Wayne W. Huang

These images have never been shared with the public. I had only taken them for myself to remember that day. Most people remember exactly what they were doing that morning, where they were, and how they were reacting as the events unfolded. I was a college student who had lived in New York City for nearly a year and was getting ready to make the commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I never made that commute. I remember sitting in my living room that morning listening to the radio with a feeling of deep disbelief and helplessness. The pictures you see below were my attempts to come to grips with reality. Unlike those who witnessed the collapse in person or on television, I was instead confronted with ashes in my face, smoke, and burnt pages of paper floating down like feathers to the ground. The experience wasn’t “like a movie,” something I have heard repeated by detached witnesses over and over. For me, it was the closest I had ever come to mass destruction and death and I was forever moved by that sight.

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June 25, 2009 – Iranians of Orange County rally at Irvine City Hall to make their voices heard and to show solidarity and support for the uprising in Tehran.

Brian Doan in his Long Beach studio.

Brian Doan, 40, was born August 22nd 1968 towards the end of the Tet Offensive in the Central Vietnam city of Quang Ngai. The Tet Offensive was a turning point in Vietnamese history as it marked the end of the Vietnam War and the beginning of what would be a new kind of struggle for an entire generation of war-weary South Vietnamese refugees. Doan and his family remained in Vietnam while his father suffered through ten brutal years in a Communist reeducation camp. Their struggle was one of trying to cope with living under a regime that regarded them as second-class citizens.

His father was stationed in Quang Ngai during the war as a security officer with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). When the war ended in 1975, Doan and his family migrated to Saigon while his father was serving time in a reeducation camp. Not more than a few years after they settled, they were forced to return to Central Vietnam into a “new economic zone.” Families that were of the former South Vietnam middle and upper class were sent there to work as farmers.

Not content with their situation, the Doan’s escaped towards the South again, migrating from city to city, town to town until they finally settled in Long Khanh—a small, developing community of Catholic Vietnamese about 100 kilometers outside of Saigon, known by then as Hồ Chí Minh City. This is how Doan remembers his childhood in Vietnam—always being on the move and never having a permanent home.
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – In the district of Praça Onze, around the corner from Rua Marquês de Sapucaí where the world-famous Rio Carnaval makes its annual procession, the presence of Crescer e Viver, or “Living and Growing,” is unmistakable with its prominent blue-and-white striped circus tent. It is fenced off in an almost sanctifying gesture from its surroundings of a junkyard, an empty tarmac lot dotted with a few cars, and backed by a panorama-spanning view of one of many favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro.

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No Man's Land, U.S.-Mexico Border Fence between San Ysidro, California and Tijuana, Mexico. Click on image for 360 degree QTVR.

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The Jongo da Serrinha Cultural Group Association was created in 2000 aiming to continue the historical heritage protection of Jongo. The original social protection project was founded more then 40 years ago by Vovó Maria Joana Rezadeira and Mestre Darcy do Jongo.

Jongo is a manifestation of Afro-Brazilian culture, originated in the African Banto rites and rituals, blending circle dance, music and, some Umbanda processions. Jongo has been carried out since the time of slavery in Brazil. Jongo (“amusement” in Banto, cf. Alceu Maynardi) has its origins in rural Africa, most likely in Angola. It was brought to Brazil, during the colonial time, by the slaves who came to the country to work in the plantations of coffee and sugar cane of states like Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. In times of captivity, Jongo would be one of the rare moments of interaction among slaves, and it was practiced during the parties, holidays or just during a moment of rest after harvesting.

With the end of slavery and the economic crises in some regions of the country, the slaves managed to migrate from the plantations of Paraiba river valley to the hills of Rio de Janeiro, and began the first Jongo associations clustered in specific slums (favelas) locations of Rio de Janeiro, and in Madureira (Northern Rio), in a slum called Serrinha, the perfect environment to settle and carry on the tradition of Jongo. It did not take long to observe the influence of the accent of the ‘Carioca’ (Native of Rio de Janeiro) infused with the Jongo tradition. The manifestation of Jongo, its characteristics and core values, strongly influenced the history of samba and Popular Brazilian Music (MPB).
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I would spot Leroy, a homeless Vietnam Veteran, at the 34th St. Madison Square Garden station. He would usually be sitting at the bottom of a stairwell with a box for people to throw money in. A few times he would have some artwork he had made expressing certain spiritual beliefs he held, especially of the Islamic faith. There was also a time when he adopted two kittens that stayed beside him. He got more money and attention by having these kittens. Could anyone blame him for this plea for sympathy? Certainly not I.

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When Tsering Dolma first arrived in New York City in 2004, she barely spoke a word of English. She came only with a determination to survive and support her family still living in the Tibetan refugee villages of India. Like many other older, less-educated Tibetan women in exile, she went to work as a nanny and house maid to the wealthy elites of New York City.
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