A couple of days ago I heard from my former next-door neighbor Ann Do Rademaker. Ann is an integral part of the cult-underground-KCRW band The Tyde. She sent a link to her own blog, Owleypatrol, which she started in June 2006. There’s talk about the bands she and her friends are seeing and social gatherings – rock bands have Christmas parties, too. It's written for her friends. In the midst of the recent postings is a surprising two-parter, which describes in photos and captions Ann's family’s escape from Vietnam in 1979.
As in all of her posts, Ann writes crisply and succinctly. She didn’t remember the boat trip. This is what she was told:
We fled in the middle of the night, dressed as peasants (with newly coiffed boy's cut) pretending to head off to the central farmlands. My parents left everything behind, material possessions didn't mean anything, just the opportunity for their two young daughters to have a future. We were on a boat for a week with no food; my mom gave me her water ration while she drank her own urine! (whoa, yeah it was heavy). Pirates raided our boat and took anything of value but luckily, no one was murdered or raped like so many before us.
Ann’s family went first to a Thai refugee camp and then the United States. Now Ann lives with her husband, Darren Rademaker, in Echo Park.
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As you may know, Charupha Wongwisetsiri moved here from Thailand. Reporters quoted Charupha's mother's translators saying she brought her daughter here for better educational opportunities, about a year ago. They moved to Echo Park, and just before Christmas 2006 the nine-year-old was shot in her kitchen on East Kensington in Angeleno Heights. Stray gunfire. She died the day after Christmas.
A vigil is planned for tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 4.
Gather at the Old Fire Station From 6-7 PM (534 East Edgeware Rd & Bellevue)
7 PM Leave for walk through the neighborhood Please bring your own candles for the vigil walk
Any donations or cards will be given to the family
