Ocean Vuong
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Again, dignity first.
And what you owe to yourself, your family and your community, however that means to you.
And wrestling yourself away from the standards of ultimate success or what have you.
You know, like I am lucky to be
a successful author and a professor.
But I live in New England still because nine of my family members still live there.
They're all refugees.
They came with me.
I don't have enough generational wealth to liberate them from the working poor.
So my family still work at Amazon warehouses, nail salons.
And I'm there.
You know, I've had job offers in lovely places, Paris, Germany.
I said, as soon as they come in, I said, there's no way.
Because I got to take my aunt to her doctor's appointment.
I got to do her taxes.
I had to help my cousin go into a psych ward once in a while.
And that's not a burden to me.
And I want to make that clear.
That's a privilege.
I get to.