This letter from Susan made my day:

Hello Donny,

I’m Susan and I’m a college student from Louisiana. I’m emailing you to give you my thanks for creating your online book, Vietnamese Typography.

How I found your webpage was accidental so I’ll explain it to you. I’m a Vietnamese-American and my parents were refugees from Vietnam. They worked hard for me in so many ways, one of them being providing me with the tools to learn Vietnamese from a young age so I could be as fluent as possible. Watching educational videos from Thế Hệ Trẻ, going to Sunday School at my Vietnamese church, attending summer school for even further learning, and talking with my extended family are some examples of how I learned to read, write, and speak so much Vietnamese as an American-born.

Now fast forward to June 2019. My boyfriend, a Filipino-Canadian, has requested that I teach him how to read Vietnamese. He searched up some alphabet charts while I went to find some sort of guide to teach him about dấu. Your website appeared first on my Google search. Initially, I was completely unaware that this site was meant to help typographers, as the Google search only directed me towards the “Tone Marks” page. Upon further reading though, I can see that this site offers the utmost respect to our language and simultaneously teaches typographers how to create optimum designs for its use on the screen. My boyfriend casually remarked that he wanted to know the history of the Vietnamese language. I couldn’t impart such knowledge because I was never taught about it, and yet, there is a chapter dedicated to this subject readily available on your website. This is a wholesome page.

I’ve also reviewed your portfolio website. Your work is beautiful and your passion for our language is quite inspiring. I have never seen this sort of appreciation for Vietnamese by a Vietnamese person before. I’m glad to have found Vietnamese Typography and I’ve donated $5 via the support page. I wish you all the best, Donny.

Keep up the good work,
Susan

My response to Susan:

Dear Susan,

Thank you for supporting my Vietnamese Typography book. Furthermore, I appreciate your wonderful story. I am glad that your boyfriend wanted to learn about our beautiful language. When someone is willing to go that far for you, it’s true love. Congratulations!

My hat off to your parents. You probably didn’t appreciate their effort then, but you must be pleased now that they had instilled Vietnamese into you. I am encouraging my kids to learn Vietnamese as well and it is not easy; therefore, I understand and respect what they had done for you.

Reading your letter has confirmed that I made the right decision, which was to make this publication online for free. I am happy that it has reached you.

Thank you,

Donny Truong

I want to root for this Asian-American rom-com, but I am not feeling it. I love Ali Wong’s work as a comedian, but not so much as an actor. Randall Park is OK. As far as portraying the lives of Asian-Americans, they got the details right, but I can’t relate to Sasha and Marcus. My childhood was different because unlike them I did not speak English; therefore, my experience growing in America was much different. Not that a film has to be about me for me to like it, I just thought the chemistry was off and the story was predictable, which most rom-coms are like that.

On November 2, 2011, I wrote about my love ones:

I also missed my wife even though we only communicate with each other on the basic level. These days if we go any further than that, we would ended up arguing. If we talk to the point where I started to feel comfortable, I would bring up my problems and she is sick and tired of hearing them. I am sure you’re pretty tired of hearing them too if you follow this blog. Carrying the baby is already hard enough; therefore, I try my best to keep my own issues to myself and not giving her anymore burden.

After reading my blog post, brother Hải sent me the following email:

Hey, Doanh,

How goes it, lil bro? Long time no see. :o)

Hope you don’t mind me saying this, but the highlighted above raise all kinds of red flags in my head: I was there.

I know it’s tough: new job, a business on the side, a toddler, a new baby coming, mom being sick, etc. I was in a similar situation, and—had I known to prioritize things—I would still have a family.

Can’t tell you what to do, or how to fix it. However, I think you would agree with me that it needs to be fixed; or—at least—not get worse.

Again, hope you don’t mind me saying the above.

Please give my best to everyone.

Thank you big brother for saving our marriage. May your soul rest in peace.

In Blasian, Yo shares his personal experience of being raised by a Black PhD father and a Korean mother. His story, accompanied by family photos, is sweet and hilarious. Yo also shared his own marriage to a white woman, his love for old school hip-hop, and his experience going to all white school. His special is light-hearted and entertaining. Worth a watch on Amazon Prime.

Anh Hải mến,

Chỉ còn vài tiếng đồng hồ nữa là anh sẽ rời khỏi cõi đời này. Thật đáng tiếc khi chưa được cơ hội để anh gặp gỡ hai thằng nhóc của em. Vài tuần trước mình hứa hẹn nhưng em lơ là vì nghĩ rằng mình sẽ còn có nhiều thời gian. Không ngờ giờ đây đã muộn màng.

Lần cuối mình gặp nhau là lúc thằng Đán mới sáu hoặc bảy tháng. Hôm đó mình ăn trưa ở nhà hàng Present và anh gọi cái bánh xèo nhìn hấp dẫn. Em cũng không nhớ rõ mình đã ăn món gì. Lúc thằng Đán khóc, anh nâng niu nó vào lòng rồi bảo vợ chồng em, “Chừng nào bây cần thời gian riêng, đem hai đứa cho anh trông.” Thấm thoát sáu năm đã trôi qua và chúng em đã thêm hai thằng nữa.

Giờ đây nhìn lại, em vui được biết đến anh qua trang blog của mình. Lúc ấy, anh thường đọc những bài viết của em và trả lời qua những lời comment khôi hài, khuyến khích, hoặc dạy dỗ như một người anh lớn. Sau này tuy trang blog không còn phần comment nữa, anh vẫn thỉnh thoảng gửi email động viên em, nhất là sau khi đọc những lời tâm sự về chuyện tình cảm vợ chồng em. Anh đã nhắc nhở em nên quý trọng những gì đang có. Anh đã từng trải nên hiểu được sự đổ vỡ.

Không ngờ rằng trang blog cá nhân đã đem đến cho em không chỉ người vợ mà còn một người người anh lớn. Từ mạng đưa chúng ta gần hơn mỗi lần gặp nhau tại quán Hải Dương anh em cùng nhau thưởng thức những tô bún mắm đậm đà và những ly cà phê thơm phức. Chỉ lần đầu gặp gỡ em đã quý mến đức tính trầm lặng, hiền hoà, và cảm tình của anh. Gần hơn nữa, em ngưỡng mộ anh khi được chứng kiến tình cảm anh dành cho cha mẹ, các em, và con gái của anh.

Em cám ơn những tình cảm anh đã dành cho vợ chồng em. Khi anh rời khỏi cõi tạm này, em tin rằng anh sẽ tiếp tục những chuyến phiêu lưu kỳ diệu với tràn đầy màu sắc, ánh sáng, âm nhạc, và bình yên. Chúc anh thượng lộ bình an.

An informative, eye-opening exploration of creatures living in our homes and bodies. The good news is that not all of them are bad. While pathogens are harmful, other species are beneficial to us—spiders are my new friends. Dunn explains and emphasizes the important of biodiversity. He encourages us to invite bacteria, fungi, and insects back into our lives instead of getting rid of them. This book has validated my decision for turning down services that wanted to exterminate all the bugs around our house. I am also going to stop using disinfecting wipes, which kill 99.9% of viruses bacteria including the good ones. Although I struggled to finish the book because of my own lack of interest on scientific writing, I am glad I made it through. I have learned a ton about our little friends I didn’t know I had living with us.

A few months ago, my Pixel 2, which I loved, didn’t wake up after an entire night of charging. I did not know what to do or where to go to get it fix. So I replaced it with my wife’s old iPhone 6 Plus. Two weeks ago I shattered the iPhone screen and took it back to the Apple Store for a repair. Apple ended up giving me a brand new replacement even the phone was already five years old.

Because Apple’s customer service was amazing, I would like to give Google a shot just to compare. I still owe $115 for a dead phone and it is still under warranty. I went back to the Google Online Store and found the tiny repair link buried all the way at the bottom of the page. I filled out my info and received a call back without five minutes, which was impressive. I spoke with the technician for 40 minutes. He instructed me to clean up the charging port, to plug the phone into the charger, and to hold the power button and the volume down at the same time. Nothing happened. He then started the process to get it replaced. Unfortunately, my Pixel 2 had a crack on the back housing, which I accidentally dropped the phone almost a year ago. It had nothing to do with the phone not charging. In order for me to get a replacement, I have to repair the back housing first at UBREAKIFIX for $170.

Not only Google’s hardware sucks, its customer service also sucks. It is time to break up with Google and go back to the beloved Apple.

Dear sons,

Let’s talk about money, boys. I know you don’t understand the concept of money yet, but I want to write this down while it is still fresh in my mind. I hope you will never run into money issue with your brothers, but you can refer to this letter if you do.

The other day, Đạo and Xuân fought over a pack of Pocky at the playground and I made all of us go home. No matter how hard tried to calm you down, you were not able to control yourself. One of you went as far as screaming, “I hate my brother.” I would be a thousand times worse with money.

The power and evilness of money can create conflicts within family members. Even today I still witness tensions between adult siblings over money. Money can sabotage relationships and make family members turn on each other. I do not want to see that happening to you guys. Do not let money gets in between you and your brothers. No matter what goes on, put your love and respect for each other above money. Money comes and goes. Brothers stay together for life.

Your mom and I aren’t rich; therefore, you won’t have to worry about fighting over our money. The money you earn yourself will be more valuable than anything you inherited. Use money to support each other instead of letting money destroy your relationships. Nothing will hurt me more than seeing you guys fighting over money. Just remember that.

Take control of your money instead of letting it control you. Be generous to your brothers when they are in need. If you can do that for each other, I will be happy and proud. Nothing beats seeing my kids bonding and taking care of each other.

Love,

Daddy.

Translated by Annette Appel, Kor’s The Hawk and the Dove is a transformation from war to peace. Kor’s paper cutout techniques created simple-yet-striking illustrations to turn a heavy subject matter into a hopeful story. A powerful message for young readers about peace and love.

What a lovely way to welcome a new baby to life. Kerbel’s lyrical prose is visualized with Suzanne Del Rizzo’s textured illustrations created from polymer clay and acrylic paint. A fantastic gift for new parents.