For this week’s meeting, we introduced Thi Bui’s graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do. We first contextualized her memoir by giving a brief overview of the Vietnam War and its general post-war impact. Specifically, we tried to understand the politics at that time (the Cold War) that had misconstrued the cultural and social perception of Vietnamese American refugees. In doing so, we got a better sense of where Bui is writing from, especially when she portrays the experiences of her parents and their family dynamic.
Afterward, we did an interactive reading of an excerpt from Chapter 2 and discussed the role of paratext, silence, and water in Bui’s work. From there, we concluded the meeting by drawing inspiration from our discussions and readings to draw to the following prompt: “Draw silence" (You can see some of those drawings in this post!).
Next week, we’ll be finishing up Bui’s graphic memoir (Ch. 5-10), so if you want to discuss her work or join the discussion, come stop by next week or join our Discord! For other resources and links about Thi Bui and information about the meeting, feel free to check out the Google Slides in our Google Drive! If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out! Have a wonderful weekend and a happy Halloween—stay safe!
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