![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/w_bvong_pix_ilny_1.jpg\")
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International Lao New Year Opening Ceremony The opening ceremony was quite moving, hearing stories and memories from the various men and women who worked as volunteers at the base that was the original housing and processing center for thousands of Lao refugees. I found out later that my family was at this “Lao Ellis Island” for 3 days until we found out our final destination on the east coast.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n So many different people, arriving in the same place, but dispersed over the years like seeds in the breeze, each with their own stories and scars. In this reunion, some expressed that the fairy tale didn’t end with the passing through the gates, but only hardship was experienced through the years.\u00a0Others expressed that the brief time spent volunteering at the base was the most rewarding experience of their life, no matter if they never received verbal thanks or a pat on the back.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n One story that will forever stick in my mind was from one elder Lao lady. In Laos, she recalled seeing a brochure\/pamphlet for San Francisco, with its magificent Golden Gate bridge on the cover. In the refugee camp she couldn’t believe that the place she would be going to was that mythical city. However, when she arrived and began her new life in America, she saw people, Americans, digging for food in the trash cans, and eating half rotten oranges. She cried, wondering how on earth she could raise 4 kids on her own, here in America, when its true citizens were sifting through garbage for food. She recalled that on her commute for many years, she had to travel across the Golden Gate bridge daily, the same bridge she saw on that brochure, and wept every single time she traveled over its red rust metal.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In the evening, I got a chance to converse with Thavisouk Phravasath, the Lao filmmaker whose most recent work is <\/span><\/span>Nerakhoon<\/span><\/span><\/a> (<\/span><\/span>The Betrayal<\/span><\/span><\/a>), which was nominated for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, and also nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards and the Sundance Film Festival.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Bizarre huh? Two Lao artists, both coming from humble origins, talking about Hollywood and cinematography over some Corona’s in a Lao restaurant. Actually I wasn’t the one talking, I was just sitting, listening, and daydreaming…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n International Lao New Year Opening Ceremony Novato Arts Center at Hamilton Field | Novato, California The opening ceremony was quite moving, hearing stories and memories from the various men and women who worked as volunteers at the base that was the original housing and processing center for thousands of Lao refugees. I found out later […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,359,7],"tags":[51,114,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-2163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-lao-culture","8":"category-lao-thai-khmer-new-year","9":"category-photos","10":"tag-lao-new-year","11":"tag-refugees","12":"tag-san-francisco","14":"post-with-thumbnail","15":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pelE0-yT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2170,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/international-lao-new-year-festival-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":2163,"position":0},"title":"International Lao New Year 2009 – San Francisco, CA – Festival Photos","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"April 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"International Lao New Year Festival San Francisco, California | April 11, 2009 Presented by: Center for Lao Studies Laotian American National Alliance Lao Heritage Foundation Sabaidee Pii Mai! \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/w_bvong_pix_ilny_3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3677,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/2nd-international-lao-new-year-miss-lao-international-pageant\/","url_meta":{"origin":2163,"position":1},"title":"2nd International Lao New Year 2010 – Miss Lao International Pageant","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"April 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"2nd International Lao New Year | San Francisco Miss Lao International Pageant | Whitcomb Hotel Ballroom Miss Lao International 2010 Dolene Simmalavong Miss Lao International Dolene Simmalavong 1st Princess Aleta Rattanasith (L) 2nd Princess Busaba Sisounthone (R) Amy Chanthaphavong, current reigning Miss Asian America, addressing the crowd.\u00a0 The winner tonight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ilny_mlip_006_b-vong.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/ilny_mlip_006_b-vong.com_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2183,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/ilny-festival-closing-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":2163,"position":2},"title":"International Lao New Year 2009 – San Francisco, CA – Festival Closing","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"April 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/w_bvong_pix_ilny_4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26330,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/2nd-international-lao-new-year-closing-gala\/","url_meta":{"origin":2163,"position":3},"title":"2nd International Lao New Year: Closing Gala – 2010","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"April 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"2nd International Lao New Year | San Francisco Whitcomb Hotel Ballroom \u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao 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Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/ilny_lhf_pre_65_b-vong.com_.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3599,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/international-lao-new-year-prelude\/","url_meta":{"origin":2163,"position":5},"title":"2nd International Lao New Year 2010 – Prelude","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"2nd International Lao New Year | San Francisco Pre-festival and\u00a0practicing photos from this year's\u00a0Lao New Year in San Fran.\u00a0 Photos by me, if anyone uses them, please credit me or my site pretty please.\u00a0 Captions and of course thoughts by me as well, please note that taking pictures is much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"b-vong.com_ilny_011","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/b-vong.com_ilny_011.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"medium":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"vantage-thumbnail-no-sidebar":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"vantage-slide":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"vantage-carousel":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011-272x182.jpg",272,182,true],"vantage-grid-loop":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011-290x272.jpg",290,272,true],"yarpp-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011-120x120.jpg",120,120,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011-272x182.jpg",272,182,true],"sow-blog-portfolio":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"sow-blog-grid":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false],"sow-blog-alternate":["https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/00011.jpg",290,290,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Boon.Vong","author_link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/author\/admin\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Lao Culture<\/a> Lao Thai Khmer New Year<\/a> Photos<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"International Lao New Year Opening Ceremony Novato Arts Center at Hamilton Field | Novato, California The opening ceremony was quite moving, hearing stories and memories from the various men and women who worked as volunteers at the base that was the original housing and processing center for thousands of Lao refugees. I found out later…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/span>Novato Arts Center at Hamilton Field | Novato, California<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/w_bvong_pix_ilny_2.jpg\")
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