Before he died in 2014, legendary designer Massimo Vignelli made Beatriz Cifuentes-Caballero promise that she would finish their unfinished project. Almost five years later, Cifuentes-Caballero presents a definitive collection of Lella and Massimo’s creative outputs ranging from graphic to interior to product designs. Any graphic design student who is interested in no-nonsense typographic design and grid-based layout should pick it up. The book is impressive, but the part I don’t understand is the typesetting for the essay section. Reading long text in Century Italic is jarring. Based on Massimo’s work, I don’t think he would have approved it.

About two months ago, I stopped doing our daily reading with Đán. He fought back and screamed every time I asked him to read. It felt as if he were forced to do it. I just have to accept that he is not a reader and I need to let him do it on his own term.

On Saturday, I asked him to read and he can read most of the words without sounding out. He has shown improvements even though we have not read together for a while. Unfortunately, he simply got bored two minutes later. So we stopped again. He now has the basic knowledge of reading. It is up to him to continue. I wish he would read more like Đạo, but each kid is different. I don’t want him to hate reading because he has to read.

Xuân has been wanting me to read with him; therefore, I am going to focus on him next. I obviously learned an invaluable lesson with Đán.

My friend Linh gave her daughter advice on how to make her own mind:

I said: May, what I am telling you now are based on what I know, what I believe in, how I see the world. But you shouldn’t just rely on me, you need to read a lot, read a lot, and look around you, before you make up your mind. Don’t be lazy and let me think for you. Know that your parents will influence your view of the world, but times change, ideas change, so what I know now might not be as complete as when your time comes. Like my dad used to believe in one thing, and I thought so that’s how the world is, but then I found out that it isn’t, for me. That was when I got to college, I met a lot of people, learned a lot of new things, read a lot. So be like that, always learning, and before you choose to believe which side is the good guy and which side is the bad guy, try to ask yourself which side has more knowledge with them? Which side respects the rights of the weak and the helpless equally as of those who are strong and powerful. And then you go from there.

What a wonderful advice from a parent. I miss reading her blog. I wish she comes back to write more. I just went to her blog post on my phone and there were eight pieces of ads surrounding one post. What the fuck, WordPress.com?

Dr. Jen Gunter shares her profound experience of giving birth to her short-lived son:

Politicians who twist the memory of a birth followed by a death to score political points and mislead about the reality of both abortion and newborns who are born to die should be ashamed of themselves.

No one is executing children at birth. Doctors are providing standard medical care.

Pregnancy terminations at or after 24 weeks of gestation, the time largely accepted as viability, are typically performed because of severe fetal anomalies or fetal anomalies combined with maternal health problems.

Politicians need to listen to doctors and mothers and do the right thing.

Katrina vanden Heuvel writes in The Washington Post:

Warren’s proposal should spark an overdue and necessary conversation about a problem that leaders in both parties have long neglected. More than half of Americans now live in child care “deserts,” according to the Center for American Progress, including significant majorities of rural and Latino families. Compared with the rest of the world, the United States spends pathetically little on family benefits, ranking second-to-last among developed nations. “This dearth of family benefits leads to two cruel outcomes,” writes Matt Bruenig, whose People’s Policy Project recently published its own set of ideas for addressing the child-care crisis. “It denies many people the ability to have the families that they want and inflicts financial ruin on many of those who go through with parenthood despite the lack of social support.”

Women especially suffer the consequences of this neglect, often sacrificing their careers and other opportunities to pick up the slack. Yet while it is fitting that universal child care would gain traction at a time when women are playing an increasingly vital role in the national debate, Warren’s proposal would not only improve the lives of women or even parents. Its impact would also ripple outward, benefiting all Americans. In fact, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi estimates that Warren’s plan would generate twice as much growth per year over a decade as Trump’s corporate tax cut at less than half the cost — and that’s if the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts were paid for, which of course they were not. So, in addition to proposing good family policy, Warren is offering a boost to the economy that deserves to be covered and debated accordingly.

If this proposal were to become policy in the future, I won’t be benefiting from it, but I am still supporting it for the good of middle America family.

Mehdi Hasan writes in The Inception:

The inconvenient truth that our lazy media elites do so much to ignore is that Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, and Warren are much closer in their views to the vast majority of ordinary Americans than the Bloombergs or the Bidens. They are the true centrists, the real moderates; they represent the actual political middle.

Anahad O’Connor has an insightful guide on sleep apnea. Here are a few signs if you might suffer from sleep apnea:

• Are you a loud or regular snorer?
• Have you ever been observed to gasp or stop breathing during sleep?
• Do you feel tired or groggy when you wake up? Do you wake up with a headache?
• Are you often tired or fatigued during the day?
• Do you fall asleep while sitting, reading, watching television or driving?
• Do you often have problems concentrating or remembering things?

Oh shit, I think I have all of them.

Beth Mole writes Ars Technica:

Four minutes and forty-five seconds into a video, the cartoon cut away to a clip of a man, who many readers have pointed out resembles Internet personality Joji (formerly Filthy Frank). He walks onto the screen and simulates cutting his wrist. “Remember, kids, sideways for attention, longways for results,” he says and then walks off screen. The video then quickly flips back to the cartoon.

We must keep our eyes on what our kids watch or simply take the iPad away and play outside.

I have not kept up with the modern jazz scene in the past several years; therefore, Chinen’s book is good for catching up. As a jazz critic for The New York Times, Chinen is an engaging writer and most of the musicians he covered are familiar to me. His goal for this book is not to demonstrate where jazz is going, but where it is happening. It’s a pleasant read for jazz lovers and appreciators.

Matt Blitz writes in the DCist:

Spend any time at Eden Center and it’s clear that the language, the food, and culture are ties that continue to bind this community. But there’s something else. It’s the harrowing stories of escape, the long journeys taken to get here, the courage to seek a better life for themselves and future generations. There’s also an immense of love for not only what Little Saigon and Eden Center has given them, but for what this country has provided.

My workplace is about ten-minute drive from Eden Center; therefore, I feel like I can go “home” for lunch any day I want to. I love home-cooking places like Saigon restaurant where I can get canh khổ qua nhồi thịt (stuffed bitter gourd soup) and tép mũi rang (tiny shrimp simmered in fish sauce). Although I go to Eden Center for the food, I simply love the language. As soon as I pull into the parking lot, I get to live in a world that is close to “home.” It instantly feels like I belong to this place. The people look like me and they talk like me. Even their swearing in Vietnamese puts a smile on my face. I am glad to have this community in the area.