Focus on Kim

It seems everyone is talking about the latest Ken Burns documentary. I was delighted when I received an invitation to a special event at the WETA Headquarters in Shirlington:  "Screening and discussion of the series The Vietnam War."

I was surprised and excited to see that my friend Kim O'Connell (daughter of my dear high school friend Denny) was going to be a participant in the event as a panel member.

Kim's father was American and her mother is Vietnamese. She has written a book about Little Saigon, which flourished in Arlington for a while after the War and then disappeared. It remains, however, an important part of local history.


                       Kim's book

As I was walking toward the WETA Headquarters, I was very surprised to see my friend Marie sitting in the window of a Vietnamese restaurant. Her after-lunch destination was also the WETA Headquarters!

In the photo above,  Marie and I are enjoying the refreshments provided prior to the event.

Kim talked about her American and Vietnamese heritage. Her father would have been very proud of her. The other two panelists were a man who had volunteered twice to go to Vietnam as a medic and the other a man who has written an important book about the war (sorry but I don't have the title right now).

The audience participation after the screening and panel discussion showed how our country is still divided about the War. Some members of the audience said the US did the right thing to go to Vietnam and others said it was a huge mistake. No surprise here but the comments were interesting. It was an intelligent audience as one would expect a group of PBS viewers to be!

 Lovely Kim sitting at Peet's

Afterwards, Kim and I deconstructed the event while drinking chai tea lattes. She will be appearing at additional events including a television special, "Vietnam in Washington." (For you locals it will be on Channel 26 at 8:30 pm, immediately after Washington Week, on Friday, September 29.)