Khuê Phạm’s debut, Brothers and Ghosts, is a historical fiction loosely based on stories of her family. Set in Berlin, Sài Gòn, and California, the narratives flips between a young Vietnamese-German journalist who is searching for her identity, her father who left Việt Nam during the war to study medical in Germany, and her uncle who settled in California. The stories of the war in Việt Nam and the new life in a foreign land juxtapose from one chapter to the next, which is similar to Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s The Mountains Sing.

I would prefer reading the novel in its original text, but Ms. Phạm wrote Brothers and Ghosts in German. I had to read in English translation. Fortunately, Charles Hawley and Daryl Lindsey have done an excellent job of translating from German to English. The novel is engaging from start to finish. Furthermore, Vietnamese words have proper diacritics, which make a huge different for Vietnamese readers.

Type and Graphic Designer Dương Trần mentioned Vietnamese Typography in his HyperTalks 3.0. Dương gave an informative presentation and shared his own experience on designing Vietnamese diacritics.

Demented Donald forgot to sign executive order. He came. He ranted. He walked out. His staff had to remind him to sign it. What do we expect from an almost 80-year-old child?

Of course he did and the Washington Post is on sell too. I stopped reading the Post after Bezos blocked the presidential endorsement in 2024.

After six years, I had to move on from my old MacBook Pro. The main issue was that some of the keys weren’t working anymore. Typing had become slow and annoying. I tried to wait it out because I dread starting fresh. Thanks to the cloud, I only spent about 4 hours getting everything back up and running without having to do the automatic migration, which my tech guys warned me not to do.

I got my mails and Adobe Clouds up and running pretty quickly. Transmit was a piece of cake to migrate thanks to its export tool. I got new license for Nova and spent a bit of time to get SASS running again. What I worried the most was setting up MAMP. Fortunately, that was also a breeze. I was also able to run MySQL server 8.0.40 in MAMP for WordPress, which I was not able to do on the old MacBook Pro.

I got a brand new black MacBook Pro this time and it is so damn slick. I am loving it. This laptop should last another 6 or 7 years, but I might cut it down to 3 or 4 years depending on the Law Library budget.

On Saturday, the Scout dads got together to cook crawfish, play volleyball, drink some liquor, and talk shit. Of course, parenting came up. Some dads share their militant style of discipline. I didn’t join in that conversation. After having four kids, I am less qualified in this department.

I have come to accept that my kids will do the opposite of what I expect. The more I hope, the more I get disappointed. The more I worry, the more I stress out. The more I do for them, the more they become dependents and the less they become appreciative.

My wife is a loving mother and she would do anything for her kids. Each morning, she wakes up to make their lunch while I pack our leftovers. Last week, one of them didn’t eat her lunch because the meat tasted like “cardboard.” Mother and son got into a huge fight. My solution was simple. I told him, “Son, get up early and make your own lunch or pack leftovers.”

When I first became a father, I wanted to be involved in their lives because my father was not there for me. Unfortunately, that had backfired. Every sport we played together they quit. Every activity we did together because I forced them to participate. They need to get good grades so that I can look good—not for their own good. They do everything because I am an authoritarian in the house and they have to comply. If I leave them to their own device, they would just spend all day on their own device.

I have become less and less involved. The less I do for them, the more they will do for themselves. I want to become a deprecated dad. After all, Jeff Bezos, Lebron James, and Jesus did well without a father in their lives. If Jesus had a dad, he would have become a carpenter and his name would have been Jesús instead. I stole that joke from Andrew Schulz.

As the heat rises to 90 degrees, I miss the snow, especially snowboarding.

Thưa Mẹ,

Mỗi ngày con vẫn nhớ mẹ. Hôm nay ngày của Mẹ, con nghĩ nhiều về mẹ. Nỗi nhớ của con không còn đau buồn nữa. Thời gian đã xoa dịu đi sự đau đớn trong con. Dù con có đau lòng bao nhiêu cũng không thể thay đổi được gì. Đời người là như vậy và con cũng chấp nhận số mạng của mình.

Nhớ đến mẹ để trở về tuổi thơ. Nhớ đến mẹ để biết mình đã từng được mẹ yêu thương vô bờ bến. Nhớ đến mẹ không còn rơi lệ nữa mà nở một nụ cười. Con cảm ơn đời đã có được mẹ. Dù mẹ không còn trên cõi tạm này nữa nhưng mẹ vẫn trong con.

Rồi mai đây còn rời xa thế giới này không biết có gặp lại mẹ không. Con hy vọng sẽ được. Đó là tương lai. Còn hiện tại thì vẫn thương nhớ đến mẹ trong ngày của Mẹ.

Con trai của mẹ,
Doanh

We are living under a Trump regime. We will not allow it to take root because the descent into authoritarianism is reversible. America’s courts are independent, but judges can’t save our democracy on their own. They are facing threats and harassment from the Trump regime.

Fortunately, everyday citizens are fighting back. People are speaking up at congressional town halls and protesting across the country. We seeing signs of resistant. Harvard is fighting back. Microsoft is fighting back. From billionaires to law firms to universities and colleges to churches to labor unions to private foundations and nonprofit organizations to the Democratic party, we need all hands on deck.

We can do this. We can resist the Trump regime and bring back our democracy before it’s too late.

Quá mệt mỏi với cuộc sống. Những công việc không muốn làm cứ chồng chất lên. Những nỗi lo âu cứ tiếp tục kéo đến. Những gánh nặng cứ đè lên.

Trái tim không ngủ yên. Đầu óc không thảnh thơi. Giấc ngủ không ngon giấc. Trong đầu lúc nào cũng cảm thấy tội lỗi. Không thể nào buông thả những tiêu cực trong đời sống. Không thể nào giải thoát cho chính mình.

Không cải tiến được những gì xung quanh. Không cải tiến được bản thân. Vẫn chưa tìm ra đường lối mới để sống thoải mái hơn.