858: from BOOK OF THE OTHER

Published: April 18, 2023, 8 a.m.

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Today\\u2019s poem is from BOOK OF THE OTHER by Truong Tran.


In this episode, Major writes\\u2026 \\u201cNames carry family histories, maybe even indicate what region of the country we reside in, or from where our ancestors traveled. This is why it comes as an affront when someone fails to learn how to say our name or worse, makes up a name for us, like my fourth-grade teacher who, instead of learning to pronounce the \\u201cethnic\\u201d names of her students, renamed all of us after French painters.\\u201d


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