Andrew X. Pham's Blog, page 2
June 9, 2012
Andrew’s Simplest Way to Start a Fire!
SE Asian villagers, for the most part, still cook with charcoal daily.
They usually like to start a fire (for BBQ as well as pot-cooking) by using old discarded rubber sandals, pieces of tire inner tube, plastic, and even Styrofoam. This toxic smoke usually permeates the village at dawn and dusk. In tropical humidity, the smoke often simply stagnates without rising above the roof lines and dispersing.
I’ve tried various methods of trying to convince them not to use those toxic starters–without much success. It wasn’t until I realized that every house in the village celebrated the Western tradition of birthday cakes. They had plenty of tiny candles, barely used.
So, I came up with the method shown in the video below. It’s becoming very popular in the village. Now, having used up their supply of old birthday candles, they are switching over to prayer candles (similar size but even cheaper).
One small success 
Check it out. You might find lighting your BBQ this way a whole lot more impressive and inexpensive. Throw away those newspaper chimneys, electric elements, and dangerous lighter fluids. All you need is a candle and a little piece of wood!!!
Enjoy!
June 8, 2012
Memoirists Have No Shame
People have asked me how can writers, especially memoirists, write about their lives, opening up closets, sharing pains, and exposing themselves to the public in such thorough and exquisite fashions.
I’ve thought about this some.
First, we don’t “think” about the exposing part when we were busy writing.
Second, if we are the sums of love, loss, joys, and sorrows, could our stories be so different? And if our intentions are pure, wherein lies the shame?
–Andrew
June 7, 2012
The Publishing Game
Memories …
A long time ago when I had completed my second manuscript, titled Catfish and Mandala, and was living on a dilapidated sailboat and riding a salvaged motorcycle, I was thrilled to receive the attention from a major literary agent who represented the biggest and most successful Asian-American writer–a publishing phenom whose books have gone on to become movies.
In my wildest dream, I would never have dared imagine that this agent took an interest in my story.
She would represent me on one condition: I must rewrite Catfish into something more commercial. Reading between the lines, I understood that she wanted my book to be similar to her other successes. There would be a movie deal and a multiple-books contract. So many of her clients were bestselling authors. She was an undisputed expert in pitching these books.
I did pause and looked down that road of riches. I knew how to re-write my book into what she wanted.
But I didn’t.
I can’t say if I would have struck it rich going down that path, but I can say choosing this other one has made me a better person.
Of the ten agents who took interest in the book, I picked Jandy Nelson for her brilliant mind and her big heart. She has been a great champion of my work in every way. Most important, she has become a good friend.
Along the way, Catfish and Mandala has brought me in touch with unique and special people. It has also occasionally been helpful to others. And to me, this has been the biggest payoff from the book.
Travel the trail of your heart and you’re likely to meet like-minded travelers.
Killer Walking
I watched an alleged murderer walking freely in the village today. I nodded to him, and he nodded in return.
His father is one of the richest men in the village. He is also known for running drugs across the river from Laos. Two months ago, during a meth and drinking session with some of his acquaintances in another village, he allegedly flew into a rage and stabbed a man to death. He fled back home. The police did not arrest him because all five witnesses recanted their stories, too fearful to point their fingers.
People say he may live a month or he may live a year, but there is always an accounting. The dead man’s relatives will come for revenge. This is a certainty. People have long memory and patience here. The villagers are uncannily calm about having him in their midst. They have a strange confidence that justice will be dealt one way or another. This is the way things are done here.
It fascinates me. Just another day in the village.
June 5, 2012
A Chat with Acclaimed Author Dao Strom
Since I met Dao in Portland over pizza and beer, we’ve kept in touch and chatted via IM now and then about crowding funding, the artist’s path, and the sense of home and identity.
Dao has been kind enough to collect some of our musings and has posted on her blog. Please read it at … Dao Strom/The Sea and The Mother
Dao is also doing a sweet project on Indiegogo: “We Were Meant To Be A Gentle People”
Please check it out and give her your support
Cheers,
Andrew
June 3, 2012
My Favorite Lines
When I first looked at this piece of low-laying jungle land years ago, 350 yards from the closest dirt track, only reachable through dense tropical forest, bamboo knots, and brambles filled with all sorts of nasty and biting vermin, I knew I wasn’t man enough tackle the project of establishing a homestead deep in the backwaters of nowhere, certainly not on the shoestring budget that I had in my pocket at the time.
Then, one day, I was looking through an old journal (the basis of which became “A Theory of Flight”) and found a line I had written as a younger, more idealistic man:
“All those who failed have one thing in common: they believed enough to try. It is the same for those who succeeded. Perhaps, you cannot decide your fate, but you can decide whether your faith is equal to the attempt.”
I took a deep breadth and plunged headlong into the project. It was the most challenging project I’d ever attempted. It took nearly three years. It took more than I had ever imagined. It was one of the big journeys of my life.
The lesson: Don’t re-read stuff your younger idealistic self wrote!
June 2, 2012
Rice Planting
I’m back on the Mekong farm, feeling weak with a bout of the flu. Was a bit worried there with malaria/dengue going around. Ate some fantastic fish with fresh herbs yesterday, regretting it today.
It’s rice-planting season. The monsoon sweeping in with endless sheets of thick, pounding, drowning rain. One new development in the village. Nearly all the farmers are casting their seeds as opposed to hand-planting. Huge economic and social dynamic implications. First time in their history. I will have to get healthy and document this change.
It is so humid here my bath towel never ever dries. I’ve seen the sun once for 2 hours in 4 days. I am constantly drenched in sweat. Skin rashes and bacterial infections are serious concerns. Weak with heat exhaustion. Night time, the bed is a moist pool of sweat.
Nothing beats actually experience.
Aspiring writers, I encourage you to get out and experience life
Into the heart, into the bowels of darkness, I urge you!
May 22, 2012
A Brave New World
Congratulations to Dao Strom for braving the new world of self-publishing!
The acclaimed author of Grass Roof Tin Roof and The Gentle Order of Girls and Boys is striking out own her own to break new grounds with an EP & chapbook project.
Strom, an Iowa Workshop Writer and an NEA recipient, is a talented writer as well as a composer. Please check out her Indiegogo project.
I’m wishing her all the best for a successful crowding funding experience!
May 21, 2012
Vietnamese Tour Guides’ Take on Catfish & Mandala
During my lecture at Salem Library in Oregon two weeks ago, a woman and her husband in the audience mentioned that they had been to Vietnam recently. They brought along their favorite Vietnam book, Catfish and Mandala. They hired a tour guide in Hanoi and another one in Saigon (HCMC).
They showed the tour guide in Hanoi the book and asked him what he thought of it. He said the book was full of lies.
When they arrived in Saigon, they showed the second tour guide the book and asked the same question. This man said everything in the book was true.
Go figure!
I haven’t been back to Vietnam since 1999. Would love to go soon.
