1.

Accountability Check

From my original Beyond The Classroom plan, I hit my goal of seeing two visiting writers

series’! I did have to alter my first one, however, due to being out of town for a funeral. I had

originally intended to attend the conversation with Kaveh Akbar and Paige Lewis on October

3rd but ended up going to Jo Ann Beard’s conversation instead. I had also originally intended

to attend Viet Thang Nguyen’s conversation and was able to go!

Visiting Writers Visit: Viet Thang Nguyen:

I first went to Viet Thang Nguyen’s visiting writers’ series speech on South Campus and

it was such a memorable experience. I am taking another class, EN 290, which is a research

seminar on the literature of migration, and we had read multiple of his books during the

semester. One of which being The Refugees and Nothing Ever Dies, which I found to be very

interesting regarding Vietnamese immigration trauma and the American Dream. Given that my

class had studied Nguyen’s work over the semester, Dr. Ania Spyra arranged for our class to be

able to take him to dinner before his speech. We took him to Napolese in Broad Ripple about

five minutes from campus and were able to sit down and have a meal and conversation with him.

I thought this was an incredible experience being able to pick his brain and interact with an

author I have come to admire over the course of the semester. Additionally, it was nice to see

him in a relaxed setting and relate to him on a human being level. Over appetizers, a main

course, and dessert we were able to laugh, learn, and fill our stomachs. After the meal, we drove

back to campus to hear his speech. My Professor, Dr. Spyra, and her teaching assistant Jennifer

introduced Nguyen to the crowd, then he came out to speak. It was cool to see him transform

from the chill guy we went to dinner with to a very professional academic. He was such a great

presenter and completely lit up the second he walked on stage. He read excerpts from The
Refugees, told the crowd about his upcoming film adaptation of The Sympathizer on HULU, and

even sprinkled in some comedy. One statement he said that stook with me was “all wars are

fought twice. Once in battle, the other in memory” which I later used in my final essay for the

seminar class. I centered my entire essay around this quote and discussed the exclusivity of the

American Dream connected with trauma within immigrant familial dynamics. The title of my

paper is “All Wars Are Fought Twice:” an Assimilation of Trauma and The American Nightmare

in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Viet Nguyen’s The Refugees, and the

visit from Viet Nguyen really helped me develop my arguments. After his speech he opened the

floor to any questions from the audience. Many people went to ask questions, but one that stood

out to me particularly was “do you ever feel pigeonholed into writing about narratives regarding

immigration?” To which, Nguyen responded that not only does he not feel compelled to do this,

but he feels as though he has a duty to carry on the legacy of all who came before him. He is

working to rewrite the narrative of stigma around immigration while also giving a voice who had

previously been the voiceless. This was an interesting scope to explore in my paper of giving

voices to the voiceless and expanding on the thoughts offered at his speech. Following his speech

for the Visiting Writers Series, the next day our class among other English classes gathered in

the side room in the Efroymson Center for Creative Writing (ECCW) to have a second question

and answer session with Viet Thang Nguyen. This was a very intimate setting and was much

more relaxed. Almost every student had to opportunity to be able to ask a question. It was quite

admirable how Nguyen took the time to fully elaborate on each answer he gave. Instead of

keeping them short, he went into detail to explain each answer he was giving. It was a neat

experience to have one on one time with such an acclaimed author as Viet Nguyen, and I learned

many things from his words. One of the biggest things I learned was how normal and down to
Earth these authors are. This may feel small, but he made strides to tell us students that it is okay

to get writers block and that having trouble coming up with new ideas is normal. He also

emphasized that not every piece of writing can be as successful as the others, and that is okay.

He made sure we knew the importance of devoting time to writing regardless of a lack of ideas

and pushing ourselves to continue being creative. Overall, Viet Nguyen’s visit was very helpful

and informative, and I am excited to see any future work he comes out with in the future!

Visiting Writers Series: Jo Ann Beard:

In addition to Nguyen’s talk, I also attended Jo Ann Beard’s conversation on South

Campus. I was previously familiar with a few of her essays from classes I had taken previously,

such as Festival Days and The Boys of My Youth. She briefly read from Festival Days, which

was neat to hear the author read something I had already read and studied. One of my favorite

quotes from her reading was, “so, this is how you write. You let the writing lead and you simply

follow. Letting the memories of the images take over. You are the writer; you get to decide.” I

frantically jotted this down as she said it because I knew I would not want to forget it and that I

wanted to write about it. The idea that the writer controls whether who is in control is an

interesting scope to consider. You can have the writing lead you, or you can lead your writing.

She also addressed writers block which was very refreshing to hear. I am someone who

oftentimes is hard on myself for not always being creative due to writer’s block but am slow to

offer grace. Summed up, Beard described a lull period in the writing process where you

experience a high. She used the analogy of a faucet: the faucet might be all the way turned on at

this point and you are able to crank out quality, undistracted work. This feeling of being on a roll

takes over your writing, but this cannot last forever, and that is okay. In my one-on-one

conference with Professor Furuness I was reflecting upon her visit with him, and I remembered
saying it was refreshing to hear an intellect confirm feelings of inadequacy. This is an

indescribable feeling, almost a shared sigh of relief that maybe we are all the same. I learned

many things from her talk, but overall, I learned how human everyone is and that I should not be

discouraged by writer’s block, rather use it for motivation to keep going. Looking into the future,

I would love to attend more visiting writer’s series because of how much I got out of the two that

I went to.