Brett Skarbakka is a photographer currently based in Hanoi, Vietnam. His project, 11 Days, “is a quiet memorial to a past scarred by terrific violence, a present changing by acceptance, and a personal way for me to contemplate the conflicting messages of shrouded histories.” We settled in for lunch in a Hanoi pub and compared our […]
11 days, bombing, Brett Skarbakka, Brian Gruber, Hanoi, Kayley Ingalls, Nixon, Vietnam, War: The AfterpartyJay Palevsky and I hunted down Jordan Plitteris on Facebook four decades after our last encounter. We were students at George Gershwin Junior High School 166 in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Jordan and I did our best to disrupt our classes in the most charming or clever manner possible. We finally connected […]
Brian Gruber, China, Hanoi, Kayley Ingalls, Steven Herman, Vietnam, War: The AfterpartyIn my travels through Vietnam, I’ve talked to young people for whom the “American War” is ancient history, and to elders who lived through Japanese atrocities, French colonial capitalism and the civil war with the US-supported South. The first part of my interview with the 77-year old professor Dao Quang Hung can be found here. […]
Brian Gruber, Dao, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, War: The AfterpartyI met William through Kickstarter backer Adam Edwards. William motorbiked me around Vung Tau, to the locations of old French cannon, and historic religious sites. His delightful wife Mizen introduced me to her father, Dao Quang Hung, and we had four hours of sit downs in their living room. He lived through it all, from the […]
Brian Gruber, Communism, Dao, Grandfather, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Marxism, Vietnam, Vung Tau, War: The Afterparty, William AllenA lot of the old leftie conspiracy theories that used to impress our girlfriends in high school turned out to be true, with a little help from the Freedom of Information Act. I visited the Gulf of Tonkin this week as I worked my way down the Vietnam Coast from Hanoi. The incident that got […]
French, Gruber, Tonkin, Vietnam, WarAfter defeating the Japanese and the French Vichy government, working closely with the United States OSS, Ho Chi Minh wrote the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2nd, 1945. He shared this at a Hanoi rally estimated to at a half million. —————- “All men are created equal. They […]
Brian Gruber, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, War: The AfterpartyEnjoying some recovery and recuperation in Hanoi. Two more days here visiting museums and then, points south. A visit to the Gulf of Tonkin town of Vinh. When President Johnson declared the USS Maddox was attacked by two North Vietnamese patrol boats on August 4th, 1964 (it never happened), US planes ravaged Vinh and surrounding […]
Brian Gruber, Hanoi, itinerary, Vietnam, War: The Afterparty