Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 19:48:25 -0800 (PST)
From: "Charles P. Hobbs
To: James Lileks
Subject: Vietnamese in Minneapolis. . .

>Back then, we had ten
>Vietnamese restaurants, and regarded this as a
>sign that Minneapolis was no longer a cultural
>backwater. Now we have more per block than we
>had in the entire city.

In high school (1980-1983), I had a Vietnamese classmate for a couple of years (1981 and 1982). Her name was Tien ("Angel"). . .Most of her family was from Minneapolis, but she was staying in So. Calif for a few years with her cousins. . .

We were in the same French class, and perhaps other classes as well; we worked on a number of projects together and generally got along great. (Both of us were good students--not spectacular, but in the top of the class).

Well, it was June 1982, and just about the end of school. I finally got a chance to talk to her alone. I told her how much I admired her, etc. etc. She knew I liked her, but . . ."by the end of the summer, I'll be back in Minnesota already!" she said. (Earlier on, she had expressed a desire to go to the Univ. of Minnesota, and become a neurosurgeon. I believed she could do it, too!)

I never saw her again after that day, but a couple of days later, one of her friends told me that she was absent from the last week of school because she was playing hooky with her new boyfriend, who had a car!

A bit later, James wrote me back . . .

Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 22:39:22 -0800
From: James Lileks 
To: "Charles P. Hobbs"
Subject: Re: Vietnamese in Minneapolis. . .

on 1/27/00 7:48 PM, Charles P. Hobbs wrote:

> "by the end of the summer, I'll be back in
> Minnesota already!" she said.

It's a peculiar world, eh? The Vietnamese girl goes home to . . . a cold
state with a population that's 90% Nordic. It's like a Swede saying "but now
I must return home to Miami." But that's America.

Lileks