Blessing Season

The Authentic Thanksgiving

The more we get together
Together, together
the more we get together
the happier we'll be
Cause your friends are my friends
and my friends are your friends
the more we get together
the happier we'll be

Thanksgiving is the moment we leave behind labors at the office, lock unfinished assignments and projects in the drawers, and run away from pressures and stresses to return to our family to get together. We burn anger, jealousy, and negative emotions in the fireplaces to have more room for peace, joy, and delight. “The more we get together, the happier we’ll be. Our family is your family and your family is our family.” We welcome new babies into the world; we greet new siblings-in-law to expand and add more members to the family. In the United States, Thanksgiving becomes a multicultural holiday for everybody, reflecting diverse cultures with plenty of foods and traditional activities. The other cultures not only have turkey at the feast, but they also add their authentic foods, such as Mexican tortillas and tamales, African stewed beans, beef, and pork, Italian pasta, European pastrami, Indian Curry, Japanese Sushi, Korean barbeque, and Vietnamese spring rolls.  

Dan introduced me to his extended family members on Thanksgiving at Dan’s Cousin Danielle’s house. Dan’s Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, and Second Cousins curiously looked at me, a Vietnamese woman, who was as tiny and fragile as a Chinese porcelain doll in a glass cupboard. They welcomed me with charming smiles, warm-hearted acts, and gently talked as if I might be broken easily. They were happy for Dan to meet a good match and congratulated our love. Ashun, Danielle’s daughter, liked to learn how to pronounce my name and its meaning. Aunt Mickey asked me about my family, the Vietnamese holidays and culture, and wished to taste the Vietnamese dishes. Cousin Claire felt sorry about the Vietnam War and our great loss. Jackie, Danielle’s sister-in-law, admired my writing skill and was interested in my poetry and stories.  Taylor, Danielle’s daughter, invited me to the terrace to view the tired, crimson sun as it lingeringly said “goodnight” and disappeared into the borderless marine bed stretching to the horizon.

While Rob, Danielle’s husband, took the turkey out of the oven and put it on a round, silver tray, Danielle and her daughters set up the table. Flower vases were in the middle of the big, oval table. They put the white, linen, folding pocket napkins around the silver utensils on the plates decorated with turkeys. Clay turkey designs carried name tags to mark the guests’ seats. Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, salad, and cranberry sauce were displayed on the long, narrow table covered with a burgundy tablecloth. Dan showed me our name tags on the table. I held my plate and followed Dan to put food on it. After the family members sat down, Rob said thank you to the guests for joining the Thanksgiving dinner. Rob welcomed me to the big family and hoped I was feeling comfortable. He introduced the family members to me. I smiled at each individual and nodded my head to reply to their greetings.

 Rob’s Mother, Ms. Frances, prayed and thanked God to give us work, bread, successful lives, and health. She prayed for homeless people and those with not enough to eat. We held glasses up and toasted, “Cheers!” We started eating. I ate a small piece of turkey: it was juicy and tasty. I finished the turkey, ham, and salad on my plate. I came to the food table, took a big piece of turkey, and finished it. Dan looked at me; he said, “Honey, I never saw you eat so much like today.”

I murmured into his ear, “The turkey is so good. This is the first time I like turkey.”

Dan talked loudly, “Chef Rob, Anhthao likes your turkey.”

Rob laughed, “Thank you, Anhthao.”

Taylor gave me a piece of cheesecake. She said, “Anhthao, eat my dessert.”

I looked at her and said, “Wow!”

Dan told Taylor, “Anhthao does not cook often, so she admires you.” 

A friend of mine told me if I wanted to be a successful writer in the United States, I should immerse myself in American culture. Thank you to Dan’s family for accepting me as a member of the family. The more we get together, the happier we will be. Your family is my family. My family is your family.

 November 10, 2014

Cultural Mosaics

          American culture values individualism. An Individual is a center of the universal circle with spinning communities to the self, such as family, extended family, neighbors, friends, learning environment, religious organizations, and workplaces. The widespread and diverse loops tangle with one another to build a solid, silky cocoon to conceive and develop a human identity, to shield the individual, and decide the person’s fate. The relationship between a person and a community is the reciprocal status: individuals form a community; a community nurtures individuals as a self-center.

          Family is the closest community that a human naturally attaches to at first. Researchers say that a fetus feels and interacts with the mother and the people surrounding her. The mother’s emotions and temperament transmit to the unborn baby. Music and poetry are staples of Vietnamese culture.  The rhyming verses calmed me down, so I did not hit my mother’s belly from within. The lullabies called me to leave my mother’s womb to crawl the Earth in order to participate in our family’s bookish worships and to practice the Vietnamese social rites. The melodies cradled and carried me to Lala Land. The bookshelves nurtured my creativity, fed my hungry caterpillar mind, and sowed the seeds of charisma. The charisma gradually sprouted, grew, and harvested a ripened literary fruit.

          The hurricane of liberty whirled me and the aesthetic fruit to the United States and dropped us on the dry Rocky Mountains in California. The artistry fruit hit the rock and cracked it down into many pieces. Day by day, I watered my writing passion with rainy tears, fertilized it with hardships. The American society patiently cultivated the promised tree with education and kindness. I absorbed the Western culture and the American prominent values: independence and individualism. I solely split the Vietnamese cultural tree, but deep down in my uttermost veiling the Vietnamese value: an orientation toward family.

          Individuals and communities build the concrete bond that relies on each other. Individuals engage with communities to develop physical needs, to strengthen social skills, to regulate emotional competency, and to stimulate potential. Communities need individuals to exist and to structure social laws, morality, and cultural trends.

--San Jose: Friday, October 31, 2014

The Top- Notch College

I am spending another summer in Los Angeles with Dan. This summer we did not plan any activity because Dan is working in the summer session at California State University Los Angeles. Dan got a one-year contract for teaching as a Lecturer in English at Cal State Los Angeles. We exhaled the financial worries and insecurities we experience each semester. In the California State University system, no college guarantees a long-term teaching contract to part-time instructors until they are on the seniority list or sign a contract. Dan told me that the teachers’ union helped him to prepare his portfolio, and Dr. James Garrett, the English Department Chair, wrote good comments and feedback about him. Thus, Dan got the contract. We considered Mr. Ruben Quintero, the former English Department Chair who originally hired Dan, our well-wisher. We regarded Dr. Garrett as our backup.

            Every day, Dan called me with updated information about the University. He excitedly told me about the union meetings, the English Department meetings, the new President’s Inauguration, a retirement party, his new office, and those people Dan met and talked to. Jackie, the union representative, and Yolanda and Jeanne, the administrative assistants from the English Department, often asked about me. Dan liked to communicate with his colleagues and students. Sometimes I warned him not to take his coworkers’ valuable time, but he assured me that he only talked to them for a short time before or after the class meetings. Dan has taught for two years at Cal State L.A. He also feels as comfortable, welcomed and supported at Cal State L.A. as he does at East Los Angeles College, where he has taught for nearly 15 years.

            At Cal State Los Angeles, the instructor-to-student ratio is low. Dan often teaches only 15 to 20 students in each classroom. Therefore, Dan has more time to work with each student on their individual needs. The online student feedback system is new to me. Dan has learned new teaching strategies and methods from his experienced colleagues to enhance his teaching techniques. This quarter, Dan teaches a new course for entering freshmen to prepare them to write academic college essays. Jim, the English Department Chair, hopes to familiarize high school graduates with new writing tools so they will not panic when writing university-level essays. The course syllabus is simple, and all instructors teaching this course use the same teaching methods.

            In addition to the campus’ fascinating view and friendly community, I choose California State University Los Angeles as a top-notch university because of its daily updates on Facebook. The campus offers free activities, such as concerts. The information is posted everywhere, so students can view it easily. Once when I accompanied Dan to the school, we came early and stayed in the parking lot to work. I accessed the internet on my laptop. I provided my information as a visitor, signed in, and was using the internet within five minutes. Amazing! Last but not least are the restrooms. I have visited the campus several times, and have used the restrooms in different areas. I have always been happy with the clean restrooms.

            California State University Los Angeles provides a high-quality education. The administration keeps building the campus structure, upgrading the university’s technology, enhancing its scope of teaching, expanding its social network, and adjusting and taking care of the personal lives of individuals like a big family, to meet the needs of education in the twenty-first century. California State University Los Angeles is a top-notch university in the titanic city of Los Angeles.

Anhthao Bui

Los Angeles: July 17, 2014

Creeping to the Torch of Liberty

 Life is a mysterious and fairy dream. I cannot believe myself that it is true.

When I first set foot in San Francisco Airport, I was only an immigrant who spoke a little English. However, eight years later, I earned a Bachelor of Arts in English degree and became an educator at a public school. Now I am a self-published author with two books written in English. What kudos and privilege I have received from the beneficial nature of the United States. The United States is a gracious fairy who uses a magical wand to transform my doom into radiance. I would like to spread around the world the beauty of the United States and the benevolence of this country.  Uncle Sam provided me with knowledge to empower a timid, female immigrant to become an independent and confident Vietnamese-American woman.

  “Life is not a rose”; the American life is toilsome and severe for any newcomer. However, I believe that the United States is the paradise of opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from Alpha to Omega. The Founding Fathers always find the best ways and solutions to provide the residents contingency and freedom to reach their dreams in their own ways.

Under the control of the Vietnamese communist government, my creativity hyphenated under deep down ground. When I came to the United States, in this rich, knowledgeable, fertile soil and free atmosphere, my artistic seeds started with sprouts, grew up, and bloomed. 

Choosing the English major was a lonely path and a great challenge. However, the passion of writing urged me to overcome tons of hardships. Writing and reading are parts of my daily activities. Writing calms my anxiety and releases my adversity. Writing is also the way I learn English.  Each self-published book is a significant milestone in my life to measure my improvement in learning English, and an expedition to the torch of liberty. The undertaking of this adventure is risky, dangerous, and exciting to test my endurance and to prove my hypothesis about the United States: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

June 16, 2013

 Happy Father’s Day to the Founding Fathers of the United States!

 Pay tribute to the Fourth of July

Happy Birthday to the United States of America!

The Fourth of July

By Anhthao Bui


When I first came to the United States, I was jealous of the United States because I thought God was unfair: God took away the other countries’ blessings and poured them into the United States. Therefore, the United States possessed prominent characteristics: prosperity, wealth, abundance, peace, benefits, and top-notch qualities. God was known as the sovereign of justice, but was not fair to the other countries. How can we expect human beings to be fair in the earthly world? However, the longer I have lived in the United States, the more I have learned about the United States, and the more I understand that the American people have sacrificed a lot and have fought against evils day and night to become a fabulous country and bring people around the world together: “One Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

Two hundred thirty-five years ago, the American people fought against the British Kingdom for freedom, so the United States was born. The Founding Fathers’ goal of liberty was exchanged for blood and invaluable losses: nothing was as valuable as freedom and independence. Liberty was not only the desire of the American people, but it was also the wish of human beings around the world. Thus, the Founding Fathers declared their Independence and guaranteed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to all the people who live in the United States.

The United States has opened her arms and heart to welcome all the people who seek freedom and protection. The United States is a magnet country that hypnotizes people around the world to settle there for many reasons. The United States is the universal land where human values and talents are accepted and rewarded. In return, the newcomers contribute and devote their potentials and capacities to the United States in order to pay tribute to the ideals represented by the Statue of Liberty. The United States has speedily expanded, grown, and improved, the way a young tree feeds in a fertile land.

The United States builds and creates a liberal environment, a democratic atmosphere and an independent community to guarantee all her citizens the equal rights to express themselves and to practice their cultures and religions in harmony and respect for one another. In 1791 the Constitution enacted the First Amendment to guarantee freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion in the United States. The First Amendment provides citizens the authority to freely express themselves and practice their ideals in safe environment without harm to others. Unfortunately, some people misunderstand the Constitution; they noisily and excessively proclaim their thoughts and opinions, causing insult and damage to America, and comfort to contradictory individuals and controversial federations.

The battle between good and bad never ends. Human history proves that justice and injustice will fight against each other from Alpha to Omega. Other countries are jealous of the United States’ virtues and sovereignty; they cunningly undermine the United States’ ideal systems. They spit verbal venom to confuse and brainwash innocent citizens. The United States encounters human disasters, from the Nine Eleven tragedy to the current recession, and challenges untrustworthy countries. Moreover, the United States is like a fresh salad bowl with a huge variety of ethnicities and peoples. The government hardly satisfies their multicultural demands. The United States stands strong: strict castigation is a must.

Although the United States is confronting rocky tempests, many peoples continue to come to the New World, guided by the radiance of the Statue of Liberty over the horizon. Holding each other’s hands, together they sing aloud to reinstate their faith and trust:

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home
God bless America, My home sweet home.

Los Angeles, July 4, 2011