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[Doi Dien] Open Letter
Face to Face: A Review of Literature and Arts
(originally in English)
Purpose:
Doi Dien [Face to Face] was created in February of 1993 by a group
of Vietnamese individuals and organizations from Northern California
(San Jose/San Francisco) and Southern California (Los Angeles/Orange
County). The publication was to be a project of a Coalition of
Vietnamese Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Network whose principal objective
is to provide a progressive forum and environment where people can
address issues of social awareness and to promote cultural diversity.
Mission Statement:
First, Doi Dien [Face to Face] is committed to exploring life-sustaining
possibilities by honoring all marginalized and disenfranchised Vietnamese
communities.
This objective will be accomplished by:
a. Celebrating our variegated cultural diversity.
b. Identifying problematic societal perceptions toward Gay, Lesbian &
Bisexual; facing up [to] and and dissoluting the misconceptions and
prejudices and exploring strategies to bridge understanding and compassion
between people and organizations having the same concerns and interests.
Second, Doi Dien [Face to Face] seeks to preserve and develop literary
writings, artistic expressions that have dealt with the subject of
homosexuality and bisexuality. This publication will represent our
thoughts and visions in the hope that we can learn and embrace, tolerate
and support the concept of individuality, self-expression, democracy in
the educational pursuits.
Several paths that Doi Dien [Face to Face] will pursue to achieve this
objective:
a. Gather growth-related informations and publish 4 times a year the
voice of Doi Dien: a united communicational front for all the Vietnamese
lesbians, gays, bisexuals and their supporters around the world.
b. sponsor conferences and cultural events which highlight themes listed
above.
c. Assist individuals and groups to come out and better understand the
sensitivity of these issues in their private and public domain.
d. Promote cultural exchange between people and their communities.
(originally in Vietnamese: translated by Nguyen Quoc Vinh)
Open Letter
Dear readers,
Face to Face has at last made its appearance, to reach the hand of friends
everywhere. The magazine has nurtured and conveyed the aspirations,
feelings and thoughts of many people who care and yearn for the
preservation and extension of a modern and multifaceted literature and
culture for Vietnam.
First of all, the Editorial Staff and all our collaborators who have worked
to realize Face to Face as a forum of free expression and creativity, we
would like to extend to you our sincere greetings of friendship.
Looking back over the history of Vietnamese literature, homosexuality is
a well-hidden topic, a concealed issue, a denied reality. Living in a
society formed and linked by internecine and destructive wars, the
Vietnamese people have often placed the emphasis on unity, majority and
similarity among individuals in society. We, the people who have amorous
stirrings and desirous feelings toward members of the same sex, have often
felt let down and alienated among others around us. That's why our
language and voice, filtered through the lenses of social mores, have
become lost in the multitude. Worse than that, we have on occasion found
our mouth forced shut and our voice usurped. Struggling amidst such
solitary feelings, the innate homosexual often shows the inclination to
follow in the overwhelming direction of the masses. And even as our steps
have led us on one path, our heart still glances back the other way.
We are living at the crux of two centuries, amidst rapid advances of human
civilization. It is about time when we, and everybody else, should look
back, concentrate and come Face to Face with ourselves, with others and
especially with history.
The Vietnamese people,
the Vietnamese land,
the Vietnamese nation,
have taken shape, have been formed and sustained by the valiant and
persistent effort of numerous succeeding generations in the struggle
for freedom, well-being, peace, happiness and authenticity of existence.
Face to Face, together with everybody's help, will be a contribution and
linkage to the path of that national history.
Though it was shaped and formed by a group of people, Face to Face belongs
to everybody, to those who share a common aspiration in cultivating and
preserving the genuine values and substance of each invididual and of
society, to those who want to see their reflection in the flow of human
history.
We are starting a new page of history,
while at the same time rereading the old pages of history.
We hope that you will also lend a helping hand in writing the pages to
come.
In friendship,
Face to Face
[Doi Dien #1 (Summer 1993), p. 1.]
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