Your Voice Counts 2007

Be Transformed - Posting By Gail Ostrow

University life is filled with opportunities to learn and grow, often in ways no one can anticipate. Who can say what will have the most influence on you during your time here. A word from a professor may alter the direction of your studies. A line in an assigned reading may stun you. A discussion in class may anger or arouse you. A banner in the Campus Center may halt you in your tracks.

Eight plus years ago my daughter was on her way from San Francisco to visit us here in Connecticut when she met a man who had worked at the Nuremberg Trials. From that brief, unexpected meeting came a journey that culminated in her movie about a Cambodian family’s search for truth and justice, “Out of the Poison Tree.” Everyone who supported her along the way—family, friends, even strangers—became a part of this larger community that now knows about the Cambodian genocide and its aftermath.

And this is what I find so exciting about teaching here at Fairfield. Being part of both the larger university learning community and the smaller one in each of my classes places me right in the middle of all these opportunities to learn and grow. I never know which one of you will transform me—how my perspective may change because of something you say or do.

Like me, you may sometimes find yourself challenged both intellectually and emotionally. Learning can be uncomfortable, especially when the content is controversial or ugly or unpleasant. This is the double-edged sword of knowledge. Once we learn something, be it a fact about long-ago events or a disaster that is unfolding right in front of us, we can’t ever not know it again.

Now that we have read "Lucky Child," we can’t not know about what happened in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 while the world was busy elsewhere. Her story demands that we examine not just the past but also what is happening now in places like Darfur, where ethnic cleansing and genocide have been going on for over four years. There is no better way to honor Luong’s story than to bear witness to and try to stop the atrocities of the present.

Gail

Gail Ostrow
Adjunct Instructor, English

International Campaign to Ban Landmines

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, "In Cambodia, for example there are over 45,000 landmine survivors recorded between 1979 and 2005. Some 20,000 people were killed in this period. More than 75 % of the total casualties were civilians."

To learn more about the problem of landmines and how you can be part of the solution, go to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines website at http://www.icbl.org/problem

Loung Ung Asked Us to Re-Post This for You, on Her Behalf:

"A Birthday Wrapped in Cambodian History"; [Op-Ed] by Loung Ung.   April 17, 2005 pg. 4.15

Here is an excerpt from the New York Times Op-Ed piece:

"TODAY is my birthday. April 17 is what's on my driver's license and other documents. But I don't know for sure, and probably never will. All I know is that I was born in Cambodia, sometime during 1970."

She continues later in the piece ,"On April 17, 1975, the Communist Khmer Rouge regime took over my country, and my charmed life came to an abrupt end. I remember that day well. I was on the street playing hopscotch with one of my sisters when rows of mud-covered trucks drove by. On the trucks, men in uniforms were yelling into bullhorns, ordering us to leave our homes, telling us that the Americans were going to bomb us and if we didn't leave we would die. Chaos and fear swept through Phnom Penh. More than two million people were evicted in less than 72 hours."

Click here to read the entire  New York Times article - A Birthday Wrapped in Cambodian History.

Reflections - Debnam Chappell, Dean of Freshmen

For Members of the Class of 2011, Welcome to Fairfield University! For upper level students, welcome back!

As I read and reflect upon Loung Ung's memoir, Lucky Child, I think of a young girl who immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee of war. This is a young girl who left her family, country, and culture, who was thrust intro a strange new culture and forced to learn a new language. But most of all, I try to imagine what it must have been like to grow up with horrifying memories of war, death, and destruction. I am reminded that we have an external appearance and an internal reality. As human beings we carry our memories and our experiences within us.

Loung Ung's book reminds me of the importance of tolerance and understanding of others, and the value of getting to know someone whose culture, life, and experience are very different from our own. The book reminds me of the devastation of war, destruction of countries, and horrific genocide -- all of which are taking place in our world today. We must as human beings do what we can to work for peace and a better world. I also think of what individuals can do and must do to survive the long-lasting scars of war.

Debnam Chappell, Dean of Freshmen

We would love to hear your thoughts about Lucky Child (click on Comments link below), and we look forward to having the opportunity to discuss the book with you during the first week of classes.

Family Ties

In the memoir, we follow Loung through her teenage years.  She talks about how when she was younger she liked to go to the movies with her brother Meng, but "at 14, I've decided that I don't want to be seen by my embarrassing brother in public anymore".  Maybe you've had similar feeling about your own parents?  I can relate to what Loung is feeling, but from the parent side.  I have two teeanage sons who would not want to be seen with me at a movie theater.

But the early teenage years go quickly, and most of us re-examine the bonds within our own families. In one of the final chapters Loung writes, "that living life to the fullest involves living it with family." (p.237)

We are given several glimpses of the way that Meng teaches Loung the values that he feels are paramount: the importance of pride, gratitude, and loyalty to family, community and cultural rituals. Would you share some experiences from your own life where your family taught you something important? Or are there particular examples in the book of the way that Meng teaches Loung these values that resonated with you? Click on the Comments link below.

Jackie Kremer, Reference Librarian, jkremer@mail.fairfield.edu

One Book ----- Three Movies!

FREE Films.....FREE Films.... FREE Films.....FREE Films....FREE Films.....FREE Films.....FREE Films

The DiMenna-Nyselius Library will be showing these three films at 8:30 pm:

1. Tuesday, September 4 - The Joy Luck Club (based on Amy Tan novel)
2. Wednesday, September 5 - The Killing Fields (won three Oscars)
3. Thursday, September 6- Spanglish (starring Adam Sandler)

FREE POPCORN, COOKIES AND A STAGBUCKS RAFFLE!

You've read the book, now see three movies!  These movies were selected based on their themes of immigration (Joy Luck Club and Spanglish), Cambodia and war (The Killing Fields) and family unification. 

Have you seen any of these movies?  Write a review by clicking on the Comments link below.

Out of the Poison Tree

This morning I had the opportunity to pre-screen the film Out of the Poison Tree, made by Beth Pielert, the daughter of Fairfield University professor, Gail Ostrow. This film documents a Cambodian-American family's quest to find out what became of their father during the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge. The documentary takes the viewer on a trip back to Cambodia on the eve of the long-delayed U.N. tribunal.

This movie is very well made, with great camera work and captivating sound. After having read Lucky Child, it was the closest I could come to visiting Loung's homeland without traveling myself. Hopefully, we'll be able to show this film in the Library when you arrive on campus this fall. I think you will find it remarkable.

Because of this film, I have learned about the Landmine Relief Fund and a dedicated Cambodian named Aki Ra who tirelessly removes landmines so his country will be safe for his people. He and his wife have adopted some 20 children maimed or orphaned by landmines. Learn more at Landmine Relief Fund.

Ramona Islam, Senior Reference Librarian & Instruction Coordinator

What films would you recommend to raise awareness of genocide or land mines? Join the conversation by clicking on the Comments link.

Talking about the Book- Posting by Joan Overfield, Library Director

When I first picked up Lucky Child, I found it challenging and definitely outside my experience and comfort zone to read about genocide, landmines, starvation, the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, survival, war, culture shock, immigration and cultural assimilation. Definitely not my typical beach book! Yet, I was drawn in by the fascinating juxtaposition of two sisters, Chou and Loung and their personal, and sometimes riveting, experiences separated by war and growing up continents apart in Vermont and Cambodia. I was drawn in further by themes I had more personal experience with—family, courage, privilege, guilt, cultural awareness, fitting in as a teenager, siblings and, most immediately, separation as my own son prepares to leave for college.

Lucky Child is rich with themes to reflect on and discuss. I am excited that the Library is hosting the book discussions to be held during your first week at Fairfield. I invite you to stay after the book discussions for our film festival featuring “The Killing Fields”, “The Joy Luck Club”, and “Spanglish” –all selected to continue the conversations started by our common reading of Lucky Child.

You can expect great things from the DiMenna-Nyselius Library. This blog, the film series, and hosting the book discussions typify the library staff’s desire to actively engage with students and to provide the resources, facilities and services to support and enrich your Fairfield experience and help you be successful over your next 4 years.

I hope you will join me in being open to new experiences, new people and new ideas at Fairfield University.

Joan Overfield, Library Director

Have something to say about the book Lucky Child? Please click on the Comments link below.

Adjusting to a New Home

When I think of adversity in my life, I always think of moving to the United States as the biggest one. Just like Loung, I believe it is a difficult process that takes time. For me, moving to the U.S. involved learning a new language and adapting to a new culture that was, to a certain extent, different from my own. Loung had to adjust to much greater differences by comparison.

Although it was a hard process, it was an experience that I would not change for anything in life. Moving to the United States has provided me and my family with many opportunities that have shaped who we are as a family and as members of society.

Amanda Caixiero, RA Regis Hall

Have you experienced a similar transition in your life? How might you help your peers to adjust to their new life on campus this fall?

Making a Difference Together - You're Invited!

Welcome to your new world of Fairfield University! One of the goals of the University’s Center for Faith and Public Life is to create opportunities for students to become more engaged locally, nationally, and internationally in important political, religious and social issues. If you were moved by the story of Loung Ung, you can explore more deeply the problem of refugees and displaced persons in our world today. Students at Fairfield, Georgetown, Fordham and some other Jesuit colleges are participating in a Jesuit University Humanitarian Action Project. We will study what causes the kind of humanitarian disasters that occurred in Cambodia and are happening today in Darfur and Congo. The students will look at post-Katrina New Orleans and how Fairfield can respond.

The project will offer exciting opportunities for action and skill-building no matter what major you end up choosing. You can learn how student groups can speak publicly to such governments as China, North Korea, Burma and Cuba urging them to pull back from violations of human rights or from the support of governments that persecute their own citizens. You might look at the engineering challenges of building a refugee camp or you can research your own family’s experience of war and migration. This year the U.S. State Department is resettling in Connecticut many families who fled oppression in Burma, a country not far from Cambodia. The local International Institute needs student volunteers to meet and help these families get rooted in America.

Rev. Richard Ryscavage, S.J., Professor of Sociology and International Studies and Director, Center for Faith and Public Life.

What skills, interests, or initiatives would you bring to this endeavor? Join the conversation by clicking on the Comments link.