All posts tagged: American

Being Laotian Chinese American at the 4th Lao American Writers Summit

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

As I start writing this, it has been a few weeks since the 4th Lao American Writers Summit has ended. Although I still feel sad that the summit is over, I still feel a strong emotional high from it. Before I begin, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Tommy Shee. I am three-quarters Chinese and one-quarter Laotian, born and raised in Missouri. In order to write a full reflection about LAWS, I wanted to cover all aspects of it, or at least the aspects I found relevant enough to include, such as, but not limited to: before the conference, the conference itself, and thoughts and advice on the summit overall. Starting off, how did I hear about this summit? I heard of this summit from previous attendees when I was looking for ways to meet more Lao people as well as learn more about what it means to be Laotian Chinese American. Unfortunately, the previous attendees I talked to could not make it this year due to work-related reasons. As a result, …

Lao-Diaspora-of-the-Month: Krysada Binly Panusith Phounsiri

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

LLOTP continues our brief feature series, introducing you to the creatives and organizers of the Lao American Writers Summit 2016. Meet Krysada Binly Panusith Phounsiri aka Binly, a Lao Lue American. Binly is leading the helm as the current Chair of the Lao American Writers Summit, this May 27-28, 2016 in San Diego. Because of his leadership and March being his birthday month, he is officially the first Lao-Diaspora-of-the-Month. Send him birthday wishes by contributing to the summit here.  Introduce yourself. My name is Krysada Binly Panusith Phounsiri. I dance, write poems, photograph life, and engineer things. Describe your favorite Lao dish. I love Lao / Lue Pizza – it’s a dish that uses Kao Niew on a frying pan and you press on it until it becomes a circle. You add Mak Toa Nao on it and maybe some eggs. Cut it into a slice, add soy sauce. It’s awesome. When you tell someone your ethnic background, what’s their first reaction? I have two reactions that are tied for first place. 1) “Huh? Where’s that?” 2) “No Way!?!? …