What Happened in September 2011: Some News and Events

Contributor Julie Nguyễn offers a critical recap of Tháng 9 or September news and events in the general interest of a Vietnamese American. She most likely missed a few things, Vietnamese and not, so if you come across something you think should be shared with the readers, please send them to Julie via this email: ngujle [at] gmail [dot] com.

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September gave us the autumnal solstice, which also marks Têt Trung Thu, or the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It also saw the 10th remembrance of 9/11 and the victims it claimed, including those who were victims of hate-crimes. It also reignited the distrust of the US justice system as we legally killed Troy Davis. Meanwhile, Wall Street is being occupied to protest the widening of the class gap in the nation, and it’s picking up steam. Some students think they are being cleverly ironic at UC Berkeley by hosting a racist bake sale. Or other freedoms are being questioned as a clerk refuses to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples and in the same breath refuses to resign her position, even though she’s clearly incapable of doing her job. And the GOP had their presidential candidate debate.

Vietnamese in the news

Missing nursing student Michelle Le can finally be laid to rest, as her remains have been found and identified. Also, an arrest was made in her case.

Cindy Nguyen, radio personality of AM 1290 KAZA San Jose, was found dead after disappearing in what appears to be a violent carjacking and robbery.

Annie Le’s family is suing Yale. I still wonder how all these reports manage to slip in the murderer’s apology in anything that remotely mentions Annie.

Cung Le

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le is to fight Vitor Belfort in his debut for the UFC.

Pharmacy giant Merck&Co names a new chief strategy officer, Cuong Viet Do.

Judge Jacqueline Nguyen

And Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.

News from Việt Nam

Two more typhoons are heading for VN. Typhoon Nesat having ripped through the Philippines and closed down Hong Kong, will be touching the Northern and Central regions of VN, while typhoon Nalgae picks up speed nearby.

VN’s foreign minister Pham Binh Minh was able to meet with US’s foreign minister Hilary Clinton during the UN General Assembly to exchange a few words.

In the Arts

Artist Hoang Nguyen, in collaboration with Khari Evans, Paul Gardner, Mike Kennedy, and Kinsun Loh, re-releases the sold out first volume of Carbon Grey: Sisters at War, which includes some lovely extras.

On Sept. 24th, Bao Phi and Ed Bok Lee celebrated the launching of their long-awaited books, Sông I Sing and Whorled, respectively, in the Twin Cities.

And movie Saigon Electric nears its release date of Oct. 7th, to limited theatres nationwide. They recently promoted the film in Orange County in an event called The Electric Showcase, hosted by Kathy Uyen and Dat Phan, with appearances from Poreotics, and was pronounced to be a success.


Julie Nguyễn likes toads a lot but only eats vegetables.

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