Book
The Stilt House: Genealogy Stories
The Stilt House: Genealogy Stories is the second issue of The Stilt House, the zine of the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association, edited by Christine Su.[1][2] Its Khmer subtitle appears as Krousa'saa K'nyoum and as Krous'ssa Ka'nyoum ("My Family"), and it was launched in 2020.[2][3][4]
The zine
The Stilt House is the association's print and online publication for Khmer stories told through short stories, poetry, photographs, visual art, music, audio recordings and recipes.[5] The association started it to keep alive the power of storytelling in the traditional Khmer home.[5] In Cambodia, Khmer households were built on stilts and still are; raised above the earth and sheltered from the elements, the stilt house stands for the survival of Khmer memory, history and stories.[5]
History
In December 2018 the Lowell Cultural Council awarded the association a $2,900 grant for the issue.[2] The association called for submissions in any medium, and the deadline was extended to May 27, 2019.[3] It also held a program titled "Create Your Genealogy Stories: Krous'ssa Ka'nyoum."[2] A team from the association collected work and stories from the Khmer American diaspora.[1]
The zine's first official launch was planned at the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association but was canceled because of COVID-19.[4] It was held online instead on March 21, 2020, with video recordings and readings by contributors and visuals presented by association volunteer Bradley DeMatteo.[4] Print copies were offered for a suggested donation of $10.[4][2]
About the issue
In her introduction, Christine Su writes of her father's silence and outbursts, which she came to understand as an adult as survivor's guilt.[1] On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and other provincial cities.[1] Su writes that more than two million people died under the regime, among them her father's parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins and friends.[1] Cambodia was not spoken of in her childhood home.[1] On her first trip to Cambodia, the faces of the Bayon at Angkor changed how she saw Khmer culture, and she came to see the Khmer Rouge years as a short fragment of a long history that includes a centuries-old empire.[1] She resolved to help rebuild Khmer culture and to show Cambodian youth that "their heritage is a source of dignity, not shame."[1]
The letter from the co-founder remembers family days at New England beaches, digging clams and mussels, catching fish and sharing Cambodian food.[1] It treats genealogy as more than a line of descent, looking to the untold stories in the gaps and branches of a family tree.[1] The issue invited stories of food and family, of siblings and of parents and children, of religion, music, beauty, love, anger, resentment, reconciliation and resilience.[1] The letter holds that such memories return as poems, storytelling, essays, fiction and nonfiction.[1]
Contents
After the editor's introduction and the letter from the co-founder, the table of contents lists:[1]
- Joan Chun, "It'll Take a Lifetime"
- Sophia Lee, "We Don't Say 'I Love You'"
- Lena Sarunn, "Family" and "Barbecue"
- Krystal Chuon, "Dearest Uncle"
- Moleca Mich, "Between the Altar Ashes"
- Peuo Tuy, "On Our Living Room Floor"
- Rosen Yin, "First Generation"
- Eric Tu, "Root/Stem/Bloom/Sugar"
- Sophia Lee, "Music from the Mortar"
- Alvin Choeun, "Our Family"
- Monsoon Photography, "Those Who Came Back"
- Claire Farges, "What does genealogy mean to me?"
- Narinda Heng, "Sewing"
- Peter Pa, three untitled works
- Noeun Chhim, "I'm giving birth to you"
- Moniphal Bing, "If Only I Spoke Khmer to My Mother"
- Kroch Duch, "Dear Mom" letter
- Mana Kheang, "Cambodian Mother"
- Ava Tuy, "Island Fun"
- RJ Sin, "Family Inheritance"
- Hit Chim, "In Retrospect"
- Chan Snguon, "Security Prison 21"
- Tooch Van, "Revenge or Really?"
- Chinda Sar, untitled
- Rosen Yin, untitled
- Seng So, "Letter Home"
- SK ILLerest, "Power"
- Eric Tu, "Asian American History X"
- Christine M. Su, "The Equator"
- Sanary Phen, "Familial Things"
- Peuo Tuy, "Dear Mother"
- Evan and Channy Freeman, "Two Worlds Unite"
- Eric Tu, "postcard2"
- Peuo Tuy, "He Prayed To Be On Earth"
- Rosen Yin, "Bound Together by our Roots and Heritage"
- Amrith Fernandes Prabhu, "A Moment"
- "Under the Tamarind Tree"
Access
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 CALAA: The Stilt House, Genealogy Stories
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 CALAA: News and events
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 CALAA: Genealogy Stories submissions call
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 CALAA: Virtual launch of The Stilt House Zine
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 CALAA: The Stilt House Zine