Episode 80: The Refugee Experience and Finding Equilibrium with Lan Cao and Harlan Van Cao
/In this episode, I had a chance to sit down with Lan Cao and Harlan Van Cao. We discussed a number of topics, including: Lan's experience and life as a refugee of the Vietnam War and how that experience reverberates in Harlan's life, immigration and assimilation, discrimination, identity and the importance of finding equilibrium and balance in life, memory, letting go vs. remembering, the bystander effect as it relates to relationships and conversations, social media and it's drawbacks, modern day high school culture and experience, and the concept of the American Dream. I really enjoyed this one, hope you do too.
Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao are the authors of Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter (Viking; September 2020).
Lan Cao is the author of Monkey Bridge and The Lotus and the Storm, and most recently of the scholarly work Culture in Law and Development: Nurturing Positive Change. She is a professor of law at the Chapman University School of Law, and an internationally recognized expert specializing in international business and trade, international law, and development. She has taught at Brooklyn Law School, Duke University School of Law, University of Michigan Law School, and William & Mary Law School.
Harlan Margaret Van Cao graduated from high school in June 2020. She was born in Williamsburg, Virginia and moved to Southern California when she was ten. She loves painting and music, especially playing the piano and singing. She will be attending UCLA in the fall of 2020 and plans to study economics and philosophy, while also continuing to write.
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