#T-134025
28 years ago
2-year-old Chanida Phaengdara
Number T-134025 to Student “P” in 1st Grade
A mother
A father
Seven children
Asylum to the Land of 10,000 Lakes
100 degrees to -30 degrees Fahrenheit
Food stamps, welfare, Northside housing
The smell of moth balls became our second scent
First shift, second shift, grave shift to survive the grind
The American Dream?
Just as long as we’re together as family
Chanida Phaengdara Potter, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Little Laos on the Prairie
The reality is: our elders are dying. We are all dying. But our stories don’t have to. The honesty in our past tell us about the struggles of those who came before us and reminds us what we try to understand in the present. Hug your elders. Listen to your family’s stories. Appreciate our shared journey of blood, sweat, and tears.
In short, Happy World Refugee Day, fellow ‘fugees.
First Gen. children of North Minneapolis at the steps of the now foreclosed Minneapolis Buddhist temple.
-Chanida
editor@littlelaosontheprairie.org