This week was a little bit different in terms of schedule. On Tuesday (Halloween, yay!) we allotted the morning session to conferences. This was helpful to me because I feel like after having a conversation about my essay it finally started taking shape. In the afternoon we watched The Beautiful Country. This movie was positively heart shattering. The main character Binh is born in Vietnam, the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American solider. Binh is treated as a second class citizen because of his mixed ethnicity, and after many trials experienced after Binh finds his mother, he ends up on a boat with his little half brother en route to America. Along the way they get stuck in a Malaysian refugee camp where they meet Ling, a prostitute who helps them escape on another boat to America. The refugees on the boat are treated no better than cargo, and many people, including Binh’s brother die along the way due to poor conditions. In the end Binh finds his father, and the movie makes it seem as though his father finally realizes that Binh is his son, though it is never explicitly stated.

During Friday afternoon seminar we discussed the book “We Should Never Meet.” The book followed different people and their stories surrounding Operation Baby-lift. It all started in the perspective of a young woman who gave up her baby that was fathered by an American soldier. Later on other stories webbed through workers in an orphanage, and young men and woman living in Little Saigon. These stories all led to questions of identity, and finding ways to fit in in a country that will never fully accept you.