I was born in 1979 in the city of Hue, Vietnam. My parents and I immigrated here in 1984 to escape communist Viet Nam just like many other Southern Vietnamese. Being young at the time, I do not recall much of my early childhood. Growing up in this country most of my life has led me to adopt most of the American way of thinking and living (until I became truly self-aware while in my early years of college). My parents moved around a lot throughout my childhood, which meant that I made friends in school, and ended up leaving them several times throughout elementary school. This is something that I did not like. Growing up with non-Vietnamese schoolmates and speaking mostly English has led me away from the traditional Vietnamese culture and the lack of being able to speak Vietnamese fluently. But like many Vietnamese students, I was brainwashed to be hardworking and excel in academics, instead of pursuing my passions and fulfilling human potential. I never really questioned this collectivist mentality until the dramatic stage in life called high school.

Prior to entering high school, I went to a a public junior high that was filled with minorities from the lower class. Upon reflection, the quality of education was not that great, but nevertheless, I was known to be the quiet A student. I started out this way upon entering Dr. James J. Hogan Senior High school, another public school located in Vallejo, CA, and yes, this school was also filled with many people and minorities from the middle and lower class. The drama of 10th and 11th grade made me question my own personal life. This was partly due to school related stress and my lack of interest in the school environment at that time. Another factor was due to falling in love for the first time. This person that I had a crush on made me question my culture and how I was living life.

I began to care less and less, which resulted in poorer grades. Eric Shang, my 11th grade English teacher, was able to see the lack of harmony within my life.  During the Christmas of this year, he gave me a book by Thich Nhat Hanh entitled "Peace is Every Step". Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who teaches the art of mindfulness. Reading this book brought me a sense of inner peace and initiated my quest to find more happiness. Eleventh and 12th grades were years of great spiritual and psychological growth. I read many books on Eastern religions and philosophy at this time. Many books were on Zen Buddhism and Taoism. By my senior year, I wanted out. I wanted to end school early, and I did. I completed all my graduation requirements and left high school one semester early, and began college in the Spring of 1997.

Second Stage in Life: College

Junior College Education at Diablo Valley College

A cousin of mine introduced me to Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, CA, which is located about 20 minutes from Vallejo. When I first visited the campus, I was amazed as to how big it is (DVC is on 100 acres of land).  I could not enroll in the day courses because the Fall term of high school was not over when the Spring term of DVC began. For about a period of two weeks, I had to attend both. In the end, instead of being able to take a computer related course, I took an art course. College is such a big change from the high school setting. It is more relaxed, I get to choose my own courses and the time I want to take these courses, and there is many more courses to choose from. The Spring of 2007 was a very relaxing semester for me. When the school year ended, I went back to my high school to attend the graduation ceremony, which was a deeply moving experience for me, as well as for others. This experience is an example of  "a right of passage". Now that we have graduated, we are ready to move on to next major stage in our life - college and work. The school setting is never the same after this moment. College is nothing like high school. People do not bond in friendship like we do in high school. Graduation was not as emotionally rewarding either.

My junior college years at Diablo Valley College were years of tremendous growth. I gained knowledge across a variety of disciplines due to the general education requirements. The most significant courses that I took were Psychology under Paul Pitner, Social Science under Bob Mannaburg (retired), Sociology under Fenno Ogutu, and Philosophy under Phyllis Berger (retired). These teachers taught me to understand more about myself, more about our society, and more about our world. I would say that I finally awoke from my dream state while taking two Social Science courses with Bob Mannaburg. Reading books such as "Against Empire" by Michael Parenti and "People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn unveiled the shocking tyrannical nature of the U.S. government and mechanisms used to control the masses. Taking these courses caused me to realize the true nature of reality, just like Neo was awaken from the Matrix. From that point on, my perception of my life and our society was never the same again. All of these teachers, in their own way, made me to realize this. Mr. Pitner taught me to understand more about human behavior in a very entertaining way. This led me to major in Psychology at San Jose State University with the intention of going into the mental health field. Mrs. Berger enlightened my to the wonderful world of philosophical inquiry, so much so that I also wanted to major in Philosophy. Her class was the initial spark that has led me to become a Philosophy teacher. During Fall of 2007, I taught in the very same classroom that I took her course, Humanities 110. My two and a half years at DVC were truly significant years of my academic life.

Undergraduate Education at San Jose State University

I transferred to San Jose State University in the Fall of 1999. I applied as a philosophy major but decided to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Psychology upon entering due to the concern of whether I can have a career with a degree in Philosophy. And so I majored in Psychology and minored in Philosophy. San Jose State is a wonderful campus that is even larger than Diablo Valley College. It is located in downtown San Jose, which meant many one way streets, many cars, and tall buildings.  The heart of the campus itself is isolated from the surrounding streets, therefore it is relatively peaceful. As I began to get situated at SJSU, I began to loose interest in Psychology. The Professors in this department were not as inspirational as Mr. Pitner at DVC. The lectures were often times boring and dry. Throughout my undergraduate education, I also took philosophy courses. By my senior year, philosophy became my primary interest.

During the graduating semester of Spring, 2001, I was browsing through the classified adds in the San Jose Mercury for mental health jobs. This was when I realized that graduating with the B.A. in Psychology is not enough to obtain employment. Many of the positions required a B.A. with many years of experience or a Master's degree in Psychology. This was when I decided that I have to continue towards a Master's degree to obtain employment. By this time, I wanted to become a teacher. The only question was: "Should I teach psychology or philosophy?" While listening to opera one evening, I felt the calling of philosophy. This was the moment that I knew for certain that I wanted to devote my life towards enlightening others through the teaching of philosophy. I realized that I can cover much more in a philosophy course than I can in a psychology course. In a philosophy course, I can speak about psychology, political science, sociology, history, and anything else that leads to a better understanding of ourselves and our society. Philosophy courses, at least my philosophy courses, are not merely about the search for wisdom and the enlightenment of the individual.

Graduate Education at San Jose State University

After graduating with the B.A. in Psychology, I spent one year making myself qualified to enter the M.A. program in Philosophy. I needed to take certain lower divisions courses and I needed to obtain three letters of recommendation. I spent the 2001 - 2002 academic year to do this. That year was relatively a relaxing year. I never again took a full course load because I realized that it is difficult to read through all of the reading assignments by being a full-time student. During the Fall of 2001, I enrolled in a seminar on Aristotle under Professor Peter Hadreas, who was a very good teacher. I can imagine him as being Aristotle himself. This course was very enlightening. I also enrolled in Eastern Religions under Professor Chanh Phan, who later became my primary academic mentor. I now give him advice on how to structure his courses and write his syllabi. 

I entered the M.A. program in the Fall of 2002. Taking two courses per semester, I slowly worked towards my goal. Throughout the next three years, I fulfilled all of the requirements, undertook Teaching Assistant positions (grading papers for Professors) during Fall, 2002 to Fall, 2003 and eventually undertook the Teaching Associate position (teaching my own course during Fall, 2004 - Spring, 2005). I was a busy bee throughout these years. I was deeply involved in my studies, learning each philosophical theory carefully and meticulously. In addition to grading, I eventually became a tutor (Fall, 2003 - Fall, 2004) in the Philosophy and Logic Lab, a place where I once went to in order receive help on my philosophy papers. I also helped to schedule the work hours of employees during this time. By the Spring of 2005, I was given the position of Assistant Director of the Philosophy Center. I was also the Editor-in-Chief of our undergraduate journal from 2003 - 2005, and I was the unofficial graduate student advisor for many semester. I taught my own course during my last year in the program. This was an extremely valuable experience, being excited to teach for the first time ever my own philosophy course. I finally graduated with the M.A. in Philosophy in May, 2005.

During my graduate years, I came to a very disappointing realization. I realize that half of my colleagues (students and faculty) in the philosophy department, as smart as they were, did not truly care about the well-being and the advancement of our society. In order words, they did not care about helping people. I was under the false impression that anyone majoring in philosophy would care, just as I do, about the current state of political affairs and making this society better. It turns out that people fall in one of two major camps within philosophy. Those who are interested in the advancement of the individual and society fall in the ethics/ social/ political philosophy camp. Those who do not fall in the metaphysics/ epistemology camp. Both types of people are smart and enjoy the pleasure of philosophy inquiry, which is why I and other people decided to major in philosophy. But the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom does not necessarily entail that a person cares for the well-being of people and the harmony of society. I later realized that this is not uncommon among other disciplines as well including psychology and political science. My interests in the state of political affairs were renewed during my latter years in the graduate program. Upon recommendation from a fellow classmate, I began to study under two faculty members in the political science department. The first was Professor Kenneth Peter who specialized in political theory and the second was Professor Cobie Harris who specialized in International Relations and American Politics. My philosophical interests coincided with Professor Peter. Professor Harris was one of those rare radical thinkers that likes to slap you in the face with the true nature of our social and political system. I enjoyed attending these courses in my latter years more so than I did my philosophy courses.

Post-Graduate Education at University of California, Berkeley

During the summer of 2004, 2005, and 2006, I studied political science at the University of California at Berkeley. This experience was significant because I latter incorporated the teaching methodology of UC-Berkeley Professors into my own teaching pedagogy, which incorporates an extensive reading list and uses a more holistic approach. Those unfamiliar with this type of education will find it difficult and overwhelming. This, in fact, is what distinguishes prestigious Universities such UC-Berkeley from others. Most faculty members at non-prestigious Universities will limit their reading list because they feel that their students should not be exposed to so much work, difficulty, and expectation, simply because they cannot handle it. But to operate on this value undermines students because it limits discipline, growth, and potential.

The Third Stage in Life: Work

After I graduated from San Jose State University, I was recommended over to De Anza College in Cupertino, CA by Wayne Yuen, who was a former philosophy student at SJSU. I took a class or two with him and spoke to him occasionally while I was a graduate student. This process is called getting a job through networking. I received an e-mail from Cynthia Kaufman, the Chair of the Philosophy Department at De Anza to come in for an interview. They were so impressed that they offered me the job that same afternoon.

During the 2005 - 2006 academic year, I taught at De Anza College and I still continued to take political science courses at San Jose State. My first term at De Anza College was an enlightening one. This was when I realized that I had a relatively privileged education and a privileged life. I came to this realization after getting to the know my students at De Anza. Many students worked part-time, some full-time, many had personal problems, and many had family problems. Not many were able to afford the luxury of attending school full-time and not having to worry about work like I had for so many years. I also realized that the De Anza students were more engaged and the faculty were more devoted than the ones at San Jose State University.

In the summer of 2006, I finally fulfilled my dream of traveling to Europe for two weeks. I went to Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Traveling abroad enabled me to experience foreign cultures. To see people behaving differently and speaking in a different language was a major culture shock. The marvelous architecture in Italy made me realize the huge accomplishments of human civilization. I am still unable to grasp how people were able to build massive stone structures that can be several hundreds of feet high prior to modern day construction and engineering know-how. This trip also made me realize not to take things for granted. What I missed the most was having a nice place to sleep under because the hotels were not all that great when I had booked them prior to the trip. Being on the go most of the time made me appreciate the ability to be able to sit down and enjoy reading a book and having coffee (since I usually do this at Barnes and Noble). Eating take out food made me appreciate dining and even enjoying a cup of ice water. Using calling cards and phone booths to call back to the United States made me appreciate the convenience of using a cellar phone or a home phone.  Accessing the Internet at Kiosk machines and internet Cafes made me appreciate the ability to access the Internet conveniently in a hot spot area at a coffee shop or using DSL at home. I also realized that it is truly nice to have the ability to communicate with people - something we also take for granted in this country. Falling ill near the end of the trip made me appreciate being in good health. Traveling many, many hours made me appreciate not traveling. The trip back home was probably over 20 hours of being on planes and being at the airport. I was extremely, extremely happy upon the final flight back to San Jose. All I wanted was harmony, and harmony is returning to the normal life.

During the 2006 - 2007 academic year, I began teaching at a second college - Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. Returning to the school that I once attended was like returning to a home that I was away from for several years. I was now the teacher who instructed the students, which was another rewarding experience in my life. I no longer took any more courses at San Jose State because I now had the equivalent of a full-time teaching job. During the 2007 - 2008 academic year, I began teaching  at a third college - San Jose City College. My first class was a small, evening course. Nevertheless, it was a fun course. 

The Present and Future

I currently teach at De Anza College and Diablo Valley College. I continue to enjoy the privileged life of enlightening students through teaching philosophy and providing academic and psychological advice to them in and outside of the classroom. This is truly a privileged position.

I plan to continue teaching philosophy at the community college and provide academic consultation to all who are interested.