The following quotes from JAY-Z had been edited for brevity.

My whole thing is to have confidence in yourself. If you’re going to take a chance on anything, you’ve gotta take a chance on yourself. Have that confidence to take a chance, and not be afraid to fail. I personally don’t believe anybody could have stopped me. That’s just how I believe. I was coming; I was destined to be here. A lot of people will put their fears on you. Always believe you’re great, even before anybody else believes it. No matter where you are; there you are. The genius thing that we did was we didn’t give up. You’re doing all of this for a reason. If you want different, you’ve gotta act different.

Don’t ever go with the flow, be the flow. Whatever you do in life, people are going to judge you. Everything is inspiration. Everybody is inspired by someone. I’m a person that believes that everything that happened to you in life happens to shape you as a person. It may not work today and it may not work tomorrow, but this is the right thing and this is what I’m doing. I’m not going to let anybody speed up my process. I don’t care what’s happening out there. That’s the great thing about having ultimate confidence. I don’t have anything to prove; I know who I am. I am a self-aware person. What’s the sense in being successful if you still can’t be yourself? Most important thing I got is everything is connected. Every emotion is connected and it comes from somewhere. Being aware of it in everyday life puts you at such an advantage.

You have to develop. Don’t listen to anyone; everyone is scared. A lot of people will try and put their fears on you. Have such a strong belief in yourself that you can quiet out all the outside noise. Every human being has genius-level talent. You have to find what it is that you’re great at and then tap into it. No one cares whether you live or die and that’s where that mentality grows from. I’m going to get it or die trying. If I don’t try, what kind of life am I saving? I’ve learned more from failure than success. It can be paralyzing to have fear of failure. When you’re self-aware, even when you’re dealing with someone’s ego, you allow their ego to live in its own space. The problem is when you engage that energy. If you engage the ego with your ego. Then it can escalate to a level that is irreversible.

My music is based on life and the things I’ve experienced. Everything is inspiration. This is who I am, this is what I do, and then they jump on this next hot thing and it’s not for you. For me, just having discipline, and having the confidence in who I am and if I go into a studio and if I find my truth of the moment, there are a number of people in the world that can relate to what I am saying and is gonna buy into what I’m doing. Not because it’s the new thing of the moment but because it’s my genuine emotions. Only two things will get you through this, man. That’s patience and persistence.

My first album came out when I was 26. I had seen so many things on the streets. My attitude was that I seen so much, that I have nothing to prove. I became self-aware. I wanted full control over my music. I own everything. Try to own as much of yourself as possible, because it’s gonna pay off in the long run.

I’m really connected to the people. I really feed off the energy of people. I love what I do, and if you love what you do, you want to be the best at it. You don’t make music to be second best. You make music to be the best / It felt like I had a bigger responsibility for the culture and to show it in a different light. The truth is, it’s my passion; It’s what I love to do. Make music and perform, and travel. So it’s who I am. It’s not even a choice for me. It’s just who I am. It’s always good to compare yourself to people you look up to, because you give yourself a high goal.

I used to write when I was young. I would write for hours and hours on end. That stream of conscious comes with you all the time. Whether you’re at the table or not. So as I start moving into the streets, I start coming further and further away from my notebook. So I would memorize these words. Then I would have to run to the house and write them down. When you do that you work up your memory.

Belief in oneself and knowing who you are, that’s the foundation of everything great. You gotta be able to compete, still sharp and still, you gotta get out there and you gotta earn your spot. It’s not given. I learned that if I was going to be successful then I had to be successful at myself. I couldn’t be successful doing what other people were doing; I had to do what I believed in and what felt real to me and felt true to me.

I love that thing of collaborating and you’re taking the best of what you do and someone taking the best of what you do and you not robbing from what they do and they not robbing from what you do and y’all bring the best of what you are to the table and you put it in this mix and you see what happens. You know I love that part of creating. I can’t explain it to y’all, man it just comes out bare for me. I just start mumbling, they say you put the right artist with the right track in the studio, leave the door cracked and let God in.

Yesterday I took our 2018 Toyota Sienna to Firestone to get a lifetime wheel alignment as well. Firestone seemed to do a good job with our 2011 Sienna. As the winter approaching, I need to make sure our 2018 Sienna in good condition so we can travel to Stowe in peace. I hope it will be a good season. I am ready to ski and snowboard.

The MODX Support Team had proved once again to be indisputable in customer service. Their team members assisted us every step of the way to migrate the Scalia Law School’s CDN and WAF from StackPath over to CloudFlare Enterprise. We ran into a few obstacles during the process, but they were patience, responsive, and diligence in making sure that we succeeded in the migration.

If you need a CMS that offers flexibility, durability, and security, MODX is the solution. If you need a rock-solid hosting with top-notch support, MODX Cloud is the way to go. The Scalia Law School Website has been powered by MODX for more than 15 years and hosted by MODX Cloud for more than 3 years.

In the CMS space, MODX beats WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Cascade to the pulp. Hats off to Jay, Liz, Garry, Ryan, and Jimmy. You all rock!

JAY-Z is a lyrical living legend. Underneath his flamboyant flows, he packed his rhymes with articulated alliterations, meticulous metaphors, and witty wordplays. When listening to his music, I always found something new and intriguing. For over a decade, I wanted to pore through his entire catalog to select rhymes that fascinated me. I kept it on the back-burner because I couldn’t find the time. Furthermore, I would have to sift through his misogynist materials as well as his extravagant lifestyles. I had no interest in either subject.

The more I listened to his music, the more his words got into my head. Once I could get past his misogyny and wealth, I found his hustling mentality to change his life and his relentless audacity to change the world inspiring and motivating. In the last few weeks, I was determined to read through song by song, line by line, and word by word starting with Reasonable Doubt to 4:44 and his guest verses for other rappers.

Beacon of HOV is my passion project in which I would like to shed a light on his rhymes that spoke to me. Furthermore, I would like to translate them into Vietnamese. I am not a translator; therefore, I use Google Translate to help me get started. Then I edited Google’s translations with my own understanding of his words. I enjoyed learning the art of translation.

With my favorite JAY-Z rhymes and my Vietnamese translations, I needed a space to host them and the sample section for “Vietnamese Typography” fit the bill. I wanted the web page to be as simple as possible; therefore, I came up with a random system that would feature a different quote, set in a different font, and display a different background photo each time someone visited the page. For typography, I chose typefaces with condensed width so I could make the quotes bigger.

I had a blast putting the page together. I invite you to refresh the page, read the quotes, and be inspired.

Hôm nay ngày sinh nhật của một người con hiếu thảo, một người em rộng lượng, một người mẹ đảm đang, và một người đồng điệu tâm hồn đã cùng tôi đi suốt mười mấy năm qua trên con đường đời. Tạ ơn em đã cho chúng ta một mái ấm gia đình. Tạ ơn em đã đỡ anh đứng dậy mỗi lúc anh gục ngã. Tạ ơn em đã chỉnh anh những lúc and sai. Tạ ơn em vẫn ở bên anh. Chúc em một ngày sinh nhật vui vẻ.

In her lyrical Home, Hanson leaves plenty of space on the page to let readers pause, breathe, and heal. What a beautiful book of poetry on heartbreak. I enjoy it immensely even though I am not heartbroken.

Hôm qua sinh nhật 81 của mẹ vợ. Con, rễ, và đám cháu cùng chúc mừng Mẹ trong buổi ăn tối. Thấy Mẹ vui vẻ và vẫn còn khỏe, tôi cũng an tâm. Mỗi ngày Mẹ vẫn cố gắng đi bộ với cô bạn trong xóm.

Tôi thường hay nhắc nhở vợ đường coi thời gian bên Mẹ là điều hiển nhiên. Vợ tôi may mắn được sống bên Mẹ. Không phải ai cũng được cái diễm phúc đó, nhất là cuộc sống trên đất Mỹ. Tôi đã đánh mất đi cơ hội của mình. Tôi không muốn vợ cũng thế. Những anh em nào còn cha mẹ, hãy dành thời gian thật nhiều với cha mẹ. Thời gian không lấy lại được.

Là thằng con rể, trách nhiệm lớn nhất của tôi là không làm cho mẹ buồn. 15 năm qua nếu tôi có làm chuyện gì sai, tôi xin Mẹ tha thứ. Tôi tự biết mình có rất nhiều khuyết điểm. Ngoài vợ và con (vì không có đường chọn lựa), chỉ có Mẹ mới bao dung được tôi. Tính tình thành rễ này chẳng những không dễ dãi mà còn hơi bị thất thường. Đôi lúc có hối hận nhưng vì phải va chạm trong cuộc sống đã khiến nó như thế.

Chúc Mẹ sinh nhật vui vẻ và luôn khỏe bên con cháu.

Hôm qua giỗ Ba. Con dâu nấu vài món chay đơn giản cúng Ba. Mới đó mà ba năm đã trôi qua từ ngày Ba rời xa trần gian. Tưởng nhớ đến ba, con hình dung ra được một người xếp trong ngành xây dựng. Con còn nhớ những lời nói lớn tiếng của Ba với công nhân.

Ngày xưa Ba đi xây máy ấm cho người ta nhưng Ba lại không xây được máy ấm cho gia đình mình. Con không trách Ba. Con tôn trọng sự quyết định của Ba.

Con không theo nghề Ba. Thậm chí con không thừa hưởng được một chút tay nghề nào của Ba. Con không biết xây dựng nhà cửa nhưng con luôn cố gắng xây dựng máy ấm gia đình.

Ngày xưa không có Ba bên cạnh con cũng trải qua được sống gió. Giờ đây con luôn lo lắng cho đàn con từng li từng tí. Lo sợ bọn nó sai đường lạc bước. Không biết có nên noi gương theo Ba để bọn nó sống tự do và tự trưởng thành.

Vẫn luôn nhớ đến Ba.

Việt Thanh Nguyễn is damn fine writer. I enjoyed his novels, but admired his memoir. His prose commands attention and I couldn’t stop reading his remarkable The Man of Two Faces. As a literary critic, he tackles colonialism, capitalism, and racism head on. As a son, he writes eloquently about his parents. As a Vietnamese American, he holds nothing back from the true meaning behind the American Dream. This memoir is a prerequisite reading for Asian Americans and a required reading for all Americans.

A Few Notes

Nguyễn writes about AMERICA^MT:

a pro-life nation,
indivisible, under God,
has watered its dark fields
with blood spilled from
colonization,
genocide,
slavery
& war.

Nguyễn writes about bad Vietnamese refugees:

Taking welfare benefits while working for cash in the ethnic economy? Receiving government housing subsidies while renting out rooms to even poorer refugees? Faking marriage to get immigration status? Faking divorce so supposedly single parents and their children could get additional benefits? Faking car accidents and injuries for insurance money, and treating nonexistent patients to fraudulently claim government reimbursements? Abusing children and wives? Racially discriminating against the Amerasian children of American soldiers, including those children used as passports to the United States by their families, who then sometimes abandon them? Assaulting and robbing fellow refugees, as well as stealing microchips, extorting businesses, running brothels, and dealing drugs? Assassinating journalists with unpopular opinions about the homeland? Going to the homeland and pretending to be rich even if one is a busboy? Finding a girlfriend, mistress, or second wife and living a doubled existence, or, fuck it, just abandoning one’s diasporic family altogether for the sweet life back home?

Nguyễn writes about his decision to focus on English:

As a child, you must have made the decision. You could not speak both languages like a native or like a master. The worst possible outcome: speak both languages poorly. The next worse outcome: speak English like a foreigner but retain your mother tongue. The best outcome: speak English like a native, Vietnamese like a child.

Now that he is an accomplished writer with a masterful skills for English. It’s time to sew back his mother tongue.

As a father, my constant concerns, worries, and fears on digital addiction, depression, and self-destruction are hitting close to home. They are happening around me to the people I know.

Talking about the danger of digital addiction to my kids isn’t sinking in. They can’t pull themselves away from their screens. Their brains aren’t mature enough to walk away. I can’t help them if they can’t help themselves.

I am so tired of repeating myself. My words don’t mean a thing. I want to just let them do whatever they want with their lives. At work, I present the issues. If they don’t want to fix the issues then they are no longer my problems. My kids are my responsibilities. They stress me out, but I can’t stop worrying. My mind is exhausted by the end of the day.

I am not sure what to do. Continuing to be a pain-in-the-ass parent or preparing for the worst? I really don’t want them to go down the wrong path. Dealing with the issues now rather than facing the consequences later.