All posts tagged: International Women’s Day

10 Lao Diaspora Women You Should Know in 2018

It’s not every day that there’s a holiday celebrating the greatness that’s women. #InternationalWomensDay is celebrated in almost every country in the world except for America– surprise! Not only should you acknowledge the great women in your life right before your eyes; but learn from the inspirational shakers and movers in our community who have blazed trails and opened pathways for others along with them. You may be lucky enough to know some of them and even luckier to have worked with them. These are women who have done inspiring work to lift their field and communities with them and we know they’ll continue to put us in awe throughout 2018. This isn’t an exhaustive list and no particular order, but it’s a great teaser. Keep watch, Lao America. Catzie Vilayphonh runs Laos in the House out of Philly doing cultural productions and storytelling. She’s a spoken word artist who was half of the now-retired badass duo, Yellow Rage. Channapha Khamvongsa leads Legacies of War out of DC, pressing our top officials to up the budget and …

Letter to My Daughter for International Womens Day

Dear Nakanya Dao, It’s van mae ying hang saht. International Women’s Day. I named you after a dragon princess because you breathed fire since being in my womb. There’s a reason why Laos celebrates its women and America shrugs it as another day. Our pain still lingers in the skies. Our freedom is still floating between the Mekong and the Mississippi. They say we’ll feel human again when we are free, but you must know the heavy stories we carry in our tong ma lai bags. These stories disintegrate between the blood-soaked pages of your school’s alternative history books. Before I felt American as a naturalized citizen, I was a Resident Alien. Holding onto a fragile green card through my teen years. Before I felt home on the prairie, I was a 2-year-old displaced refugee, in a faded pink petal dress gifted by Filipinos at the Bataan camp. Before I felt human, I was born on the frigid floor of a crumbling Viengxai cave. Before I could feel, I was in your grandmother’s pa jia sling. Sinking in …