for its playfulness. For body text, I chose Rosario, designed by Héctor Gatti, for its academic friendliness. The two typefaces complement each other.

With the new Gutenberg editor inside WordPress, this theme gave me the flexibility to create different editorial elements through UI components as well as typographical hierarchies. It seemed to be the way to take advantage of WordPress’s Gutenberg. The days of creating a WordPress theme from scratch are long gone for me. I just needed to create the shell and rely on Gutenberg’s blocks to do the rest.

With the website up and running, I hope it will play a small role in getting Dr. Tiên started. She had already put together some wonderful STEM programs for the kids. I can’t wait to get my boys to enroll once the pandemic is under control. With her PhD in math, Dr. Tiên is also passionate about helping students who struggled with math to build more confidence in themselves.

I believe in Educational Partnerships for Success because Dr. Tiên had tutored, mentored, and guided me into the right direction. I am grateful for her support and her continuous work to help underserved kids, like myself and my friends were, to expand their potentials, reach their goals, and pursue their dreams.

Thưa mẹ, những đêm đông giá buốt khiến con xót xa nhớ về mẹ. Nơi mẹ nằm hoang vu và lạnh lẽo lắm. Lúc trước con nghe nhạc phẩm “Đừng bỏ em một mình” của nhạc sĩ Phạm Duy và nhà thơ Minh Đức Hoài Trinh do ca sĩ Thái Hiền trình bày con đã rùng mình. Giờ đây con không dám nghe lại. Con đã cố gắng rất nhiều để trở lại với cuộc sống bình thường nhưng trong thâm tâm và trí óc của con vẫn vắng đi một hình bóng quá lớn. Đêm đến con vẫn âm thầm rơi nước mắt. Sự ra đi của mẹ con vẫn không thể nào ngờ được. Con tìm đến kinh Phật để giúp con vượt qua nhưng lòng con vẫn không thể nào lắng xuống.

Hôm qua con đến chùa Di Đà niệm Phật và cúng thất thứ tư cho mẹ. Người đến cầu an và cầu siêu cho người thân nhiều hơn tuần trước. Con không biết mình đang làm gì. Chỉ cố gắng đặt niềm tin vào những lời khẩn cầu và hy vọng mẹ sẽ được siêu thoát. Lúc ba mất, sư bà Thích Nữ Nghĩa Liên đã trấn an con. Lúc mẹ mất, sư bà dặn dò trong vòng 49 ngày nếu được con nên ăn chay và viếng thăm những ngôi chùa gần chỗ con ở cúng dường và nhờ các sư cầu siêu cho cha mẹ.

Việc ăn chay thì cũng không có gì quá khó khăn đối với con. Mỗi chủ nhật sau giờ cầu siêu cho mẹ, con mua luôn những món chay tại chùa về ăn cả tuần. Giờ đây con cũng chẳng cảm thấy thèm thịt cá nữa. Chỉ cần chén cơm với dưa mắm thêm rau luộc cũng thấy ngon miệng.

Việc đi chùa và cúng dường các chị cũng đã giao phó cho con nên con cũng làm theo. Lúc trước con ít khi đến chùa. Thỉnh thoảng chỉ đi dự Tết mà thôi. Không ngờ ở Virginia, Maryland, và DC có rất nhiều chùa. Chỉ ngắm nhìn những tượng Phật cũng có cảm giác thanh tịnh hơn. Nếu có duyên với Phật pháp, con sẽ cố gắng đi chùa và học hỏi nhiều hơn vì cái tâm trong Đức Phật.

Đây là những ngôi chùa và tịnh xá con đã có cơ hội viếng thăm:

Chùa Pháp Hoa (Buddhist Association of PA)
202 Cherry Street, Columbia, PA 17512

Tịnh Xá Hương Thiền
4516 Guinea Road, Fairfax, VA 22032

Chùa Di Đà
6822 Columbia Pike, Annandale, VA 22003

Vạn Hạnh Center
7605 Bull Run Drive, Centreville, VA 20121

Chùa Hoa Nghiêm
9105 Backlick Road, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060

Virginia Bouddha Vihar
9108 Backlick Road, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060

Chùa Giác Hoàng
5401 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011

Ký Viên Tự (Jetavana Vihara)
1400 Madison Street NW, Washington, DC 20011

Drikung Dharma Surya (Garchen Quan Âm Tự)
5300 Ox Road, Fairfax, VA 22030

Chùa Xá Lợi
6310 Manor Woods Road, Frederick, MD 21703

I am proud to introduce the first redesign of this blog for 2021. The layout is still simple. The color is still red, but much more dominating. The focus is still on readability. The typeface is all new. In this redesign, I wanted to have just one typeface—one font file—to rule it all. From large display typography to bold headings to readable body copy to legible user interface to coding samples to small texts, Recursive, designed by Stephen Nixon, takes care of everything thanks to the flexibility of its variable font.

I had the opportunity to work with Stephen on adding Vietnamese diacritics to Recursive in September, 2019. Although I always had the typeface in mind, I didn’t know which project to use it with until Stephen sent me a copy of his book on Recursive in December of last year. The book is filled with typographic beauties and versatilities. It shows all the possibilities of using a variable font. The best part is where Stephen shared his original concept and the meticulous process. I was inspired.

With five different axes to play with, I had a lot of fun redesigning the site live in the browser. Wakamai Fondue was incredibly helpful in testing out different combinations as well as copying and pasting the CSS properties. Even though I don’t blog about coding much, I still love how the coding font matches up exactly with the text font.

I hope you enjoy the new design and thank you for reading.

Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first-ever youth poet laureate, on democracy and the orange monster:

The hill we climb

If only we dare

It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

it’s the past we step into

and how we repair it

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

it can never be permanently defeated

In this truth

in this faith we trust

Backward skating is hard. I haven’t spent too much time learning it—more like avoiding it. Yesterday I started my first ice skating lesson and this course is all about backward techniques so I better start practicing them. I could do backward swizzles on ice and that’s it. I am working on one-foot backward swizzles. I am also working backward on rollerblades. I really need to get backward skatings down; therefore; I will focus on these techniques in the next few weeks. That will be my goal.

Our Samsung dryer had been screeching for a long time and had not generating much heat. I told my wife to buy a new one, but she insisted on fixing it. She told me that a new dryer would cost from $600 to $1000. She watched this YouTube video showing how to replace the heating element and she bought all the parts.

The dryer was surprising easy to take apart. The machine was much simpler than what I had expected. With my wife’s instruction and help, we replaced the heating element, the belt, and the idler pulley. Unfortunately I broke the door switch when we put the parts together. The heating element generated hot air. The screeching noise is gone. The dryer works like new. I am glad that my wife wanted to fix it than to replace it.

Parts:

• Samsung Heating Element Dc47-00019A: $20
• Samsung Dryer Belt 6602-001655: $15
• Dryer Door Switch for Samsung, AP4205736, PS4210964, DC64-00828A: $17
• Samsung Dryer Idler Pulley Assembly, DC93-00634A: $9

Total cost: $61

Two weeks ago I rediscovered The Matrix soundtrack and I have been re-listening to it at maximum volume in my minivan. The album brought back so many fond memories, particularly during the time I got sucked into Flash animation. I used to chop up those heavy metal, techno tracks into loops to accompany text effects and motion graphics, in which I spent countless hours of sleepless nights crafting in Flash. Although I had moved on from Flash over a decade ago, I always felt nostalgic about it. “Bonjour Vietnam” was created in Flash and it went viral all over the world, especially in the Vietnamese communities. Flash was officially dead on December 31, 2020. Listening to The Matrix, in which I had used every single track to create a piece of animation, was like mourning the death of an era in my design career. Rest in peace, Flash.

Tonight, after the challenging first day of ice skating class, I drove the kids home with The Matrix soundtrack playing in the background. My nine-year-old son asked me to dial the volume way up as Meat Beat Manifesto’s “Prime Audio Soup” was playing. For about six minutes driving home, the pounding bass, hard-hitting drums, and electronic sound effects made me feel upbeat, but it was the chanting, “set me free,” which repeated over and over again, that transcended me. Tomorrow we will be free. Free from all the craziness that had turned our lives upside down in the past four years. It started out as a joke, but it had quickly consumed our lives every single second. I kept asking myself how we could buy into all of this nonsense and stupidity. Somehow the more absurd it became, it found its way into people’s heads. It destroyed relationships, friendships, communities, and moralities. It damn-near killed our democracy. It mindfucked half of the country. It turned half of my own Vietnamese-American community into sad, embarrassed, disillusioned souls. Though I am not sure which half because I had been called the delusional one.

Although I had checked myself out, unplugged from its universe, and set my mind free, I sincerely hope that its effects will fade into darkness. Like Flash, it will be officially gone tomorrow and an end to an American tragic. Let’s break out some champagne and celebrate because America had won the battle for the soul. Long live democracy.

On December 9, I completed the Adult-2 level for ice skating lesson at the Medstar Capitals Complex in Arlington, which is closer to my workplace. I had a wonderful experience. Alissa Strawcutter was a great instructor.

The day before, I started my new lesson at the Fairfax Ice Arena. I managed to recruit Đạo as well. I signed us up for the Alpha level, which included forward stroking, forward crossovers, and snowplow stop. Đạo’s first class went well. The skills were just right for him. As for my adult class, most of the students just started out. My new coach recognized that; therefore, she asked her assistant to work one on one with me. Since I could do forward stroking and snowplow stop, she worked with me on crossovers. It was like having a private lesson. I liked that.

On Thursday, I had to leave town to be with my mother. I knew it would be a while before I could return. I asked Đán to take over my lessons and he agreed. Since Đán is better than me, I requested to place him in Beta, which included backward stroking, backward crossovers, and T-stops. Although the class was already halfway through, he picked up with no problem.

While staying at my sister’s house, I went to the Lancaster Ice Rink whenever I could. The whole time I focused on getting down my crossovers. It took me three public sessions (about three hours) to get my forward crossovers down. It was hard to keep my balance, especially when I cross my left foot over my right foot.

Đán finished his Beta class last week and he will be starting Beta/Gamma today. Đạo continues with his Alpha class. Since I got my crossovers, I signed up for the Beta level so all three of us could have our lessons at the same time. I am looking forward to it.

As for rollerblading, I found the beautiful Conestoga Greenway Trail nearby my sister’s house. When I stressed out about my mother’s condition and just wanted to scream, I went out rollerblading. The up and down hills gave me great workouts. I also went to the Lancaster County Skate Park, which is across the street from the trail, to work on going down the ramps.

I even returned to the Castle Roller Rink for the first time in twenty something years. It brought back so many fond memories. We were so young and full of life. My buddy Luân was the star among us. I could barely skate, but I had so much fun. The music was always pumping. They played hip-hop and r&b hits the whole time. Inviting a girl out to the floor on a slow jam was always something us fellows always looked forward to. Holding her hand with your sweating palm and hoping the slow jam never ended. When I came back the vibe was still the same, I was just much older. I don’t recall they allowed rollerblades back then (only rollerskates), but they do now. Although I can skate much better than I did back then, I was the only one with guards and a helmet on. I am fine with that.

For years, I knew I needed to do some form of exercise to keep myself healthy, but I could not stick to anything until I got into ice skating and rollerblading. By getting myself into these sports, I hope that my kids will pick up as well—something for them to do besides playing on their iPads. It looks like we’re not going skiing this year, which I really missed. I am hopeful that we can do so next year. I wanted to try out snowboarding.

Thưa mẹ, thứ Hai tuần trước khi con viếng thăm chùa A Di Đà nhờ các sư cầu siêu cho mẹ, Sư Cô Hạnh Hiếu mời con mỗi Chủ Nhật cúng thất cho mẹ. Hôm qua con đã đến chùa làm lễ thất thứ ba cho mẹ. Sư ông và sư cô rất tận tình và rất hảo tâm. Các sư tụng kinh rất hay và nhuần nhuyễn. Con đọc theo họ muốn không kịp. Thêm cái thú vị khi tụng kinh là tập đọc tiếng Việt thật nhanh. Con vừa tụng vừa ngẫm nghĩ nên dùng mẫu chữ nào để có thể giúp những người đọc kinh yếu kém như con đọc nhanh chóng hơn. Máu thiết kế của con nó lại nổi lên.

Sau khi làm lễ xong, con hỏi sư ông phát danh là gì. Ông cho biết là Pháp Quang. Con nhanh miệng khoe với ông pháp danh của con là Huệ Quang. Ông đùa rằng, “Vậy là con tỏa sáng hơn thầy rồi.” Thế rồi gặp ai ông cũng giới thiệu, “Phật tử Huệ Quang đây.” Pháp danh này con đã được sư cụ ban cho lúc con ở tịnh xá Ngọc Định. Mấy mươi năm con gần như lãng quên pháp danh này cho đến lúc sư ông cho biết pháp danh của ông.

Mấy tuần nay vì muốn cầu siêu cho mẹ nên con đã đi thăm viếng một số ngôi chùa xung quanh khu con ở. Lúc trước con không nghĩ đến việc đi chùa. Giờ đây con cảm thấy thanh thản và gần gũi hơn mỗi khi đến chùa. Con rất mến mộ thầy Thanh Tâm ở Kỳ Viên Tự. Sau mùa dịch, con sẽ tìm đến thầy để học hỏi thêm về nội tâm trong Đức Phật. Giờ đây mỗi lần làm việc gì con nghĩ ngay đến bốn chữ “an vui thanh tịnh” thầy đã dặn dò. Tuy nhiên con chỉ nghĩ đến sau khi cơn giận lắng xuống. Chẳng hạn như hôm qua thằng Đạo làm con bực bội. Con rầy nó rồi mới nhớ phải “an vui thanh tịnh.” Con dịu lại ngay đến ôm và hôn lên má nó. Con kể cho nó nghe những gì con đã học và khuyên nó cũng nên làm theo. Nó hiểu được và cũng không còn cằn nhằn nữa. Hai cha con thuận hòa trở lại.

Thế là mẹ ra đi đã ba tuần rồi. Thời gian trôi qua thật nhanh. Mẹ ra đi nơi này vẫn thế. Thế gian giờ vẫn còn bị đại dịch hoành hành. Cô Lệ Thu cũng đã ra đi ngày thứ Sáu vừa qua sau những tháng ngày chống chọi với con COVID. Nghe tình trạng của cô cũng giống như mẹ cũng chiến đấu đến hơi thở cuối cùng. Mẹ và cô thật dũng cảm. Con rất kính phục tinh thần mạnh mẽ của những bà mẹ Việt.

Hôm qua thằng Đạo và mẹ nó ăn Big Mac làm con nhớ lại kỷ niệm ngày xưa hai mẹ con mình. Chiều hôm đó con chở mẹ ra McDonald’s. Big Mac giảm giá hai cái cho hai đô. Thế là buổi ăn tối hôm đó chỉ tốn bốn đô. Lúc đó con thấy mẹ ăn thật ngon và càng ngạc nhiên khi thấy mẹ xơi luôn cái thứ nhì. Hai mẹ con không ai nói đến ai chỉ thầm lặng thưởng thức. Thế mà hình dáng ngày hôm đó của mẹ con sẽ không bao giờ quên. Giờ đây con mới thấm thía câu, “Mẹ còn chẳng biết là may. Mẹ mất mới tiếc những ngày làm con.”

“Nước mắt mùa Thu khóc ai trong chiều / Hàng cây trút lá nghĩa trang đìu hiu.” – Phạm Duy

Nghe tin danh ca Lệ Thu đã từ trần sau những tháng ngày chóng chọi với COVID-19, tôi xót xa vô cùng. Lại một người yêu mến bị con COVID cướp đi mạng sống. Đã phải chứng kiến từng phút giây đớn đau của mẹ, tôi hiểu được sự chịu đựng của cô. Cô đã đấu tranh cho đến hơi thở cuối cùng. Giờ đây cô đã được giải thoát và không còn phải sống trong sự đau khổ nữa. Xin cô an nghỉ trong bình yên. Tiếng hát của cô sẽ tồn tại mãi trong mỗi con tim cô đã từng chạm đến.