Ocean Vuong

And it was aligned with elitism and power and institutions and higher learning that we thought that ship has sailed for us. But when you held up the books in your show, my mother recognized that and says, This is accessible. You're making the act of reading both accessibly dignified, but also fruitful for people who are outside of these realms of institutional elitism.

And I saw the women talk about books in your show. And then they would walk across the Barnes & Noble, across the mall, and they would have language. And they would come in and they would say, this is the book I want. I know how to talk about it. And there's a kind of dignified confidence to literacy. Oh.

And I saw the women talk about books in your show. And then they would walk across the Barnes & Noble, across the mall, and they would have language. And they would come in and they would say, this is the book I want. I know how to talk about it. And there's a kind of dignified confidence to literacy. Oh.

And I saw the women talk about books in your show. And then they would walk across the Barnes & Noble, across the mall, and they would have language. And they would come in and they would say, this is the book I want. I know how to talk about it. And there's a kind of dignified confidence to literacy. Oh.

And I don't know if anyone has talked about that, but I think that was the major byproduct that your show did is that it made working class people who don't have access to centers of knowledge. They don't get to be in a classroom and have high philosophy around craft or what have you. They get to participate in the vehicle of culture and you make culture legible to them.

And I don't know if anyone has talked about that, but I think that was the major byproduct that your show did is that it made working class people who don't have access to centers of knowledge. They don't get to be in a classroom and have high philosophy around craft or what have you. They get to participate in the vehicle of culture and you make culture legible to them.

And I don't know if anyone has talked about that, but I think that was the major byproduct that your show did is that it made working class people who don't have access to centers of knowledge. They don't get to be in a classroom and have high philosophy around craft or what have you. They get to participate in the vehicle of culture and you make culture legible to them.

who often don't have that chance. So I just want to say thank you so much for that.

who often don't have that chance. So I just want to say thank you so much for that.

who often don't have that chance. So I just want to say thank you so much for that.

And we came up in Vietnam as rice farmers.

And we came up in Vietnam as rice farmers.

And we came up in Vietnam as rice farmers.

I was the first to go to college, the first to read. And we've been rice farmers very happily for hundreds of years. It was the war that ejected us from that idyllic world into this one. And so by geopolitical violence and accident, I'm now a professor in a way. But she knew that in this country, the sentence will be the medium that can make us change and change our lives.

I was the first to go to college, the first to read. And we've been rice farmers very happily for hundreds of years. It was the war that ejected us from that idyllic world into this one. And so by geopolitical violence and accident, I'm now a professor in a way. But she knew that in this country, the sentence will be the medium that can make us change and change our lives.

I was the first to go to college, the first to read. And we've been rice farmers very happily for hundreds of years. It was the war that ejected us from that idyllic world into this one. And so by geopolitical violence and accident, I'm now a professor in a way. But she knew that in this country, the sentence will be the medium that can make us change and change our lives.

She didn't understand it, but she knew it was powerful. So she would drop me off before her shift at the nail salon, at the public library. And she gave me this mandate. And she said, you go in there and you read everything, especially what you don't understand. Wow. And it's so interesting because that's what I give my students now. I said, you have to move towards the unknown, the mystery.

She didn't understand it, but she knew it was powerful. So she would drop me off before her shift at the nail salon, at the public library. And she gave me this mandate. And she said, you go in there and you read everything, especially what you don't understand. Wow. And it's so interesting because that's what I give my students now. I said, you have to move towards the unknown, the mystery.

She didn't understand it, but she knew it was powerful. So she would drop me off before her shift at the nail salon, at the public library. And she gave me this mandate. And she said, you go in there and you read everything, especially what you don't understand. Wow. And it's so interesting because that's what I give my students now. I said, you have to move towards the unknown, the mystery.

The condition of not knowing is the first step of knowledge.