All posts filed under: Museums

Exhibit explores Lao refugee experience, idea of home

Published by Savannah Rattanavong

Photos courtesy of Dale Thongmahavong A traveling exhibit documenting the experiences of multi-ethnic Lao refugees opens this weekend. “Between Two Worlds: Untold Stories of Refugees from Laos,” hosted by the Center for Lao Studies, opens Saturday at Turtle Bay Museum, 844 Sundial Bridge Drive in Redding, California. The exhibit will be open from Oct. 6, 2018 through Jan. 13, 2019. According to the center’s website, the exhibit examines the idea of home and the stages of what home has meant for Lao refugees and multi-ethnic Lao Americans throughout history. It highlights life in four areas: Laos, captivity, refugee camps and America. It will make four more stops throughout California, including Fresno, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento. “We have been in the U.S. for at least 40 years and if we don’t gather this information and stories they will forever be lost,” Vinya Saysamouth, project co-director and executive director of CLS, said in the exhibit’s trailer. “It’s a unique story in American history and it’s also universal in many different ways.” The project began in …

From Secret Wars to Spinosaurs

Published by Bryan Thao Worra

A few weeks ago, Little Laos on the Prairie co-editor, Bryan Thao Worra presented in Minneapolis at Rev. Matt’s Monster Science on the dinosaurs of Laos. Here are some highlights! Strangely enough, dinosaurs aren’t the first animals you think of when it comes to the land once known as the Realm of a Million Elephants. However, as we draw nearer to the release of the new Jurassic Park movie, it’s as good a time as any to think about the Terrible Lizards of Southeast Asia! For our Minnesota readers, a little bit of context, we have almost 13,000 Lao and 60,000 Hmong who came to this state after the Secret War in Laos, which took place concurrently to the Vietnam War. Many of you may not realize that Laos is about the same size as Minnesota or Utah and nearly 70% of our homeland is covered in dense forest and mountains, as well as vast limestone caves and swamplands that would easily rival any episode of Land of the Lost. However, dinosaur research in Laos was understandably slow considering that …