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Creator

Paul Christiansen

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Paul Christiansen is a Saigon-based writer and editor.

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Stories by Paul Christiansen

254 stories

'Chronicles of a Village' Is an Avant-Garde Deconstruction of the Familiar Rural Vietnam

Loạt Soạt

'Chronicles of a Village' Is an Avant-Garde Deconstruction of the Familiar Rural Vietnam

How would you tell the story of your birth soil?

Paul ChristiansenJul 15, 2022
Retracing Biệt Động Sài Gòn Hideouts, Where Grenades Were Just Below Your Feet

In Plain Sight

Retracing Biệt Động Sài Gòn Hideouts, Where Grenades Were Just Below Your Feet

Elements of Saigon’s wartime espionage efforts once relegated to secret basements, hidden crawl spaces and elaborate double lives lurk throughout downtown to this day.

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Paul Christiansen
Jun 20, 2022
How to Navigate Coming Out to Your Parents With the Help of 3 Fairy Tales

Loạt Soạt

How to Navigate Coming Out to Your Parents With the Help of 3 Fairy Tales

Sometimes stories can articulate what we cannot put into our own words. Fairy tales can function as long-form proverbs that allow people to identify and pass on important values, expectations and experiences regarding love, loss, longing, fate and hardships. Children often learn about the adult world through these stories, but they retain their value throughout one’s entire life.

Paul ChristiansenJun 10, 2022
Saigon's Mobile Laminators Preserve ID Cards, Licenses, and Occasionally, Memories Too

In Plain Sight

Saigon's Mobile Laminators Preserve ID Cards, Licenses, and Occasionally, Memories Too

How much would you pay for a memory? What is it worth to ensure that you’ll forever be able to recall a certain moment of happiness, important gathering, or achievement? What if I told you that all you need is a couple of bucks and some good timing?

Paul ChristiansenJun 9, 2022
Saigoneer Bookshelf: Ocean Vuong Asks Questions in 'Time Is a Mother'

Loạt Soạt

Saigoneer Bookshelf: Ocean Vuong Asks Questions in 'Time Is a Mother'

Fame and poetry rarely go together.

Paul ChristiansenApr 20, 2022
Review: In 'Đêm Tối Rực Rỡ!,' Watch a Fraught Family Disintegrate During a Funeral

Film & TV

Review: In 'Đêm Tối Rực Rỡ!,' Watch a Fraught Family Disintegrate During a Funeral

If a family is like a broken leg, does healing it require a more painful break? Đêm Tối Rực Rỡ! (The Brilliant Darkness!) grapples with this question by thrusting characters into a situation that exposes festering wounds in desperate need of attention.

Paul ChristiansenApr 5, 2022
Saigoneer Bookshelf: The Instruction Manual of Phillips H92X Offers Something for Everyone

Loạt Soạt

Saigoneer Bookshelf: The Instruction Manual of Phillips H92X Offers Something for Everyone

Engaging plot or strong characters? Fantastic escapism or insightful depictions of the real world? A sweeping epic across generations and nations, or a deep examination of a brief moment in time? What do you look for in a book? Well, this work has a little something for everyone.

Paul ChristiansenApr 1, 2022
On the Hunt for Colorful Murals in Đà Lạt's Hilly Hẻms

Travel

On the Hunt for Colorful Murals in Đà Lạt's Hilly Hẻms

Was color a casualty of COVID-19? Along with the freedom to gather, to attend live concerts and travel, did the pandemic rob us of opportunities to fully appreciate color?

Paul ChristiansenMar 20, 2022
Touching the Infinite: An Interview With Vietnamese Canadian Novelist Kim Thúy

Literature

Touching the Infinite: An Interview With Vietnamese Canadian Novelist Kim Thúy

Why pencils are yellow; the connections between the aviation industry, a centuries-old Central American ballgame and sex; the “true” color of goldfish; the reason we never see Buddha peeing; and the genre-bending decision best-selling novelist Kim Thúy made for her recent book: my conversation with Thúy spun wildly in different directions for over three hours.

Paul ChristiansenMar 2, 2022
Finding Fun and Revelation Aboard Saigon's Wayward Waterbus

In Plain Sight

Finding Fun and Revelation Aboard Saigon's Wayward Waterbus

Cement, clay, clapboard, spackle, rebar, piping, plaster smears, paint drips, pencil scrawlings: to witness the rise of a building, observe its innards, is to marvel at the pretense of an ego, for what are those constructed with?

Paul ChristiansenJan 13, 2022
Cá Chuồn: The Fish That Dreams Beyond Its Realm

Natural Selection

Cá Chuồn: The Fish That Dreams Beyond Its Realm

Insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats: flight evolved on Earth independently four times, so why do you think it’s so unlikely that you’ll find love again?

Paul ChristiansenDec 24, 2021
How a Vietnamese Food Stylist Puts 'the Bling Bling' on Bánh Chưng

Food Culture

How a Vietnamese Food Stylist Puts 'the Bling Bling' on Bánh Chưng

“When people know what they are doing, they bring food to life,” says Thu Pham Buser, a New York-based food stylist of her profession.

Paul ChristiansenDec 15, 2021
What's the Deal With Cơm Tấm-Flavored Potato Chips?

Snack Attack

What's the Deal With Cơm Tấm-Flavored Potato Chips?

A quirky legend surrounds the invention of the potato chip, and its identity has only gotten odder over the years.

Paul ChristiansenOct 27, 2021
Kim Chi Sun and Charles on the Evolution of Good

Quãng 8

Kim Chi Sun and Charles on the Evolution of Good

"I haven’t lost myself yet, but there are many new angles of me, new realizations; there are some new feelings, new vibes I want to share with you. I want to open up to you," Kim Chi Sun says to her listeners in the mini-documentary accompanying the release of “Still Good,” the remix of her 2019 debut EP “M Good.”

Paul ChristiansenOct 1, 2021
Voi: From Hai Bà Trưng's Fearsome Companions to Tourism Servants

Natural Selection

Voi: From Hai Bà Trưng's Fearsome Companions to Tourism Servants

Does art need a purpose?

Paul ChristiansenSep 25, 2021
Born Into Traditional Craft, a Young Sculptor Finds Joy in Carving Pop Culture

Music & Arts

Born Into Traditional Craft, a Young Sculptor Finds Joy in Carving Pop Culture

“Even though they know deeply that it’s beautiful, they cannot feel it because it’s not familiar to them,” Duy Trần says of younger generations that gaze upon the traditional wood sculptures in his family’s factory.

Paul ChristiansenAug 30, 2021
Sao La: The Real-Life Unicorn of Vietnam

Natural Selection

Sao La: The Real-Life Unicorn of Vietnam

Disney’s Aladdin , Super Nintendo, digital fingerprint technology: the outside world was familiar with all these by 1992. Sao la , however, remained unknown.

Paul ChristiansenAug 29, 2021
Saigon Designer Envisages Classic Vietnamese Transportations With Some Pizzaz

Music & Arts

Saigon Designer Envisages Classic Vietnamese Transportations With Some Pizzaz

What if your motorbike had rocket propulsion?

Paul ChristiansenAug 19, 2021
Saigoneer Bookshelf: 'Luminous Nights' Explores the 20th Century Literary Landscape

Loạt Soạt

Saigoneer Bookshelf: 'Luminous Nights' Explores the 20th Century Literary Landscape

Why haven’t some of Vietnam’s most famous early 20th-century short stories been translated into English?

Paul ChristiansenAug 16, 2021
Cò: The Symbolic Soul of Vietnam's Countryside

Natural Selection

Cò: The Symbolic Soul of Vietnam's Countryside

Is Chim Lạc based on a real bird?

Paul ChristiansenAug 14, 2021
[Illustrations] Mesmerizing Modern and Mythic Vietnam Re-Imagined

Arts & Culture

[Illustrations] Mesmerizing Modern and Mythic Vietnam Re-Imagined

“I know this is going to sound super corny but I'm going to say it anyways; I left Vietnam, but Vietnam never left me.”

Paul ChristiansenAug 10, 2021
Trái Vải: The Intoxicating Harbinger of Summer

Natural Selection

Trái Vải: The Intoxicating Harbinger of Summer

Is scarcity a source of beauty?

Paul ChristiansenJul 8, 2021
Saigoneer Bookshelf: 'A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure' Speaks Many Voices

Loạt Soạt

Saigoneer Bookshelf: 'A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure' Speaks Many Voices

When I first met Hoa Nguyen several years ago in Hanoi, it was her first trip back to Vietnam since she left as a child.

Paul ChristiansenJun 27, 2021
Mèo: A Complicated Love Affair

Natural Selection

Mèo: A Complicated Love Affair

Of all the Asian and Southeast Asian countries that use the animal zodiac, only Vietnam has a cat in place of the rabbit. One theory for why is that while Chinese has a word for rabbit, it also has a specific word for Year of the Rabbit: mǎo , which sounds a lot like māo , the Chinese word for cat, which also sounds a lot like the Vietnamese word for cat, mèo .

Paul ChristiansenJun 19, 2021
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